Health & Livin'
Trip Start
Jan 20, 2008
1
22
53
Trip End
??? ??, 2010
Byron Bay,
Australia
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
I've talked a lot about havin' fun & getting over fears, now it's time to mention a bit on what i spent much of my, grown up ;), life focusing on, health. I know some of these entries have been maybe a little too much for many of you to not feel uncomfortable when you read them, but it is very healing for me as i stated in my last entry. I am growing in leaps and bounds.
Ingrid and I are away from each other for the first time since we started this trip. No nothing is wrong. On the contrary. Everything is great. She left for Adelaide yesterday to meet up with her mom for a few days, then we're meeting back up in Melbourne on saturday. Yesterday was actually really difficult for me. As much as i knew we needed some time apart to focus on the self, it was so hard that day. Besides a half day a time or two, we have been together 24-7 for about two and a half months. You get a strong sense of need & reliance built up that you don't even notice until they are away. This feeling lasted pretty much all day and night yesterday, never quite feeling comfortable with myself, especially in this highly social, and young environment that is the Arts Factory. But the nice thing about age is that it doesn't take long to gain perspective and make any situation comfortable. It comes back to making the body & soul feel good through activities that promote health.
I woke and had my plan set. quick brush of the teeth and put my runnin' shoes on, out of the tent and jogged straight to the beach, only a small bottle of water, just enough to keep me from over-dehydrating. When i got to the beach i took my shoes off and kept jogging down the beach switching from slanted, tide rushing packed sand to the soft stuff. Once i was down toward the end of the beach, i bagan my routine that i started in New Zealand for outdoor workouts with no aparratus or equipment available. I've been wanting to make this routine a regular habit, but i haven't done it in a few weeks. It all feels a little rough at first, but by the end, just with the bit of consistency i've established over the last couple of months, everytime, at least some part of the routine, i see improvement. Believe it or not, even today i saw it. The same goes for me guitar playing and surfing. The consistency is not where i want it to be, but because i keep going back to it, it always gets better and better. I would have to say my workout this morning is one of my favorites ever. I felt so energized afterwards, even though it was probably the hardest i've done so far.
Here's where the routine is at now. I started on grass in parks and such, but the first time we came through Byron i tried it on the beach. Because it's a mix of calesentics, mat pilates, gymnastics, & plyometrics, i didn't know if it would work out in sand. With all the sand flying around, i figured it would be in my eyes constantly, but i found some flat more firm sand and it worked great. Don't get me wrong, i'm sandier than a kid in sand box, but it just makes it that much nicer when i run into the ocean at the end.
One of my other rituals I've stuck with is pushups every week. I started at 100, per week, kinda weak i know, but kinda like all this stuff, i'm trying to establish healthy habits that are enjoyable not based on discipline. I add 20 more pushups each week. After a year it will be well over 1000. The only hard part is that i have to do them all in one day, so when i get to 1000, i should have, for the first time in my life, real pecs! I had a concave chest growing up, so that's another childhood thing i'm working on.
When i miss a week, which i've done a few time, i still have to do the ones from the previous week before i can do that weeks pushups. Because of my procrastination of late, I had to do 780 this week - 240 monday, 260 today & 280 sometime before monday. SO, i always work my pushups into the routine, doing however many i feel like in sets of 25 to 80, so far. Today in my routine i started with cartwheels. I try to do them on both sides to work my body evenly, the right side feels rough,, but is coming along. I'm also trying to get a hand stand, which is coming along pretty good. I've held one for maybe 5 seconds or so, but it's much harder in sand than in the grass. Because i don't really have the feel of balancing my hand stands, i've incorporated head stands,which started off rough and painful when i would come tumbling down. So i added foward and backward rolls, then dive rolls. Now when i start falling backwards, i just turn it into a foward roll, and it has become one of my favorite things to do. It is helping tremendously with my balance for hand stands, is strengthening my weak neck muscles, and improving my flexibility in my cervicle spine, which i've always had a problem with easily getting too tight. Next i do a set of pushups then straight into childs pose, then upward dog. I rock my hips gently to loosen my back and hip flexors. At this point, i'm pretty stiff from not doing any of this for a few weeks, but by the end it feels fantastic. I repeat the cartwheels, try some hand stands, more pushups, more basic yoga and add some downdog & childs pose role up to seated, then reach behind me to the ground and open my chest to the sky and drop my head back. I know there is a name for this one, but i don't remember it. We'll call it the "Open me chester". By this time i'm pretty much covered in sand, but it really becomes a non-issue because I'm so into the movements. I really never got any sand in my eyes, but i would have to wipe my eyes with my socks periodically, because it is so hot. Another thing i added was the back-bend. Wow, this one shows my very limited flexibility in my back, shoulders and wrists. I also did some side planks and whenever the opportunity arises pull ups. Today i added deep sand plyometrics striding out the first direction then a quick pace on the return. Kick butt, high knee, Karaoke, power skipping, and sprints. At the end I did a little meditation and self singing sitting on a mound of sand i made to do a few extra stretches so i could get deeper into the stretch. Actually i built it up first to do the Japanese style sitting Junko always does at home. It is so good for the knees. I have to say, all the little bugging ailments with my neck, knee, and wrist have gone away. They only show up time to time when i'm slacking on this feel good routine. Oh I forgot the best part! Cruising into the ocean...it was like magic. They were perfect little, clear waves. A walked into it gently, letting the undertow of each wave pull me in a little more as worked past the whilte wash into the easy flowing beautiful waves about thigh height. As i knelt down, with just my head sticking above the wave i had an incredible feeling of ecstasy only found when the effect of raw nature comes over me. Then i fell gently foward free falling in slow motion into the bosom of the ocean. Sweet as.
