Daily Decisions
Daily Decisions
Here’s the audio file for this week’s newsletter: http://tiny.cc/agl6101
All the work to grow, improve, and continue creating daily commitments is a byproduct of the decisions you make and how you commit to a regular practice. It’s work and requires your commitment to act; instead of thinking passively that it will happen, ask: how? You must take action, and the more frequently you tap into this process, the faster you’ll notice lasting improvements. You know the saying, “don’t use it, lose it”, so what are you waiting for? Decide what’s most important to you, then take a small action daily to help this process wire in, and before long, you’ll notice the improvements you were hoping for. It takes commitment and dedication, and who is more important than you and your health and fulfillment? If you desire longevity, remember that this is not a passive process but one that requires commitment and daily action to create a better quality of life.
Science shows that those who move the most increase their stamina and potency and improve their longevity. Now, it’s important to clarify that what’s crucial is not just that you move; while that’s important, the bigger question is: how are you doing what you’re doing? Are you continually pushing against resistance to achieve a desired outcome that might just be creating the opposite result?
Dr. Neelam Misra, an Austin, Texas physiatrist, says that those who move the most stay the most independent in the long run. Like Feldenkrais practitioners, Dr. Misra works to support and help many to restore functioning, especially seniors, whether they are surviving significant neurological events, joint replacements, or any other incapacitating situation that derailed their lives. She shares that staying committed to a daily practice yields significant rewards for restoring function and moving forward, no matter your age. In fact, the factor that best predicted who would improve was those with positive beliefs about what was possible in aging, rather than their genetics or starting fitness level.
Even if fitness hasn’t been your preference, think about how you would like to live the rest of your life. Whether you are returning to a daily practice or awakening to the importance of the quality of your movement and how it will enhance and enable a greater quality of life as you continue to age, you get to choose what’s most important to you. Then what do you tell yourself? Make it possible, start small, and stay within an easy range so that you can come back to the explorations and continue to make them more known and dependable as you begin to feel more capable of taking care of yourself. Can you find happiness in knowing you are taking an action that will facilitate your ability to do what you want as long as you want?
“It doesn’t matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius
Conversations with my students and clients share that simply by tapping into Awareness Through Movement (ATM)® regularly has enabled them to feel comfortable about coming to sit on the floor and then getting back up with greater ease. Several shared how this saved them from falling and breaking bones, or if they did fall, they were able to pause, scan themselves, and slowly, unassisted, come to sit and back to stand. All these magnificently crafted movement lessons help you navigate how to come from standing to sit, then transition to lie on the floor, and reverse the process without holding your breath or at least becoming aware, and how to let go and exhale to make the process easier. The feeling of potency, competency, and resilience is undeniable.
“The lessons are designed to improve ability, that is, to expand the boundaries of the possible, to turn the impossible into the possible, the difficult into the easy, and the easy into the pleasant. For only those activities that are easy and pleasant will become part of a person’s habitual life and will serve them at all times.” – Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais
I hope I’ve earned the privilege of your time and attention this week, and welcome you all to tap into ATM lessons to start your way back to resilience.
Warmest,
Peggi
