I love to watch our hummingbirds. I have always wanted to try to film them. I know it is almost impossible given our equipment and our yard, but I thought I would try. Yes, I know I posted hummingbird pictures on my last “whatever” Thursday, but remember, my blog, my rules—and a lot of people seemed to enjoy the hummingbirds–maybe it was the tongue.
I think this is getting to be their kind of weather. I am going to warn you, you will probably see a lot of them on my blog—hopefully you’ll come back. They are so entertaining. And as I always say since we are in San Jose we have them for a long period of time. It just works out that way with our wonderful weather.
So I was outside for about an hour and a half. I shot about 100 videos. Most of them were just a few seconds long because that is how fast the hummingbirds are. A lot of them are clear, a lot of them are not. Our camera auto focuses and it has a difficult time with moving feeders.
My goal was to post a short video of a hummingbird flying and maybe feeding. Well, just as it was getting too dark to film—and the shots started getting grainy—I got this really long sequence of birds eating, flying, fighting, and just all around being the entertaining birds that they are. So I apologize that it is over 5 minutes long. Also, I apologize because I am talking throughout the video, but they actually smack each other. And they do it audibly. You might not be able to hear it on the video but I could hear it. And they would do it right over my head!
At one point, around 3.28 you’ll hear “wrrrrr” that is a bird flying over me and the microphone.
So my friend who writes Zebra Sounds included the fact that hummingbirds have tongues in a post recently. I learned this after having watched them at our feeders (about 10 years ago). I had always thought that they used their beak as a straw, so imagine my surprise when I caught a tongue in a picture.
I was looking through my pictures for the tongue picture for her post — but we didn’t communicate well enough for her to actually use it, but in trying to find it for her, it got me looking at more of my hummingbird pictures.
Since I am not a professional photographer, I just have to sit there and take picture after picture and hope I end up with a good one. Sometimes I do.
I will try to learn more about hummingbirds and I will continue to take pictures and probably post more of some I have already taken. I have a lot. They fascincate me. And just like our other birds, since we live in San Jose and our weather is warmer for a longer season, we have birds around for six to seven months.
For now:
Their hearts beat about 21 times per second, their wings 55 – 75 times per second. They weight 1/10 of an ounce. They can feed on up to 1000 flowers a day. The hummingbird tongue licks up nectar at the rate of 13 licks per second. And they do eat insects.
Somewhat unrelated, to these pictures, I just wanted to mention, yesterday I was outside taking pictures and working out and one flew right up to me, within arm’s reach and just hovered where I was kneeling. I think they are a very curious bird. Maybe they are almost as curious about us as we are about them?
I want to remind my awesome readers that my pictures are all mine. I take them all myself and it is not cool at all to steal them.
In my last post, I mentioned “exercise mojo“, I was saying that actually referring to a exercise schedule. Most people need to make working out a habit. They need to put it in their schedule and then do it. If you have it scheduled you are more likely to do it.
Well, I believe, from what I have been hearing around San Jose and the Bay Area, that the last of the schools are finally out. And if not, they will be this week and everyone’s schedule is all in jumble. Well, since a new schedule is going to have to be instituted into your life, you might as well schedule in some exercise. Right? It is a perfect time. If you are having to change things anyway, just shove some movement in there. Now, of course, honestly, I would like you to add MY classes or something with me into your schedule, that would be awesome. But I am really more interested in you getting healthy, so I think anything you add would be great.
Most parents pick up their kids from school now-a-days, right? Why not just keep that time that is allotted for picking up the kids and add a walk into your day. You can even walk with your child (if it is a teenager you will probably have to promise to stay a few feet back). Or workout to a DVD, do some calisthenics, run, jog, do yoga, anything. Now is the time add it. Then it might even be a smooth transition since you are already having to rearrange your day, it won’t be that big of a deal. Ha! How do you like that? Doesn’t that sound totally logical? Isn’t that a good idea? Wouldn’t you call that perfect timing?
So this tactic can work for any change of scheduling, right? Be it school letting out, or a new work schedule, or school going back into session, whatever, if you are already changing why not take the opportunity to add some change for the better?
I am very fortunate that the place I teach in Willow Glen is only about 15 minutes from where I live in San Jose. But as I was driving home the other day something dawned on me. It is my opinion that people often use their brakes when it is not necessary. For example, I do not think it is safe to put on your brakes and come to a crawl on the freeway because you want to change lanes. I see this a lot in our area.
So what dawned on me is that braking or stopping is NOT always the correct course of action. I was thinking that this comparison could be used for life, then I realized it could be used for fitness too.
Some people think that if they have a little bit of discomfort they should stop doing what they are doing. And–oh my, I just realized that I am pretty much back to Sustain, Increase, and Tweak, except this is coming at it from a different angle and it is more about exercise and workout momentum and not in-the-moment-movement.
Here, I am talking about just applying the brakes and stopping, whereas it could be that the best thing to do would be just to take our foot off the petal and slow down that way . . . more naturally. Or it could mean that a swerve is necessary, or maybe even a turn, but NOT just stopping. If you are sore or you are a little stiff, sometimes just stopping and not doing any exercise or movement is not the best way to get through it. I am not one for stopping when I am sore, I just might slow down or work another part of my body, but just stopping kills my exercise mojo. I gotta keep at it every day!
Part of what we need to do is understand the difference between pain and an injury and just discomfort and soreness. So you need to be your own guide through this, but always think twice before you just stop. I personally believe that sometimes just doing a percentage of what you normally might do is better than nothing at all. When the situation is just soreness. An actual injury needs to be treated with caution, but you still don’t always have to stop.
