Un-Dividing Attention to Reduce your Risk of Falling
My pilot friend studies reports of plane crashes. In almost every crash, he says, the accident included at least three things going wrong. That got me thinking that maybe this applies to falling "crashes" as well. For example, maybe you're a bit tired from not sleeping so well last night, so you're not picking up your feet as much as usual (#1). You're walking on a slightly irregular sidewalk and coming to the bump that shouldn't be there (#2). And maybe at that moment you hear a bird singing across the street, and turn to look (#3). You've now divided your attention and set yourself up for a fall. Un-divide your attention by pausing for a moment to reduce your risk of falling. I noticed that many of my falls happened when I was hurrying (not the same as walking fast), which was my habitual #1. When I considered the consequences, it was easy to change my habit. Now I have more attention for the birds!
Suggestion from Mariah Kaye, Senior Fitness Specialist, offering more fitness choices through the Lifelong Recreation Program of the Seattle Parks Department.
Ankle Circles and Chicken Wings
Wake up with a smile and give yourself an excuse to savor your last cozy moments in bed. Ankle flexibility is crucial to staying upright since your feet need to adjust to variations in the walking surface. Starting your day under the covers by moving your ankles/feet in circles as well as up and down (pointing and flexing) makes sure your feet are ready to do their job the moment they hit the floor. And while you're at it, why not add some arms? Try lying on your back, tucking your arms by your sides with elbows at your waist and putting your hands palms-up beside your shoulders (like folded chicken wings). This posture opens the chest, stretches the back and gives your posture a boost. As a bonus, it feels good! Aaahh!
Suggestion from Mariah Kaye, Senior Fitness Specialist, offering more fitness choices through the Lifelong Recreation Program of the Seattle Parks Department.
Climb Stairs for a Burst of Fitness
Going up the stairs is a golden opportunity to build strong legs, a major foundation for good balance. Take full advantage by keeping both toes straight ahead, giving your thighs the best workout. My sister learned in Pilates that placing your whole foot on the surface of the step is easiest on the knees. A wobbly foot means that your knees have to compensate, which adds unwanted work for that vulnerable joint. Firmly placing your whole foot gives your knees a welcome break. The bonus benefit of climbing up stairs is an aerobic boost. Very often, stairways are short flights with landings (resting places), making a versatile built-in gym!
Suggestion from Mariah Kaye, Senior Fitness Specialist, offering more fitness choices through the Lifelong Recreation Program of the Seattle Parks Department.
Exercise in Disguise
If you don't know how to start exercising, I invite you to join me in thinking of ways to tuck various movements into the cracks of your days. Combining your creativity with a knowledge of what your body likes and wants most can lead to interesting experiences that build fitness on the sly. Pick times that seem like down time, and get creative. If you're waiting in line, stand on one foot for balance. If you're watching TV, try reaching for the ceiling. Stretching is always a good place to start--just move something and feel how it feels. Avoid too much multitasking (not so safe), let yourself be silly (if you dare) and have fun (to inspire yourself to keep it up). Please join me in this project: maybe we can start a secret, feel-good movement revolution!
Suggestion from Mariah Kaye, Senior Fitness Specialist, offering more fitness choices through the Lifelong Recreation Program of the Seattle Parks Department.
The One For You
What’s the best exercise in the world? The one that you’ll do! And what if that exercise style is also one that suits you EXACTLY, so it gives joy and adds to your feelings of wellbeing over time? I wish there were a magic button to push for each of us to find our One. But no. Instead, we get to do it like a treasure hunt, looking for clues of joy, then clusters of benefits. It is a search that’s worth it. Parkour anyone? Or follow the woman whose eyes glowed when she talked about bench pressing. Two years ago I found kettlebells at an excellent gym close to home–a cluster of benefits that has captured my heart and commitment. Please let me know if/when you find yours!
Suggestion from Mariah Kaye, Senior Fitness Specialist, offering more fitness choices through MoveAnyWayFitness.com.
An Age By Any Other Name
A friend commented to me on her 79th birthday: “Today is the first day of my 80th year.” Since I’m on the lookout for different ways to look at age, I enjoyed that reframing which, for me, shifted the perspective from an emphasis on a number to a focus on wisdom. It was a delight that, as the party unfolded, my new viewpoint held, and our conversation was tinted and enriched with my focus on the words that showed how well she expressed the richness of her many life experiences. She showed up as a woman who has earned her wisdom, not just as a higher number.
