For Goodness Sake, Don't Stop

​Last week I wrote about how sitting is the new smoking.  I wanted to expand on that a bit this week. One of the reasons is that I have been noticing my own declining mobility.  I know that people think since I am a yoga teacher I am constantly doing yoga asana.  Truth be told, if when I have an available hour or two in my day I am more inclined to sit in meditation. This is a dramatic change from 10 and 20 years ago, when I would prefer to jump up into several handstands with a few hundred vinyasas in between.  But preferences change as we move into different stages in our lives and we get older.  Unfortunately as we age and we move less, the lack of movement has more of an impact on us.  

I believe it is imperative to find the kind of movement that is both enjoyable and beneficial.  My experience working with many people has helped me to understand people don't always choose the best type of movement for their structure and their needs.  We may remember an exercise we did in high school and think we should still do that.  Guess what? No.  I am going to say stressing your system with the wrong movement is worse than not moving at all.  You might as well smoke.  It is why it is so important to work with a teacher, therapist or fitness professional to help guide you.  We can't know everything, and there are people trained to observe your body and they have studied movement and can guide you. So consider that if you find you are just not sure what is the best way to stay fit is for you, your task is simply to find the person that you vibe with best. Let them do the rest. If you want more education, ask ask ask questions. If they can't or won't answer your questions, find someone else. 

I can remember as a young girl my mother feared being confined to a wheelchair, as do many disabled people who are ambulatory.  A few weeks ago I was helping her unpack some things and found a sheet of paper that has exercises that a PT worked on with her. I asked if she wanted to keep it.  She said no.  She is now in a wheelchair and has lost much of her mobility including her ability to transfer from her chair to the car, which does not make either of us happy.  It is so easy to forget what our priorities are.  It is true sometimes they change, and sometimes we just lose motivation for so many different reasons. 

To help you stay motivated and find your best way of keeping mobile I developed a short course in September called "Reclaiming Your Body" . You can find out more details here:
http://www.yoga-loka.com/retreats-with-bonnie.html

We have a lot of subs coming up in the next few weeks with me, John and David being on retreat. Take advantage of taking classes with new teachers.  Everyone has a different approach to movement and a different way of saying it, and I can guarantee that you will discover something quite new about yourself, and a new way of moving.