The Miracle Ball Method

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Hips on 2 balls

After Work or Hard Workout Destressing: Hips on Two Balls

After a long day on the job or an uber work out, it is important to let your body recover and readjust anything that you may have tweaked out of alignment—such as your lower back.

That’s where the Hips on Two Balls move comes in!

As with all the Miracle Ball moves, learn to use the balls to simply rest on. Yes, it does seem somewhat counterintuitive, but it’s not. That’s the Miracle!

Exhale….ssssss….and let your own body weight and the placement of the balls give you the sensation of relief — mentally and physically. Once you allow your body to STOP, it can then go to work and you can feel that magic happening.

Watch the Hips on Two Balls video and notice that the two balls are strategically placed to relieve lower back ache. Hips on Two Balls is also a great move to do the day after a work out to relieve ‘day-after’ stiffness.

That Irritating Muffin Top 

That Irritating Muffin Top 

A ‘Muffin Top’ is really just a silly way of referring to the muscles around the middle of the body that are somewhat underused.

Many of us exercise and get disappointed when our shape remains the same. We want our core or waist area to slim down, tighten up, or lengthen, yet it stays the same –but– other areas of our body get tighter and tighter.

Very, very irritating.

Let’s move this picture around!

Think of the act of tying your shoelaces. If the laces are knotted you cannot create a bow. The Miracle Ball Method takes the tension down in the muscles, or, in other words, loosens some of these knots so you can begin to move differently and create the shape you want. The tightest areas of our body tend to work the hardest, and that prevents other areas like the waist from getting the chance to move freely and then slim down.

The intent of The Miracle Ball Method is not to rub, exercise or find trigger points with the ball, but to gain feeling in those underused areas of the body. ‘Find your parts,’ I always say. (We can’t move what we don’t feel.) Ribs on the Ball (page 244 in the book) is a great ball placement– although probably the hardest — and will help you loosen those tighter muscles and give you a way in to feeling and then moving the waistline. If you aren’t familiar with The Miracle Ball Method go to the Ribs on the Ball placement gradually or start with an easier ball placement.

After you use the Method and understand it a bit, look at the video and see if you can sense when you are overusing one part, and underusing another part.

As always–don’t force it. Remember “the Miracle” is your own body. Eventually, with the combination of the Miracle Ball Moves and your own exercise routine, the only muffin top you’ll know is the one on the top of your real muffin.

As always, if you don’t have the book and the Miracle Balls, you can get them here: (https://miracleballmethod.com/shop/) and many other products that will help you Relieve + Reshape + Reduce your Stress.

The Miracle Ball Method - Elbow on the Ball

Elbow on Ball

Elbow on Ball is a great way to relieve stiffness in your shoulders and tightness in your neck. See page 223 in The Miracle Ball Method™ book for more details — and check out this video to see ball placement. Remember to take it slow and BREATHE…

Talk About That Back!

Most of us have areas of the body that are extra tight at the end of a day. Sometimes that tightness can even prevent a good night’s sleep and last through the next day. For many, the low back is one of those areas. Take a look at the video and see how just bending the knees can ease the low back muscles and enhance much needed circulation. By adding the ball under your pelvis, (either one or two strategically placed), your body begins to “un”do all the extra tightening in the low back. Let gravity and this great ball placement do the work for you. 

By the way, holding our breath is also something we practice. Remember, most of us have no trouble breathing but what we don’t know is that we often ”hold” our bodies so tightly that it prevents us from breathing naturally. Take that tight ace bandage off your ribs and use the sssss sound when on the ball. Feel the relief. “Sssssuper, yes?”

The Knee Bone’s Connected to the Hip Bone…

Talk to any runner, dancer, tennis player, martial artist, etc. and they will tell you how important healthy, happy knees are to the rest of their body. But as a lot of us experience — athlete or not – our knees aren’t always happy.

