Patriot's Dream Obediah

My name is Obediah, I am a three and a half year old wether that was born on Patriot’s Dream. I like to get pet, rub against humans, and play with Powerstroke. I was born October 26, 2010, while Bailey was preparing for a large theatre production of Guys and Dolls. This led to being named after the gambler turned missionary, Obediah Masterson. I have a better personality for a wether, but being with the big boys, I sometimes let out bucky attitude.

As a kid, I spent a good bit of time in the house. At the time, my half-brother, Nathan was living in the house as a bottle baby. As a half-brother, we share a dad(sire), Huey, who still lives with me in the buck pen. I was sad when Nathan went off to be a herd buck at another farm, but I was really excited for him.

The few times I’ve gotten to go to shows, I was still a buck. Based on my personality, I really was meant to be a wether. Still my favorite part of the shows is the obstacle course.  I am hoping to return to the show circuit and maybe become someone’s showmanship wether, because sharing Bailey with the babies isn’t as much fun.

March of the Pygmies (A little late on this post!)

The first weekend in March, Bailey and I snuck away for a day. We have had just about every cold that has gone through this year, so we could not make but one day of the show, but loved getting up there for what we could! We went up early Saturday morning for the March of the Pygmies Pygmy Goat Show near Phoenix. Over the course of the weekend, there were three open shows and a youth show, we attended the two open shows while we were up there.

Bailey only took little Verse (Aqua Patch Across the Universe), and still had plenty of practice helping show other goats and learning about little details of goat conformation from breeders and judges. This is such a great group that gets together and is always willing to share knowledge and teach, discussing the finite details of breeding and scorecards.

With kidding season in full swing for many breeders, I had the wonderful pleasure of cuddling this little one who had been born during hte night. He is a little bottle baby from Ferrin Farms, so I really got to relish the baby fix!

Bailey had a good time with youth showmanship, alongside her friend Joey, and most of these youth have showed together at these shows for some time. Sure missed her friend Abbey, though, they were up for the show on Sunday.

I find that when I am at home chasing animals and cleaning pens, I get great ideas for craft projects. I must not be the only one, because these are some amazing projects from other artisans who are breeders of pygmy goats!

This is my favorite photo of the day, of Bailey with her little buddy Verse. Since Bailey has taken to training an all new showmanship goat each year, it is a huge learning curve for the goat each time, and a lot of work for her.  This little one is learning , and had never been shown before Bailey purchased her last Summer, let alone been used for showmanship. She stresses a lot whenever we leave home, but by the end of the day, she had settled in and rode home well. We will see how they do come county fair time next month!

All the best to you all, hope all the animals are doing well at your place, and if Silver truly is pregnant, we will share all of the photos when the little ones arrive!  Our next project, though, is the remake of the doe barn, so I hope she holds off a little bit longer!

Everything I Need to Know in Life, I Learned Walking Tumamoc Hill...

Do you remember several years back when all those signs were up about Everything I need to Know in Life I Learned in Kindergarten/ from my Dog/ Cat, etc? As we headed up Tumamoc Hill this morning, I saw all these simpl lessons going on around me, and began snapping pictures to take this theme into the new old age of memes and a nature preserve...

So here goes nothing, 

Everything I Need to Know in Life, I Learned Walking Tumamoc Hill...

Make life a fun ride...

Clouds can be good or bad.  It depends how they act in your life, and how you do as well.

yup.

Be ecologically aware...

Ignore the rumors. Or give them something else to talk about...

Or give them something else to talk about...

But don't let them get you down.

Keep going.

In the right direction. Lead the way.

Be proud, and rejoice!

Don't let others tell you what to do. Do the right thing, at the right time, even if others don't.

Don't give up.

Got any to add?

Pima County Fair 2013- The Heritage Poultry Project

From the time that Wyatt and I kept getting sent tot he poultry section of the petting zoo, to Wyatt earning his first chickens, then Bailey joining the poultry project so that Wyatt could sit in the back and learn along with her, the Patriot's Dream poultry journey has been a winding one.

