Tis the Season

I will shortly be mailing out my yearly holiday letter with suggestions on gifts you can give to people you love who love the outdoors.  I hope you enjoy it.

Click on any photo to enjoy and click the back button to return to this post.  Above is Bryce, cryptobiotic crust (the desert floor) and some Utah rock.    This year’s journey to Utah State Parks was so timely and perfect that I’m opening our next journey up to AdventureBuddies (the meet up).

Above is Canyonlands:  Needles and Island in the Sky and Bryce.

The other bit of news is that I’ve joined the UC Botanic Garden and will be listing a gentle walk for the Pole Walking Meetup.  I was able to see the Maladora in bloom this year – enjoy!

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Stay Cool, Gear Up

Travelling thru Zion National Park, I saw this hat in the visitor center.  It’s yet another way to stay cool in the desert or on hot hikes:

Use the link above to search for your size and color (I love the green).
As always, anything you order via links from this blog help support quality posts. I do not take advertising, but use affiliate links (which cost you nothing). If you subscribe, you may not be able to click thru, so please go to the blog and click from there.

Shoe Insole Helps Your FEET!

My Feet, My Feet!

Hikers have FEET!  I have not used commercial insoles that come in the shoes for YEARS.  I’ve tried every insole I could find and, as I get older, my feet seem to need more help.  FINALLY, I found an insole that makes a huge difference.  I’ve been telling my hiking buddies about it and have enough people who have thanked me and raved about it, I feel I can recommend to my AdventureBuddies here:

Use the link above to search for your size. You want PowerStep Pinnacle Max. I tried the regular, but LOVE the Max.
As always, anything you order via links from this blog help support quality posts. I do not take advertising, but use affiliate links (which cost you nothing). If you subscribe, you may not be able to click thru, so please go to the blog and click from there.

Healthy Aging

To Vitamin or Not to Vitamin?

On one of my meet-up hikes, I met a retired anesthesiologist.  He told me what he had been doing (besides training for hikes and unwinding from years of administering to patients) since his retirement.  He founded and formulated a high quality vitamin designed to help active, aging bodies.

My problem with supplements is they’re not regulated.  What the heck is in them?  How do you know what/whom to trust?

I tried this vitamin regimen and feel the difference.  I’ve checked with other professionals and they agree that the formulation makes good sense.

This is a high quality formulation designed to support an active lifestyle and support aging gracefully.  At first I thought it was a little pricey, especially since I’ve previously shunned supplements.  But when I checked the cost vs. trying to purchase the ingredients separately, I realized this was a good investment in my health.    Plus they offer a 90 day, no questions asked guarantee.   So I decided I had nothing to lose and tried it.  It’s time to share with my AdventureBuddies!

More info below from their website:

The mission at Baranta Health is to formulate nutritional supplements with ingredients not readily available in our modern foods that may have benefits to augment a healthy lifestyle. The word Baranta means “Bounding” and that’s what most of our customers experience: bounding mental and physical well-being. Baranta Health supplements may provide benefits that are experiential such as increased energy, sharper focus and improved physical performance, as well as that support positive mood, promote emotional well-being  and that increase resistance to fatigue, stress & tension. Our company is committed to supporting anti-aging research through investing in joint ventures to develop nutritional products and also donating to support basic science research that leads to pharmaceutical breakthroughs for diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and cancer.

Note:  If you are getting this as a subscriber to the blog, you may not be able to use the links.  Please visit the blog and you can check out links from there.  Thank you!  www.AdventureBuddies.net/blog

Compression and Ice Speed Healing

Is this news to anyone?  Ice reduces inflammation. Why take drugs and make your kidneys and liver pay for (otherwise untreated) knee pain?  I believe that everyone should have a good ice pack at the ready!

Remember the adage:  RICE?  Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.  I’ve talked on this blog about the importance of compression and I carry a compression bandage in my hiking pack – always.  I’ve helped many a hiker with this simple, essential piece of gear.  But when I get home, it’s ice for my knee.  When I ice, I don’t hurt.  When I don’t, I often am uncomfortable the next day.  I have to remember to ice because I don’t hurt until the next day.

