Deny, Delay, Disengage

I taught my first Introduction to Alexander Technique class for the Anacortes Senior College on Tuesday and had a wonderful time talking about chairs, necks, ankles, sitting bones, breathing, and noticing where your feet are! It occurred to me on the way over to teach that anyone who showed up (for any of the classes) was going to be taking themselves out of the 24-hour news cycle for a bit as well as meeting people and learning something new…which really applied to me as I was desperate to get away from checking the latest updates by then. I’ve been trying hard to monitor my Internet use in the last couple of days (with occasional success) and so here are some thoughts about that.

Opal does not want to read the news right now.

Don’t Deny what is going on in our country. Stay informed in small doses, maybe set certain times a day to look at the latest updates while realizing that things are moving so fast that the situation might change while you’re reacting to it and thinking about what to do or say. However -

Don’t Delay making a phone call or a post, but choose one or two areas that are very important to you and limit your reactions, phone calls to elected officials, and posting, to those areas. Trying to react to and post about everything will wear you out and that level of engagement is not sustainable, especially not for four years. And then -

Nora would also prefer to not be informed of current events.

Do Disengage. Make the phone calls or posts, work on a plan with family or friends if you need to, put items on your calendar or take notes on your next round of actions, and then stop for a while. Take a walk, play with pets, meet your neighbors, volunteer if you can (I am volunteering with two local non-political organizations and they are a great source of grounding and looking at the big picture) and consider learning something new. Alexander Technique has been a wonderful tool to help with self-regulating and noticing tension and reactionary habits so of course I am a big fan of it, but you might have another practice that can help you get out of the endless spiral and back into your body for a few minutes.  

Good luck and stay safe out there.

Proof that I went for a walk this week!