athletic adventure: qigong

Finally something to write about! I know you've all missed my "must-read" posts. No excuses. Just lazy.

Back in  2010, I went to some Saturday morning classes for Tai Chi. It was free, but eventually that class fell apart. I then found one at the Bethlehem Community Center for $5 a class. But it didn't work out with my work schedule.

Tai Chi was easy, but complicated. Each move was really 10 moves and if you did them wrong you could fall or get frustrated. It was very slow. But, as with anything I try, I did what I could. It was slow and I felt better when I did it. After that I probably looked up YouTube videos but didn't follow thru. Sense a theme? I do better with other people keeping me accountable. 

The last couple of years I've heard about Qigong (Chee Gong). They have a non-credit class at NCC that I've thought about taking. Everything I had read says that it is similar to Tai Chi. I was on the libraries website and saw they have a Qigong class on Saturday morning. I registered for today's session. 

I forgot that today was the Celtic Classic and that the parade starts at the library. Parking was a nightmare. But I made it to class with 5 minutes to spare. It was a full class. Everyone was older. Makes sense. Like Tai Chi, Qigong are meant to be practiced slowly and gently. Qigong is used for self-healing and self-improvement. The exercises are shorter in length and done repetitively.  Like Tai Chi it is something you should do daily. We all know that won't happen. 

This class practices a set of  15 Taiji Movements. We did the middle 5. They were single movements that could be put together as one large movement. The warm up moves were extensive. We also did three of the five bear walks. They were fun but I couldn't keep my balance. I kept falling forward. Clearly I was doing something wrong. The class finished with a self-massage and meditation.

I think I'll go back if I don't have any other Saturday plans.

the cops only came twice

I put this in the wrong blog. Just discovered it today. 

Yesterday was the 35th annual LBW picnic and walk. This year it was at Fort Washington Park. I decided instead of going down the turnpike I'd take the extra four minutes and go 309. Turned out to be more like 45. The instructions said to take the exit to the right to Fort Washington. The other side went to the turnpike. I went left at the bottom of the ramp and ended up on the east/west turnpike. I went under the street I should be on. I had two choices Ft. Washington and Norristown. I chose Ft. Washington and then it said 476 which is the Blue Route. It's also the North/South turnpike. I take the exit and I see Ikea and all other kinds of landmarks for the blue route. But I'm not on the blue route. I'm on the turnpike. I ended up having to take the Landsdale exit, then take 63 back to 309. When I reached 202 I decided to pull over and reprogram the GPS. I thought 202 would get me there. Not quite. I went thru a lot of neighborhoods but finally arrived.

I was boiling by the time I got there. But seeing everyone, and walking, calmed me down. The route was the same as last year. Not an eventful route, lots of hills, but it's nice.

There was alot of walkers on the trail. Some from out of state. The elure of a pig roast must have some appeal.

It was nice seeing people I generally don't see.

Miles/Steps:           about 6

Weather:                low 70s, sunny

Wildlife:                  I killed spotted lantern flies.

no, i haven't died

I couldn't believe when I opened the blog and it was nearly two weeks since my last post. I usually get at least one in on the weekend. This lack of desire is just another sign of a spiral downward. Hopefully, it passes. I'm tired of spinning out of control. My doctors appointment is a month away. He's going to be very angry with me.

School has begun and I'm adjusting to my new schedule. Hopefully, next week I can get some shorter walks in.

The WW design team.

Last weekend I did not walk. Friday I headed to Reading, well actually Wyomissing, for the 4-day Writing Wrongs program. I was the design adviser. Last year I got about 4 hours alone and I went and checked out some parks in Reading. This year, I had no down time. I went around a large block in an industrial park. Once.

Tuesday was a class day, and Wednesday it all caught up with me. I now know what a zombie feels like. I was the walking dead. Thursday was my 12-hour day, and Friday I ran around like a crazy person doing everything I hadn't done since the previous Thursday.

I had two choices for walks yesterday. One was local —Quakertown, sort of —at Lake Noxamixon.  The other was in Elizabeth, Pa and it was a volkssport walk. I wanted to do that one, especially when I first read it as Ephrata, but it was an 1-3/4 hour drive. Q'town is maybe a half hour. I need to save money. Q'town it is.

I opened the email to find out where they were meeting. It said:

There’s no view from the top of Haycock Mountain. This is a tough up-hill hike. So why go?! There are some amazing, gigantic boulders on Haycock Mt, elevation 960 feet/293 meters. Rock climbers hone their skills here. Also, it will be a lovely day...

To start our hike we’ll walk around the level Fishing Pond at Lake Nockamixon. Then we’ll begin a gradual, but steady climb up—on a short section of road, and then across a shallow stream (1-inch of water, so your shoes might get a tiny bit we. Or bring water shoes, or you can rock-hop across the stream).  

This is followed by a 5 to 10 minute walk through Japanese stilt grass ... .

Still going up gradually, we’ll enter the forest. ...  scrambling over rocks ... continue up ... .

You get the idea. WTF? Even in prime condition I'm not fit for that walk. Holey Moley. 

There was still time. I headed for E'town. If I had planned to go here I would have left at 7. It's already nearly 8:30. Traffic on 78 was horrible and it took me over two hours to get there, and I couldn't find the volkssport walkers. I looked up the number on my phone and called. They got me to the start point.

And I'm off. This place is gorgeous. It feels like a college campus—old stone buildings, massive lawns, monuments, a formal garden. It's even got it's own health center, wood workshop, and SEVEN restaurants. Oh, and did I mention it's own orchard with pick-your-own fruit AND a farmers market? Even though the market was near the end of the route, I decided to ride up there to get my apples on the way home.

After signing in I went the other direction to explore the formal garden. It was large. You could climb the stairs to the Grand Lodge and look down over the whole garden from a stone terrace. 

 

At the Masonic Village, there are walking paths everywhere. And as you can see by the sign, they have their own trail system. If you're rich and over 55 you could move there. Gone are the days of needing to be a Mason. Even the large Masonic Lodge in downtown E'town was up for sale.

All-in-all I'm happy I drove the distance to explore this place.

Miles/Steps:           about 5, including the walk, the farmers market, and the formal garden

Weather:                low 60s, sunny

Wildlife:                  so many butterflies, moths and bees. No spotted lantern flies. Yet.

Bathrooms:             I-5 In the picnic area

Extra:                      I met a woman walking who lives there. She saw the volkssport tent and asked what was going on. By the end of the walk she was joining the Penn Dutch Pacers. She's a former 10K runner.