Building Up By Listening Deeply

In Training

When you are in training for something, you are building up. It requires a balance between deeply respecting the place that you begin from and creating a bridge to get to the place where your goal is.

If you don't deeply respect the place that you begin from, you will not get to your goal, or, if you do, you will, by working against your body, get there without the balance and grace of working with your body.

When you are working with a grace and awareness of where your body is -now- the journey is different in really healthy and nourishing ways. You are loving yourself along the way, not just at the end after traumatizing the body into it.

Image: Attribution: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-19650-0017 / CC-BY-SA Courtesy of WikiMedia.org /http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-19650-0017,_Leipzig,_DHfK,_Stabhochsprung.jpg


Remember The Power of 12 Minutes.

When I listen to my body, sometimes 12 minutes is all it is up for. Sometimes it is where I begin. But also sometimes that happens in 5 minute increments. Also, some days, what I can do, no matter what I've built up to, can still be 12 minutes,  or 20 minute, 25 minutes, 30 minutes, 35 minutes, 40 minutes, 45 minutes. Wow. That may seem like a lot of possibilities. Good. A lot of possibilities helps me to pay attention to respecting what my body needs, as a minimum, or for what it is willing to stretch into today, and also for where is enough for today.

When I listen to my body, sometimes I need to take two or even three days off during the week. I usually aim for looking at Sundays and Wednesdays as my days off. If I need them, I take them. If I need a lighter day, I take a lighter day. If I am feeling strong and my body wants to move, I go for it. For me, Wednesdays and Sundays are days when I especially listen to the body for its needs for rest or restoration or breath.

(Also, if I've had a very busy day with already too much on my plate or a physically intense day, such as a house cleaning day, or a social day where I am going out river rafting or dancing, etc. that may be enough. If I check in with myself, and hear that I've done enough, I don't add my exercise routine in on top of that. I've done enough. I just did it differently.)

The beauty in this is that, when I listen to my body, when it needs to rest up or lighten up, (or trade off on other activities) and respect that, it gets stronger! I find that by respecting those signals, that I can soon be going further than I ever thought, sooner than I ever thought.

Now I know, establishing a routine IS important. But I believe deeply that a routine is best established slowly in a way that doesn't threaten the body.

I remember, years ago, landing in New York state in the middle of January and deciding to start jogging. I didn't warm up or prepare myself. I went out in sub-zero weather, ran for six miles, tore all my muscles and couldn't move for a week. That was the end of my brilliant new jogging routine. Fini! I burned out before I even got out of the gate.

I've done the same at the gym in the past: signed up, signed on, dragged myself to seven aerobic classes a week and then done nothing but come home and need extra calories and to sleep to recover. I'd simply depleted myself, used up all my calories until I was starved for fuel and too exhausted to do anything else but sleep.

We can add five minutes and establish that for two to four weeks and then, when it is easy and part of our daily routine to do that much, ask the body if it's ready to add five more minutes. I know five minutes at a time seems soooo slow. But it is a perfect way to begin. And it is a perfect way to add on and deepen. And it is respectful to the body.

Listening to the body, letting it guide you as to when it needs to lighten up or when it is ready to go further, higher, longer, stronger is the way to build that bridge so that the body is cooperating with your desire to get there too.

-bbffair

Spring Sprint - Week Three - Focus on Lightness

  
Lightness

Third week (or fourth if you count the prep week) and I see I'll have to re-clean the house again.

But what I am thinking about here is lightness.




Apple blossom, courtesy of wikimedia commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DSCF4435.JPG

I am thinking about the light that has returned to the north country, the light-as-a-feather touchdown in the bounce and the air in the lift and less muscle. Yes. Less muscling through. Less endurance. More focus on lightness.

And this may seem counter-intuitive, but it's interesting. You see, playing around last week with the intervals, I could not seem to resist how great that felt to do that AND how hard it was on my body. I ended up working twice as hard and twice as long. And that is okay in a spring sprint week, but there are warning lights with overdoing and they include risk of self-injury and, especially, burn-out.

So, if this is going to work, it needs that lightness, that lift-off, that sustainable sweet spot that is neither too much or too little. And, hence, the refocus, this week on lightness.

And, it is paying off. I've modified my spring sprint workout again, this week,  to do only 25 minutes of the bounce on five days, keeping it lighter than ever,  light as a feather, and, in addition, to only do the Callanetics (still at 1/2 time like I describe) only just 2-3 times instead of 4 times and the arm exercises only 4 times.

I've added twenty minutes a day in vitamin D sunlight time, soaking those nourishing light rays in through my skin. And I am lightening up on foods, thinking apples and greens and lighter fare, fish three times this week, water, water, water, and remembering my vitamins.

And I am allowing the idea of light and lightness to permeate my mood, my awareness, my body, my mind, my heart. And, in the name of spring, spirit and light opening.

And nothing more this week. That's it. No add-on walks.

Anything I feel like doing extra is just for joie de vivre. I am listening deeply to my body. It can rest when it needs to and dance when it wishes.

And, now I know that it shouldn't seem to make any sense that light would reap more results, but it can. The body does not need to be kicked down the street into wellness. It needs to be loved. And in this gentling and honoring, like spring flowers opening, the body opens and responds to the light and the lightening.

