VOLUME XV ISSUE NO. | March 2023 |
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"Productive insight; clear (often sudden) understanding of a complex situation." Free Dictionary
Pop the bubble of conditioned thinking and emerge into the creative realm of "no absolutes," continuous change, uncertainty and unlimited possibilities.
Then, there can be innovation, adaptation and optimal performance.
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Performance and Open-minded Mindfulness |
Open-minded: questioning everything, accepting diversity and uncertainty.
Mindful: consciously aware; concentrated.
Foundation for blending process, project, engagement and knowledge management into a cohesive approach to optimize performance.
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Bodywork for Healing and Wellness
By George Pitagorsky
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“If you have health, you probably will be happy, and
if you have health and happiness, you have the wealth you need,
even if it is not all you want.”
Our bodies are our vehicles for navigating the world. Whether it is a Ferrari, Ford, or Toyota, you want it to be tuned and fit for service. You want to avoid large repairs and invest in preventative maintenance. Trading it in is not an option.
The February Breakthrough article, Body Awareness to Promote Wellness stated:
"Bodywork includes any form of exercise and therapies like massage, acupuncture, and nutrition. ... Effective bodywork gives you the power to make the best of your current condition by connecting body, breath, and mind in dynamic balance."
Scroll down to continue article
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Self-Aware Living - Mindfulness, Meditation, Self-Awareness
We provide online courses, workshops, podcasts and other web content to individuals, organizations, and consultants with a focus on mindfulness, self-awareness, and process thinking. Our content is based on George Pitagorsky's personal...
Read more
self-awareliving.com
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Choice
You own your body. It is in the shape that it is in. You can work with it as it is, ignore it, or try to delegate its care to others.
Working with it means using techniques to promote strength, flexibility, balance, healing, and general health and to increase mindfulness, concentration, and body awareness.
A close relation ignored the symptoms of smoking-related lung problems, developed emphysema, and gave herself over to doctors and medications to avoid the symptoms and in the hope of a cure. She was not receptive to using diet, breathing techniques, or physical exercise. She didn't apply the self-discipline needed to stop smoking. She passed on after years of suffering.
A friend, upon learning of a heart condition decided to change his diet, add physical exercise into his life, and learn to use stress management techniques like meditation. He lives on, active and healthy.
It's Up to You
The degree to which you work with your body is up to you. It will vary depending on your personality, mindset, upbringing, genetics, and cultural influences.
Sometimes the obstacles to working on the body are too strong, or the motivation for long term health isn't strong enough. There is no blame, accept yourself and others with empathy and compassion.
Knowing the costs, risks and benefits of bodywork, you can decide on the approach that’s right for you. Whatever you choose, keep in mind that to be aware of and work with the posture and breath are essential. The exercise in last month's article[1] cultivates these. It requires little training and little time. It is meant to be practiced daily, throughout the day, anywhere from a minute or two to hours at a time. Instructions are included below, after the article.
Choosing a Form
The goal is to add awareness of posture and breath to your daily life, making your natural activities - sitting, standing, moving, lying down - your "exercises" and everywhere, your gym. Though you can go beyond that into a bodywork approach or exercise program.
There are many bodywork options. Too many to try them all, particularly since you have to try an approach for several weeks or months before you can really tell if it works as promised. You have to overcome the discomfort that comes with the awakening of unused muscles and changing bad habits.
If you are just starting out with bodywork, do a few classes of different styles to see which you want to commit to for a longer period.
If you are already invested in an approach assess it:
Does it directly address posture and breath awareness and exercises for use in daily life? If not, can you add it in yourself?
Are you over or under stressing?
Are you getting healthier and happier?
Are you better able to manage the challenges of aging, illness, and injury?
In addition to the form there is finding the right teachers, ones who work well with you, who you can learn from, and who promotes self-reliance.
Options
Some people stay with a single approach, others blend techniques to create their own. Once you find the right approach, if it works, it influences your life gradually over time, including your diet, the way you spend your time, your physical appearance, who you spend time with, your mood, your sex life, digestion and more.
Once you get into a healthy groove, you don't have to diet or deprive yourself to be healthy. Awareness of the body allows the body to find its way. To get into the groove, you have to get out of the way by breaking unhealthy physical and mental habits. It takes effort and resolve.
As a guide address the following questions and issues to cultivate body awareness and bodywork:
- What are your goals? Healing for a specific issue, enhanced immune response, flexibility, balance, general physical culture, weight, gain/loss, optimal wellness, spiritual experience.
- What form(s) are you interested in? Yoga, martial arts, Qi Gong, Pilates, breathwork, massage, dance, stationary biking, walking, weight training, swimming, other.
- How long will you work with the form you choose? if you are testing it, for how long? Lifetime commitment?
- How much time and effort will you commit to for classes and practice?
- Will you commit to day-to-day practice?
- Retreat/workshop and/or ongoing sessions
- Virtual and/or in person
- Venue - Will I have to travel? Is it comfortable?
- Who is/are the teacher(s), and do you relate well to one another?
Bottom line
Whatever you choose to do is fine. It is your body and until you are ready to give it up, it is wise to be kind to it, deeply aware of it, accepting it for what it is, and working with it as best you can.
