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| An apple a day... |
"Stick your bootie out!"
A command I've often heard in exercise classes, but not one I expected in a class about good posture. Amy, the Gokhale (pronounced Go-Clay) Method instructor, told us to sit down in a chair following her command. She wanted us to forget all the ways we had learned to sit, stand, walk and even sleep. Instead she said to pay attention to three-year old children and how they do the same.
"They know how to walk, pick things up, and sit."
Amy also showed photos of people in Asia and Africa who walked with their glutes instead of pounding their heels on the ground as I have for a long time. The exercises reminded me of walking around with a book on my head as a teenager to improve my posture. She asked me to pull in my ribs and maneuver my head so that I looked straight ahead, chin slightly down. She said to forget the extra chin that appears. She claimed it would go away. She showed me how to hinge from my hips when I went to pick something up. No curved backs allowed.
Most of those positions felt awkward and uncomfortable at first, but then my body started to kick in and responded to the change. My knee stopped hurting. I walked as if I had a string attached to the top of my head as I did when I took modern dance classes. I didn't even notice my feet touching the ground. No pounding heels anymore.
I've done one form of workout or another most of my life. Each time I've found benefits from the practice. Kerry, my Pilates instructor, reminded us to use our Core. Different instructors have recommended two exercises that use all of my muscles. One is the Burpee, or squat thrust (try doing it one leg at a time at first), and the other is to sit on the floor and stand up without using your hands. Try it.
Habits take 20 days to acquire, so someone once said. Since this is Inktober, many artists worldwide make an ink drawing each day and post it to any social media account. If you don't want to make ink drawings, October is a good month to start a new daily practice. Let me know what practice you decide to do.
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| one of 31 names for Inktober |
Gokhale (pronounced Go-Clay) Method here:
https://gokhalemethod.com
Check out Shape online for the best how-to for burpees:
https://www.shape.com/fitness/tips/how-do-burpee-exercise-benefits
Find out more about Inktober here:
https://inktober.com/rules
I'm repeating my past Inktober practice of writing a short poem each day and posting it on Instagram. It's a great discipline, sometimes humbling but always satisfying. Here is today's outage-inspired effort:
ReplyDeleteAll Will Be Well
I wake to an uneasy darkness,
familiar objects shrinking from
my flashlight beam;
Outside, untouched by artificial
light, the day awaits,
starry, cold, uncertain;
a morning our foremothers
knew well, seated at their fires,
holding fast the promise
of an orderly transition
from night to day.
Teresa, I hope one day soon you will put your poetry together and publish. This one puts me right there inside the poem. Thank you for posting it.
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