-bbffair

Spring Sprint - Week Two

Intervaling

The basic premise about interval workouts is that you alternate easy, steady lower intensity workouts with small bursts of high energy output.



Spring Crocus Field, Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crocus%28loz%29.JPG

Likewise, you can have also devise a plan-of-action where you have burst of energy weeks AND alternate them with easier, steadier weeks. Therefore you are pushing yourself hard one week and then pacing yourself the next.

Or, in a given exercise, alternating the workout from light to intense to light to intense.

This is supposed to be excellent because the lower intensity burns fat and the upper revs up your metabolism and burns more calories.

So last week was a burst week and this week is a pace week.

It's the same basic routine as week one, only keeping the bounce to 25-35 minutes and maybe playing just a little with some intervals inside the bounce, i.e. like still going with the steady pow-wow-like, continuous moving but with a few placed jumping, leaping movements, just one or two or three bursts tops. And bringing the walking down to 15 minutes and going slower but higher, deeper, stronger movements in it.

See how it can adjust.

-bbffair

Callan Pinckney

Callan Pinckney
Creator of Callanetics
1939 - 2012

Callan Pinckney, born as Barbara Biffinger Pfeiffer Pinckney on 26 September 1939, died 1 March 2012, and was an American fitness professional.

She was a hero to me. I love her Callanetics and have practiced them and returned to them and recommended them again and again.

I just found out about her death and am so sad. She was an awesome lady, an adventurer, and she gave us the most beautiful way to respectfully exercise, blending dance and yoga, ever attending to a kindness to the body, old or young, and the health of the neck and spine, while showing us her way towards toned muscles and beautiful sculpted bodies that even plastic surgery cannot measure up to.

I found out about her death today as I was looking for a link to post for her "Original Callanetics." To the best of my knowledge, it is still on videotape and now also DVD, and is still often out of stock or hard to find. However, I have looked at her DVDs for the "Quick Callanetics" (all three are available on Amazon.com) which consist of three videos where she takes the same basic Original Callanetics and gives you a quicker workout, one for the legs, one for the hips and behind, and one for the stomach. These are excellent and, in 20 minutes, walk you through her movements with the added bonus that Callan herself is teaching you in these videos. She is so special that it is well worth it to learn from her very distinct, caring, and personal instruction and her awesome manner.

One of the Callanetics teachers, not Callan, also has a dance low-aerobics video, but I think the "inside walking" is better for a lower impact workout, because you tune into your own body with your own rhythm and movements.

The three "Quick Callanetics" DVDs can be done in half the time once you are familiar with them and can do them on your own. I combine all of them but like to do just the standing ones on one day (5 minutes) and just the floor ones (10-15 minutes) the next day and then repeat this sequence again in the week. But if you use the DVDs, you could benefit greatly from just doing these, each video one time a week, on alternate days, with a day in between each to rest and restore your muscles. You WILL feel and see the results!!

Here is to one awesome lady!

Callan Pinckney

Rest in Peace

File:White rose, Sissinghurst Castle garden, Kent courtesy of Wikimediacommons 

 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:White_rose,_Sissinghurst_Castle_garden,_Kent.jpg

With love,

-bbfair

Spring Sprint Exercise Plan Week One

 Now on to my idea of a Spring Sprint: Week One:

Monday - Tuesday - Thursday - Friday - Saturday

45 minutes continuous inside skip jogging/bouncing:

This is light light, no sweating required, inside skipping or jogging. The important point here is continuous movement, light as a feather is fine. Barefoot on a bouncy floor or in good shoes on a harder surface. 

Crocus, courtesy of wikimediacommons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Krokus-kih.jpg

As an alternative, this can be split up into two (30 minutes and 15 minutes) or three (15 minutes each) if desired. But go at least 15 minutes at a time and try to do the last 15 minutes after your last meal. And, sometimes, the three smaller but still bright sprints are more effective than the one longer one. Experiment and see.
  
*Note: This is NOT for beginners. If you are a beginner, recovering from illness, or otherwise not used to or ready for this, this is NOT where you should begin. You need to build up to this. I will post for a special  routine for beginners. And this is more than I usually do: This is a Spring Sprint week! (I usually do 25-45 minutes, alternating with how I feel, but this is a boost week!)

  
15-30 minute walk - inside walk/ inside ice skate/inside march, etc. or outside walk

An Inside walk can be a lot of things with variables like easy walking or inside ice skate/inside march, etc. which is more flamboyant, uses more muscles, is actually a good workout. These are also more dramatic. Lately I like to mix it up when I am "inside" walking: some marching, some ice skating, some waltzing. Slow and strong and high stepping and rhythmic. "Inside" walking can also be in place.

I personally tend toward less dramatic movements when doing my outside walking, out in public, (unless I am in California or Santa Fe where there are other people like me out there :-D). 

5 minutes of arm strengthening and posture exercises

(No more than 10 reps of anything you do.) They work. You can use any you like. (I do the after breast surgery ones, the physical/occupational therapy ones and a couple of Tracy Anderson's with no more than 3 pound weights.)  Just don't overdo these. We are not muscle builders. We are just working at reasonable strength and posture. (Hint: you can do many of these while doing the light bounce/skip or the inside walk.)

