Yoga from the Reeds

06/23/2024

When someone famous is over 80, and has lived a full life, contributing art or entertainment to the world that has touched your life, to make you smile, laugh, giggle, sigh, think about something differently, weep with joy or sadness, surprise or astound you, or touch your heart in some way, and then they die, why are people sad?

Be sad that there are millions of people who have died that did similar things for others, that you did not know their work.

Be content that you were touched by their art and life, and be happy that they were ALIVE, and thriving through their art.

11/20/2023

Just like any older person, I have gotten away from my yoga practice, not meditating, and have had injuries which resulted in my gaining weight. I am holding myself accountable by recommitting myself to myself by working on my fitness level.

But to start-
weight- 175.6 lbs
This is not a number I aim to change. If it changes because I've put on muscle mass or lose visceral fat, I'm only aiming for health and fitness. I'm just putting it here to show the start of my physical fitness regime.
Calf- (R)15 "(L)15" (I hope to increase this number)
Thigh- (R) 25" (L) 25"
Hip- 47"
Waist- 37"
Bust- 43"
Upper arm- (R) 13" (L) 13" (I hope to increase this number)
Neck- 14.5"

My eating is OK. I have somehow managed to remove most of my snacking on empty calories (fun size chocolates, or potato chips).

I am drinking around 80-100 oz of water a day.

I'm trying to add more protein into any of my meals, while not putting unnecessary processed sugar or flour into them. I'm not eating double portions of anything, or trying to add sugar to things.

I am now trying to reduce the amount of dairy milk. This morning, I used Laird Hamilton's coconut milk creamer (cinnamon) into my coffee but not the 1-2 TBS that was suggested. I think I used 4 TBS for 12 oz of decaf, medium roast. I will try to cut back to 1 1/2 TBS in the future. Baby steps, folks.

(Dairy isn't bad for everyone. I just noticed that I was leaning too hard on it in my diet. Also, if I notice that inflammation is reduced by taking in less dairy, that will make me re-think certain types of dairy.
I have been told that parmesan or hard cheeses are the least inflammatory while still reaping the benefits of dairy. But then again, I'm used to putting Brewers Yeast on pasta dishes instead of parmesan, because it adds B vitamins to a diet that usually needs more if you aren't eating that much meat. And I like the taste of it.)

I have gone back to my twice a week intermittent fasting. On my fasting days, one meal at noon; either a fresh salad with protein added to it (like nuts or chicken or sliced beef) and dressing or a soup with those same things (bouillon with a protein, tofu or chicken, and add the steamed veggies to it to serve).

Lots of water, before and after lunch, during those fasting days.

Exercise-wise: I am doing a body wake-up stretching routine (5-10 minutes), 5000+ steps a day, with a dance or weight routine after work. I will be adding more time or vary the exercise (swimming!) as I get stronger.

Meditation- I will be adding 5 minutes in the morning, 5 minutes during my lunch, and possibly 5-10 minutes after work but before I start my exercise routine at night.
I already meditate at night for 10 minutes. It's a good way to transition from the work mentality to resting and being-at-home mentality. It's either that, or I start singing "It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" from Mr. Rogers, for 10 minutes straight (all while taking off my outside shoes, and changing out of my work clothes into comfier, lounge-ier clothes) Meditation can sometimes turn into a nap, if I don't manage to shoo the cats out of our room, where I meditate sitting upright. I swear, put a cat on my legs, or near me purring, and it is like taking a sleeping pill; I'm out!

Anyway, if you've made it through this long post, please join me by telling me if you are exercising, just introduced a new food, or found out a food was not serving you well, if you are doing meditation at all or something in its place, and tell me when you started.

I'm interested in conversation about this. At 61, I'm doing what I can to increase the quality of my life. Tell me if you are doing anything to increase yours.

Photo is from earlier this year. I will be trimming/cutting my hair when I get back from NC. Enjoy this photo of my crazy hair.

05/08/2022

I have been working on my Asian squats for around 6 months. At almost 60, I wanted to go slow.
And today, I was able to get into it and then balance for about 30 seconds with my heels completely on the floor.
Yes, I am amazed that I was finally able to do it. It has been a slow method of stretching every day, and
giving my body the time it needed to get into it.

I am now going to work on going down and getting back up slowly. I can go down fairly slowly, but coming up, I can only do it quickly.

This exercise is really good for your hamstrings, hip flexors, quads, glutes, and your core if you engage it (which by the way, you should engage your core in your exercises, unless it isn't recommended).

Want to learn how to Asian squat? Learn three exercises to improve hip mobility and leg strength so you can Asian squat comfortably. CHAPTERS00:00-Intro00:33...

09/25/2021

A fascinating 40+ minute piece on how the Yoga community and the QAnon community have influenced each other.

