Four things to do in the supermarket queue

Do you rush headlong down the supermarket aisle by the checkouts, almost crashing into innocent bystanders with your trolley, in the hope of finding a free till?  Do you huff and puff  if somebody beats you to it or is slow ahead of you?  Do you go to the self service area because it seemed like a good, and quicker idea, but has only served to push your blood pressure up by a good few milimetres of mercury?

Well, no more – the supermarket queue is a marvellous opportunity to spend a bit of time thinking about posture and breathing.  So next time the person ahead of you is spending £100, or you’re in Lidl, try this:

• focus on your breath.  There are many ways to do this.  One of the most straightforward is to count in your head “breathe in, two, three, four, five; breathe out, two, three, four, five”   That gets you focused on the breath but ideally you need to be breathing in the right place.  That sounds a bit crazy but it is commonplace for us to fail to breathe into the lungs and somehow to breathe into the collar bones.  So be aware of breathing into the ribs,  They will expand out a little as you breathe in and drop back on the out breath.    That is a very specific anatomical cue.   You might prefer to use visual metaphor: imagine your lungs expanding like balloons inflating with air, or try this cue:  “breathe into your pelvis”.  I have borrowed this from a talented instructor who is on the circuit in Leeds and I think it’s great, but bear in mind, not all suggestions work for all people so it might not work for you.
• So you’ve done that.  Now for an extra thing to consider.

Head placement.  Our eyes dictate much of what we do in life and are at least partly responsible for our tendency to poke the head forwards, thus adding a subtle but constant strain to the neck.  Can you gently and slightly retract the head whilst still keeping the chin parallel to the floor and the eyes to the horizon.  If you retract too far you’ll know – it feels constrained in the throat.

• So you’re breathing calmly and efficiently, your head is back – gently and softly and with no effort.  Now be aware of your jaw.  Many, many of us are jaw clenchers.  It’s almost involuntary, constant, and not a good thing.  Notice how the jaw feels when you relax it.  Notice the sensation with the lips softly parted and the tongue also relaxed.  I know myself how hard it is to maintain this, but even remembering to do it occasionally is worthwhile,
• This last thing only really works best if you’re wearing flat shoes, or ideally, which is unlikely, no shoes at all!  But you might shop online and so you’re at home…  Be in your feet. Such a fundamentally important part of our body and yet we so rarely spare them a thought apart from to rue the fact that the Shellac has grown out or there’s a hole in our socks. So do it now: be equally in the balls of your feet and the heels; be equally in the left and right foot and just take a moment to consider the sensation of the floor and the relationship between the feet, knees (softened) and the bottom (relaxed) and up into the pelvis. There are many exercises which build on this. Double heel raises for example, but you’re in the supermarket queue, and it’s probably your turn now.