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Duh...

“I am an idiot” was the chant that rolled through my head as I swam laps the other day after a very long hiatus. There are many things in my life that can provoke this kind of berating, but this was in response to the wonderful feeling I had of moving through the water with muscles engaged and heart pounding. Why had it taken me so long to get back into a pool?

I had the same reaction when I read an obituary in the New York Times for Jeremy Morris, a British epidemiologist who died last October just shy of his 100th birthday.

Morris was one of the first researchers to study the connection between physical exercise and health. In 1949 he began comparing the heart attack rates of drivers and conductors on London’s double-decker buses. He found that the drivers, who sat during most of their shifts, were twice as likely to have heart attacks as the conductors who climbed up and down stairs all day. His subsequent studies showed similar results, and he launched an influential field of research.

We’ve all grown up knowing that there is a strong correlation between aerobic exercise and better health. The media and our mothers continually remind us of this fact. So why, despite being a fairly intelligent person, have I not been smart enough to exercise much since I was in my twenties? I have a litany of excuses, none of them original.

More interesting perhaps is what got me to snap out of my stupor. I signed up for a yoga class and learned something important about myself. I can’t do it alone. After a week or two of determined efforts to start exercising, I always fall off the wagon. But now with money invested and sixty minutes of surrendering to a yoga teacher (and no gracious way to quit early) I have no choice. I get exercise.

I started to rebuild the core strength that I had lost in childbearing and never properly regained despite numerous rounds of physical therapy for back pain. P.T. always worked to get me out of acute pain, but I’d stop doing the exercises once I stopped seeing the therapist. With yoga, I felt strong enough to join a gym. Now the monthly membership fee and my husband’s urgings get me there regularly to swim or just cycle while reading a novel.

In talking with other women, I know that many are like me. They need a group or some form of outside pressure to get them to exercise. Whether it’s signing up with friends for a 10K or getting a personal trainer, they do better when someone is holding them accountable.

In this year's Women’s Directory, you’ll find a broad array of people who are ready to help you make life changes. You’ll find numerous resources including yoga and Pilates studios, coaches and counselors, financial planners, classes and services available to help you become who you want to be. And then there are the articles. I hope they will help you tackle the challenges of the New Year and make this next decade better than the last. I know I’ll be going to yoga, swimming at the gym and, with the help of Judith Tingley’s suggestions, working on banishing my inner critic.

Best wishes,
Marianne Scholl
Publisher and Editor

©January 2010, Caliope Publishing Company