I’ve looked long and hard and have tried many ice packs.  I got this one recently and LOVE it.  It’s great for knees, wrists, elbows, ankles, feet (plantar fasciitis), even a shoulder.  When I first pull it out of the freezer, it’s a bit hard, but it softens quickly and stays cold longer than most.  This particular pack comes with 2 ice packs and one compression sleeve (which has a good wide compression strap.   It’s less than $3 for an additional pack making this a really good value.

Under the ice pack link is a link for a Velcro compression bandage (2 pack – one for your pack, one for home).   Compress an injury quickly (and lightly – not too tightly) to prevent swelling, reduce pain, provide support.

Lastly, don’t forget the compression bandage is in your pack – USE IT. If you can get an injury cleaned and compressed, it can make a HUGE difference. Check with your favorite medical professional or even search around the web if you’re not familiar with the benefits and methods of compression. Most medical kits I’ve looked at do not have this most essential item.

As always, order from the links on this blog.  It supports the blog and costs you nothing.  Anything you purchase after clicking thru from the blog results in a (very teeny tiny) commission – it’s called affiliate marketing and it helps support providing quality info to people who love being outside!  Thanks Hikers & Walkers!

Forest Bathing

Enhance your enjoyment of nature:

Shinrin Yoku (pronounced shin rin yo koo) is a term that means “taking in the forest atmosphere” or “forest bathing.” It was developed in Japan during the 1980s and has become a cornerstone of preventive health care and healing in Japanese medicine.  It’s not just for health, it’s for our relationships with nature, the type of relationships that support sustainable living.

There is space in the silence and it’s not just about us.  Others are out in nature to enjoy the stillness, the sounds, the magic.  Think Muir Woods in the morning.   Our group walks thru silently demonstrating respect for the majesty and for others (who are there for their wonder, not to be blasted with multiple, competing conversations – sounds carry).  In Shinrin Yoku, we revel in the sounds of water, birds, groaning trees in the wind, even our footfalls.

and

Komorebi (木漏れ日) (pronounced komo ray bee)  is a Japanese word that roughly translates to “sunlight shining through the leaves of trees.”  Enjoy this poem.

Face Toning Exercises

A member in my Core, Cardio & More class told me about these exercises.  She’s almost 60 and looks under 40 – her face and neck look as smooth as silk.  She’s been doing these exercises for years and they work for her.  It makes so much sense to me because muscles like toning.  Practice & Enjoy!

 

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California: Car and Driver are reunited

California is a desert. Every now and then we get WEATHER.

Yesterday, we went down the coast to attend a memorial service for a dear cousin. I tell you this so you know that only a truly important event would have gotten us out of the house on a stormy day – the likes of which we have not seen in a long time.  The memorial service was deeply moving and connected us as a community of friends and relatives.

When we went to leave, Half Moon Bay frogs were SINGING. We got in our car and went NOWHERE. We were STUCK. While we were inside enjoying food, song and conversation, my car was sinking. 3 men tried to push, 3 manly-men admitted defeat. With all the weather-related events happening, AAA was over 90 minutes away but then they went to a similar street name in San Mateo instead of Half Moon Bay. So we waited, made comfortable and welcome by dear cousins.

Finally, help arrived. AAA had to get creative to get my deeply-stuck-in-the-mud front tires free – this was not a straight forward release. Then Bob painstakingly rinsed the mud from the brakes. We left behind a huge hole – sorry cousins!  Finally, we were on our way home – around 11, not 8. All this time, the weather cooperated with only light sprinkles from time to time.

Home stretch: Coming into Pacifica, we encountered a police action. The road was closed due to a mudslide. I got out of the car and politely approached one of the many policeman (some of whom were waving flashlights around seemingly randomly, getting all the drivers confused). The officer I approached  was not helpful.  Isn’t part of a policeman’s job to be polite to regular folk, to answer reasonable questions in something other than unhelpful monosyllables?  As I returned from the policeman, many people in cars scattered all over were waiting and asking ME what was happening. I could have relayed good information; I could have been a bearer of NEWS as well as good will and a collective understanding that stuff happens.

