I Heart the Miracle Ball

I'd like to give a product endorsement for the Miracle Ball.  I first came upon the Miracle Ball in the fall of 2006.  We'd moved to Virginia and hadn't gotten settled yet, and Corey's back was aching regularly and he hadn't found a chiropractor.  I saw the Miracle Ball at Costco and figured it was a good alternative until he found a more permanent solution.  And we both loved these little things.  I remember hiding in my dark closet and laying on the balls and just letting the stress of my muscles fly away, it was very very nice and relaxing.  Being un-stressed by these balls might be one of the reasons why Virginia was such a great experience and why I absolutely loved it there.  I highly recommend these little miracle balls. They come with a booklet that explains how to use them.  Good stuff.

The kids keep using them as their toys over the years, so they've gotten lost and thrown over the fences or something and are always disappearing and I'm having to buy new ones.  I've got the purple pregnancy pair now that I keep a close eye on and do my best to keep away from the kids.  I'm not able to lay down on the floor very comfortably right now, but Corey uses them still, and I recently had Joe use them ~ here's that story.

On May 8th, the Wednesday after we got home from California, Joseph came to me at night complaining of a painful and stiff hip.  He tried to remember when the pain first started, it was small at first.  We tried to think of what he might have done that caused it to get injured, thinking maybe he landed wrong when he was using the waterslide at the resort ~at the beginning of it you could kinda swing yourself and drop into it.  Also, that night for scouts, they had gone up Bell Canyon on a hike and he fell out of a tree he was climbing.  Then he also ran down the mountain on the hike down.  Two things not good for ones hips, especially if one does not stretch.  So I'm thinking his pain is from tight muscles and joints.  Joe was hurting so bad he could hardly walk, he was trying to be tough but still had tears streaming down in face.  Gave him some asprin, did some googling, and tried to think more of what it could be, but I thought it was stress.  This boy is on the go go go all the time.  For example, on this particular day, he'd left for school at 5:30 a.m. for volleyball practice, then band right after, school all day, stayed after school for track, when he got home at 6:30 he ran in and asked if there was any food-on-the-go cause he had scouts and they were going on a hike, and he grabbed something and ran out.  Came home around 8 and tried to practice music despite the pain, that's when he came to me and told me he was hurting and I took him up to my closet and read to him the first few chapters of the Miracle Ball Book about breathing (breath out slowly while making the "ssss" sound), relaxing, and learning to no hold your breath and your stress in your muscles.  I had him lay down on the miracle ball and told him to relax.  His feet were still totally flexed.  RELAX kid.  You're too young to start seeing a chiropractor already!  Come on, breath.  You're too busy, you gotta slow down your life a bit...  I'm going to intervene here, Mr. Ambitious.  Seriously, I wasn't this busy when I was in 7th grade, it's ridiculous.  Maybe when I was a Senior in high school, but in 7th grade, no, this has got to stop.  He agreed he's gonna skip out on the volleyball next time, but he likes track and band, and 2 things might be okay, I'll think about it.  So the next morning he was still hurting, but not as bad.  I had him stay in bed, use Ethan's crutches to get around, and he stayed home from school and just slept and breathed and relaxed (while I played "yoga relaxation" music on shuffle repeat for him).

He was better by evening and went to school the next day, and now stretching and breathing properly are a part of our daily conversation with each other.  Don't know if Joe or I will ever be as limber as Miss Melodie the Flexible Wonder, but hopefully we'll be able to get rid of some of the stressful "issues in our tissues" (see the video at this link, watch from the beginning to 1:25).  So if you're stuffering from tight hamstrings and lower back pain, start with the miracle ball like us, and the 4 stretches the yoga lady recommends in that video link, and we'll see where we are in a year or so.  :)