This is a great self massage technique to relieve neck pain and tension. Interlace your fingers together, letting your thumbs be free and place your hands so that your pinky side of the hands are right at that ridge at the base of your skull. your thumbs are pointing down towards your trapezius muscles towards your traps. Go ahead now and press your thumbs gently towards one another into the sides of your neck. You'll see that it's surprisingly easy to do because you have such good leverage in this position. So your hands and your forearms don't have to work hard to get a good amount of pressure on the neck muscles.

Press and then release following a pathway from your shoulders up to the ridge at the base of the skull. You can do two or three rows starting wide and then narrowing, bringing the thumbs closer in towards the spine. Just never pressing right on top of the spine, never pressing straight into bone. You will feel when the muscles have a little give and will allow your thumbs to press into them. Find that soft tissue and press and hold for a breath before moving to the next