Plowing

With my legs over my head in what's known as the "Plow" pose, I grab my hands and pull my arms together behind my back. It's kind of hard to visualize, but you might get close by imagining me in the middle of a dive at the Olympics, doing a pike, but then the pool turns out to be empty and I land on my neck. 

And as my shoulder blades squeeze together, the accumulated tension of two weeks carrying my bags through several miles of Japanese and American airports and train stations suddenly asserts itself, and the muscles along the length of my spine seize up.

I come out of the pose slowly, gently, all the while knowing that when I get up, I probably won't be able to stand up straight.