liveonearth | Entries tagged with core

I have just acquired a packraft. My first one. I’ve been lurking, curious about packrafts for years now, watching my friends, listening. I come at packrafting from a whitewater background. I’ve run rivers in every kind of craft. Kayaking and rowing remain my favorite ways to flow.

I see packrafting as a means to access rivers that require carrying my boat farther than I want to carry a hardshell. These days whitewater kayaks can easily weigh 50 pounds before I put float bags, a water bottle, a throwbag, hand paddles, first aid kit, and lunch in there. The packraft weighs 8 pounds, plus add in all that same stuff. Carrying my backpacking kit plus 14 pounds of boating gear is still going to be a load, but I am excited to do it. Nothing is more enticing than a new wilderness river.

I understand that lots of people come at packrafting from the opposite direction. It’s a forgiving craft in which to learn to paddle whitewater. More maneuverable than a raft, it gets you interacting with the river on that individual scale. For these folks it could easily be their favorite boat out of their whole quiver, because it offers the most independence.

The trap I see is the one I face. I have seen friends do it—transition to the packraft for self-support missions and then have a hard time getting back in the hardshell. For people who aren’t confident in their roll, or who flip over too much in a kayak, the papckraft is an obvious choice. You get to go on the river without such stress and worry.

The problem with removing that stress and worry is that it blunts your edge. Just as paddling a kayak with really good stability does. You stop sitting up and engaging your lower core, instead relying on the boat to provide balance. Eventually you merge with the blob that you are sitting on which might as well be a couch. Pass the popcorn.

My plan is to maintain my edge as long as possible. I paddle an edgy kayak that requires me to sit up and paddle actively. It flips me over really fast if I get lazy or inattentive. Thankfully my roll works, and this combat-roll practice is making it better. I’m not young, so the downslope is in sight, but for now I’m still getting better at kayaking.

I don’t intend to roll my packraft. I will try it, but not hard enough to hurt my shoulders. If I find it easy then I’ll do it, but no straining. I got a self bailer so I can just climb back in to self rescue. I’m hoping that with my whitewater skills I won’t flip over too much. We shall see if I fall into the packraft trap.

BE IMPECCABLE WITH YOUR WORD
Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

DON'T TAKE ANYTHING PERSONALLY
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering.

DON'T MAKE ASSUMPTIONS
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama.

ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.

It's an old western with Lee Marvin, really a wonderful movie about a cowboy who looses everything but maintains his center, his calm and his kindness. It seems to be about the end of the Wild West. There's a fantastic and long riding scene in which the cowboy named Monte "rides the grey down". Humorous too. I liked it. My mom complains that it was slow. She already deleted it from her direct tv.

When I have a morning at home alone I work on my lists and I fall into my practice more easily. The sun is streaming in and I am doing triage on piles of "urgent" items which have become buried under a stream of distractions and amusements like my nonstop study of public health. One observation this morning is that the strong balancing poses which I find so elusive when surrounded by empty air and other students are more accessible when I am alone in my office. Here I can step into a warrior 3 knowing that the sunny windowsill is right there to hold me up, and yet confidently not needing it. This strength and balance that I find in my own small office is something I would like to take with me into the world.

Suspecting
and knowing
are not
the same.

― Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief

The most basic part of rolling a kayak, the most important part, is being able to orient yourself to the boat before you start the motion. In whitewater the paddler can get pulled in any direction, and needs to be able to assume a protected, turtle-like tuck when they flip over. This forward tuck makes it possible to get your paddle situated parallel to the boat at the water line, for a proper roll. These days it is modern and cool to be able to roll from any position. Playboaters master the back deck roll because it is integral to the moves they do. For the regular whitewater kayaker, a regular forward tuck leading into a basic sweep or C to C roll is all you really need. Getting the offside is great, and then explore. First, get a good tuck and set up position, which requires hamstring flexibility to touch your toes and them some, and crunch strength to pull your body to the front deck no matter what the river wants to do to you. If you have that strength, you've no excuse, save the panic of being upside down underwater, which happens to almost all of us. Stop going for that rip cord, and TUCK. From there it will be much easier.

Paddling Fitness: Core and Hamstring

You have enemies?
Good.
That means you have stood up for something,
sometime in your life.
--Winston Churchill

Today you are you,
that is truer than true.
There is no one alive
who is youer than you.
--Dr Seuss

"The greater the struggle, the more glorious the triumph."
The Butterfly Circus
http://vimeo.com/17150524
22:35 long and well worth the time invested

My resolutions for last year included a renewed emphasis on always doing my best. That practice allows me to go easy on myself when my best isn't the greatest. I did well on this resolution, especially when I decided to put my energies into doing the research that will allow me to be a good doctor, instead of simply doing what it took to pass my program. I feel good about the work that I've done and I know it will put me in good stead in the future.

I also resolved to keep my vision on the horizon. I have been swayed a bit much by men who have crossed my path; it is my weakness. My longterm goals need to be present in my daily life, and I need some way to remind myself of them. I think I was too vague about exactly what I was going to do, which helped me to not do it.

