You didn’t mention how helpful it is for side sleepers to put a pillow between the legs so as to not pull at your lower back. Also, a pillow in front of you to rest your upper arm on helps to prevent over stretching your upper back and twisting your spine as the arm drops down in front of you.
I also sleep on the side and use pillow(micro balls) between legs and another one under my upper arm and since that NO TENSION at all and good sleeping . Good video!
Is this guy a physical therapy instructor? If he isn't, he ought to be. I'm a master's level Occupational Therapist having had a lot of the same training he has. He's excellent in how he demonstrates and explains more complex anatomy, physiology and kinesiology so the average person can easily understand it.
Thanks! I have worked in sports medicine, physical therapy profession since 2004 plus Feldenkrais and martial arts training. Just movement nerd :) i try to make my teaching as simple and easy as possible so anyone can understand. Thanks for recognizing my teaching style!
For side sleeping, I saw a long time ago in a good book indications. It said it was made from studing felines. You sit on the right side, right palm under your pillow or your head, left arm on your body, with the palm on your left hip, right leg straight, and left leg slightly bent forward, with the knee in front of the right knee, and the rest of the leg resting on the right leg. Whenever I remember, I do it. It's amazing and I don't feel tension at all, you feel your spine is so light
How short are your arms? In this setup, my left hand needs to be halfway to my knee to be comfortable, if I force my palm to stay in my hip my elbow is go far back I need to actively hold it up.
I do it all the time, like this exact position, and I never learned about it. This is from years of training to get rid of chronic pain. How amazing to know where it comes from!
I had an old sagging mattress that was making me slump into a hunched position all night. It took me a long time to realize how much it was effecting my posture while awake. One day I had a fit and just threw the dam thing out! And I'm so glad I did! Now I sleep on a small stack of foam mats and camp pad. It's firm, but perfectly contoured to my ideal posture position, so feels super comfortable when I lay down. In the morning, I wake up straighter!
I've been sleeping on my sides for most of my life , shifting from one side to the other a few times every night. I alternately injured my shoulders some years back and sleeping on the injured shoulder was too painful , so I had to to sleep on my back and that never got easy. I also injured my back many times since , and sleeping on my back is the only efficient method I know to help recovery. I must admit that sleeping on my back doesn't provide me with the same quality of sleep. Having one ear clear of any noise allows me to get much deeper sleep while on my side. Thanks for sharing your info.
I think using my electronic device in bed has been horrible for my posture (especially neck) and my wrist joints. Changing the habit of reading in bed has helped both a great deal.
@Fiya Fiya I read my ipad in bed. I still read lying on my side, but now lay with my back, neck, and head in a position similar to what it would be if standing. I let the bed hold the weight of my ipad, and lean it against a smaller pillow. Hope you find something that works for you. Have a wonderful day!
Taro's genuine demeanor is contagious! What I noticed for the past year or so is I started to practice sleeping in all sorts of bizarre arrangements and contexts, like those little cats love to do. Maybe I'm creating some new stress patterns... 😏 But we all like to be a little bad sometimes
I sleep on the side. However, I love to put a long pillow that goes from my chest to the legs so that my upper leg rest horizontal on it. It helps to keep my hip and my top leg straight (not twisting my hip and leg down)! It is probably an early childhood habit but I feel very comforted when I do this!!! it gives also a support for my back and the belly is like "resting" on mommy's body giving confort!
I have 2 herniated disc’s at the base of my neck. Since I’ve decided not to have surgery, I have 2 epidurals a year, 6 months apart. These sleeping suggestions have helped with the pain I’ve experienced when it’s getting close to needing my next procedure. Thanks for the relief. Sure beats tossing and turning all night.
I’ve heard that letting it be, the way you are, is the best way to go. Unless, of course, it gets worse. My Mom had a herniated disc, in her lower back, couldn’t walk, and she was very careful, a lot of bed rest, and it completely healed. Be patient, very patient…that’s the hard part…it takes some time.
I sleep on my side... usually with one pillow and an arm under that pillow. One leg straight and one leg up. Anyone else sleep like this lol or am I the only one?
You can also put a pillow between your legs to make it easier to position your knees together, thereby creating a more symmetric configuration. Make sure you don't tuck your chin toward your chest; instead, deliberately look out and away, such that your neck muscles are not being stressed at all. Straightening one leg out like you do is still fine. Sometimes, it's a good way to stretch muscles along your back, and you'll probably naturally flip from one side to the other throughout the night, thereby giving both sides of your body a stretch or some relaxation.
