Habits

Habits. We all have them, they serve us, but not always, not all the time. Habits by their mere title are so often unconscious.  In Awareness Through Movement classes we explore our habits around holding patterns, around moving and, interestingly, our habits around how we learn.

Some universally identifiable habits or holding/tension patterns include how we breathe, tension in our hands and feet, our tongue and our eyes and holding our breath.

Interesting Fact:

Here’s an interesting fact from research.

We can hold/grip/tighten our hands up to 8 times harder than is necessary.

Wow!! When I first read that statistic I was kind of blown away. Then I started noticing and exploring my strength of grip when holding my toothbrush, by hairbrush, my pen, how hard I press the keys when I type, grip my wine glass, the car steering wheel. OMG, I realised I definitely have a tendency to tighten unnecessarily and can definitely identify with that statistic!

So, I’ve started an exploration around noticing this habit in my hands, that definitely effects arms, shoulders and more centrally my chest and neck and breathing. OMG this is huge. The impact is substantial.

OK so what to do?

• Well, first is to NOTICE...notice WHAT IS without changing anything; noticing my habit. Until we get clear on our habits we can’t make mindful changes.

• So what does it feel like to soften my grip every so slightly, or even more than slightly? I notice that I can breathe more freely, I feel softer in my arms and chest…and even better I realised I don't actually need this habit. I can let this habit go and feel more comfortable, easier & even calmer....

What do you know of your habits? Want to learn more about yourself? Come to a class. Book an appointment. Enrol in one of our workshops. 😀