Why a Baseball is My New Traveling Companion

Lugging around a heavy DSLR camera and laptop while traveling overseas can be brutal on the body, but it’s what I sometimes do for work, and it’s not uncommon to collapse back in the hotel with sore shoulders, aching calves and feet in pain.

Which is why this baseball is my newest traveling companion. I just got back from the U.S. for a work trip and this little fella helped ease my pains; all I had to do was roll around on it. I know, it sounds weird if you haven’t heard of the practice before, like I’ve got some kind of a ball fetish.

But using a baseball is a self-myofascial release technique, or in other words, a way to give yourself a massage. It’s usually done using a foam cylinder, on which you roll your muscles. People use a baseball for specific areas; but while I have a foam roller at home, I don’t want to pack it with me, so I carry the smaller baseball. A baseball is also better for kneading the upper back, where I’m usually the sorest from carrying around a heavy messenger-style camera bag.

My foam roller stays at home.

How do you actually use a baseball to massage yourself? There are lots of video demos online, but in a nutshell, you sit or lie down and roll a muscle group around on the ball, using your bodyweight to apply pressure. Once you find a tight spot, you maintain pressure on the spot (also known as a trigger point) until you feel the spot loosen or the pain lessen.

I was a wary skeptic when I first heard about foam rolling, but I was sold after my wife tried it. Whenever she sits for a long period of time (which is nearly everyday at work), her calves will tighten up. No matter how long I massage her legs for her, they never really loosen (I may just be really bad at massage). But a few minutes on the foam roller and her calves soften right up.

So why does foam rolling work? It seems that nobody actually knows for sure. And what are these tight spots, or trigger points? Again, it seems to be a mystery. It’s still a matter of debate just how good foam rolling is for you, or just exactly what it does. And of course, it doesn’t address the root cause of pain; it would be better if I carried a backpack for example, and my wife got up every once in awhile.

But foam rolling does work to alleviate our aching and tense muscles. All it costs is a few dollars for the baseball (the foam roller costs more), and just minutes of our time, which is why this little baseball is going into my luggage the next time I fly.

The Imperfect Post

One of the barriers to writing stuff about personal growth is how much of a hypocrite I don't want to feel. I can't help but feel as if I set myself up as some kind of self-righteous paragon when I write about this stuff, when the truth is that I need to listen to it more than anybody else.

It looks as if I've got it figured out when in fact I take days to write a post, when in truth I'm stumbling through my days, climbing up and diving down just like anybody else, and the person writing in calm spirits behind a keyboard is different from the man making his way through the world.

But what's the alternative? To wait until I'm the perfect human being before I start writing? There isn't any such animal. No. The only way forward is to put it out there and figure it out as I go along. Post my ideals and try to live up to them, even as I fall short. I will disappoint. I will piss people off. I will sound like a pretentious creep.

But I am also doing my best to be a better human being.

Cartoon by Gapingvoid.

The Four Nobles

Once you grasp that the only moment is now - that previous moments are gone, never to return, and that future moments are not promised you - you realise the inevitable: Sooner or later you and everyone you know will run out of moments.

It's a terrible weight to bear while you enjoy the present moment of life. Life is inconsistent, temporary, unsatisfactory - no matter how many joys you accumulate, each arises, and eventually passes away. Because everything is impermanent, even happiness, life is suffering. This is the First Noble Truth.

No! This cannot be, you say. I want to be happy and I never want to lose this happiness. I want my things - my house, my car, my wife, my kids, my clothes, my knowledge, my wealth, my prestige, my beauty - and when I get them I never want to lose them. I want them to stay as they are, with me, forever.

When you want impermanent things to be permanent, when you think "if only I had this, then I will finally be happy", when lust drives you out of your mind, you suffer. And the cause of your suffering is your craving - this is the Second Noble Truth.

But are we doomed to live brief lives of happiness amidst misery, and then be snuffed out in the night? You cannot avoid sickness, old age and death. When your body is pierced, you cannot avoid pain. But pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. You might not gain invulnerability, but you can be happy. This is the Third Noble Truth: Suffering can be ended.

