A few weeks ago a friend shared Stephen Jepson's video "Never Leave the Playground." Talk about aligned with me and my goals. I plan to be the old lady still out doing athletic things. I'm inspired by the oldest yoga teacher and the 70 year old's I hear about that are still out skateboarding. Being older doesn't mean giving up, settling, and sitting; it means enjoying and still playing.
You may recall that one of my themes which arose from my work with the Wardrobe Architect was to create and live in clothing that is "Work2Play". It's gotta move with me and enable me to work and play at anytime. So when I saw Stephen's video, I was not only inspired, but delighted. Here is a man in his 70's saying - get outside and play. And, my engineering mind is thrilled by someone inventing toys for adult play. It's brilliant. He's brilliant!
You may recall that one of my themes which arose from my work with the Wardrobe Architect was to create and live in clothing that is "Work2Play". It's gotta move with me and enable me to work and play at anytime. So when I saw Stephen's video, I was not only inspired, but delighted. Here is a man in his 70's saying - get outside and play. And, my engineering mind is thrilled by someone inventing toys for adult play. It's brilliant. He's brilliant!
Of course, I had to share with my Dad because he and I recently began to challenge ourselves individually to achieve 10,000 steps daily. And, both parents taught me to to seek knowledge and live as the eternal student. So we all love learning new things and discovering interesting people.
Shortly thereafter, my Dad started talking about a book he was listening to and how the author suggested walking on uneven surfaces, forwards, backwards, sideways. I observed him letting go of "complying with social norms" (a big deal mind), in favor of walking in new ways to assist his muscles and body in total health. So cool. Really. I'm impressed, Dad.
He and I only talked about the subject matter of the book, but not the author nor title.
Shortly thereafter, my Dad started talking about a book he was listening to and how the author suggested walking on uneven surfaces, forwards, backwards, sideways. I observed him letting go of "complying with social norms" (a big deal mind), in favor of walking in new ways to assist his muscles and body in total health. So cool. Really. I'm impressed, Dad.
He and I only talked about the subject matter of the book, but not the author nor title.
Now we switch tracks to my own health journey. I've noticed that my body isn't working as well as it could (some muscles ache in ways that I know they don't need) and I would like to trim down a little more because I feel doing so will allow me to be able to hike longer, achieve different yoga poses, and be able to hold my leg up for longer periods of time while I learn to perform turns on my roller skates. So, I've been seeking ways to strengthen my body and support my long term health.
I see myself as an athlete and I'm also dedicated to returning my body to a state of health I was in ~ 10 years ago. I have had several injuries over the last 10 years and was dealing with the fears of having to live a life of constantly injuring myself when I stumbled into doing some Akashic Record clearing work with Tess Whitehurst.
I believe in reincarnation and know about some of the past lives I have lived. What I didn't know, that Tess helped me with, is that part of my fears around injury were tied to fears carried over from my past lives. Our clearing session brought illumination and realization to me in ways I had not expected. I felt so light & free after that I danced around the room. Many burdens were released.
Though, I find that my soul is still clinging to some of the fears, and I am turning my attention away from fear and toward living a healthy, athletic life. In doing so, I put the intention out that I wanted to learn exercises and ways of living that will support an injury free lifestyle. Boom! It arrived. Thought not as I expected.
One day, in skimming my Bloglovin feed, I saw Suzannah of Create/Enjoy, a cool sewing and crafting blogger chick from PDX, write about her hiking wishlist. Those who've read my blog for a while know how much I love hiking and photographing wildflowers, especially so in my native Pacific Northwest surroundings. In Suzannah's post, she also wrote about Katy Bowman's podcast and the exercises Suzannah was doing to restore her foot heath and strength. WHOA! COOL! Here was the universe answering my intention through someone. DANG this is COOL! (have you ever considered that every word you utter, write, or movement you make could be the answer to someone's prayers? Let that one flutter about your heart for a while then settle in. It's a doozie!)
So, I started looking into Katy Bowman's website and then looked for her books. I mentioned my discovery to my Dad and he said, "you wanna listen to the book?" Turns out, it was the same damn book he was telling me about. Isn't it wild how we arrived at the same book, yet on two totally different paths?
