Greetings, fellow humans!
Do you love your car? Bluetooth, cruise control, automatic transmission, power windows, AC, keyless entry... My first car had none of these. Heck, it didn't even have a radio. And I LOVED that rusty old Datsun station wagon! It was the thrill of mobility. It was the wind in my hair, the pure joy of fast movement and the simple visceral pleasure of driving! Sure, it was about as pretty as a stretched out Ford Pinto and smelled a little funky (ok, sometimes a lot funky), but it was loads of fun.
I had a wonderful decade in Boulder, CO where I rarely used a car... I commuted mostly by bicycle. I would enjoy almost every ride (even in wet or cold weather) as I rode through the masses encased in their steel and glass capsules. Since moving back to North Carolina, I find that am part of the encased masses myself.
These days, I sometimes see someone in a roofless jeep or an open corvertible and have a little envy. The other day, I saw someone in a convertible on a beautiful sunny day with the roof and windows up. "What are they doing"? I briefly thought. -Then it occurred to me... "What am I doing"?
I promptly turned off my radio and rolled down all of my windows. (Something quite easily accomplished with the modern convenience of power windows.) Sure, there is no rag top, or even a sunroof in my car, but my work commute changed immediately:
There it was... The pure, simple joy of driving.
Thank you, random human encased in a closed-up convertible!
OK, now go outside and play! -Much love, Mo the human.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Agave Nectar: Not so good after all?
Greetings, fellow humans! Please forgive me for the long hiatus from blogging.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying a little bit of agave nectar will kill you... What I am saying is that if you avoid high fructose corn syrup you should be even more concerned about agave nectar.
If you're on any kind of "health kick" whether it be an attempt to lose body fat, fight diabetes, or just to feel great and live a long, happy life... You are probably trying to cut back on sugar consumption. Most folks who are paying any attention to what they eat are aware that sugar isn't good for you. You may even be aware of things like glycemic index and glycemic load.
In plain english, the higher a glycemic index, the quicker a particular food will raise your blood glucose aka "blood sugar" levels. In general, raising blood glucose levels quickly isn't really good for you. When this happens, your body must produce loads of insulin and quickly store the excess sugar as body fat. (The exception to this is for post-workout nutrition, which is a subject for another day.) This is just one of the many reasons modern wheat is so bad for human health, but for today, we'll stick to sweeteners.
Many look to agave nectar as a "healthy alternative". At first glance, this seems to be a great idea. Agave nectar is "low glycemic" which means it causes less of a blood sugar spike than other sweeteners like sugar, maple syrup, and honey. Thus, agave is touted as a great alternative sweetener for diabetics and anyone trying to avoid excess sugar. Alas, it seems agave is no better than High Fructose Corn Syrup and quite possibly even worse. How can this be?
This is because the sugar in agave nectar ranges from 57 percent to as much as 90 percent fructose!
Look Here for a list of the glycemic index of common sweeteners.
Look here for a more detailed look from way back in 2010. Or look here for Dr. Andrew Weil's take in 2012. However, we still see the stuff being sold as "health food".
Alas, sweet agave nectar… How we wanted to love you. You are still the dishonest darling of so many health-minded folks. Some vegans still love you as an alternative to honey. Sadly, it seems, like so many food stories we've been told… Your sweet promise turned out to be a lie.
In fact, this lie has been uncovered for quite some time.
From now on I think I'll call you "High Fructose Cactus Syrup".
OK… Now go outside and play!
Much love, Mo the human.
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Give in to spring fever! (if only a little)
It happens every year...
SPRING FEVER!!!
It's as if the virile, playful, wild animal within us is awakening from hibernation.
Color seeps from the tips of every grey branch on every grey tree. We see more skin as the people around us peel off their cozy winter layers. The smell of various blossoms explodes in the morning air. Depending on where we live, a gentle chorus of songbirds says good morning or perhaps a raging cacophony of birds fights for our ears. Warm sun bathes our skin. A gentle breeze carries with it more than just pollen, it carries a childish hope of things to come...
As responsible adults, we are dutifully working to accomplish all the tasks in our busy, scheduled lives. However, everything in nature is determined to undermine our narrowly defined "success".
In the brief moments where we walk from our house to the car, from our car to work, or into a store... Spring is teasing us. All of the beauty is begging us, perhaps even daring us to blow off work and go play.
