![]() It’s tough to balance how much exercise we’re supposed to be doing to stay healthy, and much we want to or can do. And one of the best ways to make sure we’re on track is with a fitness tracker, right? So I have a confession to make- I gave up my FitBit. I know, it seems counterproductive. Controversy! But here’s the argument I’d like you to consider: I had gotten so attached to the metrics on my FitBit that I stopped paying attention to my own measures of wellness and comfort, and it was doing me more harm than good. The big example I have, the one thing that made me realize just how confused my priorities had become, is my home office situation. If you follow me on Instagram you may remember my video from several weeks back that showed my new set-up- I had rearranged my office so that I now had a floor desk. Ugh, how inconvenient! Sitting on the floor sounds awful, doesn’t it? That’s the idea. If I sit on the floor, not only do I have the opportunity to move my lower body in a variety of ways, I also simply can’t stay in them very long. Floor sitting guarantees me more movement in my day as I shift and stretch and get up more often. I have a small rug, a heavy cushion, and a pair of yoga blocks to give me some texture and elevation options, but it’s mostly about changing what my hips were doing so they didn’t spend hours and hours at a 90 degree angle in a chair all day anymore. Sure enough, my daily mileage went up. I was getting up more, going up and down my stairs more, and generally getting more movement in. I was syncing that little FitBit several times a day, watching with delight as the little circle filled up and feeling virtuous. Here I’d like to mention that since the beginning of this year I’ve also been taking walks at the local park, with hills and a variety of path surfaces and lots of trees. Vitamin Nature, yum. More ≠ Better![]() So what’s the problem? Well, the problem was that since I achieved my goal of moving more by changing my office around, I never checked in to assess if “more” made things “better”. I was starting to feel irritated by my setup, and not just because I was on the floor. Then, my FitBit battery ran low, and I realized I had misplaced the charger. OK, no problem, I’ll be fine. I know how many loops at the park make up my walks, I know what my normal office days are like, just keep it up and… who am I kidding. I quit my 6 months of several-times-a-day dopamine hit of validation that I was doing good things habit cold turkey, and that was HARD. But. However. And then. Within just a couple days I had figured it out. Yes I was floor sitting, good girl, but my left side was right up against my old desk and there was nowhere for my legs to stretch out. I had allocated myself this little space and never looked at whether it was a good fit for me. I was only concerned with what the FitBit told me, not with what I was telling me. This week I rearranged my floor office space and gave myself much more space to sit in, and now I love it. And now I love my walks again, too. Instead of feeling the wristband getting sweaty and wondering if it’s counting this as active exercise or am I going too slow and should I do another lap because I didn’t do all my flows this morning… I’m listening to my earbuds and practicing breathing more deeply through my nose and feeling the mulch and the rocks under my feet and smelling the cedar grove I love to visit and watching the creek fall over the old dam. And I feel good. So I’m not arguing that you shouldn’t track your metrics. Go ahead, join the 100 miles a month club! But I am sharing my lesson with you that the metrics aren’t all that, if you’re not actually feeling it and you’re shutting those messages down in favor of the external numbers. Break the Mold![]() How many times have you said something like:
Maybe the reality is that these things that don’t feel good make them not actually good for you! Maybe you can find other things to do, that help you meet your goal and are also enjoyable and make you feel good, even if they’re not the things you thought you were “supposed to do”. I floor sit. I know someone who does geocaching, someone else who dances while she knits (there’s some life goals right there), and many people who play pickleball instead of using a treadmill, a weight rack, or doing a single jumping jack. The point is, it’s ok to find what works for you, if it’s actually working for you. Just make sure that some of the metrics you’re tracking come from your awareness. Want more? Take my 5 day Walk This Way Challenge showcasing small, doable adjustments and additions to maximize your walks, with daily videos explaining each day's practice, and see for yourself. I’ll be sharing some simple whole-body adjustments and exercises that help strengthen and align everything from your feet to neck, and take pressure off your parts that shouldn’t be working so hard to just take a walk.
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![]() Solstice has come and gone. Here in the northeastern US, summer is setting in and it’s traditionally about time for humidity, sandy toes, sunburn, mosquitos, and garden-fresh tomatoes. This year, of course, there’s extra concerns about avoiding people, breathing through a mask, and doing more to stay well on our own. Walking has become MANY people's activity of choice since our shutdowns, and now that it's summer here the weather can really get in the way. My coach Racheal Cook described her "Thrive List" this week- it's a list of the the things you need in your life to really thrive, and in looking at mine I realized I really do feel better when I move. At the same time, though, I wilt like a piece of spring mix in the heat, so I also made a list of workarounds to stop my objections before they start! These are my goals for daily walking in a Philly summer:
This is totally possible. Totally. Sigh. No really, it’ll be OK if we stick to a couple preparations and plans. Here’s what I'll do, in reverse order: Skip Crowded Areas![]() Obvs, this is a given. I have 2 solutions, one expected and one maybe not. First, go really early. Like, dawn. I’ve taken to sleeping with my curtains open so I wake up then anyway, and it really is a magical time. It’s cool and quiet, except for the birds- SO many birds! And then later, after I’ve gotten my day pretty much accomplished, and it’s the hot part of the afternoon and I start wilting (yes I have AC, doesn’t matter!) I can take a lovely nap, maybe even in the hammock. Perfect. . Second, get off the path. My local park has lovely trails in the woods, and for whatever reason people just don’t use them as much. But there’s shade and it’s cool and I love trees, so the whole thing is a win for me. Maximize My Effort
Stay CoolAgain, early. Again, wooded paths. But also, cool herbal teas… so good! Lots of herbs are packed with minerals and other nutrients and they act like electrolyte drinks without the weird dyes and overpowering flavors and ridiculous sweetness. I like things like Nettle and Red Raspberry Leaf mixed with Hibiscus and Lemon Balm and Tulsi (aka Holy Basil). It’s like that old “zingy” tea by that big company that everyone’s had, but so much better.