@@AshOzer 🤣 I wanted to add "stork style", cause that's how we call it in my language... 🙃 My sleeping style, too...Makes you cool even while asleep 🙃...
I’m so glad i found your channel!! I have chronic neck and shoulder pain. I have kyphosis from staying in the same position for hours at a time which is required for my work. I work a lot!!
Yep! I had a really bad hunchback, so bad in fact that I had to have special therapy normal reserved to accident survivors. I hurt like hell and it took me 7 years of training to get it back into place. Now I can proudly say I have a great posture! My left shoulder is pointing in front of me still, I have bunions, lymphoedema and other conditions, but the back is *by far* the most relief I had in my life. I'm pretty active physically now. Well, I figured that one on my own! I thought, if I straighten my back as much as possible while sleeping, it will definitely help. I came with the "hand under pillow, knee up" technique by myself. Great video :)
Side sleeper with 2 pillows here. Thanks for a really informative video! Thanks for the tips on how to reduce the pillow by using a towel. Going to be more aware of my positioning. Much appreciated!!
When you sleep on your side, you also need to be aware of how much you twist your spine. Ideally, there should be no twisting. But this is hard to do. Most people have a little bit of asymmetry in their body. This will be reflected when they sleep on their side. I prefer correcting those asymmetry by exercises.
@@Joan-ot9nf I like to do lateral squats because it exposes your hip imbalance. The problems caused by hip imbalances will propagate upward. And the torso will compensate. That’s why the whole spine will curve or twist to one side. I also do single leg Romanian deadlift, it strengthens the whole posterior chain while exposing the weak side of your body. You will find it harder to keep balance when you work on the weaker side.
I like to call my sleeping position "spinning" I'm changing positions a quarter turn throughout the night because of lost circulation in my arms or legs.
I just want to thank you for your incredibly informative videos. I just came upon them recently. I have been trying to overcome injuries from two major vehicle accidents, both my fault, since 2017. Your video on neck tension has literally eliminated my neck pain. Thank you for these life enhancing videos. You are an angel. God bless you and your family. My path to healing has just gotten shorter because of you. I can not thank you enough!
I snore if I lay flat, but have to lay due to hip issues and vertigo. I sleep in an adjustable bed with my head raised 15° and my feet raised just a little bit. I use a towel underneath my neck to try to get the proper neck curve. I also use a small pillow to give me a little lumbar support. Your videos are very helpful!
Thank you for this information, I'll give it a-go since I have terrible posture and sleep on my side curled up into a ball. I've been trying to make corrections but always fall back into my slumped posture.
My question is how to relax the shoulders, and retrain them to not habitually rise up towards the Eck and head, and to feel comfortable enough to let go, while sleeping? I suspect the position of the arms is also important to the way my spine, pelvis and neck line up. What do you recommend for options. My problem is determining what is really comfortable, because I have become accustomed to feeling uncomfortable. I suspect it has to do with when my body feels that it can release some tension and holding in the neck and shoulders.
Feldenkrais way of thinking is that you support what you are already doing that is your habitual patterns to inform your nervous system what you are doing and you are being supported and no need to keep holding your bodies in that way. When the nervous system recongzes your effort as unnecessary, it will stop holding, which people describe as relaxation. Conform support to your habitual posture, just enough to support you, but not so much that it moves you more in your habitual patterns. This is why we never try to correct ones system. It will correct itself given optimal conditionds.
My posture has changed due to looking down at my iPad for hours. I sell on eBay and often am on the iPad for three or four hours at a stretch. This is encouraging , thank you!
I just found your channel when I was searching for neck and shoulder pain help. I am so glad to have found it. You seem to be so knowledgeable of the human physiology and I love how you explain the movements and your instructions. I have had severe pain in those areas for a very long time. I had a cervical discectomy with fusion in 2004. I also have had severe daily migraines since the late 90s that have gotten progressively worse and all doctors have sort of given up on me. My last headache specialist was able to answer my question as to the cause of my migraines, being the fusion titanium rod in my neck. According to him, and this seems to me to make most sense, It has caused the muscles and tendons surrounding the disks to deteriorate because my disks are not able to move. I also suffer from acid reflux which makes me to have to sleep on a slanted position. What would you recommend for me?
our nervous system is very good at adapting to changes. It allows our bodies to compensate. In case of spinal fusion, the fusion creates limited mobility around the fused spine, allowing the body to move other places. From a movement perspective, you can improve distribution of movement through the rest of the spine and improve unnecessary tension around your neck especially upper cervical spine.
