In the run up to New Year, many of us are thinking about our dreams and aspirations for 2017 – and resolutions to help us achieve them.
Reports show that about one third of Britons are busy right now setting their intentions to lose weight and get fitter, a figure backed up by the huge surge in web searches for gym membership purchases – some gyms reporting as much as a 40% increase in the period between December and January.
However there is a consistent discrepancy between those who say they are going to make a resolution and those who actually do. And the figures for the number of people who stick to their resolutions are fairly lamentable too – nearly half fail to to make their resolutions last for just one month and apparently by 3 months, 80% of all resolutions have fallen by the wayside.
So maybe it’s time to trying something new, at least when it comes to the goal of being healthier.
If we can take on board that our physical body is both an expression of our emotions and the only instrument we have to do the things we want, it makes sense for us to take good care of it. And attention to posture and alignment can be transformative in more ways than one.
One of the mantras I used to teach in my work with young army recruits is, “Posture is the foundation I bring to everything I do!” From the time we get out of bed, our posture shapes how we get dressed, tie up our shoe laces, eat breakfast, digest our food and wait for it… Has a large part to play in our mood too.
“When you’re depressed it makes a lot of difference how you stand…” states the famous Peanuts’ character, Charlie Brown. “The worst thing you can do is straighten up and hold your head up high because then you’ll start to feel better…”
There is no getting away from it, body and mind are intimately connected and changing your posture has more than a biomechanical effect. It has the potential to change your life – how you feel about the world and your place in it.
Here are a few of the favourite words I like to experiment with when talking about posture and how we can use it to work for us in a positive way. As you read them, try them out one by one, as if you were putting on a new hat… Feel if they evoke any kind of a physical response; notice any thoughts or emotions that arise as you try them out for size.
Perhaps word or expressions of your own will present themselves – both as an actuality of your posture or as an ideal. I would love to hear how you get on.
Wishing you many blessings for a wonderful 2017
Namaste
Louise x
May you enjoy fabulous health,
The caterpillar instinctively knows it must go into a cocoon in order to metamorphose into a butterfly. Through what processes are we transformed? A few years ago, motivated by a
Classically, the term the ‘butterfly effect’ is used to portray how a minute change on a small scale can result in much more significant consequences on a large scale –
There are a good many myths regarding the best way to achieve posture and ‘keep your abdominal muscles braced’ is up there with the worst of them. It’s more than
