For those of us who knit, crochet, sew, quilt — or anyone using their hands as conduits for creativity, the fine motor movements begin to add up over time. What starts as a pleasurable activity can slowly be accompanied by discomfort—aching hands, irritated tendons, or arthritic joints that begin to complain.

With the resurgence of handcrafting across the globe, many of us are spending more time knitting than ever before. While knitting offers stress reduction, meditative rhythms, and brings us joy, the body “behind the stitches” needs nurturing so we can keep doing what we love.

What I have learned is that muscles don't hold tension on their own. Tightness is often the outward sign that something has gotten stuck in the nervous system. All the living we've done — daily routines, sports, activities, injuries, surgeries, and stress — makes its way inward, and yet we keep trying to fix this tension from the outside.

What does that mean in practical terms?

Yanking on a tight muscle isn't going to change the underlying pattern in any lasting way.

A reflective January post on leaning into where we are, stepping away from improvement culture, and choosing awareness over self-correction.

Did you know that from birth to age two, infants begin to explore and discover the world around them and gain knowledge from their senses and motor movements? They call this the "sensorimotor" stage of development.

Last year, while visiting my parents at their retirement home, a nonagenarian resident tapped me on the shoulder. She said, “You do not walk like the rest of your family.”