Midst storms within and without, floods and torrents of the weather and personal kind there are always moments that make me smile and remember the gifts found in letting go, in finding life cut off and changed beyond repair but offering possibility of new life and living way past the obvious death.
Autumn time to face up to endings, time to stand square before whatever axe may be about to befall a life and understand the pain and confusion of the felling may in fact be a beginning not an ending and other lives will replenish and renew within the sphere seen so clearly as death.
Death, deacay, departing, disease, depression, distress....interesting they are all D words but then so too are delight, delicious, delerious, dream, define, destiny.
The week has past in a flurry of activity and stasis of the u-bend kind. The activity has once again taken me away from the cottage rather more than expected or possible if I actually took note of reality but creating my own reality is so much more sensible - well that's what I think others do not always agree but rebounding fat ladies are a law unto themseves.
Oh yes the rebounding...part of the acknowlegement of needing to look at ways to excercise and tend a body well abused over the last months has been the decision to spend a little time on a sprung circle:0) It sits on its side propped up through the doorway between sitting room and kitchen and fits nicely in the doorway when down with door frame ready at hand for me to grab or steady myself on and kitchen chair and table to act as other leaning post - my rooms are small. The concept is that the bounce takes you into a weighless zone for milli-second which leaves stress and strain off skeelton and encourages the lymph system to begin to operate a little more decidedly.
I have started off very slow as they recommend and am gradually building up the time spent 'bounding'. So far I have felt a little freeing up of my neck and it has not made back pain any worse which is great. The vertigo and bounce don't always agree but the door frame works well as support and I have a bounding buddy!
At first it was a tentative pair of feet placed on the rebounder as I bounced and a grin of delight on the face but now body and all feet join me and Rhys stands alongside me and rebounds gracefully along too:0) Missy Banon is interested but the diva that she is wants the rebounder to her self and looks crestfallen when she stands there and no bounce happens.
One morning this week it had taken me a long time to get from bed to kitchen and frankly little thought of anything other than trying to stay upright and out of the bathroom was top of my agenda but my ‘bounder-buddy’ was keen to have his moment of delight so I climbed aboard and we were off.
Let me set the scene. I was in long night shirt which hadn’t actually been slept in but is not usual day wear especially when over the shoulder boulder holder and cotton briefs which are anything but brief are not in place. Anyway, before I climbed on board I pressed the button on the CD player that is in the kitchen to boost my intent. So there we were in position and we were off with the ‘therapeutic rock’ as it’s called but to me it seems just a basic bounce but a good place to catch the rhythm and feel of body and music. The music encouraged and after a couple of minutes Rhys and I were really boogying, eh I mean rebounding.
The one thing that was happening which made me laugh and put quizzical look on Rhys’s face was the rhythm section that was added to the music coming from the player; the chest was ‘rebounding’ along to The Pink Martinis with a definite slap, slap. The extra noise attracted Missy Banon and when I began to move arms and legs in a more obvious fashion she planted herself in front of us and stood on her hind legs so she could reach out with front paws.
So there we were, woman and dog doing our rebound exercises accompanied by dancing dog, thank goodness no video camera was switched on in the vicinity. Eventually I dissolved into laughter and the exercise programme came to an end as I was mobbed by my two doggy fans.
I am up to an eight minute session in the morning and six minute session in the evening and my goal is to be able to do twenty minutes both morning and evening by Winter Solstice. A half an hour morning and evening is the goal I think and that is by Spring Equinox I hope.
I have also found it to be good for three minute ‘relaxers’; basic bounce one minute, moving legs by bending knees whilst bouncing for thirty seconds , moving legs by lifting heels but leaving toes and ball of foot on the rebounder whilst bouncing , then one minute basic bounce. Non of the bouncing I do involve trampoline kind of jumps or bounces that’s the whole point of the piece of equipment.
Being off the floor but supported by tightly strung base does release the spine from any kind of shock and does not send me hurtling skywards.
Early days but already realise the days I have been able to use it both morning and evening and maybe a few short loosening sessions through the day have helped in various ways so it’ll be interesting to see how I will feel when it is much more an integral part of my day.
In the morning I often rebound with some music often some Chinese choral music which gives sense of the exercise being a meditation but when a hard night is being ‘walked’ away from then Pink Martinis seem just about right:0)
In the evening I rebound in silence concentrating on my breathing and what my body is actually feeling etc. Having now become familiar with the piece of equipment I am going to try and keep a log of what I do and the perception I have of its affect of my daily life etc. Come spring it will be good to turn the pages and remember what I have done and the range of difference or not it may make.
My eating is still veering off in ways not anything but abuse however small changes have been made since the last post and that is good enough for me, just pass me another chocolate digestive:0)
In this last week I have been reading about the triskele – the three legged cross of the Celts. Which represents the spiralling movement of life; its perpetual motion etc. Without the three legs then the centrifugal force which propels me towards the sun, towards the light is lost. The beginning, middle and end are the whole, the body heart and mind are the whole, the physical emotional and mental are the whole and in the past few days I have begun the slow journey towards regaining balance so that the whole may be a description of my life and living in more clarity and power. This threefold energy runs through every part of the universe and as I am a spec of animated stardust I feel it is freely available to me to become truly part of an energy that embraces and engulfs all beginnings, middles and endings.
I do not know if I am in a beginning a middle or ending and need not worry about where I am save in this moment as I sense that checking where all the ‘legs’ are in my life and living is where I need to be if anywhere.
(if you are wondering what a rebounder looks like go here)
Would that i could have been a fly on the wall for that episode!
Happy birthday to us, dear one...
Posted by: caroline | 23 October 2006 at 09:47 PM
I laughed out loud out your wonderful reccounitng of bounding with the pups - your body slapping along with the hythm section and an invitation to dance, This sounds like so much fun and I'm doggone tempted to order one except with my old bladder I wonder about (ahem) leakage. well, there are always 'Depends' - Keep up the good work - it must be satisfying to feel your body responding.
Posted by: Cathy | 24 October 2006 at 04:05 AM