Author: yogamarathonmom
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First kickball game
By Jay Hiller, June 12, 2023 Photo by Valeriia Miller on Unsplash The story of my first kickball game, might be the story of why for a long time, I thought of myself as someone who didn’t like to exercise. My family lived in Bogotá, Colombia for most of my first 4 years of elementary…
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Challenge, complexity, purpose
By Jay Hiller, June 8, 2023 Photo by Eilis Garvey on Unsplash On episode 263 of the podcast, The Proof with Simon Hill, Drs. Ayesha and Dean Sherzai, speak at length about a number of topics related to brain health. One point stood out to me: we can build our cognitive reserve, the brain’s ability…
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What does this pain mean?
By Jay Hiller, June 6, 2023 Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash Many years ago, when I had small children, my back hurt frequently and a lot. I got into the habit of thinking of myself as fragile and easily injured. It turned out that my back was hurting because I was spending hours holding…
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Make it a great day!
By Jay Hiller, June 5, 2023 Photo by Jorge Vasconez on Unsplash On November 1, 2022, discouraged and ticked off, I pulled a notebook out of my purse and wrote “Things that make this a bad day.” Then I listed four things, all of them pretty bad,. They still seem bad looking back at them…
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A bathing suit with me at all times
By Jay Hiller, June 5, 2023 You can never have too many bathing suits. Photo by Malik Skydsgaard on Unsplash “And when you mean, with you, you don’t just mean in the same building, but you don’t know where it is?” my husband asked. I’ve had a series of locker room mishaps since I joined…
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A very nice gym, a liminal space
By Jay Hiller, June 1, 2023 Photo by Ivars Utināns on Unsplash A small windfall fell into my lap a few weeks ago, and I decided to use it on a membership at a nice gym this summer. I thought it would be a good place to go in the afternoons when it’s hot. I’ve…
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A conversation, not a wrestling match
By Jay Hiller, May 30, 2023 Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash In her book, Yoga For Bendy People, Libby Hensley recommends that foam rollering be approached as a conversation with your body, rather than a wrestling match. By that I think she means that we should approach foam rollering as an inquiry and not…
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Foundational yoga poses are valuable for their own sake
by Jay Hiller, May 30, 2023 Photo by Jon Moore on Unsplash “And that’s quite the warm up and the stretch,” the well known yoga teacher on the streaming service said as he led Warrior I, a pose some people would describe as foundational. It’s never been my favorite and something about him saying that…
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Finish something
By Jay Hiller, May 24, 2023 Photo by Reid Naaykens on Unsplash There are two unfinished needlepoint projects under my desk. I started one of them in 2002 and the second one in 2006. I know the point where I stopped working on them and every time I glance in their direction it zaps a…
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How yoga saved my sewing machine
By Jay Hiller, May 23, 2023 When I was a little girl, I knew someone, Filomena, who had a foot pedal sewing machine. Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash A few years after I started practicing yoga, I got up from my sewing table and as I turned away, I got my feet tangled up…