I'll say this- I'm a yoga instructor that believes in science, too. I know that there are spiritual experiences that can't be explained by science... yet. But that doesn't mean that we should ignore the most obvious information in front of us. The states with the highest levels of vaccinations rates are the ones with the lowest COVID-19 rates, while the states with the lowest vaccination rates are the ones that their hospitals are being overrun by people with COVID-19 and that are dying.

That alone should let you know that people who are anti-vaxx, or telling you that COVID-19 isn't real, or that this shouldn't be called a pandemic, that these people aren't ones you should be listening to.

The last thing I leave you with is the QAnon motto of "Where we go one, we go all" is more supportive of the fact that we should mask because we all affect each other and this is not the time of individualism. This motto doesn't support individualism. Of course, this goes back to people not having good reading comprehension or being critical thinkers.

The unease of the COVID-19 pandemic kindled a quest for answers that allowed dangerous misinformation to spread in some yoga and wellness circles.

09/13/2021

And hip flossing is good for you, too.

09/13/2021

Shoulder flossing. Who knew it was a thing?

Shoulder health& fitness helpers. Daily flossing can help strengthen, heal, alleviate headaches and chronic upper back issues.

08/04/2021

Hey there yoga peeps!
I'm doing an interesting series of stretching my body in order to be able to do a yoga squat asana, more comfortably and stable.

Give me a shout in the comments if you're interested and I'll post my journey into this very basic asana that is not so easy to do with certain bodies and older bodies.

(I'm 59 and have never been able to do the basic squat all that easily and most of the time I just roll backwards like a roly poly.)

08/01/2021

My 62 yr old boyfriend slept walked while down some stairs and fell the last few steps.

This is where my yoga teaching comes in handy. I specialized in geriatric, injury recovery, and chronic conditions. I have LOTS of paraphernalia for injury recovery; a neck cradle with nubs on it (it looks torturous but it does feel good if you're trying to stretch out the neck muscles), I have a small-ish heating pad (with only two settings), yoga mats, a yoga chair, yoga blocks, a yoga bolster, rice bags for placing weight around the body (most of the time, on the feet when you place them up the wall soles to the ceiling), and a weighted eye bag. I also have a flat ice pack that you can lay on.

I also had a bag of flax seed bought in 1993 that one could put in the microwave and use as a heating pad (usually retains heat for up to 30 minutes). I seem to have misplaced it or gave it away. It was the best $10 I ever spent. It helps with cramps in the lower abdomen, neck, shoulder and lower back pain, among other things.

Back pain is one of the most common complaints in people over 40, and it affects one's quality of life, not only because one's in pain while awake, but sleep is impossible from the pain, delaying healing.

I gave him a few stretches to do (happy baby/pill bug, seated cat/cow, and some modified spinal twists), but he's obviously in pain.

In a pinch, I took a long sock (mine was a compression sock that I'm not using), filled it with rice, slightly wet the surface, and microwaved it for 2 minutes. He finally fell asleep in the recliner with the heating pad and the rice sock in the small of his back.

If you're suffering from chronic pain, my heart goes out to you. If you are suffering from back pain, even if it's low grade, I feel for you. We get used to the pain and then when it is gone, we're astonished. I hope any of you suffering from pain, get some help for it.

I have had a stiff neck that I didn't know I had, have experienced lower back pain since an accident I had in 1985, I have spondylosis (fractures on both sides of a vertebrae, and one vertebrae is crumbling, albeit slowly) from a birth defect that I had (a very slight case of spina bifida), and with acupuncture, yoga, chiropracty, and now with Feldenkrais (physiotherapy combining stretching, yoga, and mindful movement inspired by chiropracty), I slowly get better and then when I forget to do anything, I get worse.

All this to explain the next-
While demonstrating cat/cow (on all fours and not anything I would suggest to anyone who has been injured) I remarked to myself "Ooh! That feels goooooooood."

Well duh, self! I don't do my own yoga practice enough to benefit from it. Guess I need to get back to it.

07/09/2020

Here's a 15 minute yoga routine to get you ready for bed or for coming out of an illness.

This 15-minute bedtime yoga flow is the perfect way to wind down after a long day. This yoga sequence would also be perfect to help with stress, anxiety, tir...

07/09/2020

If you only have 10 minutes, this might be a good routine for you.

This is a flowing all levels yoga practice designed to awaken the body and help you set an intention for the day. Keep in mind, this is a flowing practice so...

07/09/2020

Sometimes my jam is using straps and blocks and sitting up on a firm pillow.
Since I'm coming back from an illness, I'm not working out, but I'm stretching it out.

Enjoy this full yoga practice. This Yoga class will give you an all over stretch and get you ready for your day! This was supposed to be a live video, but we...

07/09/2020

Breaking up fascia by placing the ball on one side of the spine (NEVER place under the spine).
I use a tennis ball instead of a lacrosse ball.

Full-body Stretch Routine Equipment Needed: A mat To get notified about new video uploads, subscribe to Well+Good's channel: [https://www.youtube.com/c/Wella...