learnings, womanly duties, womanly frailty
Okay, so, I need to catch up on my life, and it's not like I've done much, but I've learned a lot.
I've spent far, far more time on Wikipedia than any human should in the past few weeks. Among other things, I've read up on:
Jewish history
-Significant rabbis
-History of Jews in Spain and the Balkans
-History of the Convivencia in Spain
Fires in schools, including:
-the Collinwood School Fire
-Our Lady of the Angels
-Big-ass school explosion in...Wisconsin? MN? in the 1920s.
Fires in cities, including:
-London
-Seattle
-Chicago
The Hartford Circus Fire
Tornadoes
-The Tri-State Tornado
-Xenia, Ohio
The Blitz
-Evacuation of British children
The evacuation of Dunkirk
And...that's just what I can remember right now.
*****
I made challah using my shiny new Kitchen-Aid mixer last week, and OMG. It's like MAGIC. Bread is suddenly a TEN MINUTE TASK. No kneading!! (B/c of my height--or possibly the height of my counters--I find kneading very difficult. I have to stand on my tiptoes to get enough leverage to be effective, and when I'm done, I'm exhausted.)
The challah was *amazing*, by the way.
*****
I made CLOTHES. Clothes that I can wear!! I've never made person-sized clothes before. I've made doll clothes--I made dolls and doll clothes as a child. I have made pillows and blankets and samplers and teddy bears. But never clothes. I made myself a nightgown last week--JoAnn had Simplicity patterns on sale for $.99/each, so I got two--one for night clothes, and one for skirts. I'm going to try one of the skirts this weekend or next.
And my nightgown is very comfy and it FITS.
*****
Yesterday, after coming to terms with how absolutely disgustingly sluggish I've been feeling, I bought myself a yoga mat and a beginning pilates video. I actually quite enjoyed the pilates exercises, though they're hard. But it's the kind of exercise I like--stretching and strengthening. I'm also seriously considering joining the Y, b/c I could swim and use the stationary bikes. (Running really isn't an option for me--my knees can't take it.) And I could take yoga.
So I put in my new DVD last night, and after the piracy warning comes the "don't hurt yourself" disclaimer, and it says that women on their periods shouldn't do inverted poses or backbends. I'm like, "WTF?" Today, I googled various combinations/versions of "yoga and menstruation," and here's what I find: women aren't supposed to do inversion b/c it could reverse/stop the menstrual flow and harm the body. Some quotations:
During menstruation if one does inversions the blood flow will be arrested. Those who tried to do out of enthusiasm or callousness will have noticed that the flow stops abruptly. This is certainly not good for health since it may lead to fibroids, cysts, endometriosis and cancer, damaging the system.
Yes. People actually argue this. Never mind that none of those things can be connected to STANDING ON YOUR HEAD WHILE HAVING YOUR PERIOD. (Also, did you know that if you aren't pointing your vagina downward, your blood won't flow? Clearly, all that bleeding on my sheets I did as a teenager was just imaginary.)
Now, I did read one semi-legitimate-sounding argument that it could potentially lead to uterine vascular congestion due to stretching of the ligiments or veins or something, but even if that's true, it doesn't lead to cancer, for God's sake.
Also, In general, poses requiring the use of exertion and great energy are not recommended during menstruation. Physical strength may be somewhat diminished at this time, causing one to be shaky or off balance; therefore, standing poses in the center of the room and strenuous backbends may be difficult and exhausting.
Seriously, who writes this shit? It's ridiculous. If women couldn't do hard work when they were having their periods, children everywhere would be totally neglected for at least 2-3 days out of the month.
So after I stopped LAUGHING MY ASS OFF, and shared my findings with my officemates, who were equally stupified and diverted, I did eventually find a few websites that pointed out that there's essentially NO medical evidence for most of this, and to do whatever you're comfortable with when you're on your period.
I just couldn't believe the total BUNK that is being passed off as legitimate. It's really fucking offensive. We're delicate flowers, after all, and shouldn't strain ourselves during our womanly times.
(And let me just say that I'm looking at this from a yoga-as-exercise-and-relaxation perspective, and NOT a yoga-as-spiritual-practice one.)