I say do it. Give in to spring fever. Perhaps you cannot fully let go, but take in a few little bites of freedom.
Eat your lunch outside. Go barefoot, as you drive to work with the windows down. Take a few extra minutes to sit in the sun. Stop off and play outside on your way home from work. Go for a quick run in the woods, if only for 10 minutes. If you are lucky enough to be commuting by bicycle, take a scenic route, and enjoy a new path. If you have kids, go outside and play with them. Wade in a creek. Take your dog for a hike.
The animal within will thank you.
We don't have to completely destroy our busy schedule. However, by just allowing a little playtime, we can go on doing all the "to do's" and feel a little happier in the process. Who knows, we might even have some fun!
OK, now go outside and play!
-Much love, Mo the human.
Friday, February 21, 2014
Your most invisible ally
Sorry fellow humans, but I've been spending lots of time lately doing everything but blogging...
However, I invite you to enjoy a wonderful post from a fellow human that I have learned much from. If you don't yet know of Frank Forencich, now you do. Here's the link:
Your most invisible ally
OK... now go outside and play!
Much love, Mo the human.
However, I invite you to enjoy a wonderful post from a fellow human that I have learned much from. If you don't yet know of Frank Forencich, now you do. Here's the link:
Your most invisible ally
OK... now go outside and play!
Much love, Mo the human.
Thursday, January 9, 2014
What if "CARDIO" doesn't exist?
Greetings, fellow humans!
I'm now ready to put "cardio" in the same bin with "heart healthy whole grains" "artery clogging saturated fat" and "a good supportive shoe".
Don't get me wrong, fellow humans... I love to move!
(August 2014 update... I am now available as a personal trainer at Synchronicity Wellness Hooray!)
Vigorous physical movement is vital to my physical and mental health. Hiking, biking, trail running, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu... Numerous things that I have LOVED throughout the years could easily be considered "cardio" by most people.
If you love exercise bikes, treadmills, ellipticals, etc... Have fun! I'm not suggesting anyone stop doing any of that stuff. However, I now have pretty good reason to believe the term "cardiovascular fitness" is a cultural misunderstanding of biology.
Please allow me to give a "plain English" explanation:
About 10 or more years ago, my wife and I were a walking stereotype of Boulder, CO:
Essentially, you could have pulled us off a "GREETINGS FROM BOULDER!" postcard.
One day, we ran into my friend "Bob" (not his real name) who we hadn't seen in a few years. He invited us to join him and a group to hike three "14ers" in one day. (To those who don't live in the Rockies, this means we would be hiking up and down three 14,000+ foot tall mountains in one day.) This is the kind of thing Boulderites do for fun, I swear!
A few days later, we meet up early in the morning at Bob's place. That's when my wife and I realized we had accidentally found ourselves surrounded by another Boulder stereotype: the Uber-Athletes! You know, The folks who train with heart rate monitors, have clothing and footwear sponsors, test out fancy new fabrics and gadgets for companies, model for fitness photo shoots... Yeah, like that. During the early-morning-coffee-in-the-kitchen conversation, we discovered a key factor we hadn't considered... Bob is now a competitive marathon runner. Actually, to our surprise, so is everyone else going on this hike except for the two of us!
But wait, it get's better...
"We've got a race coming up," one of these uber-athletes casually mentions, "and we'd kinda like to use today as a training day. So.... hopefully, you two don't mind if we keep a pretty good pace?" She says with smile.
My sweet wife and I looked at each other with thinly veiled dread and agreed that we'd try to keep up with these kind and friendly folks... And then we got to the trail:
These "cardio kings" (and queens) couldn't keep up with us! "Oh, that's right," We thought, "These people are pros! They're pacing themselves. We know nothing about pacing. We better slow down, or they're going to just blow past us at some point."
So, we slowed down to the pace of the pros... And our dog started going nuts. He wanted to go normal pace... He wanted to GO!
"OK then", we figured, "We'll go our normal speed, and they'll pass us when they pass us."
They never passed us.
We sat at the top of the first 14 thousand-and-some-odd-hundred-foot-tall mountain and ate our lunch, then packed away lunch, waiting for these super-fit freaks (actually, very nice people) to catch up.
Finally they did catch up... IN PAIN.
Not only were they as confused as we were, but they appeared to be hurting themselves trying to catch us! The rest of the day went just like this. These folks could NOT keep up with us!
For about a decade, my wife and I racked our brains and could not figure this out! I'm guessing the marathoners are still baffled by that "mystery hike" day.