I might have partly been on this train (of thought) because one of my students came in with a sore hip flexor but instead of just not coming she said she was going to take it easy on her hip. Nice, huh? And then I know of another Nia teacher who recently injured herself and she is still going to teach, but she is going to modify her class. She wrote an e-mail to her students and a blog explaining that she is going to listen to her body’s way. So she is teaching them a lot by doing that: she is going to show them what we talk about all the time in Nia and that is listening to our bodies and following the body’s way and she is going to show them a different way to do Nia. But the point is, she isn’t stopping. She is swerving or even turning but not stopping.
I think sometimes before we stop we need to think of how we can adjust to what we need, but keep going. And as I said this can be applied to fitness/training/working out or just everyday life. Do you think before you apply the brakes and stop?
I want to share this product with you. I have been using this product since I was in high school. It is awesome. It is not all natural, most of the ingredients I can’t pronounce, but the first one is water. It is one of those products that is so versatile. They call is an “All Purpose Skin and Hair Moisturizer”. And that is what it is for me.
SeaPlasma by Focus 21
I am not comfortable using most products on my hair and my skin, but this one I do. It is great for moisturizing without adding any kind of sticky left over feeling. And I have never had a problem with it when it comes in contact with my clothes. It is great to use to cool you off. It is awesome.
In addition to a moisturizer and a “cooling agent” it has such a great refreshing scent that you can even use it as an after exercise “freshen up” tool. I mean, face it, we would all love to take a shower after every workout, but sometimes you have to rush off to pick up the kids, meet a friend, or maybe you’re like me and you are rushing off to another class and there isn’t time for a shower. Sea Plasma can be used on your hair and skin and you can be off and running and not smell like you just finished working out.
In San Jose you can find it in the drug stores now. I used to have to buy it from my hair salon. I bet you can find it in your local drug store, too.
In Nia (TM) our movement is for Joy. “Joy is not a technique or a choreographic method. It is an attitude toward the body and toward life. Joy is not just for when things in like are going well. It is an open accepting energy that accepts whatever comes its way.” (1) This is Universal Joy.
So we choose during our workouts to sense Joy and to seek the Joy of Movement. Throughout our routine we seek to sustain that Universal Joy. If we are able, we actually increase it. When we lose it or if we are doing a move that causes it to faulter, we tweak.
I think these can be applied to life. That is what I love about Nia. We have all these thoughts and ideas that we apply to our workouts, but they aren’t necessarily new and they can applied to life.
When you are doing something that gives you joy don’t you want to keep doing it? When you have joy don’t you want to increase it? When you start to lose it don’t you do something to tweak it and bring it back?
That is what we do throughout our work out. We are using our bodies to seek the sensation of Joy and if we find it and we can increase it, we do. If we start to lose it we can tweak it. Our workouts are about one’s own body and how it feels. So while you are following the teacher you are also paying close attention to yourself and making sure that you are sensing the Joy of Movement.
This is one of the things that makes Nia such a different workout. We are actually “sustaining, increasing, and tweaking” the entire time. Universal Joy. Allowing our bodies to move for pure pleasure. Doesn’t that sound like something you want to do?
(I have added an Evening class to my schedule. Teaching in San Jose (Willow Glen) three times a week; two AM classes and one evening class. Teaching at a member only club in Los Gatos in the evening once a week. Check out my Nia Class schedule on my site, HelpYouWell.com)
(1) From The Nia Technique – White Belt Manual March 2001, V3 page 2-4
This morning as I was trying to figure out what to write about, it dawned on me that I wasn’t practicing what I was preaching about being true to myself.
I was trying to decide what to write. I want to write stuff that people will read. I am worried about people not reading it. I am worried that they won’t like it. I am worried that I am not following my own self initiated schedule of healthful on Tuesdays and Saturdays with Thursdays less in that realm. Because of all my worries I couldn’t think of what to write, I felt as if my thoughts were twisted like the most twisty Yoga pose. Then it hit me, my real intent of all of this, my blog is somewhat like a mini resume.
When people ask me about their resume or they share that they are confused because they don’t know what to put on it because they hear this and they hear that, I ALWAYS tell them to follow their heart and write a resume they would like. Some of who they are needs to be in that resume because they want to be happy at their new job. The person that is going to hire them and the place where they will fit the best will be the person that likes the resume at the company that accepts it. So if you put a little of yourself in it, then it should all work out.
So with my social media stuff I need to think the same way. I am tweeting so people will see me, and learn from me and want to train and workout with me. When I retweet something, it is something I like, so that is showing a little bit of me. Twitter is different for everyone, we all have different reasons for being there, so if you don’t like the tweets you are seeing don’t follow. I follow to learn and network, so I won’t follow you if I see tweets I don’t like. That is Twitter.
For me Facebook is more personal. I am not “friending” everyone because I like to be less business-y there. Although I do post a lot of stuff about Nia, that is just because I am practicing it and I like the way it makes me feel so I want to share with others. And I am growing my garden of Nia flowers so I tend to repost their information so that others can see what people think about Nia and maybe come try it for themselves.
With my blog I have a few goals. I want to share about events that happen in my areas, Los Gatos, San Jose (Willow Glen, Berryessa) and around, I want to entertain a bit, and I want to help people learn, but I don’t need to be all scientific as I first thought. Every time I go to write a blog with a bunch of interesting facts, I find a bunch of other sites with a bunch of interesting facts. I think that people can go to those sites if they want the science and the statistics. I will keep it simple. And you will either like it or you won’t, but I think if you like it then you will enjoy my classes and enjoy training with me.
My point is that I need to stop worrying and just start doing so that we can get on with it. I need to be me so you can see who I am and then say, “Yeah, I would like to go to her class.” So, whew . . . what a relief, now I just have to remember to actually practice what I preach. You are welcome to remind me.
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