I've spent far, far more time on Wikipedia than any human should in the past few weeks. Among other things, I've read up on:
Jewish history
-Significant rabbis
-History of Jews in Spain and the Balkans
-History of the Convivencia in Spain
Fires in schools, including:
-the Collinwood School Fire
-Our Lady of the Angels
-Big-ass school explosion in...Wisconsin? MN? in the 1920s.
Fires in cities, including:
-London
-Seattle
-Chicago
The Hartford Circus Fire
Tornadoes
-The Tri-State Tornado
-Xenia, Ohio
The Blitz
-Evacuation of British children
The evacuation of Dunkirk
And...that's just what I can remember right now.
*****
I made challah using my shiny new Kitchen-Aid mixer last week, and OMG. It's like MAGIC. Bread is suddenly a TEN MINUTE TASK. No kneading!! (B/c of my height--or possibly the height of my counters--I find kneading very difficult. I have to stand on my tiptoes to get enough leverage to be effective, and when I'm done, I'm exhausted.)
The challah was *amazing*, by the way.
*****
I made CLOTHES. Clothes that I can wear!! I've never made person-sized clothes before. I've made doll clothes--I made dolls and doll clothes as a child. I have made pillows and blankets and samplers and teddy bears. But never clothes. I made myself a nightgown last week--JoAnn had Simplicity patterns on sale for $.99/each, so I got two--one for night clothes, and one for skirts. I'm going to try one of the skirts this weekend or next.
And my nightgown is very comfy and it FITS.
*****
Yesterday, after coming to terms with how absolutely disgustingly sluggish I've been feeling, I bought myself a yoga mat and a beginning pilates video. I actually quite enjoyed the pilates exercises, though they're hard. But it's the kind of exercise I like--stretching and strengthening. I'm also seriously considering joining the Y, b/c I could swim and use the stationary bikes. (Running really isn't an option for me--my knees can't take it.) And I could take yoga.
So I put in my new DVD last night, and after the piracy warning comes the "don't hurt yourself" disclaimer, and it says that women on their periods shouldn't do inverted poses or backbends. I'm like, "WTF?" Today, I googled various combinations/versions of "yoga and menstruation," and here's what I find: women aren't supposed to do inversion b/c it could reverse/stop the menstrual flow and harm the body. Some quotations:
During menstruation if one does inversions the blood flow will be arrested. Those who tried to do out of enthusiasm or callousness will have noticed that the flow stops abruptly. This is certainly not good for health since it may lead to fibroids, cysts, endometriosis and cancer, damaging the system.
Yes. People actually argue this. Never mind that none of those things can be connected to STANDING ON YOUR HEAD WHILE HAVING YOUR PERIOD. (Also, did you know that if you aren't pointing your vagina downward, your blood won't flow? Clearly, all that bleeding on my sheets I did as a teenager was just imaginary.)
Now, I did read one semi-legitimate-sounding argument that it could potentially lead to uterine vascular congestion due to stretching of the ligiments or veins or something, but even if that's true, it doesn't lead to cancer, for God's sake.
Also, In general, poses requiring the use of exertion and great energy are not recommended during menstruation. Physical strength may be somewhat diminished at this time, causing one to be shaky or off balance; therefore, standing poses in the center of the room and strenuous backbends may be difficult and exhausting.
Seriously, who writes this shit? It's ridiculous. If women couldn't do hard work when they were having their periods, children everywhere would be totally neglected for at least 2-3 days out of the month.
So after I stopped LAUGHING MY ASS OFF, and shared my findings with my officemates, who were equally stupified and diverted, I did eventually find a few websites that pointed out that there's essentially NO medical evidence for most of this, and to do whatever you're comfortable with when you're on your period.
I just couldn't believe the total BUNK that is being passed off as legitimate. It's really fucking offensive. We're delicate flowers, after all, and shouldn't strain ourselves during our womanly times.
(And let me just say that I'm looking at this from a yoga-as-exercise-and-relaxation perspective, and NOT a yoga-as-spiritual-practice one.)