I’m a back sleeper. Literally flat on my back. I toss my pillow on the floor and end up using a small baby blanket I picked up at Walmart for under my neck. People always give me weird looks when they ask, but hey, it’s comfortable
I sleep on the side but I also hug myself, like, I clutch my arms in my chest and I crunch in a kinda fetal posture. I wake up every morning with so much pain in my back, shoulders and neck, and even headache, I do hope this video helps!!
Amazingly helpful. I am making so many mistakes. Look forward to trying out what you recommend for a side sleeper. Thanks so much! I appreciate your detailed explanations and the why behind what is happening. I am stressing my system by how I am sleeping and didn't even know it is reinforcing bad posture.
please try different types of pillows my friends. it can make a very big difference. I prefer the ones that are filled with many small pieces of memory foam or other foam instead of poly fiber fill or feathers. poly fiber is cool for warmth in sleeping bag but I don't like it in a pillow. I like maximum surface support over the largest area for my head and neck and I have found a type of pillow that does that for me thankfully. You can even find them at thrift stores!
Thank you so much for sharing you knowledge and insights with us! I have always slept on my side, and thank God that is a pretty good position for the back. But I find that I get stiff and sore if I stay in any one position for too long. So I keep flipping from left side to right side. Once my shoulders grew broad enough, I found trouble with the one I'm sleeping on. It's been a lifelong experiment to try and find the right height and support. Too high or too much pillow, and it takes the tension off the shoulder, but I get more on the neck. Too low and the opposite happens. Often it all helps keep the spine as straight as possible head to pelvis. But one thing that I noticed that does tend to throw this position into a head forward hunch is if I feel I need relief in my lower back from a "back bow" or bringing my knees up to make a curve that compensates for the inward "compression" curve of the lower back from working on my feet all day. This helps the lower back, along with a knee pillow, but can sometimes be too much of a fetal position ball that makes me want to bring my head forward and cause the habitual position you speak of.
I just discovered your work. Thank you for sharing your gifts. Many of us working with digestive problems, sleep with a pillow combination that raises our heads above our bodies. Lying flat does not seem to aid digestion. I can see that this posture adversely affects the body in other ways. What do you suggest to approach both digestion and proper night time posture?
A great question. You can raise head without pushing your head forward. if you observe a relationship between head and the spine. If your chin is moving closer to chest, a pillow is pushing head forward. So you can set up a pillow optimally and you can raise your head without pushing head forward. Hope this makes sense and helps you.
@@shermarynlebay3636 I also have patients with GERD put a small lift under the head side of the legs of the bed. Just 1/4 or 1/2 inch can make a big difference. I recommend an inexpensive felt pad.
I’ve been trying to figure out why this $75 butterfly-shaped pillow seems to be making me so miserable, so I took selfies to see my head position, and based on your video, I see why it has made me so uncomfortable! I didn’t know what was wrong, so I kept the pillow, but now I see how to fix it.
I clench my jaws at an angle and grind my teeth at night, resulting in waking up with shoulder, neck & headache. I wore a night-guard for a while. How do I cure those aches and stop clenching? Any helpful hints. Taro, your accent is really good. ~Mary, English teacher in Yokohama.
Hi Mary san. I recommend my breathing awareness video which can be found under my Improve Breathing Playlist. Listening to this video before you go to bed might help reduce teeth grinding at night.
This is great. I tend to move a lot due to pain. I have had a couple of times I remember when I felt totally relaxed and I lay stretched out all night! No pain. My usual is all scrunched up in a tight ball. Shoulders always up near my ears. I like the mindful posture correction. That works better than anything. Not forcing things💜
After a lifetime of sleeping with a pillow when face up, it was uncomfortable to sleep without one. Over time, it’s become more comfortable to use no pillow than even a slim one.
I already knew that from direct observation. Tendon and connective tissue lengths are vegetative and respond slowly to habits. Even bone can be affected but only over decades rather than months or a few years. The important concept to realize is that most furniture you will encounter in your life will push you into poor posture positions (esp. car seats) for the simple reason that many people already have poor posture and manufacturers want to make the majority of their customers comfortable....even if it's bad for them. You need to try and rectify all of those bad influences during the day by reinforcing a straighter back at night. No pillow under the head....pillows under the head reinforces hunching. The idea of a small towel roll or rag to support the neck though is fine, but it requires fine tuning.
