If you want to change your body...

First, let me say, I’ve been quiet. September is rough… it’s both the month of Peony’s birth and death, the 5th and the 21st. So I hit that first one and feel melancholy but then I know the other is coming. It’s been 2 years.

That said… onto the title…

If you want to change your body, I will not be someone to tell you that you “shouldn’t want that” or that you should “just accept what is.”

I want you to love you and sometimes loving includes change.

That said, the other day, someone brought up the idea that they want and need to lose weight for health and aging reasons (again, why is none of anyone’s business). They said they’re frustrated and don’t know where to even begin, so I wrote this in response and I feel like it’s a handy little list (that is also full and layered and nuanced and you have to find your own way through each of these):

The key to this is where you put your focus. It has to come from a place of joy and love. I've been here and I've done this and I've watched this approach work for a lot of people around me:

1. Eat what gives you energy. So really start to notice the AFTEREFFECTS of your food. Take your time with this. It's a lifelong sort of practice. Maybe even start a journal about it to track it.

2. MOVE FROM JOY ONLY. There is NO room for "exercise." You must find ways to move that make you feel one or more of the following: joyful, happy, laughy, curious, engaged, flowing, concentrated. (So for me? Tennis and dance. Though over the last 15 years I've learned how to transfer this approach to all sorts of movement but that takes time.)

3. KEEP IT SIMPLE AND SMALL. So with movement, think about little bursts throughout your day. Five to fifteen minutes of whatever, multiple times a day.

4. Figure out your motivators. For me? MENTAL HEALTH and DATA. So I love tracking and comparing and all of that (EXCEPT for calories or weight... I do NOT do those numbers ever), and I’m acutely aware that if I don’t move over an hour a day, my mental health will deteriorate. (That amount of time varies for each user. Ha)

5. Focus above all on feeling GOOD.

(And because this is my work... you know I do one on one sessions and this is the exact sort of stuff that I work with women on.)

JoyBody: The Efficacy of Tummy Circles

I’ve had this post in mind for months, but every time I go to write it, I get totally overwhelmed because I think that this topic is rather huge. Like, I could write a short book about tummy circles. They’re that important and that effective.

So today as you read this, imagine I’m just getting started, that this is the tip of the iceberg. Part of the iceberg that’s underwater is all the stories I could tell you about how students’ bodies (and minds and spirits) have changed over time doing tummy circles fairly consistently.

Fairly consistently means many times a week, but it doesn’t necessarily mean a LOT of time. I tell people that even just one minute in each direction will create changes. And that’s the truth.

(Side note: I’m having a bit of anxiety about this even now… I KNOW after I release this out into the world, that I’ll think of tons of things that I missed. AND if you, as a practitioner, think of anything I missed, please let me know!)

I’ll be looking at this from the perspective of three of your main bodies or sheaths: physical, emotional/mental, and spiritual/woo.

The Physical Stuff

To start, tummy circles do all kinds of magic to your physical body.

• Because we do the circles in sync with the breath, they make us immediately aware of how we’ve been breathing and what we need to do to improve our breathing.

• In a more abstract way but still powerfully physical, tummy circles immediately drop us into our bodies. There are days when they actually remind us that we freaking have bodies.

• They’re great for warming up as they create some heat in the torso and get the muscles ready.

• If you have tight hips, over time tummy circles will start to naturally relax and elongate all the muscles creating the tightness. This includes and also goes for your psoas muscles.

• If you’ve never met any of the muscles in your torso (i.e., your “abs”), tummy circles plus focused breath will eventually introduce you.

• They also rock when it comes to helping with healthy digesting. If you’re feeling like you’re in a phase of hyper-digestion (to put it nicely), then simply do them much slower with much more shallow breath.

• And of course, these are great for your spinal health and mobility. In Chinese medicine, they say your true age is equal to your spinal flexibility and strength.

The Emotional/Mental Stuff

How the heck do tummy circles affect our mind and feelings? Well…

• Doing this repetitive movement with the breath quickly clears the mind. Or helps us to notice how messy it actually is up there.

• They always put us in touch with what we’re feeling. This part is extra powerful when we are first starting to do them and when we’re going through something extra challenging and have to do a bit of compartmentalizing to get through our days.

• Tummy circles are a great and gentle emotional release valve.

• They bring us right into the now. This is a big part of their magicks.

The Spiritual/Woo Stuff

Tummy circles are simultaneously working on three energy centers/chakras. Well, more like four or… all of them. ((ha))

• First chakra: of course, tummy circles ground us. Connecting us to the energy of earth and self (and when done with others, kinda plugging us into the circle, if you will).

• Second charka: the motion of the tummy circles and the breath are like water, connecting us to our inherent creativity and stirring it up. (I often get ideas during tummy circles.)

