It's beginning to look a lot like...ouch! ouch! ouch!

Finally! It's Christmas break! Just what I've been waiting for!

I kicked off my break with a massage. Ahhhh....Just what I needed. I was beginning to carry all of my stress in my shoulders and could barely lift my arms past shoulder-height by 2:00 some days. This massage was a must before I could do any kind of relaxing this break.

However, 2 hours after the massage was over, all the tightness came back. Just shrugging my shoulders hurts. Fail.

This morning I kicked off my day with Yoga. I thought that the stretching and relaxing would help me release more stress and get rid of shoulder tension. I definitely felt relaxed after, but not stretched out. The instructor (who was great!) even tried to help me with a few poses and commented on how tight things seemed. What really caught her attention was my quick recoil out of standing splits when my hip cramped up :(

After reading Katye's post about tight hips, I've noticed some tightness in mine. Ok...not some...ALOT! It seems like they will cramp at the slightest odd movement or over-held squat. Yoga has been painful at times because of it. I have always noticed a tightness, but I guess the concentrating on it has made it worse.

I will now include a picture list of things I cause extreme cramping in my hips...

A v-sit and any ab exercises based on this pose are impossible. Plus if I am required to extend my legs out straight from this position, something pops in my right hip. I would "click" at tumbling practice when we did v-sit-ups. It didn't hurt too much, but it was really annoying.

Impossible to hold for longer than 10 seconds! Anytime I suspend my leg out to the side the hip locks up almost instantly.

This one I can do, but I couldn't find a picture of the exercise you do after that looks like you're peeing on the hydrant. That one is killer :(

This one is the reason why I hate toning classes and pilates classes.

So there you have it. Pain city here. This has always been the case, but I've never paid much attention before. Today, the yoga instructor told me that she is a therapist (the specifics I can't remember) that practices myofacial release and gave me her number. I'm debating about calling her. Loosening my hips an releasing the tension in my shoulders would be awesome....since massage doesn't last and is too expensive to do consistently.

Any thoughts or advice?