Body awareness off the Mat
As we’re talking about shoulders in detail this month, I thought it was a great time to raise awareness of the many various ways we can take care of our body off the mat.
Often it’s when we develop pain in an area of our body that we start to pay attention to what our body is doing, and what we are doing to our body, both in our daily lives, and in our habits.
The repetitive movements and unconscious habits can either start to create imbalances in our body or exacerbate existing imbalances. Not always, but sometimes this can lead to or be the cause of pain and or injury.
It’s normal to favour one side of our body more than the other or to have a stronger side of our body and or limbs.
It’s good to learn if you do have one side more dominant, then you can start to use and or train the weaker side more.
We can do this in every day life and or during your workouts. EG lead with the weaker leg when you step up stairs. Or do an extra set of reps on your weaker side when you train. Often stretching out the tighter side more can help too.
Here are some examples to look out for in your daily life…
1. Desk set up effects
I regularly see (and it happened to me, when I worked in corporate, which is why I’m very conscious of this) clients with a desk set up that contributes to their shoulder and neck pain. EG if your hands are sitting higher than your elbows, this causes the shoulders to lift, and creates tension in the neck and shoulders. OR if your hand that operates the mouse or keyboard is reaching forward and lifting up to move, this will create more tension and over use.
2. Do you cross your legs when you sit ?
This causes weakness in the glutes and hip area, and creates imbalance in the legs, hips and different sides of the body, it also puts an extra strain on the sacroiliac joint. So avoid crossing the legs if you can, OR if you must, try switching the legs, so you at least have more balance from doing both sides 😉
3. Taking the steps
Take notice when you walk up steps or when you step onto a curb, which leg do you usually lead with first? We all often have a dominant leg to step up with. Try switching this to balance the work in your body.
4. Bending down
When you bend down to get something from the bottom cupboard, which side of your abdominals crunches more? Do you lean more to one side than the other? Try to notice if you have a more dominant side.
5. Do you put more weight on left or right side?
When you sit or stand, do you notice you sit with a lean to one side? Do you put more weight on the left or right hip or leg on standing. Take notice and again, balance it out.
6. Do you hold your breath?
Notice when you type on the phone or lap top do you hold your breath? This is something I noticed myself doing about 2 years ago. So I’m very conscious of this now. It really effects us in many ways when we hold our breath. I won’t go into detail about breathe now, but one of them is that we become tense in both our body and in our mind.
I have explained many times how important good breathing is, but it’s always good to have a reminder and to check in on how it is during daily activities, not just when we exercise. To recap on the breathing anytime head to the principles of Pilates in the Essential Course here >> Essential Course
So start to pay more attention to your daily movements and what’s going on in your body.
Let me know what you discover!
Leave me a comment in the facebook group or in the comments below. I’d love to hear.
Lots of love
Em x
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