Moving our bodies: We make time for moving our bodies and exercising in ways are fun and that keep us youthful and fit.  Encouraging each other and doing things together help us to have the discipline to do things like acro-yoga, exercise, physical labor, swimming, running, volleyball, basketball, kickball, cooperative games, laughter yoga, dancing and hiking.

Vision: Would be willing to play with me and imagine the following? 

Moving our bodies is so much fun and helps everyone in the community be healthy–body, mind, emotions and soul. Plus we get to connect on a different kind of playful level which deepens our relationship.

I especially love our volleyball games, because we have perfected the art of cooperation. Everyone stays in their zone or else yells out that they have it if there is any doubt who should get it next. Can you tell this is important to me? This has been a life-long goal of mine, ever since the guys hogged the ball when I played volley ball in junior high! And of course, we practice and help those who don’t know how to play–but want to–and we are all fantastic volleyball players! And we demonstrate these qualities in all the sports we play.

Sometimes we go backpacking, which is another thing I have wanted to do ever since my backpacking days that ended around 35 years ago. We love to find the most beautiful trails that have lovely vistas and breathtaking waterfalls. Hiking in the Ozarks is great because of the lack of crowds, yet the beauty is spectacular.

We are in such good shape, because we encourage each other to move and exercise. Even the most sedentary get inspired because there is always some physical labor or sports to be played. Laugher yoga has been a big hit with everyone because not only is it great exercise for the inner and outer organs, but it just gives us a great way to relate to each other in a very unique way.

We love our dancing nights. We don’t yet have space at our community to do a big dance, so we rent the VFW Hall in Kingston, just 15 minutes away, which is a huge space. We charge a minimal amount with no one turned away and do folk dancing, square dancing, contra dancing and other group dancing. We attract a lot of the back to the lander folks, many of whom live in Madison County. Our vegan potluck is really popular because we work hard to bring a ton of super tasty raw dishes, and people are amazed at how delicious healthy food can be. some people are adopting a plant-based diet just because of that experience.

When we have any kind of activity, we almost always pause every 30 minutes to move at least a little bit. In our workshops and seminars, and even our on-line trainings, we teach people that our brains work better when we have a physical break often.

Swimming in Prayer Lake, the 40 acres spring-fed, man-made lake which living in this neighborhood gives us access to (true story!) is pure bliss in the heat of the day. Often we all load up in our bus and take an hour break after lunch to relax in the warm, refreshing water.

Participating in cooperative games gives us such a feeling of team work. In addition to having fun, we build trust and our brains are re-wired in positive ways. We love sharing these collaborative activities with people who come and visit and we are helping people see how play can be so meaningful.

Many of us are training to run a marathon. We want to show people that vegan can be great athletes, and running is a great way to connect and get in shape anyway.

This is just a sample of how we encourage each other to move our bodies, and how this is a daily part of our community life. Gardening, hauling rocks, building, digging holes for fruit trees, using hand tools to keep the gravel roads from eroding, picking fruit, and select cutting trees in order to keep the forest healthy–all these labors of love keep us in shape as well.

                                     Resources: 

Health Benefits of exercise: From the website, Holistic-Mind-Body Healing.

“Regularly moving your body throughout the day is a top health practice for healing your ills and supporting body and mind fitness as you age. Even though exercise benefits are primarily physical, your mental and emotional well-being are boosted in the short and long term as well.”

Benefits of Volleyball: From the website We Love Volleyball:

• #1 Improve Cardiovascular Health. …
• #2 Improve Muscular System. …
• #3 Weight Loss. …
• #4 Improves Hand-Eye Coordination. …
• #5 Develop Balance, Speed, Flexibility, and Stamina. …
• #6 Improves Interpersonal Skills. …
• #7 Reduces Stress and Anxiety. …
• #8 Develop Self Esteem.
• #9 Develop Sportsmanship

Benefits of gardening: from the website Good Housekeeping. 

• Gardening burns a lot of calories. …
• It can lower your blood pressure. …
• Spending time outside is good for your bones. …
• Growing your own food can help you eat healthier. …
• Gardening can relieve stress. …
• It can provide a source of community.

