Katy Bowman

Lunapads
Calvin Math

Calvin Math By Bill Watterson

It is not uncommon to come across people who have an aversion to math, and equally common to come across people with an aversion to human anatomy and physiology. I used to have an aversion to math but I’ve overcome it by looking at it in the same way I look at the human body. I don’t have to have all the answers locked up in my head like I used to think was necessary. All I need to do is know HOW to find the answers. The art of problem solving – that’s how the education system should have introduced math, and everything else for that matter. It’s the same for anatomy and physiology; it’s not necessary to know all the anatomical names (albeit helpful) to understand anatomy, but rather, knowing where to look to find the information. More fun, less stress.

If you have been reading my blog for a while you know that I love how the human body works – (in its entirety), I value taking care of the environment and practice personal responsibility for my actions.

I will preface this post with a readers’ discretion, in the case you are uncomfortable with the natural functions of the body…or math. Though there will be no quiz at the end, I will talk a bit about some staggering numbers that if we all do our part, those numbers can get smaller and more manageable.

Typically, men are forewarned about this subject to guard themselves should they prefer to make a quick retreat, but there are equally many menstruating people who would rather not discuss this monthly, biological function. You may have been taught to hide your monthly flow, or in contrast, openly discuss it with anyone, or to dismiss it entirely as if it didn’t even exist so as to not miss a beat.

Check out this funny video of men explaining periods. Stick around and read this post because it’s full of links to some really great information which highlight the health risks and the environmental waste involved with disposable feminine hygiene products. Besides, there’s a chance to win a twenty-five dollar gift certificate!

There has been a lot of buzz of late attempting to demystify the menstrual cycle from parody commercials, that first moon party video by HelloFlo to finally, putting to rest the battle over the tax on feminine hygiene products – The tax has been lifted across Canada!

Here’s the math part:

Each month the global population of menstruating people will require on average four to seven days worth of feminine hygiene products. Lunapads estimates that:

“…approximately 20 billion pads, tampons and applicators are being sent to North American landfills annually. On an individual level, each of the approximately 73 million menstruating people in North America will throw away 16,000 disposable pads or tampons in their lifetime.” [1] Your turn, to pull out your calculator and number crunch what that means on a global scale…Yikes!

It’s pretty clear where I’m going with what we can do to shrink those numbers – change to reusable, you can even make your own if you’re crafty. Let’s also consider for a moment exactly what most of those products are made from, and how those products react to the user and finally how those products will be disposed?

Out of sight, out of mind.

“…Use once and throw away…”

So what exactly is in these products? Read this short article by Titania Kumeh who explains it all in a very short piece for Mother Jones. And because of what these products are made from, women risk their health in a variety of ways from the plastics, viscose rayon, chlorinated and pesticide treated materials. Though the number of cases of toxic shock syndrome has gone down since the 1980’s, it still affects women today. California resident and model, Lauren Wasser barely survived the effects of toxic shock syndrome and lost her leg due to the bacterial infection in 2012. You can read her story here.

There are, however, companies who make organic products with our health and environment in mind, such as Natracare, Seventh Generation and Maxim.

What ever did women do before the advent of the commercially-made disposable menstrual products so readily available today? Read the History of Menstruation.

In general women used reusable cloths. Today, we benefit from a reusable silicone Diva Cup and reusable cotton and organic cotton menstrual pads as well as leakproof underwear or “Lunapanties with absorbency options to fit your flow.” And Lunapads has thought of everything – how to deal with quick changes on the go with their cute wet/dry bags by Planet Wise.

We can shrink the number of used feminine hygiene products going to landfill by switching over to reusable products.

I’m always switching things up: how I exercise my body, what I eat, trying my best at eliminating plastic waste and contributing as little as possible to landfill. As a result of switching over to Lunapads exclusively, and because I swim regularly, I have had to change my training schedule. For the last while, I’ve given up swimming during menstruation, which is about four days every three weeks or so. I’ve decided that I can do other activities during that time, like walking, which is one of the best forms of activity; Katy Bowman has a lot to say on this. Believe me, I know that not everyone can even contemplate this…I’ve been athletic my entire life and I can’t remember EVER letting my period stop me from doing any sport. I guess the difference now, is that my perspective has changed and having my period is a blessing as opposed to the ‘curse’ I grew up hearing about.

“Nothing’s going to stop me!” “Just Do It” “Push Through”…all for what exactly?

Taking these steps towards a healthier monthly cycle has introduced me to some amazing practitioners like Barbara Loomis, Rosita Arvigo and Renée Warner who practice the Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Therapy, which “helps to restore the body to its natural balance by correcting the position of organs that have shifted and restrict the flow of blood, lymph, nerve and chi energy.”

