One Thing to Improve...move along

One thing? I have to choose one thing to improve? one thing.
right,

Diabetes Blog Week day 3 - On Thing to Improve - "Yesterday we gave ourselves and our loved ones a big pat on the back for one thing we are great at. Today let's look at the flipside. We probably all have one thing we could try to do better. Why not make today the day we start working on it. No judgments, no scolding, just sharing one small thing we can improve so the DOC can cheer us on!"

And all my loved ones and friends who aren't diabetic, you can still be part of the DOC (Diabetes Online Community) via me - cheer me on, dammit! And you can be in our cool D-club. (sorry to be a smart-ass, but picking just one of the myriad things I'd like to improve is really difficult).

What I really really need to improve is making time for exercise. I used to be really good at this, carving time out of lunch hours, quick after-work jogs, even early morning jogs or yoga.  I used to really include exercise as just a part of my life that was a given.  Somewhere in the past few years, we had a second child, and my job responsibilities and travel went up. And "poof!" like mysterious magic I found myself plumper, lumpier, and with more volatile blood sugars.

Boo.

Lately, I have started going to a yoga class once per week (when I'm in town). I have the option of 2 other exercise classes per week (went I'm at the office) on Mondays and Fridays too. but I haven't really committed.  And the expensive gym membership that has bee under-used for over a year now? yeah. like I said...underused.

So what should I choose? Obviously exercise is on my brain so I think something physical.  What gives me the most well-being feeling for the buck? yoga. What gives me the most feeling that I've created a few muscle fibers? A good strength/weights workout. What gives me the feeling I'm breathing hard and will be burning calories and bG for another couple of hours? Something really aerobic like running (meh.), eliptical trainer (eh), or Zumba! (okay, fun). Walking will count for me in a pinch, like when I'm traveling - if I can get an hour or two of "casual" walking, relatively brisk, around a city, I'll let myself off the exercise hook.  Otherwise, my goal is to exercise at least something like that or a yoga session (not always vigorous or aerobic), but preferably with 2 resistance workouts, and 2 high intensity aerobic workouts minimum per week.  The most recent studies say that women my age need to exercise moderately to vigorously for 60 minutes every single day to maintain our muscle mass.  I don't think I can commit to that right now, but 20-30 minutes minimum on the days I can't find any time would be an achievement at this point.

Let's see... My schedule could look like this:

Sunday - Gym for strength and/or aerobic workout depending on week plan, or Yoga session
Monday - bootcamp like class at work (or you'd better pick a suitable alternative, wimp!)
Tuesday - minimum 30 minutes run/walk (gotta start again somewhere
Wednesday - Yoga class
Thursday - gym for some resistance/ weights
Friday - bootcamp like class at work (or you'd better pick a suitable alternative, wimp!)
Saturday - Zumba! with Wii

Well, it's Wednesday night here in Basel Switzerland, and I can tell you that I did Zumba and Yoga last week, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday - each day I did some city walking (30-60 minutes), so I'm letting myself off the hook. But I should have squished in a gym visit in the morning (oh, well it's already 2:30 in the morning now!). No. I'm not going to do that because sleep is something I also need.

I will do something tomorrow, preferably yoga or somatics, then Friday I can go to the gym and/or do Zumba.

On the weekends, we are full of excuses because the whole family life thing is pretty full without a need for padding with exercise. But that is of course the completely wrong way to look at it.  Today I realized we haven't done any family bike riding for awhile. Maybe it's time to bring those to the outdor parking spot for the summer!

(move along)

Never give up

I have about 5 minutes for this post, but I saw this video clip on another blog, and it made me tear up.

Now, this is the 2nd time in a week that I've teared up and both times yoga was involved.  On Saturday I woke up from this weird and bad dream in which I was trying to re-learn how to do a handstand.  Surprisingly, it wasn't my Dupuytren's hands preventing me - for some reason I just couldn't get my legs up off the floor. I tried over and over again, and the dream yoga instructor was saying "I'm sorry. I just can't help you. I don't think you will be able to do it."

