Somatic Renaissance

I'm waxing grandiloquent with the title of this post but so what. This year, now more than half over, I've made 70 posts to my Mathematics blog and NONE to this blog. This post is the FIRST of the year. The numbers attest to what I already know. I exist largely in my mind and any awareness of my body is largely unconscious.

Unless my tired old body malfunctions, I simply take it for granted. However, increasing stiffness in my neck has caused me to regularly swivel my head about in an effort to break up what seem to be little spurs that are forming in my vertebrae. This motion is essential in reducing the tendency of the neck vertebrae to fuse together. 

Figure 1: source

I can only surmise that the development of these spurs is the result of degeneration due to old age. Cervical Spondylosis is the term for it. See Figure 1. My vertebrae can't be too compressed because I've managed to maintain my height over the years and have not "shrunk" as some old people do. My posture is reasonably good I think. 

So these neck stretching exercises are a daily routine along with exercises for shoulder mobility. As for walking, one of my favoured activities, it's become less appealing. I don't cover my face with a mask when I'm walking but keep it under my chin. Nobody seems to mind but there's always the possibility of encountering the mask mafia in the form of vigilantes or official enforcers. 

Figure 2: source

So I've taken to just a sort of tip-toeing around a confined area as a substitute. This seems to work well enough. Even here, it's easy to overdo things. This very morning I tip-toed around for a little too long and suddenly started to feel nauseous. Whether this was related to my thymoma I don't know but my ongoing affliction plays up from time to time whenever I push my body a little too far. 

I'm temporarily suspended my ten deep squats a day because I started to develop a sore right hip that was impeding my mobility. I may replace those with more shallow squats. I still use the band for leg exercises although I've suspended that as well while my hip is giving trouble. Suspension for too long though is not a good idea as muscles seem to lose their "memory" very quickly as you age, becoming flaccid in the absence of regular reminders.

Figure 3: source

Surprisingly my weight is 70.9 kilograms, so I've not put on any weight. I just feel more flabby. The key thing is to adopt new exercises and activities cautiously and not to try too much too quickly. My propensity to overload is growing daily and may one day prove fatal. Meanwhile, it lives, it breathes, it survives. By "it" I mean this fragile vehicle that for the moment my consciousness is attached to. For how much longer, I don't know.

Figure 4: source