Did you know that falling is the No. 2 cause of death in adults over the age of 60 worldwide?
My dad fell this week just getting up from his chair. He's a big bloke, tall and fell hard fracturing his arm. It's made day to day living more difficult.
I know of several people who have fallen in the last few months, also breaking wrists, injuring knees, hips, shoulders and the list goes on.
It's made me think about this more as we approach Autumn and 'the Fall'. I am a creature of habit as I wrote about a slightly different theme of Falling last year. (Hence this one being Falling 2). It was at the back of my mind when I was planning the recent 'Flow & Glow' retreat too.
I love this turn in seasons. The Autumn Equinox (which is tomorrow), as the energy shifts. The balance of night to day changes. The colours and textures are richer. Smells of damp mossy, peaty, earth. Conkers, acorns and pumpkins. Seasonal roots and rich hearty greens. A coolness in the air. Layering up with good 'transitional' clothes. Boots and comfy socks. My list could go on.
It's an opportunity to turn a bit more inward. Reflect. Regroup and focus on what and how we'd like to respond to 'The Fall'.
But coming back to 'Falling'. As I mentioned in my previous post, over the next few weeks I'm looking at a different flows. Challenging not only people's body patterns and familiar shapes in new sequences, flow and movement. I'm looking at more balances too. All this not only challenges us physically, but neurologically as well. There was a really good piece about this in The Guardian last year.
I feel an important aspect of balancing are the transitions in and out of poses. So often in yoga poses (as with many things in life), we often go to our 'comfort places' all the time. We let our ego take over and don't challenge ourselves or explore our potential. Things become habit.
So, this Autumn/Fall I'm aiming to set all my groups 'off balance'. To challenge positions, balance and transitions in every class. From my brilliant Thursday morning group (mostly 60/70 even 80 year olds!) to those doing 'Yogaeverydamnday'. I'll be challenging myself too.
Let's practice how not to Fall, or Fall better. Namaste.
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