Think of your knees as an important link to all the other parts of our body, especially the hips. The pressure on our knees can often be greatly improved day to day if we are mindful of that hip joint connection. If you have been running, dancing, playing a sport or simply sitting for a long time, your hips can get stiff. This stiffness will put a good deal of pressure on your knees. Knee on the Ball (see the video) is another one of my absolute favorite moves. Try it out and see (and hopefully become aware of and feel) the other end of the knee joint — your hips!! As you gently move your knee on the ball you can feel your hip also moving. On a personal note, I love to do this move after a long car ride. I get sciatic pain on my right side when I sit too long and I eventually realized that it was because I was clenching the muscles of my right hip. Knee on the Ball helps me to ease that right side pain and allows my body to realign. Knee on the Ball is also a great way to allow your body to basically “tune up” after a hard gym workout (and run) and relieve some chronic holding (tensing?) in the glutes (located in your buttocks). Remember: Don’t force anything. Just resting on the ball allows you to feel the weight and realign yourself. Remember to check in with your breathing…sssss! Check out pages 154-157 in the Miracle Ball Method book for more information. Don’t have the book? Get on the Ball and go to the SHOP page.

Good luck to all you runners in the New York City Marathon on the 4th!

Gravity

Gravity

Gravity. Got it love it! Here’s a Miracle Ball Method student at her desk at Stamford Office Furniture letting the weight of her body do something that another MBM student calls “stretching without stretching.” So easy and your back will feel so great afterwards. Have you done a Must-Do Move today? Yes? We want to see it! Post it on our Facebook page.

Twin Skin

Twin Skin

Happy Birthday John and Lucas! Although having two babies at the same time had its challenges, I can’t say it wasn’t amazing. I thank God that I knew the Method at that time. After the birth, I had what I found out was called “twin skin.” I could roll up my belly like a towel and tuck it into my pants! My boys were big babies — seven pounds each — and I felt like my body had been through a war — not that I know what that is like — but it was a shock! Using key components of the Method and the breathing really helped to ease my anxiety about returning back to my old self. The happy surprise was feeling even better than before I was pregnant! Miracle Ball Method for Moms for sure.

Pick up your The Miracle Ball Method for Pregnancy kit for post-baby reshaping—and its great for before you give birth, too!

Must-Do Move to Restore-Relieve-Renew: Raise Your Hands

For stiff shoulders, carpal tunnel syndrome, and a great stress reducer.

Hands are extremely connected to movement and to moving with freedom and flow – just look at any sport, dance, martial arts, or folk dancing around the world. Unfortunately, though, most of us don’t realize the connection of our hands to the rest of our body. And often, we don’t reach, we grab. We don’t wrap, we grasp tightly. Our hands pull us forward at the computer and while texting, they roll our shoulders forward or back. When our hands stiffen up it actually creates a chain reaction of stiffness throughout our bodies.

What to do: Whether you are sitting at your kitchen table, lying in bed, or on the floor, rest your wrist over the ball. Let the power of gravity do the work as you cue yourself to “un” work and unwind those gnarled fingers. Feel that loosening up into the arm gradually as you move each finger and gently bend at the wrist.

Remember. Go slowly. The movement should be unforced and painless. This move will loosen that “grip” our hands have on things we hold, carry, and touch all day. It will bring back flexibility, circulation and blood flow — which will in turn benefit the rest of your body. This move of one of my student’s favorites and I know it will be yours, too.

Feet

Must-Do Move to Restore-Relieve-Renew: Standing on Your Own Two Feet

When I look at peoples’ feet, I sometimes think of the scene in the Wizard of Oz where the witch’s feet shrivel up when the Wicked Witch of the West goes for her ruby slippers.

Feet need to move — and in many, many directions. Most of us just stand on them in cramped shoes and they can feel crushed.

A great move to pamper hardworking feet is FOOT ON THE BALL. Lie on a couch, the floor, or in bed and gently bend one knee and rest your (shoeless) foot on the ball.

Wait there until your foot begins to anchor against the ball and starts to gradually relax on the ball. If you rush it, it may feel good, but most of the work to move the ball will be done by your legs. We don’t want that. Now, start moving your foot on the ball. Rest your arch on it, then slide your foot back and rest on the ball of your foot and then finally, move to your heel. When you have done this for a minute or two, slide your foot along the ball and stretch your leg out. The ball will end up somewhere under your ankle or calf. This should not hurt, but if it does, and you need support for your knee, use a second ball. Just rest and let gravity do the job. Add some ‘sssss’ breathing sounds, too. This is a great move when you’re glued to the TV watching those long fall football games.

General tip: Strengthen and stretch
Move your feet often. Before you get out of bed in the morning, flex and stretch them several times. Also roll your ankles around. And, while drinking your morning coffee, stand at the kitchen counter and go up and down on your feet. All of these moves are easy to incorporate into your day — at your desk, standing on the coffee or grocery store line, etc.

Remember, if you’re good to your feet, there’s no telling where they’ll take you!

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