Click on NOTE CATEGORIES to browse by topic, read through the entire archives, or type a topic in the search box.Episode 38
How Did You Move in 2015?
Your own year-end health recap with Katy and Dani
Resolutions are only about what you hope to accomplish, but a health recap lets you look both forward and back in order to more clearly define your goals for the coming year and to give yourself some kudos about all that you did in the past year. Join Katy and Dani as we do our own 2015 Health Recap and invite you to join in with your own.
KATY: It’s the Katy Says podcast, where movement geek, Dani Hemmat – say, “that’s me.”
DANI: That’s me!
KATY: Joins biomechanist, Katy Bowman – that’s me – author of – I’m so bossy. SAY THAT’S ME!
DANI: No, you’re a leader, baby. You’re a leader. You’re not bossy.
KATY: I wrote Move Your DNA, I also wrote lots of other notes when I was in 2nd grade in class that included boxes that say, “Yes or No or Maybe So.” Join us for discussions on body mechanics, movement nutrition, natural movement, and how movement can be the solution to modern ailments we all experience.
DANI: Today’s show is about reflection and rededication, or not. I guess it’s whatever you make it. But we have this little tradition here in America – and maybe everywhere in the world, I don’t know – of choosing at the end of the year to kind of make promises of improvement. And it’s often about our health, things that we want to implement in the new year.
KATY: So. This is a jargon free show, so we are talking about New Year’s Resolutions, are you not?
DANI: That is the less nerdy way to say what I just said, yes. That’s why you will always be cooler than I am.
KATY: Well, also – like, this is not even really the end of the year for some countries. It’s really just our end of the year.
DANI: Right! Yes. The Gregorian calendar, we shall say.
KATY: Exactly. It’s like I try to tell my kids – it’s not, this is not – it’s so hard to remember all these little things, you know, when you live in this place with such cultural diversity – meaning the world, not the town that I live in – where you know, it’s like, it’s the end of the year! You know, which, I tell my kids, like, not really – we celebrate it as the end of our year, but your Persian aunt has 3 more months, you know, before the end of her year. So it’s always fun, it’s kind of like that upside – whatever you want – every time I post a picture of my kids’ room, they’re like, “why is the map in their bedroom upside down!?” and I’m like, it’s not upside down. We live on a ball that’s floating in space, there is no up or down. There’s just –
DANI: Right.
KATY: There’s just, like, north is not up. That’s just one particular perspective. So anyway, it is our New Year’s resolution episode, because you and I live –
DANI: Here.
KATY: - on this ball – in a place – where this is the end of our year.
DANI: Well, you always – you do a cool thing, and I had never considered this before. You don’t really just do resolutions; you kind of do a recap. Like, you look back.
KATY: Yeah.
DANI: And you’re not just about changing and improving for the coming year, but you kind of look back and give yourself some pats about what you did. The year that we’re ending in this arbitrary way.
KATY: Yeah. I know that it’s a tendency for me to just, like, Okay! From here on out, I just want this! And I have that, too, but I have found – you know, it’s really helpful to go back and go, wow, I’ve been saying the same thing – like many, right – the resolution that you’ve had for the last 10 years is exactly the same, and you’re not sure of the progress or whatever. So I’ve found that by doing these – at the end of every year, a recap – and writing it down, and publishing it for the public world, it was easy for me, like, we’re going to go through the questions right now, but I went back and looked at my first one a few years ago, it’s like, wow, I really – I came forward on a lot of things. Not necessarily by only stating what I wanted to do, but by looking at what I had done the year before.
DANI: Did some stuff take you more than a year to kind of move forward on?
KATY: Oh. I – I
DANI: Please say yes to me!
KATY: Yes! Yes, yes!
DANI: Oh, good.
KATY: I didn’t even read – I think the first one that I ever did, it was like, This is the Year of the Upper Body. And I’ve never – I never hung from anything again, after declaring it to be, so.
DANI: Oh, my gosh.
KATY: And then three years later, I was like, look! I just did my first pull-up. It’s just – of course. Of course.
DANI: I can’t tell you how good that makes me feel, because I just – yeah. As long as we keep on swimming, you know, keep moving forward, that’s good to know. Because I didn’t accomplish a lot of my things, so thank you for that.
KATY: Did you do this last year? Did you write it down, too?
DANI: I totally did, because when you published it, I was like, I like that approach. You wanna?
KATY: Yeah, let’s do it! Now, I’m not going to write this down – it’s just going to be transcribed, and this counts. We will listen to this next year and I will know how it went. You, too.
DANI: Okay. And we’re not talking about last year’s – 2014 recap – we’re talking 2015 recap.
KATY: It’s this last year that we have just lived.
DANI: Excellent.
KATY: So we are recording this at the middle of December. This was this year. How did this year go? So I’m going to ask you the first question, you ready?
DANI: Okay.
KATY: Dani, what was your biggest health triumph in 2015?
DANI: Okay, I made huge strides in reducing my hyperkyphosis, and now I have a tremendous of shoulder mobility as a result of that, so that’s exciting to me.
KATY: That is very cool!
DANI: Yes.
KATY: And my answer’s the same – it’s just – it’s my upper – my upper body training was just phenomenal in terms of strength. I just – I did it this year. It was my main priority and I am enjoying many benefits of upper body. So it was the year of upper body, as was declared in 2011!
DANI: You got there.
KATY: That’s right, what is this, 2015?
DANI: Okay, I’ll ask you the one.
KATY: Okay.
DANI: What was the smartest health decision you made in 2015?