Monday and Thursday:

1/2 Original Callanetics: The standing portion of the Original Callanetics. (5 minutes) 

(Do the reps as directed except the ones that ask for 100 beats/counts. On those do no more than 50 reps of anything/otherwise same as directed.)

Tuesday and Saturday:

2/2 Original Callanetics: The floor portion of the Original Callanetics. (10-15 minutes) 

(Do the reps as directed except the ones that ask for 100 beats/counts. On those do no more than 50 reps of anything except the leg squeezing one! Do 100 of those. Do that exercise last, at the end. For the first 50 counts/beats squeeze continuously and for the last 50 counts/beats squeeze hard for each individual count/beat. Then relax!)

BTW, since radiation, I have changed to this way of doing my tried and true Original Callanetics. It is soooo easy to sustain this practice and get a full two rounds of these great exercises in these shorter sessions, doing only the standing ones one day, and alternating them with the floor only ones on other days. I also have added in a few of my other favorite "spot" exercises to the floor or standing ones. This is so much more doable than trying to carve out a larger time and exercise routine twice a week.

Wednesday: 
Day Off.  You've earned it. You need it. It will help your muscles recover and repair. Resist the urge to add in another exercise day. Instead, pamper yourself, read a book, go to the park, get your hair done, go out shopping, go to lunch with the girls!

Sunday: GGG

Day Off.  Breathe. Go to Church. Climb and sit on a mountain top. Go out to brunch. Sleep in.  Let your body relax, repair, and enjoy!

*Now, please, please note: 

*I am NOT a fitness expert. I am just another woman on a path, sharing what has been working and workable for me, in hopes that it might benefit you too. We all deserve to look and feel our best and that is my wish for you as well. But, as they say, check with your doctor and also, Try at your own risk.

*Do not do more than I have suggested or ever more than your body wants to do and never, ever work hurt. (Hurt means you should take a special extra day off.)

But I would still love to hear from you!

Happy Spring Cleaning! Inside and Out!

Kindest regards,

bbffair

Spring Sprint

 Spring Sprint 

- 

In The Beginning

Did I say I was READY for Spring? I am READY for SPRING!

So for Week One -The Prep Week!-  of My Spring Sprint: 

Step One:

First of all I spring-cleaned my house top to toe! Yeah! It took me a week with two separately planned intense work days with my husband helping, but we DID IT!! (Since the radiation, I have to pace myself, my energy can get all used up and then I have to make up for it.)


But we DID IT!! We even got the famous sheepdogs all cleaned up and now even they are preening around like movie stars. Every body enjoys a tune up!

Jörg Hempel  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Prunus_dulcis_LC0009.jpg
 
And so now my palette is clear. It feels like the RIGHT way to begin.

This was the Prep Week! I kept to my regular exercise with my big goal of getting the house clean and clear. The next six weeks, I'm going to be in full gear!

Next Week, I will post Week One or What A Spring Sprint Week Looks Like To Me.

Until then, the sun is out, the sky is blue, it's beautiful, and so are you, won't you come out to play!

Have a wonderful week end!

Kindest regards,

-bbffair


Dear Prudence

Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play
Dear Prudence, greet the brand new day
The sun is up, the sky is blue
It's beautiful and so are you
Dear Prudence won't you come out to play

Dear Prudence open up your eyes
Dear Prudence see the sunny skies
The wind is low the birds will sing
That you are part of everything
Dear Prudence won't you open up your eyes?

Look around round round
Look around round round
Oh look around

Dear Prudence let me see you smile
Dear Prudence like a little child
The clouds will be a daisy chain
So let me see you smile again
Dear Prudence won't you let me see you smile?

Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play
Dear Prudence, greet the brand new day
The sun is up, the sky is blue
It's beautiful and so are you
Dear Prudence won't you come out to play

-The Beatles

Here Comes The Sun

Spring Cleaning-Inside and Outside

Making Way For New and Renewed Life

 February, this year, seemed like a long, hard winter month to walk.  I often think of January like that, but not so much February.

Some of this was me and some of this just seemed to be going around. I finished radiation at the end of 2011 in December and I was whipped by it. But January wasn't as darn mean and cold as it usually is, so there was this sense of getting through the winter lightly. That is, until February snagged a bunch of us.


Spring, photo courtesy of: http://commons.wikimedia.or/wiki/File:Spring_2005.jpg

For the past ten months, in spite of cancer, I've been getting consistently lighter and healthier. I've been in my zone and fine tuning things and keeping the lightening going even through cancer. 

But in February???  I tipped up the scales six pounds! I'm still in my zone, but still!  How could that happen??? Time to regroup and rethink and get real.

(And yes I know, in my zone, that's not a big deal -to anyone else but me- but to me, it's a wake-up call before I get into anything more like really bigger trouble!)

I also have a theory. I think that the seasons are important to us, biologically, spiritually, physically, mentally. They affect us and are supposed to. So, for one thing it is natural when it gets cold and snowy and ye old winter winds are beating down your door, that you are supposed to get cozy by the fire with a little bit more you on your bones and take a few more zzzzz's in (even if you didn't have radiation treatments) and sup on root vegetables and hearty stew. But when winter doesn't walk you through it, you will still feel the season, and, even eventually, it may still catch up to you later and demand its due.

