Hey, it's Robyn Openshaw.
I'm the green smoothie girl and I want to talk to you about how I solved my back issues.
I did not really come into the world with a healthy back.
Or what I should say is when I was five I was in a car accident and
a hit and run driver hit us and I was sitting on the floor of my parents station wagon and I flew up
and I hit the ceiling of the station wagon.
I also was born with forceps.
My due date was miscalculated and I was dragged out with two and a half hours of forceps.
And so at a very young age I had no spinal curvature in my neck.
And so my spine looked like this in my neck when your curvature is supposed to look like this.
And so I had some challenges to overcome and I don't know if I necessarily have the ideal curvature but I'll tell you the things that I did.
It's never just one thing,
right?
That's one of the problems with trying to study holistic health is it's never one thing.
But I want to tell you things that are the reason why I've had zero back pain in the last eight and a half years.
The things that have made the most difference.
I actually was in an ATV accident several years ago and spent six days in bed.
Couldn't knock it out of bed.
But 12 days after the accident I was running.
Even though I had broken two ribs.
I was feeling good and running and playing tennis 12 days later.
I want to share some things that have made a big impact on my back health.
The number one thing that I think is so important is stretching and getting up out of your seat.
If you have a desk job and most of us do.
Most professionals are sitting at a desk for way too many hours a day than we were built to do.
And so you may not have the money for those adjustable desks and wouldn't those be nice,
right?
But I actually just got a $30 stand.
I'm not sitting for a long time. I don't want to sit.
But I try to make sure I'm not sitting for long periods of time.
Because when you are,
you can imagine, just imagine your spine compressing.
You're literally getting shorter.
And it will not only make a difference on your spinal health.
But studies show that people who sit for too many hours a day.
People who watch a lot of TV literally are taking years off their life.
They are in great jeopardy of higher,
well higher chance of mortality.
And I think that's the number one thing I'm looking for.
And I like to give up on yoga, and I'm going to give up on the first time. I'm going to sit down with the person sitting at my chair. It requires some discipline.
For a while it was hit or miss and now I always get up.
When I am on the phone.
And while I'm up I might as well be doing some stretches.
So I have a repertoire of yoga poses,
if you go to yoga class it takes ten times.
Do not give up on yoga because you don't like it the first time or the third time or the fifth time.
It's like skiing.
It's going to suck the first time.
You are not going to be good at it,
everybody around you is going to be more flexible than you.
But give it ten times and certainly notice the impact on your quality of life.
So you are not going to feelak. There is nothing that I do
that I have more noticeable impact on my quality of life than my long term yoga practice.
So just remember that it's going to take some practice,
but doing yoga stretches whether you have time to go to a one hour yoga class at a yoga studio or not can make a real difference in your flexibility.
I am very very flexible now and in high school I had no flexibility at all.
I was so embarrassed in like
gymnastics class.
You really can change your flexibility at any age.
There is plenty of good anti-inflammatory supplements out there.
I did a short video on that.
You are welcome to review those rather than go into detail here.
I am really old.
Also make sure you are getting plenty of minerals.
I like to get mine.
We actually make Green Smoothie Girl Ultimate Minerals because it's right out of the earth.
We get it right out of ancient plant deposits.
I put a dropper full of our ultimate minerals in my water first thing in the morning and late at night and it has made a really significant difference in my health.
I hope you get up.
I hope you get moving.
I hope if you sit for your job that you start doing some of it standing up.
I hope you take a walk while you are on the phone at work.
Find a place that you can leave the building and walk around outside if you know it's going to be a 30 minute meeting.
These are things that have made a significant difference for me.