Author: bettechamberlin

…..Says Stephen Curry, NBA megastar, and championship hopeful.

What I see when Curry plays, whether he is making his 3-pointers consistently or not, is a perfect storm of laser focus on what’s happening now and an expansive awareness of his surroundings.  His agenda is clear at the moment, but like a chess master he sees the court as an ever-changing expression of I’m here, you’re there, but you could also soon be over there and I could be there too.

You also don’t see him dwelling on the last 2 minutes when he missed 4 3-point baskets. That time is past and the moment is now before him and the most important thing.  He embraces being in the moment which is a crucial first step.

He sets himself apart by consistently doing Neuro-cognitive training, exercises and drills, warmup, eye-hand coordination exercises, flexibility, and strengthening through foam rolling and weights. Good nutrition is also key to keeping him eating the healthiest calories.

Most of us though need to take on awareness in order to “lock in on the moment” in an activity.  A simple example, my reading glasses are key to my ability to read anything close up.  Since this is the case, why do I regularly take them off when I am not reading and forget where I put them? (For young people, you can substitute keys, phones, or whatever you habitually misplace).

This happens over and over again reinforcing the behavior. But I wonder why the hassle of searching for many minutes, many times a day doesn’t inspire more awareness at the moment. Habit plays a big part.

The solution is 1)  recognize the habit, 2) make a plan to change it 3) be patient – you will fail many times, just like Curry.  But eventually, you will get better and have fewer backslides.  I am hopeful that my own advice will guide me to knowing where my glasses are more often than not!  Stay tuned for a progress report.

You may need some hands-on assistance to make that plan. I offer a free 15-minute phone consultation to explain how.  973 432 5815.

Or you can fill out the contact form and I will get back to you within 24 hours.

“People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures.”
― F. M. Alexander

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If you experience back, hip, or shoulder pain, you may want to become more conscious of how you perform your daily activities.

Here’s why:  Your daily activities take up much more time than your specialized activities.  Think of how much time you spend running, rowing, walking, biking, dancing, singing, playing the flute/violin/sax, fill in the blank, and compare that to the time spent on remaining activities on any given day.

Here is one estimate:

Time spent walking 4 miles at a 15-minute-per-mile pace.  = 1-hour

Time spent practicing the piano = 2 hours.  (Add 6 more for concert pianists!)

vs.

Time spent doing daily tasks (e.g. driving, brushing teeth, bathing, cleaning, sitting, shopping/preparing food/eating/cleaning up, reaching, bending, gardening, squatting, plugging in a lamp behind a desk, etc.) = 15 waking hours minus 1-2 hours for specialized exercises = 13–14 hours of non-exercise activity.

You are still moving your body most of the day, but how?

If you are shortening in stature and tightening your neck while you are cooking dinner or loading up the dishwasher, are you also doing that when you are exercising or practicing?  Does that negate some advantages of exercise?

Back pain can be caused by too much sitting not being aware of our slump (compression) or alternatively bracing (also compression).  When adding these habits to an activity that requires a higher degree of efficiency, we may feel stumped as to the outcome, especially when we are working ‘harder’.

Daily, non-competitive activities provide a framework for observing how you are doing something while you are doing it.

To sum up:

Be curious throughout your day about how you move when brushing your teeth, bending over to pick up your child, petting your dog, unloading the dishwasher, and, here is a big one – sitting at your computer. Are you compressing your spine starting with tightening your neck?  Can you let go of unneeded muscular tension?  Doing this allows your breathing to be freer.

Observing our daily activities sets the stage for learning how to approach our specialized exercises.

You may need some hands-on assistance. I offer a free 15-minute phone consultation.  973 432 5815.

Or you can fill out the contact form and I will get back to you within 24 hours.

“People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures.”
― F. M. Alexander

If you would like to unsubscribe to these emails, please reply with ‘Unsubscribe’ in the text of the email.

Changing an unwanted habit is hard.  If you have a sweet tooth, try removing or even limiting sugar.  As a friend once put it, “it will bring you to your knees”.

Other annoying habits are engaging in negative self-talk, biting your nails, overeating, being sedentary, being disorganized, hair pulling, and, well, you fill in the blank.

All unwanted habits have the same construction. Stimulus (unconscious) = reaction (also unconscious).

This can be as simple as deciding to sit down and having no conscious awareness of how you moved from standing to sitting.  We saw the chair (stimulus) and plopped down (reaction).  The point is not how we may have overtightened some muscles in the process, it is that we were not aware in the first place and could not consciously decide how to get from point A to point B.

And even when we are conscious of what we are doing, we have to respect the strength of our habits.  F. M. Alexander wrote compellingly about this in his book “Use of the Self” in the section The golfer who cannot keep his eyes on the ball.  A golfer who wishes to improve his game hires a professional to help him.  The professional sees the problem and notices that the golfer takes his eyes off the ball and tells him that in order to improve his game, he must keep his eyes on the ball.

