The Importance of Being Aware of Your Own Movements (Habits)
Why do we repeat movements that break down our bodies?
I point out my clients' movements even outside of our sessions.
This is extremely important in conditioning.
For example, when a client is putting on their shoes as they leave.
I mention issues with how they bend forward or their leg alignment (bone arrangement).
"Look! Just like before!"
"Again!"
I don't say it in a mean way, of course.
I point it out as gently as possible while smiling.
Some instructors get angry, you know. (I know people like that.)
All cognition begins with awareness
I always point out my clients' movements during sessions, but beyond just awareness, there is a much greater meaning to it.
You cannot see your own habits yourself.
You only realize them when someone else points them out.
You don't think you are doing it that way yourself.
Or sometimes, you just don't want to admit it.
In other words, you are lying to yourself.
Lying to oneself also happens frequently with habits of thought.
Pretending to understand something you heard from someone else when you actually don't.
Pretending to be friendly with someone you don't actually want to interact with.
Acting as if you like a job you don't want to do. (Though in social activities, this is sometimes unavoidable.)
As a member of society, you cannot always do exactly as you please, but I try not to lie to myself as much as possible.
Mentally, lying to or deceiving yourself causes cognitive dissonance.
Because what you think in your heart does not match your actual actions, you are causing a cognitive malfunction.
If you do this frequently, it also causes malfunctions in your motor cognition.
You think you are using your legs straight, but something is off.
Your knees cave inward when you stand up.
Even though you just did it correctly in the session, you do it anyway when standing up casually.
The fundamental problem is not the movement itself, but the lack of awareness regarding what movement you are about to perform.
Subconscious actions
In daily life, we repeat fixed movements.
These are habitual movements.
You don't think about how to lift your legs or which arm to swing when you walk.
But habitual movements gradually develop discrepancies.
In early summer, some companies hold safety conventions.
These are companies with physical work sites or in the construction industry.
Every year, I am invited as a keynote speaker for these safety conventions, and the focus of the lecture is on how to prevent accidents and mistakes on the job.
In those lectures, I talk about "self-awareness."
Even at work, we sometimes perform familiar movements out of pure inertia.
These kinds of mistakes are called human errors, categorized into easy mistakes or slips, but it's easier to understand if we just call it a lack of attention.
In other words, because the movements are habitual, you only have a vague idea of what you are doing, and mistakes occur because your attention is not directed toward the fine details of the movement.
You don't need to pay attention to standing up at home.
But if you are on a stage in front of many people for a lecture, the probability that you will try to pay attention to how you stand increases.
In any situation, if you direct your consciousness toward "self-awareness," you can heighten your awareness of the movements you are about to perform.
From the subconscious to the conscious
Your movements, especially most of your habits, are performed subconsciously.
Because they are performed subconsciously, if left alone, you will continue to repeat those movements forever.
And if that movement is a burden on your body...
Repeating it damages your structure, and you step onto the path toward breakdown.
If you have a risk-hedging mindset, I believe this is a path you would want to avoid.
After all, if your body's structure breaks down, you will have to replace it or live while patching it up.
If you walk in a way that causes your body to lean to one side when you want to walk straight, you will get very tired.
I believe that such approaches to reducing risk and maintaining a mental attitude are very important for a healthy life, both to walk easily and to live comfortably.
The Meiji-era literary master Rohan Koda taught his young daughter, Aya, how to clean as part of her upbringing.
He taught her everything in detail, from how to use a broom, how to wipe floors and windows, to how to wring out a rag—specifically, how to wring it out carefully so that water doesn't splash around.
He provided guidance down to such fine details.
At first glance, this might seem like old-fashioned, strict discipline, but it is an effective form of training for how to use the body.
This discipline is not just about being fussy; it is practice for learning what we call 'shosa' (graceful conduct), and I believe it is a form of traditional wisdom that can be called self-cultivation.
The conduct of cleaning to make things beautiful aligns the mind and body, and those careful movements are natural movements for the body—in other words, functional movements.
What can be read from this episode is the act of taking movements performed subconsciously and placing them under conscious control.
If you are not succeeding because you are doing things subconsciously, you should temporarily place them under conscious control and practice them.
Through that accumulation, you can return them to the subconscious, or reach a point where you can complete movements with a sense that exists between the conscious and subconscious.
Based on such stories and practical experience, I watch my clients' movements, check them, and nag them by pointing things out repeatedly.
Also, from the perspective of building new neural circuits, it is effective to access yourself little by little.
Doing a lot at once without accessing it for a while places a heavy burden on the body.
I am convinced that providing weak stimuli at a high frequency is the essential method for improving movements (habits), and I implement it accordingly.
Please give it a try!
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