• Third chakra: when done correctly, they stoke our inner fire… the fire of will and the fire into which we can throw whatever we no longer need. (You can even imagine throwing crap into that fire as you do these.)

• Fourth chakra: they start to generate energy upward into the heart center.

• Fiftth chakra: audible breath and the motion continue to pull the energy up and into our throats.

• Sixth charka: doing tummy circles with the eyes closed, then allows the energy to be pulled up into our third eye area, stimulating the pituitary and pineal glads because…

• Seventh chakra: finally the energy reaches our crown, driving upward and connecting us to all that is before finally dipping back down into the ground and starting all over again.

The energy of the tummy circles, then, creates a multitude of differently planed spirals. You can visualize yourself sitting in the center of all of that as it emanates out from you in every direction and then gets fed back into you.

Like I said, powerful stuff.

And they are no less powerful if you do them in a chair. Over time, I would encourage you to slowly work your way toward the floor but in the meantime, the chair version is just as good.

The idea, as always, is to do old things in new ways… finding little bits of change to experiment with and to observe.

If you’re not seeing the videos in your email, here is the first and the second.

JoyMusic: Something to move to and something to sing with

Last week, at some point, I shared about a list of women only artists that I made on Spotify. I embedded the player. Which was cool. Until it didn’t show up in the email version of this that a lot of you are reading. GRRR! So here’s the list. Just click. From now on, I’ll embed (cause cool) AND share a link the old school way.

A student/friend (Linda Soto for those of you who know her) sent me this song the other day and it was an instant love. SO FUN.

My favorite song for vocal warmup right now is this older Peter Gabriel (and my warmups are usually him… he gets everything going with putting strain).

I would LOVE to hear what is really moving YOU right now! You know I am always looking for new stuff.

JoyMoves: the obstacles are the path

“The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”

— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Or to put it more succinctly: the obstacles are the path, as I say in the heading. So freaking annoying and so true.

If the obstacles don’t become the path or the way, then you’re resisting the truth and reality of your own life and that, I think, is what we’re actually experiencing when we say things like “I’m stuck… I don’t know what to do next… I have no visions…” or even when we say things like, “I don’t have time.”

The work of the practice is devotion to the obstacles.

If we aren’t devoted to the obstacles, then we’re not devoted to the practice.

(I know… I’m even annoying myself here…)

I’m writing particularly today about your movement practice, but you know that movement is life and therefore all the things we do in our movement practices are just reflections of what’s happening our life and how we’re approaching obstacles. (SO. ANNOYING.)

Here are some simple ways to work with your obstacles instead of allowing them to rob you of the practices that support and rejuvenate you and bring you to your essential nature of joy:

1. Time: THIS ONE IS BIG. Stop telling yourself that you have to move at a certain time and stop thinking that only certain amounts of time "count." Look for opportunities that you're missing because of these stories. For example, when you're waiting on your coffee or tea in the microwave, you can stretch, wiggle, bounce. THINK MICRO MOVEMENT PLAY.

2. Space: stop telling yourself that you need a special space or a certain amount of space. Great movement can happen in the square foot right around your body, in a chair, in the car.

3. Clothing/shoes: this one is also big. You don't have to take the time to change your clothes if that's going to stop you. Do whatever *IN* whatever. (And just free your feet and work barefoot -- if you're not already.) I often work in my jeans because if I have to stop to change, I’m just not going to do it.

4. Finding music: don’t let feeling bored by music stop you. Check out my Spotify and just randomly pick a list, hit shuffle, and move no matter what.

5. Boredom with how you’re moving: this is a big one and it happens to all of us, even me. We all hit points where we just feel like we’re repeating ourselves or nothing is happening that is interesting. This is where my videos can help (which are free) or make sure you’re in the sanctuary (which is free) to ask questions and get inspiration or take a class with me or schedule a one on one.

What other obstacles are you running in to? I would love to help figure out a way to work with them.

JoyMoves: Stop with the efficiency!

When I wrote Blisschick starting, god, what? 18 years ago?!?!, I challenged myself to post 7 days a week for a full year (which I did and then I transitioned to five days a week and kept that up for quite a long time). To help with this challenge, I created categories for each day so that I had a built-in prompt for myself.

I’ve decided to do that here, so Mondays are JoyMoves day. You’ll see as we go what comes next. ((coy))

Mondays are for biomechanics, body stuff, relevant research that I come across, my own teaching materials, etc. You get it.

TODAY I want to talk about something that Dr. Susan Burwash (OT) wrote a bit about in a comment in the Sanctuary: efficiency and how she has come to realize that spending so many decades aiming toward efficiency of movement has led to… LESS MOVEMENT.

Of course, right? But we don’t see it until we see it.

Katy Bowman has written a ton about this, of course, and how modern conveniences, or any kind of convenience regardless of when it was developed, and our ideas of comfort are just things that have stolen a ton of fundamental human movement from our lives and inserted a lot of pain. (Her newest book is a great reminder for those of us who have been following her for a long time or a great intro if you’re new to her.)