The year after our first chickens arrived, Wyatt and Charlie talked Bailey into trying the meat pen project in 4-H.  We knew it would be a learning experience, and we had no idea how right we were!  

For those of you who have raised the cornish rock cross birds, you already know they are a laboratory created bird which is designed for optimal meat production in a short period of time.  These birds do not live long enough to lay eggs and cannot reproduce naturally.  The commercial poultry industry standard is for them to live 49 days from hatch to slaughter, and are almost exclusively the chicken you purchase as a broiler or fryer in the marketplace, regardless of whether you purchase organic or not.  In the 4-H project, those birds are brought to fair at 6-8 weeks of age.  After that first year, Bailey spent some time researching better breeds, as those fast growing created birds might put on lots of breast meat fast, but come with their own set of stomach and skeletal issues.  She tried newer, slower growing breeds the following year, and then turned the project over to Wyatt Clay.

Last year, he incorporated the project into his science fair project, and raised White cornish rock cross meat birds, slower growing red broilers (often called red rangers) and heritage Delaware birds side by side.  The birds all went to fair, with special permission to take the Delawares as a demonstration project, and judge felt that they all would have been competitive, but that he started them all at the same time instead of on the timelines for them to be ready at the proper timing for each breed.  But the county premium book was set for  the 6-8 week line, without provisions for heritage breeds.  The white broilers he took would win grand champion, and earned Wyatt a new record in his first year at auction.  And now, he wanted to do more.  

Armed with knowledge and experience (and another trip to regional science fair competition), he looked back at the Delawares and didn't really like how their color had help up in the Arizona weather.  He selected Brahmas - light and buff- and Buckeyes to try for the coming year.  He also liked their finishing weights, and egg size and color, so that extra hens would do well in the laying flock and extra roos could fill out his business goals of the meat.

It turned out hard to time the number of birds he needed for hatching on the fair schedule, so he ordered in more, and the buff Brahmas had color variations that he thought could be a problem for uniformity, so in the end two pens of light Brahmas went to fair a little over a week ago.

The birds were unmistakable. When you looked down the line at meat pens, heritage and otherwise, you really noticed the light Brahmas.  There were regular cornish rock cross meat pens, sure, and some of those looked better than others, but those just sit and lay around, and have no personality   There were other heritage pens, too, but it was the first year these heritage projects were allowed so it was a learning curve.  There were some beautiful barred rock ones, which earned the reserve champion heritage slot, as they were perfectly uniform in weight and one of Wyatt's Brahma pens was off by a 1/4 pound.  But the color didn't stand out quite the same.  That really showed Wyatt that he was right about the light Brahmas over the Buff Brahmas.

This is Wyatt Clay with his Champion Heritage Meat Pen plaque and blue ribbon.  There had been a lot of apprehension about this first year of the project, but the youth did a beautiful job, and educated the public, too!

These are Wyatt's heritage meat birds in the pre-auction viewing area.  He was so excited.  Apparently, the poultry judge had come through and spoken with several of the youth, then even bid on their birds in auction.  Talk about exciting for the kids!!!

A couple fo the boys from his 4-H club helped Wyatt carry the birds through the auction.  I love those big smiles!  I especially love that the youth work together so well!

Another special moment of excitement for Wyatt- not only did he have the Champion Heritage Meat pen inits first year as a project, the judge said it would have held its own again the regular meat birds had they been allowed to compete for grand champion, but the same duo of buyers who have been purchasing the regular broilers and bought at auction from Wyatt last year, still bought from him in the Heritage project!  Lots of work from the youth is really gratified in moments like this, and the fact that they remember him, and remember his letters and projects means so much to him in recognition of his hard work over time.

Next- this weekend, we will make some adjustments to the breeding stock for the qualities that did the best for him, and the not quite perfect attributes he wants to remove from the breeding stock to put in the laying flock.  I love that the hard work and a little success has him ready to work more!  And I guess now, the incubator won't be going back to the shed for a while. 

