Barefoot & On the Mat: December 2020 Edition!

[Paine]

Beth, thanks for the link to the Barre practice. I bookmarked it! Also, thank you for the cute holiday social distancing funny! It made me laugh.

Cyana, I forgot to tell you this... My son-in-law was able to see the Christmas Star with his telescope and he could see Saturn's rings and Jupiter's moons but he wasn't able to see the Christmas Star with his naked eye.

[sherry7899]

Merry Christmas Eve!

This morning I did a Nia dance class and Yoga Ranger Root Chakra practice. I will try to do personals tomorrow.

[Margot]

Yesterday was:
- ETV - Live class with Amanda (Dec 8)
- Long walk on our local Common
- Lauren Walker - EM Yoga - Fire Element

Today so far:
- Ellen Barrett - Upper Body Blast and Kick Butt
- LH Visualisation and Manifestation Bonus Class

I was on a bit of a baking frenzy yesterday and didn't get around to posting.

Beth - I enjoyed the hump day funny. It's weird now to see a lot of our TV commercials with the actors wearing masks. Who would have thought a year ago that mask wearing would become normal.

Cyana - I appreciate all the links you posted - such great stories and cute animals. I'm so glad there was a happy ending for the baby elephant.
I'm a cold water wimp too. I'd only get in the English channel in a wetsuit these days! Here's my recipe for Micellar Water; super easy to make but it looks as though it uses different ingredients.
https://www.aromantic.co.uk/blogs/re...micellar-water
Did you ever track down the Christmas Star? It was too overcast here unfortunately.

Paine - It's so cool that your S-I-L got to see Saturn's rings and Jupiter's moons.

Sandra - I'm so pleased you enjoyed Jessica's new workout. I like her fusion workouts the best. I hope she includes some in her new program.

Pam - It's a shame you won't be able to spend the day with your family but I'm happy you were able to at least get together this week. Funny that you watched Groundhog Day. DH and I watched that movie only a couple of weeks ago. It's a classic.

Waves to Sherry, Pat, Garrie, Carolyn, Linda and Anny.

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas.

[cyana]

Merry Christmas to all who observe. Peace and goodwill to all.

I got another wonderful email from Tias and Surya Little at Prajna Yoga this AM that I'd like to share:

In the days ahead may all beings experience safety (svasti)
may all living creatures experience calm (shantir)
may all beings feel complete (purnam)
may goodness (mangalam) reign in the world.

Yesterday:
YT - Wind Down Flow - yoginimelbourne

I did this practice last evening, so I used my LED candles (thank you, Costco) and turned off the lights. I have all sorts of traditional candles, but I'm afraid to use them because my cat loves to come in while I'm doing yoga and if he snuck in while I had my eyes closed, that could end badly. I'm hoping for a nice candlelight yin and/or restorative practice over the week-end. It's really cold, so it would be a great time to break out those heavy blankets I originally purchased for Svaroopa yoga years ago.

Paine - That's really cool that your SIL was able to see the convergence. DH has a friend who is big into astronomy and has taken some amazing pictures through his telescope. The two of them email fairly regularly....not sure if DH has checked to see if there are new pictures ready to share. I've seen some pictures other people took - I loved being able to see Saturn's rings.

Sherry - Since you're my fellow music lover, you'll be able to relate to this.....Santa came to see me this morning in a totally unexpected way. DH came in while I was pulling myself together to tell me that Leonid and Friends are doing a holiday live stream concert on YT this afternoon. I am MEGA EXCITED. I feel like a little kid on Christmas Eve! If they're able to tour in 2021, I will do everything in my power to be there. Their music has been one of the high points of my 2020. In other YT music news, I was poking around last evening and clicked on the Hindley Street Music club and they'd just posted a new video 48 seconds prior, so I was number 12 to watch it. It's those little things in life, LOL!

Beth - I loved those animal pictures.....wombats all swaddled in their little "nests" and then the "flock" of joeys. Our I.T. people did a cute Christmas cartoon reminding people to keep one sled distance from others.

Margot - Your recipe for Micellar water definitely sounds a step up from the recipe I found. I loved the pretty pink color. I'd probably elect to go the wetsuit route, too, but not sure my 3 mm suit is thick enough. I noticed the ladies were wearing Gul wetsuits - I used to know someone who was a Gul product rep in the US.

Waves to ALL - hope all of our Mat Mavens are warm, safe and surrounded by love.

