Body: I'm listening . . .

I've been in a lot of pain lately. Lower back, left hip, right trapezius.  I don't sleep well, and I wake up cranky and in pain.   I think I know what's going on--at least partly.  One problem is that I'm not practicing what I preach.  I work with clients every day encouraging them to take care of themselves, yet here I am neglecting my body. Oh, the eating part is good--almost always is.  That's easy.  What's not so easy is the exercise (time) and the wellness care (money).  And so I go without, and my body talks to me through restless sleep and sore muscles.

I know I need to exercise--take walks, do my push-ups and sit-ups, garden, rake, jog once in a while.  I enjoy all of that, as long as I don't think of it as "exercise."  It's making the time.  And I can do that pretty easily if I just make it part of my schedule.   I also know that it will relieve most of my pain and restless sleep.  So, you say, JUST DO IT!

And so I will.  Because I need to walk the talk.  Especially now that I made it public.

I read a poem recently in The Sun magazine written by Sybil Smith titled "I'm Going To Quit Smoking."  One stanza really spoke to me:

Like a faithful friend, the body went on
hoping the mind would come to its senses.
And it did, finally.
And, lo and behold, there was still a body,
a strong body there to do the work of life.
And so I discovered God was not in my mind,

but had been hidden in my body all along.
God was in the cells that healed themselves,
and in the neurons and in the muscles,
the heart, especially the heart,
that beat and beat though not instructed to do so,
that beats now without prayers or offerings,
through every sin and misgiving.


I often think about our miraculous body--how it trudges on despite the trespasses, despite us taking it for granted.  We poison it, we abuse it, we try to stop its natural functions (plucking, waxing, smothering, dyeing, medicating, relentlessly cleaning).  And still, it faithfully tries to keep the homeostasis--an impossible task considering the aforementioned.  And when it finally breaks down or causes us pain, we get angry, as if it's betraying us.

So, I dedicate this writing to my beautiful, faithful body, and I vow to take better care of it, so it can do its job in taking care of me.  And with that vow, I will now get up off my chair, step away from my computer, and stretch my tight, sore muscles and send them gratitude.  Namaste.

My Thoughts on Exercise (for me)

I have a confession.  I haven't exercised in quite a while.  Oh, I know that's no big deal to you.  Perhaps you can top me.  Maybe you never exercise, or haven't in a year.  But, part of my job is to inspire people to be healthy, and part of healthy is exercising.

But this is good, you see, because I FEEL it.  I definitely feel worse for depriving my body of regular activity.  I won't go into details, but let's just say I'm feeling closer to my 40 years than ever, and I pride myself in feeling 28 usually.

So, this morning as I turned the page of the calendar to organize my March, I noticed that it starts on Monday.  How appropriate.  And since it's a Monday, which begins the work and school week, and since March is when the earth moves into spring, I thought, let's get back to exercising.

I don't believe (for me) that exercising means working out every day, making sure to get every muscle in my body stretched and worked.  I don't believe (for me) that exercising means I have to sweat and make my heart feel like it's going to leap out of my chest.  I don't believe (for me) that exercise means I need to do it five days a week for at least 45 minutes.  What I do believe (for me) is that I need to get my heart rate up a bit every day, that I need to stretch and breathe, and, most importantly,  that I need to enjoy myself.

I often tell my clients that our exercise should mimic what our activity was like 10,000 years ago.  That 10,000 year thing comes up a lot in my discussions.  And though I'm no scientist, I've read enough on the topic to say confidently that our bodies have evolved little if any since then.  We have prehistoric bodies doing very modern activities or not doing any activity at all.  So, what was it like 10,000 years ago?  I don't  really know, but I can guess that humans didn't work out vigorously and continuously every single day, exercising every single muscle.  They hunted and gathered.  They carried things, pulled things, pushed things, reached for things, ran, walked (a lot) and jumped.  Some days more than others.

I just read yesterday in the newspaper that "Short intense exercise gains experts' support."  That only justified my assumption of our hunter gatherer type exercise being what our bodies are designed to do.

So, Monday will start my spring exercise plan.  I will start by going for a brisk walk and then I'll do some cleaning around the house.  I'll probably throw in some jumping jacks, pushups and stretching just for fun.  I'm actually looking forward to it!  And having written this will give me that extra bit of motivation, just knowing  people have read about my plan.  If you did, be sure to ask me how it's going.