 He wants to get his timing down and incubators rolling to hatch all of his birds on a perfect schedule next year!  I guess no rest for mama just yet!

Compensating, who, me?

Do you sometimes feel as though recovering from injuries was much simpler when we were younger?  Maybe we spent more time on it back then.  After all, time was more plentiful before children, and all of the other responsibilities of life added up.  Or maybe instead of recovering, we were merely compensating.

I know I might sound crazy, but follow me on this.  I was speaking with a student after Pilates class yesterday.  She was talking about how some cues had her rethinking whether she could realign following an injury  She had been through therapy, and was doing very well in Pilates, but was beginning to think she would never be able to completely flatten and properly align through the pelvis due to the injury on one side. Somehow, during class, one or two of the cues found her a little closer, and beginning to engage the muscles to realign.  She was thinking by the end of class, that maybe patience and perseverance would win out.

She got me thinking.  I often catch myself feeling like some of these chronic issues are just here to stay, and being an older member of the fitness and wellness profession, that some of this was just meant to be.  Some of them are.

But also, when I spent those years working in knee research, folks came in for their first radiographs reporting that one side or the other was far more painful, when it was actually the opposite side which was shown in the x-rays to be more advanced in arthritis.

So maybe, just maybe, when I was training hard and working through the injuries years ago, they didn't just create chronic issues because I was working through them.  Maybe all of that compensating for the injures is catching up to me, too, and if I slow down, and use the power of the knowledge and experience all of this has given me, I can heal as well as I did back then.  Or almost, anyway.

Sure, this doesn't apply in all cases.  But the concern for the long term effects from compensating for the strong or week or tight side,is real.  And could be one key to unlock the door to more consistent training.

Just a thought.

Let your heart Smile...

I have been thinking about this blog post for a while, but it didn't take shape until this morning.  As my feet were speeding along on the elliptical before teaching yoga this morning, all the thoughts swimming around in my mind about several different posts that haven't quite taken shape yet, the focus and hindsight of some recent discussions in our family brought clarity to this thought in particular: Let your heart Smile.  Funny how a good workout brings clarity, isn't it?

Somehow in all of the hustle and bustle of the never ending to-do list, trying to embody the beliefs to which we espouse, driving long commutes and working through health issues, work, school and the bullying problems, I felt like the clarity wasn't quite there.  The whole family did, but we were trying to finish the year strong, with the thought we could regroup over the summer.  But then, that is what we have been saying.

Don't get me wrong, we are generally happy, hardworking folks.  A military family with a large number of animals and busy kids.  Like most of us.  But we were also trying to make small, beneficial changes.  Some were working, some were not.  And what has happened in the course of it, well, you;ll see what I mean...

Charlie had talked for years about changing jobs within his unit.  he would complete the application, then not turn it in.  Staying where he had been for so many years was familiar, and he knew if he needed time to help with something, it was there.  But he travelled so much, and he was under a lit of stress.  Then he finally turned in an application.  And within weeks, he boarded twice, landing at the top of each board list.  He had a lot of second thoughts, but ultimately gave up a stripe in rank and found a new job where he works like crazy, but is recognized for his ability to manage himself, and he says he is more fulfilled getting to work directly with the pilots. Funny, people keep saying that he smiles all the time now.  They are right.

Then it was our daughter.  Sometimes the allergies and migraines can be a real challenge for adults, let alone when you are fourteen.  Add to that our commute, her multiple animals, and many interests.  As she puts it, High School is easier academically than middle school, but harder in people and social pressure.  After a really round with bullies, the wonderful robotics team she was lucky enough to be invited to was advanced to nationals/ world championships.  In trying to juggle academics and a once in a lifetime opportunity, she found she needed to let go of a few things.  She put off the decision, and once she finally did, she began to smile again.  REALLY smile again.

We are certainly trying to take the time to refocus and recenter on what is most important to us.  Following our hearts, but without neglecting responsibility.  Just remembering what it is that drive us in our lives and our life together.  We all can get a little fuzzy sometimes.  Then we need to stop and let our hearts smile.  I wish the best for all of you, and that this holds in your own heart.  So come on, you too.  Let your heart smile!

