yoga

Yoga playlist

~ MaryG ~ Leave a comment

What are five simple exercises to do at home?

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I’ve been going to PT and doing exercises for my foot problem (plantar fasciitis) for many months now. I think my heel might finally be feeling better. I’ve walked 1-2 miles a couple of times recently and it seemed OK. Here’s hoping I can get back to walking 3 miles daily soon—before the dreaded snow comes. This is prime walking season in Massachusetts. 👟🍁

In addition, I do a daily exercise to help prevent vertigo.

Finally, I do a bit of yoga most days. I have three 15-minute yoga videos in a playlist on YouTube that I do in rotation (one per day). These videos are the correct level of difficulty for me. (I’m not a Warrior 3 kinda gal.) The three videos together cover my five top stretches:

  1. downward dog
  2. seated twists to the right and left
  3. warrior 1 & 2
  4. forward fold
  5. child’s pose
Warrior 3 is no bueno for me

Video 1:

Video 2:

Video 3:

I’ve tried this last video a few times and it’s a bit too advanced for me, but I really like this instructor. I may try to work my way up to it this winter.

Goals

1974: GenX turns 9

~ MaryG ~ 2 Comments

Born in the summer of 1965, I am part of the oldest GenX cohort (1965-80) and I’m discovering through my photo digitizing project, that I’m quite well documented.

My parents took a lot of pictures. Many of them were bad (“delete” was not an option back then) but there’s at least a few photos from every single year of my life through college graduation. (Whereas, we probably have five pictures in all of my father as a kid.)

It looks like the summer of 1974 was the peak of my gymnastics prowess. I remember that I worked very hard and mastered a “front walkover” as a kid and here’s the proof:

This appears to be a class performance

I don’t think I ever progressed to handsprings (too hard). And I certainly never did a walkover on a balance beam (too scary).

Two years prior, in 1972, a tiny Soviet gymnast named Olga Korbut did a backflip off the uneven bars in the Munich Summer Olympics, won three gold medals, and inspired a lot of little American girls to try some new tricks. I was one of them.

And so, for my 60th birthday this summer, I pledge to work hard to reenact this photo and perform a front walkover in front of an audience.

KIDDING!! Can you even imagine? I’ll stick to Downward Dogs.

My 9th birthday party on my parents’ porch in the summer of ‘74. My sister and I and my neighborhood friends Candy, Kim, Carolyn and Bethanne had a good time.

Hurkle-Durkle

~ MaryG ~ 14 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What are your morning rituals? What does the first hour of your day look like?
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I was listening to a local talk radio show in my car a few weeks ago and the topic was “hurkle-durkle.” The hosts described it as a time to briefly lie around in bed (awake) before rising and starting your day. People were calling in to discuss the pros and cons. Mostly everyone seemed to be having fun just saying hurkle-durkle in every possible way. “Once I’ve hurkled my last durkle, I have to get up and feed the cat.”

I missed the beginning of the show, so I didn’t hear where the term came from or why they were talking about it, but I’ve since googled and learned that it’s a 200-year old verb meaning “to lie in bed or lounge about when one should be up and about.” It comes from Scotland (no surprise!) and apparently TikTok brought it back.

In any case, I’m PRO hurkle-durkle, but not for a full hour. I like about 20 minutes of hurkle-durkle. Typically I do a couple of in-bed yoga stretches, before launching my feet onto the floor. I like to do Apanasana (one or both knees to chest) to stretch out my lower back.

I wonder what word the Scots would come up with for a stretching/yoga hurkle-durkle? I’ve got nothing.

Image from Pexels

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