Barefoot and on the Mat - November, 2021 check-in

[Margot]

Hello everyone!

Yesterday's workouts:
- Never Stop Dancing As always, great music and choreography. A real mood booster.
- HealthBarre Zoom class
- MFML Mimi Kuo-Deemer - Qigong for Emotional Balance

Today was:
- ETV Gail Posture & Leg Toning. Great leg work.
- Karin Daily Practice Vol 2: Inside Out and Outside In

We've been taking it easy today, as DH has a sore throat. I've been dosing him up to hopefully nip an impending cold in the bud. I'm keeping away from him as much as possible, so I don't catch it too.

Pat - It seems as though your bonus came along at just the right time, so you could take advantage of this one time opportunity. I'm happy you were able to indulge yourself. The course sounds fab. I look forward to hearing all about it.

Cyana - I'd love to be in your kitchen with all those beautiful aromas. :-) Our clocks turned back last weekend. I don't like the darker evenings. It really feels that winter has set in and this past week has been colder too.

Waves! Hope you all enjoy the rest of the weekend.

[cyana]

Pat - Hooray for signing up for the training with your Reiki teacher before she moves away. Think of it terms of investing in your future self-health and wellness and you'll have the training under your belt in the event you decide you might like to make some money doing Reiki after you retire. I'm glad your toe is improving.

Sandra - You'll have to let us know what you bake in your new muffin pans. DS gave me porcelain muffin pans that I use for my egg muffins, although I'm not much of a baker these days. I used to bake breads and muffins pretty regularly, much to the delight of my former co-workers.

Paine - Republic of Tea makes a good blueberry hibiscus tea that we tend to keep on hand. We were introduced to Republic of Tea years ago when we started traveling to CA - they had a really good organic breakfast Assam that I loved (I didn't drink coffee back in those days). They also had the best rooibos tea - Safari Sunset - that contained orange and cinnamon and was perfect this time of year, but they reformulated it and it's never been the same. At least not for me. We'd previously discussed grassy green tea - if you don't mind some mint (not overwhelming), Tazo Zen is nice. My hairdresser got me started on that one.

Beth - I also don't care for the overly sweet fruity teas. My former physician liked Pukka teas and I wasn't blown away by the ones I tried. Good point on missing out on the training in your response to Pat. I almost didn't sign up for Lee's breath work series because it is pricy, but I love breathwork and it's a good tool to have, so it was worth it to me. And I should be getting a decent bonus in 2022.

Margot - I saw that practice of Clive's but haven't done it yet. I've also neglected my MFML subscription of late, but since it's such a good deal, I'll probably renew it since I don't see myself going back to studio classes anytime soon. My two favorite teachers are no longer with my neighborhood studio and there isn't much of anything there during the hours I can go that would compel me to pay for classes (no Ashtanga or vigorous vinyasa for me, thank you very much). I see you liked Gail's ETV class - I definitely need to do some of the "live" classes before they drop off. Hopefully DH's sore throat will go away quickly - fingers crossed!

Pam - A forest and beach walk sounds wonderful. Fall is such a great time to walk at the beach - deeply inhale some of that wonderful salty sea air for me, please. Enjoy your canine companion.

I have a practice class from Lee's breath workshop series today and I'm hoping to also tack on MFML and/or ETV. I'm going to have to quit cooking and get moving if I want to get everything accomplished.

DH and I are hoping to purchase an upright freezer this week. We had a freezer for years and have missed having one terribly, so we're ready to take the plunge, even though we don't have a great place to put one in our current house. It's been so difficult to purchase appliances since the shut-downs started. It looks like there are at least two models that I could order and have delivered by the end of this month.

Must run - waves to ALL, including Garrie, KarenJo, Carolyn, DonnaD, Linda and Sherry, if you're peeking in.

[yogapam]

Hello mat mavens!

We arrived home last night after a fun few days. It was like a mini vacation, DS & DIL’s place is a pleasant walk to the downtown area with nice little shops & cafes. We enjoyed our beach & forest walks.

I barely noticed the time change. I think it’s from all the years i worked crazy shifts and my body never quite knowing what time it’s is…..

Yesterday’s workouts:
~Forest hike & 2 dog walks, cracked through 15,000 steps. So far so good with my hip, sticking to level terrain.
~Lovely yin stretch at bedtime

I’m also not a big fan of overly sweet fruity teas on their own. I tend to make my own blends with loose tea in a tea filter. I find adding a little fruit infusion takes the edge off other herbals like mint, hibiscus & ginger. There are two tea shops I like in the city that sell loose teas. I also like black tea & I love Earl Grey. And I have found a nice loose organic decaf black I like with milk in the evening. Must be my British genes, lol.