Then I read the book "Body By Science" by Doug McGuff, MD and John Little...
This book changed my perception of exercise immensely. Among other things, it explains where the myth of "Cardiovascular Fitness" came from! Apparently, it was invented by a doctor who worked for the US Air Force. It went kinda like this... Allow me to grossly oversimplify:
We are all familiar with the "Cardiac Stress Test", right? You know, a person is running on a treadmill while hooked up to wires that measure heart rate, breathing into a snorkel to measure their breathing.
Our good doctor would have a soldier doing such a thing.
"Cardiovascular Fitness" is born! We all now accept that the heart and lungs are now more efficient at transporting oxygen to the body.
Hence, we dutifully "break a sweat" every day, getting our heart rate up for at least 30-45 minutes... Right? With me so far? OK.
So, what most of us DON'T realize is that this good doctor took his research a bit farther. He'd take the person who (after "cardio conditioning") did very well on the treadmill, and put them on a stationary bike. Guess what?- The heart rate and breathing went through the roof! He could put this supposedly "fit" individual on a stair-stepper/ elliptical machine/ nordic track... Heck even if he let this test subject run outside and his heart rate would go up!
Wait a minute... If the heart and lungs are more efficient, why are they only good at the treadmill?
It took years (and more sophisticated technology) to figure it out. However, we now know that the majority of change that happened from running on a treadmill was NOT in the heart and lungs. It was in the muscles!
By running at a specific speed, on this specific machine, he trained specific fibers of specific muscles to efficiently perform the very specific task of running on a treadmill... Thus reducing the amount of work his heart and lungs had to do... While performing that specific task.
So... Going back to the "mystery hike": By hiking on the steep, rocky trails around town a few times per week, my wife and I had unintentionally, and unknowingly conditioned our muscles to efficiently walk up and down steep rocky trails... Thus creating the illusion of superior "cardiovascular fitness" while performing that specific task! AND... I have very little doubt: If she and I had joined that group of runners on a run that day (instead of a hike) we would have had the worst day EVER... And they would have appeared to have amazingly superior "cardiovascular fitness"! While indeed we just had different types of "myovascular fitness"!
This starts to go into the explanation of the physiological advantages of strength training, HIT, crossfit, and cross-training, but we'll talk about that another day.
If you'd like to spend an hour learning a LOT about HIT, watch this talk by Dr. McGuff.
OK... Now go outside and play!
Much love, Mo the human.
I'm now ready to put "cardio" in the same bin with "heart healthy whole grains" "artery clogging saturated fat" and "a good supportive shoe".
Don't get me wrong, fellow humans... I love to move!
(August 2014 update... I am now available as a personal trainer at Synchronicity Wellness Hooray!)
Vigorous physical movement is vital to my physical and mental health. Hiking, biking, trail running, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu... Numerous things that I have LOVED throughout the years could easily be considered "cardio" by most people.
If you love exercise bikes, treadmills, ellipticals, etc... Have fun! I'm not suggesting anyone stop doing any of that stuff. However, I now have pretty good reason to believe the term "cardiovascular fitness" is a cultural misunderstanding of biology.
Please allow me to give a "plain English" explanation:
About 10 or more years ago, my wife and I were a walking stereotype of Boulder, CO:
- We were young(ish), slightly tan, and relatively fit.
- She was a full time yoga teacher, and I was a full time massage therapist.
- We had the typical medium-sized athletic dog that we would take for hikes on the steep trails near town a few times a week.
- We rode our cruiser bikes downtown to have sushi with our insanely beautiful friends.
Essentially, you could have pulled us off a "GREETINGS FROM BOULDER!" postcard.
One day, we ran into my friend "Bob" (not his real name) who we hadn't seen in a few years. He invited us to join him and a group to hike three "14ers" in one day. (To those who don't live in the Rockies, this means we would be hiking up and down three 14,000+ foot tall mountains in one day.) This is the kind of thing Boulderites do for fun, I swear!
A few days later, we meet up early in the morning at Bob's place. That's when my wife and I realized we had accidentally found ourselves surrounded by another Boulder stereotype: the Uber-Athletes! You know, The folks who train with heart rate monitors, have clothing and footwear sponsors, test out fancy new fabrics and gadgets for companies, model for fitness photo shoots... Yeah, like that. During the early-morning-coffee-in-the-kitchen conversation, we discovered a key factor we hadn't considered... Bob is now a competitive marathon runner. Actually, to our surprise, so is everyone else going on this hike except for the two of us!
