Jan 2020 Yoga Cross Trainers: Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come....

[yogapam]

“Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering ‘It will be happier.’”
~Alfred, Lord Tennyson

A warm welcome to all as we welcome 2020!

If you’d like more yoga in your life, you’re in the right place! Whether yoga is your first love or a welcome addition to your other workouts, feel free to roll out your mat & join us. We enjoy a wide variety of activities along with yoga, Qi Gong, & meditation.

[cyana]

Good Morning and Happy New Year!

Having my coffee before I do any physical activity this morning. The cat decided the breakfast buffet needed to open at 2 AM, so I had to get up and deal with that and he was up and down the rest of the night. Which meant my sleep was disrupted multiple times.

With the lack of sleep, I decided to indulge in a little self-care and used my Juice Beauty Green Apple Peel Exfoliating Mask and will say my skin feels as smooth as a baby's bottom and it has been many years since my skin was a baby! My skin care regimen definitely qualifies as being on the minimalist scale.

Thanks for getting us started, Pam. Mollie's Slinky Spine is something I need to keep on my radar for countering Too Many Hours Sitting At A Desk, as it seems like I need to thaw my joints out after busy season ends. I liked this month's quote.

Sherry - Since you do a lot of cooking, you might find some helpful recipes and tips on the downshiftology site (she has a web site and YT channel). She even bakes cookies! Bummer on having to throw all that food out.

Time to get moving - waves to ALL!

[sherry7899]

This morning I did meditation, Yoga Su gentle seated practice and 20 minutes of a Soul Sweat class. Well, it is an improvement from my ten minutes of cardio yesterday. I hope to do 30 minutes tomorrow.

Cyana, thank you! I will check the blog and you tube.

The Trader Joe's near me ran out of the ginger hand cream. I did buy three tubes of the ultra moisturizing hand cream.

I am trying to meditate on my own right when I wake up, and not go online until after I exercise. I have developed a bad habit of going online first thing. Meditation and exercise are better ways to start the day.

I will be back later. I am getting stuff done around the house and watching The Honeymooners marathon. Pat, it is on WPIX


I cleaned our fridge since it is almost empty. Joy....

have a great day!
Sherry

[Margot]

Happy New Year everyone!

Sorry I haven't been checking-in lately. Things got super busy over the holidays and I didn't seem to stop moving long enough to sit down and take some time to post. I've been going on long walks every day, including a couple of major hikes in the mountains. The scenery was spectacular. My exercise has been a mix of Qigong, Pilates and yoga - mainly MFML and Yoga Ranger.

Pam - Thank you for starting us off and also for mentioning the MFML class that has an 'Essentrics' feel to it. I plan on doing this class tonight. Glad you enjoyed the holidays. Victoria sounds like a lovely place for all kinds of activities.

Sherry - So sorry you and your DH have been sick. . I haven't been online much over the past couple of weeks. At home, I get caught in the trap of getting on the computer first thing in the morning and before I know it, an hour has gone by! I think your idea of starting the day with a meditation or exercise is a good one. Thank you also for mentioning Sally's Baking Addiction. I baked a couple of her desserts for friends stopping by over the holidays. Everyone loved them.

Cyana - Thank you for posting about natural beauty products. I didn't bring enough face/body stuff with me, so that will be useful in helping me find something suitable for my sensitive skin. I managed to do Lee Holden's workshop, while my DH was fixing some things around the house. The practice wasn't my favourite but I thought it was really good overall.

Pat - Kudos to you for hanging in there with a boss who was making you miserable. I'm glad he didn't break your spirit. I went to the library and borrowed a couple of books on Reiki and am really looking forward to reading them. I'm also starting a new online energy program in a few days.

Jackie - Hope Aubrey is feeling better and everyone else in the family is staying well.

Laura - Wishing you all the best for 2020 and good luck with your teaching.

Hope this year is going to be a happy, healthy and prosperous one for all.

[yogapam]

Good evening yoginis, a quick fly by before I hit the hay....

