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April 17, 2020: Making the Horse/Human Mind/Body Awareness Connection

Yes indeed, I’m back at it again. First the EMT training and then the Bright Lights Book project momentarily took my life in a differing directions. I do wish that I’d passed the practical EMT exam and that the book project had been ongoing. I don’t think that I’ll again study for take the EMT practical exam – I lack motivation due to a lack of interest. The book project is an entirely different matter. I will hop back on that bandwagon once the recycling center doors are again open to the public.

Both Pete and I have been very diligent about practicing social distancing. We may be dumb, but we aren’t stupid. We are both familiar with the pathology of viruses, and for this reason we are mostly here on the home front. Every so often Pete goes to the store. And every so often I go to the Sutton Post Office.

There are individuals who are trackers. They call infected individuals and on the phone assist them in retracing their steps. This way they determine which individuals they’ve been in contact with, some of these individuals being infectious. If one of us got the virus, our list of contacts would be quite short.

In the meantime, I’ve resumed doing what I was doing before we went on our trip, last May. I started out doing a few simple Feldenkrais exercises, and have seen been expanding on my physical knowledge base.

Pete digging a trench to drain the shelter
Pete digging a trench to drain the shelter


It is fortuitous – Dori MacDonnald, a local yoga teacher, decided to teach an online course. So three mornings a week, I follow along as she gives directives. There are others, I know most, having seen them in Dori’s in-person class. I, unlike them, am remaining invisible – somehow, being in view has a big brother feel about it.

Now today, I participated in an online Feldenkrais/Bones for Life class. I do not know the instructor personally, but like Dori, she’s quite good at what she does. There was more down time, which took the form of questions and answers, but I still got a lot out of the class, things that I will integrate into my growing repertoire.

And once again, I am working at making the horse/human body awareness connection. I’m having the horses do carrot stretches and agility. And I’m doing imagery-related work as well as yoga/Feldenkrais exercises when I ride each mare.

In addition to body awareness, endurance and strength training are equally important. Endurance, I’ve been bicycling and running. Yesterday and today I ran with Raudi down to the creek and rode her home. However, I’ve not done any formal strength training. Rather, I’ve been doing informal strength training, which as of late has centered around lugging five-gallon buckets of manure hither and yon. It’s now breakup/mud season, so this is ample exercise.

Yep, I’d say that I’m making the best of a potentially bad situation. I don’t have the desire to go anywhere, which actually may end up being my saving grace.

Next: 108. 4/18/20: And what day of the week is it?

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