Get Out There and MOVE!

I tend to love spring and summer best, and one reason is very simple; it’s more fun to be out in the world when the weather is nice. My yard in the Springfield home has been my saving grace through pandemic; I can work in the garden, shovel gravel for the back area, pressure wash decks and furniture, plant flowers and vegetables, and enjoy working as a substitute for exercising, which has never been my favorite thing. Once it’s fun to be outside, I have fun outside at whichever task I choose in the moment. I really enjoy the Zen of my yard!

On any regular day of the year my morning routine consists of a few vitamins, then a 20 minute walk inside the house to get in the first mile of the day. I choose to walk in the house simply because it’s less easy to talk myself out of the walk; who cares if it’s raining, snowing, too hot or too cold? I have no excuse and that’s the way things work best for me. After, another supplement taken, then I move on to my ‘workout room’ which has a sit up bench, a rebounder and five pound weights. I spend roughly another 20 minutes moving in this style.

In the summer however, I’m giving myself a bit of a break from the workout…if I know it’s a day to shovel gravel, I’ll probably forgo the twists with weights…I know the purposeful movement of accomplishing a task will also accomplish the stretching and movement of my body parts. At the end of the day in this fairly tired and very injured old body, as we sit to watch a bit of TV, chances are I’ll get on the floor for stretching as I listen in. Even though I believe in the adage, “Use it or lose it” I still have trouble motivating myself to move enough, and I pay attention. I grieve for those trapped at a computer for hours at a time, or sitting in a cross country truck, or on a ladder painting nonstop, or any of the many ways we get stuck in a specific movement to the detriment of a flowing movement pattern in the body.

My nearly 98 year old father in law passed recently. He spent only about 3 months on the actual death process after years of living alone in a two story house with his bedroom and bathroom upstairs and his laundry in the basement. He claimed those steps were his exercise. Towards the end of his life, here was the story: “I know I need to move, but it hurts too much!” To some degree, this is too many of us. When it takes more energy to just move than we feel we have, we stop. That’s the absolute worst thing we can do.

I emulate my grandfather who died at 92 (my father, an angry man died at 60 so I don’t want to mimic that behavior!); a farmer and gardener. I seem to remember he had a heart attack around the age of 75—78, but he never stopped! He simply slowed down a bit more each day, and he remembered to take frequent rest breaks. I find myself doing the same thing. I’ll still weed a flower bed intensely, but I’ll remember to get up and stretch. I’ll still shovel 1000 pounds of gravel occasionally, but I’ll remember to measure how many shovels of gravel suggest it’s time for a short rest.

So for me, a key to movement is first, make the movement have a good purpose, whether it’s achieving health and flexibility, or needing to accomplish a task. Second, don’t overdo, and remember to try to add breath into the movement. Third, don’t stop! Slow down if you must, but keep moving as much as you can do so. And last, we all fall off a bicycle occasionally! No shame there…but get back on it. If you find you’re criticizing self for not getting enough done, get back in there as much as you can, and work to create the right habits instead of letting yourself get stuck in the bad ones.

I have a chapter in my book The Self-Care Guide to Surgery (Singing Dragon, 2020) titled Mindful Movement, Where You Are. The concept is good: anything around you can be your exercise equipment, be it the stairway, an armchair, the kitchen sink, a desk or table…all these things can serve as exercise tools if you allow yourself to see them that way and explore the movements. So, whether you choose to invest in fancy equipment or a fitness center membership, or just practice walking circuits of your home, can you see the goal as exploration of movement instead of feeling you must achieve something? Move for the joy, not the must-do!

Use it or lose it…that says it all, but do it with joy and enth

I'm BACK!

We’ve all had an interesting year. Part of what’s so interesting is how we’ve each reacted. We’re learning to adapt to the circumstances. I’ve been fortunate; I could afford to ‘semi-retire’, play in my garden/yard, and be close to nature when I couldn’t interact with people. If anything, this year gave me a time to get a bit closer to myself. Those of us who didn’t have to add the stress of money worries have had a pretty good year. It wasn’t the year I might have wanted, but it’s been a good one nevertheless.

