“It is important to note that movement alone, done automatically, without attention, does not provide the brain with any new information…. The moment we bring attention to our movement, any movement, research shows that the brain resumes growing new connections and creating new pathways and possibilities for us. And that is when we feel most vital.”
Anat Baniel
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“It ain’t what you do, it’s the way how you do it.”
Louis Armstrong
How do you move throughout your day?
Anat Baniel says there are really only two types of movement: automatic movement, and movement with attention.
You can probably guess by now which type of movement is associated with greater ease and less stress — the mindful kind, of course!
Baniel, in her book Move Into Life, references the quote above from Louis Armstrong as a recognition that life, like music, is made up of lots of moving parts — organize them one way, and you have a gorgeous symphony. But when you have disorganization and carelessness and chaos, you get a discordant mess!
Awareness of Movement
Last week we brought attention to the physical body throughout the day. This week, I am encouraging you to bring your awareness to the movement of your body.
Consider some of the following:
- Does your day feel fast-paced, too slow, or somewhere in between?
- Do you always perform everyday tasks the same way (making coffee, making the bed, getting set up at work, etc.), or do you vary things from time to time?
- Do you bring variations into your exercise activities (e.g., switching up yoga and aerobics, or trying different styles of dance, etc.)?
- Do you take breaks during the day to check in with how you feel physically and emotionally?
- Do you eat a variety of foods, or do you tend to eat the same foods repeatedly?
- Do you notice when your body feels uncomfortable during the day (either while exercising or while stationary), and make adjustments, or do you tend to not notice bodily discomfort and tension until the end of the day?
- Do you explore new places in your neighborhood or city?
This isn’t about judging your answers to your questions. You are who you are — some of us seek greater novelty, and some of us seek the comfort of routine. But if, while considering these questions, you see places where you could incorporate movement, attention, and/or new perspectives, you can enhance your sense of vitality.
Mindful Walking
One powerful mindfulness practice that can help us slow down a bit and pay attention to how we move is MINDFUL WALKING. Before watching the video below, take a moment to just walk around the room you are in right now at your normal pace. Don’t try to alter anything… just walk around the room once or twice.
Taking it SLOW
Many of us experience stress as the opposite of slow — we feel rushed, frantic, and time-starved. The speed can often make us careless… adding to more stress! And then, sometimes, when we do get a chance to slow down… it somehow doesn’t feel right. It’s almost like if we DON’T feel stressed, we think we’re doing it wrong!!
Just think about all the connotations we have in our culture around the word SLOW — we associate it with laziness and stupidity. I want to encourage you to spend some time being SLOW this week.
Slow gets the brain’s attention. We are more present and attuned to sensation. It’s like the brain realizes, “WOW, this must be really important! Look how careful she’s being!”
Slow takes us out of the time-trap that we’ve set for ourselves. I like to think of SLOW as a form of “moving without arriving.”
So often our movements are about getting somewhere else. We drive to get to work. We eat to not feel hungry. We exercise to tone our muscles. We cut the grass so we can have a pretty lawn.
It’s not that having a purpose for the movement is bad; it’s that the movement, if we’re not paying attention, can simply become a means to an end. The movement part (which is really most of our life, right? How long does it take to eat vs. experience satiety?) becomes an “on the way” moment to the goal.
Jon Kabat-Zinn says that no moment is an “on the way” moment. We only have moments to live! Each unfolding moment is the only moment you have to be alive. So instead of rushing through the meal, can you savor the taste of the food? Can you enjoy the sensory pleasure of eating?
When we bring deliberate attention to our actions, we can begin to appreciate the small micro-movements of the body, we can luxuriate in a gentle stretch, we can truly smell the fresh-cut grass we’re mowing…
The best way to experience this initially is to do something slowly. So for this week, I want you to pick ONE activity (one that generally takes about 10 minutes) to do slowly. Maybe it’s cooking breakfast, cleaning up the kitchen, putting on makeup, getting dressed, tidying up before bed, etc. For this week, do it slow (think somewhere between 50-75% of your normal speed).
Pay attention to how the muscles in the body move and how the body seems to just “know” what to do, even though this was probably once an activity that you had to learn carefully. Pay attention to your exertions as you do the activity — are you “efforting” more than you need to? Are you standing or moving in ways that, when slowed down, you recognize are not helpful for your body? You may discover, in this slow variation of the activity, different ways of performing the task. You may discover variety! {And we’ll return to this practice next week, when we practice paying attention to and staying with our difficult emotions. Stay tuned!}
Also pay attention to the mind as you do this — is there a desire to speed up? Is there frustration with the slow pace? Just notice, without judging. There’s no “right” way to do this. It’s a way to connect to the body, and also to understand a bit more about your relationship to stress. We often find that even though our stress stresses us out, we also take a bit of pride in it. We might be a bit attached to our stress and the adrenaline rush it can provide.
So play with this … taking it slow … walking mindfully … moving without arriving … and see what happens next!