And this is the Fourth Noble Truth: the path to happiness is eightfold. You gain wisdom when you have right view and right intention. You gain ethical conduct through right speech, right action and right livelihood. You achieve focus through right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. This is how you become liberated from suffering.

The Gift of Being Gracious →

“So listen. Be attentive to what people say. Respond, without interruption. You always have time. You own the time in which you live. You grant it to others without obligation. That is the gift of being gracious. The return — the payback, if you will — is the reputation you will quickly earn, the curiosity of others, the sense that people want to be in the room with you.”

— Tom Chiarella

Don't Hit 'Publish' Unless You're Scared →

“When Kamal told me he was nervous about writing his book, nervous about what people would think of him, I told him, I only write when I am nervous about what people will think. Then he wrote my favorite book.

And people will think. Believe me.”

— James Altucher

Do Something Valuable →

“How, then, should you find a job you’ll love?

Here’s my slogan: ”Do something valuable.”

Let the problems in the world dictate what you do, rather than forcing a preconceived checklist labeled “success,” to be your motivation. Do something that genuinely helps others and makes the world a better place in a major way. That’s the way to have a happy, fulfilled life.”

— William MacAskill

The Incandescent Now

Sometimes…

The walls between me and the world fall away, and I see with sudden vividness the reality of the moment unfolding in front of me. 

It's as if the fog lifts and I'm dropped into now for the very first time and the world recreates itself anew with every single breath. Nothing is old, nothing stays the same, and everything is constantly reborn.

And the truth is that we are constantly being dropped into each moment for the very first time. This moment is not the same as the previous moment. You are not the same person, it is not the same space. The last moment has passed, never to return, the next moment is yet to come, never to be caught up to. There is only now, and you are only alive here.

Our lives deaden when we forget that. It's as if we live through a mental haze, with our eyes crusted, ears clogged, nose blocked, tongue leadened and skin anaesthetised. The noise from our mental constructs drown out what is, with what was, could be and should be.

Everybody's had these moments when the illusions of the world falls away, and they feel lucidly alive. Travel can do that, the newness of a place can take you out of your shell. 

But it's only a happy effect, not the real cause. I have stood on top of mountains, gazing at the most beautiful landscapes, and my mind was a million miles away thinking about something else. I have been in the most mundane places, and my mind blazed within the incandescent moment.

The real cause of being aware in the moment is being aware in the moment.

The training is meditation, which is why I do it. The more I meditate, the more these clear moments unfold.

There are so many silly misconceptions about meditation. But you could simply say that meditation is just about training you to be fully you and alive in this present moment. I have found nothing else to do so with the same efficient focus.

Here...

Take a deep breath.

You are alive.

Barefoot Running & the Vivobarefoot Achilles

When I first bought these Vivobarefoot Achilles sandals, my wife thought they were the ugliest things I'd ever worn on my feet. So why did I buy a pair of these flimsy-looking, ninja-toed, neon-coloured plastic things? Is it just bad taste? Well, not really (or, I hope not).

Barefoot Shoes You're Barely Wearing

The Vivobarefoot Achilles is designed so that you can hardly feel you're wearing anything. You'd have to be in a cave (or stuck on a couch) somewhere the last couple of years not to notice the minimal trend sweeping athletic footwear. But there's a reason people are paying for shoes that are barely there (excuse the pun).

The premise is that human beings walk and run better when our feet have their fullest range of motion less cushioning, i.e. when bare or as close to bare as possible. You could say the fuss today all started with the book Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. McDougall, a middle-aged ex-runner, studied with the Tarahumara Indians in Mexico's Copper Canyon, who run 100-mile races while wearing thin sandals or going barefoot, with little injury and well into old-age. After ditching his cushioned running shoes and adopting their soft style of running, McDougall was able to join them for a 50-mile run through the canyons. 

Advocates of barefoot or minimalist running believe that overly cushioned athletic shoes increase injury because they encourage bad form; when you have a well-cushioned heel for example, you don't feel the pain that comes from landing on it. They believe that the best form for long-lasting running, with few injuries, is to land on the forefoot instead of the heel.

