Our family has recently adopted a set of puppies.  Have you seen a puppy that has gotten in trouble?  Their ears go down and back.  Their shoulders roll forward, and their chest collapses.   At the extreme, the abdominal muscles pull in just like the proverbial “dog putting its tail between its legs”… and their bladder can let go.

I could also see this as a turtle, face down with hard shell to protect their back.  I have seen professional appearing people walking around in almost a fetal position by what I find in their tight muscles. It can be a war zone in the corporate world!  The wars are waged with manipulation and shows of force.

This posture gets extreme when they couldn’t slow down and just kept going until they were falling apart, or when someone has had a severely unsettling experience and now have  “post traumatic stress disorder”.   Many shoulder issues and low back problems can be related to this emotional state.  I have heard that the two weeks after severe stress time is prime time for back injuries and slipped discs.

When people are very tired and run down, there is no energy to stand up straight.  A hump in the neck or mid-back bears testimony to this.  I have seen this “old man’s dowager hump” already forming on many people under severe stress, even for someone in their teens.

Is what you are killing yourself for worth it?  What has taken your energy?

This is the effect of stress playing out in our complex modern world.

If this is happening for you, find those things that are supportive and healthy in your life, and take it easy for a couple of weeks or how ever long it takes to find normalcy.

It’s time to take care of you!  : – )