Your weight can be dangerous! We already know that about our own body weight. If you are exercising and add a weight or two for pumping iron to build bone density, here are some words of caution.

I’ve lifted 3-pound weights at the Senior Center bone building exercise class three to four times a week for several years. In a session recently, I took two 3-pound weights out of their storage basket and one of them sneakily slipped out of my weaker hand, landing on my right foot’s middle toe. Immediately a whole week of plans changed due to my not paying attention for one second.

In spite of applying a frozen pack of hot dogs to the impact area, half my foot promptly turned a rosy-violet. The swelling and intense pain only lasted a day, but I resorted to a wheelchair for grocery shopping and stopped my daily two-mile walks for a week.

Even though my bones need strengthening, nothing was broken. Perhaps the exercises are even helping to make my toe bones stronger, which would be the best part of my episode. Also, besides learning the lesson that exercise equipment needs to be handled very carefully, during my moment of crisis, I got better acquainted with some very helpful and friendly seniors at the center.

It’s been fun comparing notes with other AARP/Blue Zones Vitality Project seniors on differences we’ve noticed. When I staffed a table for our Vitality Project project, as an ambassador for Albert Lea at the 2009 Minnesota State Fair, we were located directly next to the AARP health screening center. I was grateful to learn from them that my “bad” cholesterol had dropped 30 points and my glucose was lower than my last test.

Since slacking off of practicing yoga on a daily basis for almost a year, due to physical health issues, I finally got back on track. The walking group’s encouragement has helped on those dark and cloudy mornings to get moving, and I’ll soon be back walking the bike trail with them.

Last week an ambassador friend spontaneously came to our home several days in a row to try new recipes and partake of our successful food experiments. We made delicious grape juice from 14 pounds of Concord grapes another friend gave us. We also slow-oven-baked fruit leather rollups and whipped up zucchini pancakes and vegetable burgers from recipes learned at Great Grains Market & Cafe workshops in downtown Albert Lea.

Another health stability marker for me is a weekly meditation group I attend. It helps my creativity and my memory. It is also calming after a weighty week of limiting my physical activities.

Meditation is held at Christ Episcopal Church every Wednesday evening and the fall and winter hours are from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Phone the church mornings at 373-3188 for more information on meditation.

One of my favorite thoughts I heard at a parenting workshop directly from the author Joseph Chilton Pierce. He sees meditation as “one of the most powerful tools in the universe for change.” There are many ways to meditate. What works for you?

Sara Aeikens is an Albert Lea resident.