Every morning I have to take the Light Rail from Penn Station to get to school, and every morning I need to buy tickets for it. But first I need to stop and get myself coffee so that I can stay awake for class. So I go to Dunkin Donuts, grab breakfast and coffee, then proceed down the steps to purchase my tickets.
I buy two tickets at a time so that I have another one ready for the return trip. I use money that I take out each morning from my coin jar. I take that $1.40 in coins and stick them in the front right pocket of my jeans. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate digging around in my bag for my wallet, so I keep that money ready for a quick transaction.
I get to the machine, coffee in hand, and start tapping on the touch screen. Easy enough. But here's the hard part: I now need to get that $1.40 in coins out of my pocket and into the machine. You're probably wondering why I'm making a big deal out of something so simple, right?
Here's how this tends to go. I can easily pull the money out of my pocket. Now I have $1.40 in coins sitting in the palm of my hand. However, I don't have the dexterity to move the coins in such a way that I can accurately get them into the coin slot. So now I need to decide whether or not I want to take the risk of dropping all of the coins on the floor by trying to do this one-handed and fling the coins into the slot, or if I want to try to balance my coffee in between my arm and body to try and make use of both hands. You might be thinking, "Hey stupid, just put the coffee on the floor." I agree that sounds logical, but you're talking to someone that has a vendetta against all germ-y things. And let's face it, train stations and the like are germ-y places.
On especially stiff mornings, I don't attempt the one-handed technique. Instead I will use my right hand to grab the coins, place them in the palm of my left hand, and pick each coin up one by one.
And don't even get me started about what I have to do when dollar bills are involved in this process.
I envy all of you out there who don't need to put any thought into this. The movement just feels too awkward for me. I'm thinking that maybe I need to start buying enough tickets on Monday to last for the entire week, but then I also have to worry about not losing them. Maybe I need some hand yoga. That exists, right?
Showing posts with label flexibility. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flexibility. Show all posts
Monday, September 30, 2013
Friday, September 27, 2013
Yoga No-Go
Yoga is supposedly good for RA sufferers. That's what all of the RA forums, and my weekly WebMD newsletter, told me anyway. "Do yoga, stretch out those joints!" they said, albeit more eloquently. Supposedly I'd feel more relaxed, which would cut down the pain and make me more flexible.
As someone who favors holistic healing over conventional medicine, I try to look for more natural modes of healing myself, though that doesn't mean that I'd ever just stop taking my medication. I had done yoga as a preteen, and I remember enjoying it. I've continued the meditation aspect ever since, but not the "workout" portion. Anyway, the one yoga instructional video that I did own was on VHS. Yeah, that didn't help the cause. Hey, at least I owned a yoga mat.
I did what I thought would be a quick search on amazon. As of the writing of this post, there were 8,055 hits for "Yoga DVD." This was proving difficult. Still, knowing that I am too poor to afford classes, I persevered. My mother knew I was on a yoga quest too, and the other day she came home from Walmart with a yoga block and DVD in hand. Yes! This could work.
And so I popped the DVD into my computer. I sat down on the mat and waited for relaxation and feel-good stretching to start. There was no feel-good stretching.
Instead, I found myself struggling over the most simple positions. I realized that sitting with my legs crossed is an almost impossible task. My knees definitely did not want to bend that way. Switching from a seated position to a standing one, then back down to a kneeling one? Ha. I can only imagine what I would have looked like to a spectator. I'm so glad I picked a time when the house was empty to try this. I found myself constantly pausing the video just so I had enough time to pull myself up into a new pose. I was more out of breath from getting into poses than holding the pose! On the bright side, I guess I got a workout regardless of my flexibility fail. By the end of the 20 minute DVD, that yoga block was being used as a chair.
I think it's going to take awhile before yoga actually becomes relaxing, or before I receive any sort of health benefit from it. I found myself too worried about getting into decent poses without breaking something to actually reap any benefits. I also made the scary realization that my body doesn't move like it used to. The last thing I want to lose is my mobility, which probably means accepting the fact that my joints creak with every Downward Dog and just trudging along regardless.
I could also put pride aside and buy a "Yoga for Arthritis" DVD and roll with the old ladies. On second thought...nah. It probably wouldn't be as hilarious.
As someone who favors holistic healing over conventional medicine, I try to look for more natural modes of healing myself, though that doesn't mean that I'd ever just stop taking my medication. I had done yoga as a preteen, and I remember enjoying it. I've continued the meditation aspect ever since, but not the "workout" portion. Anyway, the one yoga instructional video that I did own was on VHS. Yeah, that didn't help the cause. Hey, at least I owned a yoga mat.
I did what I thought would be a quick search on amazon. As of the writing of this post, there were 8,055 hits for "Yoga DVD." This was proving difficult. Still, knowing that I am too poor to afford classes, I persevered. My mother knew I was on a yoga quest too, and the other day she came home from Walmart with a yoga block and DVD in hand. Yes! This could work.
And so I popped the DVD into my computer. I sat down on the mat and waited for relaxation and feel-good stretching to start. There was no feel-good stretching.
Instead, I found myself struggling over the most simple positions. I realized that sitting with my legs crossed is an almost impossible task. My knees definitely did not want to bend that way. Switching from a seated position to a standing one, then back down to a kneeling one? Ha. I can only imagine what I would have looked like to a spectator. I'm so glad I picked a time when the house was empty to try this. I found myself constantly pausing the video just so I had enough time to pull myself up into a new pose. I was more out of breath from getting into poses than holding the pose! On the bright side, I guess I got a workout regardless of my flexibility fail. By the end of the 20 minute DVD, that yoga block was being used as a chair.
I think it's going to take awhile before yoga actually becomes relaxing, or before I receive any sort of health benefit from it. I found myself too worried about getting into decent poses without breaking something to actually reap any benefits. I also made the scary realization that my body doesn't move like it used to. The last thing I want to lose is my mobility, which probably means accepting the fact that my joints creak with every Downward Dog and just trudging along regardless.
I could also put pride aside and buy a "Yoga for Arthritis" DVD and roll with the old ladies. On second thought...nah. It probably wouldn't be as hilarious.
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