Anyway, this year, every single still-exercising, still eating mostly right and healthy, still working-it woman I know told me she tipped it up a few pounds in February and/or the scale just got stuck all month.

Tsk. Tsk.

But I wonder, thinking back on my contemplations of the plateau, if there really is some innate logic to this?  Perhaps it is the last step necessary to moving into the light of spring? Sort of like stepping back to boost your new, next upcoming leap forward.

Anyway, I'm counting on this AND I am recommitting  to my spring this year starting right here and now. I cleaned my house top to bottom, part one, last week, and will finish part two, the dogs, this week. I have cleaned out winter, cobwebs, cancer, worry, and all things that get bottled up and start to grow weird in those bottles. And I am recommitting to a strong five days a week forward in moving in my exercises, not so much more, but with more joie di vivre and light! I want that light in my body too!

And so the next six weeks, I'm channeling my light into my Light Body with new life. I'm going to re-lose that six pounds and aim for four more!

Anybody want to get into the sweet spring dance with me too? Time to Lighten Up!

-bbffair


Here Comes The Sun 

Here comes the sun (doo doo doo doo)
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right
It's all right

-The Beatles

Shiva and Shakti Dancing

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AShiva_dancing_Tandava.jpg

Shiva Dancing

I found these awesome photographs of statues of Shiva dancing that I thought I would post today. This is definitely in the zone. This is how the body feels when it is free and light and dancing, when you let go and become one with your movement and your life force.

These beautiful statues led me on a journey to re-look up Shiva and Shakti, who is his counter-part. I love it when mythology shows up and calls out. There is always some morsel of something potent that is there.

This is some of what I found:


On Wikipedia:

"Shiva (ta: சிவன் ) ; ( /ˈʃɪvə/; Sanskrit: शिव Śiva, meaning "auspicious one") is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a sage at Mount Kailash.^[2] In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the Supreme God. In the Smarta tradition, he is regarded as one of the five primary forms of God.^[3] Followers of Hinduism who focus their worship upon Shiva are called Shaivites or Shaivas (Sanskrit Śaiva).^[4] Shaivism, along with Vaiṣṇava traditions that focus on Vishnu and Śākta traditions that focus on the goddess Shakti, is one of the most influential denominations in Hinduism.^[3]
Lord Shiva is usually worshipped in the abstract form of Shiva linga. In images, He is represented as a handsome^[5] young man^[6] immersed in deep meditation or dancing the Tandava upon Apasmara, the demon of ignorance in his manifestation of Nataraja, the Lord of the dance, goodness, humility, and every good quality a human should have. It is said that He looks like an eternal youth because of his authority over death, rebirth and immortality. He is also the father of Ganesha and Murugan ; (ta முருகன் ) ;(Kartikeya)."

and

"Shakti (Devanagari: शक्ति) from Sanskrit shak - "to be able," meaning sacred force or empowerment, is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that are thought to move through the entire universe in Hinduism.^[1] Shakti is the concept, or personification, of divine feminine creative power, sometimes referred to as 'The Great Divine Mother' in Hinduism. On the earthly plane, Shakti most actively manifests through female embodiment and creativity/fertility, though it is also present in males in its potential, unmanifest form.^[2]

The Kundalini-shakti from the Yoga tradition: life force/sexual energy that can be awakened for conscious creativity.

Not only is the Shakti responsible for creation, it is also the agent of all change. Shakti is cosmic existence as well as liberation, its most significant form being the Kundalini Shakti,^[3] a mysterious psychospiritual force.^[4] Shakti exists in a state of svātantrya, dependence on no-one, being interdependent with the entire universe.
In Shaktism, Shakti is worshiped as the Supreme Being. However, in other Hindu traditions of Shaivism and Vaishnavism, Shakti embodies the active feminine energy Prakriti of Purusha, who is Vishnu in Vaishnavism or Shiva in Shaivism. Vishnu's female counterpart is called Lakshmi, with Parvati being the female half of Shiva."

More simply,  the male Shiva, embodies transformation, and the female Shakti creativity.

I found a poem on http://swamij.com  (http://swamij.com/loop-secret-shiva-shakti.htm):

The Secret of Shiva and Shakti Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati(endless audio loop*)

Shiva and Shakti are one and the same. There is no place that He is not. There is no place that She is not. They are one and the same. She is in every thing. She is in every word. She is all there is. See Her in all things. Hear Her in all sounds. Know Her in all thoughts. Feel Her in all feelings. She is all there is. She is the one in the three worlds**. Shiva and Shakti are one and the same. That is the secret. (Shiva is the universal latent or masculine energy, and Shakti is the universal active or feminine energy.)

 But, for me, it feels very much like the statues tell it all. There is beauty that dances, life in movement and movement in life.

On the dancing path, one may only sense that freedom at first, but as the body lightens up, when one begins to embody that lightness, the dance become exquisite.

What's not to love about a dancing entity?

-bbffair

Chola dynasty statue depicting Shiva dancing as Nataraja (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva

Being In The Zone!

Being In The Zone 
and
Knowing What Your Zone Is

This  wonderful thing happened to me around late July. I felt good about my body shape. I wasn't model perfect. But I was in my zone and I could feel it and see it. I could go out shopping and try on new clothes. I was stepping out more and more and then I got on a scale. (Well, I had to. I was beginning cancer treatment and they make you weigh in a lot.) So I got not just a sense of how it feels, but a sense of what it translates to actually.

