Feelin yourself…🤸🏼‍♂️

Catchy title?

Well, I’m glad that you’re here, but what I want to talk about isn’t exactly like it sounds.

I want to address the topic of really feeling yourself, as in your body, muscles, movement, …

That can be during a marathon, weight lifting, doing yoga, stretching or even just sitting in a chair.

This is also related to “proprioception”, which is the the sense of self-movement and body position.🧘🏼‍♀️

Proprioception is mediated by proprioceptors (which are neurons) located in muscles, tendons and joints.

It is also sometimes called the “sixth sense”.💡

Using the way you actively experience this proprioception in a different way in your everyday life can enhance your self awareness and aid you in your training, yoga practice, all around wellness, . . .

So "feeling yourself" is something that you can learn and improve and use in different areas of life.

For example:

A person who is just starting yoga will observe the poses from a teacher, a video or

a book and try to replicate them with the help of some instructions and guidelines.

The first goal is only to manage to do the poses.

Then, after practicing them more and more, they will become more fluent.

They will be able to compose their own little sequences without an example or help and be able to “freestyle”, depending on what feels good.

They will start making adjustments and notice when their form is off.

They will incorporate different types of poses in their practice, depending on how they are feeling and what they want to focus on that day.

They may find themselves doing certain poses or stretches throughout the day,

to relieve tension, stress, to wake themselves up or to help with concentration because they have learnt what feels good.

🏌🏼‍♂️🚴🏼‍♂️The same can go for any other sport or physical activity.

A dancer who adjusts the position of their hips during a dance and actively engages or changes contractions of muscles to make a leap more powerful.

A bodybuilder who ups his weight to progressively overload and ensure effective progress when the initial weight starts feeling too light.

A biker who feels that his hamstrings are particularly tight during a race because he hasn’t stretched enough or neglected to work opposing muscle groups.

Even in the day to day life this awareness can give you a whole new and refreshing sense of what your body needs in the moment.

If you have been sitting at a chair for hours on end, you may feel that your hip flexors and pectoralis muscles are tight from the sitting/slumped over the desk position.

You feel a bit tired and stiff but automatically know what will make you feel better.

So you get up take a few deep breaths, stretch your arms over your head and maybe do some cat cows.

Then you stretch your pectoralis muscles and quadriceps which have gotten tight from you sitting in the same position for hours.

You drink a few sips of cool water and – voilà!

You instantly feel better.

You feel refreshed and ready for another round of work after only a few quick minutes of rejuvenating.

This is because you have a sense of awareness for your body.

Many people don’t listen to or act on these cues that our bodies give us.

But it is something you can learn through different physical activities that allow you to feel and experience the movements, “strengths and weaknesses” and mechanics of your body.

It can improve your daily life drastically, especially your mood and stamina.

So if you’d like to learn a bit more about your body and want to get your blood flowing,…

Start doing some Yoga, Tai chi, Qigong, stretching, Pilates, …

🌱And of course going out into nature, sitting in the grass, digging your hands in some dirt or climbing up a tree will never fail you no matter what you are hoping to improve, whether that is body or spirit.🌳

Short but sweet

Thank you for reading💚

See ya next blog👋🏼

Xx Stella