Know your body?

They do say that too much information is a bad thing.
They also say a little knowledge in the wrong hands is a dangerous thing.

I can see the sense in both statements.
The first statement, I have an example for.
It really does qualify as 'too much information'.

I was waiting with a good friend in the foyer area of a concert hall waiting for the concert to begin.
She is one of few in my entourage who doesn't mind trotting off to concerts with me. In fact more often than not, she drags me to these things :-)
Somehow I can't ever manage to persuade the male members  of said entourage to do this.
Even those who share genes with me.
Even those who would spend all their free time in a concert hall if they were allowed to.
Maybe I am missing a huge hint.
:-)

Anyhow, we were having fun, sipping our drinks and chatting away about the upcoming concert as well as doing some people-watching, as you do...

Then suddenly, she said to me, completely out of nowhere, taking me by complete and utter surprise:
'Oh, I just ovulated'.
Just like that.
No warning given that I was about to receive classified information.

And the well-dressed middle-aged gentleman who just happened to pass by me at that precise moment was suddenly wearing my spluttered drink all over his lovely suit...

TMI.
Definitely.

But when I had recovered, and the man had been placated enough that I felt certain I wouldn't be getting a  dry-cleaning bill anytime soon, I did find myself marvelling at this erm...precision.

Gynaecological functions aside, I do appreciate more and more the value of becoming 'body aware'.
Not so much focused on the workings of the body, but just simple things like being aware of one's body quirks, idiosyncrasies, marvels. Or just an appreciation for the different body parts, independently of the whole body as a unit.


I know a lot of people who have had body parts replaced.
A pacemaker or defibrillator, a knee replacement, a kidney transplant...
The one thing in common with these people who have had to have something 'replaced' or 'intervened upon' is that they are especially grateful for the 'borrowed time' they are getting.
Some of them get incredibly 'body aware'.
To the extent that it begins to intrude into their lives somewhat.
Of course some body parts can never be replaced. An amputated limb, an 'ectomy due to cancer...
And that body part forever becomes a phantom of sorts...

I have never really been (self) body aware. At least not in a way that is useful. But everyone else's body is fair game :-)

I have a rather strange affinity towards people's hands. It took me a long time to figure out where this came from.
In a similar manner to people trying to work out where their childhood fears originated from, I searched my brain's memory banks to formulate a hypothesis as to why the first thing I notice about someone is their hands.
I shall play the victim a bit and blame it all on my first ever piano teacher.

She was a nice but eccentric old lady, and she was our neighbour when I was about six and my parents decided it was time to get me to spend my hours after school learning something useful.
So off I was marched to the neighbour who had a piano in her home and who already had a long line of piano students my age.

The first thing she did was to ask to see my hands.
I won't easily forget her exclamation:
"Ah, we have here Rachmaninov hands! Real piano hands!"

Whatever that meant, I was delighted, because although I didn't know what 'piano hands' were, she made it sound like it was a good thing.
And then I spent the next 2 years having my 'piano hands' whacked with a pencil each time I hit a wrong note :-)

Years later, I learned that Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninov had massive hands. He could reach nearly 2 octaves on the piano and his piano concertos were the hardest to play because he composed for his own hands and not the average hands.
I also knew by this time that big hands on a girl are no use, except for playing Rachmaninovesque piano concertos :-)
So boo.

A good friend of mine told me a funny story about his organ-playing debut. He always knew he wanted to play the organ at a young age, but unlike the piano where the pedals are 'optional' for the most part unless you need to play some loud bits, an organist really needs to be able to reach the pedals from a seated position on a standard organ stool. So my poor friend had to wait until he was 11 and his feet could touch the ground from a high stool!
He had to wait for his 'organ legs' to develop before he was allowed near an organ.
Thankfully, whilst waiting, there was always the piano to learn...whether or not he possessed 'piano hands'.


So, ever since I was six, the first thing I want to know about someone new is, do they have piano hands?
There is something beautiful about well-developped fingers that coordinate perfectly with their owner's brain such that they can be used to create something beautiful.
To this end, I find that guitarists, harpists and violinists (at least their left hands anyway) exhibit this characteristic of 'piano hands' as well.

