Body - inhabit it or DIE!!!

[labelleizzy]

Hi LJ!

Been offline for two days. It's been surprisingly good; rewarding and productive. My house looks better than it has since we moved in, I cleared almost all the surfaces (including the floors, I could actually sweep in here and probably will in honor of Samhain before I leave for class tonight...) I threw a bunch of stuff away, recycled a bunch of stuff, and took at least 40 pounds to goodwill (my mom's trivet collection was HEAVY... *g*)

Saw the podiatrist yesterday for the pain I've been feeling in my right foot. It's been on the top of my foot and making me limp a bit, enough that I was worried about doing my back an injury or insult again. (it's happened before when I have been gimpy!) We looked at my x-rays and nothing was broken. *whew* and wow, what they can do with x-rays now! they were sent directly to his computer, like 15 minutes after they were taken, and he could tweak the resolution to clear up the picture in case the tech only took a mediocre picture... measure my bones in their real sizes, right there on the screen, it was pretty wow.

he manipulated my Rt. foot a bit before we looked at the x-rays, and a bit more afterward... he also checked out my calf and shin for a bit, and then he explained what he could see on the x-rays.

The places I was feeling more pain were metatarsals 2 and 3, though all 4 of the smaller metatarsals were sore! (as I discovered once he was pressing firmly on each one and I was yelping! And this is true on BOTH FEET!) On the x-rays he measured and showed me how 2 and 3 (the bones just next to the big-toe bone) were measurably thicker in the dense, structural bone, than 4 and 5.

Then he explained why that is: my calves (and I assume by extension, my hamstrings) are SO TIGHT that they are putting stress on the arch-bones of my foot! (No shit, there I was!) Mind-blowing...! He also explained that the reason I love my Chakos (and by extension the mules from Keen) is the slight heel (on top of the arch support); calf muscles like that make the body want to walk on its toes all the time (hum, that explains why I sit with my heels up on the chairlegs all the time when I'm on the computer!) The stress from the muscle constantly pulling works to strengthen the bones, but taken too far, you can get stress fractures... and DO. NOT. WANT.

The PT for this crazy tension, is to do those calf-lengthening stretches, hanging your heels off the kerb, sort of thing, but this morning I've been exploring my body's flexibility and it feels like, well, EVERYTHING is tight - hams, obliques, quads, the IT band, adductors, abductors, and the little trapezoid-shape over my lower back... (let's not even BRING my shoulders and neck into it right now...) Had a lovely massage from a new guy at Massage Envy Wed night, but you couldn't prove it by me today. (Ow.)

So yesterday after coming back from my appt, I did some more housework and organization, put some Rush on (Snakes and Arrows, for those who know) and was trying to dance and move around the place. Yeah, all kinds of muscular tension, ALL OVER.

I've been saying for a long time that I wanted to get fit, get strong, inhabit my body more, but now I have literally SEEN what it does. WOW. Sitting on my ass for too long is double-PLUS-ungood!

You'll see me moving a lot more in the upcoming years, and for the rest of my life. Thank goodness I'm in the Waldorf program, it's really about learning BALANCE between the realms of your life - artistic, physical/kinesthetic, mind, spirit, social...

My habits are changing. Which means folk won't find me here QUITE as often, but _I_ will DEFINITELY be healthier for it.

And now I think I will get dressed and go for a walk to the grocery store.

Comments

[satyrlovesong.livejournal.com]

*smiles* You're so good at taking care of yourself. Good for you.

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

well, I'm LEARNING how to take care of myself. It's been a long hard slog.

BTW, you TELL your bosses you're about to faint from lack of food and YOU ARE GOING out to get something to eat, and screw them if they can't provide decent food supplies in a time of crisis like this. If they want you to stay there nonstop, that is a non-negotiable pre-requisite. (okay, don't TELL them screw you, but yeah.)

Then you can sweetly offer to pick up some other food for other people in the office, collect the money from folk, and walk out the door.

Take at least 20 minutes outside the office to eat, ground, and re-center. Then bring the other goodies in, distribute, smile sweetly again, and go hide in your cube.

Dude, you GOTTA EAT.

Love you!

[satyrlovesong.livejournal.com]

On a side note, I could really use a couple of trivets. I lost all of mine in the fire, and have been making due with folded dish towels ever since.

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

well, you can take the two I kept that weren't my mom's - there's a shiney snowflake and a pewter-colored abstract leaf. I'll still have one that was my mom's.

merry Festivus, in advance!

[satyrlovesong.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thank you!

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

*note to self*
Put those two in the bag with other specifically-belonging-to-other-people things...

[capnkjb.livejournal.com]

Man, every time I read about the Waldorf Program, I think of that amazing Waldorf salad my aunt's ex-bf made. GOD it was delicious.

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

My mom made Waldorf salad too - apples, walnuts, celery, and some kind of mayonnaise dressing? Yeah, YUM.

I wonder if the dish and the program both originated in the same part of Germany? Hmmmmmm.

[satyrlovesong.livejournal.com]

You know, I've been thinking about this post quite a bit. I really don't LIVE in my body. It carries around my mind and spirit, but I don't pay too much attention to it on the whole. Generally, I ignore my body - I rarely look in mirrors, I rarely spend time improving my body's health or appearance, I ignore most minor aches. I had a back ache earlier this week, and figured I slept wrong. Until I couldn't walk anymore, I just muddled through - then realized I'd have to take something for it. I took a couple of Vitamin I, and continued my work day. The next day, it felt a little better, but still hurt so I had K. put some ben gay on it. . . which is when I found out that I have a bruise the size of a volley ball on my lower back. No clue how I got it, but that's probably what was hurting.

I really need to pay more attention to my body, but honestly I probably won't.

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

Being a balanced human being is about treating ALL of our Selves with Respect. Our mental self, our spiritual self, our social self, our physical self.

Being balanced is about feeding ourself, no matter what hungers we have - hunger for food, for company, for sexual expression, for movement! (that's ME), for intellectual stimulation and personal growth.

We have to feed ourSelves and treat ourSelves with love and respect and nurturance, or one of those Selves will throw a tantrum and stop working (have you seen my husband lately? Uh-huh)

we're called human BEINGs not human THINKINGS or human SITTINGS ON OUR ASSES IN FRONT OF THE COMPUTER.

LOL...

(no really, I'm going to take that shower now and go walk to the grocery store. Really.)

[chrisfs.livejournal.com]

Come out to Peers, or Ceili, or FNW, or Gaskills (which isn't until Decemeber though), you can get movement from those events.

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

FNW doesn't work while I'm attending the Waldorf teacher classes on Friday nights - so the next time I get to go will be, like, Christmas break, or next summer. Gaskells definitely would be awesome, except I don't have much to wear (well for christmas I will surely wear the wedding dress again)... ditto on the costume problem for Peers.

So. Costuming, a problem to be solved, ...sometime. Meantime I will be looking into the weeknight options for yoga, pilates, or aikido classes.

[satyrlovesong.livejournal.com]

You could always raid my closet.

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

thanks for the offer! will consider it!

[chrisfs.livejournal.com]

That all sounds good. :)

[dakini-grl.livejournal.com]

Your story of how all the body parts are connected? Just wanted to chime in on that. My piriformis/back hip problems are spawned by an unbelievably tight set of hip flexors on the front of the hip. Between the roller and my new best friend, pigeon pose, I am a new woman.

It's really exciting to read about you re-gearing and engaging with your body. Awesome!

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

i <3 pigeon pose! I want to find a yoga studio to hang out with... to really work on a practice of my own.

[dakini-grl.livejournal.com]

And bah, I can only recommend a local one. Good luck in your search!