What You Are Doing To Protect Your Self, May Be Putting You in Danger.

How many times do you see this in life…

That the action a person does - thinking it will help them - is actually the behaviour that is causing them harm?

I discovered it in a simple way in my Japanese bathroom.

My old back injury came back a few months ago, and as my pain diminished, I continued being "careful" how I bent my hips, knees and ankles.

I spent 10 years practising "monkey" - which these days I ignore.

Bending is bending, come on folks - why are we talking about monkeys???

I don't know what "monkey" is. If it's anything, it's a feeling. And feelings are NOT motor plans. To my mind, this makes "monkey" a dangerous template to offer ANYONE as a learning tool. You are basically encouraging people to use feeling instead of thinking.

And that's not all that's wrong with it…

"Monkey" is NOT universally applicable to all situations. Let me illustrate why…

One the habits I got out of practicing "monkey" for ten years was "sending back my hips".

This is what I kept thinking in my bathroom - as I was being "careful" of my back. After taking a shower, I'd put my foot up on the edge of the bath, then bend low to dry my feet.

But every time I got close to my feet, I sensed danger in my lower back.

It was weird, because the more "careful" I was with sending my hips back, the more my back signalled that it was entering "danger" zone.

Whatever could be wrong? I was mystified…

Then Cathy Madden came to town, and pointed out that when I was bending, I was actually gripping on the front flexors of the hip (psoas and some of the deep six for the technically minded).

Hips roll forward, she said simply.

Why was I pulling them back?

Then years and years of doing hands-on-back-of-chair (HOBC) came to mind.

I recognised my "send back" instruction first being taught to me during my London training in the 70s. Could it really be true that HOBC was the CAUSE of feeling danger in my back???

It was too shocking to consider, but consider it I did.

And the way to get an answer was to experiment…

I explored a movement of my hips FORWARD in the shower, giving up all idea of my old HOBC "hips back" idea.

It was like a miracle. A SHOCKING REVELATION OF TRUTH.

I could bend further, had no fear - and easily reached right down to my toes! - which I had been too scared to do previously.

I discovered that what I was doing to protect my back, was placing my back in danger.

These are the insights and discoveries that I share as part of my journey through Alexander's discovery and the Discovery (Change) Compass.

If you want to invigorate your thinking - and find new challenges in your practices - sign up and start your journey this summer…

ThinkingBody Online

Get my blog delivered by email every day by signing up here:

https://bodychance.leadpages.co/ats-daily-optin/