by Peggy Pollard
Our emergence from pandemic isolation to rediscover face-to-face society, . . . actually holding hands waltzing! . . . wow! delighted us in June. But now our long August vacation days are shortening into crisper schedules of Autumn. Memories of far-away travels, or indolent stay-cations are permanently engraved into history, in the memories on our phones and in our brains. Any ambitious plans for a lazy beach day of novel reading, and special gardening project are either accomplished, or forwarded to future to-do lists. Schools are convening. Families hunker into revised weekly rhythms. The end of Summer 2021 draws nigh. Time is UP! So get ready! Next week calendars turn to the “-ember” months of fall. (For those of us who made it this far) we must now settle into good newly polished schedules for our new school year. Whether we are in a classroom, or far outside of one, this last week of August is the PERFECT time to re-evaluate our exercise schedule to make this year our healthiest ever in body, mind and soul. Are you, like me in your third, golden trimester, of life? After decades of goosing your engine a little too hard, handling a little too much stress than is good for you, are you, like me, pushing harder on your gas pedal but your engine isn’t going any faster? Then let’s minimize the stress , and maximize the happiness by developing the best weekly habits for our health. Doctors say that the #1 most important thing most Americans can do to improve their health is regular exercise. Here are the seven BEST Exercise Habits you need to do for optimal health and energy To make this next year of your life your happiest ever. 1.Find Enjoyable Exercise – Because, we all know, if you don’t enjoy it, you won’t keep doing it. (pssst… machines are boring!) No matter how many $$ you invest in an exercise or cycling, machine or gym membership though it may get you STARTED exercising. As the extremely high annual dropout rate of gym membership every October and February shows, just the amount of $$ is not what will KEEP you going in a regular exercise. But the amount of enjoyment you get from the exercise WILL. Whether it’s Ballroom/social dancing…or being on a sports game team, or long beautiful bike rides through the countryside, or mountain climbing, or JiuJitsu competition, or… The ideal exercise is one where you get beyond thinking “I need to exercise” to… “I love doing this activity and don’t want to stop.” When it no longer feels like “exercise,” but feels like passion, then you’ve got it. Finding the kind of exercise you enjoy, whether it is solo, indoors, outdoors, what gives you good feeling, what feels strengthening for your body mind and soul, not damaging. (not using machines, a game, a social activity) 2. Exercise with symmetrical large body movement---anaerobic and aerobic, long distance and muscle toning. That has been shown to have the biggest benefit for your body. Move your WHOLE body the way it was designed. Start with walking for the most primary level of fitness, then add in other big muscle movements such as running, cycling, swimming and SOCIAL DANCING 3.Exercise to music you love -- I know, I know, it sounds a little goofy, and probably no one has thought of this before… Dance to music you love – any activity you do to music, studies have found you will do it more, and put more energy into it. Music exercises your soul along with your body and mind. but doing a series of patterns of exercises, various kinds of moves, perhaps with a partner, counterbalancing against each other… in synchronized movements, wouldn’t that be wild! And timed to inspiring and catchy music, then allowing for creative kinds of movement… somebody should try doing that sometime… but what to call it…hmmm… how about “prancing” “or stancing,” “bancing,” “cancing,” “fancying” “grancing”…. Let’s keep trying, it will come to us. 4.Schedule your Exercise weekly. Don’t rely on your willpower, since soooo many things in life do come up. And however strong your “will”power is, rest assured you have just as strong a “won’t”power when you change your mind. So setup for yourself a structured weekly framework, then trust in the wisdom of that weekly schedule, follow it, tweak it as needed, but trust in it that you will be most effective when you have a balanced weekly groove to alleviate your decision-making stress. “what you schedule, gets done” says efficiency guru Michael Hyatt, New York Times Bestselling author. Do it weekly, regularly, Get into a weekly rhythm of Rest, Exercise Healthy Eating Regular Exercise that you enjoy most—Dance of course. Schedule your Exercise—if its is solo, mark it in your calendar. What you schedule, gets done, don’t leave it to doing it when you feel like it, these days our energy and attention gets stolen by a thousand different things daily that fights for our attention. And not only write it in your schedule, but check it off when you do it… a daily little ritual of celebrating that you accomplished something. Get into a weekly rhythm of Rest, Exercise Healthy Eating. There are 7 days a week for a good reason, it’s a controllable amount of time for you to work hard, rest well, play enough to feel satisfied, then do it all again. 5.Balance your Exercise with solo & group activities. Some of us are extroverts who feel need to do everything in a group. Some of us are introverts who feel the need to do everything alone. Most of us are somewhere in between… so find the right balance of exercise with other people, and alone, on a weekly basis, that feels right for you. Social dancing is… social of course, so YES that counts as group, but there are many skills in social dancing that can also be learned and practiced alone. And the joy of partner, lead-and-follow dancing is that it is shared with one person at a time, in a close, semi-intimate communication mode that is very satisfying to both partners when done well. Dance with other people—one of the most stimulating things we can do with any activity is to do it with other people. When we know people are expecting us, that is highly motivational to actually doing it, not skipping it. We are social creatures, after all. 6.Exercise your mind along with your body – Along with the group/solo balance, find exercises that have room to grow, where you are learning satisfying skills. Your mind is hungry to learn skills, so feed that hunger with good things. Social dancing is a Grrrreeeat example of that, there are so many styles an basically an infinite number of patterns to be learned, with new dance choreographies being invented very day worldwide, just as there are new songs being written, it’s a delightful fount of creative energy. Exercise your mind along with your body, while working out in mindless repetitive movements can have some value, giving spot strength to particular muscles and body moves, it’s important to develop your coordinational skills as well, putting sequences of moves together can feel more satisfying than one simple move, x 1000 where you don’t learn anything new. Our minds are thirsty to learn new things. And grow intellectually. 7.And finally, Learn skills in an organized systematic program—memories of the visiting a Tango class where I was warmly welcomed, and found a friendly partner, then got not one, but two or three more experienced dancers give advice, random advice, too much advice. I could feel my partner getting more nervous and overwhelmed … scattered information, is no good, only leads to frustration. Get one skill at a time, practice it until you feel confident, then move on. A good teacher (me) will teach you what you need to learn first Well friends, those are 7 of the most important things you need to include in your weekly habits, try to incorporate at least something from each area in your week for a well-balanced life you can repeat for the next 52 weeks, that will add up to a fabulous new year for you. (pssssttttt…. If you think of any exercise that fits ALL of these criteria Beeeauuuuuutifully, First, tell me about it…. then please DO it…. in fact, do it with us at our next dance. Check www.PeggyDance.weebly.com for schedule.
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FOOT Notes from Teacher PeggyAuthorPeggy Pollard has been teaching social/ballroom dance in Santa Cruz since 2010. Archives
September 2022
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