A Country Girl, A High-Tech Team

This week, our Bailey will leave us for the bright lights of the big city- Las Vegas.  On Thursday, the CRUSH robotics team will head out for the Las Vegas regional competition with their robot for this year, Yoshime.  I will worry the whole time- that's what Mamas do- and hopefully get to watch them on the UStream video online from the competition.

Funny thing about this, parents volunteer and support the kids, but this competition is all about what the kids do- what the team can pull together as a team.  What they build, create, fix and follow through on their own, with the watchful safety eye of mentors.  In a world where the parents scream on the sidelines, and compete to live out there dreams through their kids, belittle the competition and forget about the youth learning and having fun, this is youth driven, youth led, and all about fun while working hard.

The sportsmanship and accountability are phenomenal.  When Bailey called home from the last regional in Phoenix, she was excited, happy, saying they had won some and lost some, but that their friends on Plasma were doing great, and worried about a team from another Tucson high school whose robot had not passed inspection to take the floor.  Some of the CRUSH kids had tried to help, but they all wanted the kids to all be able to compete.  They felt so bad that kids could have come through the whole year, travelled all the way to competition, and have to sit and watch.  CRUSH brought home the spirit award, as well as the website award.  And they are so excited for their friends winning in other regionals.

Where else can some little girl with a yard full of goats, dogs and chickens ride her early skills as a welder and machine operator into real skills as a tig welder, machinist, programmer and team leader?  Knowing that she had welding experience led a friend of Bailey's from the drama productions of the year before, one who was this year a senior and a team leader, to suggest extending the freshman invitation for the year to her.  One of Bailey's friends had even stepped in to watch little Wyatt the day it happened, wanting ot make sure Bailey would not miss out while waiting for me to get there for work.  These are the experiences that life is made of.

Many of you have seen my role in this.  Parents provide dinners twice or so during the build season, and I made robot cookies for a big presentation.  And I drive a lot.  And I walk with her in the dark, so she can still work her livestock when she has a late night at school during build season.  Oh, and I think I need to find some blue socks to match the orange ones here, so she can combine them for this longer trip.

Who cares if they win?  Oh, you know we will be rooting them on and cheering like crazy from here.  If it hadn't been so long and so far away, we likely would have gone to scream from the stands.  But in having built this team from the beginning of the year, worked tirelessly and laughed through their video blogs and mishaps, they have already won in the biggest trial of all.  You go, kids.  I am so proud of you all.

Hi Everyone- I am not one for chain emails and the like, but my mom forwarded this to me at a time when I am sitting and thinking about the values of the world we live in, and how to mold Bailey and Wyatt into being people with the values we espouse, and who give to the world around them rather than suck the life from it for their personal gain.  I have watched such bullying and heartbreak and seen burnout in wonderful people, and want to remind the children that we can always make this world better.  So I am sharing this story in the hopes that they - and we all- remember to be the change we wish to see in the world...

AN IRISH BLESSING

His  name was Fleming, and  he  was a poor  Scottish farmer. One day,
while  trying to  make a living for  his family, he  heard  a cry for help
coming from a nearby  bog. He   dropped his tools and  ran to the   bog.

There, mired  to his waist in  black  muck, was a  terrified boy,
screaming and  struggling  to  free himself. Farmer Fleming  saved  the
lad from what could have been  a  slow and  terrifying  death.

The next  day, a  fancy  carriage pulled up to the  Scotsman's sparse
surroundings. An   elegantly  dressed nobleman stepped out and  introduced
 himself as  the father of  the boy Farmer Fleming  had   saved.

'I want to repay   you,' said  the nobleman. 'You saved my  son's   life.'

'No,  I can't accept  payment  for what I  did,' the Scottish farmer
replied waving  off the offer. At  that moment,  the  farmer's own son
came to the door of the family  hovel.

'Is that  your  son?' the  nobleman   asked.

'Yes,' the  farmer  replied   proudly.