Most of us end up working jobs to pay for those conveniences and comforts from a place of… convenience and comfort. You know… desk jockeys.

I’ve talked about this for years but there are simple ways we can start moving this particular needle and I would love to hear ideas from all of you, so I’ll start a tiny list:

• Park farther away from the store you’ve driven to;

• If you can, walk or ride a bike for errands;

• Don’t try to carry every single grocery bag in from the car in one trip — do multiple trips;

• Same for getting things from different parts of the house — don’t try to do it all at once;

• If you can, hang clothes out in the summer months (all that reaching overhead!);

• Spend time washing some dishes by hand (there’s nothing quite like the meditation of it if you can slow down and just enjoy the process);

• Do things SLOWER (this is a big theme for me that last few years as I’m sure you’ve noticed): walk slower, move from task to task slower, eat slower, etc.;

• Squat for a bit (you can do this assisted by a yoga block under your bum; it still “counts”) when you’re watching TV;

• Stretch when you’re watching TV;

• DO SOMETHING with your body if you’re watching TV (I lift weights and do pilates and some fundamental joint work);

• Find ways to fidget when you do have to be seated at a desk (bounce your legs, for example);

• Have an adjustable desk and make sure to spend time in different positions (even just changing your seat counts);

• Take stairs when they’re available instead of elevators and escalators.

Okay… your turn. You can respond to this or write me a note on Facebook… but I would love more ideas!

The efficacy of fidgeting (and more free videos)

If you know me, you know I am constantly reading and watching videos about the bodymind and trauma and healing and overall fitness (meaning, for me, the confluence of mind, body, spirit), but then I don’t always remember WHERE I get stuff so I apologize for the lack of sources here but whatevs.

There are some new studies out there that are showing that fidgeting can be super helpful in activating a more effective metabolism.

The one study is about simply doing heel lifts when you’re seated. Crazy stuff. They’re called “soleus pushups.”

But little bits of movement throughout the day — and I mean LITTLE BITS — can help long term with overall health.

Turns out fidgeting is good for you. (Though perhaps annoying for the person sitting next to you on the couch… ((cough)) ha)

Here are some things I’m playing with that aren’t exactly fidgeting but are along those lines because I’m doing them quickly and not for more than 30 or 60 seconds at a time:

1. If you’re having to sit for a long time, do those soleus pushups but also do some joint circles — wrists, for one, and shoulders and ankles are easy to do in a chair and to do in these tiny bits I keep mentioning.

2. When I walk past a certain wall toward the kitchen, I try to stop and do just a few wall pushups.

3. When I’m waiting for tea water to boil or whatever, I do a bunch of rises on the balls of my feet (releves) from different foot positions.

4. Sometimes on the couch, I do a ton of weird leg stretches… like a cat!

5. I’m trying to add in brief wall sits when I pass other walls in the house.

6. I’m also trying to remember to put my fingertips on the edge of the door frame and do a weighted drop (not lifting my feet off the ground to hang totally yet because of the shoulder stuff I’m still healing from).

7. You could have a squeezy ball at your desk to just, well, squeeze, because grip is super important to dynamic aging.

8. I also have some actual fidget toys that keep my fingers moving when I’m watching TV.

If you have other ideas, I’d love to hear!

AND in case you missed it, a recent video I made is about some simple movement to do to work with anger, frustration, stuckness, grief, etc.

Remember, if you like the content, please react to it on YouTube with a thumbs up or comment, and don’t forget to subscribe to my channel.

New, free joint health video

I can’t believe it’s already March. I’m not sure where February went… perhaps under the stove with all the kitten toys.

I think time has also been eaten a lot by my singing practice but this post isn’t about that. (Though if you know me, you know it’s hard for me not to talk about my current and most special interest. HA)

((pushing my brain on topic…)) So! If you have joint pain or stiffness for any reason, this video is for you.

Since I’ve entered menopause and I think, too, since Peony died, I have been living again with pretty much constant and widespread joint pain. I say “again” because this was my state for most of my life until I started to dance again at 40.

Doing this joint circle work almost daily, though, has been the tool I needed. It really does work. It might take a week or two or three for you to notice but keep going. It can be done in mere minutes or longer… whatever time you have.

I’ll be releasing another version in a chair soon. Let me know if you have any questions. You can ask by email, Facebook messenger, or over on YouTube in the comments.

So much...

Sometimes when I’m not writing a lot, it’s because there’s so much going on that I either am pressed for time or my brain needs time to process what’s happening in a way that it can be written about. Right now, it’s both of those things.

For now, I want to let you know that weekly classes will start up again the week of January 23rd. Please go here to read about what I’m offering and to register!

And I’ll be writing about what’s happening soon!