An act of awareness is a gentle reminder to relax tension and find organization in your bones from a repetitive habit.  We all have these habits! Your focus in the world is outwards as you get cues and information from the environment. We study and analyze the external environment that we integrate in and react accordingly.  For a brief moment in that navigation, try to take a turn inwards and do a quick scan of the body for tension and postural deviations.  Meaning, where are you holding tension, and how your body is aligned. During exercise, there is focus on form.  For the many other hours a week when we're not exercising, our form in our environment is just as important.  It should be pulled forward from the back burner asking questions such as how am I sitting, standing, holding, relaxing, being?  Any repetition can become a habit. So imagine sinking into one hip all day long. Turn that into weeks, months, years.  And when there is hip pain, no one can help you out of it because although the habit runs deep, it may be undetectable in front of the searching eyes of a practitioner or doctor. 

But YOU! You can give yourself the gift of the acts of awareness.  Because of those times you checked in and noticed you were standing into one hip, and corrected it once, twice, fifteen times a day.  Thus, the habit gets downsized. You might always need a check in, but now your hip doesn’t hurt.  You are your best healer and commander of your body starship!  Acts of awareness on the daily are simple and easy.  Here are three ways to help guide you into more internal awareness.  

1. Stand Evenly On Both Feet

Makes sense right?  But it is the hardest thing to do!  It is so easy to stand on one foot, shift into one hip, and hang out there.  I can’t tell you how many endless sessions I have caught people, fresh out of working so beautifully, only to start up the bad habits while talking to me after or even during a session.  I catch people all the time slumping while using their cell phone. I can point it out, but really, you are the one who can make that change!  Create this act of awareness if you are finding yourself standing in line at the store, or for long periods. If you are tired of standing, try not to sink into your bones, but take a seat if there is one available.  

2. Avoid Torquing 

It’s not anything like twerking.  It’s a way we twist our bodies.  Picking something up, bending over, and sitting.  If something is on the floor, we sometimes get into these awkward positions to pick it up.   I often watch my clients sit down, lowering while helixing. Once you get the space situated between you and the chair, use the pelvic hinge, hips reaching back evenly, long spine, and try to sit squarely.  It doesn’t make you a square!  Use your architecture to relax the body and stack the bones.  You don’t need to engage any muscles, it’s a good time for the body to relax and float.  Habits of sitting for hours with one hip more forward than the other can create a posture of standing twisted as well.  Think of it while sitting in all that traffic, which is back in full.  Gently pull your right hip that’s on the gas pedal back into the seat if it is forward.  If you have to sit for long periods, try to set an alarm to move around every hour.  Create these acts of awareness anytime you are sitting.

3. Body Scan

Try this simple study.  Lie on your back comfortably, on the bed or floor.  Scan your body for tension and simply let it go without moving and jostling it into submission.  Start at the neck. Are you holding tension there?  Gently let it go. Check the jaw and do the same. Now the shoulders.  Let go of any feeling of holding. Upper back?  Middle back?  Lower back.  Let go.  Check the gluts and hips.  Inside the pelvis where the psoas live. Relax the legs, and then the feet.  It is a wonderful way to relax the body before sleep, but we can also use it as a tool.  The places you find holding tension here are probably the places you are holding tension all day long.  Take the gentle pathway on a map, finding unearthed treasures that unlock sources of pain and tightness.  Choose only one of the holding patterns so it is not overwhelming. Say it’s your jaw. Throughout the day, check in with your jaw for tension, and then release it gently and without judgement.  Because if you are my jaw, I would need to check in on you every 10 minutes and find it back at it’s clenching holding pattern.  Habits are hard to break, so be patient with your process.  My jaw will learn to stop tensing but it’s important I don’t get mad at myself, and that goes for you too!  Create this body scan act of awareness after exercise (like a shavasana) or before bed.  Find the spot of holding, then gently remind it, on the daily, to let go.