How many people do you know who are scared of the floor – the getting down or getting up? These same people start doing less. They stop feeling it necessary to sit or move on the floor because they are afraid of falling. Soon this fear of falling becomes bigger and bigger and the idea of getting on to the floor even scarier.
As children we fall so often that it is impossible to keep count. We fall with ease, laugh when we fall and even if there is ‘a hurt’ involved we are soon up and falling again. What happens to change all this?
If we could enjoy falling once, why not again?
Our early falling is the means to our learning to function upright. Yet at some point in life we give up the fun and learning that falling provides. Falling becomes more associated with failure than discovery.
Over time our ability “to fall” atrophies and worse still, becomes something we fear and avoid.
A ‘catch 22’ situation develops
- We fear falling therefore we limit our movement – we stop exploring and discovering ’how’. - Our fear of falling grows and gets bigger, so we restrict the variety of our movement and use the floor even less. - More anxiety about a fall.
Like any fear a change in mind-set is necessary if you want to ‘move on’. In learning how to fall we remove the worry ‘what will happen if I fall’?
Start by getting on the floor every day. It is immensely helpful to the muscles to roll around on the floor, the way a dog or cat might, using your hips and shoulders to move yourself.
Learning to fall is for most adults an unfamiliar experience When we are no longer children it is more difficult to break the trajectory of our lives and do something new.
The floor needs to be your friend. It’s always there for you. You've got to get comfortable with the ground.
