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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Recommencing exercise after a break
So you've had to curtail some of your physical activities such as running or house work because you've had an injury to your back. Or you are just wondering how you are going to incorporate your new poise from your Alexander Technique sessions into your normal activities. But what's the best approach to ensure we don't lose the new healthy poise in the process of recommencing or increasing our fitness regime or even just building up our strength or stamina after a break?
If we've suffered from a muscle strain, trapped nerve or back problem and have had the opportunity to have some Alexander Technique lessons, we've probably discovered that a) we had a lot of postural habits than we realised; b) the injury or strain was an 'accident waiting to happen'; c) we feel quite different now that we've had some Alexander Technique lessons and we don't want to return to old habits again as we get active, but which were most likely the cause of our problem.
If we've got postural habits which most of us do, they affect every activity we undertake; we stiffen in ways we did not do as a healthily poised child and being slightly off balance as most of us are and straining to support ourselves against the force of gravity. Now if we go out running, golfing, tennis-ing, DIY-ing or anything else until we're exhausted, our habits get even more pronounced as we tire and we are even more likely to injure ourselves.
The short course in Alexander Technique has helped to revive our natural poise so we're standing more freely, better balanced and upright; we've learnt to bend at our knees so we maintain our balance, we keep our neck free as we move.....so now we want to go out running again.
The thing is, that whatever activity we have done in the past, we are more than likely to have habits associated with that activity; we will run in our own characteristic manner. However it may well be this manner of running that caused the damage to our lumbar disc, muscle strain or whatever, so it makes sense to change the way we run by incorporating the principles that we've learnt, into our activity.
We'll know that the quality of poise that enables us to function at our best is free, in balance and expansive; we want to be very loose, lengthening and widening in stature. This requires us to free our neck as often as possible and use the technique to give us the healthy poise we want. Whatever we are going to do, let's pause a moment to establish that lovely feeling of freedom, lengthening and widening first.
When we go out running again after a break, we remember the amount or distance we did before and with our newly fired enthusiasm we're likely to want to go and do it again....and better! But hold on just a little moment. If we're going to run in the new way (freely in better balance while lengthening in stature) then it's important that we keep that in mind. But there is a danger in trying to do too much. Enthusiasm is one thing, but this may be enough to get us into serious trouble if we're not careful.
It's got to be understood here, that we are talking of changing the way we do things such as running and not about 'getting fit' or increasing stamina or strength. That will come later. If we are going to change how we do things, then it requires a special approach. At this stage 'how' we are doing the running is far more important than the amount or distance.
The important thing when recommencing an activity is to NOT try and do what we did before. We need to go very gently, with consideration in HOW we're doing it; don't lose your poise. And the most important thing is that whatever you're doing, STOP BEFORE YOU GET TIRED. I mean that. I mean it so much that I'll repeat it again. Stop before you are tired. This is because, as soon as you tire, you will start to stiffen up in your old way, Your old habits will come rushing back, you'll start to shorten in stature and get off balance in your old way that may have caused the injury. Do it for just a few minutes then stop.
But I hear you saying that you can't just go out walking or running for 2-3 minutes.....it takes you more than that to get going and warm up. Oh yes you can. If you're going to maintain your poise and establish this as a new way that becomes ingrained so you can always run, walk, tennis, golf with healthy poise, you have got to make sure that every experience you get is a healthy one and you do not repeat the bad habit. Whatever way you do things gets into the muscle memory and that will become the way you do it in the future. Every experience has an effect on your co-ordination, so you've got to make damn sure you get the right experiences. If you tire you will almost certainly start to 'come down' in stature and stiffen, so you are ingraining this, which is ultimately what you do not want.
If you decide you are going to walk or run a kilometre for the first time in a while, you can do it in several ways. Firstly having got your poise as good as you can get it before you start, you can run the K in one go, which is pushing it if you're just getting going, or you can break it up into shorter sections with pauses in between. You can cut it into ten 100 metre sections, or four 250's. If you pause between for a couple of minutes by walking or even sitting (sitting down for a minute is great to help quit muscle tension habits that build up with walking!), you can ensure you do not tire and give yourself the chance to re-establish your poise before carrying on. That way you get to run the mile although it takes longer; you get continuous positive experiences of good posture while running as long as you do not tire. Remember, our focus at this moment is on changing how you are doing it and not building strength or cardiovascular fitness. When you can do this, you can extend the distances safely, but always ensuring you take a short break BEFORE you get tired, so avoiding experiencing the wrong way of running. Soon the new way will become ingrained into your system far quicker than if you just go at it haphazardly. Adopt a 'Little and Often' approach.
Naturally part of the reason for doing exercise is to actually get tired, to stretch yourself, to build your strength and stamina. That's fine and you will be able to do that.....eventually. But if it's your idea to improve the manner in which you walk, run or do anything, you have got to make sure yo do not lose the quality during the activity otherwise you'll never change and that injury or strain will be just waiting to happen again.
If you tackle your rehab, getting into your activity in the way I've described, you are far less likely to injure yourself and will soon be able to run your 10K with no problem....with wonderful style and technique.
Think about it. :-)
*Malcolm Balk teaches running with the Alexander Technique - See The Art of Running
