How you do one thing is how you do everything...
I’m organizing an event at Fishkill Farms! As well as apple and pumpkin picking, part of the event will include a movement workshop with the theme of looking at the movements found in gardening (or “playing in the dirt” as my gardener friend, Ben Page, calls it). And I was presented with the question:
“I don’t have a garden, would I get anything out of this workshop?”
Well, think of it this way:
How you do one thing is how you do everything…
Our habits and patterns tend to follow us everywhere. For example, if you procrastinate (and I do. Nothing wrong with that if it works for you…), chances are you procrastinate in many aspects of your life. The psychological patterns are running the show no matter what you’re doing. If you notice the pattern, and it has become problematic for you, this is an area in which Life Coaching can help!
Likewise, how we move and organize our bodies carries over into all the activities you do (Or don’t do, if how you’re moving prevents you from participating in some activity). Whether you’re engaging in exercise or washing the dishes, your body, on the level of the relationship between its many parts, is most likely operating with the same motor programs. This can either be health enhancing or health deteriorating. So often, from exercise, or gardening, or just stepping off a curb, people will complain that they “did something wrong” and hurt themselves. But, in all likelihood, it was the way you’ve moved (or not moved) for many years that slowly eroded the integrity of some part of you, the “injurious event” was really just the straw that broke the camel’s back (so to speak).
This is why I find it so helpful to develop the awareness of our current movement patterns and to practice the corrective exercises and natural movement skills that allow us to move in more efficient ways. That way you can bring more awareness to how your body is moving no matter what activity you are doing, and then have the skills available to make a choice of moving in ways that keep you feeling free to do all the activities that enrich your life.
Whether it’s in the exercise studio, during the tasks of daily living, or enjoying your outdoor activities, your patterns of movement and thinking run in the background. Start with one and you can affect them all.
My classes and coaching have been described by some as building “meta-skills for life” - that is we look at how to handle a specific scenario (either in movement or life) and then we look deeper into the patterns to see how our strategies apply elsewhere.
(Remember in the original Karate Kid, where Mr. Miagi taught Daniel to paint the fence, but was actually teaching him Karate…)
In the Farm to Movement Experience , we’ll look at the ways in which:
we get to the ground
we manage our spines
we protect our knees
we lift and carry things
These are really categories of movement that can be “carried” over to all the activities we do. You’ll find yourself moving in these ways whether you’re putting away the dishes, gardening, or most any other activity of daily living.
If you’re reading this now and still have time to sign up for the workshop, please do by clicking the link below! And if you’re reading this sometime in the future, check out the link and see what’s coming up next!