Lunapads Samples

In the last year I switched over to Lunapads for both health and environmental reasons. I’ve also become a Lunapads Ambassador, which means I’ve got a box of unused samples to show around (wanna host a Lunapads party?) and can let you know when there are promotional coupon codes for you to try the products for the first time, to stock up on new patterns or give away as gifts.

For a little immediate incentive, enter my $25 gift certificate giveaway. I’ve got one gift certificate valued at $25. Redeemable at the Lunapads online store until July 1st, 2016.

How to enter? Leave comments or likes via social media – you know the drill. Make sure to include @ or # youasamachine so that I get notification and can enter your name into the draw. Enter as often as you like. More social media activity means more entries for you.

Contest closes August 1, 2015.

One lucky winner’s name will be randomly selected on August 1, 2015.

Good luck!

UPDATE: Aug. 2, 2015 Congratulations to Elaine Miller @GussieGrips 

UPDATE #2: September 1, 2015

After one month and many failed attempts at contacting Elaine Miller to claim her prize my son has pulled another name from the hat. The prize goes to:

 Anne-Marie Bonneau @ZeroWasteChef

Congratulations!

In the meantime, here’s a gift for everyone…for yourself or to share with someone else 🙂

Try Before You Buy

Try Before You Buy

Related Articles: [1] Lunapads: Environment, The Midwife Is In, Why Switch? Sustainable Cycles, Let’s Talk About It! Eco Femme, What’s Really In That Tampon?, Novel Idea: What if We Actually Researched Whether Menstrual Products Are Safe to Use?, Menstrupedia Comic, 5 Things I do That Were Once Considered Normal

Disclaimer: I am not selling these products and am not trying to persuade anyone else to sell these products. I am a Lunapads Ambassador, which means that I can share product information with you and in exchange should you decide to make a purchase on-line and include my Ambassador Code #515021 at check-out, I will receive a small percentage of each referral. Thanks!

Also, the views expressed in this article are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lunapads or other companies mentioned. 

Initial 2 week Progress Report

I am so excited to share this with you!

In only two weeks of practicing the calf stretch from biomechanist Katy Bowman, SC’s back feels about 75% better! That’s what Daily Body Maintenance does, Folks!

I love chance meetings. Although it is quite telling that my chance meetings tend to coincide with daily errands. About two weeks ago I crossed paths with a friend whom I met eight years ago, when our kids were in kindergarten together. We run into each other a couple times a year…usually at the grocery store! Busy mom’s need to cut to the chase and so our 5 minute conversation covered a lot. My friend, SC (who also subscribes to my blog) so when she sees me will tell me that she is up to date on my writing. She quickly filled me in on her ‘bad back’ which referenced my latest blog post and within seconds I did a quick body analysis a la Katy Bowman and was able to get her to transfer he weight back on to her heels. From there I promised to send an email with some instructions on how she could start the process of releasing the tight muscles going up the back of her legs which would be the primary cause of her aching back. True to my word the following is the email that I sent. Feel free to follow the instructions and share it with others. All the information in the email is directly taken from the work of biomechanist Katy Bowman. But first to inspire you on your way, I thought I would share SC’s progress report which arrived to my inbox yesterday!

Hi Kathryn! Okay it’s amazing the impact of these small changes on my back.

I didn’t realize I was leaning forward when I walked! I find that alarming b/c I walk every day and I’ve been leaning forward!!! – when I see elderly people doing that and ironically I always think to myself, geez, I wish I could tell them they’re leaning forward and if they straighten they would feel better, and here I was, leaning forward!  NOW I am constantly telling myself not to lean.  It’s a tough habit to break. I find doing chores (i.e. washing dishes, cooking, computer work and even brushing my teeth) the most challenging as I’m used to doing all these activities at a severe forward angle! Now trying to break the habit is an hourly challenge!!  I can’t believe how ignorant I have been about my posture!

I have been stretching my calves 3-4 X daily – and I’ve been doing it over the yoga mat. It’s kinda nice b/c one of the girls usually will join me and we talk while we stretch. By the way, we have not been stretching efficiently or correctly.  C [10 year old daughter] has been in orthotics for over a year now and her calves are SUPER tight! I’m hoping all the stretching will help her feet as well!

My back feels about 75% better.

At work downtown, I have adopted WORK SOCKS that I slip over my regular shoe socks but I can only wear these WORK SOCKS within 8 metres of my desk. If I venture any further I may be confronted by a VP or worse, an external customer… so yes, I am finding the NO Positive Shoes a challenge.  But making the best of it.  Also, I know my left shoulder is injured and will need physio.. there’s weakness and compromised range of motion so I will need to seek professional help on that. [I think that the next series of restorative exercises will correct her shoulder but that remains to be seen].