Cyana - I deeply inhaled the sea & forest air, so good for the soul! Your cooking aromas sound wonderful! We have an upright freezer and I like it better than a chest freezer as it takes up less space & food doesn’t get buried in the bottom. It doesn’t hold as much, but more than enough for two. We bought ours at Costco.

Margo - Fingers crossed you & your DH can fend off the sore throat!

Sandra - What kind of muffins did you make?

Pat - I’m sure you won’t regret signing up for the Reiki training!

Beth - What movie did you decide on?

Waves to Paine and anyone I missed!

Back later with today’s workouts, I’m having a lazy morning….

[toaster]

Pat, I doubt that you will regret going for it. That's exciting!!!

Pam, LOL - we actually just wound up watching Hallmark Christmas movies last night! We do have a DVD from the library, the horror movie Us which we didn't get around to seeing last weekend b/c of the World Series. We were supposed to watch that last night but got drawn into the sap-fest on Hallmark...we plan to watch tonight since I have to bring it back to the library tomorrow. Your trip sounded great, so rejuvenating!

(oops, came back to end b/c I hit post before I meant to!)

cyana, thanks for sharing that time perspective. I've actually been productive today since DH & I got up an hour earlier...but I'm not looking forward to the early darkness tonight! (And I agree with you that I wish we'd still to one time all year.) Still, I try to remind myself that things are constantly changing, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, sometimes for the unknown. Glad you got a break yesterday!!!

Sandra, you'll have to let us know what you think. I had some kind of floppy silicone bakeware awhile back (I can't even remember if it was a muffin pan or something else), but I didn't like the floppiness and didn't keep it.

Paine, that does sound like a good workout! I haven't done any of MR's Unplugged series in awhile.

Margot, your walk sounds lovely! DH and I got out for a walk yesterday since it's sunny and a bit warmer here (50s).

I'm toying with the idea of not posting my full workouts every week here. I'll still record them and post anything interesting of note, but I'm trying to break the habit of doing some things just for the sake of doing them or because I've always done them. I follow this blog by fellow psychologist Dr. Rick Hanson called "Just One Thing"; every week there is a new entry on one small practice you can work on towards increased happiness. This one on "The Freedom Not To" from several weeks ago spoke to me:
https://www.rickhanson.net/enjoy-freedom-not-to/

I've been on reflecting on actions I can let go of and things, too - I've added more to my donation bags over the last few days.

In terms of this week's workouts, I have been using this 30-Day Mobility Challenge:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...zT790bjTLug7jT
Each practice is 10 minutes or less, so I've been trying to do 1-2 on most days, sometimes in the office, sometimes as a warm-up for other things.

[Paine]

I went to 3 markets this morning and have been doing food prep and house chores today so it's a rest day from formal exercise.

Pat, I'm glad you signed up for the Reiki training! It's an investment in yourself and I think you would regret it if you didn't take the training with the teacher you like before she moves to Europe.

Cyana, I don't like the time change. I wish they would keep it the same time all year long.
I love hearing about your food!
I added your Republic of Tea recommendations to my wish list--thank you! I need to buy one of those samplers from Republic of Tea so I can try some of their teas. I do like spearmint green tea but I haven't tried the Tazo Zen Green tea. I added that one to my wish list too.
You deserve a good bonus in 2022!!! You earned it! Also, Enjoy your new upright freezer.

Margot, I hope you don't catch your DH's cold.

Pam, when I make black tea, I always buy PG Tips.

Beth, I like Hallmark movies because they have happy endings and they're not depressing or full of violence and murder.
I'll have to read "The Freedom Not To"--thanks for the link!
I like hearing about the workouts you do.

[toaster]

Paine, I'll still share info about my workouts; I just might not post the whole week at a time.

I meant to say that another one of my recent "freedom not to" decisions was to stop using my HR monitor. It's been kind of spotty anyway, and it wasn't really adding anything for me (it didn't spark joy, haha). So it's going off to Goodwill along with a few other things.

[JustSandra]

Hi everyone!

Today's Workout: The Lower Focus routine from Jessica Smith's Boost Metabolism + Muscle. This morning I walked for 1.5 hours outside.

I haven't made any muffins yet. It would be a good goal for Monday, though. I've decided to begin doing more cooking and baking, although will be keeping it small and simple.