Today was a functional fitness day for me. DH and I packed up our food & personal stuff in the condo to prepare it for a month rental. We did a team clean, changed beds then he vacuumed & I steam mopped. I cleaned while he loaded the car. I’ve clocked over 9000 steps without going outside much, lol.

My left SI is still bugging me, but movement helps. I was soooo stiff when I got out of bed and after the 2 hr drive home. I felt like a stiff old lady, lol. DS2 got home from visiting his in-laws on the mainland tonight & used his kinesiologist skills to adjust me a bit. I think it helped. I did the same yoga & PT stretches I did yesterday, along with some twists, & held them for several minutes. So I’ll just have to work through it. I may pull out my SI belt tomorrow now that I’m home. I’m teaching Essentrics tomorrow morning & I hope that will help. I also hope to get to a yin class in the afternoon.

Waves to all!

[Pat58]

Good morning everyone and Happy New Year! I hope all of your dreams and wishes come true.

Sadhana Day 10 - dusted off Zyrka Landwijt's Gentle Yoga for the Series A 33 minute practice. It's been many years, but I decided to keep it for now.

I missed another day of sadhana, being down with funky stomach syndrome. It began Tuesday evening, I began feeling queasy while on the elliptical and couldn't make dinner. Yesterday was awful and I almost didn't come to work this morning. I had gone to a new doctor Monday, with a small, stuffy waiting room packed with people. A little boy was running all over and he was wafting an, ahem, "poopy smell" behind him It is a rheumatology office filled with immune suppressed people, that was a rather "crappy" thing for his parents and grandma to do! You'd think one parent could have kept him home.

I'll have to catch up later ...

[Pat58]

Good morning! I had a bit of a yoga reset last night and feel a little less grumpy afterward. It was a constructive rest and recharge:

Sadhana Day 35:
~ PT;
~ Healthy Decisions meditation with Elena Brower while inverting;
~ Meet Stress with Self-Compassion meditation with Felicia Tomasko;
~ Setting the System yin practice, also with Felicia

Margot what a hike! I'm glad you got out without spraining an ankle. My DH would have a "crack" to make about Sara's Crack, for sure. Good job, that was a real test of your fitness.

Pam it sounds like you had a very nice yogic reset too. There's a lot to be said for a good restorative session. I hope your dry needling helps.

Cyana how interesting about qigong practitioners not receiving payment if the clients do not have results. I think hairdressers should be paid on a sliding scale depending on how well your hair comes out.

Wow Sherry, a piano! What type of piano is it? Do any of you play?

So here's where I stand with the Husafell stone. I got up the courage to haul it into the kitchen on Saturday, and had some chicken tenders and a sweet potato to cut up into fries for it. It was a struggle to get it from LR to kitchen and up onto the stove, where I cook with the IP because of our limited counter space. The "basket" and "cake pan" are very small compared to the bulk of the machine. 7" across and 1" deep! To feed a family you have to cook in batches. I packed it all back up and posted photos on Facebook marketplace and Nextdoor, hopefully I get a buyer. (Don't tell anyone but I do not believe for one minute you can rotisserie cook a chicken in it - maybe a Cornish hen at best.)

In the future I might try a small model from BJ's but these big guys need to be left to sit on the counter, assuming you have counter space for it.

Good morning to Jackie and anyone else who visits today.

[sherry7899]

My back is still cranky, but I am going to try to do gentle yoga later. I just did meditation yesterday. I think I tweaked my back cleaning out our curio cabinet. My DH and I did not agree on the location of the piano before it was delivered. I wanted to leave our curio cabinet where it was, and he thought it would be better on another wall. I agreed to try, and had to clear out all six shelves, which involved bending and twisting to get everything out and 15 trips up and down the stairs to put all the fragile items where our cats could not bother them.

After he moved the cabinet, he agreed with me that it looked best right where it had been and he moved the empty cabinet back, and I had to put everything back-more bending, twisting and stairs. Sigh...

