Wise Hands…

Perhaps you’ve seen one of those fast forward video spots where the subject is progressively aged from twenty to ninety in thirty seconds?  Or perhaps you took a good look around at the hands of the elders’ at yesterday’s Thanksgiving festivities? What will your hands look like in twenty years? Will they look wise and graceful?

 My last two posts were in part fueled by an increasing awareness of stiffness in my hands and persistent reminders to follow my own advice. So, after a couple of hours working with clay this afternoon- it was evident that it was time to take a “break”. While changing activities an be a useful strategy, I found myself absorbed in answering email for an hour. “From the frying pan to the fire.”… from a tissue blade to a track-pad on my laptop and a mouse on my desktop.

Taking a break= hands off, be kind to your hands= stitching to an activity that focuses on a different muscle group=ex. take a walk.

• Make a tight fist with your hands while inhaling slowly to the count of three, relax your hands and while breathing out slowly stretch your hands out as far as they will comfortably go while exhaling slowly. Repeat five times.
• With your wrists straight- grab a tennis ball or fist sized lump of clay, while inhaling and then release to the count of three while exhaling slowly. Repeat five times.
• Shake you hands out gently for a couple of minutes
• Apply generous amounts of hand lotion to both of your hands. Rest you right thumb on your left thumb and interlock your fingers together, massage gently in between the fingers and your knuckles
• Slowly massage each finger from the base to the tip

PS. If you have a familial history of auto-immune disease/rheumatoid arthritis in your family, now would be a great time to schedule a visit to your personal physician..