Buff As You Wanna Be

Had a day today where it felt like I needed to end the day doing stuff on the ground... i.e. gettin' grounded :)

We’re still in the mighty Waikato and today we are playing “Panga” or Te Panga a Hina Marama.
Panga is a traditional Māori game/puzzle that I learned last summer while interning at Toi Tangata. Wiremu Sarich (a Youth Educator at Te Oranga – Te Runanga of Te Raukawa in Kaitaia) spent the day teaching a group of us about different games and the history of the area in and around Cable Bay, in the Far North. Here’s a link to an article I wrote about the day. http://toitangata.co.nz/2017/05/16/te-wananga-o-pohutukawa-with-wiremu-sarich/

Panga is a great game to play with "kids" of all ages (i.e. 5 – 55+++). It requires players to use balance, co-ordination, strategy, flexibility, mobility and competitiveness, to make their way through the puzzle pieces. There are 4 large circles for hands (Hina) and 4 smaller circles for feet (Pirori). Players start in the Marama (starting circle) and strategically bound, hop, cartwheel around the pirori/hina, landing in each only once and alternately. Hands-feet- hands- till you make your way back to the Marama. If you complete the puzzle, you get to rearrange it.
Each circle can only be entered once and a player can only enter a new circle once they have left the previous circle. Players can have a maximum of 2 grounding points (hands or feet).

Panga is basically a way cooler Māori version of Twister.
Today we made our puzzle pieces from leftover pipe-cleaners and long grass tied into circles, but last year we got fancy with weaved flax from Granddad’s place. You could use hula hoops/rope/etc. It’s a fun game for the summer that requires you to GET DOWN!

Here are some Heke kids doing the HEKE IHO!

Happy Tuesday (I mean Wednesday..is it Wednesday?) all the way from the Tron / H-Town / South South Auckland / Waikato.
Aunty Deb is on nephew-sitting duties and is taking the "get down" to new surfaces.
I haven't ice-skated for nigh-on 20 years... so long it seems I now say "nigh". I was never an "ice-skater" and have never been naturally good at sliding around on weird things (like skateboards, roller blades etc) but with a certain degree of co-ordination I usually get by ok (sort of). But after my 20+ year hiatus from the ice, I realised that interacting with such an unfamiliar surface takes a bit of getting used to. Hence, why I did a couple of laps clinging to the rails. Once I got the hang of the uncomfortable knife-shoes, I ventured out onto the ice and started to get the feel for sliding precariously on the ice while dodging falling children - I found out later on that so far there had only been one broken ankle and it was a 50+ year old woman who foresaw her fate but went ahead and had a go anyway - so badass!
I was so impressed to see how many kids out there had no idea what they were doing, fell time and time again, but just kept on getting up off the ground and sliding around some more on their dangerous knife-shoes. I watched an older woman, who later told me her last time on the ice was 40 years ago, she was skating with a couple of her grandkids (on the edges to begin with), but was out there as long as we were. Another couple of "middle aged" men were reliving their youth with some impressive graceful moves, followed by some even more impressive wipe outs. They were having such a blast skating around and jamming out to Bon Jovi.
What's the point? It was fun. It was bloody hard work. And we all fell down and got back up again. Some fell more than others, but they were also the ones who got up more than others.
Ps. I only fell once when I tried to selfie-film the chaos... I'll try to do better next time... in 2037 :)

Today I was a human lawn roller. Long story short*, I sowed some lawn seed (which is a complex process involving steps I mostly ignored) because the weeds I recently killed/pulled from the lawn were actually a large part of my actual lawn and now I have lots of bald spots... in the lawn :)
One of the final steps (that i didn't ignore), was to "lightly roll" or "heavily walk" the seed into the ground to ensure...something bad didn't happen??? I dunno. But I decided the "heavy walk" would be the option for me. Partly because it would be a great example of how we can get 5-10mins of diverse "incidental activity", instead of outsourcing the job to a piece of equipment... I also didn't have that piece of equipment so here we are.
This is me using a range of "heavy walking" techniques. We kinda stray from our "gettin off the ground" theme slightly, but thanks to some imagination you'll see that there's plenty of "gettin off the ground" in this clip to satisfy the brief (and I write the brief so I decide what satisfies the brief).
I don't expect you'll be wanting to sow lawn seed the hard way (which, by the way is a f****n hard job!
But my challenge to you is to think of an activity that you'd usually "outsource" to a piece of equipment, machine or advanced technology, and do it yourself... or do part of it yourself.
Check out Katy Bowman's Nutritious Movement, she takes the idea of movement even further in her book "Move your DNA". She's also doing her own version of the 12 Days of Xmas - but unfortunately for her she doesn't feature 2 dogs and a cat in her (much more sound and articulate) advice.
Enjoy the backing track and happy Friday! :)

* Turns out it wasn't a short story after all.

Happy (it's less than 2 weeks til) Christmas. Cue the Buff As You Wanna Be 12 Days of Christmas Advent Calendar thingy whatsit. No big explanation today because I was a bit busy today graduating with a Master's degree in Health Science... no biggie ;-)
This year we are gettin' down... on the ground. Tomorrow, I'll explain why this simple-sounding movement / activity is sooo good. Plus for me, it's really fun because it means I can play with my dogs in really baggy Aladdin pants. Enjoy!