Ouch
Actually got up and went to Naginata today, as opposed to the last three or four Saturdays, which I wimped out on for various reasons. It was short one, which made it a bit easier, and we only did about 15 minutes of work in bogu. We start at 10.30 in the summer to try and beat the heat of the day, but I don't know how well that works - By the
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Do you have access to a bath tub? Try an epsom salt soak, 1 to 2 cups of epsom salt in a bath tub full of hot water as hot as you can stand, soak in tub for 20-30 minutes then rinse yourself & tub with cool water to close your pores. Have a glass of ice water or juice by you to help you stay hydrated. Take an extra bath towel and put it in the water with you, then as you lay back and soak in the tub, pull that towel up and over your neck and bad shoulder.
Do you take vitamins & minerals? Try taking a supplement of calcium & magnesium, it's good for spasms. You could try lavender or basil essential oils rubbed into the area of concern... they're both good for pain & muscle spasm.
Then you could try some self-massage with some tools... I personally have 2 four inch diameter inflatable balls, which I use to work on myself myofascially. I place the ball on the carpet and then lay down on it, moving my arms, torso or legs until I can feel it's in the right area... and then I hold it there until I can feel the area relax. (Self-myofascial release.)
One can use a tennis ball, but that is probably going to be deeper work, possibly more painful, because there isn't as much "give" with the construction of that sort of ball.
http://saveyourself.ca/articles/tennis-ball.php
I have two yellow 4 inch balls.. similar to these used in this YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br5ggHfI_10&feature=related
The person who put up the videos has the John Barnes MFR training that I'm interested in starting to take in March of next year.
In other news... my nephew, Nick, is back from Maui, Hawaii for a quick visit. And tells us he's got a chance to take a trip to Japan with a friend from Maui next year.
I know Nick doesn't know any Japanese. Any ideas for online resources, where he could pick up some basic words and skills?
Any tips that might be helpful you can think of?
It should be a very interesting experience for him! He's never been out of the U.S. LOL
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Cool news about your nephew. For really basic phrases he could literally google "basic Japanese" and probably find the niceities: hi, please, thank you, etc... if he plans to be there for longer than about a month, and he wants to get the most out of the trip, (ESPECIALLY if he's going with someone wo also doesn't speak Japanese, and they don't have a Japanese friend to help them out at least some of the time) I would seriously recommend that he learn the two "phonetic" scripts, "hiragana" and "katakana". Lots of foreign words are written in katakana, and if you can recognise them on signs or labels, it helps A LOT. Lonely Planet guide books often have a short language section for travellers, or he could pick up a "Japanese for travellers" or "Japanese for busy people" kind of book. It also depends on where he's going - if he's really only going to Tokyo, he should get by pretty well, if they plan on heading into the countryside (or even smaller cities like Kyoto or Fukuoka) communication is a little bit harder.
I'll do a bit more thinking/research, and get back to you with more...
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Now for a little sleep. *yawn* Big family dinner tonight... I beter get some shut eye! Oyasumi Boo!
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