But wait, it get's better...
"We've got a race coming up," one of these uber-athletes casually mentions, "and we'd kinda like to use today as a training day. So.... hopefully, you two don't mind if we keep a pretty good pace?" She says with smile.
My sweet wife and I looked at each other with thinly veiled dread and agreed that we'd try to keep up with these kind and friendly folks... And then we got to the trail:
These "cardio kings" (and queens) couldn't keep up with us! "Oh, that's right," We thought, "These people are pros! They're pacing themselves. We know nothing about pacing. We better slow down, or they're going to just blow past us at some point."
So, we slowed down to the pace of the pros... And our dog started going nuts. He wanted to go normal pace... He wanted to GO!
"OK then", we figured, "We'll go our normal speed, and they'll pass us when they pass us."
They never passed us.
We sat at the top of the first 14 thousand-and-some-odd-hundred-foot-tall mountain and ate our lunch, then packed away lunch, waiting for these super-fit freaks (actually, very nice people) to catch up.
Finally they did catch up... IN PAIN.
Not only were they as confused as we were, but they appeared to be hurting themselves trying to catch us! The rest of the day went just like this. These folks could NOT keep up with us!
For about a decade, my wife and I racked our brains and could not figure this out! I'm guessing the marathoners are still baffled by that "mystery hike" day.
Then I read the book "Body By Science" by Doug McGuff, MD and John Little...
This book changed my perception of exercise immensely. Among other things, it explains where the myth of "Cardiovascular Fitness" came from! Apparently, it was invented by a doctor who worked for the US Air Force. It went kinda like this... Allow me to grossly oversimplify:
We are all familiar with the "Cardiac Stress Test", right? You know, a person is running on a treadmill while hooked up to wires that measure heart rate, breathing into a snorkel to measure their breathing.
Our good doctor would have a soldier doing such a thing.
- Day 1: Heart rate and breathing go WAY up.
- Train the same soldier on the same treadmill for an hour a day
- Day 30: Same soldier, same speed, same treadmill: Heart rate and breathing are now much slower.
"Cardiovascular Fitness" is born! We all now accept that the heart and lungs are now more efficient at transporting oxygen to the body.
Hence, we dutifully "break a sweat" every day, getting our heart rate up for at least 30-45 minutes... Right? With me so far? OK.
So, what most of us DON'T realize is that this good doctor took his research a bit farther. He'd take the person who (after "cardio conditioning") did very well on the treadmill, and put them on a stationary bike. Guess what?- The heart rate and breathing went through the roof! He could put this supposedly "fit" individual on a stair-stepper/ elliptical machine/ nordic track... Heck even if he let this test subject run outside and his heart rate would go up!
Wait a minute... If the heart and lungs are more efficient, why are they only good at the treadmill?
It took years (and more sophisticated technology) to figure it out. However, we now know that the majority of change that happened from running on a treadmill was NOT in the heart and lungs. It was in the muscles!
By running at a specific speed, on this specific machine, he trained specific fibers of specific muscles to efficiently perform the very specific task of running on a treadmill... Thus reducing the amount of work his heart and lungs had to do... While performing that specific task.
So... Going back to the "mystery hike": By hiking on the steep, rocky trails around town a few times per week, my wife and I had unintentionally, and unknowingly conditioned our muscles to efficiently walk up and down steep rocky trails... Thus creating the illusion of superior "cardiovascular fitness" while performing that specific task! AND... I have very little doubt: If she and I had joined that group of runners on a run that day (instead of a hike) we would have had the worst day EVER... And they would have appeared to have amazingly superior "cardiovascular fitness"! While indeed we just had different types of "myovascular fitness"!
This starts to go into the explanation of the physiological advantages of strength training, HIT, crossfit, and cross-training, but we'll talk about that another day.
If you'd like to spend an hour learning a LOT about HIT, watch this talk by Dr. McGuff.
OK... Now go outside and play!
Much love, Mo the human.
Monday, December 16, 2013
Pork Rinds and Cider... "loose paleo" to the rescue!
If you are a paleo purist, please skip the rest of this post, as I will surely offend someone.
Recently I met a really cool woman who told me that her good friends were having amazing success eating paleo. She was "trying to do paleo", but had trouble with two key weaknesses: Cheez-its and beer.