Love your vidio ..I have been doing the feldencrais method for a year now…I use various different teachings on hear..I love yours for what I call a quick fix when my day is busy and can’t fit in a long class..thank you for these amazing movements…the simplest is allways the best..🙌
I probably already know the answer is “just don’t do it”, but how can someone improve their posture if they are a stomach sleeper? This video mostly focused on side and back sleepers from what I gathered.
Actually, the reason why i didnt include stomach sleeper is because most with flexed posture dont sleep on stomach due to discomfort. Lying on stomach encourages spinal extension which is the opposite of their habitual postural patterns. So if you can sleep comfortably on your stomach, there is nothing wrong with that.
@@TaroIwamoto im a stomach sleeper and my neck has been HECKIN messed up from it :/ is there a a way to sleep on ur stomach without avoiding the levator/uppertraps?
👍I sleep on the side and i use a pillow(micro balls) between legs and another one under my upper arm and since that NO TENSION at all and good sleeping . Good video👏thanks 👌
Anna, I am intrigued by your mention of "micro ball" pillows for your leg pillow. I have always found I need a leg pillow between my knees to relieve lower back tension. But I really need very little between my knees. Most leg pillows are too thick. I am currently using a squishy down pillow which I can get to the right thickness, but it ends up getting way too warm between my thighs (sorry if tmi), and the whole pillow is just too big. I kind of need something thin, but also small enough that I can easily keep it in place when turning from sleeping on right side/left side without having negotiate too much, and thereby wake up too much. Thanks for any suggestions.
Having a Soft mattress that you sink into will encase your body locking you into uncomfortable positions that will deteriorate you. i recommend switching to firmer mattress or if that is not an option throw a blanket down and sleep on the floor. Sleeping on the floor will be a weird at first but will train your body to unconciously move and adjust yourself out of comprimising positions. i speak of experience in my old apartment i only had AC in the living room so i would go sleep on the floor of that room.
As a side sleeper, I looked at advice as to which side. The articles recommending the left side make sense to me...in assisting the pattern of blood return to the heart. Since forming this habit, I rarely wake 'til usual time. Earplugs and dark pillow cases (small pillow over right side of head) help as well.
One more...in morning stretches and throughout day, I make sure I can fit all four knuckles between lower ribs and hipbones. Do not want spine to 'collapse' there, into the dreaded 'womens' half-size' figure seen in the 1950s.
Thank you so much for very sound advice. I have long dreadlocks and all that hair at the back of my neck when I sleep causes my neck and back to round, and consequently, terrible neck pain and stiffness. This video really helps and even gave me the idea of putting my hair up in a high bun when I sleep. Something I never thought of before.
Thank you for your knowledge and sharing with us. The word hunchback pushed my buttons because of my childhood perhaps and remembering the movie The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996 film). Perhaps your generation did not know about that.
I have Sjogren's, dextroscoliosis, arthritis, spinal stenosis, and a thyroid problem. My scoliosis has gotten worse since having malnutrition due to a bile duct problem. I was down to 98 lbs and at one point given 18 months to live. My family has made fun of my loving so many pillows in bed but they don't have my pain and insomnia due to the pain.
It seems to be the desire to get in a “fetal position” when I’m sleeping that gets my head down into my chest. Conscious relaxing and resettling into a healthier position (lengthening my neck) is the only thing that helps me.
thats natural, and nothing wrong with that. just becoming aware of your habitual positions and movement patterns is often enough to change their movement.
@@TaroIwamoto yeah! Wake up 8 times a night to reset what you do while asleep. Thats absolutely healthy and won't cause sleeping during daytime and overeating carbs at all. How can you possibly advise someone things like that?!!! Any adult - doesn't have to be any sort of a medic - knows that people don't control anything in their sleep. Best case scenario: they wake up to pee...and some fail to do even that. Its good old blaming the victim.
I sleep on my side and curve my neck too far towards my chest. That can’t be good for my posture and I do wake up from that position because of the pain and straight up, but I don’t know how long that lasts!