KATY: I think it was turning off our Wi-Fi at night for many reasons, the bulk of it going, you can’t work, you can’t – like, you just – go lay down. So you get more sleep, less work, less Wi-Fi, less energy happening all night long. So yeah, that was – it was the easiest and the smartest. What about you?
DANI: Moving to Boulder.
KATY: Oh, yeah.
DANI: It’s like, health central.
KATY: Yeah.
DANI: It’s pretty awesome.
KATY: That is pretty sweet.
DANI: Okay.
KATY: What one word best sums up and describes your 2015 health experience?
DANI: Practical.
KATY: Ah.
DANI: I gave myself practical goals instead of, I’m going to –
KATY: I like it.
DANI: - because I didn’t achieve my pull-up from last year.
KATY: Well, maybe it wasn’t very practical.
DANI: Exactly; I just need to start smaller.
KATY: Yeah.
DANI: Practical.
KATY: There you go. I would say mine is dynamic –
DANI: How about you?
KATY: Thank you for asking after I’ve already started answering, because I – I’m not even polite enough to wait for a prompt. LET ME TELL YOU MINE. Dynamic.
DANI: Ooh!
KATY: Dynamic. I kept moving this whole entire year, like, nothing. Just dynamic. In – not exercising, but in movement. It was very, very dynamic.
DANI: That’s pretty cool.
KATY: I think so. I like that word.
DANI: It is a good word.
KATY: It is. What was the greatest lesson about your health you learned in 2015?
DANI: Lesson.
KATY: Lesson. What’s the greatest lesson?
DANI: Okay, here’s the lesson I learneDANI: even though I think I’m awesome, I am not above proper transitioning. I – I –
KATY: What do you mean? You’re awesome! Just do it already.
DANI: I am awesome. But I tried to go to 5 miles a day right away without that transition, all in one chunk, and I paid for it. Everybody – everybody has to transition.
KATY: And everyone is also awesome. That is the problem.
DANI: Everyone is awesome.
KATY: Those two things.
DANI: What about you? What was your lesson?
KATY: Ah, see? I waited. Now I’m just sitting here going, is she going to ask me? I hope she asks me. That includes rest. I didn’t really realize that my health needs also included rest. That is the most challenging component. Stillness is a part of natural movement. Rest is a part of natural movement, and it’s not the part that I’m really great at getting.
DANI: Oh, my gosh, can I just repeat what you just said? Stillness is a part of natural movement.
KATY: Yep! Natural movement.
DANI: I just want everybody to stop walking for a second and think about that. Okay, go ahead, keep walking. I’ll ask – what was the most loving service that you performed last year?
KATY: You know what it was, it was taking care of my skin – specifically my face skin. So I do, I’m not a – I don’t do much self-care, and that would include, like, putting on oil. I’m very dry, I moved to a different climate, so I just didn’t take care of my face skin, and then I’m going to 40 soon, and I was like, oh my gosh! What’s going on here? It’s like, yeah, this is dryness. So moisturizing the crap out of my face, and I got these gorgeous oils, Feather Eagle Sky, that are just – like, and I don’t want to put anything on my body that I won’t eat anymore. Like, if I won’t put it in my mouth –
DANI: That makes sense.
KATY: I won’t put it on my skin.
DANI: You know what, hon? Don’t eat those Frownies.
KATY: Crap!
DANI: They’re natural but you’re not supposed to eat them.
KATY: You can’t roll them?
DANI: Don’t roll them. Don’t put them up your nose, don’t tug them into your ear canal. Nothing should go in there smaller than your elbow.
KATY: My son came in with a bean in his nose for the first time. A berry from a bush, and he came in, and it was like a super fun parenting moment/I got to use my expertise in forces. I’m like, I know how to get this out! Anyway, so that’s about things in your nose. What um –
DANI: Hold on, now – I’m going to answer. Are you gonna ask me?
KATY: I was going to ask you!
DANI: Oh, I’m sorry. My apologies.
KATY: That’s right. God. Let me tell you my non sequitur stories and then I’ll get back to it, okay? What was the most loving service that you performed in 2015? Besides doing this podcast.
DANI: As always, it was parenting.
KATY: Mm.
DANI: As always, that’s kind of like every year since I had the little suckers. Okay. What is your biggest piece of unfinished health business from 2015?
KATY: Meditation.
DANI: Still.
KATY: Like, and that’s a good pun. (ding!) It’s so – still. Still. Meditation is still a problem for me, and you just rearrange those words and it’s about stillness. So there is a thing called too much movement and I have it, because there’s a level of stillness – and I’ve done, you know, a long, intense, meditative retreat. I adore the benefits of it, I feel better when I’m doing it, but I’m still not doing it, so there’s some cognitive dissonance there for me. It’s something – it’s something that I’m working on. I’m actively working on it. It’s in 2015 that I’m actively working on it in December, I’m like, holy crap; let’s get this done, you know? Done! You know?
DANI: I’ve gotta check these boxes off! Oh, my gosh.
KATY: Three weeks left to do this and change my AT&T, all at the same time. So yes, it’s on my mind. What about you?
DANI: That pull-up. Didn’t do the pull-up yet.
KATY: Hm. Got it. What about your health are you most happy about completing?
DANI: I finally achieved shank rotation!
KATY: Ah!
DANI: It took me forever. It took me forever to understand it, and it took me forever to understand what was happening in my body, but I – it just happened with the funniest tool of all. I’m happy about that. What about you? What are you most happy about completing?
KATY: For my health –
DANI: For your health.
KATY: Yeah, this would be specific to probably movement, would probably just be – you know what? Probably it’s not about movement. This is about making almost all of our meals at home. Like, from scratch, 3 meals a day. That was huge.
DANI: That’s good.
KATY: That was really good, so that’s not a movement one, but it certainly is about my health.
