Egoscue and Starting Again

The menu I did this morning

A. You think I'm psycho because I keep starting and stopping Egoscue. 

B. You completely understand because you've been there too; life just gets so busy that Egoscue falls by the wayside. 

WELL, as of today, no more. The trick for me was to look at it as not something that I had to squeeze into my day quickly ("Ayayay do I really have to do 40 minutes of Egoscue before I sit at my desk in the morning? Where is the time?!"). Instead I said this to myself: "I want my body back. I want to be flexible again. I know I can get there. Every morning from 10:00-11:00 I am going to do Egoscue in a leisurely fashion, not rushing, and afterwards I will do some yoga or strength training to get strong again." 

You should see my little list I have taped onto the wood stove. It says this:

1 minute: goalie squats (going back and forth, knees bent, as if you were going to save a soccer goal)

30 seconds: squat thrusts

1 minute: jumping jacks

5 push-ups

10 leg lifts

You should see me huffing and puffing doing these things. But my plan is to do these daily so that they get easier and easier, at which point I will up the reps.

Not rushing = good.

Egoscue and Scoliosis

This is what my spine looked like pre-surgery

Here is an Egoscue Portland's blog post about scoliosis and Egoscue that is pretty amazing because it shows  the before and after pictures of a woman who did an Egoscue menu of ecises for an hour and a half. If I had known about this Method 20 years ago I might not have the steel rod that is fused to my spine right now!

The picture above is similar to the xrays that were taken of my spine before I had my spinal fusion in 1984. I had an 'S' curve of 51 degrees. The surgeon was able to straighten out the larger curve to about 12 degrees. Is my stiffness now due to the rod? I don't know. But I do know that Egoscue helps my body feel right again. Not stiff. Free. But only if I do the ecises.

This morning I did Static Back for five minutes, Airbench for two minutes, and the foot and heel circles for 40 reps. Bending over the sink afterwards to wash my face - again, a delight.

The Egoscue Book I Own

This is the book that I follow. A new copy is under ten dollars at Barnes & Noble. I highly recommend it if you want your body to feel better.

When you read it you'll understand how we've gotten into the mess that is our bodily alignment. One of the illustrations depicts figures sitting side by side. One is sitting upright, posturally aligned, and therefore 'functionally', while the other is slumped forward in her chair, a sad and dispirited lady (p. 177).

The book will make it clear, for example, how we could very easily be causing wrist pain if we sit all day with a head that's forward from the shoulders, which are forward from the hips. The tricky part  is actually doing the ecises that make your body feel much better. Here I am touting a book that has helped me so much and I still don't consistently do my half hour menu. Although I will happily say that I do manage about 4 ecises in a row right out of bed each day. It makes leaning over the sink to wash my face in the morning a delight.

Egoscue and Walking

Doesn't this invite you to a walk on the beach?

My Egsocue therapist advised me to do my ecises first, and then go out for a walk. Or play soccer. Or jump on the trampoline...with my body better aligned. I've been mixing and matching my menus along with the ones in Pain Free and whichever ones I do, the better my body feels. I don't have the patience to do all 10 of them in a row, so I do four here and three there and two over there most days.

This a.m. I did Wall Clock (yes my hips can still move forward in this one - a novel idea) for 1 minute in each of the three positions, Arm Circles (quick and easy), and the Tower for 20 minutes total, which I guess used to be called Supine Groin Stretch. But now look at me: bum near edge of chair, back of shoulders leaning on the back of the chair, hips woefully tipped backwards. If only I didn't have a day job and I could do Egoscue and movement all day long...I bet I would be feeling pretty good! Thankfully I have these ecises to do, every day, for my body to feel right again. The Tower occupies a very prominent position in my living room.

My Thoughts on Egoscue of Late

One of my Egoscue Menus

Here are my many thoughts on Egoscue:

1. I need to do it every day.

2. I woke up this morning, stiff. Did 3 Egsocue ecises and all stiffness left.

3. I love Egoscue.

4. I need to do it every day.

5. I wish my menu didn't take so long to do.

6. I don't understand how it works but it does.

For the past few months I'd been doing the neck exercises and more recently the ecises for the hips. I got these menus right out of the book, Pain Free. They work great. But I was sporadic in doing them and only did the ecises when I was feeling stiff and creaky (I sit all day for my job).

The hip menu includes the one that you can do on the Tower, which I love. Although I wish you could read a book when you're in Tower. I have been doing five minutes with the left leg on the top rung, five minutes with the left leg on a middle rung, then repeating with the right leg. I get up and I can walk around without feeling 80 years old. How does something so simple do that?!!?

This morning I dug up my old menus that Paul had written for me last year. There are three which he said to rotate. They take from 30-40 minutes. In my book, that's too long to be expected to do every day. Which is why I moved to the ecises menu in Pain Free - they're shorter. But I am going to return to doing Paul's, because they're personalized. I may leave out a couple though.

Have I said that I love the Tower?

Have Completed a Month of E-cises for my Neck....

and I love Egoscue!! It's been months since I've written, and in that time my neck got pretty stiff! I could lift my chin and turn my head to the left, but not to the right because it just wouldn't go there without pain. So for the past month, once or twice almost every day, I did the five Egoscue E-cises for the neck, and voila, you should see me move my neck now!

It still makes crackling noises, but I am not complaining.

I have moved on to the HIPS now. This is because for the past several months (yes folks I am aging - but not for long!) my left hip feels like it's turned out to the left and so when I bend over it feels weird. Plus my left foot has always been super everted (turned outward). So today was my second day on the hip e-cises. I am confident it will improve.

And by the way, I am just doing the "Pain Free" menus, straight from the book.

I just wish I could better explain to others why Egoscus is so necessary for so many of us. The best I can do is say: we are not aligned! Our ankles, knees, hips, shoulders and head are not stacked in a straight line as they should be.

More soon.