Tag: daily-practice

Nat’s learning lots – update on stretching
mobility · Sat with Nat · stretching

Nat’s learning lots – update on stretching

natalieh (she/her)Leave a comment

I’ve been adding moments for stretching into my day. After a week I’ve learned a lot.

Tight Quads

One posture that didn’t feel like a stretch when I was younger is sitting with my feet tucked under my butt and shins on the floor. Lately I need support by putting a yoga block in the tallest position between my feet to support my sits bones.

I’ve noticed the stretch along the front of my shins and top of my feet. It’s a delicious, warm feeling around the bones. It’s the kind of release and relaxation I often chase when stretching.

I need the block support because the tissue connecting my quadriceps to my knees are really tight, especially on the sides.

I didn’t have my glasses on when I picked this picture of someone in Vajrasana aka Thunderbolt pose aka kneeling resting on your shins and tops of your feet. I thought I was selecting a senior. Instead it is a very posh, younger than me person with a very fashion forward grey bob.

In addition to trying this pose on the floor I’ve taken to kneeling on the couch, facing the back while resting my head forward to allow a fuller range of motion. This support shifts a bit of weight off the joints and allows my heels to touch my glutes.

Proud Pigeon but no King

Two long haired humans demonstrating proud pigeon on mats in a field of clover.

I’ve always enjoyed the deep hip stretch from bending one knee on front of me and extending the back leg flat against the floor then melting my upper body onto the floor.

When that feels too spicy I used fire log or a 90-90 pose, all stretch my hips.

For years I have had a goal of being able to do a King Pigeon.

There’s something very appealing about being able to bend the back leg in Proud Pigeon so much that you can lean back and touch your head. This stretches the quad, hip, abs and shoulders. I want to do it!

My back leg refuses to lift on its own. I use a strap and eventually can get my hand around my foot. It’s intense. A hot burn comes from my quad and I let it go. It’s too far for me right now. I think there is benefit in having a literal stretch goal. Please tell me you saw what I did there.

So what?

By adding more intense stretching to my day I’ve learned that I can move the needle on my flexibility. It’s not big showy moves like King Pigeon. The wins are in exploring tightness and discomfort while steering clear of pain.

I’m challenging myself to not avoid something that shows I’ve aged and changed. I think this confronting my current reality is a good lesson to learn.

goals · habits · martial arts

Christine H is trying to (TKD) practice what she preaches

Christine Hennebury4 Comments

If all goes well, I’m hoping to test for my 4th degree black belt in ITF Taekwon-Do sometime later this year but I have a lot of work to do in order to be fully prepared.

All through the fall, my practice was restricted because I was having trouble with my leg and my foot but things are improving and I have been able to resume my regular home practice.

I’m fairly confident about the patterns I have learned for previous black belt tests.* And I feel good about one of the three I need to learn for this test but I haven’t yet fully grasped the second pattern that I need to learn.

So, I am taking my own advice from my Go Team! posts and creating a plan for a small, specific practice to really get this pattern, Yoo Sin, into my brain and into my muscle memory:

I’m going to practice Yoo Sin for at least 5 minutes a day, every day, from now until the end of February, or until I can perform it without hesitation, whichever comes first.

This is what Yoo Sin looks like:

A YouTube video of Patricia Pacero performing the ITF Takekwon-Do pattern Yoo Sin in a practice space with white walls and with blue mats on the floor. She is wearing a white TKD uniform (dobok) and her black belt.

I have been through the whole pattern step-by-step a couple of times with guided instruction but at this point I can only get about 1/3 of the way through the pattern without stopping to check the next move.

I’m not sure if 5 minutes of daily practice will get me where I want to go with the pattern in a month but it will definitely move me in the right direction.

And, as I know from my own Go Team! pep talks, I can reassess and do some course correction at any point in the process.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

For the record, this isn’t the only TKD practice I will do in February, it’s just how I plan to add this pattern to my repertoire.

*If you aren’t familiar with how things work in the martial arts, getting your black belt is not your end point, it’s the point at which you know enough of the basics to start deepening and strengthening your practice. I earned my first degree black belt in 2014. I learned 3 new patterns for my second degree belt in 2016, another 3 new patterns for my third degree belt in 2019, and I have to learn 3 new patterns for my 4th degree test. This is on top of the 9 patterns that I learned for the various belts leading to my first degree black belt.

fitness · yoga

September is for Yoga: Day 6 Check-in

Christine Hennebury

I am so glad I decided to add yoga to my September. My days have actually felt LESS busy because I am starting off by doing something kind for myself. 

I suspect that feeling stems from two things:

I like having a specific thing to do first thing in the morning, it gives my day immediate structure.

I have been maintaining that structure in two ways:

My mat has been a fixture in my living room since September 1 (a fact that Khalee fully approves of) so I have a visual reminder. 

And, I ended up setting up a Facebook check-in group and we decided that I would put up a post every day to remind people to check-in. 

My mat helps me to remember my plan and the need to do the check-in post helps me to stick to the plan. It’s the perfect combination!

I have, of course, selected a little weirdness for my check-in posts, an index card drawing of a monster with the day number next to them. So, I have the added bonus of doing something a little creative first thing, too. 

But because it is a side-effect of the group post, it’s not ‘make art first thing,’ it’s ‘make a quick drawing for the post’ and it feels like a smaller task.

The words/numbers Day 6 are handwritten in large print on the left side of a white index card. On the right there is a tall, green, cylindrical one-eyed monster with a yellow smile and two green feet.
You will notice, of course, that this particular monster has 6 spikes on their head in honour of Day 6.

I can focus my yoga to address something I need in that moment – relaxed shoulders, some relaxation, some ease in my hips.

One day, I knew I had a lot of driving ahead of me so I did some hip work to prepare myself for the day ahead.

That just feels really great – addressing a concern right away. And I don’t have to carry that issue all through the day until I can get around to it. 

Instead, I get to have a feeling of physical ease throughout the day. And there is no arguing with the benefit of that!

A brown-haired woman in a black t-shirt and jeans leans forward in child's pose (chest on knees, face downward, arms outstretched) on a green mat on a dark brown floor. A light brown and white dog rests nearby.
I’m trying not to be precious about my practice this month so I am embracing imperfection. So here I am doing child’s pose imperfectly, wearing jeans, with my mat on a floor that needs sweeping, next to a blanket that needs folding, and a bag of whatsits that needs putting away. The only two perfect things in this photo are Khalee’s guarding abilities and my NL Feminists Rock t-shirt.


Shout-out to the September is for Yoga Group

As I mentioned above, I created a Facebook group to keep myself and Team Yoga on track for this month and we’re having a great time. 

Lots of people have mentioned how the accountability is helping them remember to make a little time for themselves in the day. AND, we are all finding that even the tiniest bit of yoga is helping us to feel better already. 

I know that I am feeling more relaxed over all and my hips feel mobile instead of tense. 

That’s pretty much as close to an instant result as anyone could hope for.