My first week back treating clients after four months in Melbourne’s lockdown was always going to be an exhausting exercise and it certainly did not disappoint. Today, after many treatments on grateful clients, I am feeling muscles that I haven’t felt in a long time. Fortunately for me, I know why I’m sore and what I can do about it. Although, it got me thinking, how body aware are you?
How in tune are you to your body?
When you wake up in the morning sore and stiff, do you know where you are sore and why? I see a lot of clients who cannot tell me where on their body they are sore, they just know they are sore. Then when I ask why they are sore and they cannot tell me that either. To me, it’s a combination of an extremely busy lifestyle and a detachment from their bodies.
Being body aware means that you can pinpoint exactly where you are sore. Why is that important? Well, for one, it will help your therapist by providing them with good information that will enable them to treat you. It can help you to understand why you are feeling that way, which will reduce your stress and anxiety around the way you are feeling – and may even help you prevent feeling that way again.
How can you improve your body awareness?
For me, yoga and stretching helped me to become more body aware years ago, then when I became a therapist myself, it became quite natural. Take the time to sit quietly and think about your body, from head to toe, and think about how each part of your body is feeling – and why. It sounds corny, but how many of you take the time to sit and think about your body? Believe me, the more you do this, the more aware you will become and the easier it will be to treat any ailments you might have.
We get one body; shouldn’t we understand it as much as we can?
Leah is Finely Tuned’s Senior Myotherapist and available for appointments each Monday to Friday in Richmond, Victoria.