DANI: Well, it’s your health, yeah. So that’s good.
KATY: Yeah. What about you? Oh, wait. You asked me. That was your pull-up, right?
DANI: No. Shank rotation.
KATY: Shank rotation.
DANI: Are you on the Internet?
KATY: Wait, when did you get here? What are we talking about? No, I was just looking and I was like, I don’t know – is it my turn to read a question? I’m not sure.
DANI: I think I’m going to take you off the list for this next question.
KATY: Um, being a better listener. I’d like to work on being a better listener. Sixteen.
DANI: Maybe you need to be still and listen to me. All right. You can ask this question.
KATY: All right. Who were the 3 people with the greatest impact on your health life in 2015?
DANI: I’m going to count my kids as one, my husband, and you. When you listen to me, you make a huge impact in my life.
KATY: When did you get here? Well, I counted my children as individuals.
DANI: Oh!
KATY: Son, daughter, and husband. I made those, whether it was their inspiration and motivation or my obligation – and their demonstration, and I need a vacation. All those together. It was just – they drove almost every single thing that I did in a real, direct way. Like, we need to go outside now. Or me saying to them, like, you need – we have to go outside and because you’re so young, then I have to go with you. It was great. Totally, totally hands down.
DANI: That’s pretty cool.
KATY: And you. Sorry. I feel like I have to add it in now. Your answers are so good, it’s like, my most loving is parenting, it’s like, ugh, I didn’t even say that.
DANI: But you did last year.
KATY: I care more about my skin than I care about my kids.
DANI: But you did last year, and your kids were littler and they took more in a certain way. That’s cool.
KATY: Well, for me, they still take way more, and I love them way more than I love my skin, but the greatest act of love I could do this year was for myself, because that’s where – that’s where the discrepancy was the greatest.
DANI: Mm-hmm.
KATY: You know what I mean, like, so I felt like it was more loving because the previous loving had been so low that this act seemed huge to carve out, like, 30 seconds for oil application. That was hard. See, I have a total problem.
DANI: I think that’s cool and that reminds me of something that our friend Penelope has said once to me is I’m not going for balance. I’m going for flexibility, because balance is rough. But being flexible, you know, that’ll move your forward.
KATY: She says some crazy good stuff.
DANI: I know!
KATY: She’s like, she’s like yoga if – she’s like Yoda.
DANI: We’re going to start calling her Yoga. That’s it. She’s our Yoda in this world, so she’s Yoga.
KATY: She’s Yoda, yeah. She’s got a lot going on.
DANI: She talks like a truck driver sometimes, too. Okay.
KATY: Yeah, like, I was going to say – packaged in a lot of snark.
DANI: Okay. What is the biggest health risk you took in 2015?
KATY: I was looking at this question, but I couldn’t think of anything. Go traveling for work to New York City was probably the hardest physical experience I’ve had. Does going to New York City for work a risk? It was. It was risky. It took some cleanup.
DANI: Really?
KATY: Yeah. What about you?
DANI: Some health cleanup?
KATY: It took some – yeah, it was hard – I mean, being indoors continuously for a couple days: that was tough.
DANI: Yeah.
KATY: What was your biggest health risk? Give me some examples. Maybe I have a different answer. I couldn’t think of anything.
DANI: Well, last year it was surfing, which sounded cool for me, surf lessons? But this year it was just trying to move that 5 miles a day at once without proper transitioning – being all risky.
KATY: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Probably I would like to change my answer, like writing 3 books in 12 months was the big health risk.
DANI: Indeed. That’s an excellent answer.
KATY: That was – now that I think about that, that was risky. It was a risky thing. It kind of reminded me of graduate school, the amount of sitting and stillness that goes in graduate school. It was like my least healthy period of my life was studying.
DANI: Yeah, except thousands and thousands of people –
KATY: Hello? Hello?
DANI: I was supposed to have this ring muted. Who – who did that? You know, that research assistant needs to be fired, because –
KATY: We need a new research assistant, everybody! Everybody wants to put their application in; we will be reviewing, because the other person has been fired.
DANI: Yeah, we’ve had it with them. There we go. I’ll call them after and let them know that this was the final straw. Oh my gosh, are we on the second – where are we? Number 10.
KATY: We are in what was – number 10.
DANI: Okay. What was your biggest health surprise in 2015?
KATY: Tell me your answer, because I couldn’t think of an answer.
DANI: Okay. How hard it is to breathe at 5300 ft. above sea level – just because, even though I was in Montana before this, I spent 25 years in Washington, at sea level, and then went to Montana where I was only 3000 feet. But then it’s just – that extra 2300 feet really has knocked me out and has changed my priorities a little bit, you know, for health goals.
KATY: I think my biggest health surprise was, you know, I do a lot of standing workstation and then a lot of sitting cross-legged workstation, and I have noticed that my hamstrings are tighter than they were last year.
DANI: Really?
KATY: Because I’m not – I don’t have time to add correctives to my day. I’ve added more motion, like standing and sitting in different ways. I think my solution is going to have to be – I’m going to have to change my floor sitting to be one that keeps my hamstrings longer than the 2 sitting postures that I prefer. So, yeah. That was a surprise and it’s going to require some adjustments for 2016.
DANI: Aren’t our bodies amazing?
KATY: They’re so good, but I totally adapted. It’s like, oh, you want to stand there and be strong? Like, you are going to have tense muscles. They’re so good. Bodies are amazing.
DANI: Okay.
KATY: What important health relationship improved most in 2015?
DANI: My relationship with food and how it nourishes my body.
KATY: Mmm.
DANI: How about you?
