New Year's Resolutions
January is almost over and I have finally settled on my resolutions for this year. Just two of them.
1. Stand up: This resolution is about my posture and alignment. I have been working on fixing it to improve my dance technique, and even took a private lesson with one of my teachers to pinpoint my problems. In small moments throughout the day I check in with my body alignment and unhunch my shoulders. It is a revelation to see how often my shoulders creep up towards my ears, and I think I have been doing my whole life. Yet in dance class when the teachers told us to relax our shoulders I never thought it applied to me. I also have a tendency to tuck my pelvis under and lean back. So I'm all about finding my center line, and I am using a book on the Franklin Method called Dynamic Alignment through Imagery to help me. It is a very dense book, so I have not gotten far in it, but just it's presence on my nightstand reminds me to check in. (An aside- I HATE the books on my nightstand. I don't want to read any of them and yet haven't been able to toss them into the donation bin. I need to clean it out and start fresh because the last thing I need is a nightstand that makes me feel guilty every night.)
Stand up also means giving myself the same respect I give others and believing that my voice is worth being heard.
2. Sit down. Like for five, ten, fifteen minutes and pay attention to what is in front of me. I have become completely manic and my ever present cell phone has destroyed my ability to focus on the moment. I also rush around all day doing housework and child care stuff and never let myself sit down and take a real break in which I am not reading something or looking at my phone. Bit by bit my phone has become more attractive more alluring than small moments of quiet thinking. It is not good for me at all. So I need to sit still more often, be with me, be with the moment, take stock, or just let my mind wander at its own pace instead of the phone's pace. I do not want to be jumpy.
These two resolutions, if I can retrain myself to follow them, will improve the quality of my life.
1. Stand up: This resolution is about my posture and alignment. I have been working on fixing it to improve my dance technique, and even took a private lesson with one of my teachers to pinpoint my problems. In small moments throughout the day I check in with my body alignment and unhunch my shoulders. It is a revelation to see how often my shoulders creep up towards my ears, and I think I have been doing my whole life. Yet in dance class when the teachers told us to relax our shoulders I never thought it applied to me. I also have a tendency to tuck my pelvis under and lean back. So I'm all about finding my center line, and I am using a book on the Franklin Method called Dynamic Alignment through Imagery to help me. It is a very dense book, so I have not gotten far in it, but just it's presence on my nightstand reminds me to check in. (An aside- I HATE the books on my nightstand. I don't want to read any of them and yet haven't been able to toss them into the donation bin. I need to clean it out and start fresh because the last thing I need is a nightstand that makes me feel guilty every night.)
Stand up also means giving myself the same respect I give others and believing that my voice is worth being heard.
2. Sit down. Like for five, ten, fifteen minutes and pay attention to what is in front of me. I have become completely manic and my ever present cell phone has destroyed my ability to focus on the moment. I also rush around all day doing housework and child care stuff and never let myself sit down and take a real break in which I am not reading something or looking at my phone. Bit by bit my phone has become more attractive more alluring than small moments of quiet thinking. It is not good for me at all. So I need to sit still more often, be with me, be with the moment, take stock, or just let my mind wander at its own pace instead of the phone's pace. I do not want to be jumpy.
These two resolutions, if I can retrain myself to follow them, will improve the quality of my life.