THE ART OF CREATING A GOOD HABIT

FROM TREATMENT METHOD TO A WAY OF LIVING

A few words along the road…

How do you turn theory into practice?

We all know how it can be. You hear something that sounds sensible and good and think, I'm going to try this. Maybe you start doing exercises to increase your body awareness and calm your anxious thoughts and feel motivated for change. But then life gets in the way, motivation fades, and you don't quite reach your goals.

It's not as complex as it may seem. Before the treatment method can "click" with us, it needs to go through three important steps or levels: the level of thought, feeling, and body.

Most of what we do starts with a thought. For most of us, the process of increasing body awareness begins with a cognitive understanding. You hear an explanation that makes sense and think, I want to try this out. Then a while goes by and you forget what it was that you thought was so important. Until you hear it again and think, oh yes, that's right!

The power of habit is strong, as are our thought patterns. Often you need to hear the theory repeated many times before the motivation to start practicing regularly falls into place.

Now the thought needs to settle into a feeling, and it's a slow process. Initially, you often do the exercises without really understanding how it should be done. You might be used to pushing yourself, so doing a movement with a focus on what is comfortable can feel unfamiliar. Especially initially, it can be difficult to feel much of a difference. This is a critical point in the process, where it's easy to give up.

For most people, it takes their own experience while practicing for the theoretical understanding to be confirmed by their own experience. Only then does motivation become a more active driving force, and the treatment method has taken a step closer to being integrated into daily life. But this step also takes time and needs to be given time.

The level of the body usually takes the longest time to change. The body has been shaped by our habits and our previous way of life, often for many years. From one perspective, you could say that the body reflects a history of how we have thought and felt about ourselves, which in turn has influenced how we relate to other people and to life in general.

When we start practicing body awareness to increase sensitivity to ourselves and our body's needs, old habits trip us up. We want to progress with our practice, but it's difficult to maintain regularity. Old patterns take over because the new strategies haven't had a chance to take hold. You find yourself somewhere in the middle, which can sometimes be frustrating. Maybe you also doubt a little and think, can this really be useful, the movements are so small. But then it's most important to continue practicing. There simply are no shortcuts if you want to achieve lasting results.

To break an old habit, you must replace it with a new and better habit. It takes time. You don't become a Mozart by sitting in front of a piano. You must familiarize yourself with your instrument, i.e., your own body, learn to tune the instrument, i.e., become sensitive to the body's signals. Only then can you start making good music.

THE ART OF CREATING A GOOD HABIT

Everything in nature unfolds in cyclical processes, the different seasons, the rhythm of day and night. Everything has its own rhythm. So it is also with our nervous system. When you need to establish a new habit, it's valuable to keep in mind. The way you practice is important. If you want to take advantage of the cyclical processes, it can be very helpful to try to practice a little every day at the same time and preferably in the same place. It reinforces the cyclical regularity and makes it easier for the nervous system to embrace the new habit. Of course, it's also important to do the exercises with focused and attentive presence. If you repeat the exercises mechanically while thinking about something else, the result won't be the same.

Instead of focusing on practicing for a longer period once or twice a week, it's an advantage to do a little every day, for example, 5 minutes. It's also good to try to avoid doing too much initially, i.e., to push hard and practice a lot and intensively every day. This easily leads to losing motivation when quick results don't appear.

Working in harmony with the cyclical processes in the nervous system, giving it a well-balanced stimulus through daily practice, leads to quicker and more lasting results. In the long run, it also leads to making practicing a natural part of your daily life, much like brushing your teeth.

Practicing regularly also acts as a reminder to the nervous system to make movements that are more comfortable and less strenuous in other situations. This leads to greater sensitivity and increased respect for your own needs, which makes you think and feel in a new way. You become gentler with yourself and at the same time, your body language becomes clearer, which facilitates relationships with others because so much of all communication happens through body language.

The treatment method has then begun to become a way of living.

Of course, there is no end to our ability to evolve as humans. Nothing in existence is static or stands still. Maintaining a good balance is therefore not so much about achieving a specific end goal but more about continuously fine-tuning what is needed to feel as good as possible in everyday life.