Drumming and Pinning

Have to keep drumming...

Like/Love

If you like Econesting, you’ll just love the Econesting Facebook page. Where else would you find repurposed drums made from wine barrels?

...and no, I did not contribute to emptying those drums (...maybe just a sip)

You'd rather tweet? Head over to the Econesting Twitter page @econester and say hi.

Pinning

Have you also discovered my latest obsession? Pinterest!!! I just started a page (will get the button up here soon)...the photos are dreamy. I'm pinning absolutley incredible images on my Pinterest page. Prepare to be hooked.

It would be so nice if you would like/love Econesting on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Almost forgot to mention that signing up for Econesting's RSS Feed/Newsletter is the best way to get Econesting posts delivered right to your Inbox. Yay! Go to the right side of this page and enter your email address.

Inspiring posts are updated daily by me. And just in case you're thinking that this is just one big shameless plug...well, ok...BUT I do not make money from Econesting. I don't sell anything here. It is my pleasure connecting to a community of eco-lovin' friends. Please keep in touch! xoRonnie

Photo: from Facebook

Stay Fit (video)

In my last post, I rode the New York Times yoga wave, which is now drowned out by opposing sides duking it out. Of course, I'm not anti-yoga. As my kids can attest to when we were skiing a few weeks ago, I'm just a lot more cautious with my body as I get older.

Did you know I won a Nastar ski race the year I turned 50? It was my first (and only) official wind in your face, slippery, downhill ski race. At the time, I was in pretty good physical shape. I won a gold medal and never had to don any spandex. Yay!

Fessing up...a friend told me there were no women over 50 that had entered the race that day and I would get a huge handicap if I signed up. I've never been so scared in my life. But I did finish the race (without falling and killing myself), and I cherish my little gold pin.

I thought I would never be in racing shape (ha!) again until I saw this video on the Lines Of Beauty blog. The video of a 95 year old ballet dancer, shot on Fire Island, captures the secret and beauty of staying fit.

My friend Maia from julia warr on Vimeo.

Photo: Vintage Ski Poster

Why I Don’t Do Yoga Anymore (video)

I used to love yoga. Did it all the time…almost everyday. Now I do bodywork, cialis and believe me, view my body needs it. Why? Because I used to do yoga.

Bad Back

A few years ago, I developed a twinge in my back. The twinge turned into a sharp pain deep in my left side that radiated down my left leg. It felt like I had a basketball with a knife blade lodged into it sitting next to my hipbone. Then my left foot went numb. I knew this was a bad sign. I went to my gynecologist thinking I was a goner. My gyno, Dean is a friend, and I always go to him first if I think I’m dying. I wouldn’t want a stranger delivering the bad news. Anyway, Dean sent me straight to the hospital for a whole shebang of tests (MRI’s, CAT scans, blood tests etc.) I wasn’t going to die. Whew. Instead, I was going to be in the worst pain of my life. I had a herniated disk sitting on a nerve in my back…!@#$}(%^&*){

I could not walk, lie down, sleep or live. But I was determined not to have back surgery. I heard too many horror stories about back surgeries gone wrong. Nightmarish dreams invaded the little sleep I managed to get. So, I downed the drugs the doc prescribed. I don’t like drugs and these were bad drugs. Really bad drugs. Finally, the only thing that helped was a spinal injection that alleviated the inflammation. I know, TMI. But I wanted to give you a context of why I don’t do yoga anymore.

Yoga Done Wrong

I was reminded of this dreadful health experience when I read the New York Times article last week, How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body. Like the Times author, William J. Broad, I believed, “yoga was a source only of healing and never harm.” The yoga teacher Broad interviewed for the article, Glenn Black claims that “the vast majority of people should give up yoga altogether. It’s simply too likely to cause harm.”

According to Black, those of us who sit in chairs all day strain ourselves when we try to be like the yoga Indian practitioners who typically squat and sit cross-legged in their daily lives. The yoga poses, or asanas, are an outgrowth of these types of sitting postures. Not the sitting in chairs in front of the computer type of postures.

When yoga teachers come to Black for bodywork after suffering major traumas, he tells them, “Don’t do yoga.”

The article is truly fascinating. It includes supporting medical evidence and bad, bad stories like mine.

Yoga Done Right

This was just my little story of why I don’t take yoga classes anymore. I do a few yoga postures with the guidance of a highly trained bodywork teacher.

So, let me be clear, I’m not advocating not doing yoga if it makes your body and heart sing, especially if you can do this…

http://youtu.be/loszrEZvS_k

Credits: Thank you, Liza Donnelly for the cartoon from When Do They Serve The Wine?, Elaine Colandrea for Moving For Health, and Jordyn Cormier for the video inspiration.

New Year Wishes

Photo used with permission: Juliet R. Harrison Photography, viagra ed design: Lainey Fink

No Resolutions

As we flip the calendar page to a new year, it’s nice to mark its beginnings in a meaningful way. Each time I sit down to write a New Year’s post, I bump up against what I am beginning to consider a highly overused word, Resolutions. Believe me, I’ve used and abused the “r” word, and its derivative, resolve, many times. In my mind, committing to resolutions seems…well, so 2011ish.

What’s the issue with resolutions? For one, I poked around and have not found any insightful end of the year round-up type articles about whether or not we fulfilled our resolutions from last year.

New Old Resolutions

I did find a lot of lists. This list from Earthshare includes simple rrrrresolutions (see, it’s not even rolling off my tongue comfortably).

Resolve to eat healthier. Resolve to lose weight and get in shape. Resolve to spend more quality time with my family and loved ones. Resolve to manage my money and spend less. Resolve to give back.

Don’t you think those were some nice New Year resolutions for our pristine new year? I do, but they leave me asking…

Who holds whom accountable for resolutions?

I guess it is the person making the resolutions. That seems like a set up…for failure.

Old New Rulin’s

The second list comes from Woody Guthrie. Yes, you read that right. This land is your land, this land is my land, and this land was made for making rulin’s (as Woody calls ‘em). In 1942, Woody Guthrie penned this list (click here to view list larger):

Wake Up And Fight

To me, Woody’s rulin’s are not resolutions. They are intentions. Number 33: Wake Up And Fight seems like it could have been written today about so many burning issues. The 99%ers are waking up the masses to inequalities in our social financial system. And many of us are waking up to climate change, food safety issues, how we educate our children and how best to protect our environment against polluters.

So, I’m turning away from resolutions that are made and broken, and moving on to intentions that are positive and hopeful. As new agey as this may seem, an intention embodies a feeling of noticing a new purpose. My hope is that my finest intentions will continue to lead to action.

I hold no ill will towards those who make remarkable resolutions. I’m all for a demarcation and promise of a fabulous year ahead with its vast amount of newness and wonder. I’m just dropping the “r” word from my New Year's vocabulary, and diving into 2012 with intention...and maybe a few rulin's.

Where will the new year lead you?

Photo Credits: ffffound, Boing Boing