Yoga tune

Yoga Tune Up Therapy Ball Pair, $18.69 at Amazon

About 10 years ago my favorite yoga studio began offering a weekly class called "Yoga Ball Therapy." I had no idea what the class was about, but the fact that it had both "yoga" and "therapy" in the title was enough to lure me in.

Turns out, the hour-long class was less yoga and more self-kneading. Those of us attending the class used balls of various sizes and levels of firmness to work out kinks in our muscles, covering everything from our skulls to our feet. We stretched out on our mats with the balls underneath us to release pressure in our backs. We took a ball in our hand and rubbed it along our jaws and temples to ease TMJ. We stood with a ball under our foot to ease plantar fasciitis pain. It was shocking to realize just how tight and sore our muscles were and how much better we felt after an hour of yoga ball therapy. By the end of the class we all had that "just left the spa" vibe.

The class was taught by an Australian woman with a lovely accent and delicious sense of humor (which is helpful when instructions include phrases like "take out your ball sack" and "put your balls to the wall"). She informed us that the balls we were using were created by a woman named Jill Miller, who had created an entire business, Tune Up Fitness Worldwide, that focuses on self-care and mobility.

As soon as I finished my first class, I signed up for the next one and ordered my own set of Yoga Tune Up Therapy Balls. Since then, I've been hooked.

My body is basically one big mass of tension. I carry stress in my neck, shoulders, back, and hips. I've been getting migraine headaches since age four (inherited from my mom's family) and have had bouts of plantar fasciitis for years. Needless to say, I've put my Yoga Tune Up Therapy Balls to use.

The balls come in a variety of sizes and offer different benefits:

Over the years, I've accumulated all of these products, though I use the "OG" Yoga Tune Up Therapy Balls the most. I have a pair stashed in my bedside table and another in my office desk, and I always bring one with me when traveling. The balls were an enormous help when I was dealing with plantar fasciitis and they're excellent at working out tension in my neck, back, hips, and calves.

It can be awkward to try to use yoga therapy balls, especially if you've never used them before (which is why I was so appreciative for the class I took at my yoga studio). Thankfully, Jill Miller offers a number of instructional DVDs, virtual classes, and self-care videos on her website as well as her YouTube channel.

In addition, she wrote a book, The Roll Model: A Step-By-Step Guide to Erase Pain, Improve Mobility, and Live Better in Your Body, which is basically the bible of her Roll Model Method. The book is a fantastic resource, especially if you have some kind of pain and aren't sure how to best use the Yoga Tune Up Therapy Balls to treat it. (When I was dealing with plantar fasciitis in my foot I took photos of the book's pages related to legs and feet so I could refer to them on my phone while away from home.)

Though I'm not a daily yoga practitioner — as with most people, parenting, and work often get in the way of my best intentions — I am so grateful to have learned about the Tune-Up Fitness products. They've played a huge role in helping me to ease tension and get through life pain-free.

Sandra Ebejer lives in upstate New York with her husband, son, and two cats who haven't figured out how to get along. Her work has been published in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Real Simple, Writer's Digest, Shondaland, and others. Read more at sandraebejer.com.