hip/lower back yoga – 20 minutes
I tried out a new yoga routine this morning for hips and lower back release. I liked it (mostly), but it was difficult to follow; I couldn’t see the movements she was making very easily. I’m sure some of it was because I wasn’t familiar with the movements, but I also think it was her (visually) busy set-up. Of, maybe it’s the dark floor? Yes, there’s not enough contrast with the floor and I couldn’t see what her body is doing.
The yoga routine I usually do has a light/white floor so I can the yoga instructor’s arms and legs more easily — at least where her arms and back are bare:
It’s possible that I could see the second yoga instructor more easily because I’ve watched this video hundred of times and I started watching ir when my vision was better than it is now.
I decided to look up “low vision accessible yoga” on YouTube. I found, Yoga For People with Low Vision, which I think I’ll try tomorrow. There’s not enough contrast (for me) between the instructor and the mat, but I imagine the emphasis on describing the movements might help. Thinking more about why it was more difficult for me to follow in the first video, I’m remembering how chatty the instructor was about random stuff. Some moments she offered great descriptions of the movements, but other moments she went too fast or spent more time talking about something else. In my favorite yoga video, there’s no chatting. Just a clear, straight-forward, rehearsed voice-over.
I found a video with advice on how to instruct blind or low vision yoga students, and I found this part about intentionality particularly important:
Yes! Intentionality, mind-body connections, listening — and not just for the students with low vision.
walk with Delia – 20 minutes
neighborhood
20 degrees
Scott and I took Delia on a walk around 2 blocks. Brrr!! It felt colder than 20 degrees. Was it sunny? Now I can’t remember. Wait, it was, I wore my sunglasses. The thing I remember most about the walk were the talkative birds in a neighbor’s bush. I think they were sparrows? I didn’t see them, but I sure heard them! Another thing I remembered were the bare branches of the trees — gnarled and sprawled and looking straight out of a dark fairy tale.
Memory and Forgetting
I came across a Radiolab episode from last spring on memory and forgetting. The first section was particularly great.
SCIENTIST: On a literal level it’s an act of creation.
SCIENTIST: Yeah, exactly.
SCIENTIST: We’re reconstructing those memories.
SCIENTIST: Construction.
JAD: Maybe it’s more like painting or sculpture.
SCIENTIST: Everyone’s constantly their own artist.
SCIENTIST: We take bits and pieces of experience.
SCIENTIST: Some things get sharpened, other things leveled.
SCIENTIST: And infused with imagination and …
SCIENTIST: Out of that construct …
SCIENTIST: Construct. Construct.
*
A memory is a structure that connects one brain cell to another.
Associations! Another thing that creates connections and associations: metaphor
JONAH LEHRER: That the act of remembering on a literal level, it’s an act of creation. Every memory is rebuilt anew every time you remember it.