Suggestion from Mariah Kaye, Senior Fitness Specialist, offering more fitness choices through MoveAnyWayFitness.com.
Argh? Self-Soothe. Ahhh!
You can think and act better if you’re not distracted by being upset. There are so many reasons to feel anxiety and/or stress: maybe you overdid a workout, learned something distressing, ate too much junk food, or are facing a hard diagnosis. What’s soothing to each of us is as individual as we are. Maybe a hot bath, sitting a spell in a rocking chair, or a leisurely walk does it for you–pick your favorite(s). I challenge you to also find a quick and mobile way for self-soothing on the fly. For me, I find that one hand on my belly and the other on my heart is a reflex action that reminds me to slow my breathing. And for long-term relief, if you see me dressed in muddy clothes and walking toward my garden, it possibly means I’m giving myself a soothing uplift. Or maybe I’m just Very Behind on my weeding!
Suggestion from Mariah Kaye, Senior Fitness Specialist, offering more fitness choices through the Lifelong Recreation Program of the Seattle Parks Department.
Wander Walk
Last winter I wrote a Tip about “Life @ 3MPH” and cited the many benefits of slowing down. This year I’ve discovered that an effect of slowing down is the desire to do it even more. During endurance training for our long walk in England, my walking buddy Mari and I discovered what we call Wander Walking, where we have a starting place and a general direction and a loose time frame. Then we just walk, going where we go, finding what we find, and being done when we’re done. This form of walking leaves space for wonder and other forms of curiosity, which adds to the adventure of even a simple walk. In the process, my pedometer reported that my average MPH has settled between 2.4 and 2.5 mph, with minor fluctuations. My pedometer doesn’t measure the increase in my pleasure level! Mariah #516
Suggestion from Mariah Kaye, Senior Fitness Specialist, offering more fitness choices through MoveAnyWayFitness.com.
Uncurling
It’s natural to curl up when it’s cold: snuggle into bed, or into the big chair by the fireplace. How about playing with uncurling? Start with your toes, spread wide, then rolled in, so they can be spread wider. Do the same with your fingers. Then make yourself into a star with all limbs spread out. Let your belly stretch out with a big inhale. How many ways can your shoulders point? Does your mouth want to yawn? Unpurse your lips, hula your hips. Giggle to wiggle your middle, untangle your brain with a riddle. Explore to find more spots that want to take up an unusual space. If you uncurl enough corners, you may discover that you’ve given yourself a full body stretch, a very natural gift to yourself. Yum!
Suggestion from Mariah Kaye, Senior Fitness Specialist, offering more fitness choices through MoveAnyWayFitness.com.
Magic Trick?
It caught me by surprise to learn how drastically one little idea has changed certain people’s lives. The idea? Walk with feet pointed straight ahead. (Despite the fact that it feels pigeon-toed.) (Despite the fact that most people you see walk with toes pointed outward.) (Maybe despite the fact that you never heard that suggestion before.) A Magic Trick Person reported that doing it reduced a long-lasting foot pain, another found her closet full of shoes that she could now comfortably wear. In my case, it simply made it easier to walk taller. There is some debate about how “straight ahead” is measured–maybe the middle of the toes? My choice of advice is from Katy, a specialist in such matters, (Katy Bowman, Dynamic Aging: Simple Exercises for Whole-Body Mobility and other amazing books) who says to make the outside edges of your feet the parallel lines. That’s the placement our bones are built for, she says. There are many more things you can do to love your feet, but I invite you to try this simple one first, and tell me your adventure as a Magic Trick Person!
Suggestion from Mariah Kaye, Senior Fitness Specialist, offering more fitness choices through MoveAnyWayFitness.com.
Just Like Kids
What do mature people and children have in common? Brains that can strengthen and build and become more functional! That very good news is called neuroplasticity, if you want to be polysyllabic about it. Just like your body, your brain likes to work out to get more fit. I heard that an example of the kind of challenge that builds the brain is the type of frustration and mental work that comes from learning a new language–that struggle of pulling up newly-learned words. And then I heard (from Karyn Purvis research) that, in order to build new neural connections, you need 400 repetitions unless it’s done in play, in which case 10-20 is enough. Putting that all together suggests that language, puzzles, crafts, imagination challenges, and all other mental activities, as well as challenges of everyday living, can all benefit your brain more if they’re also fun (which is kinda fun anyway). This is the childhood we should never have left behind!
