Fighting Parkinson’s, and the Recipe in-depth, part 6

I intend to take each part of the Recipe, physical, mental, and spiritual, and explain why it is in the Recipe and what it is doing for you in your recovery, deeply drilling down to the how and why it is helping you recover from Parkinson’s. Today is the sixth part: Neck Exercises.

For those of you new to the blog, when I say “the Recipe,” I am talking about the Parkinson’s Recipe for Recovery®. Click here to review the full version of the Recipe.

Neck exercises.

Turning head to sides.
1. Sit up straight and slowly turn your head to the right.
2. Slowly turn your head so you are facing forward again.
3. Slowly turn your head to the left.
4. Slowly turn your head so you are facing forward again.
Repeat this 10 times to each side.

Tilting head forward and back.
1. Slowly tilt your head forward with your chin moving down toward your chest.
2. Slowly bring your head up so you are facing forward again.
3. Slowly tilt your head back.
4. Slowly bring your head up so you are facing forward again.
Repeat this 10 times forward and 10 times back.

Tilting head to sides.
1. Slowly tilt your head to the right side as if you were trying to place your right ear on your right shoulder.
2. Slowly bring your head back so you are facing forward again.
3. Slowly tilt your head to the left side as if you were trying to place your left ear on your left shoulder.
4. Slowly bring your head back so you are facing forward again.
Repeat this 10 times to each side.

If your neck is so stiff that you cannot perform any of these movements, use your hands to assist your head and your neck in doing the exercises, but only do the movements slightly so you do not strain your already stiff neck. After you have been doing this with the assistance of your hands for a number of days, the tightness should loosen up a little, and you should try again without using your hands.

Theses exercise are very straightforward. However, you are accomplishing a lot with these exercises, so do not overlook them.

Click here for a graphic of the gallbladder meridian.

Tremors occur from blockages in your electrical system. Your Parkinson’s brain is sending weak impulses and the impulses are trying to get through passages squeezed tight by your rigidity, thus resulting in shaking. A tight, stiff neck negatively impacts the ability for electricity (your neural impulses) to be delivered correctly to your body. Your rigidity is literally squeezing the life out of your neural impulses…and out of you…you are slow, unsteady and fatigued.

And, let’s not forget about pain. But, wait! In order to feel pain, isn’t it your nerve endings themselves that send the “I’m experiencing pain” message to the brain? So, if you are just sitting around watching TV and you feel pain from your rigidity, doesn’t it make sense that your ridiculously tight muscles called rigidity are squeezing down so hard on your nerves that your nerves are sending an “I’m experiencing pain” message to your brain. This squeezing causes blockages in the energy flowing through your body and these blockages negatively impact your movement and cause you pain. To make matters worse, your dopamine faucet is nearly turned off, so you are getting very little assistance from our dopamine. (Click here for a reminder of the scientific study showing that your dopamine is NOT depleted).

So, here is where I am going with this. If you take a careful look at the gallbladder meridian graphic above, you will see that there are 40 points in your head (20 per side). Blockages at GB 20, GB 21, and GB 22 cause a host of issues, such as headaches from energy not being released from the 40 points in the head, to stiff and locked necks and shoulders from a poor flow from GB 20 to GB 21, to tremors in the arms and hands from poor flow from GB 20 through GB 22. Having a looser and more flexible neck will help with many things in life, including reduction of tremors, improved balance, and looking backwards when backing up your car.

Also, it will help with opening up the first line of electricity blockages in your body and will assist in your Parkinson’s recovery.

Further, here is a comparison that you should consider as you do these exercises and the Recipe:

1. The “Turning Head to Sides” neck exercise is the identical movement for the neck that we achieve for our trunk when doing Clearing Liver Wind Qigong.
2. The “Tilting Head Back and Forth” neck exercise is the identical movement for the neck that we achieve for our trunk in the second half of Medical Qigong for Liver.
3. The “Tilting to Sides” neck exercise is the identical movement for the neck that we achieve for our trunk in the first half of Medical Qigong for Liver.

These movements for the neck and trunk loosen the passageways for your body’s electricity to flow and for your neural impulses to have the best possibility of getting where they need to go carrying the messages from the brain.

Think about this. If you face forward and your neck and truck are very stiff, can you: take a “normal” step? turn and walk to the side? turn around and head back in the opposite direction? As so many of you know, with a stiff neck and trunk, none of these “normal” movements can be accomplished with fluid movement. Instead, they take a large amount of “baby steps” literally standing in place until you slowly rotate your stiff body to face in the direction where we want to go.

And what happens to you when you are taking these “baby steps” to turn your body in the direction where you would like to go? You are not balanced…not balanced physically, mentally, or spiritually. Physically, your feet are very close together so these baby steps make you feel wobbly. Mentally, you have fear of freezing and/or falling because your body is so wobbly. Spiritually, you start to lose hope and faith that you can turn this disease around.

It does not have to be that way! You have the Recipe, and you have the choice to do the Recipe. Loosen your neck, and turn your head and your focus in the direction of your recovery. Click here for a reminder about bringing your life back into balance.

That’s it!

You are worth it!!!

I will be back soon.

All my best,

Howard