'I'll make  you  a deal. Let  me provide him with the level  of  education
my own son will enjoy  If  the lad is  anything like his  father, he'll no
doubt grow to  be a   man we both will be proud of.' And that  he   did.

Farmer Fleming's son  attended  the  very best schools and  in time,
graduated from  St. Mary's   Hospital Medical School in London,  and  went
on to become known  throughout the  world  as the noted Sir Alexander
Fleming,  the discoverer of Penicillin.

Years  afterward,  the same  nobleman's son  who was saved from the  bog
was stricken  with  pneumonia.

What  saved  his life this  time?   Penicillin.

The name of the  nobleman?   Lord Randolph Churchill ..  His son's   name?

Sir  Winston    Churchill.

Someone once said:  What  goes  around comes  around.

Work like  you don't  need the  money.
Love like   you've never been  hurt.
Dance  like  nobody's  watching.
Sing  like nobody's listening.
Live  like it's Heaven on Earth.

AN IRISH FRIENDSHIP WISH:

May  there always be work  for  your hands to  do;
May  your purse always hold a coin  or   two;
May the sun always shine on   your  windowpane;
May a rainbow be  certain to   follow each  rain;
May the hand of a   friend  always be near you;
May God fill  your  heart with  gladness to cheer  you.
and may  you be in heaven  a  half hour before the devil  knows  you're
dead.

Updated photos from here...

Charlie and the kids were away hunting this weekend, I am leaving the cleaning for when they return.  But this is my adventure of being the only one on the farm for the weekend- they are all on their way home now!  This is Glory, who should soon be a Mama goat again.  This is the one time when she likes me, otherwise whe is a Bailey only  kind of gal. 

This is Obediah.  He was in the mood to cooperate tonight!

This is Nathan.  He was feeling like attention, and dinner...

These young hens are some of Bailey's young Buttercup pullets.  They were walking up the tree limb to nest in the tree.

This is sir Obediah again...

All the boys were worked up over the does, so their fur was standing on end...

But then Obediah wanted his ears scratched....

So Nathan wanted to jump up between us...

So Charlie Brown got nosy...

And then nosier still...

Obediah waited patiently for more attention and a cuddle...

Nathan spotted the feed on the chair outside the pen, and opened the gate (this is why their gate normally latches from only the outside...

This is the sunset from our porch tonight...

And as it progressed...

And glowed...

I hear Charlie and the kids are on their way home.Their chubby, happy, spoiled rotten animals will be glad to see them.  Now back to Chemistry for me!

The Power of Human Energy

This morning was the second in  a series of three farming workshops I have been attending at the Marana Heritage Farm.  Thanks so much to Cie'Na and her group for hosting them!  Last week was mostly introduction and touring an some best practices discusison for getting larger scale production to market.  This week we started to get work done.

We began our day with more introductions and a discussion of our connection to food, with our morning stretch and a cool activity I plan to share with our 4H group.  Then we got to learn more soil preparation, along with larger scale seed starting and transplantation of cuttings.

We separated into two groups, one beginning on a tiller, the other beginning with hand tilling and irrigation.  The flat irrigation was neat to learn for larger scale work, and I am gla to know these systems are all prety much the same, with minor to major tweaks for different production scale and water pressure.

But our group was away from the tiller first, and we rolled back some sheeting used to solarize away a bermuda grass problem, and learned tilling with the pitchfork and wide fork.  The tilling has been running behind schedule around here, because I thought I had to have o time to do it all while I had a tiller rented.  But the pitchfork can do it all, and provide a nice workout while I am at it.  I didn't realize how easy it was to use water to enable the pitchfork to get deep enough in our Arizona soil, so I am SO excited to move forward without worrying about tiller rental, and with human power rather than burning more fossil fuel!

The wide forks are essentailly extra wide pitchforks you have to use two hands and both feet to drive into the ground.  Bailey doesn't know it yet, but there is a welding project in that one for her so I can ramp up production and add the second garden back in next season!  Yup, tilling by human power- better for the environment, and very doable!