Suggestion from Mariah Kaye, Senior Fitness Specialist, offering more fitness choices through MoveAnyWayFitness.com.
A Little Goes A Long Way
Let’s say you decide to walk with your toes pointed more forward than usual–maybe just a tiny 1” adjustment, right? But no, with that move, the foot’s 26 bones, 33 joints and over 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments all have to adjust. And, of course, the turn of the ankle gives the two bones of the lower leg a different relationship, so on up the leg it goes. Furthermore, muscles, used differently, have to grow and adapt, and all of a sudden, your little shift turns into a major workout, complete with soreness in some tiny muscles you didn’t even know you had. Have fun with your petite and profound changes!
Suggestion from Mariah Kaye, Senior Fitness Specialist, offering more fitness choices through MoveAnyWayFitness.com.
Like a Pendulum
My morning walk started without a warmup, so my hip joints felt creaky as I headed out. Since creaky joints can happen, especially in the morning or cold weather or after a bout of sitting, here is an easy way to let go of that discomfort. With your hand on a wall or other stable support, swing one leg front and back, nice and easy. Start with little swings, and let your leg find more movement as the joint loosens up. Then switch legs. Your arms can also benefit from acting like a pendulum. Leaning gently to the side, dangle your arm down and let it experiment with swinging front and back, round and around. This is a boon for your shoulder joint, which probably doesn’t get used that way very much! Just a minute or two of “penduluming” can set you up for a day of more ease–Aah!
Suggestion from Mariah Kaye, Senior Fitness Specialist, offering more fitness choices through MoveAnyWayFitness.com.
Bonking It Sideways
When we think of how we want our lives to be different, it’s easy to think of what we want more or less of–quantitatively. What if you think of it qualitatively instead? For example, I set an intention to gradually reduce my everyday aches and pains through stretching. I diligently lined up, in my to-dos, two books of different stretching styles that held great promise for making that change juicy and possible. But I wasn’t DOING them. So I decided to go at it a different way, using our Exercise in Disguise style. I tried playfully pushing against the doorframe as I walked through, getting very creative about stretching in bed, and using bus stop time to try out “contortionistic” positions. It’s made me lighten up on the subject as well as make headway on my intention. It was a Bonk on the preconception I had of my plan, and a Bonk on my seriousness about what I wanted. Besides being fun! Does something in your life need Bonking?
Suggestion from Mariah Kaye, Senior Fitness Specialist, offering more fitness choices through MoveAnyWayFitness.com.
Brrr-rr-r-r!
Cold day? What if, instead of turning up the heat for your whole home, you choose to warm up just your body? Play the Inside Out Game to fire up the tiny furnaces in each of your muscle cells (the mitochondria, if you want to be polysyllabic about it). Any movement will stoke the inner flame: calisthenics, jitterbugging to your favorite music, cleaning out the attic. Adding layers of clothing is another way to warm up, and another chance for playful movement. Dance and stretch as you pull the sweater over your head, or make a humorous fuss as the second layer of pants sticks to the first one. Then notice that having on more clothes makes moving a little more difficult, and behold! you’re doing even more exercise. Considering that you’re simultaneously lowering your heating bill, I’d call it a win-win version of multitasking!
Suggestion from Mariah Kaye, Senior Fitness Specialist, offering more fitness choices through MoveAnyWayFitness.com.
Self-Care Season
Since this is the season of bustle and dark, attending to self-care seems to be the perfect antidote. And maybe a whole bunch of little doses of self-care will work even better. What little acts of self-kindness will make your body and soul feel better? Here are some that work for me:
clean my glasses more often
a 30 minutes earlier bedtime
calf stretches in the grocery checkout line
neck massage
laugh
take a longer look at something beautiful
drink an extra glass of water
foot massage with a tennis ball
put the keys where they can be found
taste something new
add something(s) to this list and do it
Take a stand against the frenetic pace our society chooses for this dark month by taking a stand for yourself!
