Making changes (and breaking habits) by Catriona Murray

People often come to Shiatsu for support in making changes such as:

• posture
• style of living
• even situations, whether at home, work or elsewhere.

​Each change may require us to take small steps, each a tiny change in itself, and many of these tiny changes may involve breaking a habit.

Maybe I come to shiatsu hoping to change the way my body feels (perhaps I feel physical pain, or perhaps I just feel a little 'uncomfortable'). In the course of my treatments, things may start to shift (as muscles relax and tension is eased). And ... as part of the process I may choose to change a habit or two in support of these positive shifts. Changes could be as wide-ranging as dietary habit, exercise or even thought or emotional patterns. Just as an example ... I might choose to sit straight (i.e. stop crossing my legs).
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Sounds easy? Well, yes it is, I suppose, it’s so small: .....

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simply uncross. Or don’t cross at all.

That's the theory.
​
But here is where the roadblocks to change can start!
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... I’ve sat in this way so often and for so long! ... ​Somehow I've always thought this was such an elegant position - how I admired the grown-up, glamorous way my mother used to sit, legs casually crossed ... Oh yes, and how I enjoy the extra warmth as I cosy up, legs crossed against the chill from those tenement windows.

And … I’m so disheartened:

• when I forget
• when I do it anyway.

It's exactly at this point that we need to activate our self-compassion. It may seem a small change, yet it still requires my own full-hearted support.

And how much easier it will feel if I support:

• by understanding that yes, it may feel small, but it's okay if it takes a while
• and by allowing the change to happen in its own good time, which may well be super-quick for that person, but may be an eternity (so it feels) for me.

Just as it's easier for me to make progress with a teacher who encourages (rather than sitting in judgement), so it is easier to make changes if I appreciate me regardless of how easy or difficult the process is for me:

• if I do it: hurray!
• if I don’t: hurray for noticing!

And thank you me:

for choosing to change
and for letting it happen at the pace that suits me.

By Catriona Murray