That’s interesting about not letting yourself feel too happy. Is preventing a rude shock which may not happen (you could die suddenly or anti-aging tech could be developed) worth putting the brakes on feeling happy?
I’ve realized that one reason [1] I don’t reliably allow coordinated joint mobility in T’ai Chi is that it doesn’t feel natural/allowable for me to feel that good. I’m not sure what’s behind that.
[1] The other reason is that it takes a lot of mental focus to change movement habits.
Is preventing a rude shock which may not happen (you could die suddenly or anti-aging tech could be developed) worth putting the brakes on feeling happy?
Perhaps. I make a lot of choices that are aimed to mitigate the negatives[1] I anticipate of being older. Other reasons that I do it are to just keep a balanced whole-lifetime perspective and curb manic tendencies.
[1] I wanted to add that this doesn’t mean I anticipate mostly negatives. In any case I feel that since being older relative to my current self might last for decades I should focus on that self more than people seem to.
I must look into coordinated joint mobility … would it feel as good for anyone?
I think it would feel good for anyone, but I’m not sure what proportion of people already have it. Anyone who’s a natural athlete would have it.
“Coordinated joint mobility” is what I what I came up with to call what my teacher is trying to teach me. I don’t know whether it’s got a standard name.
The general idea is that skilled movement involves moving at least a little through a lot of joints. If people are unsure of what they’re doing, they’ll try to simplify the process by moving as few joints as possible. (The Frailty Myth, a book about women and sports, has somewhat on the subject—there’ve been studies on how people learn to throw, and it turns out that “throwing like a girl” (throwing from the shoulder instead of involving the whole body) is exactly equivalent to throwing like someone who’s unskilled at throwing.)
Feldenkrais Method is very good for preventing some of the effects of aging. The idea is that if you don’t use part of your movement repertoire, you forget you have it. Feldenkrais has gentle repeated movements that remind you of your range of possibilities.
That’s interesting about not letting yourself feel too happy. Is preventing a rude shock which may not happen (you could die suddenly or anti-aging tech could be developed) worth putting the brakes on feeling happy?
I’ve realized that one reason [1] I don’t reliably allow coordinated joint mobility in T’ai Chi is that it doesn’t feel natural/allowable for me to feel that good. I’m not sure what’s behind that.
[1] The other reason is that it takes a lot of mental focus to change movement habits.
Perhaps. I make a lot of choices that are aimed to mitigate the negatives[1] I anticipate of being older. Other reasons that I do it are to just keep a balanced whole-lifetime perspective and curb manic tendencies.
[1] I wanted to add that this doesn’t mean I anticipate mostly negatives. In any case I feel that since being older relative to my current self might last for decades I should focus on that self more than people seem to.
I must look into coordinated joint mobility … would it feel as good for anyone?
I think it would feel good for anyone, but I’m not sure what proportion of people already have it. Anyone who’s a natural athlete would have it.
“Coordinated joint mobility” is what I what I came up with to call what my teacher is trying to teach me. I don’t know whether it’s got a standard name.
The general idea is that skilled movement involves moving at least a little through a lot of joints. If people are unsure of what they’re doing, they’ll try to simplify the process by moving as few joints as possible. (The Frailty Myth, a book about women and sports, has somewhat on the subject—there’ve been studies on how people learn to throw, and it turns out that “throwing like a girl” (throwing from the shoulder instead of involving the whole body) is exactly equivalent to throwing like someone who’s unskilled at throwing.)
Feldenkrais Method is very good for preventing some of the effects of aging. The idea is that if you don’t use part of your movement repertoire, you forget you have it. Feldenkrais has gentle repeated movements that remind you of your range of possibilities.