Allusive Illusions

Like illusions? This one is cool. Doesn't it look like the center is bowed?

Print it out. Get a ruler. The lines are perfectly even. It's you're brain that makes it look skewed. That's just too much information to process so the brain makes some generalizations and calls it a day.

So if that's the case, how can we really believe everything we see? How do we know the brain isn't just making generalizations in other situations we face, skewing our perception?

Look for ways your brain is evaluating, judging in order to make sense of the world around you. Sometimes the perspective is just an illusion.

2 Old Weird Tips?

Have you seen the ad all over? Cause I'm just going to reveal the secret and blow the lid off the weight loss industry. No more belly fat. No more thigh flab. And best of all? You don't have to give me your email address, phone number. Nothing.

Incredible, right?

Are you ready? Cause it's comin'.

Sure?

Here they are:
1. Eat less.
2. Move more.

Sigh...sorry for the anti-climactic reality. :(

When you would like to make physical changes to your body, there really is no way around the two above tips. But for you folks who are in chronic pain most of the time, it's exceptionally tough.

Many people with chronic pain, including arthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic myofascial pain, can struggle just to get through an hour of NO exercise, let alone an hour of focused movement. I have many students come to my taiji classes hoping for a miracle that will ease their pain. They've told me stories of getting a new gym membership and trying a cycling class or yoga and staying in bed for a week due to the unbearable pain it caused. Or just vacuuming before people come to visit and never being able to enjoy their guests because the next morning, their bodies felt painfully cemented in place. Or they've tried just taking a walk, but the natural swinging of their arms put them into such a cycle of pain, that they just gave up.

If this sounds familiar don't fret. There are possible solutions. Taiji and yoga are lovely options, but they aren't simple, easy routines for every body. Many styles are extremely strenuous and depending on the teacher, options and modifications may not be available.

So, what is a person in chronic pain to do? Well, here are TWO OLD WEIRD TIPS!

Old Weird Tip ONE:
Make a list of all of your weekly activities that require movement:
1. Grocery shopping
2. Washing, drying and putting dishes away
3. Cleaning
4. Laundry
5. Yard work
6. Animal care
7. Cooking

These are activities for daily living and they all require movement. If you are doing any or all of these, wonderful (my next post will focus on YOU)! For those who have given these activities to family members or friends due to your pain level, then this is where you begin, young grasshopper, to add movement back into your life.

Don't take on all of the household chores. The next time dishes need to be put away, allow yourself to do it. OR (not AND), if there is laundry to separate, separate it. Then it's time for Old Weird Tip #2.

Old Weird Tip TWO:
Write down how you feel as you add movement back into your life. Did you have pain? Where is the pain? What was the movement? Did you do too much? Next time, do only one load of laundry. Or, empty the top half of the dishwasher. Do you feel like you could have done more? Add one of your chores to your list. Do you feel good? Stay the course!

The hardest part of movement and chronic pain is being patient with trying to figure out what is enough movement and what is too much. Sometimes it feel as though the line is so incredibly thin, you'll want to give up. Be exceptionally patient with yourself. There will be times that you will do too much. And times when you won't. Just keep actively doing what you can and build only when you've had good, stable success with your current activities.

For those who are moving actively through the day, I have other suggestions including NOT starting weight bearing exercises. Just say no for now. For chronic pain, e a s i n g into movement is vital. Actively working on posture and relaxation is a perfect way to enter. How? Next post, gentle reader.

An additional thought:
First of all, I've grown to dislike the meaning behind the word "exercise." I like "be a goofball" instead. As adults, sadly, we can't run down the street like a maniac with our arms flailing about yelling "whoop! whooooop! whooooooop!" Or like Pheobe in "Friends" . That was just awesome.

It's okay...take the time

Sometimes simplest of moments are lost when we don't just force ourselves to stop.




Follow your instincts to stop and watch. Or listen.
You can have these moments. It will be okay.
Stop.
Notice.
Immerse yourself in the moment and breathe.

Surrender Dorothy

I'm thinking about surrendering....again.

I have tried it before.
It did work.

Until I stopped.
And started resisting.

Not really, resisting...but

-RE.

-SIST.

-ING.


Not resisting a hunk of dark chocolate, or resisting hitting the snooze button again, or even resisting the urge to sneak up on my cat and scare the crap out of him. (I don't do that anymore.)

I'm resisting evaluations. Of everything.

Overthinking. Judging. Evaluating.

You're wrong! (He's creepy looking.) What a idiotic driver! Wow, you're daughter is beautiful! Hey, you've lost weight! God, he looks awful.

It's not the worst thing in the world, evaluating. It's not murder.

But years and years of evaluations, building from the beginning of our lives, changes us. Changes how we see ourselves, how we feel about ourselves. Especially when it comes from the people who are supposed to love you unconditionally.

You're fat. You're stupid. You'll never learn. You're so selfish. Why are you so weird?

The only way to stop it, is to stop doing it. So, I'm practicing. Surrendering the urge to evaluate my children, my husband, strangers, myself. Surrendering the urge to evaluate how others evaluate me.

Letting it go. Surrendering it all and letting each moment be what it is. Not letting past noise distort this moment right now.

Discovering what is

Finding beauty in what I'm told had none. Seeing what is overlooked now. Finding purpose in what I was told was no longer of use. Use. No use. Is. Isn't. Good. Bad. Ugly. Beautiful. Bah.

Being

Quiet drops develop. There they are. Just being. Quiet within the noise. Stillness within movement.

Grounded

You know, the meaning of the word "grounded" has shifted so much in my lifetime.

I cringed at the word as a teen.
Felt proud of it during karate in my early 20s.
Played with the emotional aspects of it in my late 20s.
Was amazed by it during my 30s.

This word has re-made itself more times than William Shatner.

As a young taiji player, I pictured "grounded" as being strongly rooted in my stance. Unmovable. Solid. A tree. A tree with roots so big and juicy, pulling in nutrients from rich black soil. No way would anyone be able to push me over.

But I noticed something as my practice deepened. My movements were very solid and strong, but something was missing. When I practiced "Beautiful Maiden Weaves the Shuttles" (a.k.a. Four Corners) as I transitioned from one corner to the next, I felt a little clunky, uncoordinated, not so grounded.

It was then that I realized my definition of "groundedness" had blinders. My connection was only going down.

Magnetically rooted to the spot, my agility and lightness of foot was...no where.

Until it finally dawned on me.

What about grounding upward? What about the little string that holds you up?** The crown of the head, the bahui, connecting me magnetically to the sky?

This thought blew me away. Being aware of my connection (groundedness) toward the sky was an amazing awakening for me. Upward groundedness? Really??

This thought led me even further to believe that groundedness is full spectrum. Not just magnetically connected to the earth and the sky, but to everything around me. Again, the definition had changed!

It transformed me. I became grounded...in being. My taiji became a whole-body, connected, immersed-in-the-moment movement. Try saying that five times.

Not that I'm connected in this manner every time. My foundations (up, down and out!) shake at times. I'm not always completely connected. But that whole body feeling, connected and grounded in everything is an amazing, freeing feeling. So much richer than what I was practicing.

**Mine has never been a "little string". Puh-lease. Like that thing is going to hold me up. I picture more of a steel cable. ;)