But, oh dear.  Much as he tries, he still takes his eyes off the ball.  Alexander asks, “why does his ‘will to do’ fail him at the critical moment?”  The final diagnosis of this failure is that his habitual use is misdirected and not helping him.  Oddly, the very habit that he wishes to change is familiar and overbearing at the same time.  The urge to repeat it is stronger than the desire to change it.

After many years of F. M. Alexander’s struggles with his own vocal habits (of tensing his larynx and neck muscles), he discovered that the process of pausing before speaking quieted his nervous system and gave him space between his habit and a new way to respond. He succeeded and helped many others to do the same with his hands-on guidance and training programs that exist today as his continued legacy.

Runners, baseball players, actors, and dancers all strive to improve their skills. But without an awareness of what habits are interfering, they can remain ingrained and intractable.

I have spent 20 years helping people to change, not by sheer willpower or discipline, but by learning how to recognize and to respond instead of reacting to harmful habits.  Our nervous system can be trained to react less and respond more.

You may need some hands-on assistance with working changing unwanted habits.  I offer a free 15-minute phone consultation.  973 432 5815.

Or you can fill out the contact form and I will get back to you within 24 hours.

“People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures.”
― F. M. Alexander

If you would like to unsubscribe to these emails, please reply with ‘Unsubscribe’ in the text of the email.

The thought of learning to UNDO over-efforting goes against our cultural values put in place centuries ago.  We’ve heard the expression no pain no gain for people who work out.  You can’t get ahead without pain.  And most of us value doing something, moving towards a goal often without prioritizing, just to stay busy. Our Protestant ethic encourages hard work often in the absence of self-care.

Given this orientation, everyone can benefit from a serious exploration of NON-doing and equating it with good health.  A case in point is my experience working with students who have habituated over-efforting and continuously adopted it as the ‘right’ way to function.  The good news is that, through their lessons, they have opened themselves up to understanding what is helpful muscular effort and what is harmful muscular effort.

Here are 3 steps to Adopting Non-Doing as your new habit:

1. Become aware of inefficient habits.  During the day, can you notice when you tighten your neck/shoulders, compress your lower back and/or stop breathing?  But don’t judge it, It is just a habit that is, well….a habit. Become aware of holding on, which is like bracing.  Let go and breathe.
2. Use the floor to support your feet, the support of your chair bottom in sitting and the whole support of your seat back. Use a pillow behind you to assist you to be more effortlessly upright.  When standing, ground and spread your feet and toes against the ground, imagine your head and torso going up. Notice if you are  bracing.  Again let go.
3. Do some lying down work daily.  Here is my free recording of “Constructive Rest”.  Do this daily for 10  minutes.  Just think ease.

You may need some hands-on assistance with Adopting Non-Doing.  I offer a free 15 minute phone consultation.  973 432 5815.

Or you can fill out the contact form and I will get back to you within 24 hours or less.

“People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures.”
― F. M. Alexander

If you would like to unsubscribe to these emails, please reply with ‘Unsubscribe’ in the text of the email.

Has the pandemic caught you off balance?  Have you been losing your balance more and more lately?  Whether you are an athlete, performer or someone who is struggling with waning balance, here are some daily exercises that will help.

Remember -the only way to improve balance is to fail numerous times!

You can hold on to a chair, desk, or rail when starting out. As you improve try it without support.

“The Balanced Clock”

Lift your right leg just off the ground , knee forward or lower leg bent behind you and extend your right arm so it’s pointing to an imagined clock number 12. Next, point your arm towards the number three, and finally, point it down at the number 6. Bring your arm back to the number three, and then to the number 12. Look straight in front of you.  Your standing foot may move a bit or wobble which is natural – the object is not to put your other foot on the floor, but you will at first.  Challenge 1:  While moving your arm turn your head right or left on each clock hand.  Hint:  Keep your neck easy and spine pointing up.  Use your abs to help stabilize your whole structure.  Repeat this exercise twice per side.

“One arm, one leg juggle”

Grab a tennis sized ball and place it in your dominant hand. lift your right foot just off the floor – your standing knee is soft –  toss the ball up and down catching it with your dominant hand.  Repeat with your left foot off the floor.  Do this 2 times each side with your dominant hand.  Challenge 1:  Use your non dominant hand to toss and catch, repeating with the other leg. Challenge 2:  As above, but alternate hands when catching the ball.  Hint:  engage your whole front torso core.

