Hi Friends, Well, as we move into routine and rhythm of classes and practices, I want to reemphasize my request for your attendance at class: Please arrive 10-15 minutes early to set up, say hi and roll out. Just as I am emphasizing the need that you practice outside of class, I am stressing the importance of you using the foam roller, soft ball or hard ball before class begins. One of you wonderful hearts was courageous enough to ask me why and share that you didn’t know what to do to roll out. It’s true it has been many years since I have laid out the whys and whats behind the need to do it. So, inspired by this wonderful question, I am giving you all two long excerpts from two masters of the human body, Gil Hedley and Tom Myers. I will follow up with links to Jill Miller, aka The Roll Model and her YouTube channel for you to search around for what you can do for your corporeal being which feeds your emotional being. May you enjoy treating yourself with such attentive love. “Here’s the thing about the Fuzz: You can see it now. As the old Bedouin proverb has it: “Water still: poison! Water moving: life!” Jill Miller, The Roll Model, Tune Up Fitness Roll Before You Work out? The Science Says Yes! Vagus Voyage with Jill Miller - A myofascial self-massage for downregulation Abdominal Self-Massage on an Inflatable Coregeous® Sponge Ball Ajahn Chah learned that it was better to create the right environment for practice than to try to turn people who didn’t want to practice into practitioners. He had a simile. He said: “If you created a nice pasture and cows came in, they would eat the grass. If animals went into the pasture and didn’t eat the grass, then you knew they weren’t cows.” That was his way of saying that if you create a good place for practice, real practitioners will practice. Other types of people won’t practice, and there’s no point in trying to change them. Have you noticed I have changed my monthly email format and to some extent my teaching method? Now, my classes are only for those with a willingness to commit, a purpose, and a positive attitude. Here were the responses I received: I am working towards improved mobility (which decreases pain and improves range of motion and ease getting through the day). I am working towards being stronger functionally. And most fundamentally, it all starts with breathwork. I am committed to doing the work as I age and it becomes harder to retain. I am committing to daily quality movement of at least an hour with the exception of 1 rest day. I am committing to 10 minutes (to start) a day for 6 days of meditation/breathwork." I want wants to work on overall strength & flexibility. I'm willing to come to class and work definitely, and possibly do to daily "homework." I want to increase my flexibility - I want to touch my toes! I'd like to increase my range of motion in my neck & shoulders if that's possible.” Continue to build on what we have been working on -building joint strength, building strength in weaker points, practicing breath and embodiment. I will continue to make class a priority and will take the lessons I learn in class into my movement during the week. “Bend knees, make a hip crease, juice those oranges!” My goal is to improve core strength and balance.” I want to decrease my back pain by improving my posture and ability to breath. I am willing to practice for 10 minutes a day, 5 days a week, outside of attending class weekly” as a starting point and hope to add more time and other additional types of movement and exercise if/when possible.” I would be willing to commit to trying at least 10 minutes of yoga at home daily, or maybe finding a specific movement or two to commit to doing daily (whichever makes more sense) to build a habit, and then build on it from there.” I am willing to commit to daily exercise based on the last class we attend to carry the lessons forward. I am thinking about moving the exercycle back inside to facilitate moving the joints better.” I am asking this because after on month of classes, I am taking a 10 day break for my high school reunion. This means you will not have the luxury of me to direct your practice for a couple of weeks. This means that if you really want what you think you want, you will be responsible for making it happen while I am away.
So, these next couple of weeks are on you. I hope I hear fantastic stories of Sun Salutations or Pull-Aparts and Squats, of 5 minutes dedicated to “6 counts in, 6 counts out” breathing practice. I know you want it yourself and practicing during class break will be how you get it. What kind of goal(s) do you have right now? I bet they’re outcome-focused: I do have process goals- really, more so than any outcome goal. After a couple of years of writing this monthly newsletter, I continue to struggle with it 98% of the time. It ends up hijacking my lunch breaks as the deadline presses closer and closer. I usually feel overwhelmed and frantic, either from too many ideas to put into a cogent essay, or no idea what to write about but I’ve got to come up with something to meet my business commitment. Many months ago, in an effort to ease the stress, I changed the “start writing” date on my appointment calendar, giving myself an extra week in advance of the deadline. A couple of times that did the trick, and I even finished my writing project early! I thought, okay, got it handled now. But no, that didn’t consistently get my monthly missive written in time to send on the first of the month. I would slog along, knowing that if I just stuck with it, I would get it done and sent. BUT, by now I also knew that just meant I would go through this icky cycle again and again- the next start writing date with too many or no idea, the weeks of work break slogs and maybe getting it our with a minimum of typos and errors. Then last month, as I finished, it occurred to me that just like I do almost everything else, on a schedule of a little bit at a time, I could try writing a little bit at a time. Friday, June 7th, I decided I would set aside one lunch break a week to write. That, I thought, would break it up into 4-5 shorter intervals, without hijacking the whole week (or sometimes 2). It was a great “process goal”. Did it happen? No. Here it is, June 23, 2021, and I am just today beginning to write. I didn’t even get a writing idea until last Friday, with more inspiration from an email I read Sunday, this one from Lisa Lewis PhD, with the post regarding “Process Goals”. Does this mean give up, that once a week at lunch break didn’t work, that the goal or the idea failed? No. It means identify what hijacked the goal and strategize how to handle that interference when it happens next time (‘cause it will). This first go around, some of what hijacked me is just too much on my want-to-do list for the time allowed. I managed some of this by goofing off instead. But really, I had a hard time doing just what I am good at with exercise: setting a list and a schedule and sticking to it, let the rest take care of itself. (Remember the movie Shakespeare in Love? Philip Henslowe (Geoffrey Rush) tells Mr. Fennyman (Tom Wilkinson), "Strangely enough, it all turns out well." Fennyman asks, "How?" and Henslowe replies, "I don't know, its a mystery" Why tell you of my monthly newsletter writing challenge? For the reason that many of you share with me what stopped you from practicing during the pandemic and continues to stop you currently. There is no magic bonk on the head from the wand of a good fairy. We are not just natural or instinctive about making all the right choices. It’s all hard work, trial and error, experimentation and research. It’s not instant gratification that gives that feel good hit every time. I wrote in July 2020 “After Motivation, Then What?” . In it I specifically outlined my own tools to keep practicing. If you need ideas, go back and read it. Just a couple of weeks ago, I sent out an email with,
You have to call forth your own ideas about how to take action. Only you know all the intricacies of your 24 hours day, 7 days a week, monthly duties, seasonal happenings. Because only you know what is so valuable to you or not so worthy that you will choose what is a priority or what can be set aside, even temporarily. Others can share their experience and suggestions. Those are the hard work of trial and error, experiment and research for your being. You aren’t another. You are you. … “Understanding that [clients] are the experts on themselves. |
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December 2022
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