Now, for me –I'm 5' 6-1/2"– I have a pretty large zone, about twenty-five pounds in which (so long as I am exercising and keeping up my muscle tone) I look and feel pretty good about myself.

At the top of my zone, I look good in and out of clothes. Above the top of it, I feel unable to get on a scale (i.e. fat).

At the lower end of the scale, I'm model thin or what I weighed when I was fourteen, only I'm more shapely in good ways. Below that, I feel and look anorexic and sickly.

However, for the most part, anywhere in my zone is a good place to be because none of it is *bad.* And even gradually moving towards hanging out in the middle of my zone is even more rewarding. It's healthy, alive, vibrant, and attractive.

Arriving in one's *zone* is a really cool thing if you've ever been out there in outer-zone space. It means you can relax. It's also motivating. You're not "on a diet" so much as you're in a LIFEstyle!

It is also helpful at the entrance of your zone for you to also get on the scale a LOT so you know what's going on within your zone. It's kind of like a doable reality check and check-in to keep you on track. For example, I go up and down by 2-4 pounds depending on what I've eaten. And *in the zone* a girl is more apt to lose any remaining weight slower and that's okay now, 'cause you're in the zone.

So right now, I'm in the middle of my zone, which is exactly where I want to be right now as I am also just starting radiation therapy and I might lose the rest of my lower zone with that, so I need my buffer. But I am also in a very good place too: my muscles like to move and I'm eating healthy, delicious foods.

Folks, I am doing the zone dance.

Here's to all of you getting to and being in your own zones!

-bbffair

 <p><a href="http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=2365">Image: Grant Cochrane / FreeDigitalPhotos.net</a></p>

Respecting Your Health Through Challenges

 

 Changes I have made for Health

 As I have previously posted, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and the last three months have been a challenging time for me. I've had surgery that removed my tumor, and two lymph nodes, both clean, Thank God.

I am still recovering from the surgery, a lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy, that has left me without much distortion, but with much nerve upset in my nipple, which is hopefully temporary, but upsetting, and much fatigue. As well, I am preparing for a round of radiation to the area, which, I'm told, will increase my fatigue for awhile both during the treatments and in the months following.

I still feel very grateful as I move forward. But this is no cake walk. 

I have also been thinking hard about how much of the traditional medicine in front of me seems to keep pointing, not just at the irradiating of the cancer, but also at poisoning the body enough so that the cancer never ever returns. The cure is hard. The preventative measures very difficult to grasp.

I still don't know if I can take a drug that is basically a chemotherapy pill for five years. That's a decision I don't have to make just yet, but one I am wrestling with.

In the meantime, what I am focusing on, right now, is what changes I can implement in my nutrition and exercise that are not extreme or desperate, but sensible, sustainable, and doable.

I have started buying only hormone-free and antibiotic-free milk –it tastes great!–  and chicken and beef. I am mostly eating a plant based diet with my protein coming mainly from fish first, chicken second, and only very occasionally beef. I am staying far away from fats. No, not entirely, but reasonably. I still like the Earth Balance spread. And, I realize that alcohol, even though I really just like very nice wines, is a very possible culprit in creating bad estrogen. It's out for now except maybe for a rare indulgence.

I am busy exploring how I can beef up my immune and energetic systems, rebuilding my health stronger and better. I plan to meet with a professional nutritionist. I'll be blogging about that more in the future.

And I am humbled by how tired surgery and healing have left me and learning to take littler, but very effective smaller steps. Right now, 3 mile walks exhaust me, 30 minutes of jumping is too much for my sore breast, and I've had to back down. I thought I could get right back and up to speed, but I have definitely been slowed down. However, the good and inspiring news is this:

LITTLE STEPS CAN GO A LONG WAY!

I can walk a half mile to a mile 2-3 times a week and build on that as I get my energy back.

I can do the standing (10 minutes) portion of the Original Callantics one day and the floor portion (10 minutes) the next day.

I can put on a breast binder or sports bra and gently dance-jog in my living room on a spring floor for 12-20 minutes (Remember my 12 minutes post!!  See it here! ) three times a week to start and keep checking in with myself to make sure that it's not too much and only keep it up or add to it respecting my body deeply, that it is telling me how far is far enough and when it is ready for more.

I can eat delicious and healthy food (like I have been and like I talk about on this blog) with the above changes (i.e. less meat, no hormones or antibiotics in food, etc.) but not quite as much as when I was exercising more vigorously. I'm eating closer to 1300 calories a day. It's actually not a hard adjustment as I need less. For example, instead of two eggs, I eat one egg. I plan to also have future blog posts about some of these even lighter meals as they still contain the good nutrition and vitamins and flavor (!!)  that I like and need and that provides healthy, balanced, and balancing (very important!) meals, but they are trimmed down a bit more.

And for really good news, even while going through all this doctor-business,  and even while I am still in the process of needing to regain my strength and stamina, I continue to be on a path of health with healthy results!

