A Scruncher's Cry for Help!

We had two beautiful 70-degree days in Virginia recently.  Then all of a sudden, wham!  High winds and cold temperatures returned.  I had to go outside in these temperatures to run errands.  Every time I got out of the car, I realized how tight and tense my body felt, trying to stay warm.  This got me thinking... are we more tense in the cold?

A quick Google search of "are we more tense in the cold" yielded this #1 result:
http://imogenragone.com/feeling-cold-excess-tension-and-the-alexander-technique/

I remember learning about the Alexander Technique when I was a teenage pianist and our teacher had an expert come and analyze our playing posture.  I felt so different - almost lighter - when she adjusted the position of my head, the way I sat, and how I moved my arms.  It felt so good - so relaxing.

I am a naturally tense person, I think.  I'm always thinking about what needs to be done while also thinking about what I'm doing at the moment.  Not all of the things I think about are bad or worrisome, but it's like my mind is always multi-tasking.  I constantly find myself with scrunched up shoulders and have to consciously relax them.

So when I was out & about, I realized how, once again, my shoulders were all scrunched up.  My hands were tightly balled into fists in my pockets.  My head was bent over so I could tuck my chin inside my jacket.  I realized... my body felt pretty bad because of all this tension.  I tried to decide what was worse - feeling cold or feeling tense.

I am always cold.  Maybe that's also part of the reason I'm often tensed up.  I've been that way since I was little.  Nowadays people will feel it's helpful to tell me that I'm cold because I need to gain weight - "Eat a sandwich" - but the reality is I am slam in the middle of the healthy weight range for my height.  I don't think packing on pounds of insulating fat is a healthy answer.

I guess as far as the cold goes, I can put on another layer.  Maybe I need to wear an undershirt like I did when I was in preschool.  As far as relaxing in general goes... I am curious, how do you all relax?  How do you focus on one thing at a time?  I would love to hear.

For the moment, this scruncher is sitting in front of a roaring pellet stove, and for the last 20 minutes or so, has thought of nothing more than writing this blog entry.  Ahhhhh.

(If you read my blog yesterday about relaxing with Gracie, remember - I can't get a dog at this point in my life.)