Warning signals

In our kitchen

we have a fancy bean-to-cup coffee machine; visitors are often perturbed by the strange noises it makes as it turns on and off. Although it has warning lights to remind you to top up the water and empty the grounds, it doesn’t tell you when there are no beans. You only realise by the anguished howl it emits when there’s nothing left to grind.

Humans don’t have warning lights

as such, but it’s useful to notice warning signals. However well you start off, as the day progresses it’s easy to become lost in work, family, cleaning, cooking, driving …

The busier you get, especially if you’re sitting or standing, the more your old habits make their appearance and tension patterns set in.

If you’re driving the car and a red light appears on the dashboard, you’ll probably stop and investigate. Yet when it’s a question of looking after ourselves, we tend to push on ‘to get things done’.

Here are some typical human warning signals:

·     Staring at whatever it is you’re doing, with the loss of peripheral vision.

·     Clamping your teeth together and tightening your jaw.

·     Shallow breathing, so your ribs are hardly moving.

·     Legs crossed or feet wrapped around a chair leg.

If you notice any of these things then it’s probably time to …

have a movement snack!

Have a good stretch, go and open a window, or fetch a glass of water. You only need spare a few seconds, then you can return to what you were doing. Take a moment to come to quiet, asking for balance and ease throughout the whole of your Self.

Don’t be disheartened if tension creeps back. The good thing is you’re noticing it. Once you start noticing tension you’re well on the way to not creating it in the first place.