It is highly likely that when you visit a physiotherapist you will be given exercises and hence here is a brief guide to how you can get the most out of your exercises. The training is important, setting the scene for a desired change, but in order to be successful, we need to think about how we will be doing the exercises. In the Pain Coach Programme, we look at this in the necessary detail so that the individual can achieve the best outcome. Usually the exercises themselves are very straightforward, with the most complicated piece of equipment being the person, followed by a mirror. That’s it. We need to set the scene, focus, attend to what is happening now, practice, put in maximum effort, perform and learn. Sounds easy!
1. Create the right environment
Where do you do your exercises? How does that environment affect you? Are you doing some of the exercises at home, at work or outside. Notice where you can concentrate with ease and where makes you feel good about what you are doing. We are not separate from the environment in which we find ourselves and hence it can work for us well in creating the conditions to get better. It should be light, spaceous enough to move freely and as calming as possoble without stimuli that trigger survive responses. This includes phones, computers etc that can grab your attention and make you think about something else.
2. Take a moment to be present
To truly concentrate you must be present and aware of what you are feeling, thinking and doing. From there you are able to learn by gathering insights into what you are doing versus what you want to do, making corrections to movements for example. Mindful presence means you are present and aware, rather than being lost in thoughts about the past or the future that are embodied. In other words, our thinking is affected by our body state and vice versa as there is no separation. As an experiment recall a happy time: where you were, who you were with and what you were doing. This is a thought, but how do you feel in your body? So, how to be present? Simply take a breath and notice the in-breath and then notice your out-breath. We can only breathe now so gently concentrating on the breath is a simple way of being both mindful and present. Anytime you notice your attention drifting away, kindly bring it back by noticing your breath.
3. Connecting it all together
We must be fully aware of our mind and our body as a unified experience. How can you learn about your body and how it moves if you are thinking about a meeting yesterday or dinner tonight? You can bring your attention to your breath, saying to yourself ‘I am breathing in’ as you breathe in and ‘I am breathing out’ as I breathe out. Notice how you become aware of this moment, which is the creation of the right conditions for recovery and for learning. You can then expand your attention out to your whole body, thereby connecting it all together in a nourishing way. This only takes a few moments, but without the right attention, the exercise will have a limited effect as you will not realise what you have done.
4. Write a learning diary
‘What we focus upon we have more of’, is a useful way of being. When we notice our positive emotions, which can be subtle, and purposefully attend to them, our thinking broadens. There has been a good amount of research looking at this effect. Keeping a diary is a way of documenting the way we feel and what we have achieved so that when we look back and read what we wrote, we have an accurate view of what was happening at that time. Our memory of what happens is poor, but we do convince ourselves that certain things happened or we felt a particular way. Whether or not it happened like that becomes irrelevant as it is the memory we think we remember that counts. On this basis, writing down each day something that we have learned from our practices of training is a useful insight that motivates further learning as we focus on our achievements and strengths. This is encouraged by positive psychologists as well as featuring in mindfulness practices and strengths based coaching, and for good reason — focus on your strengths and manage your weaknesses, but you have to know what they are first!
5. Accepting where you are now as a stepping stone towards a desired outcome
To accept that I am here in this moment allows you to focus on what needs to be done right now that is in alignment with your desired outcome. Being really great at all the things that you need to do now will naturally allow you to move to the next step as you continue to transform. We are changing all the time and hence need to ensure that our change is in a desired direction. For this we need a vision of where we are going; a vision of a successful outcome that we visit often to ask the question to ourselves: ‘is this taking me towards my desired outcome or am I being distracted by thoughts of the past or future?’. Acceptance does not mean giving up, instead just saying ‘here I am right now’ and ‘this is what I need to think and do to keep myslf going in the right direction.’
via Richmond Stace
Keeping it Eclectic...
Interested in live cases where I apply this approach and integrate it with pain science, manual therapy, repeated motions, IASTM, with emphasis on patient education? Check out Modern Manual Therapy!
Keeping it Eclectic...
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