Happy exercise: the importance of: “But we need to look at the motivating forces that drive us to exercise.  Healthy habits driven by fear are not so healthy after all.  Deep self-limiting thoughts can do nothing but suppress metabolism, even in the face of intense, calorie-burning workouts. Exercise and move from a place of inspiration, freedom, and joy – and your body will love you right back by rewarding you with a hotter calorie burning metabolism.” From the website, Psychology of Eating. Read more here. 

Movement for healing: I found this article challenging because it was written by someone who called herself a witch. I know that the Wikkan and pagan ways are important, and hold values. I really liked the exercises described in this workshop which included movement.

Dancing Health Benefits: “Dance has many roots including cultural, historical, spiritual and religious beginnings. Dance can be performed with or without music. It can be fast or slow. Dance is expressive. The benefits of dance are that is is a wonderful form of exercise for body and mind. It is genderless and timeless but above all, Dance is Ageless!” from a post on Dr. Sears Wellness Institute. Read more here. 

My story

Being born in 1954 and growing up with very little technology was an advantage. My best memories of having freedom to move was when I was 8 and my family moved to Muncie, Indiana, nicknamed “Hometown USA”. Even as young as in the 3rd grade, I was free to roam around the neighborhood. We had a huge back yard which connected to a street where my friend Dixie lived. I had friends all over the neighborhood, I would go to Eddie and Peter’s home to play catch, ride my bike with Janice, or play jumprope with other friends.

I loved riding my bike all around town looking for pop bottles so I could get 2 cents each and buy candy. (Yikes!) I remember recess with delight. Hopscotch, foursquare, tether ball all were so much fun. We had an indoor gym for winter months, and we would do folk-dancing, gymnastics and other very fun activities. Gym was always something I enjoyed, all the way through college.

My parents love to go car camping, and my siblings and I would just love being physical. Once we were walking around the camp marching and singing “The ants go marching one by one hurrah, hurrah.” Irritated campers yelled at us to be quiet because it was early in the morning. We were embarrassed, but still happy to be moving outside.

My dad had a huge garden outside of Muncie, and the whole family would work in the garden. Us kids would load the luscious and abundant produce  into our wagon when we would get home. We were always surprised at how easy it was to sell all the extra produce we had to grateful neighbors.

Once I organized an outdoor festival at our home and invited people from school, including teachers, and the neighbors. I’m pretty sure there were lots of physical activities to engage in. I loved climbing trees, and raking leaves which my siblings and I would pile up and my mom would bake apples in the coals.

My dad was a cub scout leader and was in charge of organizing a fairly long hike. I was thrilled when he invited me along, and I was able to keep up with the boys.

My family would take month long vacations up until I was in high school. Camping in numerous National Parks, going to the World Fair, visiting various historical sites, all included lots of walking. I did not like the driving part!

Moving back to California in the 6th grade, we lived in a neighborhood that was on a hill, with very little through traffic. We could freely ride our bikes with out fear, play in mud puddles, put on dramatic plays, and just run around. I got quite daring on my bicycle once and tried going down a very steep and rocky hill. I tumbled off my bike and had to get stitches on. my leg–a scar I have to this day! (I just looked)

I loved square dancing, which we would do every New Years Eve at the United Methodist Church I attended with my family. I wasn’t that great at sports in junior high and high school, but I still loved volleyball, volley tennis, and tennis. I never did like soccer because my shins were very sensitive and they seemed to get hit a lot!

I think I did not like movement as much in high school. I passionately wanted to be a cheerleader, and I still loved gym class.  But my family continued to go camping, as we had all of our lives, and I’m sure I did some hiking. But I definitely swam in the ocean, loved swimming classes, swam at the municipal pool in the summer, and learned how to dive. I could even dive head first off the high dive!

My first year out of high school started catapulting me into more movement. Since my boyfriend, Bengie, was a surfer, I wanted to learn. I thought I was so cool with my short board (which is much harder to ride than a long board) strapped onto my 62 green VW bug. I was never that good, but the exercise was.

I took yoga from the free school at SDSU. I loved it.