KATY: Well, I would say that – my most important health relationship was probably the one between my children and I where – I mean, I’ve been doing a lot of breastfeeding for a lot of years, and I just ended that, so.
DANI: Oh, really?
KATY: Yeah, so – my daughter turned 3 and she’s like, we’re good, and I had nourished my son continuously through my pregnancy, so it was almost – it was 4 ½ years. I had nursed him continuously through my pregnancy with her, and him as well for the first 3 years of his life. So it was like, it was a long time. It was a 4-½ year total almost. So now that I’m done doing that, I’m having a different health experience, because I am no longer basically creating milk every day, and also having to fit breastfeeding into my life. I’ve never been bottle-feeding, so it’s been 100% actually breastfeeding. And so I’m having a different, physical health experience, and it’s good.
DANI: That’s good. Okay. What compliment would you have liked to receive but didn’t?
KATY: Oh, man. I didn’t think of anything else for this one, too. What compliment would I have liked to receive but didn’t? How about you?
DANI: Wow, you lost weight!
KATY: You don’t need that compliment.
DANI: No, but nobody said that to me, though. I would have liked to receive it. What about you? You’ve gotta have something.
KATY: Something that I –
DANI: I’ll tell you what your one last year was –
KATY: What was it?
DANI: You look so rested.
KATY: Yeah, well, it’s not that this year. I’m trying to think – it’s such an interesting way to phrase it. I think that –
DANI: Well, it’s funny because I never really think about, like, compliments wanting to – you know, I always think about, what can I say to other people that will make them feel good or whatever, but I never really think about, oh, nobody ever said they like my haircut.
KATY: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
DANI: It’s like, I never really think about that.
KATY: Well, see, everything that I – because I am – I’m in a social forum all the time. So I get lots of compliments on different things, but – a compliment like, wow, I recognize that you’ve actually done a tremendous amount of work, and the bulk of it is actually free for most people, like hours and hours and hours of it are free. Because what I tend to get is like, I know you did all this other stuff for free, but could you do this one particular thing for me? I get that a lot.
DANI: Mm-hmm.
KATY: And so, I don’t know. What is the compliment form of, could everyone, before they ask for anything, make a list of things that they were happy that I did for them? And I’m sure that’s everybody. That’s everybody.
DANI: Totally.
KATY: When you get thousands of emails, it comes across as more like, wow, I guess what I don’t see are the 50,000 emails of people who, of course, are happy and grateful and all that stuff. And I don’t need anyone to email me – no one email me and tell me thanks. It’s just more about – it’s more about, it’s helped me really pay attention before I ask or put something out there that’s like a corrective or whatever, to go, before I do that, I’m going to sit and look at all the things that were done, because –
DANI: Mm-hmm.
KATY: - do unto others, I guess.
DANI: You are a gift, for sure.
KATY: It’s not about – I don’t like, I certainly don’t want anyone to think that I’m just like, please everyone, just write me nice things. It’s not that at all. It’s just – it’s more about, this is about me really recognizing in others.
DANI: Mm-hmm.
KATY: Like, I try to make that – but – so thinking about that, what compliment would you have liked to have given but you didn’t?
DANI: Okay, this is very specific.
KATY: Okay, wow. I accept. I accept.
DANI: Debbie Lebeck Beane, you are doing everything as awesomely as a person can, and you amaze me on a daily basis.
KATY: Yeah. Yeah.
DANI: I just wanted to say that out loud. So I did!
KATY: Many people should. Many people should. Just in case no one knows – she’s, yeah. She’s kind of the go-to person –
DANI: Mm-hmm.
KATY: For so much of Nutritious Movement.
DANI: Yep, she’s a very dedicated person.
KATY: She is very dedicated, and she deals with a lot.
DANI: What compliment would you have liked to have given, but did not?
KATY: Well, clearly, it’s: Dani, have you lost weight? It was just right on the tip of my tongue.
DANI: Awesome. Oh my gosh.
KATY: And also – also this other one. The other compliment that I would have liked to have given would be, just, thank you to the readers either on the blogs or on Facebook or on any social media forums who are helpful in pointing out things that we could do better or things that they would like, because they are great inputs. So thank you for – like, especially when I get, you know, kindly worded, positive emails, that’s just – it’s really helpful, because these things are very large and require thousands of eyes, and so it’s nice to get positive, thorough, non-violent communications.
DANI: Right, and it demonstrates care, which is lovely in this world.
KATY: Of course.
DANI: We all need more of that.
KATY: And need. It demonstrates need. Everyone has needs, and everyone certainly has the right to declare their needs, but there is definitely a way to do it, which is just – like, thank you, out there, for everyone who has just done it, who has as a result made everything better. This podcast, right? This podcast is better because of great feedback, so complimenting others and for doing – doing the correctives, like the exercises and the life transitions and sharing your stories and pictures with all of us, complimenting you, like, wow, look at what you’ve done.
DANI: Mm.
KATY: Like, they have done a lot. People out there have done a lot of beautiful things, and they’re inspiring other people and so they have my compliment. It’s great.
DANI: Okay. What else do you need to do, or say, to become complete with 2015?
KATY: You know what I didn’t do? I didn’t do a long trek this year. I was really hoping for, like, a 30 mile – like a 1-day long trek. I did something similar over my birthday week because I turned 39; I walked 39 miles in that week –
DANI: Mm-hmm.
KATY: But I wanted to do something – something where it was almost like a single day focus. You’re just not talking to anyone, you’re just walking, you’re – no audiobook, it’s just this meditative kind of journey, but I didn’t get around to it. What about you?
DANI: Sounds cool.
KATY: It would have been.