If you hear very loud singing this afternoon, it will be me!!!!!!!

[yogapam]

I am way behind, yesterday we drove up to meet DS2 & DIL. We had a socially distanced visit over lunch at a restaurant with big tables, lol. It was so nice to see them!

Yesterday’s workouts:
~Taught Essentrics on zoom
~Neighbourhood walk
~Namaste yoga: Firebird - This was an interesting flow....forward fold, hero, child’s pose, cat, up dog, down dog, hero, standing
~Insight Timer: Koshi chimes Sound Healing meditation - I love the chimes, just find them so soothing. I found several on Insight timer & I think I’ll have a look on YT.

I’m a bit averse to YT these days after having frequent ad interruptions, especially in yoga practices. That happened to me when I did Yoga Mind & Body to kick of my Sadhana. I quickly stopped it and pulled out the DVD which I should have done to start with. I think my YT yoga will be limited to Beth’s practices! Anyone else have mid practice interruptions on YT? I’ve certainly had many in Cardio & strength workouts which doesn’t feel as intrusive as it does with yoga.

I have a few Lee Holden practices I should look at again. Each practice is an individual app with a long or short workout option. They were an amazing deal at about $8 each. I have Anxiety, Upper Back & Neck, & Energy.

DH & I went for a walk at dusk yesterday & we did see the Christmas star. It was very bright and beautiful. We live rural-ish where it gets pretty dark so I’m sure that helped. Paine, it must have been amazing for your son in law to see it in detail through a telescope!

Cyana - Thank you for sharing that lovely message from Tias! Yes I’m using the free version of Insight Timer. It really is a lovely app but the choices can be overwhelming. I’m trying to get into the habit of doing a short meditation at bedtime. Enjoy your concert!

Beth - Love the social distancing funny!

Sending love & virtual (((hugs))) to all!

[Pat58]

Christmas greetings. It's a hard year, but I hope you all find joy in your own way. It's raining cats and dogs here in NE so DS will visit tomorrow. We'll be having a family Zoom later today. My great grand nephew was exposed to COVID at his school so his family unit is in quarantine. What a year.

Anyway - yesterday featured:

~ A brief but beautiful Christmas Eve beach walk;
~ LWR 20 Minute HIIT & Full Body Workout (Advent Day 11 - woo hoo, I'm halfway there! (Day 12 was already completed)
~ Tiffany Cruickshank Hang Out in Your Hips yin practice
~ Meditation - smudged and did an awareness meditation while in restorative fish pose

[Pat58]

Pam - the YouTube disruptions are getting obnoxious, they're trying to force the paid version on us. I fully understand the "commercials" at the beginning, or the breaks during a long documentary or movie, but the abrupt ads are !!! I did a Lucy workout last week, in 11 minutes there were 6 ads!

Thank you for sharing the Tias and Surya message, Cyana. I vow that when these restrictions are lifted I'm going out to Sante Fe! Their heart energy comes through so loud and clear. I am absolutely cracking up over your Dimmest Bulb in the Box Award. Yes, this Lee H. also has the option to secure the online version.

Margot, brrr it sounds cold but taking a dip in the English Channel sounds fun!

Sherry, your root chakra practice sounds nice. Is it on the subscription? Please tell what did you bake this Christmas?

Paine, that's amazing about your SIL seeing the rings of Saturn and Jupiter's moons! I was able to see the Christmas star, a little bit. It looked like two twinkling stars very close, and it seemed red to my eye.

Beth, the qigong I did was Lee Holden. I didn't know he had some YT videos up, I'll have to look - after the ads that is. Sorry to hear about your interrupted sleep.

I'm so far behind!!! Merry Christmas one and all!!

[cyana]

AdBlock - can't recommend it highly enough to help squash those unwanted ads. It's a free browser extension and works with all of the major browsers and some less well known.

Also check your browser settings - sometimes you can adjust those to block some of those annoyances.

[Pat58]

Originally Posted by cyana

AdBlock - can't recommend it highly enough to help squash those unwanted ads. It's a free browser extension and works with all of the major browsers and some less well known.

Also check your browser settings - sometimes you can adjust those to block some of those annoyances.

Thank you!!!

[yogapam]

Originally Posted by cyana

AdBlock - can't recommend it highly enough to help squash those unwanted ads. It's a free browser extension and works with all of the major browsers and some less well known.

Also check your browser settings - sometimes you can adjust those to block some of those annoyances.

Yes, thank you Cyana!