-bbffair  

 

 <Green Bulb -above- by Digitalart, courtesy of http://www.freedigitalphotos.net>

 

Lighting Up Again: New Beginnings in Exercise After Surgery

Well, once upon a time, I worked with Tracy Anderson's Metamorphosis (and my own healthy eating plan) for 30 days and lost about a bazillion inches and maybe twenty pounds. What a boot camp! Then I hurt myself.

So I regrouped, went back to simple, more respectful, light jogging 30 minutes a day mixed with relaxing 3 mile walks 3-5 times a week and two 20 minute Callanetics workouts a week. I continued  with my great healthy food: Yumm and good for you and great for a fit you. I continued to get into great healthy shape.

But then I got diagnosed with cancer. Oh no. Please. No.

I went on the scared-out-of-my-wits diet, i.e., I couldn't eat and I walked like crazy. I lost another ten to fifteen pounds from stress alone. I do not recommend this as a form of losing weight.

Blue Sky Bulb by Pixomar courtesy of http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

 

But knowing I was heading back into/towards needing a strong base of health under me, ahead of my surgery, I resumed my once a week Callanetics workout and will add in the second one as I feel stronger. And on the morning of surgery, I jogged 30 minutes just to de-stress as much as I could ahead of my surgery. Yeah. I really did.

It is now four days since my surgery. I've been too tired to walk even. I tried it the day after surgery and my husband practically had to carry me home. But that was just 24 hours after major surgery. I decided sleep was what my body wanted and needed and I've been giving myself plenty of that. But today is my *Tuesday* for Callanetics (I normally like to work this Tuesdays and Saturdays, but have promised myself Tuesdays for now) and four days after surgery so I decided I could do this because it IS gentle enough for even post-surgery.

Afterwards, I felt good enough that I pulled out my new DVD of the new Callanetics cardio to try it out. I did it gently. It was very calming, very respectful, more of a Ballet workout with soothing piano music. It was *perfect* for me as I begin, again, to re-establish my healthy patterns for post-surgery and for pre-radiation treatment. Exercise and eating well will support me in this too.

I'll let you know how it feels over time, but for now, it is a movement forward for my health and my joie de vivre.

-bbffair

Callanetics and My Basic Exercise Plan

Callanetics, along with my own version of daily cardio-dance,  have been my tried and true exercise program for the most part for more than twenty years. You only have to do the Callanetics two times a week. It is gentle and deeply nourishing and you get results.

Twenty years ago, I bought the original video for the Callanetics program. It is a very deeply thoughtful and well researched program with dance moves and yoga moves in mind, with enormous respect for the neck and the knees and posture, etc. It is about working little muscles, but not straining or injuring anything.

When I originally used Callanetics, after working with it awhile, I abbreviated it, mostly changing the exercises from 100 reps to 50 reps. This allowed me to do the program in 20 minutes. Furthermore, I memorized it. I only had to do it twice a week for results. In fact, it asked you to take days in between so that your muscles and any soreness (and you will be amazed at how sore these "gentle" exercises can make you if you are new to them) repaired and recovered first.

A month ago, I had a hurt neck (not good) from Tracy Anderson's Metamorphosis and, admittedly, also some boredom. I had a serious "bump-in-the-road" and I needed a new plan-of-action.

(Another member over on Tracy's forum also wrote about going back to Callanetics when the going got tough with the Tracy route, which made me thoughtful.  The Tracy method is and has been very effective for me–for the first three levels anyway–but hey, we all need to pay attention to what needs to be tailored to our specific needs and capacities, and whereas I am not giving up entirely on the Tracy meta program,  I may need to add it back in more like seasoning or alternating workouts on a more workable plan for me as I go).

I began by taking a longish break from her routine after 30 days. Though I had had a LOT of results from the first 30 days, on the 4th level, when I injured myself, I needed some time off, which I took without too much of a loss from my results.  I still feel they are very inspiring (!) , but I needed a more sustainable plan. I am just not an "ongoing bootcamp" kind of girl.

Then this last week, I actually sprained my neck (will explain that in a future post).

So where did I turn? I always return to Callanetics.

This week, I began a new program for myself:  It begins with gentle 20 minutes of Callanetics (all the exercises, but at 50 reps max except for the last inner thigh exercise which I do for the full 100 counts).

I began with a Tuesday and Saturday routine (giving me at least two days in between each workout for repair and restoration) for these. Eventually, when I am ready and my body and schedule can accommodate it, maybe in a few weeks, I will add in Thursday too, just for extra toning.

I do these gently. Even with a sprained/strained neck, I can do these. And, believe it or not, even after the Tracy exercises, the first Callanetics in a longish time left me feeling the burn and the work of these gentle exercises the next two days!

But they are sooo gentle, that I have been able to do them without any fear of further injury to my poor sprained/strained neck, doing them especially respectfully to that of course.

I have added into the middle of them a select few of the Tracy exercises for extra leg and butt work.

The beauty of the basic Callanetics (beside the results!!) is that they are so soothing to do. One feels quite relaxed afterwards and (since I have them memorized) I can do them while watching a television program or the news. I don't have any dependence on a DVD or video to move through them.

I am so impressed with these tried and true exercises that I goggled Callantetics to see what they have developed since. LOTS!  I plan to order the cardio (See the youtube clip above for an example of that! Looks yummy to me!) and a couple of the specialty ones. Why not? The original worked for me off and on for many years and I always have come back to it to add into my own cardio.

