Replace exercise DVDs with video podcasts
I recently cleared out my video and DVD collection and got rid of most of my workout programs. The ones I liked, I watched so often I don’t need the videos any longer to do the routines. And, the ones I didn’t like, never came out of their boxes.
One of the reasons I felt comfortable parting with these tapes is because I have found a terrific replacement with video podcasts on iTunes. Now, I don’t have to waste space storing videos and DVDs, and I can mix up my routines by simply downloading different video podcasts.
For a listing of all video podcasts on iTunes, go to “Power Search.”
Once in the Power Search, type “Fitness” in to the Description field, choose “Health” in the Category field, and check the box “Search Video Podcasts only.” Your search results should include at least 90 programs. Try out which ones work best for you.
Video podcast workouts are a great (and free!) alternative to bringing more items into your home. To get you started, here are two yoga video podcasts that I enjoy:
Title: Yoga Today video podcast
Cost: Free over iTunes
Duration: 5-10 minutes
Notes: I would describe this video podcast as American hipster yoga. Targeted to intermediate and advanced yoga practitioners, episodes range 5-10 minutes in length. The hosts are cheerful and music accompanies the routines.
Title: YOGAmazing video podcast
Cost: Free over iTunes
Duration: 5-25 minutes
Notes: Host Chaz Rough creates yoga classes in response to viewers’ requests. It’s led in the more traditional style and is targeted to the intermediate and advanced yoga practitioner. I think beginning yoga practitioners would easily be able to adapt Chaz’s routines to their skill level.
Health effects of hoarding
According to the January 1, 2008, New York Times article “A Clutter Too Deep for Mere Bins and Shelves,” hoarding is a symptom of something much larger than just being messy and disorganized:
Excessive clutter and disorganization are often symptoms of a bigger health problem. People who have suffered an emotional trauma or a brain injury often find housecleaning an insurmountable task. Attention deficit disorder, depression, chronic pain and grief can prevent people from getting organized or lead to a buildup of clutter. At its most extreme, chronic disorganization is called hoarding, a condition many experts believe is a mental illness in its own right, although psychiatrists have yet to formally recognize it.
Adding more storage to a home will not remedy the problem. The added storage just becomes a clutter safety net, like we discussed here. More on this from the article:
…the problem with all this is that many people are going about it in the wrong way. Too often they approach clutter and disorganization as a space problem that can be solved by acquiring bins and organizers.
Measures like these “are based on the concept that this is a house problem,” said David F. Tolin, director of the anxiety disorders center at the Institute of Living in Hartford and an adjunct associate professor of psychiatry at Yale.
“It isn’t a house problem,” he went on. “It’s a person problem. The person needs to fundamentally change their behavior.”