So let it be also resolved that I will make a list of my 10 longterm goals along with a timeframe for completion, and see how that ends up matching with reality. Prediction is a whole different matter from simply reporting what is. Planning is what makes some people in great demand as project managers. I need to manage this project of my life a little more actively and see how it goes.

Mind you I have a longstanding practice of going with the flow. I recognize the hazard of trying to force things, and I know the beauty in letting the finest manifestations emerge out of not knowing. I would like to enter a state of being in which the flow moves my goals forward. In other words, this is a good time for setting intention.

I resolve to increase my core strength. On all levels. And maintain the increase.

It's due to inactivity. Stay active as you age, and you can maintain your muscle mass. My mom is proof that you can kick ass in your 70's. She's STRONG. And strength, especially in the core, is what gives us good balance. Anyway, at this link is Mercola's take and videos of his mother's weight lifting routine.

‎Spiritual Power
is available to everyone,
if you know how to use it.

--Martha Ward
(On the radio, after describing
what kind of advice
Marie Laveau would give
a New Orleans resident
when a hurricane was on the way...)

To be able to see into other people's worlds.
To not be able to not see into other people's worlds.
Is this a gift or a curse?
( my answer )

( ... )

What survivors do...dissociate from the body and withdraw into the head.

Cut off from the body, one doesn't feel vulnerable. By identifying the self with the ego, one also gains the illusion of power. Since the will is the instrument of the ego, one truly believes "where there's a will, there's a way" or "one can do whatever one wills." This is true as long as the body has the energy to support the ego's directive. But all the willpower in the world is no help to a person who lacks the energy to implement the will. Healthy individuals do not operate in terms of willpower except in an emergency. Normal actions are motivated by feelings rather than by the will. One doesn't need willpower to do what one wants to do. There is no need to use the will when one has a strong desire. Desire itself is an energetic charge which activates an impulse leading to actions that are free and generally fulfilling. An impulse is a flowing force from the core of the body to the surface, where it motivates the musculature for action. The will, on the other hand, is a driving force that stems from the ego--the head--to act counter to the body's natural impulses. Thus, when one is afraid, the natural impulse is to run away from the threatening situation. However this may not always be the best action. One cannot always escape a danger by running. Confronting the threat may be the wiser course, but this is difficult to do when one is frightened and there is an impulse to run. In such situations mobilizing the will to counter the fear is a positive action.
--Alexander Lowen, MD, in Joy; The Surrender to the Body and to Life, page 81-82.

In whatever tradition they occur, spiritual practices focuessed on an awareness of interbeing tend to have the intriguing psychological side effect of bringing significant earthly happiness to their most devoted practitioners, almost regardless of external circumstances.
--Martha Stout, Ph.D., in The Sociopath Next Door, p212-213.

We humans are not designed for the lives that we are living. We are designed to survive, a thousand or more years ago. Evolution is slow, and modernity is probably slowing it down or confusing it. What is the best way to survive in today's world? To be a soft sedentary thing that lives in your mind?
( caution: words )

I think one of the coolest things about yoga is that it shows you the strengths that you have. People think of it as a way to increase flexibility and strength, concentration and calmness. But my body continues to amaze me. It can do things I had no idea it could do. And at this age, starting this late, with these damages already done. It makes me think back to a time when humans were quadruped...how were we strong then? Could we run? Could we swing in trees from our arms? Part of the way we are built is still better for being quadruped than for sitting in computer chairs. Think of the way our discs compress in our backs. They wouldn't collapse on us and cause such trouble if we were better evolved to walk erect. But there are aspects of our construction that harken back to reptiles, the bones of the spine and the way the deep core muscles attach is just like that of a snake. And we can move like snakes, if we want to. If we're not frozen up yet. If we're willing to relax into what our bodies are naturally designed to do. The mind and spirit will follow. What kind of strength do you think it takes to sit erect (under the bodhi tree in Bodhgaya) for seven days and seven nights? Or was that a flood? Matters not. Seven seconds will ( do. )

Last night was the final rowing class and my energy was so low that I laid on my back on the concrete floor, waiting for class to begin. I knew from my bike ride to the boathouse that the wind was up on the river, and the instructor was saying just that. She had us work out for a half hour on the "ergs" while a couple people carried the remainder of the oars to the dock. She said that an "erg" is a measure of work. She told us to set the ergs on the lowest possible setting, but I was disobedient, because I am so strong that if I have it set on the lowest setting, there isn't enough resistance and my stroke suffers, my rhythm is lost. I cranked for about 15 minutes, getting my heart rate up and getting a good burn in my lower core.
( more )

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INTERESTING TIMES

are better than no times at all.

Entries tagged with core

The Packraft TRAP

The Four Agreements

Movie notes: Monte Walsh

Yoga at Home: Position of Power

QotD: Suspecting vs Knowing

Whitewater Kayaking: Getting Your Combat Roll

QotD: What you get when you stand up for something

QotD: You are YOU

We Need a Little Wonder

On last year's resolutions, and more about this year's

New Year's Resolution

Loss of Muscle with Age is not due to Age

QotD: Spiritual Power

Treat or Torture?

Melancholy Mourning

QotD: Dissociation

QotD: Interbeing

Elegant Evolution

Yoga

Last Rowing Class, and Vocabababble: Erg