Things I’ve learned from friends and reading.
WHEN YOU BRUSH YOUR TEETH DO A TREE POSE at the same time, to practice balance. Change legs. (This is where you stand on one leg and put the opposite foot as close to your knee as possible.)
GET DOWN ON THE FLOOR AND THEN GET UP. Find the sequence of moves that work for your body. Check the strength of your arms and flexibility. For example, you may have to face the floor on all fours and then push up while you step forward to get on your feet.
WALK LIKE AN AFRICAN (Masai): stretch upward TALL to the sky, pull shoulders behind your spine, and stick your butt out. Your back is a “J.” (This is opposite to what some of us were taught: to ‘suck in the gut’ and stand as if you were a puppet with a string going up from the middle of your head.) You are pulling up from THE BACK OF THE NECK. The chin is angled down, not up. The muscles between your shoulder blades are pulling the top of your spine straight. Your CHEST IS OUT. (We tend to resist two things in the USA: sticking the chest out, and sticking the butt out.)
BEND DOWN LIKE AN ASIAN RICE FARMER, when you lean down: pivot at the hips, keep the back straight, and bend the knees slightly. This is not the same as: ‘use your knees and not your back to lift things.’ The pivot at the hips is different. If you’ve lost flexibility, you may not reach the floor.
SLEEP WITH A PILLOW UNDER YOUR WAIST if you have a deep waist and when you lie on your side, your back is bent down like a bow. Your older back does not like that.
SLEEP ON YOUR BACK IF YOU CAN, with your knees slightly bent, if you can stand it. The back stays flat and straight.
GET A NICE REACHER for those things on the floor that need picking up, to spare your back. It makes picking up fun. Children think it is cool and love to play with it. In fact, have one for each child if you have a lot of picking up to do. For example http://www.amazon.com/Ettore-49036-Grip-n-Grab/dp/B001B13PC2
WHEN YOU BRUSH YOUR TEETH DO A TREE POSE at the same time, to practice balance. Change legs. (This is where you stand on one leg and put the opposite foot as close to your knee as possible.)
GET DOWN ON THE FLOOR AND THEN GET UP. Find the sequence of moves that work for your body. Check the strength of your arms and flexibility. For example, you may have to face the floor on all fours and then push up while you step forward to get on your feet.
WALK LIKE AN AFRICAN (Masai): stretch upward TALL to the sky, pull shoulders behind your spine, and stick your butt out. Your back is a “J.” (This is opposite to what some of us were taught: to ‘suck in the gut’ and stand as if you were a puppet with a string going up from the middle of your head.) You are pulling up from THE BACK OF THE NECK. The chin is angled down, not up. The muscles between your shoulder blades are pulling the top of your spine straight. Your CHEST IS OUT. (We tend to resist two things in the USA: sticking the chest out, and sticking the butt out.)
BEND DOWN LIKE AN ASIAN RICE FARMER, when you lean down: pivot at the hips, keep the back straight, and bend the knees slightly. This is not the same as: ‘use your knees and not your back to lift things.’ The pivot at the hips is different. If you’ve lost flexibility, you may not reach the floor.
SLEEP WITH A PILLOW UNDER YOUR WAIST if you have a deep waist and when you lie on your side, your back is bent down like a bow. Your older back does not like that.
SLEEP ON YOUR BACK IF YOU CAN, with your knees slightly bent, if you can stand it. The back stays flat and straight.
GET A NICE REACHER for those things on the floor that need picking up, to spare your back. It makes picking up fun. Children think it is cool and love to play with it. In fact, have one for each child if you have a lot of picking up to do. For example http://www.amazon.com/Ettore-49036-Grip-n-Grab/dp/B001B13PC2
RSS Feed