"...not too tight, not too loose..."
During this past week I had a wonderful opportunity to sit down with Kendra Jackson and have a chat about healthy lifestyles! Ms. Jackson is a former teacher of mine. She's no ordinary textbook type of teacher, but rather a dance, yoga, and health educator. It felt inviting to be back at my old high school, BSGE. I knew how to navigate around the school and could recall of the teachers by their first names. This tight knit school atmosphere, definitely hard to come by in college. As I peaked my head into the yoga studio, the familiar smell of lavender daintily tickled my nose. I greeted Ms. Jackson with a big hug. We folded festively colored yoga blankets on the floor, a comfy alternative to the cold floor. I eagerly unearthed my laptop from my bag. The chatting began!
For those of you who may not know Kendra Jackson, she is currently a dance/health teacher at the high school The Baccalaureate School For Global Education. There, her classes are pleasant break from the multiple rigorous assignments. However, her career did not begin with BSGE. She was born in Boston and attended Roger Williams University. Not only did she obtain a BA in Psychology but double majored in Dance Performance. After moving to New York Ms. Jackson enrolled in NYU and achieved a masters degree in Dance Education. Over the course of her life, she has taught in multiple schools in Brooklyn.
Of course, Ms. Jackson did not go through all this schooling without a reason. I wanted to know her personal influences for how dance, yoga and health came to be a lifestyle she led. Ms. Jackson pinpointed the first moment dance became her passion; she was about 6 years old and had signed up for an African Dance class. From there, dance was something that made her feel truly empowered. The environment in which she grew up in played a key role in her lifestyle. She told me that her father and friends had owned a co-op health food store in the 70s. I smiled when she shared that she grew up on lots of salads especially beet salads; beets are one of my favorite vegetables. Growing up in such a health consciousness household, it was easy for Kendra to develop good eating habits.
Her parental influences led to a fruitful conversation regarding eating habits. For seven years she dedicated herself as a vegetarian. She realized that she needed different proteins than just beans. Resultantly, she transitioned out of a vegetarian diet. We both agreed that lean protein meats and lots of vegetables and fruits were a great way to fight hunger. Pointing over to her desk, she showed me her water bottle with a built in filter. Keeping hydrated is an important aspect of her lifestyle since she teaches multiple classes a day. During the interview, Ms. Jackson's superb upkeep of a healthy lifestyle had me in awe. With knowledge of her eating habits and passion for dance and yoga, I wanted to know how she felt about certain health issues today.
We chatted about Mrs. Obama's efforts to change the menus of several restaurants chains. Ms. Jackson highlighted an important point that the change should entail broadening menu choices. For example, many dishes could be altered in terms of how the food is prepared. She shared with me that one of her biggest issues with the health industry is genetically modified foods. I laughed when she threw her hands up in the air and exclaimed that she heard of exploding watermelons! Genetically modified foods just seemed unnatural to her and troublesome. Exploding fruits are not normal!
The remainder of our chat revolved around exercise. Based on her experience as a teacher, I wanted to know what frequent health challenges her students may have stumbled upon. She pointed out two big challenges: one, students are often bombarded with too many "what not to dos" instead of "what to dos", and secondly, her students aren't getting enough exercise. The issue on "what not to dos" only stresses the importance of health education for children. As for exercise, Ms. Jackson provided an excellent way to manage an hour each day. She suggested to break up that one hour into chunks. More specifically, do some pushups or jumping jacks in the morning, then power walk your way somewhere, and then do some stretching. Yes, stretching can count as an exercise. Not only does stretching feel refreshing but it keeps you limber. Regarding the topic of exercise I inquired about how to get involved with yoga. Ms. Jackson suggested a yoga basics class. The advantage of a yoga basics class is that every pose and prop is thoroughly explained. Classes that advertise "open level" may not explain every pose or yoga terminology.
After learning about Ms. Jackson's inside advice and opinions about health, there was one more question I had on my mind. I posed the question, are there any specific morals that you live by, that perhaps keep you on the path to a healthy lifestyle? Crinkling her forehead, she thought about the question for a second. Ms. Jackson shared a riveting quote she learned from her yoga studio, "...not to tight, not to loose..". The essence of the quote is to find balance in life; be motivated and push forward, but also relax and unwind. Ms. Jackson noted it's okay to have that piece of cake, but don't take the biggest piece presented. As I go on with promoting healthy lifestyles, I will surely keep that quote in mind!
For those of you reading I hope that this blog post has inspired you in some way!
Certainly, it was a great experience of mine.
Special thanks to Kendra Jackson!
A yoga instructional video will be posted soon!
Stay tuned to watch Kendra and I demonstrate a simple yoga routine.
The Official: http://i-hearthealthy.blogspot.com/
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