In case you’re interested in just what kind of exercise I really represent and I hope you are by now if you’ve been reading these blogs – I’m going to be more specific.
You already know that I believe exercise is a natural, daily, body instinct equal to eating and sleeping, for you to, (and you alone), take responsibility for and act on. It’s primal, and once you understand that, you don’t really need any external motivation from other people. All you need to do is satisfy that primal instinct. What I’m really saying is that you can make up your own daily exercise routine.
It’s sort of a yin-yang, natural balance thing; when you’re hungry you instinctively take in the food your body needs to supply the power needed to function. And at the end of the day when that balanced process has been completed, the body sends its signal that it’s time to sleep, and you do.
So where do I fit in to this process as an exercise teacher? The kind of exercise I teach is what you might see in a dance studio instead of a gym – slow, continuous stretching from the inside of the body, done to classical music. I learned the base of it from my training in classical dance.
The difference between me and the rest of the exercise personalities is that I’m coming from the world of the artist, which is open and creative. The exercise scientists are coming from a scientific base, which is more rule rigid and finite, without emotional interaction except the striving for enhanced athletic performance.
I don’t mean to steer you away from the sport conditioning of exercise science which is excellent training for competitive sport; I’m just trying to help the people who don’t relate to that exercise style. The artist (dancer) is in touch with the expression of the individual person within the body as opposed to the scientist who equates fitness to athletic sport proficiency.
I’m like the one who comes to an aged person with gait and balance problems and says, “Let’s sit down and listen to some Mozart and then I’ll take your hand and we’ll go for a walk while I teach you to relax and focus, and find your center balance,” rather than the physical therapist who would have the person do leg squats to strengthen the legs while he or she holds on to the back of a chair. Strong legs will not keep a person fom falling if there’s no sense of balance in the head and inner body.
My next blog will start a series of exercises you can do to get ready for summer and all the wonderful opportunities we have to indulge in recreational, outdoor exercise and sport. And there will be simple illustrations to show how to prepare.
