Lisa's Deep Thoughts

Hi. I've been told I'm not blogging enough. I AM SORRY! Sometimes it feels as if all my time gets sucked into a black hole. It certainly hasn't been used cleaning my desk. I had my list of 34 things to do to day -- lots of mini projects. Today was the only day all week where I had several hours to get things done. I thought I'd make the list and do a few things, then get to the "real" work. Guess what? You probably guessed. I only got to about 20 minutes worth of "real" work before school pick-up.

It was a beautiful day. Somehow I thought get a bunch of the aforementioned things out of the way and head off for a swim at the JCC or to the beach, and still have time to get to Aaron's teacher conference. Hmmm. I stood outside for about a minute. I brought in the mail, I think. OH, no, wait, that's the mail truck pulling up now -- hold on--

Okay, now I brought in the mail.

I read part of the New York Times while drinking Numi chai tea, looked at a graphic of California falling into the sea and dragging the rest of the country with it. I didn't know that we (California) have the lowest credit rating in the nation. Yikes!

I've been having a lot of deep thoughts lately. But when I go to the computer they flee and I'm left staring at a blank screen.

I've been taking a 6-week posture class with Esther Gokhale. Her book Eight Steps to a Pain-Free Back is pretty darned compelling. I've looked at the photographs on her walls for years and it's giving me a completely different perspective on posture in our culture and other cultures. So much to relearn! She teaches posture secrets from traditional societies, including our own pre-1920's, and babies. Yes, babies. Apparently we are born doing the right thing but lose it along the way because everybody's slouching here. This is no sitting-up straight manual, though. You have to see it. The pictures say it all I'm still a newbie and getting used to it -- lots of years of incorrect posture plus back and knee and now shoulder problems -- to overcome. But I feel the difference already. The coolest part is what I've never heard talked about before -- it all starts in how you orient your pelvis. Apparently the tuck your pelvis to avoid back sway is all wrong! The evidence isn't so much convincing as it is obvious once you look at diagrams of the spine and discs. When you tuck your pelvis you're not resting on the base of the spine. It's been a century of bad posture and back problems. In traditional societies, even older people are free of back pain and disc problems, where here about 90% of us end up with some kind of back pain. Crazy, crazy, crazy.

So, I'll try for some deep thoughts next time.

Happy Memorial Day.