But: I’m back! Last week I had two absolute workdays, back to back. On Friday last I drove to Columbia, MO and spent a day with Albino Sandoval, who is the newest addition to our CORE Instructor roster. Albino is planning to offer the “Top Ten Hot Spots” course in October…possibly in Kansas City, Jefferson City, and St. Louis, MO. It’s a great six hour day dealing with my favorite spots in the body to make changes quickly. Albino and I spent a day discussing teaching strategies, then he both treated and talked to me/taught me about what he was doing. A satisfying treatment, and a satisfying learning for him.

The next day I moved on to Jefferson City to offer my newest class, “Resetting the Nerve of Safety and Well-Being. This class deals with the vagus nerve and what I’m calling the Evolutionary Vagal Complex, or EVC. I’m getting more and more interested in trying to sort out how, in these troubling times of the past year, one can stay resilient, and live in a state of self-soothed parasympathetic ability to take it all in without getting stuck in whatever ‘it’ is. We’ve all had a stressful year; how have we dealt? Did we simply shut down and play dead? Did we try to resist and fight at every step? Did we just give up and run away? Or did we try to find, face, feel, and free and forget the trauma? To me, that is the definition of resilience and what some would call ‘self-soothing’ and what I think of as resetting the vagus system or revitalizing the social engagement system.

Anyway, we had a lovely space thanks to Rose Grotjan, massage therapist and mentor in the Jefferson City area. Fifteen students gathered for the six hours of talk about not only the vagus, but the complex, and the various techniques and schools that in some way or another contribute to vagal health. All who came to the class seemed stimulated and challenged, so I left VERY tired, but very happy. After two work days and two three hour drives, Monday was a definite day of rest!

We’re adding an additional section of this vagus class on May 15 (Saturday) in Kansas City, MO. This class will soon be on the website if you’d like to enroll. Thought: This class isn’t only for massagers! I frankly wish everyone in the world would stop to think about the vagal complex and learn what they can do to help self and other heal that system. I’m interested in getting doctors, nurses, any health professionals, but anyone who wants to help self and others feel better! A rather lofty goal, don’t you think? But the good news is: Coming back to the teaching world is getting me juiced again. I’m back!

 

So--Do I Re-emerge?

It’s been an interesting year for all of us. Remember the supposed Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times”? Well, we’re there. All of us had a life that seemed to be going in one direction; suddenly we were thwarted from our goals, our interactions, our tasks. Some adapted well and some not so well. As resilience is one of my favorite words, and states of being, I like to think I’ve coped fairly well. And yet….

Do I return to life as ‘normal’, whatever that means? Do I choose to return to work one year later and reclaim a bodywork business? Or do I simply putter in the back yard and garden, see less people, and make peace with nature and the silence it offers? I believe a similar question faces most of us. How far do we want to return to our old lives? How socially engaged do we want to be after being isolated and quarantined from people for so long?

Social engagement is such an interesting concept, with its upside and its downside. On one hand, it’s clear from research that people who are socially engaged live longer and more rewarding lives much of the time (though those who choose to remove themselves from society seem to do just fine). The ability to exchange ideas, energy, and socialization with others is a building block to health. And yet…revisit those above who remove themselves from the world—in religious orders, hermiting behavior, or for whichever reason setting self apart from the world and living in something of a cocoon. Is this a bad thing? I’m toying with this question.

I’ve found myself returning to an earlier time in my life when I felt depressed…early in my bodywork career and before I’d established a clientele I’d arrive at my office for perhaps one, or more often, no appointments scheduled for the day. I’d lie on the massage table and nap; get up for a toilet break, and go right back to the table. Finally I began making short lists: check the mail, make two calls, have lunch out where you might recruit a client. Usually these lists were that small, that insignificant, and that easy to complete. Yet often I couldn’t finish all the tasks of the day. But I gave myself credit for what I did accomplish.

