Tools I'll Use

Almost halfway through my 60s now, I'm increasingly aware that a flexible body will be just as important as a flexible mind in my later years. I've owned this book (Stretching by Bob Anderson, Shelter Publications, 2000) for a decade and referred to it off and on, but I'm going to stretch far more often and more consistently with the new tool I loaded onto my computer today -- a 30-day free trial of StretchWare software, based on Stretching.

I don't want my blip to sound like an "informercial," but it's been very helpful to to do a couple of minutes of stretching every 45 minutes, following the clear diagrams and brief instructions provided. The StretchWare software is aimed at people with desk jobs, so most of the stretches are done sitting or standing -- #7, above, is among them.

I like to visualize what's happening inside my body when I stretch, and this book makes that possible. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I love it! I've had episodic IT (ilio-tibial) band pain (it's the long white band on the outside of the leg on that book cover), and seeing what it looks like and where it attaches has helped me better understand what I need to do to keep that problem at bay.

Knowledge is power!*

*(Francis Bacon, Meditationes Sacrae, 1597; exclamation point is mine)

(Here's today's blip in LARGE, if you feel the need to do some stretching...)