Mindful Mobility

What is it?

How does it Strengthen your Connection to SELF?

How it Helps to Ease Stress & Anxiety?

Do you get “stuck in your head” over-thinking, analyzing, worrying or ruminating? This is a common experience for those of us living with stress and anxiety!

The mind thinks in words, images, and concepts that can be strong (and often emotionally charged) whereas the body communicates in SENSATION and feelings…that we are often trained to ignore.

In the modern world, it is easy to become disconnected from the experience our BODY is having & miss out on the wisdom that is there. Can you think of a time when you were encouraged to IGNORE what your body was communicating to you through sensation & instead had to override with your thinking mind? This is very common!

We get so used to relating to our body from a place of judgement (never good enough), being displeased (never fitting the external expectations) and annoyance (why is my back so tight?- I don’t have time for this!) that we get really good at disconnecting and tuning it out.

Mindful Mobility is a way to break away from these patterns and recognize that we can re-connect to our body, get reacquainted with ourself and build a supportive relationship that trades anxiety for ease.

Mindful Mobility: What is it?

Mindfulness = Paying attention on purpose with curiosity and nonjudgement to what is here. This supports connection, awareness and being rooted into the truth of your present experience. We take this practice of mindfulness and apply it to the BODY.

Mobility= a form of movement that is actively controlled by your own muscle strength and neurological brain to muscle connection. It strengthens your ability to focus into the body, it strengthens the muscles around a joint and it uses neuroplasticity to create a stronger Brian to body connection.

Mindful Mobility is a combination of mindfulness and anatomically informed movement that builds your mind to body connection and facilitates personal growth through a new way of relating to your body.

What Makes Mindful Mobility Different?

FOCUS:

The mobility movements that we work on require the full focus of your attention. The movements are specific and challenging (in a subtle way) so there is no room for mental multi-tasking or worry. All your focus is absorbed into the movement to create a moving meditation.

Curiosity:

where yoga and other forms of movement can come with a clear set of external expectations (a mark you are trying to reach to be “good” at yoga). This form of movement starts with a foundation of curiosity…what IS here vs. What do I Want to be here. This is how we practice being with our body exactly as it IS instead of how we think it should be.

Curiosity is the opposite of fear…it has a playful open quality (the opposite of stress and anxiety)

Non-Judgement:

we soften our grasp on “Good” and “Bad” performance & suspend our constant internal pattern of evaluating our performance to be with what is there. This is a form of intimacy with the body that fosters appreciation, awareness and connection.

Judgment strengthens our protective walls and breeds disconnection. Non-judgement opens us up to the reality of what is here & allows us to be with TRUTH.

Honor Individual Variation:

Your body is unique. Your bone structure, the shape of your joints, the composition of your connective tissue- is not the same as mine (or the other students in class). We learn this in the study of anatomy and it shows us why it is so important to drop comparison. Your history of movement training, your genetic make up, your experience level in yoga…all different from mine (and the other students). So why do we insist on comparing apples to oranges?

Recognize and honor your body’s uniqueness and approach it with curiosity…What IS here?

Release expectation, release comparison & enjoy your body exactly as it is.

Building Muscle Strength:

Mobility is an actively controlled movement by the muscles around the joint being moved. Often in yoga we use our arms to grab a part of the body and place it where we want it (passive movement). Or we use gravity to push our body into a desired shape. There is nothing inherently wrong with that…but we have a different technique here for a specific purpose. We want to see what our muscles are capable of without external help. We want to see how much neurological connection and awareness our brain has to that part of our body. When we isolate that specific area or movement we can uncover interesting information like weakness, pain, stiffness, lack of awareness, challenges with coordination or neurological control. There is a lot to learn here!

We don’t (usually) use weights in mobility work- the resistance or force we are working against is our own body weight against gravity. You may be surprised just how challenging that is!