DANI: I think just to say thanks for letting me talk with you so much. Because even though I have fun, I have also learned such an enormous amount; I’ve had this huge education the past year, just by being a goofball with you. Thank you for giving me that time, and talking with me.
KATY: Wait, is this the what do you need to say or do to be complete for 2015?
DANI: Yeah.
KATY: You feel like, what do you need to do to be complete?
DANI: Well, the other thing – just say thank you, to you, for letting me talk with you so much and getting an education, you know.
KATY: Oh! Aw, well, thank you.
DANI: Oh, and say “rabbit, rabbit.” I need that, too. But I have to wait until December 31st.
KATY: What is rabbit, rabbit? It’s the first day of the year or something like that?
DANI: Yeah, it’s the first thing you say on the first day of January. You wake up and you don’t say, I have to pee, or oh, my head, or anything. You just say, “rabbit, rabbit.” And then you have good luck all year. Woo!
KATY: It’s not, where is my coffee?
DANI: No.
KATY: Dangit.
DANI: All right. Now we’re going to move on to the second part, which is the Creating Health. You want to do that?
KATY: Okay.
DANI: So creating health for 2016.
KATY: Actually, wait a minute! Movement break. Movement break.
DANI: Okay, sounds good.
KATY: You only have to do one thing, and that’s just put your arms over your head. Get them up there, put them up over your head. Link your fingers, do a stretch. Bring your ribs down.
DANI: Oh, my gosh.
KATY: Bend to the right, bend to the left.
DANI: Thank you.
KATY: You’re welcome. Put your arms down. That might have been the only time in the last 3 hours that your arms have been over your head.
DANI: That’s good. I feel lymph and blood and energy flowing, thank you.
KATY: I feel rainbows and unicorns.
DANI: Okay.
KATY: Creating health: 2016. So this – that was the reflection, now I’m going forward. What would you like to be your biggest health triumph in 2016?
DANI: More body strength. Like, upper body strength.
KATY: Mm.
DANI: How about you?
KATY: I think for me, I mean, I know for me, my biggest health triumph would be a multiple day, overnight backpack, where we’re hiking with the kids.
DANI: Oh, that sounds fun.
KATY: We did one, hiking and camping out in the middle of a – on a river bar out in the wilderness, and then camping back out. That was huge, but I’d like to do a multiple – a multiple-day one.
DANI: Cool. I hope you do.
KATY: Well, I will! I have to! I’ve said it out loud – this is – this is it, this is the intention. The intention has been sent!
DANI: It helps. Public declaration is very powerful. Okay, what health advice would you like to give yourself in 2016?
KATY: Rest. Do not write any books this year, please.
DANI: That’s right. I’m going to duct-tape your fingers.
KATY: It’s like wearing shoes. It’s like, I’ve got this, I’ll just use my wrist-ankles. What about – what about, uh, you? What health advice would you give yourself for 2016?
DANI: Hike higher. I mean, in altitude.
KATY: Oh, altitude! Okay. All right, got it.
DANI: Altitude – got it. Get those lungs working.
KATY: What major effort are you planning to improve your – this is where they get you to nail it down. What major effort are you planning to improve your health results?
DANI: I am going to add more bodyweight-only exercises. You know, how about you? What major effort are you planning to improve?
KATY: Just getting out to hike multiple miles every day as a whole, entire family. We’re good at, you know, doing 2 miles is our standard. But I’m talking more like 5, maybe 2 days a week where there’s a 5 mile walk for the whole family is going to be necessary, I think, to do the trekking we want to do for the next year.
DANI: Cool.
KATY: And the major effort being, putting up with a lot of whining.
DANI: Say it again?
KATY: Putting up with a lot of whining. And gear – packing gear for a bunch of kids. That is the true effort. The other part is not hard; it’s just being the motivation and the teacher and the leadership for the kids.
DANI: There’s a lot of truth in that, yeah.
KATY: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
DANI: What would you be most happy about completing in 2016?
KATY: Oh, you know what? I think that I would be most happy – does that mean, like, something that’s already been started? Like, what did you do? Is that starting and completing?
DANI: Well, like, what would you be able to say at the end of – when we do this, hopefully, at the end of next year, what would you like to be able to say that you did?
KATY: Well –
DANI: Like, I didn’t plan on saying, oh, my shank rotation! But that’s what I was happy about. What would you like to be most happy about?
KATY: What would you like to be most – well, I would be most happy about completing a multiple-day overnight in the woods.
DANI: There you go.
KATY: Yeah. I would – that would just make me feel, like, like I had met most of the objectives I had been working on.
DANI: Cool.
KATY: What about you?
DANI: It’s that bleeping pull-up. I just need one.
KATY: All right. Just need one. Do you do any when someone supports you from underneath, just so you can?
DANI: Yeah, I have like a little stool and a little strap to work on it, but it’s – it’s – you need to do a lot of prep for it. That’s why I love your advent calendar that we’re doing right now.
KATY: It’s kind of fun. Yeah.
DANI: Thank you.
KATY: What major health indulgence are you willing to experience in 2016?
DANI: Okay, this is hilarious – it was going to be a hydro-colonic.
KATY: Oh, I am so getting you that! A gift certificate.
DANI: Hold on, I just got a gift certificate last night for one. My husband –
KATY: Is that a Hanukah – is that an acceptable Hanukah present?
DANI: It’s a lot better than socks, if you ask me.
KATY: Okay!
DANI: I just got the gift certificate last night. That was going to be my indulgence. I think my next thing is, I would like a few visits with an Ayurvedic practitioner, because something has been kind of drawing me in that direction, and I would like to, you know, kind of explore that. What major health indulgence are you willing to experience in 2016?