That summer I started backpacking with my friends Sue and Susan. For the next 2 1/2 years I would go to such places as the Sequoias, Yosemite, high desert in Arizona and the nearby San Jacinto Mountains. I never tired of backpacking, in spite of how tiring and difficult it was. I think I loved the feeling of moving almost all the time, and being able to see different things, rather than going to a campground which at that time, I despised!

Sometimes I bicycled the hour and a half or so ride from National City to San Diego State. For the first time ever, I learned how to play real volleyball, and I was hooked. I played sand volley ball on the campus and the beach and indoor volley ball at various places whenever they were open, (usually at night) and I clocked in about 25 hours of volleyball a week at the height of my college volleyball playing.

Doubles or triples was my favorite, because 6 people just felt like way too crowded and not enough action for me.  I was not the best, but I was a great supportive player that, unlike in teams where I was picked last in Jr. High, I was very much appreciated.

I loved tennis with a passion, and took private lessons. Running was fun for me, too, until I got shin splints that were too painful. We moved to a house with a pool, so that was great fun. I bicycled to work–about 45 minutes each way in my 2nd year of college.

That was the most active I have ever been in my life!

When I started my trip in Europe, my plan was to walk and hitchhike. My first trek was going to the Odenwald where I walked most of the time from Youth Hostel to Youth Hostel along the lovely river and rolling hills dotted with castles and wild flowers.

But the rest of my trip was more sedentary than I think I ever was in my life. Many times I wanted to roam the forest or some out of the way places, but I was cautioned it was dangerous for a young white woman to do such things because of possibility of being attacked. I also just loved to read long Russian novels or other intense books. I could stay in one place for hours immersed in the story.

I know I did find some places to walk, for I loved walking around the cities and villages and historic sites. But I didn’t have the opportunities for athletic activities, including riding a bike, that I did in the US. I loved it when I returned from Southeast Asian on the last stage of my 13 month journey at age 19, because I was able to hike the lovely Swiss Alps, the Black Forest and walk freely wherever I wanted to go.

Returning home, I had $300 to my name and I was not about to go back to work, get a car, and get into what I considered to be the rat race. I was done with college, yet I returned to San Diego State to find the “Garden of Eden.” I had tried to find this garden when I attended SDSU before I left on my travels, but somehow the sign that drew me to this place, did not direct me in a way that I could find it.

So when I returned, feeling a sense of culture shock and not feeling like I belonged in this materialistic, western environment any more,  I felt drawn to find this garden. There I met Cliff, my former husband and present friend and neighbor. He taught me how to garden in a way that was gentle and loving, for I hadn’t really learned a lot from my dad who mainly gave orders.

I volunteered a lot at the garden and bicycled from my parents house in National City, at first, and then from my very first work-exchange home situation that I found in Leucadia. That was a long ride! I was getting back in very good shape.

Cliff and I bicycled or walked or took public transport everywhere. When we decided to go to Arkansas to check out the possibilities of living there with some friends who offered us a living space in exchange for labor, we hitchhiked. That meant we must have done a little walking.

Moving to Arkansas meant super hard work. Gardening, loading countless shovels of sawdust for the mulch for the new blueberry plants, digging  holes for the fence we built was super hard work. We even planted about 20 fruit trees and dug holes in the hard rocky soil about 2 or 3 feet deep. Hauling water and carrying all our supplies by hand also kept us in great shape.

Running the Whole Earth Foods Coop for two years, after we left the blueberry farm, meant that we would have to lift 50 pounds of grains, beans, and other wonderful foods. We would also have to run quickly down to the midwife’s home about one mile away to tell her that a woman was going into labor, because we had the only phone in the neighborhood.

Playing volleyball once a week at some friends’ home was a highlight of the week. 20 years later when Cliff, Robert and I all returned to Arkansas to start a new life,  we met a person who played volleyball with us. He commented, “You all changed our volleyball style completely. We never knew how to play like a team until you came along.” That felt like the best compliment I could get–even though we did work super hard for a very small stipend to get people their food.

 

Returning to California after 3 years, we found a job with a painter. Scraping paint and painting 8 hours a day was extremely tiring, yet rather gratifying as well. Cliff and I played tennis and volleyball and of course went to the beach. We probably took a walk every day for we love to walk and talk.

