I think today will be the last cool one this
season, because forecasts predict that, starting tomorrow, temperatures will
rise radically along with much more intense humidity – i.e., oppressive dew
points every day. The dread Sweat City is
approaching for the next several months.
Re: my exercise routines. I stopped exercising after 21 November last
year when I had my cataract surgery. The
eye doc forbad it since it would take a month for my eyes to heal. Also, I stopped micro-dosing Cannabis then because
I mainly use it for goading me to exercise, and I vaguely knew of its effects
on eye pressure. (Cannabis had
historically been recommended for certain glaucoma treatment, since it affected
eyeball pressure; I didn’t know the details, but I thought I should stop toking
pot just to be safe.) And, since marijuana
is one of the most dramatic incentives for me to exercise with vigor, I lost
the inspiration to work out.
In the weeks after my eye surgery, I had my
prostate crisis. Enlarged, but benign,
prostate meant a catheter and the Rezum surgery on 3 January. That surgery didn’t work. The continuing need for a catheter is fundamentally
restricting, and my old exercise routines of radical stair-climbing had to stop. I have become a couch potato, only reading or
watching films, not moving enough.
I have lost an incredible amount of muscle. One worry is that, with weakening core
muscles, my crippling sciatica pains will return. I’ve already felt the beginnings of such
pain. What exercises could be possible
to keep from collapsing into such downward-spiraling weakness? Maybe some dumbbell work and Yoga for the
upper body and core – while restricting the legwork only to stretches, moderate
walks, and no radical stair climbing.
But my months of inactivity have let me slide
into a mindset of sloth. That’s a tough
morass to clamber back up out of. What
can inspire me again? Cannabis!
I have again tried micro-dosing with two
tokes of weed. It is amazingly transformative;
in that it immediately gets me into a Tai Chi workout that is focused and that
makes me work on so many different muscle groups with mindful concentration. Not just token Tai Chi movements – but
intense focus on all needed muscles that need waking up and care. The incredible awareness of my physical body
is beyond compare. Cannabis is excellent
medicine when used in moderation.
Also in these weed sessions, I moderately do
my USMC calisthenics, Yoga and stretches.
Then I do the Tai Chi and calisthenics with lite dumbbells.
Throughout my life, a micro-dose of marijuana
has encouraged me to physically move out, work out, and aspire to greater
things. It is life-affirming.
After full exercise routines today, I sat
out on my camp lounger on the veranda, watching the day cool down. Maybe the last comfortable evening for a while. Pairs of birds race by. The wind is still. There’s a lot of silence, punctuated by bird
calls. Life is good.
-Zenwind.
.
