Do you find yourself holding on to tension? If you suffer from complex pain, then you know what it's like to feel tense. Maybe it feels like you're muscles are gripping and aching nearly all of the time. Everyday activities like cooking or tending to your home can feel like a strenuous process. For some, everything feels like it takes excessive physical effort.

For better or worse, cold weather has finally arrived in the Northeast. I actually prefer the cool, crisp air of Winter over the hot and muggy days of Summer.

Still, I am not a huge fan of outdoor walks this time of year. So I was faced with the perennial question, “What can I do to keep moving this winter?” My favorite answer: Swimming! Indoors, that is. Probably not surprisingly, I shiver at the thought of joining one of these ‘polar bear’ clubs where some folks run into icy cold lakes in their skivvies!

I’ve been a little obsessed and bewildered by how many people really don’t know where their hip joints are. Now I get it. The hip joints don’t take up a ton of real estate in the ol’ sensory-motor cortex. They don’t require fine-motor skills or other subtle interactions with the world. Heck, they don’t even fully form until years after we are born.

Recently a student approached me at the end of class and asked me if experiencing strong emotions while doing Awareness Through Movement was normal. My answer: “Yes.” Emotions don’t surface all of the time, but it does happen, and the intensity of the experience can vary.

When I first started reading Moshe Feldenkrais’ books nearly 25 years ago, I was utterly obsessed with the mind-body connections—specifically how I could shift my emotional base and perspectives by working with my body. I consumed his writings along with those of Ida Rolf, Alexander Lowen, and books like Emotional Anatomy.

Are you moving through your day without fully living? It is easy to pass through daily activities and wait for something to happen — to wake us up and grab our attention. I have fallen into this mindless trap, caught in a place where I feel as if my subconscious was always preparing for something else.

One way to fully live today is by being mindful and practicing a bit of everyday awareness. I realize this is easier said than done — awareness is a habit that’s not easily picked up.  So, I thought I would share with you one of my favorite mindfulness rituals to help you appreciate the mundane and to live more fully into the moment.

A big part of aging gracefully is being willing to change how you think. One of the easiest facets of shifting our thoughts is to shift how our thinking about movement and to become a thinking body. Remember, how you treat your body is inseparable from how you cope with other aspects of life.

Finally, a good excuse to lie down and do nothing! Ok. Maybe not quite nothing.

Exploring the art of Body Scans is a wonderful way of developing skills such as embodied awareness (i.e., being able to sense yourself), concentration, and focused attention. Plus, body scanning can is an effective ‘pre-movement’ strategy or end of the day stress-reduction practice.

We have all been told that aging brings with it aches, pains, and loss of function. Many of us have even accepted the fact that joint pain is inevitable and that we will someday have to give up doing those things that bring us the most joy.

But what if there’s another way?

Every once in a while, I find one of those quotes that has a way of working me – shifting me slowly but consistently over time — echoing in everything that I do. Somehow the Robert Frost quote from A Servant’s Servant has been one of those unique passages that continue to whisper to me when my motivation is low, and my curiosity has waned.

I am intrigued by how we develop our self-image over our lifetime and how we can consciously choose to shift that image.

I am currently on my fifth read of Awareness Through Movement by Moshe Feldenkrais. I read this book for the first time nearly fifteen years ago, and I am in awe as to what shifts in perspective and what stands out whenever I return to a great book.