When doing more of the same isn't helping

We collect all sorts of advice about our bodies throughout our lives.

Back feeling tight? Stretch it.

Pelvic floor problem? Squeeze it.

Something hurts? Rest it.

Feeling stiff? Move more.

Bloating? Blame whatever we ate.

And none of those things is automatically wrong. Sometimes a stretch is exactly what we need. Sometimes strengthening is really useful. Sometimes resting for a while is absolutely the right thing to do.

The question isn't whether any of these things are good or bad. It's whether they're right for what's actually happening in your body. Because when doing more of the same thing for weeks, months or even years and the problem keeps returning, perhaps the answer isn't simply to do more of it. Perhaps it's worth asking why it isn't changing anything.

If stretching your back feels lovely for half an hour but by teatime you're right back where you started, stretching it more and more doesn't necessarily tell us why it keeps feeling tight. The same goes for strengthening. If something feels weak, it's very easy to assume it needs strengthening.

Pelvic floor exercises are a perfect example. We're so used to hearing “Do your pelvic floor exercises” that squeezing can become the automatic answer to almost any pelvic floor problem. But if a pelvic floor is already holding on tightly and struggling to relax, repeatedly asking it to squeeze even more may not be particularly helpful.

Before deciding what something needs, it helps to understand what we're actually working with. And sometimes the thing that's bothering us isn't simply the problem. It may actually be part of the body's solution. Something might feel tight because it's providing stability. One area might be working harder because another isn't contributing particularly well. That muscle that constantly feels as though it needs stretching might actually be doing an enormous amount of work to keep you moving through your day.

Our bodies are brilliant at finding ways to keep us going. So if we simply keep trying to loosen the tight bit or quieten the sore bit, we may never discover why it became involved in the first place. There's another complication too. Our bodies don't necessarily need the same thing every day.

Sometimes movement feels wonderful.

Sometimes rest is useful.

Sometimes something needs releasing.

Sometimes it needs strengthening.

Sometimes we need more movement.

And sometimes we already have plenty of movement; what we need is better control of it.

That's why I'm not a great believer in finding one magic exercise or rule and assuming it's the answer forever. Bodies change. Life changes. What we're asking our bodies to do changes. And what helped six months ago might not be what we need today. So perhaps, before automatically thinking:

"I need to stretch more."

"I need to strengthen more."

"I really should be doing those exercises every day."

We could get a little more curious. "What am I actually trying to change?"

And perhaps even more importantly: "Is what I'm doing actually helping?"

If the answer is no, that doesn't necessarily mean you haven't stretched enough, exercised enough or tried hard enough. It might simply mean it's time to stop doing more of the same and look at things differently.

Because our bodies don't come with an instruction manual telling us whether something needs stretching, strengthening, releasing, resting or something else entirely. Sometimes the most useful thing we can do isn't more.

It's to stop automatically reaching for what we've always done and start asking why we're doing it in the first place.

Love, always

Dawn xx