Deep summer wellness: Staying fit in your organic garden.
- Healthy Beginnings Magazine, JULY 25, 2018
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- BY CAROLE BUCHER, BA, GCFP| RENO FELDENKRAIS INTEGRATIVE MOVEMENT
Weed season is upon us — is your body ready for it?
Dry, windy, sometimes horribly hot … Northern Nevada summer is shifting theatrically into high gear now. You know what I mean if you live here. If you have kids, pets or a garden — or all three — it’s a busy and challenging time, especially for we who want to keep gardens thriving organically during our tiny growing period.
In my backyard, it feels like war! The insatiable bad bugs are giving me a brutal run for my money this year, causing intensive maneuvering — stealthy companion planting, setting bug traps, going on weeding raids and applying chemically-neutral deterrents, like diatomaceous earth, not to mention sneaking in ladybugs and other ‘good’ bug saboteurs.
It’s ironic how the weeds don’t suffer the same problems that the other plants do! Survival of the fittest, I guess. Consequently, we have to defend our veggies and flowers, pull the weeds and keep toxics away from kids, pets and garden.
To that end, I’ve created a “weeding best-practices” list below. It’s short and Feldenkrais-based and will help you work fast and efficiently, which is so important during our harsh summer conditions.
Be sure to invite your kids or grandkids to help you. They need the work experience and contact with nature. And you can teach them to not rip the weeds off at ground line — how to get those roots out — something that has broad application in life!
Weeding Best-Practices
Start by doing a brief inventory of your body while standing or lying down. Scan your entire self, comparing right and left sides. Notice where you have pain and tension and where you don’t.
Just doing this will wake up your brain, stop autopilot mode, and help you not hurt yourself. Plan to pay attention to your body the whole time you’re in the garden. It’s worth the effort. Now here are the tips.
Smart weeding postures, 101:
- Feel where your feet are. Create a stable platform under your body.
- Organize diagonally over one leg while pulling with one or both hands.
- Grasp the weeds close to the ground so that you have maximum leverage and success getting roots out.
- Look at your hands as you use them, so your eyes can organize the rest of your body optimally. This is one of the most important, safety-related jobs that your eyes do, even if you don’t notice it.
- Alternate using your right and left hand, arm and leg — switch them up. Don’t stay in one position too long.
- Use your non-dominant hand and arm, alone or with your other arm to grasp weeds to pull. Your brain needs and benefits from nonhabitual, unfamiliar movements.
- Don’t bend at the waist through your spine. When bending forward, bend only through the hinge of your hips.
- When bending from the hinge or over either leg, push your bottom backward and up through your seat/sit/sitting bones.
- And last, keep paying attention to yourself while cleaning up — it’s easy to strain tired muscles.
Have a wonderful August, dear friends! Happy gardening and harvesting. Pesticide-free food is the best investment in your health you can make.
If you want to learn more about the Feldenkrais Method or Awareness Through Movement classes or private Functional integration sessions, you can contact me quickly and directly using the online form above. You can also learn more https://www.facebook.com/RenoFeldenkrais/ and PM there as well.
Carole Bucher, BA, is a Guild-Certified Feldenkrais practitioner/teacher and owner of Reno Feldenkrais Integrative Movement. She has been teaching the only ongoing Feldenkrais classes in Northern NV since 2009.
