Postural Righteousness

"We all have the right to have good posture!"
This is my belief anyhow. I, admittedly, have good posture. That is, when I think about it, I have good posture. I teach Pilates to a range of abilities. As a part of my class I talk a lot about posture, body alignment, and body awareness. But I didn't always have good posture. In fact, I Don't always have good posture. I have to think about it! A lot.

In the past year or so many of my friends have asked me, "Are there exercises to help my posture?"
Rock climbers have terrible posture. You know it, you can see it. We all look like the Hunchback of Notredame. I'm starting a new element of this blog and I'm calling it, "Postural Righteousness". I will do my best to give weekly exercises and ideas to help all of us with this habit (it is a habit you know), stick with me and we'll all get over it.

This is the hunchback................................This is Me...................

So, stand up straight, stick your chest out and make your mama proud. Your first homework assignment is simple:

You are an upright individual. You walk on two legs, sit on your bottom, swing your arms when you walk. Do you really know what your body is doing at any given moment of the day? We are going to start by connecting our minds with our bodies because this above all or any exercises I can give you is going to be the key to your presentable uprightness.

1. Sitting down, without moving away from your computer, try to visualize all the parts of your body. Got a mental picture? Now, start to add to this picture. What is the position of your feet, your hips, stomach (near your navel that is), chest. Visualize your spine, your back, your neck, your head. Where is the top of your head?
   
2. Paying special attention to what your spine, stomach, neck, and head are doing. Where is your stomach in relation to the bones that form your spine and your hips?
3. Place both feet on the floor. Lean forward. Do you feel your hips tilt and your stomach change position?
4. What does your neck do when you lean forward? Does it stay in line with your spine or does your chin jut forward?
5. What is the position of your shoulders? Are they held high, tilted to one side, or maybe level. Lift your shoulders as high as you can trying to touch your ears and take a deep breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. Lift them high!!!! And then drop them. Repeat. Breathing in, lifting your shoulders high, and exhale DROP them.
   Are your shoulders lower than they were?
6. Sit back in your chair so your bottom touches the back of your chair. This may feel awkward and stiff but stay with me. Try to begin from your tailbone and slowly press your lower back against your chair. Feel you hips tilt to a very upright position. Smoothly, allow the rest of your spine to rest against the back of the chair. Did your shoulders rise? Try to relax them down. You should feel that your shoulder blades are even on the chair as well.
   
7. In this position, relax your neck and shoulders by taking a deep breath in and exhaling any tension you might be holding.

Congratulations, you have now met your body, acknowledged it, and now you can begin to help it. You can do any number of these things during your day. Sitting or standing. Just by taking into account what your body is doing at any given moment is your first step to better posture.
Breathe.

Inspiration Station

Call me a dork, a dweeb, a fan, a freak, a fool---or join me in being completely inspired by the olympics! I don't know about you but I'll take some inspiration where-ever I can get it and the olympics seems like a darn fine place to pick some up. Last nights men's half pipe final was a body buzing high of inspiration. Shaun White. No more needs to be said.
Dude, he sent that thing.
So today I've vowed to stop drinking more coffee and remember that I haven't eaten yet. Scarf some eggs, drink some emergen-C, eat some carbs and go for it.
Today, I'm taking my dog on an hour long snowshoeing adventure to go check out the state of the boulders. Our five foot dump of snow is beginning to melt off so I figure there have to be some dry top-outs out there in the wild!
I'll find some time to do some work before I head over to a friends wall to train before I pick up my daughter from school.
One thing: I'm getting tired of my breakfast routine. Any suggestions?

A Tale of Two Islands

The latest Urban Climber Magazine is OUT! The cover is Kyle's photo of me on Mobeus and it welcomes the reader with an accurate picture of the sloping, powerful and yet graceful problems that await climbers in NZed. Our feature article is my first published work and has ignited an excitement in me to do more! The 10 page spread is, in my opinion, carried by Kyle's stellar photos. As a non-climber, Kyle's eye is honed in a different way and I hope you enjoy his images!
The issue itself seems to give each individual article a cohesive, over-arching theme: classics.
Our article is named for a Tale of Two Cities, another is named for the amazing poem by John Keats, "Ode on a Grecian Urn", which was a poem that resonated with me in high school.

