PRACTISE FOCUSING TO COUNTERACT STRESS

Training your body awareness, using well-established methods such as Basic Body Awareness and the Feldenkrais Method is an excellent way to counteract and prevent stress. The exercises promotes increased concentration and focusing ability while reducing many of the most common stress symptoms.

Moshe Feldenkrais used to say, "You can do whatever you want, as long as you know what you are doing", emphasizing how important it is not to just repeat something mechanically, but to understand why you are doing it. This is what increased awareness is all about. This applies to most things in life, but especially when practicing body awareness exercises. Many of these exercises are easy to perform, and once you "are becoming familiar with an exercise, it is easy for the practice to become mechanical. Your thoughts start drifting elsewhere, and you lose focus on the actual exercise. Then, the practice no longer serves its original purpose.

I often say that it is better to practice for five minutes at the time with mindful presence, that is, to be completely focused on what you are doing, than for twenty minutes mechanically while thinking about something else. One of the purposes of these exercises is to help the nervous system find new strategies so that you can find less tension-inducing and more comfortable ways of moving. This requires focused attention on how it feels in the body while doing the exercise. This ultimately leads to increased sensitivity to the body's signals, which is necessary to be able to feel and respect one's own needs. This effect is lost if you think about something else while practicing.

Many people experiencing prolonged stress also recognize that their ability to focus and concentrate decreases. Their thoughts wander and different emotions take hold. In this case, directed awareness towards the practice itself can be a valuable tool for gathering oneself and both reducing and preventing various stress symptoms.

The exercise "Learn to Focus", which you can find in my web app, can be an effective way to get started.