Headaches and a sore right shoulder

Maryanne experienced regular headaches and had a sore right shoulder. Once or twice a week she would get a severe headache that didn’t respond to pain killers. The only thing she could do was to go to bed and sleep it out. She said she had to work hard to make up for this lost time.

She sat opposite me focussed and determined. There was a problem that was stopping her working and she was going to get rid of it. To be more accurate, she wanted me to find it and get rid of it for her.

She worked with computers so I asked her to use mine so I could watch how she organised her body to work.

She sat at the computer leaning more on her right hip. As she sat there typing, her head, neck and right shoulder were all fixed. A flurry of words poured forth. She held the mouse as if it was going to leap out of her hand and peered at the screen, squinting her eyes. She did not look comfortable at all. Not only that but when she got up and walked around she still held her neck, right shoulder and arm with the same level of tension. It was as if she was still typing.

The problem was that this felt normal to her. It took me a little while to get her to feel what she was doing. She was not the sort of person who would consider how she felt. No wonder she was getting headaches. It was probably the only time she stopped working and got a decent rest.

The only way Maryanne could sustain this unnecessary tension was by being unaware of it. Once I showed her how to pay attention she could see how much tension she was putting into the simplest things. We explored how she used her eyes. She realised she could see quite well without squinting and that the mouse could be held quite gently. In fact she began to notice at work and at home how tense she was in everything she did. It created a revolution. She reduced the amount of effort she put into everything and even began to enjoy relaxing. She was actually getting more done in a more enjoyable manner without the regular headaches.

Her face looked smooth and relaxed. There was more to life than work.