Sleep, who needs it?

As usual, I am tired.  The farm has kept me quite busy, with the drama and heartwrench and tremendous joy that only children and farming can bring.  Last night, Hopper Spark and Remington cuddled baby Nathan and gave me five straight hours of sleep between feedings after he ran hard to keep up with my farm chores yesterday.  Thanks so much to my goofy dogs!

As I sit here at the craft store today, cleaning out some of my files and updating quickbooks during a very slow day in the store, I finished an article on sleep and health for my students at Pima.  Funny, coming from me, but sleep really is one of my top resolutions this year to benefit my health and wellness. In fact, this article came about because Tammy asked me what my own goals were after a discussion about goals and how we would know when we achieved them.

That said, following is the article.  I am still trying, and I hope you will the thoughts as you prioritize sleep in your schedule.  While I don't see long afternoon naps in bed or on the couch anywhere close in my future, I am working to make sleep a nighttime priority.  So here ya' go  Hope it helps you think healthy...

Sleep, who needs it?


This time every year, people are setting (and sometimes already breaking) their resolutions for wellness. I am often asked what my goals are for the year. To be quite honest, I am pretty active, and work consistently at getting in the cardio and weights. Leading yoga groups helps me remember not only to practice the yoga, but the mindfulness as well. Nevertheless, stress and exhaustion are ever present. So what is my real goal for health and wellness? Sleep. Did you know that keeping up with sleep can even help fight cancer!

I see students who work out tremendously and eat poorly, those who cannot seem to get themselves into the gym, those who despise either cardio or weights. Somehow, some changes are easier than others. For me, I have struggled to work enough sleep into my schedule since college. But somehow, it was easier to kid myself about the effects of skipping sleep back then.

What are the health effects of not getting enough sleep? Well, when sleep deprivation is short lived, the effects are not too bad, and the health effects are more easily and readily reversed. Yet when you deprive your body of sleep in the long term, the body begins to suffer more.

Some negative side effects of long term sleep deprivation include interference with learning and memory, decreased metabolism and weight gain, inattention due to falling asleep during the daytime, mood swings including irritability and impatience, decrease in cardiovascular health, and a decrease in immune function leading to becoming sick or developing chronic diseases such as diabetes.

It is recommended that you sleep 7-9 hours each night. That isn’t always possible, and sometimes there are people who don’t need quite as much as others. Still, it is while you sleep that your body is most able to repair itself. During sleep, your body focuses on internal processes rather than the never-ending to-do list.

Consider it this way. When your body is deprived of sleep, it goes into a state of stress. This produces stress hormones, and increases the blood pressure and cholesterol levels, adding more stress for your heart and brain, eventually leading toward heart attacks and strokes. Therefore, sleep reduces the stress on your body, allowing for better blood flow and circulation, enabling your body to reduce inflammation and repair from exercise and injury. Then in the day time following that healthy sleep, the sleep induced repair will allow you to pay better attention to the task at hand, and make fewer mistakes. This alertness increases you chances of a better night of sleep the following night. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

When you consider that your new alertness and energy keep you better tuned in, you are paying better attention in class and at work, and processing what you are learning. See where I am going with this? Proper sleep bumps up you memory, your mood, your attentiveness and your cognitive function- allowing you to draw better from your memory banks and seem or become smarter!

I mentioned weight increases with a state of sleep deprivation. Research has shown a greater likelihood of being overweight in those who sleep less than 7 hours each night. The hormones in your body that affect appetite and weight control are easily disrupted when your body doesn’t get the chance to sleep and repair itself. I am sure you are at least remotely familiar with the connection between stress hormones and fat retention as well. Now, sleep won’t make you thin, but it will better enable your body to function, thereby enabling all that work you do in the gym to pay off.

Study after study draws a correlation between drowsiness and heart attacks, cancer, stressed relationships, accidents, memory impairment and a host of other issues. While we are working on our to-do lists and wellness priorities, shouldn’t we include sleep? It is far from easy to make changes, but stay focused, stay organized, and go to bed on time. That early morning workout will be more productive for it, and your body will thank you!

