Awareness over ones own Body

Anyone who knows me well or has followed my site for a while knows that I place a very high value on body awareness/mastery/control. What do I mean by this?

I understand the terms as follows: It’s mainly about being aware of your own body and feeling, noticing what your body needs at the moment and how it shows it to you. For example, it is about signs of fatigue, i.e. when you should better recover from certain activities, or pain, i.e. signs that something is not right/as usual.

It also includes being able to feel and associate movements correctly, such as noticing whether your back is round or straight during certain movements (squats, handstands, etc.) or what certain movements look like. Many people have absolutely no idea what their movements look like – until you show them photos or videos. The difference between feeling and actual execution is often enormous.

Too often people train mindlessly according to training plans that are designed for a broad mass – individual differences are not taken into account. Too often people compare themselves with each other – especially with some best times or PRs. And too often these “personal records” are seen as criteria for how good one is or how one is progressing in training.
Criteria like having fun or feeling/control during the execution are not taken into account. Small but subtle changes, for example when you really FEEL what you are doing for the first time, like a targeted control of long “paralysed” muscles, etc. are neglected.

In the video a small demonstration of what I mean by this.
Task: supine position – a book on each limb – blindfolded – turn once 360° in both directions WITHOUT the books falling off hands/feet.
By being blindfolded, the sense of sight is taken away, you have to be even more aware of how your body moves. Small changes can cause the books to fall.
Alternatively: eyes open and at first only one book on one foot or in the hands.

 

 

As always, this is only ONE example out of many. Also, you don’t have to be able to do this, it’s just a fun way to train your body awareness….

I would like to end this text with a quote from Moshe Feldenkrais: “If you can feel what you do, you can do what you want.

In this sense: learn to listen to your body, it is much smarter than you are…. 

Stay Loose and Keep Moving,

Nil

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