These days, something similar has happened to me during COVID. I hear it from friends and family as well—many of us just don’t feel ‘motivated’ to move forward. What’s the use? Why bother?

I’ve long believed that those who live with a purpose, a goal, a driver or anything that causes them to want to get up and go keeps them healthier. These days, my goals have shrunk…it’s more about relaying bricks in the backyard sidewalks, or leveling the utility shed, or planting more bulbs. My universe has shrunk, and I’ve nearly decided I prefer this smaller version.

Now, let me hasten to add: I have a few classes scheduled for this year and several more in my head; I’m working on delivering what may be my last book, the text of what I think I know about bodywork, and I’m active in creating a network of CORE workers around the world. Just at slower speed! We’re beginning to socialize again as we and most of our older friends have now had their vaccines. While I honor these loftier goals, I’m learning to  be at peace with the smaller ones; getting the deck cleaned, the junk sorted, and then the views enjoyed, the solitude appreciated. I think, and hope, many of us are finding a similar feeling, and I hope we can hold that feeling as we move out of pandemic mindset into the new reality, whatever that looks like.

My hope: That we all choose to slow down, think about what we were doing before COVID changed our world, and truly think about whether we want to go back to that old worker bee world or whether we’d prefer to remember that while work is OK, other things are important as well. To be with those we love; to be with nature, to be with whatever makes us feel both useful, productive, and happy: those are my goals. It’s a fine question: How do you plan to have a different world on the other side of pandemic?

Personal News for March 2021

Wow! I hope your world is still safe and habitable. I'm happy to report that Gloria has had both COVID vaccinations and I've had the first shot, with the next one coming soon. We hope to be able to travel back to Crete one day, but who knows?

Gloria enjoying a restaurant break.

Gloria enjoying a restaurant break.

Gloria’s father

In sad news, we lost Gloria's father, George Galanes, in Cincinnati, Ohio, in February. It was time—at 97 he could no longer live at home alone, so after moving from hospital to rehab to independent living to hospice to quarantine to a double room to an assisted living apartment in three months, he passed quietly after saying goodbye to us all. A fine man, and he will be missed. So we've also been back and forth to Ohio quite a bit in the last several months. Considering we don't travel these days, we have been burning up the roads!

Next book work

I'm still working on the self-publish aspect of the sixth book; now titled "The Essential CORE: Bodywork with Hands, Head and Heart.” The first half is devoted to philosophy of good deep tissue work and the second half explains and teaches my five-session blueprints for good work. No publication date in the offing. I now have the photos created, still waiting on illustrations. One day…

A fixer-upper project

My daughter Molly has bought a “fixer-upper” in Lockhart, Texas, and is in the process of rehabilitating a house that hasn't been lived in for 25 years! I've therefore made about four trips down since last July to help with the remodel—a learning experience for us both since we're so different and so alike! Not sure when I'll be back to work with her again.

Daughter Molly’s fixer-upper house project

Daughter Molly’s fixer-upper house project

Back to traveling for fun?

FlowersInCrete.jpg

Sadly, will I ever get back to Crete at again? I'm beginning to hope our time is coming, as many more are getting vaccinated, and Europe seems to be relaxing some of the standards…we'll see. We did make a pretty safe vacation in late September/early October—a non-stop drive to visit a nephew in Colorado, a view of Devils Tower in Wyoming and Mount Rushmore in South Dakota before driving home, quickly.

What IS the New Normal?

We're all beginning to have lockdown fever and wanting to get back into the world as soon as possible. Do we call this condition COVID fatigue? Whatever it is, it certainly makes us all realize how much we've been missing face-to-face socialization and the ability to get up and go when we feel like it. However, do we want to return to the 'old normal'?

I've found over the course of the lockdowns that I rather like the new world where I spend much more time in the quiet, in the yard and garden, tending nature and my spirit. I hope it's the same for you! And I hope the experience will give you what it's given me—that ability to slow down and appreciate where I am in the moment instead of rushing to get to some moment in the future. This may be easier for me than for you; simply because I'm pretty much retired and less worried about making an income to tend to my “needs.” Making less money has also made me more aware of how much of my money went to unnecessary expenses. This is a lesson we probably all need to remember.

