Getaway with a garden theme
1/16/2009 7:27:24 AM
Daily Journal
Ginny Miller
Daily Journal
To see complete artical click hereGood times will bloom at North Mississippi Medical Center's fifth annual Spirit of Women Getaway, the theme of which is "plant smiles, grow giggles, harvest love."
"We're excited about our gardening theme," chairwoman Liz Dawson said. "I want women to be able to come out and have a good day of pampering themselves and learning to be healthier and to have a good new year."
The headliner for the Jan. 24 event, which encourages women to take a well-deserved day away, will be the "Southern Gardener," Norman Winter. Other presentations will be given at the BancorpSouth Arena by area floral designer Tracy Proctor and "Fit to Garden" personality Stacy Walters.
"This will be my first trip to Mississippi," said Walters, 36, a registered kinesiotherapist, master gardener and former fitness director at the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company's Wellness Center in Marysville, Ohio. She now travels the country overseeing fitness centers for Take Care Health Systems.
"I'm passionate about fitness," Walters said. "I kind of learned from my mom at a young age about gardening. I just kind of put my two passions together and came up with this Fit to Garden idea."
With motions including bending, twisting, standing and squatting, many people view gardening as exercise, Walters said, but it must be done properly to prevent pain or injury.
"I think one, without a doubt, is lower back stress," she said.
To help, Fit to Garden has four modules for gardeners, including how to warm up, proper biomechanics, post-gardening stretches and core stabilization training.
"Gardeners are a rare breed, and once they're out there, they're out there all day long," Walters said, noting that they can benefit beforehand with "a little time warming up, and at the end with simple stretches."
Videos of warm-ups, stretches and exercises are available at Walters' Web site, http://outdoorlivingwithstacy .com, and she'll also demonstrate them at the Spirit of Women Getaway.
Walters promises that everything is simple.
"I wanted to make it easy and convenient for all fitness levels," she said. "Do we really want to march in place? Probably not. Do we really want to do jumping jacks? Probably not. I want to be realistic."
Contact Ginny Miller at (662) 678-1582 or ginny.miller@djournal.com.
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