I toss and turn the entire night with fibromyalgia and sciatica, from side to side and on my back, I try consciously not sleep on my tummy, knowing how bad it is for your spine. Can't believe until 10 years ago, i fell asleep almost immediately my head hit the pillow, and woke up in the same position the next morning!
you really dont need to adjust your sleep position unless its causing discmfort. but if you have forward head, round shoulder posture, you want to recognize relationship between your sleep position and your posture.
I sleep on my back and since I started sleeping on a softer mattress, I have bad posture. My shoulders are coming forward more and more, I never had this problem before. I am getting a hard mattress again, I liked it much better.
I would love for you to do a video on stomach sleepers. I know everyone says it's horrible for your back but my lower back rarely hurts unless I'm stressed and don't sleep well. I have been a majority stomach sleeper part time side sleeper since a baby but due to my long limbs/proportions, chest, growing up sleeping on my back has resulted in sleep paralysis/ nightmares and sleeping on my side for too long, neck supported, head tilting down still results in numbness in my arm hence why back to my belly by the time I wake up. That being said, I discovered sleeping with a king sized quality pillow has made it easier to sleep on my side to tuck it under my head, chest and the rest of my body prevents me from turning too much on my belly. My friend is like me and she too slept better on her stomach/ fetal position when we jointly discovered this similarity. Is it possible that stomach sleeping isn't that bad? Ive seen an osteopath and they are suprised at my alignment. Trapezius pain, not my back is my biggest problem but I've been told the shoulder pain and cramping has to do with desk work. I'm just curious on your perspective on proportions and styles of sleeping. No judgment at all! if you agree or disagree :). I came here to learn. Thank you and I'm glad I recently found you and yes, what ever you say you're not liable 😊. Errors and emissions and you can't possibly diagnose without seeing someone, just a general idea for people like myself. Thank you!
Thank you for your comment and question. My belief is that there is really no bad, wrong movement and posture in general. What is not helpful is that we are stuck in habitual patterns without being aware of it, which will lead to mobility and balance issues over time. So I dont personally see any problem with sleeping on stomach unless thats causing pain and discomfort. My point for this video is to help people become aware of a relationship between habitual patterns and their current posture.
Thank you very much for this video I am a preferred stomach sleeper, with an overstretched neck posture, also accepting the baby curl; after a motorcycle accident Currently trying to retrain my hypermobile body to correct resting posture. As walking and other active positions is fine
what is often challenging for people with hypermobility is to sense and feel their body accurately and control their movements as they can move a lot in multiple directions. Improving body awareness and movement control would be very helpful
@@TaroIwamoto I'm very aware of that thank you I had a movement therapy session to help me point that out I seem to have slouched my bottom back in turn my shoulders hunch over and my neck over corrects back again A good chair helps greatly, planking to strengthen my core, and knowing how to 'stack' my back helps when sitting, but I keep waking up with extreme pain in my neck from a tight neckmuscles From this video I understand that is due to a too soft pillow, and a faulty sleeping position I woke up without neck pain this morning using your pointers
Great video and thank you so much kind sir :-) quick question my wife would like to know what is the best position to sleep in while breastfeeding a baby?
That's a tough question:) The position has to be comfortable for both your wife and her baby, so there has to be lots of experimentations to figure out what is the best position for both. Unfortunately I am not able to give you a definite answer.. Make sure she uses several pillows to support her body (neck, shoulders, back, etc).
I like you approaches! As such, I'd like to support: If you use the skeleton, make sure 'not' to use cloths, that are busy or w/ patterns. That could interfere, since the skeleton itself is very detailed. At the best: use a black or dark gray fabric.
I am in a real trouble. Bought so many pillows over the years but every one of them made me have a headache...and not the normal headache but excrutiating one. I can only use one feather pillow, really flat and uncomfortable but doesn't give me a headache. I even have to carry it with me if I travel and this is really tiring. My daughter have the same problem
I am sorry you are struggling with sleep. I find gentle movement retraining helpful for people who struggle with sleep as it will allow the body to become more adaptable, and people can adapt to their bed and pillow more comfortably.
Another great video!!!. Taro, is it better for us to try to change our sleeping style?, should we try to be back sleepers?, as I understand it is better right?
Thanks! From my experience, as you improve your movement quality through various movement practice, your body can adapt to any surface more easily and comfortably, and you can sleep more comfortably in any position.
I have enjoyed using a "standard" My Pillow - it can be shaped where I want it and holds for a long time the way you shape it. They also have a "body pillow" for between your knees when sleeping, which is on my list to order.
