I may be youngin’ but at times my body at feels twice as old
especially when I’ve gone through a long day in the studio. Every
hours I make myself get up and walk around to get the blood
circulating in my body as well as stretching.
I was wondering if any of you Orchid members had any helpful
exercises they do to help your wrists, back, neck, or to refocus your
mind while in the studio.
Maybe I should consider bringing in a yoga ball…
Lauren Anabela Beaudoin
Dear Lauren,
I can think of certain ones, such as standing on one leg with the
other stretched out behind you, arms outstretched in front, back in
one line with leg, parallel to the floor. Then, do it on the other
leg. That’s a yoga pose.
However I think you would be best served to actually take an
exercise class or DVD and you would learn certain moves in them.
Your favorite (and least dangerous, not to kick the pickle pot!)
exercises you would remember from them.
Your studio break moves should just complement your dedicated
exercise time. They should also be ones that your body needs most.
I have just started to exercise regularly again after 2 years of
inactivity. I am so glad- it pays off and is worth more than the
time spent.
Another one: lie on the (clean!) floor with knees bent, feet flat on
the floor. Gently lower knees to right side and turn head to left.
Slowly bring all back to the center and repeat on other side.
Connie L.
Hi Lauren,
I do know how you feel. Doing yoga in the morning before I head out
to the studio really helps, even just 15- 20 minutes. Also, there is
even a whole “chair” series of yoga poses that help. I could write
an essay on all the different poses you could do!
A couple off hand that help me a lot - interlace your hands behind
your back and do a forward bend, letting your arms drop towards the
floor over your head. gives a really nice shoulder stretch and a
stretch to the back of your body. standing back up and squeezing
your shoulders together and doing a slight backbend. this i find
helps me the most, you can do it sitting down - frequently. backward
bending and squeezing the shoulders helps to counter act all the
soldering and sitting w/ your head craned forward/down. Remembering
to breath is always helpful to. Its all to easy to hold your breath!
Getting a book might help too, as describing poses in words is a bit
difficult. I have some drawings I could send you if you are
interested though, feel free to email me!
Happy Stretching!
Beth Cyr
Hello all, from a “mostly lurking newbie”,
The discussion on exercise in the studio brought to mind a caveat,
mentioned to me a month or so ago by Celie Fago, at a class in her
studio: " Remember the 20/20 rule: for each 20 minutes of work [at
the bench], look up and focus on something 20 feet away for a little
bit". A very good exercise for our eyes, thank you, Celie!
I have enjoyed reading all the posts by Orchid members and hope to
be putting lots of the advice to good use very soon in my process of
learning lamp work bead making and also silver jewelry fabrication.
As a number of other Orchidians have verbalized, I have quite a bit
of anxiety about setting up my torches in my garage for the summer so
I’ve appreciated all the threads on safety issues from all of you.
Thanks so much.
Nancy Robinson in Vermont