By the way, I have forwarded your email to a couple of my girlfriends who are feeling pain in their back as well. I hope that is okay. If you have any other recommendations, I will gladly receive and practice them 🙂

Again THANK U!  I’m so glad I saw u at Choices that day! -SC

Here is my email: Hi SC, nice seeing you the other day! Change is difficult for people who really like change (like I do!), so I am very sensitive to how challenging it is for people who want to feel better but don’t really want to make any big or small changes. But it needs to be done and the best way is to start with one change at a time. So this is what I propose for you:

For one week only  (The following are some images I pulled from google just to help clarify what you are trying to do).

1) No positive heeled shoes Ideally, try to not wear any positive heeled shoes (any shoe that brings your heel above level with the rest of your foot). Which of course is difficult to do because even running shoes are often heavily padded under the heel. Avoid those rocking shoes. In any case, when you are home try to be bare footed.

The reason? Positive heeled shoes cause muscles to shorten and joints to become misaligned which are at the root cause of foot, knee, pelvis and back problems. The calf stretch (below: 3 & 3A) is just one of many exercises that is designed to help you lengthen all the tissue most commonly shortened by certain footwear. “The amount of time you spend in shoes with geometry-altering components is the time you spend shortening up all those muscles that you have been stretching out.” – Katy Bowman

In other words: for all the time you spend in footwear with heels you will need to spend that amount of time undoing those forces with these stretches. i.e. to restore your alignment. Can you still wear positive heeled shoes? Sure, but if you want to fix your back then you really need to stop wearing them for a while and reserve them for very important (occasional) occasions 🙂 The image below shows the distortions/ compensations that our body makes when we wear positive heeled shoes. 1A) Evaluation  Notice when you are standing (flat footed) if you are transferring your weight forward onto the front of your feet. Don’t do that. Ensure that you are weight bearing over your heels – all the time. When you stand, walk, stretch etc. Why? The bones of the forefoot are not designed to be loaded with our body weight. The heel bones (calcaneus and talus) are meant to hold our body weight. Which is another example why positive heeled shoes are so bad for us.

2) Parallel Feet  When you walk, stand or STRETCH, ensure that your feet are parallel. The outside of your feet should line up as in the image below (left). Notice that the toes are all pointing forward. parallel feet 2A) No Turn out This is how most people walk, with the foot (image 2A showing right foot incorrect) turning out. The left foot shows correct alignment so that all the joints work efficiently parallel foot + turnout foot

3) Calf stretch with 1/2 foam dome. If you don’t have a foam dome you can roll up a yoga mat or towel. (image to follow 3A) 

Do the following stretch 3x per day minimum. Work your way up to holding the stretch for 60 seconds each time.

How to do it:

  • you can hold onto a chair back, table top or wall for balance. Eventually you won’t need to.
  • place forefoot on top of foam. Press heel into floor.
  • ensure your body weight is back over your heel. i.e. your pelvis over your heel, ribcage over your pelvis, shoulders over ribs, head over torso…you get the idea.
  • your supporting leg also will have your weight back over that heel. (as in 1A)
  • Aim to get your hip over the heel as shown in the photo below (3).
  • Be mindful of how your upper body responds to the stretch.
  • Careful not to let upper body hunch forward.
  • Remember to keep your feet parallel when you walk and when you do this stretch

calf stretch alignmentcalf stretch with towel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1:2 foam dome1/2 foam dome (they sell them at local Fitness stores or on Amazon.ca )    If you can incorporate this into your life for the next one to two weeks then I would like to give you the next restorative stretch. Following these instructions alone will be very beneficial.

Good luck with it. Kathryn

Movement vs. Exercise

Katy Bowman, demonstrates natural reflex-driven movement

 

It’s finally happened.

I have found a teacher who has been teaching, blogging and publishing about body alignment and natural reflex-driven movement. She writes about how exercise as we’ve come to know it is what is actually causing more harm to our human-machine. Over the last (almost five years) you have watched me struggle through the transition from the discovery of HIIT to doing less exercise. I feel a huge sense of relief knowing that returning to pure biomechanics is the answer. And to boot, there is a resource already available for all of us to work from. Katy Bowman has written the “ever-elusive human manual”.

“Once you’re exposed to a very specific, mathematical approach to the functions of the body, everything begins to make sense — the pain. The injury. The cramping. The birthing outcome.”