Years ago I found a poem that stuck in my head. It was called “My Name Is I AM” and was written by Helen Mallicoat. I called Helen and got permission to write a song using her words. The content goes something like this:

I was talking to the Lord and looking for an answer; guilty from the past and fearful of the future. I'd forgotten my trust; needed someone to save me, when I heard a still small voice and the words that it gave me: My name is I AM it said.

When you live in the past with its mistakes and regrets it is hard, for I am not there. When you live in the future with its worries and fears, it is hard; for I am not there. My name is not I was; my name is not I will be; my name is I AM, and I AM that I AM.

NoahWorkingOnHisFoot.jpg

So calmly I'm sticking my toe back into the river of life; offering a few sessions to past clients, reaching out with the vagus class at the invitation of Rose Grotjan, making tentative plans for what the spring, summer and fall may or may not look like (possibly a III/IV in Crete this fall!), and thinking hard about just how far into the world's drama I want to place myself. I hope you have the opportunity to take the pandemic as a reset button; like the vagus nerve, we can reset what we believe our lives must be like, simplify and enjoy more while working and worrying less, enjoying more and living in the I AM, not in the past or future. My wish for you, for me, for us all.


Personal News for October 2020

Back to Crete?

Beginning in September or even late August, I had hoped to move to Crete until January. Sadly, will we ever get back to Crete at all? The pandemic, and the U.S. response, has made it clear that we're the outlier in the world in terms of how NOT to deal with a pandemic. VOTE.

Going forward

Remember, if you're still looking for bodywork now that I'm retiring, Garrell Herndon has his training from the Guild for Structural Integration and sees clients at Bodysmith on St Louis Street in Springfield. He's also taken CORE II with me. His phone number is 416-871-4709. Call him now that I'm not seeing clients.

Okay, I hope you'll take the time to find my Facebook pages or in some way stay connected. May we all live through this next month, this election, the pandemic, and this crazy world we have right now!

Keep breathing.

Don't go off half-cocked! Ready, fire, aim, isn't the way to go!

Pandemic is now officially the least favorite lifestyle for most of us. It's also hitting closer to home as our daughter's sister-in-law has now passed away after three weeks on a ventilator. My grandson is something of a basket case these days, worrying about catching virus, not wanting to return to school, or even see us anywhere closer than across an outdoor space. I don't blame him. What a crazy world we're leaving these children!

Meanwhile, I've been thinking, both for myself and for clients about the title above. It's fairly easy these days for me to have a simple life; I can see myself as retired and don't have to make a living anymore. I can enjoy the yard, even when the lists I make of the "to-do's" simply don't get done. I have the luxury of taking my time, deciding what's important to me, and only doing those things that serve that need. I am lucky indeed.

Yet many people are still trying to participate in a world that I'm not sure exists anymore. They're trying to figure out how to manage lives in an unmanageable world. And for too many of us that goes back to what I say in the title. I see too many people these days who seem to be operating from that phrase "ready, fire, aim" instead of "ready, aim, fire." I believe too many of us stand and go into action BEFORE we take aim. Put in simple terms: What would it be like if we chose an action, stood, thought about the action and primed our body BEFORE we acted? What if we aimed ourselves first, then "fired" on the world?

The upside of COVID-19 for me is that it is letting me have an ability to be more single-minded—if I get one thing done in a day, I feel there's been a success. I'm happier working on a single project instead of looking around at all the "shoulds" I've given myself. And I'm happier with the idea of accomplishing a small goal or two instead of trying to save the world. It's an interesting concept: Are you in the ready/fire/aim category, or the ready/aim/fire one? Do you allow yourself to stand, collect yourself, and find your line before you go into the world, or are you still scurrying to keep up with this new and crazy world? Choose wisely!