Suggestion from Mariah Kaye, Senior Fitness Specialist, offering more fitness choices through MoveAnyWayFitness.com.
Tiny Change/Big Change
Every now and then some information comes along that lets us look at a habit in a new way–and maybe choose to change a pattern for the better. My residence’s staff recently asked us (200 residents) to help out with our exorbitant utility bills by reducing our water and electricity use. To me, it was a welcome opportunity to rethink my use of utilities. Since we don’t pay for (or even see) the bill every month, it’s easy to go on autopilot about these expenses.
Thinking things through in a new way is a great stimulus for creative thinking, and changing a habit is a stamina exercise for our brains. To change a habit, we have to remember to do it the new way over and over until the new neural pathways become the strongest (and therefore easiest) way for us to behave.
On an additional note, I’ve also been enjoying the idea/challenge to change my attitudes and behaviors from being a Consumer to being a Citizen. Becoming more of a Citizen appeals to me because it makes me consider the whole planet rather than just myself. That’s certainly something our world needs!
All these thoughts wove together when I realized that I often leave the bathroom light on even when I’m not in there. Choosing not to do that anymore–turning off the light as I leave–lets me help my building’s electric bill, build my brain by strengthening new neural pathways with a new habit, and remind myself of the feel-good of becoming a Citizen of Planet Earth. And if you’re the payer of your utility bill, you may also have the pleasurable reward of a smaller bill. Please join me! (P.S. On the first day I committed to this, I had to go back to my bathroom to turn off the light seven times. Yikes! What a good challenge.)
Suggestion from Mariah Kaye, Senior Fitness Specialist, offering more fitness choices through MoveAnyWayFitness.com.
Doin’ the Shuffle
Let’s say you want to play cards and let’s say your goal is to have as pleasant an experience as possible. If you start with an unshuffled deck sorted out suit by suit, it doesn’t lead to a very productive game. An unskilled shuffle leaves clumps of clubs in one place and heaps of hearts in another. But a really good shuffle…oh la la, let the game begin! Twyla Tharp, in her book Keep It Moving: Lessons for the Rest of Your Life, suggests it’s the same with our fitness. Let’s say your body wants to play the game of life as pleasantly as possible. All the suits sorted out are like a weekend warrior who spends all week sedentary at her desk, “balanced” by a frenzied and active weekend. Maybe this is an effective strategy for the National Guard, but not a very satisfying, and perhaps injurious, result for individual bodies. But if you, every hour, every 20 minutes, inject a bit of movement into the mix, your body’s game of life gets a whole lot better. Oh la la, let movement begin!
Suggestion from Mariah Kaye, Senior Fitness Specialist, offering more fitness choices through MoveAnyWayFitness.com.
Fitness Downsizing
Resisting change is a very popular thing for all of us to do! However, since change happens, I definitely prefer change that I choose and guide. As we age, our bodies do change, we do slow down. That is part of the 30% of aging that is inevitable. In the optional 70%, however, we have lots of choices we can make. Maybe the first proactive choice for our fitness downsizing is to slow down the quantity and intensify the quality. Slow down the speed, intensify the effectiveness. If you ponder what you cherish about movement, you can discover clues that will support your direction and your choosing. As for me, I want to keep and enhance my mobility, and let go of everyday aches and pains. That intention is a huge inspiration for me, and I can figure out how, and get help, to make it happen. What do YOU want?
Suggestion from Mariah Kaye, Senior Fitness Specialist, offering more fitness choices through MoveAnyWayFitness.com.
Pandiculation…?!?
Yes, even pandas pandiculate, with the help of a tree. But perhaps the most accessible example is your local cat. Pandiculation is a full-bodied tensioned stretch, often with yawning, that helps your cat, and you, wake up. Short, deep and spontaneous, this luscious stretch gets your blood moving, which prepares muscles for movement. It’s effective for releasing the stiffness accumulated while being inactive or sleeping. Follow your cat’s example and enjoy its rich sensations the next time you’re en route from sleep/sedentary to up-and-at-’em. Just tense your whole body, push out your fisted arms and legs, and add a yawn for good measure. Maybe it’ll even make you purr!
Suggestion from Mariah Kaye, Senior Fitness Specialist, offering more fitness choices through MoveAnyWayFitness.com.