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty," - that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

The quotes that narrate a beautiful photo essay by Andrew Burr range from Mark Twain to Top Gun (One of my favorite movies to quote.) This issue is full of content that transcends the world of climbing and yet it matches so well. I love the play on words. Kudos to Justin Roth.
I have to mention that the juxtaposition of the woman climbing on the rocks (you know which one I'm talk'in about) and the woman flying through the air like super dancer climber is one of my favorite parts of this issue.
Go get it and let me know what you think!

For more about our trip in NZ which spanned 5 months go to:
www.surfandstone.blogspot.com

Fred

A Portrait of Fred Nicole from Prana Living on Vimeo.

Chuck Fryberger shot this well stylied short about Fred. By the way, his camera is so high tech it looks like an underwater boom box. Check it!

Snowpocalypse

Natural Disasters are not the end of the world. But the last few weeks it seems mother nature has flexed her biceps and reminded us just how fragile our existence is. After the news about Haiti landed on my internet scene, my eyeballs were glued (torturously so) to all the images from the devastation that is Port au Prince. From the first moment I saw the photos I felt summoned to help. That's when Flagstaff got our own taste of El Nino.
In one day, 3 feet of snow blanketed Flag in white. The next day, it dumped 2 more feet. With interstates closed, and buildings collapsing what is a person to do but go sledding, build five room igloos or perhaps just snowshoe down to a friends house for hot cocoa and a jam sesh. Ava (my daughter) kills it on the harmonica.
Driving through the desert where the houses look like hobbit holes and little lights peer out of buried windows. The usual browns and golden tans have been replaced by sparkling white and I feel like I'm in a whole new place. I didn't have to travel far, like a 360 degree circle I landed in the same place I started but a world apart.

Dear Martha

Since the snow has made the top outs untop-able I have decided to become better acquainted with my kitchen. My first project was to find the perfect recipe for baking chocolate chip cookies at high altitude (we live at 6500 ft). I had always heard to add more flour (makes them very dry and crispy), add less flour (makes them thin and crunchy), don't add as much baking soda (blah)... I decided to try this recipe that was buried deep within the archives of Cooks Illustrated. If you've ever attempted any of these recipes you should know that Cooks LOVES butter. How wrong could it go really? And they turned out to be the best cookies EVER. So here's the recipe:

Warning: Do not bake cookies in batches!!!! Bake them separately!

Be amazed, not afraid, of the size of the dough balls you place on your cookie sheet.

Makes 16 cookies. Published May 1, 2009. From ATK Books.

Avoid using a nonstick skillet to brown the butter; the dark color of the nonstick coating makes it difficult to gauge when the butter is browned. Use fresh, moist brown sugar instead of hardened brown sugar, which will make the cookies dry. This recipe works with light brown sugar, but the cookies will be less full-flavored. For our winning brand of chocolate chips, see related tasting.

Ingredients

1 3/4	cups unbleached all-purpose flour (8 3/4 ounces)
1/2	teaspoon baking soda
14	tablespoons unsalted butter (1 3/4 sticks)
1/2	cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
3/4	cups packed dark brown sugar (5 1/4 ounces) (see note)
1	teaspoon table salt
2	teaspoons vanilla extract
1	large egg
1	large egg yolk
1 1/4	cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks (see note)
3/4	cup chopped pecan or walnuts, toasted (optional)

Instructions

1. 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 large (18- by 12-inch) baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

2. 2. Heat 10 tablespoons butter in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and, using heatproof spatula, transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl. Stir remaining 4 tablespoons butter into hot butter until completely melted.

3. 3. Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Add egg and yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 seconds. Let mixture stand 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds. Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth, and shiny. Using rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if using), giving dough final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain.

4. 4. Divide dough into 16 portions, each about 3 tablespoons (or use #24 cookie scoop). Arrange 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets, 8 dough balls per sheet. (Smaller baking sheets can be used, but will require 3 batches.)

5. 5. Bake cookies 1 tray at a time until cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, 10 to 14 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack; cool cookies completely before serving.

Have fun!! Bon appetit.

This was a miniature photo in the last UCMag...