By allowing your feet to move more naturally, barefoot proponents also say that you'll develop stronger legs by activating the smaller muscles in your feet, ankles and legs. You'll improve proprioception, or develop more sensitive movement, by freeing your feet.

But the jury is still out on whether barefoot running or minimalist shoes are really good for you; Iain Hunter, a biomechanics researcher at Brigham Young University, told the New York Times that most of the research today is still inadequate to form a definitive conclusion.

Daniel Lieberman, a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University, has found that runners who strike with their forefoot have a lower risk of injuries, while runners wearing minimalist shoes are more efficient than those wearing conventional shoes.

But other studies have shown that running with a different form, striking midfoot or forefoot, isn't more efficient compared to striking with the heel. One study has shown that greater forces impound on runners' lower backs when they switch to forefoot striking.

Another study asked half of a group of runners to switch to Vibram Five Fingers barefoot-style shoes, and found more than half of this group showed early signs of bone injuries in their feet. Why some of the barefoot-style runners developed injuries while others didn't isn't clear, but those in the other group wearing their normal shoes had only slight bone damage (at a level considered healthy, where the bone is adapting to training).

If you thought the VivoBarefoot Achilles were ugly, you haven't seen the Vibram Five Fingers.

Dr. Rodger Kram of the University of Colorado has found that runners who wear lightweight shoes are more efficient than those who run barefoot. So perhaps the answer doesn't lie in no shoes, but in less shoes; about 10 mm of cushioning - the amount in many minimalist shoes - seemed to be the most efficient (the study didn't mention if minimal cushioning lead to more or less injuries).

For my part, I was curious about these minimalist sandals and their potential health benefits for my feet. Even though the Vivobarefoot Achilles are designed for running, I only wanted to use them for walking, so I didn't have to worry about high-impact injuries.

It was still a leap for me however, as I'd always loved shoes with thick soles; after all, the more cushioning for your feet, the more comfortable they should be, right? But I grew up in Asia, where we go without shoes in the house, and I could also get that the more your feet get to move naturally, the more comfortable they should also be. It was a paradox I could figure out only by trying it on for myself.

A Vivobarefoot Achilles Review: No Regrets

Just me, my dog and my Vivobarefoot Achilles.

I've been wearing the Vivobarefoot Achilles sandals for almost half a year now, on both grass and concrete. I've never used them for running, only for walking (and walking a rambunctious German Shepard).

I'm surprised by how comfortable they are. The Achilles let my feet move around freely, but the split-toe grip and high arch make sure the sandals stay firmly on my feet. The removable back-straps make the sandals fit like a glove, but I prefer them without the straps so I can loosen my toes out of the front guard from time to time.

I'm also surprised at how durable they are. The Achilles is basically a thin strip of plastic, but I've twisted and turned in them (thanks to that German Shepard) and I can't see any noticeable wear and tear. The first time I stepped on small rocks with them I half-expected them to puncture, but they're fine. 

I do find myself getting sore feet more easily when I'm wearing them outside. My wife, who has always loved thin soles, says it's a normal side-effect of having minimal cushioning. And about those small rocks; yes, you'll feel uneven surfaces more acutely, but I've been wearing them mostly in the concrete jungle with level surfaces, so I haven't had any problems. As far as I can tell, I haven't suffered any bone injuries since I've been wearing them.

I haven't taken a nail to it, so I can't say how tough it is in extreme conditions. But the tabi-like spilt-toe guard, which curves around the front of your toes, has proven its use; it once snagged a nasty twig and kept it away from my bare toes.

For me, the pros outweigh the cons, and I'm happy with the Achilles. Even my wife has gotten used to the way they look, and love the way they feel after trying on my pair. But the one thing stopping her from getting her own is the cost, at £39.00 (approx. US$60), the Achilles is one expensive pair of barely-there flip-flops.

For what it's worth, I don't regret my purchase, and if mine were to break today, I'd get another pair without hesitation. These are the most comfortable sandals I've ever worn, and it feels as good as being barefoot when I'm out and about.

In Singapore, you can find the Vivobarefoot Achilles sandals on sale at Outdoor Life (no affiliation).