I bought a couple of Katie's Alignment Snacks and really enjoy the release I feel from the simple movements she has us do. This video (below) on Advanced Foot Mechanics is brilliant. What I find most interesting is that I learned much of this from David & Karen Ufer while doing Iyengar Yoga, which is all about alignment in any pose. I love that Katy's work is not only scientifically backed (she is one impressively smart and curious chicky), but it also confirms what I have learned from Iyengar & the Ufers.
I see myself as an athlete and I'm also dedicated to returning my body to a state of health I was in ~ 10 years ago. I have had several injuries over the last 10 years and was dealing with the fears of having to live a life of constantly injuring myself when I stumbled into doing some Akashic Record clearing work with Tess Whitehurst.
I believe in reincarnation and know about some of the past lives I have lived. What I didn't know, that Tess helped me with, is that part of my fears around injury were tied to fears carried over from my past lives. Our clearing session brought illumination and realization to me in ways I had not expected. I felt so light & free after that I danced around the room. Many burdens were released.
Though, I find that my soul is still clinging to some of the fears, and I am turning my attention away from fear and toward living a healthy, athletic life. In doing so, I put the intention out that I wanted to learn exercises and ways of living that will support an injury free lifestyle. Boom! It arrived. Thought not as I expected.
One day, in skimming my Bloglovin feed, I saw Suzannah of Create/Enjoy, a cool sewing and crafting blogger chick from PDX, write about her hiking wishlist. Those who've read my blog for a while know how much I love hiking and photographing wildflowers, especially so in my native Pacific Northwest surroundings. In Suzannah's post, she also wrote about Katy Bowman's podcast and the exercises Suzannah was doing to restore her foot heath and strength. WHOA! COOL! Here was the universe answering my intention through someone. DANG this is COOL! (have you ever considered that every word you utter, write, or movement you make could be the answer to someone's prayers? Let that one flutter about your heart for a while then settle in. It's a doozie!)
So, I started looking into Katy Bowman's website and then looked for her books. I mentioned my discovery to my Dad and he said, "you wanna listen to the book?" Turns out, it was the same damn book he was telling me about. Isn't it wild how we arrived at the same book, yet on two totally different paths?
I bought a couple of Katie's Alignment Snacks and really enjoy the release I feel from the simple movements she has us do. This video (below) on Advanced Foot Mechanics is brilliant. What I find most interesting is that I learned much of this from David & Karen Ufer while doing Iyengar Yoga, which is all about alignment in any pose. I love that Katy's work is not only scientifically backed (she is one impressively smart and curious chicky), but it also confirms what I have learned from Iyengar & the Ufers.
One of the things Katy talks about is transitioning away from things like furniture and pillow / mattress in favor re-teaching your body to support itself. I'll leave the technical explanation to her, and also note this would be a SLOW transition. In the spirit of this, I have tried going pillowless over the last 4 days. When I lay down to sleep, I crave the coziness of the pillow. Yet, I still let myself choose no pillow. 3 out of the 4 days, I've slept comfortably sans pillow. The one day I slept with it, I woke up with the pillow pushed out of the way (something I did in my sleep). This morning, I woke up with a really nice sense of freedom in my neck. And I've been hunching too much while painting the last day or two. So that was quite the surprise.
I'm also seeking new ways to add movement and play to my life throughout the day instead of sitting so much and then exercising for 30 -60 min. It's refreshing and fun to invite movement. And I'm realizing I needn't be so hard on myself. I feel so much freer knowing I get to play and benefit my body by jumping on logs, climbing on the playground toys, hanging from the monkey bars, or throwing some grapevines into my walk.
How about you and your health journey? What books are you reading? What videos or exercises are you doing? What clothes are you sewing or buying to support a movement lifestyle?
I'm also seeking new ways to add movement and play to my life throughout the day instead of sitting so much and then exercising for 30 -60 min. It's refreshing and fun to invite movement. And I'm realizing I needn't be so hard on myself. I feel so much freer knowing I get to play and benefit my body by jumping on logs, climbing on the playground toys, hanging from the monkey bars, or throwing some grapevines into my walk.
How about you and your health journey? What books are you reading? What videos or exercises are you doing? What clothes are you sewing or buying to support a movement lifestyle?
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