At that point, we had a choice. Go all the way back to Half Moon Bay and around – at least an hour of driving with no knowledge of what we’d encounter (the AAA driver had already told us they were pulling a car out of a ditch on the main road) OR WALK.

We parked, got our headlamps (yes, I carry one in my car – thank goodness), an umbrella and started walking. The heavens picked THAT moment (the very moment we started walking) to dump BUCKETS of water on us. We sloshed for 45 minutes in a deluge of rain, running water, puddles and debris all over the roads and sidewalks.  We had a powerful tailwind.  Pacifica frogs were SINGING.  We got home safe and sound and soaked.

The next morning, I woke up realizing all my gear (for my morning class) was in my car. Plus all the yummy food from last night’s gathering.  Highway One was still closed, but they were running one-way controls, causing big delays in the morning commute.  Bob and I braved it.  We arrived at the tail end of traffic in both directions.  Instead of over an hour of waiting, we retrieved my car in 10 minutes. It was a breeze, almost as if nature was apologizing for the night before.

Travel Safe!

Update:  Good news – no one is hurt.  Bad news – AAA tow truck driver damaged my car when he tried the first 2 times to pull it out.  Toyota says it’s irreparable, structural damage and egregious incompetence of a tow truck driver.  Sigh.

Hindsight lesson for my readers:  A simple tow out of the mud should not result in severe damage to your car.  Never again shall I ASSume that the professional tow truck driver knows what’s best without monitoring closely.

Chant for 2017

I love this chant!

I learned it from my good friend Renee

written by: Ravyn Stanfield

TheraBand Routine for Improved Posture, Upper Back Health

This holiday, I gave TheraBands.  These are the bands you get at PT – they come in a roll and are cut.  I cut 5′ lengths.  But the main gift was the routine I designed for using it to improve posture and activate upper back muscles.  So much of our lives are spent in the forward posture that pulls us into dis-ease.  These gentle strengthening movements are the opposite of computer work, driving, forward everything.  Form is important!

How you hold the band sets the stage.

• Choose the color band that allows light work to start.
• Hold loosely with the thumb on the same side as your fingers (overhand grip).
• As you have a slight tension on the band, look at your wrist.  Make sure it’s STRAIGHT.  This is the biggest mistake people make.  In order to straighten your wrist, you actually have to push your hand outward.

1. Straight Arm Pull Apart

• Arms straight out in front at a slight angle
• Start with gentle tension of the band
• Pull the band outward keeping arms and wrists straight.
• As you pull the band back towards you, it will come closer to your chest and you should feel the muscles behind and between your shoulders
• This is an activation movement, not a body-building exercise.  Use only the tension you need to feel the shoulders pull together behind you.
• To protect your low back, put one foot slightly in front of the other into a stagger stance.  Notice how this softens your knees and helps you maintain a neutral spine.
• Do 8 to 10 reps
• The light tension means you can do this once a day just to activate the upper back muscles.

2. Wrist Work

• Do exactly the same movement as above, but when you get to about 45 degree outward with your arms (about half way), push your wrists outward and slowly return.
• The arms stay still, just the wrists move
• Do 5 to 10 of these

3. Anchor Series

• One arm is STRAIGHT out in front (not angled off to the side or up) and holds the band
• Holding arm – thumb up (this is better for your shoulder)
• Relax both shoulders down
• With the other straight arm, pull the band downward and behind the body – this engages the latissimus dorsi
• do each side 5 to 10 times
• You can also pull outward (similar to #1).  Notice how the holding arm works very differently in this movement
• Another variation that I love is to do slow circles.  I prefer circles backward (clockwise on the R, counterclockwise on the L)

With all of these movements, if there’s any discomfort AT ALL:

• slow down
• make the movement smaller
• stop doing it

Remember to walk with attitude, swagger and walk young!

 

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