                                                                                                          – Katy Bowman, MS

About three years ago, sometime in 2012 (approximately two years after starting this blog), I started to experiment with doing less exercise (which seemed a little odd since my blog was about health and fitness, but not completely disconnected, because I was trying to encourage physical movement, which is different than exercise AND I was having difficulty putting that into words). At the time I didn’t really have a name for what I was not doing anymore, except to refer to it as daily body maintenance. When people asked me what I did to keep in shape, I usually answered that I was experimenting with doing less; trying to see how I could maintain my health and wellbeing by doing less. But by less, I meant specifically doing less exercise, yet simultaneously, I was consciously increasing my active living component throughout the day.

“Exercise is not the flip side of the sedentary coin — movement is. While the difference may seem like an argument in semantics, these two habits are quite different.”

This was an odd transition for me, especially because I had been such a believer in exercise; mainly because it was all I knew – I had been a gymnast and sprinter, studied ballet, jazz, modern, flamenco, folk dance, was a cyclist, in-line-skater, body builder, yoga student. For a long time being a ‘competitive athlete’ was synonymous with my identity. After all, you are what you do.

Once I began teaching exercise as a job, I began to struggle with how exercise was offered to the public with respect to living a healthy lifestyle; I always felt that there was more to it, but didn’t know where to find it. Back in the early 1990’s, after becoming a certified Aerobic Instructor and Personal Trainer, I attempted to describe to a friend (thank you, Vanessa) what I was looking for in terms of body movement. She had recently learned about Pilates and suggested I look into it. Finally, when I did take some instruction, the Pilates philosophy hit home. Fortunately, the particular teacher I found had taken classical Pilates exercises to a deeper level, leaning on the restorative application angle. Yet, there was more to discover. I went back to university as a mature student to study Kinesiology, expecting to delve into the science and mechanics of movement, only to discover that The Kinesiology Department, was really the Physical Education department in disguise. They had changed their name based on enhancing job placement opportunities for future graduates. (Phys. Ed is the study of Sport Sciences meaning the study of exercise on the human body).

At present, after finding Katy Bowman, I now realize (because I am also gluten-free and think more clearly) that what I really wanted to study all those years ago was biomechanics. The good news? It’s never too late to start!

About three years ago, it occurred to me that in an effort to maintain a healthy functioning body into my nineties or one-hundred-and-twenties (because I plan on being here for a long time), I should practice now what I plan to be practicing in the future. Why would my activities be different in the future compared to the present if my goal is the same? We have enough years of research behind us to gauge that our modern approach to exercising our bodies is leading to early (or future) hip and knee replacements (or surgeries), it is not protecting us from the “affluent ailments” like osteoarthritis, diabetes and osteoporosis, from being prescribed medications, nor is it keeping us alive longer as if to protect us from death resulting from cardiovascular disease.

Which begs the statement:

“If what you are doing isn’t working, doing more of it won’t work any better.”

“Alignment is not posture. Alignment is the position something needs to be in, in order to work correctly.” – Katy Bowman

For 2015, my goal is to study the introductory information put out by the Restorative Exercise Institute and then continue absorbing the rest of their on-line courses. I will share with you my progress but genuinely hope that you will consider investigating for yourself.

“People should know how to evaluate and repair themselves — and, better yet, know how to use their bodies in a way that prevents the affluent ailments.”

Exercise is not movement. Start by reading these three books.

  • Every Woman’s* Guide To Foot Pain Relief: The New Science of Healthy Feet by Katy Bowman 
  • Alignment Matters: The First Five Years of Katy Says by Katy Bowman
  • Move Your DNA by Katy Bowman

piano knabe

In fact, I’ve already given away a copy of Alignment Matters, to my piano tuner. He is a phenomenal musician who can play anything. But when he played a spectacular rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen…here take this book, besides the fact that I can’t believe you just played one of my favourite songs on my antique piano, but because you need to sit on your sit bones when you play the piano, and because I need you to play my piano forever!!! 

Oh! and I sent all three books to my Aunt Adrienne, in Ontario who was the person that first introduced me to Aerobics and Body Building (when I was sixteen). This month she turns sixty-nine years old and is a proponent of staying active. Post to follow, you won’t believe what she does. She will inspire.

If you have read this far then you deserve to enter your name in a draw to win a copy of Move Your DNA by Katy Bowman. I have two copies but take note that the one I’m giving away is gently used, but if you want it (cause you really should read it), leave your name, an email or twitter handle where I can contact you (if you win) and tell me why you should get this book. If you leave a comment below, I will automatically have access to your email so you don’t have to leave it in your comment for the world to see, if that is a concern for you:)

Open to Canadian and U.S. residents only. You’ve got until March 1st, 2015 to submit your entry. UPDATE: Congratulations to LoLo, she wins a copy of Move Your DNA by Katy Bowman, MS.

* “…although the title and cover are geared towards women, this book is written for any person who is seeking a primer on optimal alignment and looking to establish a foundation that restores health.” – KB