Here are some examples to think about - How much effort is in the movement – a little, too much or just what is needed? What feels stiff or sore? Are you balanced through your structure? Could you reverse the movement at any time? Does the movement feel light or heavy? Do you hold your breath?
Lack of awareness of how it feels to move leads to excessive force in all that we do from simple activities like flicking off a fly to brushing our teeth, closing a car door and so on. Excessive force creates resistance in ways that we have no sense of – for example most of us push against or resist the ground when we walk, run or stand by locking our knees, holding our breath, contracting our belly and butt muscles and more. If we did not resist the ground then it would feel like the ground is lifting us up as if we are on a magic carpet ride, our joints and muscles yielding and adjusting to the contours of the carpet.
The stiffness and soreness that we experience is from contracted, tight muscles that we are not even aware of. Because of lack of awareness our keeping muscles contracted has become an unconscious habit.
Our movements are unconscious because we are not thinking in the present moment, we are too busy thinking about what we have done or what we plan to do. How it feels to move is what is happening in any given present moment, but since we have disconnected our brain from the present moment we are incapable of feeling how to move any more.
To move easier and with less discomfort we must learn to undo habits and patterns established over the years through lack of awareness.
Far too often we accept that losing functionality is part of the aging process. But by allowing our thinking and attitudes to become more flexible we can continue to improve.
The good news is that we can undo habits and patterns in a fraction of the time it took to entrench them, making it possible to become fully functional whatever age we are.
