One of the first things people notice when they begin working with the method is how calm and relaxed they feel after a class or an individual session.
Chronic tension is often a kind of armour, a physical echo of the defensive habits in our thinking. We brace ourselves against the world, hold ourselves together, guard an image of who we think we should be. In that sense, unnecessary muscular is of physical expression of our ego.
Through slow, gentle movements, often lying down, we learn to sense where we are working harder than we need to. As unnecessary effort drops away, our breathing settles, our nervous system calms down and our attention comes to rest in the present moment.
What remains is a sense of spaciousness and attentiveness. We feel relaxed but awake, effortlessly aware of ourselves and our environment. We feel like ourselves again.
Sensation only happens in the present
- Attending to sensation as we move gives our minds a place to rest
- When anchored in our body our attention is always in the here and now
- Gentle curiosity replaces the strain of effortful concentration
- Slowing down invites us to notice our experience in the fine detail
- Reducing effort in movement reduces noise in our nervous system
- Breathing deepens as our muscular protective holding pattern release
- We learn to trust our inner sensations rather than seek approval from others
- We relax through engaging in the process rather than making it our goal