What immediately came to mind is how I have managed to find "paleo-esque" substitutes for those kind of things in my life.
"Pork Rinds and Cider." I quickly replied.
She was thrilled. Her face lit up... "Wow, what a great idea!"
It then occurred to me how seamless my transition into paleo eating has been. I live in "Beer City, USA" and haven't had a beer in over a year. When my kids want pizza, my wife or myself can quickly whip up a "Chebe crust" pizza that would make anyone swear it was "real" pizza. (Admittedly, not the BEST crust from NYC, but still pretty darn good.)
Personally, I still prefer the "Meat and Veggies, some fruits and nuts." approach most of the time, but for some folks a little "loose paleo" can make a big difference.
Especially if we are living a crazy busy life (more on that later...) and/or have kids, it can be easy for many paleo folks to "fall off the paleo wagon" or to tell ourselves we can't do this paleo thing. For me, it's really not an issue. I truly love the food I eat, and am so thrilled with how good I feel on a daily basis.
When others are eating crispy crunchy stuff and I'm wanting some chips, I find pork rinds are convenient, delicious, and crunchy. Yes, I know they're from industrial hog farms, but these are an occasional indulgence, not a staple of my diet. Would you rather I eat canola-fried GMO corn? I'll take my chicharrones, thanks.
I loved beer for years. I really don't find that I miss it now. When I want a fizzy-boozy thing, hard cider is a nice option. (or a Nor-Cal margarita in the summer sometimes.) I've found that alcohol in general is just playing a much smaller role in my life these days. Just as often, my cold and fizzy choice is just seltzer.
Chebe fills the "bread void" when needed for my kids. Yes, it's a load of starch, but I make it with a good dose of fat and eggs. Chebe www.chebe.com can be found in Ingle's markets (in Asheville area) or at Whole Foods stores (for a considerably higher price!) Are any of these things health food? Not really. However, they are relatively harmless when compared to what they replace. I think there is a delicious balance between a happy and quite healthy person and someone suffering through a self-imposed prison sentence.
Willpower is HIGHLY over rated, By the way... That's why I refuse to rely on it! I really have no discipline, and no willpower. Instead, I remind myself of all the awesome things I CAN have now:
OK, now go outside and play!
Love, Mo the human
Recently I met a really cool woman who told me that her good friends were having amazing success eating paleo. She was "trying to do paleo", but had trouble with two key weaknesses: Cheez-its and beer.
What immediately came to mind is how I have managed to find "paleo-esque" substitutes for those kind of things in my life.
"Pork Rinds and Cider." I quickly replied.
She was thrilled. Her face lit up... "Wow, what a great idea!"
It then occurred to me how seamless my transition into paleo eating has been. I live in "Beer City, USA" and haven't had a beer in over a year. When my kids want pizza, my wife or myself can quickly whip up a "Chebe crust" pizza that would make anyone swear it was "real" pizza. (Admittedly, not the BEST crust from NYC, but still pretty darn good.)
Personally, I still prefer the "Meat and Veggies, some fruits and nuts." approach most of the time, but for some folks a little "loose paleo" can make a big difference.
Especially if we are living a crazy busy life (more on that later...) and/or have kids, it can be easy for many paleo folks to "fall off the paleo wagon" or to tell ourselves we can't do this paleo thing. For me, it's really not an issue. I truly love the food I eat, and am so thrilled with how good I feel on a daily basis.
When others are eating crispy crunchy stuff and I'm wanting some chips, I find pork rinds are convenient, delicious, and crunchy. Yes, I know they're from industrial hog farms, but these are an occasional indulgence, not a staple of my diet. Would you rather I eat canola-fried GMO corn? I'll take my chicharrones, thanks.
I loved beer for years. I really don't find that I miss it now. When I want a fizzy-boozy thing, hard cider is a nice option. (or a Nor-Cal margarita in the summer sometimes.) I've found that alcohol in general is just playing a much smaller role in my life these days. Just as often, my cold and fizzy choice is just seltzer.
Chebe fills the "bread void" when needed for my kids. Yes, it's a load of starch, but I make it with a good dose of fat and eggs. Chebe www.chebe.com can be found in Ingle's markets (in Asheville area) or at Whole Foods stores (for a considerably higher price!) Are any of these things health food? Not really. However, they are relatively harmless when compared to what they replace. I think there is a delicious balance between a happy and quite healthy person and someone suffering through a self-imposed prison sentence.
