52 Card Project 2022: Week 36: Pillows
Sep. 9th, 2022 10:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pegkerrSo I bought a zabuton and zafu pillow set. They arrived this week and I am starting to use them.
I bought them for two reasons: in part of my continual quest to get healthier, I wanted to delve more deeply into meditation. I've experimented with meditation before but usually when lying on my bed right before I fall asleep. I want to engage with it more deliberately.
But an even bigger reason is that I am interested in spending more time sitting on the floor.
Throughout my marriage, my living room was never a place where I could sit and relax--Rob always had his stuff dumped all over the (very tatty hand-me-down) couches and the disorder drove me mad. It was definitely not a place I could feel peaceful and comfortable. After Rob died and I cleaned out the house, I bought a set of living room furniture that I like very much. It is soooooo extremely cozy and I find it personally beautiful. I truly love it, and my living room is now my favorite place to hang out.
But as part of my reading about healthy lifestyle, I ran across the concept of blue zones, parts of the world where due to cultural practices of diet and lifestyle, people live to great ages in the healthiest possible manner. And one practice that helps is to do as the people in Okinawa do--sit on the floor. When you're getting up and down off the floor 20 to 30 times a day, all those squats and all that muscular mobility and flexibility keep you stronger and less likely to fall.
I also remembered reading about the research regarding the sitting-rising test, which was developed by Brazilian researchers in exercise and sports medicine in the 1990s. In one study of subjects between the ages of 51 and 80, those with scores in the lowest range (0 to 3) were 5–6 times more likely to die within the study period (about 6 years) than those in the group with the highest scores (8 to 10). See more here.
I can sit down without using my hands, but getting up, I need one hand to assist. I want to improve this. I want to get more flexible in my hips.
This collage is more suggestive of the meditation function of my new pillows, but the simple fact that I will be sitting on the floor is equally important. One thing that I've already discovered that I have to use my core a lot more.
Image description: Peg sits on a Zabuton/zafu pillow set with legs crossed and her eyes closed and her hands, palms upraised, on her knees. Semi-transparent copies of the same pictures of Peg recede behind her. Bottom center: four oblong rocks are balanced atop each other; the shape reflects the seated figure. Background: pink, with a suggestion of coruscating rays emanating from Peg's seated figure.
Pillows
Click here to see the 2022 52 Card Project gallery.
Click here to see the 2021 gallery.
I bought them for two reasons: in part of my continual quest to get healthier, I wanted to delve more deeply into meditation. I've experimented with meditation before but usually when lying on my bed right before I fall asleep. I want to engage with it more deliberately.
But an even bigger reason is that I am interested in spending more time sitting on the floor.
Throughout my marriage, my living room was never a place where I could sit and relax--Rob always had his stuff dumped all over the (very tatty hand-me-down) couches and the disorder drove me mad. It was definitely not a place I could feel peaceful and comfortable. After Rob died and I cleaned out the house, I bought a set of living room furniture that I like very much. It is soooooo extremely cozy and I find it personally beautiful. I truly love it, and my living room is now my favorite place to hang out.
But as part of my reading about healthy lifestyle, I ran across the concept of blue zones, parts of the world where due to cultural practices of diet and lifestyle, people live to great ages in the healthiest possible manner. And one practice that helps is to do as the people in Okinawa do--sit on the floor. When you're getting up and down off the floor 20 to 30 times a day, all those squats and all that muscular mobility and flexibility keep you stronger and less likely to fall.
I also remembered reading about the research regarding the sitting-rising test, which was developed by Brazilian researchers in exercise and sports medicine in the 1990s. In one study of subjects between the ages of 51 and 80, those with scores in the lowest range (0 to 3) were 5–6 times more likely to die within the study period (about 6 years) than those in the group with the highest scores (8 to 10). See more here.
I can sit down without using my hands, but getting up, I need one hand to assist. I want to improve this. I want to get more flexible in my hips.
This collage is more suggestive of the meditation function of my new pillows, but the simple fact that I will be sitting on the floor is equally important. One thing that I've already discovered that I have to use my core a lot more.
Image description: Peg sits on a Zabuton/zafu pillow set with legs crossed and her eyes closed and her hands, palms upraised, on her knees. Semi-transparent copies of the same pictures of Peg recede behind her. Bottom center: four oblong rocks are balanced atop each other; the shape reflects the seated figure. Background: pink, with a suggestion of coruscating rays emanating from Peg's seated figure.
Click here to see the 2022 52 Card Project gallery.
Click here to see the 2021 gallery.