After the painting job ended for me (but not Cliff–he has been painting ever since!) my jobs were not so physical, yet Cliff and I encouraged each other to stay in shape in various ways because we did love sports.

In 1988, I was invited by a friend to go to a yoga class because he said it would help me get into shape. I suppose I was wanting to feel more fit, and so I attended my first ashtanga yoga class. I was excited because although the poses were difficult, I saw that I was going to be able to build my upper body strength. I attended yoga every single day for the next year, and when I got pregnant, I attended pre-natal yoga classes as well.

For about a year, I played basket ball with all guys, including Cliff who loved the sport. Never being that good at it, I learned to enjoy it more and with practice, improved my game. I played right up until about a week before I gave birth, and it was fun to be able to keep the guys at bay because they had to be careful of baby in my big tummy!

After Chris, my now 31 year old son, was born, I was able to take yoga for a while for two days a week because I had a person to help me. I missed my daily practice so much! Asking for a jogging stroller for my gift at my baby shower seemed like way to extravagant, but the 3 girlfriends who organized the event managed to raise the money. Back these rather new-fangled buggies were about $250, and in 1989, that was a lot! I was glad to be able to speed walk with the stroller to get much needed exercise.

When I divorced Cliff after Chris was 1, and met Robert 6 months later, my exercise decreased. Robert wasn’t as active as Cliff, and I missed having that companionship. We did take long walks together and I have never stopped taking practically daily walks through out my life.

I probably could write a book about all my exercise life, and I think it is time to bring things up more to the present. 3 years ago, I lived in Fayetteville without a car for a year. A friend cleverly transformed a kids trailer into a working trailer by putting in a metal platform. I rode my bike just about everywhere, and could haul grass clippings and leaves to the garden where I working in order to pay my rent as a trade. I could carry garden tools to my gardening jobs, and load up the trailer with produce from the farmers market. I noticed myself just getting stronger and stronger because I had to go up steep hills or go long distances fast because I would leave at the last minute.

I learned laugher yoga a few years ago, and I want to start doing that again. Laughter plus movement is supposed to be fantastic exercise. I also want to get a mini-tramp again. I learned about the benefits of jumping on a trampoline about 40 years when it was fairly new. I attended a holistic healing conference in San Diego. I heard a lecture from  the same guy who is selling and promoting trampoline use until this day!

I’ve been back and forth between the Bay Area over the past 3 years, and I mainly walked and took public transport. I loved walked around the Bay Area, and sometimes my destinations were miles from the Bart. I enjoyed the exercise and was almost alway fascinated by all the sights and sounds.

Right now, as I live in a house near the community land, my main exercise is walking 8 minutes down to the spring-fed lake, swimming for about 20 minutes, walking 8 minutes back, and often doing some intensive gardening to make my exercise time more useful. I am doing some yoga as well. I definitely am not as physical as I usually am, and yet I am still feeling great. Since I am fasting on the master cleanse, I am losing weight and fat, so I am not feeling such a need to exercise. Besides, this writing is totally consuming me. It is hard to tear myself a way. But I do love my movement breaks.

I might start playing volleyball with the Sunday afternoon crowd. There is a sand volleyball court right on the lake in a lovely park that was evolved by the neighbors. There still is not as much cooperation as I would like on the court, and I could just try to see if I can have fun if it is not perfect as I yearn for it to be.

I am starting to work in town–doing physical labor like gardening 6 hours, riding my bike to jobs (once I get to town, I pick up my bike at a friends house) I’ll be doing some cleaning and organizing as well. I’m glad my paid work has been physical for the past 20 years, ever since I first started a cleaning business and then transitioned to professional organization, which is very physical.

I’m so delighted to be in good shape at age 65 in 2019, and that I have never been limited by any kind of back pain or chronic injury. I feel sad for people who do have disabilities, and I know that a plant-based diet, along with all kinds of holistic healing modalities, can help the vast majority of people to be physically fit.

Thanks for listening to my story. I feel exhilarated remembering my exercise history! What is your favorite form of exercise? What would you like to share?