Your Own Best Self

I have spent a lot of time lately discussing goals with a whole range of folks. Be it my children, and discussing what the feel is the most important to them, my clients and what their goals are or my students and the goals they are required to set in order to get a good grade in their fitness class. At the same time, we ask “how will you know when you get there?” of ourselves and those we do goal setting with, and it is funny how the answers change as the journey toward the goals unfolds.



I spent some time with one of my older students yesterday, discussing the fact that the younger students often don’t want to listen to the instructors, and that sometimes we all struggle with the balance of learning o listen to the needs of the body while not giving up or cutting short the push to reach for our goals (and even beyond the goals). This particular student is a testament to never giving up. He is self described as the smallest of the brothers in his family, the least physically inclined. Yet in his return to college, he took the time to take classes in becoming a better student and has listened to the feedback of the instructors whenever we talk with him.


From a distance, this student is the big bulky weight lifter many strive to become, do-rag and all, former service member and champion arm wrestler. He comes every day, is completely comfortable in the gym, has a catalog in his mind of hundreds of exercises. But he has spent this semester going back to basics to overcome injuries and redefine his goals, has decreased weight significantly and used that refocus to become stronger than he thought he might. He takes every opportunity to learn new things and try things. And despite his experience, he never acts above others, and takes time to get to know the young guys who are just stepping into a gym for the first time. He is a great example.


While I don’t know his whole story, I always enjoy his positive attitude. We were discussing yesterday he younger students who don’t always want to take direction. One younger boy had been very defensive to another instructor recently, and this student was a bit put off by his unwillingness to learn or talk with the instructor. And he has been taking some of the younger students under his wing. One of the students he had been trying to encourage was one I have been working with regularly, a sixteen year old who is trying to learn everything he can and find his own goals. Funny he brought him up, because that boy had left me thinking earlier in the week.


It was after my usual teaching shift, and I had corrected something for the boy and discussed different modes of cardio after finishing my own workout. He didn’t really want to try my suggestion, and I was trying to figure out what was really motivating his questions. I asked if there was something in particular he wanted to try. He asked about the workout I had done with a student the previous afternoon. This brought a lot of clarity for me. The student he had seen me working with was a football player who is sitting the year out, working through college and trying to get stronger to try out to return to the team next year. He does much of his lifting on his own, and works with trainers a couple times a week on intense plyometric work.


For this young student, I answered that we could certainly teach him a couple new exercises. It wouldn’t address the area he was pointing to, though. I explained I would be glad to give him a few plyo options to try, but he was going to have to practice them a bit before he could start with the larger box he had seen the day before. I asked a loaded question, not sre what the response would be “What are you hoping to get out of these exercises, so we balance your workout properly with the cardio and strength training?” Ouch, the sly grin came with the slow response I had been hoping not to learn. He wanted to get the muscles stronger and bigger. And he wanted to look like the other student.


This young boy, who is several steps ahead of his peers academically, is very detailed and conscientious, but is not really predisposed genetically to the large muscled shape he is looking up to. As I talked to this young student, he revealed a lot about himself. He is still slowly becoming comfortable in his own skin. He really looks up to this other student, whose confidence and muscle and laughter sound like what he feels he is missing.


Funny, the student he seems to want to be like is struggling with a very long commute to school, working, attending school, and trying to figure out how to properly eat and maintain everything simultaneously. Maybe it isn’t as simple as it looks on the outside.


On top of that, my entire yoga class had turned around to look at one another during an advanced option early in the week. So much for focusing on their own mat.


As I was speaking with this first student yesterday, we were talking about how hard the balance is, and how everyone seems to look at one another for comparison. This student said to become “your own best self.” Funny how hard that can be. He reflected on the ups and downs of his own training and the challenges we all face. I agreed that this is always a process for so many, myself included. But watching the interactions of the week made for such a profound statement for me. I will keep trying, for my own balance and for the example of that I set for others.


How will you be your own best self? And how will you know when you get there? What then?