Mindful Movement, Where You Are

Most of us make those New Year's resolutions: I'll lose fifteen pounds, I'll work out regularly, I'll settle the old score, I'll make more money, etc, etc. Too many of us don't seem to get those resolutions to resolve into something new and better. In my head, one of the reasons for that is because we set goals too ambitious, too difficult, and too hard to reach instead of setting smaller and more achievable ones. To that end, I'd like you to think about your expenditure of energy in terms of how and how often you move during a day. It seems to me that most of us don't move nearly enough, and that when we finally do move we effort a bit too much in our desire to fix everything quickly. Neither of these 'fixes' will fix anything, and in fact, just may make things worse.

Let's start with that second idea first: It's a New Year, and we're going to trim off the fifteen holiday (or before) pounds, then we're going to get the new wardrobe, then the new job, etc, etc. We set very lofty goals, then stop fairly quickly when we feel defeated by the goals we've set, and we begin to feel like a failure. How to change this? It's simple, really. We merely set smaller and more achievable goals instead of lofty grand ones. Instead of forcing self to lose fifteen pounds, why not focus on eating a bit healthier with more of the good foods—vegetables, fruits, fiber and more water in the diet? Without going kamikaze and feeling the need to monitor everything that goes through the lips, we can simply start being a bit mindful of the things we ingest, and mindfully and gratefully absorbing them and their nutrients?

The second idea above also bears thought: 'mindful movement, where you are' suggests that anything and everything around you can be seen as exercise equipment. Instead of buying a beautiful new workout suit, then a membership in that fancy gym, why not decide to walk 2500 steps around the house or neighborhood every morning when you get out of bed? Why not decide to purchase five pound weights and use them for fifteen minutes each morning in twisting, lateral flexing and forward and backward bends? Why not purchase a $40 rebounder (small trampoline/circulator) and spend ten or fifteen minutes each day with this type of equipment? We don't need more expensive equipment, clothing, and such things to move better; we just need to move better. Think of this: Why not try using big toe push-ups while standing at the kitchen sink to do dishes, or at the counter while preparing vegetables? Why not put hands on the counter, lift self up and allow the arms to both stretch, but also allow the spine to hang from the shoulders instead of the shoulders hanging from the spine? Why not pay attention to going up and down steps, trying to spend less time depending on the railings and more time maintaining an upright posture and paying attention to the tracking of the feet and the resilience of the knees as you go up and down? Why not choose to stand and move gently while watching TV, or the first thing when you get out of bed, or the last thing at night? Adding simple and small routines that you can achieve and feel better about having achieved will help you to move to more ambitious goals, and let you be a winner as you try to self-improve.

So begin to see everything around you as potential exercise movement equipment—your desk and computer can help you remember to stretch and open every few minutes. Your car can remind you to shift your bottom from side to side, change the parts of your back that contact the seat, and adjust your posture as you drive (and take breaks). Your favorite chair or couch can still allow you to find ways to sit up, or lie down, or twist side to side, in a more resilient line instead of lying down to read and cramming self into a fetal posture with your head over the arm of couch in a way that gives you a headache when standing after two hours of reading in that posture. Your stair railings can be your assistant, but not the doer of the action as you climb or descend stairs. Simple attention to posture, movement, breath, and the idea of exploring new postures and movements instead of getting trapped in the old ones, can give you the better new year we're all after.

My new book coming out in January is called “The Self-Care Guide to Surgery” and has a good chapter called “Mindful Movement, Where You Are.” In this chapter we talk to these ideas about what you can do, in smaller and achievable increments, that put you on the path to health instead of the path to static. With or without the book, we can make a choice in this new year, to move more, eat more sensibly, breathe deeply, not let the stresses of the world get to us, and best of all, choose to explore health instead of working so hard to achieve it. Over-achievement sets us up for failure! Exploration sets us up for success...may you find your success by exploring the new you instead of trying to achieve that new you in a way that makes you feel like a failure.

Happy New Year!