Yesterday CBC News shared how published researchers in British Columbia had analyzed videos of 227 falls by 130 seniors in B.C. between 2007 and 2010. (Adults of all ages could benefit by becoming more aware as these seniors did not just change how they shift their weight at this stage of their life.
I enjoyed watching the video shown on the news that demonstrated how balance is connected to shifting body weight, counterbalancing and sensory awareness. Watching the video I could see the weight shift in the filmed subjects legs and recognized it confirms what I share in may Awareness through Movement balance classes. Here are a few comments from the researchers:
“We show that the most common causes of falls are incorrect weight shifting and tripping, and the most common activities leading to falls are forward walking, standing quietly and sitting down,” concluded study co-leader Prof. Stephen Robinovitch, of the department of biomedical physiology and kinesiology at Simon Fraser University, and his team.
“Our findings emphasize the need to target each of these activities in fall risk assessment and prevention strategies,” they added in calling prevention a “public health priority.”
Renee Lindstrom, GCFP, Feldenkrais Practitioner & Awareness through Movement teacher since 2007
Authored Achieving your Goals 31 Day Program, Sleep Sweet Sleep, Kid’s Peace Bus Calendar of Values Educational Program & InTouch with Your Values Self-Actualization Program. Communication & Empathy Coach since 2004, Art of Placement since 2000, Labyrinths of Victoria since 2012, #yyj Peace Week Grassroots Calendar Founder, Vice-Chair of World Children’s Summit on Peace & Nature in 2015
Chogum Trungpa Rinpoche, originally from Tibet, taught North Americans a structure to experience mindfulness in meditation. A structure to occupy the mind and body with focus of attention in a particular way to encourage the mind to slow down to have freedom from thought driven action.
The structure in meditation is particular. You enter into a room with reverence, sit on a cushion that has a mat between it and floor. You have a choice of sitting in two or three positions. When you sit you notice your thoughts and practice labeling them, “thinking.” You follow your breath outwards counting for cycles of 10 breathes. As you sit you notice when your thoughts wander off and then as soon as you notice this you simply bring yourself back to the pattern of breathing and observing your breath. Your eyes are aimed 6 feet in front of you down towards the floor and an you begin to sense the environment. Sitting begins at a cycle of 20 minutes, walking mediation for 10 and back to sitting for 20 minutes. For a retreat the 20 minutes stretches into longer periods of time. The purpose is to begin to have an experience of empty space between the thoughts. An experience quite unlike a mind driven experience.
Sharing Awareness through Communication workshops based on world recognized models for communicating and development, a dawning realization is for the need of a similar structure. Chogyam was sharing that the mind needs attention and a structured system of focusing it to participate, not dominate. Our series of classes has evolved into realizing this same need for structure with a purpose of giving the mind space between thoughts and allowing it room for participating, not dominating. This then deepens the quality. Therefore it isn’t the quantity of thoughts and filling up the silence that matters, it’s the quality that becomes recognizable. Therefore a growing mindfulness can come from learning while developing a lite quality of curiosity in studying one’s own behavior.
A recent comment, “When I hold onto the thoughts in my mind that want to jump out and only share back what I am hearing from my friend, my friend shares more. I am getting to know more about this person and I thought I already knew everything about them. They are also speaking from a deeper place.”
Learning opportunities to discover for yourself how to improve your relationships with clarity and developing mindfulness, western style, are available. For more explore the classes listed, inquire about presentations, workshops and coaching. There are organized group classes, classes designed with your needs in mind, online classes and private sessions for coaching and improving your relationships.
Feldenkrais®, Feldenkrais Method®, Awareness Through Movement®, Functional Integration®, are registered service marks of Feldenkrais Guild® of North America. Feldenkrais Method®
An article caught my attention that originated from a parent’s question. It included responses from the community.
Reading the responses I found myself surprised and then shocked as the replies to the questions did not connect with the original letter writer. Those responding talked at her and identified her actions as problems in a way that did not meet my need for consideration. What I read was generalizations and identification of the parents actions as being problems through the letter writers personal opinions including; judgement, diagnosing, prescribing and giving advise.
For me, what was missing was the piece that made sense on a behavioral level that would create a feeling of relief on all levels of my understanding not just my mind. Therefore rather than deepening into a shared connection to what I was reading, I was struggling with what it was bringing up for me.
I felt frustrated and annoyed reading these letters as all I took away from it was my thought that they were meeting their needs for expressing and sharing their professional opinions. I felt a deep sadness at the same time imagining the experience of the questioner reading these answers that sounded like a lecture and being told what to do. I recognize how I would like the support to be simpler, personal and emphatic. I would have enjoyed reading was how both the parent and child had different and conflicting needs. I didn’t read any steps and examples for sharing how to identify these two sets of needs and move forward with the child hearing back they where deeply cared for.
Imagine the personal power for the parent to connect in to was was important to them, not the action they themselves took. Let’s give parents tools to relax and guide their children not rules to break themselves! Followed by the gift of knowing what need the child was meeting so the parent could realize the child’s action was to meet that need.
Which came first the chicken or the egg? Really? Does it matter? Who cares about identifying who should be responsible for teaching children about bullying and the outcomes when each one of us is a bully! Yes, you have read this correctly. If we cannot identify our own needs and give ourselves empathy, what happens when talking to another person? Can you then hear and identify their needs and respond back to them in a way to connect to what is important to them? If not, in fact it is bullying them! Why, well think about it, if you hear someone and begin trying to fix it based upon your opinions, do you think they feel witnessed and valued or do they feel invisible and lonely? If you start to hear them, identify with their story and jump in to tell yours to let them know you know exactly how they feel, do you think they feel seen or heard or has the conversation become about you? Therefore, if it is about you and what you know and your experience, you cannot identify their needs and acknowledge them as having any value. Why?, they do not have the same needs as you in that moment. Frankly, it is not about you when you are listening to someone else which brings up the question of, “How do you think they are going to respond?”
I would like to generalize and say that I believe we all do this and it is these little incidents that we are not aware of that become big issues for others who then take it out on others that grows and grows. Therefore in my opinion it is a societal issue and one that needs societal solutions that begin with acknowledgement and training. Unlearning through learning new skills that begin with individuals in ALL communities, networks and families. It’s not a parental issue in my opinion as parents need the support of educators. Educators needs the support of administrators and administrators need the support of government and government need support of who? YOU!
I would imagine that Dr. Marshall Rosenberg, author of Nonviolent Communication, would tell us that bullying is a, “tragic expression of unmet needs!” The questions then become:
Do we even know that we have needs?
Can we identify them?
Can we share them so that they can be heard by others?
Are we making the type of requests that will increase the chances of getting them met?
Society recognizes that the employers needs are different than those working for them. Society also recognizes that patterns (structures or models) are valuable for progress within an operation. Is society recognizing that the differences between employers, administrators and employees are equally as valuable? If so, is there recognition of these differences? Are employees hearing their needs identified and valued? This does not mean an employer or administrator needs to give up their needs! It simply is a basis for connection with the most valuable asset to your operation, your employees. Identifying their needs tells them that they are being seen and heard therefore valued. It does not mean an outcome.
News for parents on parenting is that their needs are not the same need as their child. Awareness is recognizing the needs of the child. The relationship is taking the time to pause, connect and recognize their needs as having value. It doesn’t mean you give your parenting needs up, it means your children are not invisible and that they are valued, seen and heard! This starts pre-verbal and begins with parents having skills to identify their own needs.
Inside Awareness Center for Integrative Somatic Learning 