Homestead mailing list

[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Clansgian AT wmconnect.com wrote:

> This is a true story.  Back when the tribe was somewhat younger, we 
> frequented homeschool meetings.  Most of the parents showing up were
> women though not all.  There seemed to be no women of medium build in
> the group.  All were either slim, nubile women or rather obese.   I
> observed.

James you know you can't draw the conclusions you did from those
observations..You don't know whether their behaviors were the result of
medical problems(like hyper/hypothyroidism) or whether their actions or
lack thereof were the result of their weight, not the cause of their
weight.  Obese people often have other issues causes by the excess
weight.  I am not taking up for them, just making the point that you
can't say she is obese because she takes the shortest number of steps
from her vehicle to the picnic table..she may be doing that because of
bad knees or ankles-secondary from the weight, not because of some
laziness like you seem to imply.

<descriptions of small and large women omitted>

> This is my opinion, although I have good reason for holding it:  A
> regularly scheduled time and routine of stretching and exercise is
> doomed to failure, especially for the homesteader.  Look about you
> and find examples and paradigms of the success of it.  They are rare
> if they exist at all.
>
> Rather though mindfulness be aware that in your every day life there
> is a movement way and a non-movement way to do everything,  there is
> a flexibility way and a non-flexibiltiy way.  Said examination of
> one's bias will reveal that we are conditioned to the unconsciously
> choose the non-movement and no-flexibility way.  The trick, says I,
> is to change that and when given a choice (and there is almost always
> a choice) choose the movement way to do something and the stretch
> way.

I'll give you that..
I'm just not sure it is enough.  Will doing things the flexibility way
make sure that I will be flexible enough when that unforeseen thing
happens and I need strength and flexibility (like, I don't know, maybe
jumping a fence to put space between myself and a rabid coyote or
something, or stepping in a gopher hole and twisting 300 ways on the way
down to the ground)
 When she did
> dishes, she stood at the sink and did a sort of hula dance the whole
> time. Within a short peroid of time both the pain and the pounds were
> gone.

Good idea..I spent lots of time at the sink.
This is the kind of stuff I call behavior modification.  I did the same
when I quit smoking.  If you attach new behaviors to old ones, and make
the new behaviors habitual....
I'm a leg/foot shaker...it drives dh crazy, but I am sure it burns quite
a few calories...

> You mentioned Tai Chi of which I am a great fan.  But working toward
> doing the full form in a formal way will get you nowhere.  Tai Chi is
> based on five prinicples (in Chinese culture, everything comes in
> fives)  slowness, lightness, clarity, balance, and calmness.  To get
> the benefits of the principles of Tai Chi, they must be incorporated
> into your everyday life.  The time to practice "Grabbing the Bird's
> Tail" is not during a formal, set aside Tai Chi time, but rather then
> you are folding clothes,  'White Stork Flaps its Wings" when you are
> picking up things from the floor, "Needle at the Bottom of the Sea"
> when you are picking beans, "Carry Tiger, Push Mountain" when you are
> sweeping.

Cool.

> So we can choose to get up every day and sigh within at the tasks we
> have to do on the homestead and bemoan our advancing age and every
> shadow and prospect of infrimity.  We can look for the way of doing
> things that assuages and flatters that point of view. Or else we can
> look at the opportunity for strength, flexibility, balance, and 'wa'.
> We can experience TaiChi-like balance and rounded movent of splitting
> wood with an ax or else deteriorate while the hydrolic wood splitter
> does it in an inelegant way.

Realize that I am not bemoaning my age.  I just want more strength,
flexibility, and tone.  I want a more fit body!

B

--
“Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to
hate. Hate leads to suffering.”        Yoda