Month: September 2017

What yoga moves am I doing?
Every day I start with the Dragon and Tiger qigong

Please note I do not look as graceful as any of these videos. In fact when I started I could not touch the floor. I cannot grab my toes in a leg stretch and I look pretty comical. The point is not what I can’t do, it is that I am committing to do it.

I also found this video and love her moves.

Then I move into yoga. I start with a sun salutation very similar to this.

I then move to the floor

I love to do center leg stretches and also stretch each side. 

I’m in love with the fish pose as I can really get a good breath

Revolved head to knee pose 

I love child’s pose

From child’s pose I move into cat and cow.

Often, because of my sculpting I have to be careful that my shoulders don’t get pulled forward. I have a massage therapist that helps me with this, but some of the poses in this video are helpful. Especially the one at about 14:00 seconds in the video as it is a relaxing pose. If I’m doing a lot of writing or a lot of sculpting and my shoulders are moving foreword then I must do this. One thing I learned, posture and breathing go hand in hand. If you have bad posture then you will have poor breathing or can’t expect your breathing to get better. TRYING TO GAIN GOOD POSTURE WAS IMPERATIVE.

I will also do a cactus pose on the floor. Savasana With Cactus Arms

When my doctor first had me do this stretch against a wall and lift my arms slowly up the wall. I could not. If cactus hurts, it is a good indicator that I need to be stretching more and will spend more time in the pose with a bolster under my back. I have even slept on my back with a bolster under it during difficult breathing times. It worked.

I end my session with a few leg stretches- knees to chest as shown in this post . then one leg and another. Then I twist and bring my knees to each side.

That is it. I can probably move through these in 15 -20 minutes. I notice a difference right away.

Hope it helps someone else

Trying to inspire to health,
Pusche

In its simplest form, Eastern principles believe that Qi is life force that is in everything. It is energy. It is the central principle in Chinese medicine and Chinese martial arts. Both tai chi and qigong have many different practices and many various forms.  You may have seen images of a group of people performing tai chi in a park moving their hands and feet in gentle fluid synchronous motions.  Both practices help to cultivate qi and move it through the body. Thos practicing Eastern medicine believe that if there is stagnant areas or blocked areas,  qi cannot move through the body. I know many people who do both forms of qigong and yoga and have no problems at all.  I, have in the past, taken up both both Tai Chi and yoga and during the practice I have become extremely sick. I determined that it must be because of blockages of Qi. So at this lifestyle change, I also invited acupuncture into my life to see if that would help me not to be sick. I started my practice by, once again, finding forms that would help me with what I was after. I found instruction on Dragon and Tiger, medical qigong that is supposed to help no matter what condition. You can do it if you are bedridden or healthy as a horse.  I purchased some materials and took to studying the seven movements of Dragon and Tiger.  I also added some specific movements that I found on the internet that were targeting lungs.

I pampered myself. I had a yoga mat. Over 30 years ago my mother gave me a meditative cassette tape. Yes, it was that long ago that it was I cassette.  I used it for focusing on the breathing during the birth of my child. I believe my daughter used it for the birth of her child.  Try as I might, I could never find a replacement to the cassette, but I did manage to put it digitally onto a thumb drive, stick it into the back of my tv and now, whenever I want to meditate or do yoga I just turn the tv on to media and let it play. I have loved this. It was a simple thing to do, but making that thumb drive was a loving gesture to myself and my new lifestyle change. I used it during my massages as well. I created space to make my practice special.   At first, my poses took about 15 minutes, out of my day, but over time I have added more poses.

The other thing about the practice of tai chi and yoga is that it can be meditative, and focuses on the breath- two other things on my list of things to practice regularly.

I have suffered from either bronchitis, asthma, or other breathing problems for a couple of years now. It seems that I start to get better and then I’m down coughing once more. I have to do something different than what I have been doing. My usual route is to go to the doctor, she takes xrays, and then sends me home with a script for antibiotics and steroids.  There has got to be a better way. The other thing that concerns me is that I can’t breathe. I mean I have been breathing shallowly for so long. Breathing deeply makes me want to cough so instead I have trained myself to breathe shallowly. I started doing yoga and qigong, and also meditating all of these work with breath, but it is hard for me to focus on my breath. If I focus on my breath, I get scared.  Something is going on.  Maybe Eastern Medicine can help me.

Breathing while looking toward the east,
Pusche

I’m not one that needs to have a partner to do something. I’m very self-motivated, and I find depending on someone to reach my goals as a hindrance instead of an asset. Waiting for others stresses me out. That is just me; everyone is different. For my motivation, I have done a few things.

I started a spreadsheet.  I love to document my progress, and frankly, I am very forgetful. I want to be able to look at my notes and know what I have done.  This spreadsheet is great for me. I’m also noting my breathing. I have to get over this crap in my chest. Will it never go away? So for my first entry, it says I did ten minutes on the treadmill. Yep, I dusted this thing off, set it up in its area, and committed to this process. I also did 20 minutes of yoga. How did I know what to do? I have taken yoga before, but my prime goal in this is to focus on the area that I need help.
That would be:
—To strengthen my back to pull my shoulders back. As a sculptor, my shoulders are always being pulled forward, and my doctor has told me how bad this is for my breathing. Plus my hands go numb when I sculpt a lot. Practicing good posture is like torture for me, and causes so much pain, but being able to use my hands and breath well is more important. I searched the internet for yoga moves that will help me to open my chest and strengthen my back.  (You should see me doing these moves. I look so clumsy, but I have to start somewhere.
— Limber up. I cant touch my toes. I don’t remember if I have ever been able to touch my toes, but I’m trying.

2. I got some fancy stickers on my calendar. Hey, it works for my granddaughter. I love walking by and seeing all of the smiling face stickers on my days.  It helps me to remember I need to do this.

3. Record my efforts in a notebook.

For now, that is what I have done for exercise.

As far as my eating goes. Slowly I’m cleaning out my pantry. I have a goal to spruce up my kitchen cupboards. I feel I’ll be spending much more time prepping food here and pantry organizers will be my reward.

I’m also studying vegetarian forums and vegan forums. Facebook groups where new recipes come into my feed on a regular basis have been great. Same with Instagram feed. I’m motivated and can’t wait to try these recipes. I think I might eventually get to doing a new recipe every day.

For now, and for these two weeks, I have decided to kick off my new lifestyle change by doing a green smoothy fast.  I love juices, but these smoothies can be easily made in my bullet and will be a great way to ease into this vegetarian thing.  My massage therapist was doing one so I though I would try it. I bought the book and am enjoying the green smoothies. I think that in the future, when I’m busy, instead of going out to eat junk food I may become more inclined to pull together a green smoothy, especially now that I have a deep freeze to store things in. I know I bought this for the kids after the fire and when we had five people living in this house, but I don’t think the kids are going to get this deep freeze. When they need one, maybe I’ll buy a new one for them. But I’m liking the deep freeze and being able to prepare things in bulk.  I see myself having a variety of vegetarian chili, soups, burgers,  etc. ready to grab on a busy day.

TODAYS SPREAD SHEET 10 minutes on the treadmill and 20 minutes of yoga. The point is to do it. No matter how little. It is about showing up.

A new me,
Pusche