I have been hanging and playing on monkey bars in my back yard almost every day for the last four months, and I am blogging about it each month.
Let me tell you a secret: This is hard; I am still not very good at it; and sometimes I think I will never get anywhere.
Last year I practiced deep breathing every day, and I saw immediate benefits and big changes. It felt like I was taking giant leaps forward every month.
With my monkey bar hanging practice, I feel like I am a little bird trying to walk across the United States.
Progress is so, so slow.
To make matters worse, in month three and four–August and September–I traveled, it was really hot, and my kitty Leo passed away, which has caused me to feel sad a lot. All of this has made my practice more sporadic than I like.
Sometimes I feel like I am not getting anywhere. Nevertheless, I have decided I am going to keep doing my monkey bar practice the whole year because I believe I learn as much from failure as success. I also believe that small changes are as meaningful as big changes.
And this brings me to my small change for this month: I noticed a change in the way I feel and think when I am on monkey bars.
My arms feel stronger. My back feels stronger. I am getting familiar with the bars, and I have started to imagine myself swinging across them and back with ease.
Sometimes change starts in our feelings, imagination, and body before it actually makes it into the world.
This is small progress, but it is progress.
I’ll see you next month–big change or small change.
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Published by shellypruittjohnson
My name is Shelly Johnson, and I am a writer and philosopher with a Ph.D. in philosophy. One of my primary personal and philosophical interests is how we can learn to love ourselves and each other better in order to cultivate personal and political resilience. I teach ethics and a variety of other courses at a local college. I am the author of the blog Love is Stronger. I am also the author of three logic and critical thinking books for high school and middle school: _Argument Builder_, _Discovery of Deduction_ (co-author), and _Everyday Debate_, published by Classical Academic Press. You can reach me at shellypruittjohnson@gmail.com.
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You’re right, progress is progress, and monkey bars are hard! It’s crazy to think of them as one of my favorite play things as a child, but of course I only weighted about twenty pounds hahaha. But the more you do it, the easier it will become. Once I started working out more, I’ve also noticed a lot of new muscle, which is a fun plus side (although I’ve got so much muscle growth on my upper body that I’m starting to burst out of my shirts a little bit – like the hulk!). Sorry about your kitty 🙁
I love it that you have been lifting so much you are bursting out of your shirts! that’s awesome. l think you are right–I just need to keep doing it, and it will be easier soon. I am also going to work on some exercises this month specifically targeted at helping me get better on bars.
I might recommend, if I may, some core exercises. That might give you some additional upper body strength that would help with the bars. Push ups, spikes, planks, etc.
Yes, I think that’s a great idea, M.B. I am starting to do this stuff more. I think it will help.
Great idea! Yeah I remember volunteering at a school several years back and thinking I could just whip my legs up while hanging from my arms like when we were kids and boy was I in for the surprise of my life! Definitely need more recess time 🙂
I really admire your perseverance and willingness to ride the difficult emotions. Your change in emotions leading to physical change is a revelation.
I have noticed a difference in mindset when I practice yoga, and I put a lot of it down to your encouragement to play. I now have an interest in the way my body can move and how it feels. I feel like I have fallen in love with my pelvis! It is such an amazing structure in our body and allows such a range of movement whilst being (literally) our seat of strength and stability. I think I used to obsess about how I might not look like the picture in a yoga book. What a waste of enjoyment and exploration.
Ali: This makes me so happy both that you have gotten so playful with yoga and that you feel that I helped inspire you. I do so much better when I think about playing with exercise–rather than actually making it exercise. So I am so excited this philosophy helped you, too. And I adore your sentence, “I feel like I have fallen in love with my pelvis”. Ha! That’s wonderful. And I totally et that.
Just the fact you are still doing it is a win and you are gaining strength. Im so sorry about your kitty. I love the watercolors so much ?
Thank you so much, Lisa! This is all so kind!