some GREAT ideas…oh, this is a good one, for sure…

Check it out HERE on Squidoo!

way cool…from the UK!

GO HERE to read about the concept.

Here’s an example…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Always keep your stomach muscles tight and firm. This will help keep your back in proper alignment as well as tone your abdominals.

Let’s fast forward ahead for those of you who want the truth.

Those 2 sentences are ridiculous for several reasons:

a) Anatomy 101. The stomach is an organ…see illustration.

b) since it’s an organ there are no such muscles in it for these purposes.

c) ‘help keep your back in proper alignment‘… this only happens if you are conscious of all your movement and stability.

d) ‘as well as tone your abdomininals‘… WHAT?

We’ll leave you with this breakdown of the Anatomy 101…

Part II will make more sense to you, once you begin to learn the essentials.

This is STOMACH, the organ.

The illustration below it is the ABDOMINALS.

..a bit different, wouldn’t you say?

In Part II, we’ll tear it apart even more.

and remember the Five Alives of GardenCore :

1. Dynamic Warm-Up

2. Switch tasks regularly

3. Stretch in between

4. Always come from the core

5. Listen to you body feedback

with these ….no backs EVER need to get broken!

The Wild Twining of Wisteria

I spent my early years living on an old Hudson River estate replete with orchards, arbors and perennial borders, edges defined and graveled pathways shaded by arbors filled with wisteria. I remember finding the fragrance cloying to my young sense of smell, but appreciating the lacy tunnels of hide and seek leading to other garden spaces or fountains. I was lucky to be able to visit my old home recently the wisteria is gone though I am pretty sure the climbing hydrangea is the same that was there half a century ago.

Wisteria is known to be a spectacular spring show in traditional garden design plans, a ‘must’ for every garden with a pergola or beamed porch roof, you will find it in most established landscapes having arrived from China as early as 1816 and from Japan fourteen years later.

Named in honor of botanist Caspar Wistar, Wisteria was promoted as an easy-care fast grower, and that it is, often to the extreme. What used to be a ‘required element’ has been found to be a rampant invader, killer of trees.

This year the northeast has had a prolonged and admittedly spectacular spring display of the now invasive vine. One notices its pervasive nature when every tree limb is hung with fragrant, purple clusters, all the way to the top and over some really tall trees as they have been of late but blossoms fade and our attention is drawn elsewhere, the invader quietly moves through the canopy, getting under siding, creeping into eaves.

An interesting observation is that the varieties that originate in China twist around trees in a clockwise fashion while vines from Japan climb the opposite way. Both suspend their seeds in long, hairy brown pods.

Don’t despair, you can still use wisteria just  buy a less aggressive native variety, wisteria frutescens  [wis-TEE-ria  fruk-TESS-ens] which has lovely fragrant, racemes of purple-blue flowers in late May and contains itself to modest growth aspirations.  I have always been partial to wisteria grown as a standard like the one in this picture, taking up the space of a broad shrub but not climbing. This design treatment requires discipline with pruning as does all use of wisteria.

As an early bloomer the buds that will blossom are apparent early on, allowing removal of non-flowering branches. You can prune all unwanted twining branches back to six inches every few weeks during the growing season to control the vine. Wisteria that fails to bloom may have been fed nitrogen-rich fertilizers which will encourage growth but no flowers.

The native w. frutescens , prefers moist soil and sunny to partly sunny conditions. It will bloom in the shade but less so than in sun. There is an informative guide printed by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and available locally at Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve, called Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants that will help the garden er to make wise choices in selecting landscape elements.

Neuroplasticity is all about neurons having the ability to establish new connections throughout our brains, facilitating all sorts of new functioning, including new movements that are familiar.

Interestingly, in the recent AARP Bulletin column, “Put Your Brain To Work”, Barbara Struch reminds us that we are bombarded with ads and articles telling us to eat blueberries, drink red wine and do crossword puzzles. Do they work? The jury is still out on some.

The current star in brain science research is exercise.  Because exercise pumps blood through our brain’s blood vessels it also prompts the creation of new brain cells, even as we age.  Oh, yea!

Neuroscientists believe these new brain cells help us better integrate and cope with the new and may help to ward off depression. To keep our brains sharp we are best served at moving beyond what we now or can recall and instead push our brains to actively embrace the new.  This effort will create and nourish new brain connections.

To stretch our grown-up brains we have to present them with concepts that perhaps challenge our world view… things that take us from our comfort zones or even familiar zones.  If we always use the same routes to process information, our brains may not get the stimulation they need to flourish.

Shaking it up and seeking new directions will take us away from our well-worn paths.

Suppose we put a hybrid application of GardenCore and neuroplasticity news together?

I’d propose it might look like this: 

When you teach your body to see the same moves that you perform in the garden and then deliberately practice them with intention this is the birthing of new cells in the brain.

Even though your movement outdoors is a repetitive act can we say that it is sometimes haphazard?

You have simply  taught yourself what to do to get the job down….after all; your love is the garden.

Can we insert intentional movement specifically designed to educate and challenge the familiar way that has carried you through life thus so far?

Begin with the positive in mind and let the body and brain learn anew… now that’s some action!

Yes!

We said watering your body.

Simply remembering and adjusting your fluid intakes can help you enjoy a vibrant new health.

Here are 5 reasons why your body needs water every day.*

• Water is the main source of energy- it is the “cash flow” of the body.

• Water increases the efficiency of red blood cells in collecting oxygen in the lungs.

• Water clears toxic waste from different parts of the body and takes it to the liver & kidneys for disposal.

• Water is essential for the body’s cooling (sweat) and heating (electrical) systems.

• The human body has no stored water to draw on during dehydration.  This is why you must drink regularly and throughout the day.

Obviously, water is essential to our being not only in the garden, but in everyday life.

When working in the garden, absolutely remember to bring your water….and re-fill it lots!

Ahhhh.

(* taken from F. Batmanghelidj M.D “You’re Not Sick, You’re Thirsty!” )