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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Hunching against the cold
Suddenly it's autumn and we're pulling warm sweaters and heavy jackets out of the wardrobe; the heating is on again and we made our first log fire of the season on Saturday. It's not exactly bitterly cold, but there is a freshness to the air and the musty smell of decaying leaves and damp grass pervades the area. And I love it. Isn't it nice to cosy up a bit?
But all too often, with the onset of colder weather we can see our friends hunching up against the cold....and I'm sure we do too. But what does hunching actually do? If we were to shiver, our muscles go in and out of spasm very quickly, serving to stimulate blood circulation throughout the body. But hunching is a continuous tensing of muscles, fixing our shoulders in a raised position, drawn inwards and upwards. The nature of hunching actually slows down the circulation of blood as the cramping of muscles rather squeezes the arteries so the flow is less. It's rather like standing on the garden hose pipe. There will be a build up of pressure behind the blockage and less water comes out. If we hunch it's a similar thing but in our case the tension will reduce the flow of blood to our hands and if we stiffen our hips too, we'll get cold feet. Hunching does not serve us yet it's such a common thing to do in the face of bleak winter weather.
If you can, allow your shoulders to drop and think of them being free and wide. Let your shoulders find their own natural alignment without fidgeting or pulling them anywhere. Leave them alone. Let your neck be free to allow your head to teeter on top of your spine at a point between your ears, allow your shoulders to be free and wide, then you'll know you're allowing your blood to circulate as best it can and will warm you far better than hunching. If you can catch yourself out doing some hunching, just make the choice to let it all go. It's far better for us to leave ourselves free of tension than to make a whole lot in our shoulders while saying "Isn't it cold?" It's no wonder we're cold in our hands if we are adding to the problem by reducing our blood supply! Stay warm. :-)