“Airplane”

Stand with feet together, bring one straight parallel leg to the side with flexed foot,  both arms out to the side, now bend your torso towards the standing leg – your straight arms will be in a diagonal.  You are balancing in a diagonal.  Stay there for 10 seconds.  Repeat on the other side.  Hint:  Start by standing on your two planted feet with your spine and head gently pointing up.  As you move onto the diagonal, you are still elongating your spine while fully supported by the ground. Extend your arms without lockinig your elbows.   Challenge:  in this position look at your right arm and then your left arm

Enjoy!  For hands on help, you can contact me for lessons by filling out the form or calling 973 432 5815.  I offer a free 15 minute consultation.

I’m really enjoying all the reruns of the Tokyo Olympics and studying the athletes mechanics while appreciating their immense dedication and talent.

These are incredibly gifted athletes.  You don’t get into the Olympics without it.  But talent is mostly work.  And the efficiency built into work is primary for a successful outcome.  Although I have not personally worked with these athletes, they are emblematic of a dedicated discipline comprised of a desire to learn and stick to the proper working of their bodies through honoring fundamentals.

Here are 3 that, in my opinion, religiously stick to basics in order to stave off interferences that can creep in due to physical fatigue, pain and mental stress.  Even if they start out with great facility and work hard, one can see the beauty of economy in their movements.

The first is my favorite marathon runner, Eliud Kipchoge who picked up another Olympic gold medal in Tokyo! I first wrote about him here running in the Berlin marathon (2:01:39) when he was flirting with a sub 2 hour marathon.

He seems to be getting more efficient as he ages!  Look at him crossing the finish line at the end of the marathon here. Watch from 3:29 – 3:55.   He looks the same as he did when he started, only he is running faster!  His gait is light and his hips, knees and feet are tracking in a straight line.  The same goes for his arms and shoulders.  The power around his slim presence is amazing. His muscular effort is born out of a skeletal alignment that offers the least amount of resistance.  The adherence to an economy of movement takes him through the entire race and even lets him increase his speed at the end when it logically would seem impossible.

Here’s another example of a runner who sticks to the fundamentals even when it would be easy to push too hard and lose it at the end. Watch from 4:20 to 4:30.  She won a bronze medal in only her 3rd marathon by believing in herself and maintaining the mechanical organization in her gait – until the very end.

And finally, Tom Daley and Matty Lee’s gold winning synchronized dive, so aligned, beautiful and stunning!

Watch from :15 – :30

Please comment with YOUR favorite athletes in the Tokyo Olympics!

If you would like to gain more insight into improving your technique, contact me by filling out the form or call 973 432 5815.  I offer a free 15 minute consultation.

Work -the exertion or effort directed to produce or accomplish something;

Efficiency – the state or quality of being efficient or able to accomplish something with the least waste of time and effort; competency in performance.

As F. M. Alexander says in his seminal book “Man’s Supreme Inheritance”:

“Each faculty acquires fitness for its function by performing its function; and if its function is performed for it by a substituted agency, none of the required adjustment of nature takes place, but the nature becomes deformed to fit the artificial arrangements instead of the natural arrangements”. Yet, the neck is often used as a “helper” which it is not when it is contracted.

In this statement,  he is saying that if you need your legs and abdominals to strongly support the work of lifting a barbell off the floor and overhead, you would not recruit your neck muscles as a source of power – instead you want to recruit your abs and legs appropriately, engaging them in the most efficient targeted way.

The Olympics are a great place to observe the athlete moving with efficiency. The 1500 meter free swim is a daunting race that requires power, efficiency with each stroke, consistency, and the mental strength to both hang on and increase speed in the last 500 meters. Every sport has some aspect of this challenge.  Efficiency is everything because once you have it strength and coordination follow.

Strength building is accessing the right muscles for the right job.  Think about the different body types of athletes:  100 meter men’s athletes have more developed upper bodies and thighs to propel their arms and legs to produce explosive energy and speed. 1500 meter athletes would not be well served by this body type for a race 15 times longer than the 100 meters Their bodies are toned but light in comparison – suitable for less explosive power in exchange for longer distance staying power.

It is interesting to observe though that even within one sport, bodies can differ according to the desired aesthetic and skill level.  Russian female gymnasts train for grace and a balletic themed result ,and less for achieving the muscular approach needed to do multiple flips and twists in the air on balance beam and floor like the U.S. gymnasts .

Chinese gymnasts train with a more dance and flexibility emphasis.  Their bodies, like their diving counterparts are lean and straight with fewer curves.  Regardless of the body type emanating from training through targeting certain muscles to get the job done in the most efficient manner or through the differences in hereditary similarities internationally, principles of work and efficiency are key to achieving the best results.

If you are someone who is struggling with pain and discomfort, either an athlete, dancer, or sometime sports person, I can help you become more efficient in your movements in your daily life and your chosen activity.

I offer a 15 minute free phone consultation:  973 432 5815.