So okay. That is not the part where I got teary eyed. It was just a dream, so I dismissed it as an anxiety dream manifest as a goal I'd like to achieve. My fears and physical vulnerability, blah blah blah.  Basically I just got up and carried on with my day.  My day included Zumba!. Do you Zumba?!  No? Well, it's a pretty pre-packaged routine franchise of some sort, but I think it's fun. I like learning the dance moves and the music is good.

In the middle of Zumba! I finished a particularly tricky dance move song, and at the end I felt triumphant. And the yoga anxiety dream came flooding into my brain, and I teared up. Out of gratitude maybe? That I can still move around and learn new things and so nothing is ruled out. Don't give up.

It lasted like 2 seconds because the next song started and it was time to dance some more.

Anyway, the blog I saw this on is called Ninjabetic, or The B.A.D. Blog. Ninjabetic - I love that.  And B.A.D stands for "born again diabetic".  Who doesn't need to be reborn, right?
Just reading his post was moving because I too suffer from Hypercritical Inner VoicE Syndrome, or HIVES as I like to call it (actually I just now made that up).

This video is awesome and moving and it reminds me that I was right on Saturday. Never give up.

Handstands

HAWMC Day #28: The First Time I… Write a post about the first time you did something. What is it? What was it like? What did you learn from it? 

I have some great first time stories that I went over today - first time I flew in an airplane, first real "car date" (ended badly and with possum carnage), first real job offer. But since this is a health focused blog I will talk about the first time in yoga practice that I did a handstand.

I'd been practicing yoga for a few years, but never really advancing beyond a beginner level. That was okay, because at that time yoga was for me a practice in slowing down, observing my body and all sensations without judgement. With a spirit of "un-doing".  That's pretty much back where I am today in some ways, but my understanding of both yoga and my body's doings and undoings is deeper now than it was then. Back then is sometime I think during 2002. I'd scaled back on heavy exertion exercises due to asthmatic and stomach issues I'd been experiencing and decided to really throw myself into a yoga practice. A yoga practice in which I took a live class at least 2-3 days per week plus an additional 1-2 days for a full home practice.  After awhile I would also incorporate short yoga "breaks" in my day.  

This was a good practice for me.  My breathing capacity increased without the stress of outdoor allergy induced bronchial spasms. My endurance and strength increased without the demands on my joints and my stomach to keep up with full-court basketball.  I learned about run-walk interval training and elliptical trainers at that time since I still had the urge for some good old fashioned cardio. I still did strength training in the weight room, but not as frequently as before - moving to an intermediate level of yoga practice takes care of a lot of strength training, actually.

So I started getting braver about inverted poses. Handstand and headstand preparation poses were very taxing (are very taxing again!) - I lacked the strength and the openness in my chest required for those poses. I lacked the core development and the upper back development. Moving to half-handstands was even trickier - but that was often assisted with a partner.  When we felt ready it was time to start practicing kicking up, both instructors I was seeing at the time encouraged us to try. At first very clumsy looking like a quick scissor kick in the air behind me.  After weeks of this, my kick up started to occasionally touch the wall behind me. Then the instructor would assist the final inches so we could feel the sensation of both legs straight up, using the wall for balance assistance.  I could only stay there for a few seconds at that point.  Progressing over more weeks, the kick-ups got more controlled with stronger core muscles. The assisted handstands could last longer and I could play with my shoulder alignment to find the right balance point.

Then one day, I just did it without anyone to spot me. I didn't hit the wall hard with my heel, my core was ready. I could stay there in that position for a little while, and look in between my hands for the optimal balance point.  After several times of this over a few weeks, I could take one foot away from the wall and then another.  I was addicted to the feeling of going upside down. to the feeling of strength and balance it gave me.  Every time, I would relive the elation of that first time I made it to a handstand on my own. From there I found it very easy and so rewarding to move to elbow stand and headstand - but only after building the strength and skills for handstand was this possible.

I haven't been able to do a handstand for quite awhile - first frozen shoulder, and then the Dupuytren's in my hands made it impossible.  With my success at treating Dupe's (albeit still at the beginning, and not completely fixed), I feel optimistic that I can make this a goal again one of these days.  I'm starting from the beginning, or even behind that since I have the limitation of my hands. The preparation poses feel very awkward and difficult.  But I remember the feeling of going upside down and I want to go there again.