Number 5: Yoga, Quarantine Life & Ginger Groot

Bored out of my mind
The past few weeks have been challenging. On the one hand, I got to spend more time with family because of the quarantine restrictions placed on the country by the government. On the other hand, it’s frustrating not being able to go anywhere, other than the market.

I have been trying to entertain myself throughout this “ordeal” via blogging, reading, planting ginger, and doing household chores, cooking, chatting with family and friends, video-calling, making an effort to learn a new skill, etc. I know, this is a lot of things already, but I feel that there is still something lacking in my quarantined life. Heck, I’m starting to see a face in this ginger and imagining that this is going to grow anthropomorphically, similar to Groot.

Light-bulb Moment
Kidding aside, it dawned upon me that the lack of physical activity is taking its toll and causing stagnant energy to brew. Energetically speaking, this stagnation is preventing the flow of qi to freely circulate. For those of you well versed in traditional Chinese / Korean / Japanese medicine, what can you say about this? Is my analysis correct?

Ginger Root
Planting ginger rhizomes doesn’t really need much physical exertion, while cooking and household chores are, well, chores... I have this outdated thinking that it doesn’t count as exercise, otherwise, I sweat it out in the kitchen during this heat wave and without air conditioning in our house.

So far, my first attempt at growing ginger looks good. Out of the three pieces of ginger I started with, all of them started sprouting already; and, I've already planted two.

Ginger planting articles and videos explained that these pieces of ginger can be planted directly on the ground or in a container, but I placed it in water first and waited to see some roots start to grow and the "eye" starting to show signs that it will one day bring a bunch of ginger that I won't have to buy from the store.

Going Back to my Topic
I’ve decided to start - what’s that word? – exercising, which I’ve heard some people actually do. LOL. The life of a digital creative isn’t favorable to freelancers whose endless keyboard tapping sound like rhythmic music to our ears, and makes them fingers the fittest group of muscles in the body.

I’ve accepted the fact that I am not as fit as I used to be and recognize the need for change. Changes in my lifestyle to incorporate activities conducive to a positive change in terms of my health.

Some Investigation
Scouring the internet, I googled the answers to the toughest question of the day “what benefits will I get from the different kinds of exercise that I am considering?” I was immediately bombarded with articles explaining the benefits of regular physical exercise.

The Mayo Clinic lists seven benefits of regular physical activity: weight control, combating health conditions and diseases, improved mood, energy boost, better sleep, puts the spark back in your sex life and it’s fun and social.

So far, so good, I haven’t read anything that I don’t agree with. What’s not to like in the list? But that’s just my opinion, you may read the entire article (link here) and decide for yourself.

Risks of Exercise
I believe that the benefits of exercise far outweigh the risks. I can only think of two things that concern me right now: dehydration and minor injuries. So I plan to start slowly and err on the side of caution, meaning I won't be pushing myself to the limit.

For example, if I can do 10 push-ups max, I will only do 8 for my routine. I will only increase the number of repetitions as I get comfortable and feel that I am ready to.

Considerations
Space, ease of entry, need for equipment, am I comfortable doing it.

Basically, I am looking at something that I can do in the limited space that I have at home, preferably without any equipment and something that I am comfortable doing even without the need of a coach.

In this regard, push-ups, sit-ups, lunges, squats, planks all pass the space test and have no need for extra equipment.

I am considering Surya Namaskar, the Sun Salutation; one of the most recognizable Yoga sequences in the world.

I practiced yoga back in the day, but focused more on the meditative aspect rather than asanas. It’s interesting that while researching about its benefits, I chanced upon this video by Dr. John Douillard, who provided great insights into the practice and shared his findings, specifically, benefits relating to the internal organs.

I also considered other workouts and practices while writing this article. Practices such as tai chi, qi gong and The Five Tibetan Rites all bring immense health value and also a great community of practitioners, but might need more effort from me to get into.

So for now, I feel that Surya Namaskar is the leading “candidate” as my personal quarantine exercise. I’ve done it before and am fairly comfortable in the positions. The Dr. Douillard video and many articles I read helped sway me in this direction too.

Reaching out to the Hive Yoga Community
Is the Surya Namaskar a good quarantine health practice? What benefits have you gotten out of it (for practitioners)? What are the common injuries and can it be prevented?

Do you do stretching or calisthenic exercises before and after?
Any other thing that must be done before starting the session? How do you end or close the session? Sorry, I have too many questions. Haha...

COVID-19 Update
Because this is still part of my Coronavirus pandemic “series”, I would like to give a short update with these numbers (from the worldometers.info site).

That’s it for now. Thanks for reading up to here. It has been a challenging journey for all of us at this time. Wishing you, dear readers, a healthy and happy life with an abundance of blessings; be kind and compassionate to each other and always keep our connection to the divine alive.

Best,

Juan V.

PS. Please comment what you liked (or didn’t like) about the article. I am always open to improvement. A reblog is extremely helpful while an upvote will surely make me smile. :)

*unless otherwise stated, all images are mine.