Moor Mag Issue 6

Moor Mag #6 by James Crow
The theme for this issue was New Year Resolutions, dealing with topics such as over-eating and smoking…
Time for a change?
If you’re suffering from impulsive behaviour like comfort eating, or smoking or drinking too much, then learning self-control is your real key to change.
As kids in the classroom, we’d often blurt out answers before we raised our hand. In time, we learned to hold our tongue and hold up our hand until the teacher gave the go-ahead. But some of us have difficulty learning to control our responses. Often we develop behavioural problems which can continue into adulthood. This impulsivity is a primary feature of many disorders including addiction, ADHD, obsessive compulsive disorder, gambling and over-eating.
As you begin to learn the Alexander Technique, our first few sessions help you to stop reacting impulsively. You soon become more aware of yourself when you’re doing things, so you stop reacting unthinkingly to things like the urge to eat or smoke. You learn to control your impulses. Think of it as modern mindfulness without any esoteric trimmings.
For example, how many times have you opened a big bag of crisps, only to look down a few minutes later and realise you’ve eaten them all! By being mindful and in control of your actions, you can avoid mindlessly over-eating, or mindlessly lighting the next ciggy before you’ve even noticed.
This means any New Years Resolutions have the best possible chance of success.
If you want more self-control, you can stop being a slave of habit by learning the Alexander Technique.