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nice thing ’bout getting old(er) — my yoga-to-dance aha! moments! – # 5

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PREFIX

i had to make a decision –

rewrite my stream-of-consciousness-leaning post

or explain it better, before the body of the post

i chose the latter

*

Why a Summary of this Post :

this particular post, is more stream of consciousness and complex than usual, at least for me

like my visual art, like the way i practice and teach asana work, the process by which i write, is usually more important to me, if i can choose so, than the (current) result

it is my innate “journey” –

within the context of the process, minimal necessary alignment or form or safety, is my only restriction

they are my natural limitations –

the summary below is “the alignment” – the framework i was discovering

the full article below the summary is “the process” – the exploratory discovery

*

SUMMARY

* i am getting old(er)

* getting old(er) has its perks

* one perk is it’s ok to “allow” oneself to listen to one’s body (limitations & inclinations) more fully, within the framework of what’s best for me

* what’s best for me, physically, as in asanas, aerobic, or resistance work, is partially, though importantly, defined by current fitness theory and practice

* current fitness theory and practice says i should listen to my body and modulate my effort and intensity as needed for both improvement, and for recovery

* current fitness theory and practice says, as i age, my necessary needed effort of intensity, to maintain health and fitness, decreases slightly

* aging, experientially and physically, has given me needed insights

* women, as evidenced by the number and quality of blog posts i’ve encountered recently on online yoga blog posts, seem to be expressing many of the same style insights i’ve only recently become more aware of

* most of these blogs are yoga orientated

* most the women writing today are relatively, or much younger, than myself; yet are expressing a similar demand and right to express themselves as they are (in preference) – where they are (in expertise)

* how?

* how are women as a group creating and achieving a movement in consciousness, unrelated to their ages, that took age to confirm within myself?

* i extrapolate that, as the seasons turn from spring to summer, to fall and winter, and back through again, there’s a shift in consciousness occurring, and women are (currently) at the forefront

* why?

* the common almost unspoken denominator, is there’s a fitness revolution, physically and mentally, and the most effective fitness-factor combining most elements, seems to be yoga

* the women have caught on

* so, playfully, with a symbolic basketball-elbow to the head 😉 i challenge my fellow dude-guys to, well, pick up the slack 😉

*

below, in my original full article, is the process by which i reached the above, now visible, summary-conclusions

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Intro

the nice thing ’bout getting old(er) is, it’s a collection of things

a bundle, a grouping, a cluster, a bunch of stuff 😉

nice not to have to rely on just one item

*

Getting Old is a Relative Thing –

more relative than usually believed

technically, we each are getting older the moment we are born –

even if we don’t feel older

so that’s why the title says “old(er)”

*

but i do feel, at 60, that i’ve “begun” to get old, even if not yet old 😉

what’s prompted me to ponder on this, isn’t my aches and pains or loss of speed or range of motion – those are incremental, and vary, via things like my diet, the weather, my mood

and it’s a mood, an online mood, that’s caught my attention

i’ve noticed, almost like a wave, a tide of postings, mostly by ladies, on the topic of finding a way of allowing themselves to be “where they are” within their practice –

and without a guilty or harpy-inner voice telling them that their practice is “not good enough” or “needs perfecting”

i for one, welcome it

*

if what’s occurring is real, a real change of mood, reflecting first across the pond of yoga, that it’s wrong that “only” fierce or perfect poses lead one to perfection –

but rather, that perfection of the human experience is in the moment, changing moment to moment – [1]

then, an allowance for “process” becomes possible…

if this surge of standing up for oneself as a process, is a fad, a flash, but a sparkle in an inky night, that’s ok –

but something about how much truth there is in this swell of sentences, about being in one’s own moment, not a guru’s or name-teacher’s or well-intentioned person’s moment, says, this flash will endure –

like the beginnings of a new sun, the flashes gather, a new sustaining light –

*

A Sampler List

among the many sites that have spoken of this self acceptance, via various individuals, mostly female, that either run the site or were a guest on that site, are :

the yoga lunchbox

yogadork

live.love.yoga

recovering yogi

flying yogini

elephant journal

the magazine of yoga

think body electric

curvy yoga

yoga journal

and i guess me too 😉

*

The Aha! Moment, First Part

so today, impromptuly deciding to attend a jazzercise-aerobic early-in-the-week cross-training –

feeling tired from sorting boxes stored too long to want anymore – i instinctively pulled back on my rom and rpe (rate of perceived exertion), giving myself more time than usual to “warm up” during the routine

and i did ache, and i did question whether i truly now was not only feeling old(er), but was actually being old

i thought to myself, if i am old, well, i am; i work out, i eat well, i rest, so minus a bionic replacement of most my parts 😉 this is where i am, right now

and i thought of the posts above, mostly written by women, as i eased my rom (range of motion) a bit further out on extensions (though not nearly as much as usual, half way through a workout-hour) and suddenly realized how lucky i am to be getting old(er)

let me count the ways, or a few of them 😉

i don’t need an excuse (like partied too late last night, or forgot the alarm) to ease up

my body more clearly gives me feedback (and sometimes what feels like direct instructions!)

