It feels great to stretch. Most of us forget both how good it really feels and that we should do it more often. How odd that something so pleasurable (which for that reason alone should appeal to a sensory hedonist like me!) should continually slip my mind. And here are even more reasons to stretch frequently: Yoga requires no equipment, no specific location, no time frame, no advance preparation. Yoga takes you wherever and however you are, and shows you where you're tight, blocked, hurt. Yoga takes you out of your mind and back into your body; it tells you how you are. While you're stretching it finds your compromises, your pain, your rigidity, your resistance. As it shows you these things with grace, you can make the choice to meet them and push through them, or not.
It's difficult to hold a negative thought or emotion when you're stretching. It's as if your body is releasing negativity and unbinding your mind as you release the physical tension. Of course the two are related: Stress is negative emotion trapped in your physical form.
The NYTimes recently came out with an article warning those who are warming up before physical activity NOT to do static stretches, but instead run a bit to warm up, then actively stretch and lunge and kick and extend, all the while continuing to move. Static stretching, it turns out, is better for relaxing and post-exercise, but can actually have the opposite effect for those gearing up for strenuous activity.
Showing posts with label stress-reduction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stress-reduction. Show all posts
Sunday, November 23, 2008
2008 Bike Commute Update
16 more rides into work this year and I'll have 3,000 bike-commute miles for 2008! Last year I managed 1,750, and I did just over 1,600 the year before. This year I decided to just go whole-hog and ride in every day possible. Now every day that I drive in ('cause sometimes I have to have the car mid-day for an appointment or be somewhere fast after work) I notice how awful it is to drive -- compared to riding a bike -- and I feel sorry for those that have to drive every day. My car-commute's only 20 minutes, and that's in the fast lane (in a Prius with car-pool-lane stickers).
Riding so much has really changed me, reduced my stress, raised my awareness about our environment, made me fitter, brought me closer to the earth, given me more time to breathe and sweat and meditate.
I read somewhere that the average American spends 10 minute outdoors. If that's true, it's pathetic. I know how much being outdoors has changed me, soothed me, awakened me, taught me, centered me. Seeing the world around you at bike-speed is more "human" and allows you to notice the world in ways you can't possibly manage inside a car.
I'll flesh some of these ideas out in later posts. Do you ride to work, or have you thought about trying it? I'd love to hear from others who are trying this, about their challenges and observations.
Riding so much has really changed me, reduced my stress, raised my awareness about our environment, made me fitter, brought me closer to the earth, given me more time to breathe and sweat and meditate.
I read somewhere that the average American spends 10 minute outdoors. If that's true, it's pathetic. I know how much being outdoors has changed me, soothed me, awakened me, taught me, centered me. Seeing the world around you at bike-speed is more "human" and allows you to notice the world in ways you can't possibly manage inside a car.
I'll flesh some of these ideas out in later posts. Do you ride to work, or have you thought about trying it? I'd love to hear from others who are trying this, about their challenges and observations.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)