KATY: Well, I am willing to experience observing your colonic. Clearly, that is an indulgence. If you would indulge me, I would be so thankful.
DANI: I will tell you when the appointment is and you can come and just have a nice cup of tea and watch it all go down. First go up, then go down. Literally.
KATY: I so want to give you all these Ayurvedic – you know, my hus – Michael, my husband’s an Ayurvedic practitioner, and I was drawn to Ayurveda and that’s how I met him. So beware!
DANI: Oh, wow.
KATY: You’ll just show up for an appointment and then you’ll get married and have a few children and some enemas thrown in between.
DANI: I married a man who gives me a hydro-colonic gift certificate for Hanukah.
KATY: You win.
DANI: I hit the jackpot, Katy Bowman.
KATY: You win. You clearly win.
DANI: I’m sorry. We both hit the jackpot.
KATY: We did. That’s so great, everyone is. We’re all busy hitting the jackpots. (sound effect: slot machine) Some are cherries, and some are enemas. My major health indulgence, and I am – I am willing to – I’m tip toeing it around, is leaving my family, not to do work, but to do nothing. I’ve never done that. I haven’t – left them – for, like, I went to New York City for 3 nights, and that was just packed. Jam-packed work, so I could justify it to myself, but to leave and give myself a gift of 2 days of doing nothing. I’m really, really, really – I’ve found the thing that I want to do, and I’m, like, I’m willing to experience it, but I’m very nervous.
DANI: That sounds kind of cool.
KATY: I’ve never – have you?
DANI: No, no, no. I’m the same as you. It’s either – it’s for work or it’s not at all -
KATY: Yes.
DANI: - when I’ve left my kids. I mean, you don’t have to tell me exactly what you’re going to do, but like, is it going to be a retreat with other people or are you just going to rent a cabin in the woods somewhere where nobody knows where you are.
KATY: No, I kind of wanted to do – I wanted to do – I like movement a lot, but being still. I don’t enjoy it, but I found this – I want to do this retreat. Just a women’s retreat, just for a couple days, and just some, like yoga, and cross-country skiing. It’s in Montana. I’ll send you – I can send you the information about it, but I was thinking, it would be so nice to not have to be myself. Like, no one’s asking me any questions, no one knows who I am, I just go by myself – hopefully, like, the worst thing would be right? If I get there, and that’s been the trouble – I’ll go some places and people do know me and then I’m not as relaxed -
DANI: Mm-hmm.
KATY: - because I feel like – I have a lot of introverted tendencies, which is not interesting, considering – I mean, I am an extrovert, but I need a lot of solitude.
DANI: You can be both.
KATY: Yeah, so I feel like I’m a little bit of both, and so it’s become a little bit more challenging for me to go where no one knows me and then just ahhhh, relax. So I’m hoping to do that. I’ve never visited a friend or spent the night at a friend’s house. I haven’t done anything like that. So.
DANI: Well, this retreat sounds cool. I really hope you could do it.
KATY: Oh, my gosh – I’m so scared. Someone else can weigh in, going, do it! Do it! That’d be great. Everyone will be okay. And I’m sure everyone will be fine, but I know it’ll be fine.
DANI: Oh! Hold on, there’s a call coming in. Nope! They said you should do it. You should do it! Do it. Thank you, caller! Bye bye.
KATY: Hello, Kathy Boughman? I think that you should just go ahead and do it? That’s what the substitutes called me. Kathy. Kathy Boughman.
DANI: Okay.
KATY: All right. What would you most like to change about your health in 2016?
DANI: I would like to meditate more than one time a year.
KATY: Is that going to be on New Year’s Eve?
DANI: Yeah. Yeah. I just always – like you, I know that this is something I very much need to do –
KATY: Yeah.
DANI: And then I do it like, once or twice, and then forget the rest of the time. I would like to make it a more regular practice. What would you most like to change about your health in 2016?
KATY: Similar: meditation and – and – rest. But I don’t mean, I don’t know what I mean, like, by rest. I mean, like, sleep. I get plenty of sleep – I sleep plenty, you know. It’s more about – it’s about resting achievement. A resting – resting, this tendency or this need to create yet another thing. So I need that to be still for a little bit, so I’m working on it.
DANI: Cool.
KATY: What are you – what are you looking forward to learning about health in 2016?
DANI: I think – and I know I just said, you know, try not to balance thing, but I think how to kind of balance both my movement nutrients and my food nutrients better. Just listening to my body and that. What are you looking forward to learning about health in 2016? Aside from attending my hydro-colonic?
KATY: Which is going to be a lesson in itself. I think microbiome, which is, interestingly enough, not unrelated to, I was going to say, your butt. But your colon. But uh, yeah, it’ s that. There’s just some research I’ve been putting off for a long time because I haven’t had a chance to do it, because I’m going – I don’t have any time to do it, so that’s – that’s going to be the piece that I think I read for fun.
DANI: What do you think your biggest health risk will be in 2016?
KATY: Writing more books.
DANI: I thought we just had a talk about this.
KATY: We did! But it’s – it’s think, the word is think, that the risk is always there. It doesn’t mean that anything actually – I don’t have to take the risk, but the risk still exists.
DANI: That’s true.
KATY: What about you?
DANI: Well, I didn’t think about it that way; I maybe kind of answered this differently then, than I should have. I think I’d kind of like to take climbing lessons, and for me that’s risky because I kind of have an issue with heights.
KATY: Yeah.
DANI: And I’ve actually climbed – I had a boyfriend that was a mountain climber, rock climber. And I’ve climbed in the Tetons in Montana, and I hated every second of it. I never got any lessons, I was just strapped into harness and said, okay, go. And you know, not wanting to let on that I was terrified, I just didn’t really enjoy it. So I’d like to do it on my own terms.
