This is me recently.
Have you ever felt as though you have a set of scales in your head and the twenty things you are thinking about are making them swing from one side to the other without ever coming into balance? Making dinner but thinking about a meeting happening the next day; walking the dog while running through your shopping list;
remembering a birthday but worrying about a loved one; wondering whether you replied to an email/text message … and then think, What was I supposed to be doing again?
It’s exhausting isn’t it?
It would be lovely if those scales finally settled perfectly in the middle and everything felt calm and balanced — but life doesn’t really work like that does it? They are constantly moving, one day one thing is weighing heavier, another day something else
takes centre stage. Sometimes our own health wants attention, and sometimes exciting new opportunities or unexpected challenges tip everything in a different direction. The problem isn’t the scales moving, the problem comes when they never seem to stop.
While all of this is going on in our minds, our nervous system doesn’t get a chance to settle — it stays on high alert, breathing is affected and becomes shallower, muscles hold tension, sleep becomes more difficult and
energy levels slowly drain away. We can feel busy all day but feel as though we haven’t achieved very much.
So what can we do?
Instead of trying to stop the scales moving, the answer could be to create little moments that allow them to settle, it might only need a minute or two. All things I have talked about before in this section: taking a slow breath before replying to a message; going for a walk without solving every problem in your head; writing
thoughts down instead of carrying them all around; choosing just one task instead of trying to tackle five at once; or simply noticing that your mind has become busy without judging yourself for it.
Tiny pauses like this are as if we are placing a hand on the scales to hold them there. Those life responsibilities won’t disappear, but this can stop everything swinging quite so wildly.
I have to confess that none of my go to things like taking a walk,
getting in the garden, taking a breath and so on have helped much lately, so then what do you do?
Well, it then becomes about recognising and identifying what does make you stop with the thinking scales. One of the reasons I love teaching Pilates is that it is one of those things where I become absorbed by what I am doing. It gives my mind something kind and purposeful to focus on, moving with intention, breathing, feeling the connections. I know the outside world
doesn’t vanish, but teaching quietens the mind just enough for me to feel the mind and body working together rather than pulling in all different directions.
Maybe it’s not about emptying the mind completely, because life will always fill our heads, whether it be people we love, responsibilities, ideas, hopes, worries and plans … which isn’t necessarily unhealthy until everything starts shouting for attention at the same time and at the same volume. So finding something
that provides a chance to turn the volume down, not to silence totally, but to hear them more clearly has got to be good. It’s not about clearing the mind completely, but about creating enough quiet to hear yourself think.
When our minds are full, we don’t always need more answers, we simply need a moment of stillness, so if your go to place isn’t helping at the moment, then it’s time to poke a stick into the hamster wheel of your thoughts to stop it going around and
around.
That said, it might need to be a totally different stick to what you’d expect. You perhaps need to do something that is very different to what you would normally do, stepping away from everything and stopping the constant see-saw effect of the scales dipping from one side to another in your head.
If you are experiencing days when your brain has seventeen tabs open, three are frozen, one is playing music you can’t find, and you have
absolutely no idea where that important document has gone, firstly —welcome to being human, and secondly — make space to allow your scales to settle… your whole self will thank you.
Have a good week everyone. Keep looking, moving, and feeling good.
With love and support,
Jane xxx
Summer Timetable of Face-to-Face
Classes