~~

So My Own New Ideal Exercise Program, right now, has morphed to the following:

Monday:

30 minutes light cardio (I've never felt it made a difference to sweat or work that hard for  "results" but the "continuous" part is essential!) 

and (Additional Option Add On):


3 mile walk* (about 45 minutes, leisurely walk, can be social, like with a friend or my husband or dog or a walk to the store, etc.)  (*weather and time permitting and if my body feels like it).

(*Note: I aim for 3 to 5 of these leisurely 3 mile walks a week on average when I am feeling like moving more or upping my on-my-feet momentum.)

~~

Tuesday:

30 minutes light cardio

20 minutes  Callanetics (with a choice few of Tracy's leg and butt moves added into the  floor work)



and (Additional Option Add On):

3 mile walk* (about 45 minutes, leisurely walk, can be social, like with a friend or my husband or dog or a walk to the store, etc.)  (*weather and time permitting and if my body feels like it).

~~

Wednesday:   

30 minutes light cardio

 and 


Housework or Garden Work (It's exercise too, right?? Right!!)

~~


Thursday:   

30 minutes light cardio

and (Additional Option Add On):
 
3 mile walk* (about 45 minutes, leisurely walk, can be social, like with a friend or my husband or dog or a walk to the store, etc.)  (*weather and time permitting and if my body feels like it).

 ~~


Friday:   

30 minutes light cardio


and (Additional Option Add On):
 
3 mile walk* (about 45 minutes, leisurely walk, can be social, like with a friend or my husband or dog or a walk to the store, etc.)  (*weather and time permitting and if my body feels like it).

~~


Saturday:   

30 minutes light cardio

20 minutes  Callanetics (with a choice few of Tracy's leg and butt moves added into the  floor work)



~~

Sunday:  

Off

~~

(*Note:  And, while injured, I am permitting myself to let go of the 30 minutes cardio for now, so I can heal, and emphasizing the walking, when I can, instead. And I am being more careful with the calories as I will explain in a post over the next week.)

~~

There is freedom in having an exercise program that you can adapt to your own needs and that frees you from necessarily needing DVDs or gyms or studios to go to.

And, I am so impressed with the glimpse of the new Callanetics cardio, that I am going to order it and try it and a couple of the other new videos out and maybe mix them up a bit! Hey! Why not?!

(P.S. And I'll let you know, down the road how they work out for me too! Promise!)

I'd love to hear about any of your own altered–specific to your own needs–adapted programs and how they serve you. But thought you might enjoy hearing about mine too!

 -bbffair

(P.S.  Callanetics has a killer inner thigh exercise: You sit on the floor with your legs outstretched towards a chair and put your feet (middle of the soles) on the outside legs of the chair and squeeze your legs and thighs together as hard as you can, keeping up the intensity of the squeeze for the slow count of 100 and then release and you feel amazing afterwards too.)

Road Assistance for Dieters

 
 Plans-Of-Action

It seems to me the first step in change or in a journey is always the hardest. You are up against a pattern and a known set of habits that you are changing.

That's why it is so important in the beginning to just put one foot in front of the other and do it.

As the body adjusts to being treated in healthy ways, it will respond by liking that.

After that, like in any journey, one acclimates and gains confidence as they continue. One step builds upon the next. A rhythm is established and it serves you and carries you forward.

Taking a map of the stars–those heavenly beings that light up in the dark of night and show you there is majesty all around you–is a good idea too. You can steer by the heavens and know where you're heading.

Sometimes it can be interesting and an adventure to get lost or to take detours and see or experience things you never would have otherwise. But sometimes, you can get too far off-track or even breakdown or find yourself in a flat-tire time out.

Too bad they don't have road assistance for dieters, or for people moving towards a healthier lifestyle, because, like on any journey, there will be ruts in the road.

There are several danger zones that you can count on needing awareness around such as:

     -anytime the workout becomes boring or unlikeable or too monotonous

     -when you have had results and fall off (i.e. you meant to get to L.A., but you got distracted and landed in Tuscon instead, then got homesick and turned around, etc.)

     -when you aren't in a present *connected* mode with yourself (the *other* reasons why your body got out of shape)

and other such times.

This is when we need to have PLANS-OF-ACTION for when it gets tough or discouraging or you snag on one of those ruts in the road. (Perhaps it could be called The Pot-Hole-Plan?) And one of the things about detours, is that they may have necessary-information that you need to stop and gather so that you are really going in the right direction for YOU.

For me, one of my plans-of-action is to notice as my body starts to adjust to a new pattern. Okay, I had to force it to do what it didn't think it wanted to do for awhile and now it's working with me. I'm  feeling more alive and I've established a pace, which is GREAT. But it's important to listen to what the body wants to do too and to let yourself, your body, have FUN, to change it up. FUN will go a long way to keeping things moving in the right direction or to putting you back on the right road. So having FUN on a physical level is key important! It's always a good idea to try and remember what you love to do, not just for exercise, but for the joie de vivre.


I love to dance. I have always felt that when I am on a dancing path, that it naturally fills my life with light and balance and vitality. I do my very best if I live near and am involved in a dance community or a place where I can go out (Allie McBeal after-work style) and dance or rock-n-roll on a regular basis. It's so much fun for me that I enjoy myself too much to not do it.

