Personal History - I've Got to Move It Move It...

What did you do regularly for exercise? As a child? As an adult?

Yoga

I've done yoga before I knew what yoga was, so other than walking, that's been the exercise that I've stayed with longer than any other.

As a kid, I got into the weird habit of laying on the floor while watching TV, and then rolling up and pointing my toes at the ceiling.

Had no idea it was a shoulder stand pose. I just liked how it felt, and I would watch TV that way, while pointing my toes or pretending to walk on the ceiling.

Later on, I noticed that my stomach muscles were very flat - more so than my brothers, who didn't do this, and I felt very proud of myself.

Mostly I've done Hatha Yoga, off and on. I love Rodney Yee's workout - even when I can't do them, I'll just watch him. He's amazing.

20-Minute Workout

As a teenager in the 80's, there was all that Jane Fonda stuff going on...and also something called the Twenty Minute Workout, which I did whenever it came on, whenever I could catch it on TV.

I sweat like a monkey in the jungle during this workout, and the constant pounding of it hurt sometimes, but I did it anyway. Had a young body back then that took a beating from me pretty regularly.

And I could never figure out why my brothers would come and find me...and then just sit and watch and not work out...such a mystery.

Dance

I loved dancing always, even though I was never very good at it. I had enough rhythm to get by, but I never could do the acrobatic stuff that I so longed to do. But I sure would try.

I dreamed of dance lessons, and becoming a ballerina and dancing with Baryshnikov one day. Never did it get through my head what I would have to give up to do it - i.e. television and junk food. Just too great a sacrifice.

I tried ballet, but quit very quickly. In college, I tried tap, which was a lot of fun, and modern dance, which confused me.

Later there was hip-hop and poplocking to try. My oldest girl got very good at poplocking.

I even tried bellydancing and hula. Those are a lot harder than they look, and I felt a little embarrassed to practice them in public, so practicing didn't happen all that often.

Tumbling

A gymnast was something else I wanted to be - Nadia Comeneche was such an inspiration in the Olympics in 1980. Again, something I had neither the discipline, nor the money to pursue.

I took a local community center tumbling class once. I could do cartwheels and round-offs, but simple forward rolls made me sick to my stomach.

Martial Arts

I don't know why I keep aiming for things I have no business doing - but this one was there too. Loved everything about Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, and would walk by the local karate dojo near my house with great longing. Eventually my brother got to take classes, and he developed some proficiency of his own - even taking on six guys who jumped him while coming home from a lawnmower job once.

So, once I got myself in some sort of physical condition where I thought I could survive it, I signed myself up for Tae Kwon Do...as a 44-year-old woman. Crazy.

It was a life-changing experience, for good and bad, in a lot of ways. After two years of practice, I did get my first-degree black belt, but right afterwards I struggled for a sense of the direction I was going in, and I lapsed in my practice. I developed sore shoulders that eventually turned to frozen shoulders, and had to stop at that point.

Today, four years later, I'm pretty much back to where I was before I started taking classes, but a little wiser than I was then.

Walking

I can walk, pretty much forever. If the area I'm walking in is pretty or interesting, I especially have a lot of stamina. While going to school in New York City, I would regularly walk up and down the length of Manhattan, from the Statue of Liberty to about 72nd Street where I lived. Spent a lot of time in Central Park, walking around the reservoir. Just loved the quiet, and the time to think about things.


Today

At this point in my life, I'm interested in many different areas. I do a program called GymnasticsBodies online, for bodyweight exercises. I'm hoping to develop myself back to the point where I can take martial arts again, without injuring myself anymore.

My shoulders have recovered, and I'm working on developing my joints so they can handle it. I might not return to Tae Kwon Do, but instead may take Tai Chi or Krav Maga or judo instead. I like the idea of the circular martial arts over the more linear ones.

I also walk occasionally, and I still do my yoga asana pretty much every night. It stretches me out for sleep when my body wants to cramp up from the day's exertions.

And I'm not against the random hula or belly-dance breaking out when something good plays on YouTube...though I might shut the door. Too earthshaking for the whole world to see. :-)