SITTING AS A MINDFUL
PRACTICE:
Sitting much?
Students in Tuesday's class have commented on the amount of daily sitting they do, as well as their sitting habits. This, of course, begs the Q : " What is the right way to sit?"
A short answer is "There is none. Human body didn't evolve
with the chair in mind."
The longer version isn't as simplistic. Here is a post I wrote on the
merits of better sitting - check it out whenever you have a moment. I hope it will help you to find a better seat.
It is worth mentioning though, that human body needs movement - a good, nutritious
movement at that - to be healthy. So take breaks, move around, shift, switch, go get a drink, go for walk - do what you can do to break down continuous sitting.
CHAIR as a MOVEMENT TOOL workshop is coming sometime in the new year - watch out for that!
PACING YOUR YOGA
JOURNEY:
Q in one of yesterday's classes: " So you say if it hurts your work it with the ball?"
My answer?
It really depends. Sometimes ball work is appropriate, and other times - not so much.
Each person is different. Each
person's journey is different. Each day and each situation is different.
So how does one even begin to navigate this complex terrain, especially while recovering from chronic pain or injury?
Here are a few PACING IDEAS that will, hopefully, shed light on the situation.
Full disclosure note: this is a very condensed
list that begs to be unpacked at some point in the future. However, it felt very important to plant this seed now - in the past month I watched some of the students grapple with the pacing concept.
1. Find your baseline. A baseline is that amount of activity that you can do and know that the pain won't flare up. A flare up is that increase in pain, often sudden, that leaves you debilitated for hours,
feeling really desperate and doing desperate things. For some people flare up happens the next day or even later.
2. Find your progression. Be gentle on yourself and plan to increase the amount of activity very slightly, but consistently. Plan ahead on how you are going to progress, and stick to the plan - do not be tempted to break the plan and push on. This will lead you right into the boom-bust
trap.
3. Don't flare up, but don't freak out if you do! Because the nervous system alarms are so sensitive it is nearly impossible to completely avoid flare ups. If you do flare up - do not give yourself hard time and stress out. Remember what a flare up is - your nervous system trying to protect you. When you flare up, it can be tempting to give up, forget the plan, forget what you know about pain and seek some radical quick fix
treatment. Don't give up - be persistent.
I know this might sound overly simplistic. The truth is, this process is doing some pretty complex things to your brain and nervous system. It has been proven again and again that if you stick with these simple principles you will gradually be able to overcome the pain. Let's aim there!
Have a good and cozy
weekend!
Julia