Willpower is HIGHLY over rated, By the way... That's why I refuse to rely on it! I really have no discipline, and no willpower. Instead, I remind myself of all the awesome things I CAN have now:
- a pain-free body
- youthful, exuberant energy
- clear skin
- no -ahem... "digestion issues"
- better physical fitness in middle age than ever before in my entire life
- I truly enjoy every meal!
OK, now go outside and play!
Love, Mo the human
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Grace in every step: Regaining our natural human gait
Disclaimer:
As with everything on this blog, I am not telling anyone else what to do. I'm merely sharing my own experiences in exploration of human health. Think. Learn. Be your own teacher.
If you live in the Asheville area, you are lucky for a wide variety of reasons. One of them is that Synchronicity Wellness has gotten in the habit of hosting monthly "Paleo Potlucks" which are announced on the "Paleo Asheville" facebook page. At these events, I've met some wonderful people and had some truly amazing food. No wonder some folks call paleo eating "the foodie's diet"!
I have also greatly enjoyed the various talks given at these potlucks. Each speaker has brought to the group a whole new perspective on a different subject. It's really cool to see how this "paleo thing" is encompassing so much more that just the classic diet and exercise stuff!
In October I got to give a talk at one of the potlucks regarding natural human gait.
The "lecture" is about 12 minutes, followed by a lengthy and somewhat funny Q&A/ discussion.
To watch the video click here:
If you watch, please let me know what you think.
If you'd like some additional resources, including loads of shoe options that I consider healthy for our feet and Books for runners... Click here:
A simple exercise I have used with considerable success to regain a gentle, natural human stride is what I like to call...
OK, now go outside and play!
Much love, -Mo the human
As with everything on this blog, I am not telling anyone else what to do. I'm merely sharing my own experiences in exploration of human health. Think. Learn. Be your own teacher.
If you live in the Asheville area, you are lucky for a wide variety of reasons. One of them is that Synchronicity Wellness has gotten in the habit of hosting monthly "Paleo Potlucks" which are announced on the "Paleo Asheville" facebook page. At these events, I've met some wonderful people and had some truly amazing food. No wonder some folks call paleo eating "the foodie's diet"!
I have also greatly enjoyed the various talks given at these potlucks. Each speaker has brought to the group a whole new perspective on a different subject. It's really cool to see how this "paleo thing" is encompassing so much more that just the classic diet and exercise stuff!
In October I got to give a talk at one of the potlucks regarding natural human gait.
The "lecture" is about 12 minutes, followed by a lengthy and somewhat funny Q&A/ discussion.
To watch the video click here:
If you watch, please let me know what you think.
If you'd like some additional resources, including loads of shoe options that I consider healthy for our feet and Books for runners... Click here:
A simple exercise I have used with considerable success to regain a gentle, natural human stride is what I like to call...
The “Sobriety Test” Exercise:
Teaching Your Brain to See with Your Feet
by Mo Goldstein, happy human
Expect this to be a joyful, but possibly very slow process. Different people learn at different speeds. Approach this as if you are gardening. You cannot force a plant to bloom. As such, do not force your feet or brain to adapt too quickly. Let this be a short time you take every morning to experience the sensation you brain has been hungry for since childhood.
1. Start completely barefoot on a flat, hard, smooth surface such as a wood or stone floor.
2. Stand for a moment and gently shift your weight from foot to foot without lifting either foot off the ground.
3. While looking forward (not down) with a soft gaze, begin lifting each foot very slightly, then gently placing it onto the ground as you lift the other foot.
4. Gently place one foot just barely in front of the other foot, then WAIT for the front foot to “invite” your weight onto it. This will involve some gentle contraction of the Gluteal and hamstring muscles in the back leg.
5. As you shift your weight to the forward foot, gently lift the back foot without “pushing off”.
6. Repeat at a slow, gentle pace. If you are “thumping”, slow down.
7. Try the same movement walking backwards. Notice the sensations in your feet.
After some time, you may wish to experiment with some different textures: rough surfaced concrete, dirt, etc… eventually even gravel. Do not rush this. With patience you can avoid possible injury as you slowly regain a very gentle and joyful gait. In time the muscles, tendons, and bones of the feet will become stronger as your brain-foot connection becomes “smarter”.
OK, now go outside and play!
Much love, -Mo the human
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