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Posture Alignment Meditation
Following are instructions for a posture alignment meditation exercise. It can be practiced standing, sitting, or lying. The benefits of this practice are cultivating a posture that makes the best of your body's condition to promote health and enhance your energy, concentration and mindfulness using breath and body awareness.
Readiness: Being Present
- Bring your attention to the physical sensations of your body.
- Without thinking about or labeling, just feel weight against the chair, feet on the ground, the air against your skin.
- Drop your attention into feeling your posture and the sensations of breathing and how it expands and contracts the body.
- Take a few conscious breaths, inhale to be present, exhale to release unnecessary tension.
- Notice: Are you thinking about your sensations? About other things?
- Gently but firmly bring attention back to just experiencing the sensations themselves.
- Accept and let go.
When you are ready, continue with the posture meditation exercise.
When you are calm, present, and ready, follow each instruction first with your imagination and then let your physical body follow. Consciously breath in and out after each instruction.
- Imagine a string gently lifting you from the crown of your head so the centers of the head, chest, and lower abdomen are aligned.
- Chin is slightly tucked and back of the head is pulled gently back to straighten the neck,
- Let the skull, face, neck, and shoulders relax.
- Let the tongue rest comfortably touching the upper palate just behind the teeth.
- Relax the jaw, teeth slightly apart, lips touching.
- Sense the center line from the top of your head down through the body.
- Let the shoulders roll gently back and down as you straighten the spine
- Arms resting comfortably. Hands open, fingers relaxed.
- Let the chest lift and the mid back become active as the shoulders relax back and down.
- Let the lower abdomen, hips, and pelvis relax.
- Tuck the tail bone gently forward as you gently elongate your upper body.
- If standing, let the weight of your body fall through the hips to the thighs, behind the unlocked knees, ankles, and through the center of the feet. Feel your feet against the ground.
- Breathe naturally.
- Let the body adjust itself into a comfortably erect posture – relaxed and energized.
- If you feel yourself slipping out of the posture, adjust and continue.
- When you notice yourself being caught up in thinking, bring your attention back to the sensations of your body.
Don't Hurt Yourself
Relax into the posture. don't tighten up around or try to avoid discomfort. Changing physical habits takes effort and courage. But don't hurt yourself. Learn the difference between the kind of pain that signals healthy change and the kind that signals damage.
[2] This exercise is based on the traditional Wu-chi posture. Wu-chi means "emptiness in any movement, thought or activity." Wu-chi is the state of ultimate relaxation, resting in the place behind openness and form.
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Emotional Support for Ukraine
To support people experiencing the horrors taking place in Ukraine, we have published and wish to distribute freely
"How to Manage Difficult Emotions and How to Support Others"
in English and Ukrainian. Please pass the toolkit on to anyone who can benefit from it or can distribute it further.
Emotional Support for Ukraine is a small ad hoc group of coaches seeking to help relieve the suffering of those under fire, refugees, and helpers across the world.
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How to be Happy Even When You Are Sad, Mad or Scared:
How to be happy...How to be Happy Even When You Are Sad, Mad or Scared is available on Amazon.com. It is a book for children of all ages (including those in adult bodies). Buy it for the children in your life so they can be better able to “feel and deal” - feel and accept their emotions and deal with them in a way that avoids being driven by them. You can order the book at https://www.amazon.com/How-Happy-Even-When-Scared/dp/1072233363
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Performance and Open-minded Mindfulness |
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Open-minded: questioning everything, accepting diversity and uncertainty.
Mindful: consciously aware; concentrated.
Foundation for blending process, project, engagement and knowledge management into a cohesive approach to optimize performance.
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By George Pitagorsky
Success is measured in how well and how regularly you meet expectations. But what exactly are expectations, and how do you effectively manage them when multiple priorities and personalities are involved?
Using the case study of a Project Manager coordinating an organizational transition, this Managing Expectations book explores how to apply a mindful, compassionate, and practical approach to satisfying expectations in any situation. George Pitagorsky describes how to make sure expectations are rational, mutually understood, and accepted by all those with a stake in the project. This process relies on blending a crisp analytical approach with the interpersonal skills needed to negotiate win-win understandings of what is supposed to be delivered, by when, for how much, by who, and under what conditions.
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Managing Conflict in Projects
By George Pitagorsky
Managing Conflict in Projects: Applying Mindfulness and Analysis for Optimal Results by George Pitagorsky charts a course for identifying and dealing with conflict in a project context.
Pitagorsky states up front that conflict management is not a cookbook solution to disagreement-a set of prescribed actions to be applied in all situations. His overall approach seeks to balance two aspects of conflict management: analysis based on a codified process and people-centered behavioral skills.
The book differentiates conflict resolution and conflict management. Management goes beyond resolution to include relationship building that may serve to avoid conflict or facilitate resolution if it occurs.
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The Zen Approach to Project Management
By George Pitagorsky
Projects are often more complex and stressful than they need to be. Far too many of them fail to meet expectations. There are far too many conflicts. There are too few moments of joy and too much anxiety. But there is hope. It is possible to remove the unnecessary stress and complexity. This book is about how to do just that. It links the essential principles and techniques of managing projects to a "wisdom" approach for working with complex, people-based activities.
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