KATY: Yeah.
DANI: With my newfound upper body strength that I got this year, and kind of deal with that, being strong enough to take care of myself even though I’m terrified of the heights, you know, like, feeling okay about that.
KATY: You live in Boulder now! You are – like, you’re high! You are high!
DANI: I know.
KATY: You’re high! So you can go even higher.
DANI: Yep.
KATY: I’m going to send you a John Denver tape. Not even a CD. I’m going to send you, like, an old John Denver tape and you can go out there and just work on climb low, work the upper body.
DANI: I’m going to have to look at it, because I don’t have anything to play it with.
KATY: Well, I’ll try to find you a Walkman, too.
DANI: Okay, that’ll be great.
KATY: What about your health are you most committed to changing and improving in 2016?
DANI: Again, upper body strength.
KATY: Mmm. Mine’s the ability to take care of myself. Take time for myself so – it’s like, it’s a theme. I see what the theme is. You know why –
DANI: I was going to say, this totally – all these questions kind of point, they funnel you in a direction – and we’ll talk about this at the end, about how people can do this.
KATY: I don’t know, because if you think they’re all funneling, check this out: what is one as of yet undeveloped talent that you’re willing to explore? Does that have anything to do with upper body strength? Or colonics.
DANI: No, for me it doesn’t.
KATY: What kind of colonic talent are you planning on exploring – oh, I know what you’re going to explore in 2016, never mind.
DANI: Actually, it’s not me, I’m just going to lay on the table. I’m cool. Okay, one undeveloped talent. I would like to finish one of my books.
KATY: Oh! Writing. Book writing.
DANI: Mm-hmm. Book writing. Not just -
KATY: Well, finishing. Book finishing.
DANI: Finishing, yeah, there’s a whole bunch of piles of unfinished stuff, and I think that is a talent is just finishing a freaking thing.
KATY: It’s a skill. Finishing is certainly a skill.
DANI: Haven’t accomplished that yet. What about you?
KATY: Hunting.
DANI: With your bare hands?
KATY: No, that’s throttling.
DANI: Oh! Throttling.
KATY: Hunting – all of it. The tracking, the stalking. I’ve done different aspects of it and I’ve been working towards it, but now it’s about – the full aspect of it. Securing more of my own food, meat-wise. I’ve got the garden – oh, the garden! That would have been a good thing. Really eating a lot off of our land, last year. That was really a health accomplishment. But next year it’s all about meat.
DANI: Taking it down.
KATY: Mm-hmm.
DANI: At my kids’ nature school they teach them tracking and how to build weapons out of sticks and stuff, and I just think that’s brilliant.
KATY: Yeah. Well, and my kids are doing that too, but now they’re looking for the next – they are looking for the next level of modeling, and it’s like, what do we do with it? And I’m like, it’s really about, you know, securing food, so we have to do the next part as a family. So I’m excited – that’s what our next year will really be about as a family. All those pieces. Yeah.
DANI: Oh, let me ask this one, you’ve been so good about asking.
KATY: Okay, do it.
DANI: What brings you joy and health, and how are you going to have more of that in 2016?
KATY: Being outside. Being in nature, and even more, really, understanding the – being in wilderness as opposed to being in nature; they’re two different things, and so being in wilderness is really making me super happy. And I’ll get more of it in 2016 by incorporating other people into our outdoor and wilderness time. That just seems to make – it changes the logistics, which just makes longer bouts of it more possible, so that’s – that’s me. What about you?
DANI: Camping.
KATY: Oh! Similar.
DANI: I didn’t camp enough the last couple of years, and for us it was a transportation issue, kind of.
KATY: Yeah.
DANI: Because we have 3 dogs we have to haul along with all of our gear. I’m going to get a trailer hitch to put on my Subaru, and I’m going to get my butt out in the dirt this year, because I really miss sleeping outside, you know, in the silence.
KATY: Yeah. It’s – that was great for us last year. It was super healing. What one word would you like to have as your health theme for 2016? Everyone, what is your health – this is so cool.
DANI: Hold on, you skipped one.
KATY: No, I didn’t! I did! See, I’m so selfish. Who or what, other than yourself, are you most committed to loving and serving in 2016? I just didn’t even see the question, I skipped right over it. Clearly, no one.
DANI: You’re going to love my answer.
KATY: My optometrist. I don’t know.
DANI: My answer is everyone.
KATY: Oh, that’s great.
DANI: I was going to try to be nicer and kinder to everyone.
KATY: Yeah.
DANI: How about you?
KATY: It’s so interesting. My answer to that one, as well, was, I am most committed to loving and serving those people who would tend to be the people who made me want to do that as little as possible.
DANI: Exactly.
KATY: You know what? Like, that’s what it’s all about.
DANI: Exactly.
KATY: Whatever I’m perceiving as the most irritating or the, like, the most violent or whatever to me, then that’s who I am most committed to continuing to flesh it all out with.
DANI: That’s good stuff.
KATY: Oh, we’re all, like, synchronicity.
DANI: Yeah.
KATY: Okay!
DANI: Final question.
KATY: The final question – sorry, everyone. What one word – what one word, 2016. It’s your health theme. You’re going to write it somewhere big, so that you look at it. So every decision, when you look at it, you’re like, how do I want to spend my time – this is, you’re going to refer back to this word and see if that decision is in alignment with what you want. What’s your word, because I’m going to write your word down on my calendar, too.
DANI: Okay: forward. I just want to keep moving forward.
KATY: Ah.
DANI: No matter how small, you know, every meal matters, every movement matters. Just forward.
