WMR Pt.9: Exercise, Bring It Home

2023

Physical exercise gets increasingly important, yet as many of us age, we do it less. Recognizing this in myself, I have had to make intentioned resolutions to increase my physical activities. I love to sit and read, write, or meditate quietly. I have often in this life been way too comfortable to go about moving.

I once mentioned DF’s 100 year old mother giving me her Birthday advice. “Keep moving,” she told me. I have been attempting to build movement into my lifestyle. I replaced my couch with cushions on the floor to make me squat and stand up with more of an effort. I stopped getting off of the floor with the use of my hands. I stopped trying to place things around my home closer and more efficient, because time is now less valuable than movement, walking, bending over, lifting and carrying. All of this helps, but still, I can sit for hours absorbed into some intellectual fascination.

DF and I like hiking and dancing, which give excellent results while being fun. Camping is always a list of chores, from making shelter to making breakfast. Things just take longer. The gas stove must be set up, more than just twisting a dial. The dishes must be carried off to scrub and water hauled and then hung up. We have two comfortable chairs when car camping, but there is plenty of up and down when sleeping on the ground. The big bell tent is rigged intentionally with the seating on the floor. We get into plenty of squats. This was part of our plans during our White Mountain retreat, to live a more primitive and healthy lifestyle.

I needed rocks to hold a tarp down and a campfire. Instead of looking locally, I chose to walk clear to the end of the drive a few hundred feet away, where the road had disturbed the nature and tires have left errant rocks to dodge or bounce over. Two at a time, I carried them back, lifting them above my head, holding them out, or pressing them like weights as I walked. It was mindful and rewarding, not a burden. Extra effort, while inefficient, has rewards.

Working with wood has a certain primal appeal to me. Maybe it is innate; maybe the romanticism of being in some way manly, but it is certainly gratifying. DF offers to help, but I greedily refuse, to garner the most pleasure out of the woodcraft procedures.

I gather wood, pulling lengths from the forest. Sometimes I need a bow saw, sometimes an axe. I lift, pull and drag. Then it has to be shortened and sorted. Slitting wood with an axe is fun. There is a game of aiming, and the feel of the impact and then the penetration as the wood gives way. It amazes me how I can get satisfaction by simply doing a job well, one whack at a time. I often end up with too much wood. After coming back exhausted from a hike, I’ve found myself reinvigorated by processing wood.

All of these chores are taken on nude. I generally wear gloves and often shoes. There is more awareness required when natural. One must take care with a bundle of branches, a rock must be held just so, out from the chest, the surrounding brush must be taken into account. I am in touch with more than the flow of air and the temperatures. There is carefulness, but a nude body knows how to respond to the environment much differently than one bundled up in flannel and kaki. I pay attention and naturally find the wonder of it all. I escape my thoughts that distract from where I am at the moment.

Sitting, as I do for long periods, needs activity to counteract the inactivity and bad posture.

I read years ago about how our bodies are still transitioning from ape to upright. One book suggested that we are meant to hang, and climb. As a species it is still a survival adaptation. It is supposed to keep us alive; at least it did not very long ago. Pull ups are good they stretch and strengthen, but brachiating, the swinging, exercises those side muscles for the whole back support system. It also separates the vertebrate. The psoas and associated muscles are affected, as is the whole of the system. This action rarely gets used in modern life, yet has to do with prostate, hemorrhoids, hernias, but especially lower back and neck issues. Look it up. One of the only effective ways to exert those side muscles is to hang and swing monkey bar style.

As mentioned before, I struggle with the self-discipline and routine that gets these things done. I’m working out better each week, it is a process to change. When in the mountains, or on the trail, what’s a guy to do?  Well, find the right tree.

I take a pair of leather gloves with me. They can keep my hands warm, protect them, cushion during labor and also keep that harsh tree bark from cutting me. I find a branch and test it carefully in increments. I don’t want it to break. I hang, I swing and propel myself hand over hand.

I do pullups and work my upper body strength.

I get a reminder when I have failed to notice that I weigh a bit more. I feel the effect of the exertion quickly.

At first it was humiliating, when that first pull up, didn’t happen. At that time, I focused, mustered and put my complete self into it…and it still didn’t happen. I have had to begin where I am. I’d just hang there each day, until the strength arrived to do only one pull up. Part of the problem was a loss of muscle memory. A lot of bodily systems have to coordinate to lift a body up. I haven’t been a kid in a long long time, so care must be taken and memory revived. One day I’ll be at a loss and feeling weak and the next it just clicks.

I have been taking steps to bring these lessons to my home. Recently, I took some pieces and parts that I had stashed around and made a sort of monkey bars.

I’m getting better with it. Whenever I do any intentional exercise, I walk out there and swing.

In the morning, when I first get up, I like to spend some time being revived with the sun’s light and warmth. I like to walk in the garden, drink some water, pick at the garden and there are those bars waiting for me. If I take a break from study, the garden is pleasant and those swinging bars are waiting to get my blood running.   The same camping, somewhere near, a branch has been inspected, selected and is waiting.

I have a carpet strip outside, that I occasionally use barefoot all over to sprint on. It leads me onto the soil of the Gathering Circle.

There’s the big eucalyptus tree that we call,”Ida.” I can jog around it in a circle. The trails in the wild and in my yard are of varying textures, slopes and elevations. At home, I know them well. My bodily system responds to the familiar variety, unlike the redundant hard surface of the streets and sidewalks, which cover the Earth outside of my walls.

Here in Tucson, our sweat/sauna community burns cords of wood. I enjoy sorting, and hauling and stacking it out back.

Sometimes, I have to break out the splitter and mallet when pieces are too big. It is all natural movement.

Finnish studies have found that 90 seconds of cold plunge, or just 15 minutes of 170F plus in a sauna have the effect of a great deal of exercise. I have been observing my nude body’s reactions to various weather conditions. That which makes a chill, exercise can shake off. Then, there is the extreme heat in Arizona. Instead of insulating so much with clothing, I’ve found that a body will naturally adapt to a great deal when naked. What doesn’t kill you will make you stronger, they say. The body does get healthier and resistant to disease and decline, with the introduction of a dab of stress. I think a key aspect of health is considering its response to nature. As a piece of nature, a body innately knows how to respond in very complex natural ways.

Then, there is home life.

The construction and creative projects around the house that keeps a body moving, squatting, lifting, pushing, pulling, doing what it was made for.

I dug a garden, laid out a drip system and we planted.

Each morning it is a pleasure to pick the fruits and veggies, or the greens for a smoothie. There are always weeds to pull, or trim and eat daily.

I have been developing habits to set aside time for various exercises. I have been keeping record, to remind me, and save me from deluding myself of my actual progress; A journal’s pat on the shoulder helps me to feel good about what I’m working at, health.

I’m not yet exemplary. Breaking habits can be tough, though just trying to reach intended goals is moving and in a good direction.  I keep remembering, 100 years of wisdom boiled it down to, “Just keep movin’.”

Here’s to the resolutions. Happy New Year!

I am on the forum of FreeRangeNaturism.com often, if you would like to converse.

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