no one expects as much from me…

*

The Aha! Moment, Second Part

but it’s something from fitness to yoga this time, not yoga to dance, that makes the connection for me this time

it’s mingled with the sentiment from the many first hand yoga posts above, pocketing readers’ attention across the yoga-verse of blogs

apparently, this yoga-fitness-feedback loop i write about, is a two-way ac/dc circuit 😉

*

it’s fairly commonly known, as i’ve written about, in my cross-training and recovery article, that, within a person’s recovery time-period from exercise, a reduced physical capacity commands respect

the body is finite, as every respectable yogi master maintains, so…

common sense (not willful arrogance) says, when the body’s tired, only so much energy is still available in the musculature, and only so much work is possible

otherwise, “accidents” may happen…

the same corollary, in additon for recovery, is true for children, and even teens below a certain age –

so what about old folk?

or old(er) folk? 😉

like me?

well of course! says the compassionate gallery of readers!

fitness theory and practice says, one’s maximum heart rate is determined by subtracting one’s age from 220

as one ages, the max hr (heart rate) number decreases, dropping the training heart range as well

not much, but it does –

thus, how much energy i need to experience the same number of daylight and evening hours well, drops also

* my amount of exertion needed to keep myself fit, dips *

i can keep up by slowing down – sorta 😉

otherwise, the same force and energy used today, that i used five years ago, is much higher up the training range – a range, if exceeded, means creeping toward peak training numbers

and folks, no one goes peak to peak day after day and lives long to tell about it 😉

*

and no worries, i don’t plan to cheat, and skid too low down my training range

but it’s good to know there’s an appropriate range for my RPEy  [2]

it’s good to know the range, well…ranges, day-to-day 😉

today, my-yoga thanks my-fitness – aha!

*

Final Thoughts…

…has to do with the ladies who wrote some of the above posts

there’s some of us guys around writing stuff similar, like nick potter on yoga lunchbox (and probably bob weisenberg at elephant journal, but haven’t read enough of his work yet) –

but i gotta admit, either we guys are mostly ignoring the writing on the digital walls, or, like me, have just been taking it for granted that perfection’s in the moment

but not the ladies

their demands of themselves to take back their own authority and decide their own form of yoga experience, strikes me as fresh, attentive, and enduring

i don’t feel this as a pushing away of guys, but rather, a demand for authenticity

but still, why this thread? now?

this boiling to the top of the heated yoga-comment-rooms, these rumbling-rubbings from the rubber mats at home and in the studio?

why this sudden (apparently) surge of web-wide yoga-demand to be as they be, in their personal moments in time?

have the yoga ladies of america and new zealand and europe and elsewhere suddenly contracted a space virus, to soon wrinkle into future-now dorian-grey-portraits of themselves? aging like me into a finally-inevitable acceptance of pace and place?

have they gotten old(er) like me, in years and years and years…?

they don’t look like that’s it 😉

*

Yoga-Fitness-Yoga Flash Points

no, i believe yoga is returning fitness’ initial surprise aha! moment, is returning the favor back again, and has volleyed back an irresistibly smiling new aha! moment in return…

the individual moments of awareness among the women are happening so densely, a collective-like fuse appears to have been lit  [3]

yoga, the ladies seem to be saying, doesn’t have to be guru-like dominated

kindness and self acceptance must be the rule

within a way to remain healthy

yoga, it’s being found,

accommodates that

*

though

i do think

women are growing

old(er) – it’s of

a maturing

of self

of acceptance

of consciousnesses –

on the mat –

yes

the gals have caught on…

the world is theirs

to make…

*

guys, i think it’s time to pop the top off a fresh one, the game’s on…

but don’t worry, there’s no losers 😉

we can all win in yoga –

play ball!

[4]

namaste – con dios – god be with you

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yoga-to-dance aha! moments series

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footnotes

[1]  eric franklin, in his books and website and videos, talks frequently about how even the most conditioned of dancers, experiences their body and movement, differently, even if only slightly so, day-to-day

[2]  i suggested calling this, my Rate of Perceived Exertion for yoga – RPEy in part 3 of my meditation posts 😉

[3]  i read recently, maybe a tweet, i searched but couldn’t find it, that each of us is responsible for our enlightenment (which i agree with) and that a collective enlightenment is not possible (which i disagree with)

it’s like saying the elements of the sun can fuse and enlighten the dark of space individually, yet not collectively

the collective-timing of individual parts, i believe, creates the collective happening

[4]  oh us guys like doing stuff together much like the girls, even if more so in activities like sports

i think most guys would agree, sports are just a more apparent means of “playing the edge” 😉

the challenge for yoga then, to interest more guys, is not by creating harder rougher hotter more intense forms of yoga, but allowing each guy to feel the ok to play their own edge, with their own practice, in the direction that interests them

the challenge for yoga teachers is creating the opportunity then the experience to allow that internal edge to appear, be tested, and played with

and that’s something for all of us, male or female – thank goodness 😉

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