KATY: Not foreword, with an e-, like the word at the front of your novel that you’re going to complete?
DANI: No. With an e?
KATY: Foreword? F-o-r-e?
DANI: Not foreword – no, I get it, yeah, yeah. Sorry. I was in a different world. No, just moving forward. Moving. Not stopping or – well, I didn’t achieve this, so I’m going to stop, but just keep chipping away.
KATY: Got it. Plugging on.
DANI: What’s your one word?
KATY: Wilderness.
DANI: Mmm.
KATY: Wilderness. I would like to be outside, in the wilderness, as much as possible. And anything that’s going to keep me away from that is going to be something I have to reconsider, I think, in 2016.
DANI: I can’t just wait to see you throttling a deer with your bare hands. It’s – can I come, please?
KATY: I can’t do it.
DANI: Bring me along.
KATY: I’m not sure how mobile you’ll be after your colonic, if there’s a lot of hiking that’s recommended?
DANI: Oh, I’ll be light as a feather, man, I can go anywhere with you after that.
KATY: That’s the best time to do your pull-up training, like, after your colon’s cleaned out. They’re probably going to, like, oh! There was an anvil in here, I’m sorry!
DANI: I’m going to schedule that – I’m going to schedule that whole thing. It’s going to be all done in one day.
KATY: I think you should video – a pull-up, colonic, and post-video of a pull-up and see how it goes.
DANI: It’ll be a highly trafficked blog post, I think.
KATY: It’ll be so good.
DANI: Yeah.
KATY: All right, well.
DANI: Well, everyone can do this exercise. What we’re going to do, is I’m going to have the questions put in the show notes, okay? And the show I think is going to come out December 29th, so you will have some time to work on it before – you know, you do it whenever. Like, every day is a chance to change your life. And that is one thing that is wonderful about being alive. But –
KATY: It can be a new year whenever you say it’s a new year.
DANI: Exactly!
KATY: Like, the New Year is not a real thing, people! It’s not real! It’s just a fake – your new year starts when you say it does, you know?
DANI: Yeah.
KATY: And also cool, what people did last year, is they did this, and then they tagged me in it so I could read their answers. So if you do it, please tag Dani and I, because we are just as interested in your answers as you were in ours, so share them, because I find them inspiring and it assists in refining – you go, oh, that’s so true, I never thought about that, when you read what’s in other people’s replies.
DANI: Absolutely. And we’re all in it together – it helps us build a community when we do that. And we cheer each other on. So that is it! We are going to have an exciting thing that we’re adding in January, as well, that you can all look forward to. We’re going to add in another show.
KATY: A specific kind of show.
DANI: What kind of show is it?
KATY: It’s a mailbag show.
DANI: Mailbag!
KATY: Mailbag shows! They’re little, short shows that – 15 minutes, they’re where we answer 3 of your questions. They’re going to tide you over when you’re in that long, 2-week period between our shows, and it’s just helping us meet the needs of everyone who has questions in kind of a fun and fast format. So they should be good for a quick mile walk, so maybe load them up, and then you can use them if you need a little bit of extra inspiration, if you just have these little short movement breaks you want to take throughout the day. So the movement mail bag, yeah?
DANI: Yeah, sounds good. I’m looking forward to it – and also, the new site is up: NutritiousMovement.com, and it is a resource haven. It is easy to navigate, just type in what you want and you’re going to have a fistful of resources, just right there for you. Things you can learn, things you can read, things you can listen to, things you can purchase – courses, instructors, all that stuff. Check out the new site and let us know what you think as well.
KATY: Yes, please.
DANI: Because that’s helpful. Are we good? Are we ready to just move on? Forward?
KATY: Frankly, I think you need to go do a pull-up and I need to go meditate. I think that’s what needs to be happening right now.
DANI: Let’s do it. I’m committed. All right, well, thank you for listening. For more information, books, online classes, etcetera, you can find Katy at NutritiousMovement.com. You can learn about me, Dani Hemmat, movement warrior and hopeful pull-up candidate at MoveYourBodyBetter.com. Thanks for listening!
KATY: Bye!
DANI: Bye.
We hope you find the general information on biomechanics, movement, and alignment informative and helpful – but it is not intended to replace medical advice and shouldn’t be used as such.
SHOW NOTES:
- What was your biggest health triumph in 2015?
- What was the smartest health decision you made in 2015?
- What one word best sums up and describes your 2015 health experience?
- What was the greatest lesson about health you learned in 2015?
- What was the most loving service that you performed in 2015?
- What is your biggest piece of “unfinished (health) business” in 2015?
- What (about your health) are you most happy about completing in 2015?
- Who were the three people with the greatest impact on your health life in 2015?
- What is the biggest health risk you took in 2015?
- What was your biggest health surprise in 2015?
- What important health relationship improved most in 2015?
- What compliment would you have liked to received but didn’t?
- What compliment would you have liked to have given but didn’t?
- What else do you need to do or say to be complete with 2015?
And now the Creating Health 2016 part…
- What would you like to be your biggest health triumph in 2016?
- What health advice would you like to give yourself in 2016?
- What major effort are you planning to improve your health results in 2016?
- What would you be most happy about completing in 2016?
- What major health indulgence are you willing to experience in 2016?
- What would you most like to change about your health in 2016?
- What are you looking forward to learning about health in 2016?
- What do you think your biggest health risk will be in 2016?
- What about your health are you most committed to changing and improving in 2016?
- What is one as yet undeveloped talent you are willing to explore in 2016?
- What brings you joy and health and how are you going to have more of that in 2016?
- Who or what, other than yourself, are you most committed to loving and serving in 2016?
- What one word would you like to have as your health theme in 2016?
