Perfect Poise, Perfect Life
Bring your body into balance and revolutionise your life
By Noel Kingsley
Publisher Hodder Mobius
AVAILABLE HERE
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Changing how we do things
It's easy to cause too much strain in our body when doing things. Such simple daily activities as typing, writing with a pen or chopping vegetables, can cause strain in muscles if we are prone to exerting more pressure and tension than necessary. But as we are so used to doing things in a certain way, we don't think about it and our 'manner of use' is habitual. With repetition and doing the activity for lengthy periods can cause strain and discomfort. Long-term it can be debilitating.
I have been giving Alexander Technique lessons to a number of people recently who have experienced discomfort from doing various activities, and some considerations about this came to mind that I thought I'd share with you.
So often, if we experience pain or discomfort while doing something, we think that this particular activity isn't good for us. It's harmful. Yet, if we look around, we may see other people who can do the same thing without any trouble at all. And it's understandable if we think that they are blessed and we are inadequate or deficient in some way. But this is not necessarily true.
Clearly we are all different, and some of us are better equipped with strong muscles to cope with certain activities than others. I certainly wouldn't like to go digging a garden for a whole day when I'm not used to it, yet full-time gardeners may have no difficulty at all. So with this in mind, there is one consideration that immediately comes to mind. If you haven't done something before that is likely to be demanding in terms of strength, stamina or ability, don't do it for very long on your first occasions. Build up slowly so you don't injure yourself. If you've not done any running for years, but decide to start in order to get fit, don't go out and run for an hour. Start with ten minutes and walk if need be to revive before continuing if you're aching. A lot of damage can be done by over-doing activities we're not accustomed to.
But when we see people managing to do simple tasks such as typing or ironing and not suffering pain when we may do, there is another consideration to bear in mind. It may not be the task that's the problem, but the way in which we do that task. We may be doing the task completely differently. If we suffer from tense wrists and aching forearms while typing, it's quite likely that we are exerting far more pressure and tension through our arms than someone else who manages without pain. Yes, we've got used to doing things our way, and it feels 'normal'. But it may not be the best way.
So it's a good idea, to change the way we do things.
Choose an activity that you feel causes you some strain. This may be just sitting at a desk, ironing or typing at a computer. Decide that you’d like to change the way that you do it in order to reduce the strain. So you may decide to sit down when ironing and adjust the height of the board so that your elbows and forearms are level. You may let the iron do the work rather than pressing it downwards and straining your neck and shoulders. If' you are chopping vegetables, don't grip the knife, avoid hunching your shoulder and let the knife go through as you use a sliding motion. And make sure it's sharp!
If you typing, you may choose to raise or lower your chair so that again, your wrists are not higher than your elbows and your feet remain flat on the floor. Try and relax your wrists and fingers. Don't hammer the keyboard but gently tap. How little pressure can you use to do the same thing? Adjust the lumbar support and arm rests to suit. Remember to release your shoulders and neck too. You do this by choosing to free them. A little thought as to how we’re doing it may be a real benefit in avoiding strain.
Changing the way we do something can feel very strange at first because it's different. But by thinking about 'how' we do things, we may find that we can reduce strain enormously and avoid injury.
A little thought goes a long way.
:-)