I have a few gallon glass jars (ask at a deli or restaurant if they have an empty glass pickle jar you can rescue) so I drop in 10-12 tea bags total, or 1-2 handfuls of loose herbs each. I fill it with hot water after dinner and put it in my back porch overnight (no sense heating my kitchen more!) Next 2-4 days, depending, I have a fabulous, tart, mineral-rich iced tea ready to sip all day long. Now it’s your turn. What are your fair-weather goals? What are your tips to meet them? ![]() How would you describe the fundamentals of your health? ✔Like the structure of a house, the load bearing walls and ceiling joists, aka your bones? ✔Like the basement walls that hold everything up, aka your feet? ✔Is it it your ability to take in fresh and get rid of waste, like plumbing, aka lymph and circulation and respiration? ✔Is it the ability for your body to electrically communicate all its needs and responses, aka the nervous system? ✔Or is it ALL of these? If you’re focused on any one of these systems, I’d say you’re massively missing out. The real key to a strong foundation isn’t specializing and microfocusing on one aspect, it’s being a good General Contractor and overseeing the coordination of all of your foundations. We are holistic, complex beings. Look at those words- ✔Holistic means all of you, at the same time, intermingled ✔Complex means like the difference between a lean-to and a house ✔Beings, as in NOT machines. Not logically or rationally organized, but organically and naturally Herbalist Tammi Sweet has shared (I’m paraphrasing here) that a researcher at a conference she attended dismissed plant medicines as “messy and chaotic”. Yep, she teaches, just like us. Herbalist David Winston put it this way when I heard him speak in June 2019: “Show me a standardized human and I’ll consider giving them a standardized remedy.” THIS is why there’s no such thing as a Magic Pill. THIS is why there are so, so, so many types of practitioners- physical, herbal, etc- since there’s no one, single, perfect solution for what you need at this moment. If you tried something and didn’t get the results you wanted, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. That means it wasn’t the right answer for you right now. It wasn’t your Goldilocks answer, but that doesn’t mean it won’t work for you at another time. My answer to this uncertainty is to have a holistic approach to your holistic self. I don’t believe there is one single foundation; I believe they’re all important. They’re interconnected, intertwined, and interdependent. How you move, and how you hold still, directly causes (or prevents) circulation, drainage, and communication in your body. Calming your nervous system only helps so much if your ribs or a hip joint is putting a major nerve in danger. Adjusting your posture won’t last long if gut inflammation tightens muscles that tilt your pelvis. Stretching your neck will only last till your next 45 minute trip into an internet rabbit hole. So we look at all of it. How you move your skeleton changes how your organs move and function. How your internal systems operate impacts how your bones and muscles hold you upright. Notice I said we “Look at it”. Not “We change everything in the first session”. For one thing, we’re people still living our lives, with responsibilities like jobs and families and everything else. We don’t have the extra capacity to go in and change absolutely everything about how we are moving and living. That’s not sustainable, and in fact that would be a recipe for frustration and failure. For another thing, big huge changes aren’t usually the most effective anyway. Chiropractor and movement specialist Dr Perry Nickelston put it this way, “Complex systems are non-linear, meaning their behavior is irregular. That means little tiny actions can produce tremendous transformations.” In other words, our culture’s emphasis on MOREBIGGERFASTER can actually be counterproductive! This is my whole rationale, my philosophy. Changing how your outsides work (with movement) and how your insides work (with herbs) is truly holistic healing. And focusing on our foundations means I can help you build up strength and healthy patterns inside of your currently normal life. Yes, ultimately we want to build a new normal, one that’s got things like good sleep and manageable stress and strong hips and deep breathing. But when you first learned to ride a bike, or write, or even walk, you were pretty terrible at that for a while, too. This will also take practice. But as you practice foundational work, you'll find the most amazing things. Tiny things, that you didn't even notice you'd lost, will transform. I've heard all sorts of things:
That'll put a bounce in your step and a sparkle in your eye for sure! Yes yes Paula, but how?? How do I learn this stuff, to practice it?
Never fear, dear reader! You can start right now, for free, with the Relieve Your Aches & Pains Online Workshop. You've got 2 ways to access it:
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Fun Fact: I'm an herbalist and a movement coach. Not a doctor, or a pharmacist, and not pretending to be one on TV.
This is a public space, so my writing reflects my experiences and I try to stay general enough so it might relate to you. This does not constitute medical advice, and I encourage you to discuss concerns with your doctor. Remember, however, that the final say in your wellness decisions are always yours- you have the power to choose, you are the boss of you. And, some of my posts may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through them I'll earn a few cents. Thank you for supporting my work. This website is provided for educational and informational purposes only and is not medical, mental health or healthcare advice. The information presented here is not intended to diagnose, treat, heal, cure or prevent any illness, medical condition or mental or emotional condition. Working with us is not a guarantee of any results. Paula Billig owns all copyrights to the materials presented here unless otherwise noted. Categories
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