Being with Challenge:

Mobility work is not easy. It can be challenging to get your body to move in new ways, it can bring up intense sensation. I don’t have to tell you how easy it is to jump into judgement or criticism toward your body. The challenge is to be present with the discomfort, feel the pull of old habits, but choose to strengthen new ones. That is the discomfort of growth.

Harness Neuroplasticity:

By making the muscles and our brain figure out how to create a specific movement…we are literally growing new connections in our brain! The motor cortex is a very specific strip of brain space that controls movement. When we practice specific movements these connections in our brain get stronger. When we ignore parts of our body or specific movements…these connections get weaker. There is even research to suggest that areas of chronic pain tend to have lower brain awareness - like we are trying to dial down or tune out the pain…but it ends up working the opposite way.

Don’t Force Stillness:

So often in mindfulness and meditation there is a requirement to be perfectly still for a period of time with your eyes closed. Those of us with chronic stress, anxiety or a history of trauma may find this to be extremely uncomfortable or even impossible. Forced stillness can signal danger to the nervous system. Don’t force it! Instead we listen to the information the nervous system is sending and allow MOVEMENT- focused, mindful, meditative movement. You can absorb the benefits…without forcing yourself into stillness.

How does Mindful Mobility Help to Ease Stress and Anxiety?

In case the above reasons were not enough…lets get more specific about how we approach these movements to support a healthy, balanced nervous system.

Working on Re-Calibration:

Do you ever find yourself rushing out of habit. There is no time crunch, there is no deadline, but you are brushing your teeth at a feverish pace anyway?

We get better at whatever we practice.

Have you had a lot of practice rushing and always being in a hurry?

Well your nervous system now has that as your default setting.

Perhaps you are in a perpetual state of activation…”Fight or Flight” that is very common for those of us living with chronic stress and anxiety.

We know it doesn’t feel good, but we are not really sure how to change it…

That is where Re-Calibration comes in!

Re-Calibrate Speed:

If you notice a tendency to do everything FAST- your focus will be on turning down the dial. Gradually regaining your ability to CHOOSE the pace of your movements- instead of always relying on your default setting.

Mindfulness is helpful here. Bring curiosity to that pattern…what is that experience like for me?

What does it feel like when you shift into Fast mode…what does it feel like if you slow down just a bit?

It is a learning process to find what helps you to slow down and take back your ability to make a conscious choice.

Re-Calibrate Effort:

I grew up in the time of athletes giving it “110%” and I absorbed this as my baseline. Go BIG or Go Home they said…Its “All or Nothing”.

I used these phrases as my internal mantras until I was pretty far into my healing process from anxiety and burnout. Hustle culture and martyring yourself on the hill of “hard work” is the fast track to being completely depleted.

I was well into adulthood when I realized If I try to give 100% at work and 100% at home and 100% in the gym and 100% as a yoga teacher…I have nothing left…just a deep bottomless pit of exhaustion.

For those of us that absorbed the pattern of “chronic over doer” we step into a space of awareness- noticing that old unhelpful pattern and purposefully building a new supportive pattern …where we get to CHOOSE our effort output.

In mindfulness we begin to play with percentages. What would if feel like if I did this movement with 50% effort? Notice that. What about moving with 70% effort? How does that feel.

The pull to max out your effort will most likely show itself from time to time- the pull of old habits is strong. Lean into your mindfulness training. Notice the shift with curiosity and non-judgement. Gently guide yourself back to the task you are practicing.

When your effort output comes into your conscious awareness, so that you can decide how much effort to put into any given task…you have released that old harmful programming and you have strengthened your ability to listen to and work with your body.

Congratulations! 🎉 🎈

I can feel the stress melting away and your body celebrating :)

Thanks for being here!

-Laura

Occupational Therapist

Yoga Therapist

www.LauraGyoga.com

Want to learn more about HOW yoga therapy can bring you back to your SELF by shedding the layers of stress, pressure, and doubt?

Join me in the Virtual (Yoga Therapy) Studio…because this is what we do!

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