However sometimes that's not available, so I have to be more creative. But if I remember that I am a dancer at heart, it's good information.

Another thing I love to do is go on walking vacations; full-on, month-or-more, long ones to places like the Grand Canyon or the ocean where I can walk on the earth and feel my life. Those have been truly transformative, not just because I get in great shape that way, but because I am also connecting to this beautiful planet with my core life force and spirit. But again, that is also something I can't yet do out in nature everyday where I live now. I have to save up and plan for those wonderful treats. (Someday I hope to walk Ireland and maybe even the Great Wall of China!!)

But knowing that these are things that really inspire me on multiple levels of my being helps me to look for closer, more attainable fun things my body–and my spirit–wants to do.

So I'm wondering, if you are reading along with me, what are your FUN or INSPIRING ways of moving or transforming, not just when you are trying to get from here to there, but things you love to do when everything is just fine the way you like it best?

And do you have plans-of-action? I'd love to hear about them.

-bbffair

[Constellations by dark-digidestined courtesy of photobucket.com ]

The Power of 12 Minutes

12  MINUTES!

I just got reminded of what sometimes works when all I want to do is zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

12 minutes.

I need three good songs. I can dance for three good songs and that's about 12 minutes. Or, I can handle 12 minutes jogging in place watching TV.

A coach I worked with once told me the biggest mistake women make is to aim for bigger goals than they can face. It's one of her secrets of success. If you aim for something very small, then Voila! Success! You've done it! You can do that!!

Then, if you want, everything more than that little increment is extra!

It's sort of a mind-game for me. If I can make it FUN!, no problemo (and I'll say more about ways I like to do that in another post).  But sometimes, exercise is just plain not fun and hard work and then just thinking about 30-35 minutes is too much for me to want to do. But even then, I really can't argue too much with 12 minutes of effort.

So it's a mind game. And most of the time, after 12 minutes, I can do another 12 minutes and then a third. I know the 30-35 minutes is going to give me the best results, but some days are harder than others.

Keeping to the 12 minutes as a base goal for days I don't feel like it, keeps me on a daily path. After my 12 minutes, if I really am still feeling beat , then I did my minimum and I stop, for the day, but I still accomplished staying with the program.

Likewise, sometimes I have to take the mat work in increments too and stop after each section for a mini-break.

But the most important part is the staying with a daily minimum effort part.

So, when I get burned out, tired, sluggish, etc., the worst thing I can do is drop the ball entirely.  I have to remember to break it down into minimum increments, find three great songs, and remember the 12 minute principle.

Right now, my three songs are going to be from The Rolling Stones, Stripped CD!!!

-bbffair

Tracy Anderson Metamorphosis

I have had several wonderful, life and body revitalizing experiences in my life. Most of these have been eclectic, a combination of several methods that work well with my system, and that charge me with energy, health, and light.

I have been and will always be, at heart, a dancing path girl, but there is always something new to learn and a right opportunity at a right moment (and I will expound upon my dancing path ways in future posts).

[Image: m_bartosch / FreeDigitalPhotos.net]

Today I am going to talk about Tracy Anderson's Metamorphosis.

It is by far the most disciplined, hard-work–with no way around that–and yet still (most important!) doable if also the most demanding system I have ever personally experienced.

It is a six-day a week, 90 day body transformation program. I am currently almost 30 days in and I LOVE IT!

I have adjusted the diet, however, to fit my system. I have noted the parts I like the most and altered them to suit my needs and/or added them into my own diet, which is not so much "a diet," but how I need to eat to feel alive and fit.

I need regular protein. I love everything fresh. And I LOVE me my coffee and milk. Coffee is my own personal indulgence and I ain't giving it up.

My own food system has worked for me in the past and it is now working for me on the Tracy Anderson system too. So, if you are like me, and you need lots of regular lean protein, fresh veges and fruits AND you need wonderful flavor, variety and energizing food, please check in on my grocery lists and recipe posts. And please, comment and/or add in your own recipes and or variations.

So, you might wonder, if my food plan works so well, how did I get out of shape? Well, that's a longish story, but it includes not following my own innate nourishment wisdom. However, since starting Metamorphosis, I've mended my wicked ways and gone back to the food I know will lighten me up and light me up. Every time I regularly eat like this, I get leaner, healthier, more energy, and more Light! My body loves me. My mind is more alert and focused. My emotions are more balanced and happier. And my spirit sings.

But what I LOVE about the Tracy Anderson Metamorphosis workout method is that [surprise! surprise!] after all the HARD exercise (I am used to the jogging–oh yeah, and I had to add that back in too–but not the exercise like she dishes it out, goodness!!), my body feels amazing.

And the Results!!! I have had awesome results every 10 days. There is nothing like results! Tracy knows how to reshape the body and I am loving how toned and tightened I am feeling every day now.

And–truth moment here–I can't do the weights part of the arms yet and I can only do half of the leg reps and I am STILL getting amazing results.

So if you are ready for an incredible way to lighten up, get strong, and get fit, and find yourself at a perfect moment for momentum, I suggest you run over to her site (http://tracyandersonmethod.com) and check it out. And if you came here from there, join me, as I continue to transform in this amazing program and transform with me!

-bbffair