Total Somatics Health Review: How are you feeling?

Where has the year gone?  Can you also believe that we are at the end of another decade too?  It seems like only yesterday people were stressed about the millennium bug! 

The end of the year brings with it the chance to review what we have accomplished and what we would like to implement within the new year.  With that in mind, in today’s blog I would like to encourage you to consider your current health and wellbeing goals and routines.

Time machine

Let’s go back in time to 2010.  How did you feel 10 years ago?  What activities and hobbies did you immerse yourself in?  Are you still doing those activities?  If you are, would you say you are able to practice them with the same intensity?  Has surgery, injuries, limitations due to muscular tension or joint issues caused you to adapt and alter your activities and hobbies?  If you are no longer able to do the activities and hobbies you did 10 years ago, why?  What has changed for you?  Have recurring injuries caused you to stop what you have enjoyed doing?  How did that make you feel?  Would you like to resume activities and hobbies which brought joy and contentment to you?  Let me assist with creating an action plan for 2020. 

Over the next two weeks I am sure life will be very busy, however could you find time to consider how you would like to approach this next decade?  The effort we put into planning helps to create action and focus.  In 10 years time, would you like to move with reduced pain, greater mobility and have a better posture than you have today?  Would you like to return to the activities you love to do?

If you are a regular reader of my blogs and within my online program, you will know how I talk a lot about habituation.  Thomas Hanna, the creator of the health modality Somatics used the expression “The Myth of Ageing.” He explained how the common belief of a stooped posture, pain, poor mobility and joint issues due to ageing were incorrect.  The reason for this is because when a person continues to practice a movement, posture or action long enough, the sensors within muscles adapt and alter their length.  In many cases today, people find muscles through the front of their neck, chest, shoulders, abdomen, hip flexors and quads become very tight because they live in a society where people spend large amounts of their day leaning forward over computers and mobile devices. 

If you have young children or nephews and nieces, you may notice how their posture is changing very quickly to become stooped.  To ask a young person to stand up straight is a challenge for them because their muscle to brain connection has reset the muscle length.  All of these changes happen subconsciously.  So as a result, it is hard work to maintain a “straight back” because powerful subconscious actions have been working in the background to adjust muscle length and tone.  So the stooped appearance really is a myth because people who are very young are resembling “the old man stoop” before they have even reached their old age.

Self assessment

I would like to take the subject of habituation and look at what you have been doing over the last 10 years and see whether you can consciously create changes to stop habits and subconscious actions controlling your health and pain levels.

Please consider the following questions.

  1. How active were you in 2010?
  2. How active are in December 2019?
  3. What started to change your activities?  Was it surgery?  Was it an injury?  Personal circumstances?
  4. If 10 was painful and 0 was excellent, where would you say your muscle and joint health was in 2010?
  5. If 10 was painful and 0 was excellent, where would you say your muscle and joint health are in December 2019?
  6. How was your posture and mobility in 2010?
  7. How is your posture and mobility in December 2019?  Have you lost height?  Have you developed scoliosis?  Have your shoulders become very rounded?  Does your head jut forward?  Where does your eyeline naturally look?  Is it to the floor, ceiling or straight ahead?
  8. What were your stress levels like in 2010 and throughout this decade?  Were you able to manage your stress levels or did life overwhelm you at times?  Would you say you have good stress management strategies in place since 2010?
  9. Do you know why your pain, mobility and posture altered?  Do you know why you have recurring injuries? 
  10. Would you like to know how to reduce pain, improve posture, increase mobility, develop mindfulness and get back to the activities and hobbies you love to do?

Awareness

In a world where you are asked to meet lots of deadlines, have pressure and time is precious, you may find free time for yourself very tight.  Yet, when you create time, you become aware of how your mind and body operate. Only when you create time, you will be able to make changes and live a more proactive and mindful life.  If you were able to release a back spasm in the middle of the night or release muscle rigidity within your rib cage during a high pressured day, would you feel you are taking back control of your health and wellbeing?  If you are feeling that you crash and burn quite often, do you think this is healthy?  Do you think your beautiful mind and body can continue to cope with the onslaught?  The answer is no.  As wonderful as your mind and body are, they can only cope with so much before they have enough and that is when problems accelerate.  Let me help you either recover from that cycle of crash and burn or stop you ever getting to that unhealthy cycle of life. 

As you have already considered, habituation creates changes within your mind and body.  Repeated actions can have a positive or negative effect on your mind and body.  If you are unable to increase awareness and notice your habits and rituals, you will continue to live subconsciously with recurring injuries and pain.  However paying attention, living mindfully and consciously means you can identify what is contributing towards your pain.  With the assistance of The Total Somatics Approach to Health & Wellness Online Program, you are able to adopt the principles outlined within the program.  Within the program I will teach you 3 step process to reset your muscle length, which is turn will soften the belly of your muscles.  Imagine what this 3 step process will give you - reduced pain, improved posture, increased mobility and a mindful approach to your daily activities.  My aim is to provide a program that will complement and enhance certain areas of your life.  By applying the principles and techniques, you will find greater movement and less pain. 

No pain and a fulfilling life

This week I was talking to a client who has been practicing Somatics with me since 2014.  He said he practices the minimum of 5 times a week.  He is 59.  When he was in his late 40s his posture was so poor, that when he stood against the wall, only his bottom would touch the wall.  He was very stooped forward and in a great deal of pain.  Within a few years he consulted a back surgeon who told him his only option was surgery.  That was his stimulus to find another solution.  That is when he found Total Somatics.  As we reminisced about the last decade, he told me that he is able to do more now at 59 than when he was 49. His posture is amazing, he can stand straight, feeling his shoulders and the back of his head touch the wall.  He also has a very active lifestyle and is able to do so much more now because he has used the principles within Total Somatics and the 3 step process to release chronically tight muscles.  How cool is that? 

I would like to offer that encouraging thought to you and ask you, would you like this next decade to be focused on breaking subconscious habits and applying the 3 step process to release chronically tight muscles?

Allow me to guide you through the next decade with The Total Somatics Approach to Health & Wellness Online Program at www.TotalSomatics.com in the comfort of your own home.  Stay connected with me because I have really exciting things launching in 2020 which will support your Total Somatics Approach to Health & Wellness.  I am bursting with excitement, I can’t wait to share it with you!

So let us make 2020 an exciting start together!

In the meantime, I will be enjoying time with my lovely husband over the next couple of weeks and so I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support and well wishes throughout 2019.  I love hearing from you and get so excited when you tell me how well you are all doing with the online program.  As always, keep in contact via social media (Facebook: TotalSomatics and Instagram:@total.somatics) or email. 

If you have questions, queries or anything you would like me to discuss within future blogs, please let me know.  I am here to support and serve you in any way I can.

Take care and have a fantastic time over the holidays. 

See you all in 2020.

All my love and best wishes,
Heidi Hadley xx
www.TotalSomatics.com

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