I kid you not. Such is the level of weirdness some of us can attain :-)

Incidentally, I believe that the internet/computer world we live in has indulged me in my weird hand issues somewhat.
I find that 'typist hands' look remarkably similar to 'piano hands' in their agility and beauty of motion.
We all have 'typist hands' these days :-)

Then again, this quirk of mine is not entirely my fault. There are people who gesticulate so much when they speak that you can't help but notice their hands, because their hands are literally in your face.
Italians anyone? :-)
And then you wonder if, if their hands were tied up, would they still be able to speak :-)

Ears and knees... I am even ashamed to go there :-)


The advantage of being 'body aware' is the huge self assurance that comes with knowing which colours suit one, what type of accssories are suitable for which attire, what pattern or style of dress is best suited to one's height and shape, to make up or not, things like that.

To this end, this man has been a godsend :-)

He has some really nice posts on all things 'feminine grooming' and other than professional advice, I think his site is a very good one for any woman interested in making the best of themselves using basic bodily knowledge. Skin colouring, face shape, body type. All this is useful in helping a woman achieve her best 'look'.



Of the two genders, one is particularly known for ignoring symptoms because they are generally less inclined to be 'preoccupied' with their bodies, unlike the other gender who are often labelled as 'hypochondriacs' by the first gender (mentioning no names) precisely because they are so inclined.

:-)

In the SMP, (everything in my posts end up being about the SMP afterall :-), men's health and women's health are equally important.



All the male visual cues, beauty, waist to hip ratio, glossy hair, white teeth, etc are pointers as to her fertility, sure, but they are also pointers as to her health.
A sick man (within reason, of course) can still father a child. But of course his role as provider for said child is perhaps jeopardised.


Whilst I am not ever going to be a 'No fat chicks' advocate as some Manosphere bloggers have taken to doing lately, and neither have I ever felt that an overweight man's value is reduced solely because of his weight, I can see that preventable measures to combat obesity are well within reach for many, and should be taken up.


The first rule of self-care has to be bodily care, no?
Healthy eating, avoiding smoking or excessive alcohol and having some way of expending physical energy are key.
And seeking medical help when something does not feel right.
Hard to do, but oh so worth it.

So somewhere between the woman who knows exactly which second she ovulates each month and the woman who didn't know she was pregnant until her tummy ache ended up with an unexpected and interesting outcome, should be women who know something (a lot!) about how their bodies function and how best to utilise this information to the best of her ability.

And men?
How many times have I heard, 'well he wouldn't be here if his wife/girlfriend/mother/sister hadn't pushed him to go to the doctor...'

Whilst the 'My body is my temple' crowd amuse me with their fastidiousness about maintaining the body beautiful, I think in fact they may have a point.

For our bodies do host our souls, our minds, our characters, our personalities, our spirits.
Our bodies host us.
So we have some duty to look after them the best we can.
Until we are parted from them for good.




Interestingly this is the concert we were waiting to see when I was informed of my friend's monthly event.
Beethoven's Chor Fantasie...
I just realised that of course 'Chor' (german, 'choral') is pronounced the same as 'corps' (french, 'body').
Interesting coincidence...
And now because of the weird Pavlovian conditioning of sorts I was subjected to, I can't hear this piece without thinking 'ovulation' immediately :-)

I would have loved to see her 'piano hands' up close...

And my wish is granted with close-ups of Hélène Grimaud's hands in her rendition of the same piece at the Last Night of the Proms. (I get my regular fix every minute or so in this video :-)

Oh what I wouldn't give to be the page turner here (not that she needs one lol)...or at least get on a front row seat just to get a good view of her hands...

There's something inexplicably alluring about well-developed fingers travelling on a keyboard highway at speeds approaching 100km an hour, no?

I love how it all kicks off around 2:25 with a bang.

And the words...the words! What beautiful words!

One of the lines here (05:29) reminds me of Inner Game :-)

And the very last translated line (06:05) reminds me of a comment made by JV...

Since this post has now officially turned into a self-indulgent and unbridled piano fest, might as well go the full hog and present Evgeny Kissin (great surname!) with Rach 2 (Rachmaninov Piano concerto No. 2).

The hands...the hands...

ST is in piano hand heaven...

And here he is again with Tchaikovsky's Piano concerto No. 1 (First movement):

Talk about 'piano strutting'!

Kissin has got to be the undisputed king of piano strutting :-)

The way he plays the first few bars is absolutely hilarious and almost cartoon-like.

Undisputed king of piano strutting?...This guy begs to differ...

Leif Ove Andsnes...piano god of the North.

Gives Kissin a run for his money in an outstanding Proms performance...

What is it about drum rolls and dramatic overtures? :-)

OK, I'm done now.

:-)