The piano is an upright piano. We would not have space for anything larger, so I am glad it fits. It is white, which is unusual, but it is very pretty. I am going to call around to find a tuner. We got names from two friends who played.

I took lessons for four years while growing up, but I don't remember much. I am going to try to teach myself a little through books and you tube . My DH and son have a mild interest also.

As far as our cats, our two male cats do not care. They are well behaved. Our female cat Mila (the tuxedo in my photo) walked all over it and then also figured out that she could jump from the piano to the top of our curio cabinet! I put two milk crates up there to block the top of the cabinet for now. I will try and find some decorative baskets to put up there instead. She is a climber and loves heights. When she was a kitten, she scaled our curtains and hung from the curtain rod, and she can also jump from the counter above our dishwasher straight up onto the top of the cabinet above the dishwasher. She can also jump from the top of that cabinet through the air over the sink to the cabinet on the other side of the sink! We love her, but she is a royal pain with getting into things.

Margot, I am so glad you are okay !

Pat, thanks for posting about the air fryer. That is the reason I have not bought one. They seem like the ones that you can fit more than a tiny amount of food in are space hogs. I debated the one that fits on the Instant Pot lid, but that seems like you can hardly cook anything in it at a time. I hope you have good luck selling it.

Cyana, once I sleep on my hair, most of the curl is gone....I have to dampen it and put in styling products to get the curl back. It is a pain sometimes.

Sherry

[yogapam]

Today’s workouts:
~practiced some Essentrics Precho 9 trademarks
~Walking Online: Retro - This was fun, great music, about 30 min. This is a much better fit for me than Body Groove, I love the music and no talking. It holds my attention as I have to watch for her cues. I am doing a 7 day trial & won’t renew for now. I can see myself doing a month here and there like I do with Ellen’s streaming.
~YC: Restore at the Wall - This was okay, but I much prefer Andrea’s Yin at the Wall on MFML.

Sherry - Hope your back is better soon! Pets are like kids, they’ll get into mischief when the opportunity presents itself, lol.

Margot - That definitely sounds like quite the hike! Like Pat’s DH, mine would also have a crack about Sarah’s Crack, lol!

Pat - The air fryer sounds like quite the weighty space hog! I picked up a nearly new one last week at goodwill, after dropping stuff off, lol. It’s not very big but does a great job on roasted potatoes & sweet potatoes, very quick & just enough for two. Haven’t tried anything else. Not sure if I’ll keep it, but I’m not out much $ if I don’t . I think I’ll look at a combo air fryer/pressure cooker if my IP conks out, a friend has a Ninja Cooker & loves it. But I expect my IP to keep on going for quite a while. I agree with Sherry, unless you have the 8 quart IP, the air fryer attachment would be too small in the 6 quart.

[Margot]

Hello everyone!

I was fully awake at 4 am this morning, so got up and did some baking.

Today was:
- 1 hour walk through the wash, down to another neighbourhood and back
- PA Tom McCook again. A good one for spinal work, the shoulders and feet, so DH did it with me.
- Mimi K-D Qigong for Healthy Joints, Muscles and Tendons. I see she has released 2 more in this series: Qigong for Regulating Energy and Qigong for Mental and Emotional Well-being. They are filmed outside in beautiful surroundings. I’ll be buying these when I get home.

Pam - My DH and DS had a good laugh at the name too! Glad you found a better fit for you. Like you, I like to dip in and out of Ellen’s streaming from time to time.

Pat - Thank you for your review on the air fryer. It’s too bad it didn’t work out for you after all the effort of getting it home.. I looked at buying one of these but nowadays stop and think about how much I’m going to use something before taking that leap. I’ve bought other appliances in the past, such as a juicer and an ice-cream maker that only got used once or twice.

Sherry - Your white piano does sound so pretty. Cats do like to climb up high. Your Mila is a trapeze artist. Hope you feel better very soon.

Waves to all!