Re tea, I tried an experiment last week. I made it using loose tea and a removable pod holder in my Keurig! Worked quite well.

My local VF buddy and I meet every Sunday morning for coffee and chit-chat at 7:30am. Today we agreed to meet at 6:30am, since neither of us would use that "extra" hour to sleep in!

Cyana: I have a little upright mini freezer that lives out on my patio. It is great to have additional room for frozen things, especially if you want to minimize trips to the grocery store.

Pat58: So happy you signed up! I agree you would regret it if you passed it up.

Beth: I used to post a recap of my workouts every week as well, but let that go, in part because our check-in went from weekly to monthly. I still report my daily workouts here, and I do track them on a calendar in my workout room, and that's enough for me. Keep in mind you can always go back to posting them weekly if you find it helpful. ETA, I went from listing the estimated mileage of my outdoor walks to simply the time spent doing them -- much simpler!

Waving to all!

[yogapam]

Hello mat mavens!

Today’s workouts:
~20 min on Maxi Glider
~20 min rowing
~PT exercises
~MELT: leg, hip, pelvis focus

Beth - Thanks for the link! I like that “freedom not to” philosophy, it fits well with my “freedom to say no without giving or expecting an explanation” philosophy. I extend that to myself and those around me. I stopped posting my week a long time ago because it seemed easier to post my workouts daily as I was posting pretty much daily anyway.

ETA Great idea to use loose tea in your Keurig Sandra.

Waves to all!

[cyana]

A quick good morning, since I was up way before those chickens even thought about waking up! Unfortunately, DH slept later, so I didn't get in a morning work-out. He's usually up far earlier than I am, so I may have to brainstorm on how to get in work-outs elsewhere if he's going to turn into a later riser.

Beth - I enjoyed the link to the article from Rick Hanson. I employed some of that during this busy season, and it was helpful in reducing the stress levels. There were multiple days I said "There's no way I can humanly get everything done. Would you like to give me your priority list and I'll do my best to get those completed?" No one died and I didn't get fired, LOL! As pertains to work-outs, I used to think if I didn't put in at least 60 minutes it wasn't worthwhile. Now I'm in KarenJo's camp - just do something and stop beating yourself up. Thanks for the links to the 30-Day Mobility Challenge - I previewed the video and that sounds like something I'd like to try. I must admit, I miss my old Polar Beat heart rate monitor - it worked like a champ for many years - until it literally disintegrated (the chest strap and the watch). I definitely got my money's worth. DH and I keep saying we're going to get stuff together to donate to Good Will - hopefully I'll have some extra time to actually start a purge soon.

Pam - Yesterday DS and I were discussing the time change and how we've worked crazy shifts over the years. A former roommate and I used to refer to ourselves as "the mole people" since we worked nights and always wore sun glasses when we went out during the day. One fringe benefit, we used to go to movie matinees during the week and take advantage of the cheap seats and nearly empty theaters. I remember laughing hysterically when we saw Animal House - with only a couple of people in the theater to laugh with us! I've had both chest and upright freezers, but prefer the easy visibility of the uprights. As I told DS, as I get older, I'd hate to fall in on my head while digging for something in the bottom of the freezer (I used to have a huge chest freezer) and have someone discover my frozen body hours later, LOL! Unfortunately, Costco has had slim pickings on the freezers since last year, so I'll likely end up at Home Depot for my new one.

Sandra - When we had a Keurig, we loved the refillable pod, but I'm not sure if I ever used it for tea - great idea! With the sun coming up earlier, perhaps I can get out for some early morning walks - if I can shake off my cold-weather wimpiness. I switched my reporting distance to time on walks long ago. Since I didn't have any sort of fancy tracker, I'd literally drive my walking route and check the mileage on my odometer.

Paine - Back in the 90's when I first discovered The Republic of Tea, I had to order on-line, so it's nice to find their products in some stores these days. It's also great that the tea options have improved so much over the years, since so many people have discovered the joy sipping a relaxing cup of tea. I may have just talked myself into having a cup of tea instead of a second cup of coffee. I also like Organic India's Breakfast Tea (black). They used to have a turmeric ginger tea that was one of my favorites, but as with so many things, it was reformulated, so I hoarded about a million boxes while it was still available, LOL!

Time to get to work. I'll raise a cup of tea to all my friends here - hope everyone has a good day!

[Pat58]

Happy Moan Day! I spent most of yesterday puttering about. DS is coming home for Thanksgiving so I started cleaning his flat upstairs. I let it get so dusty since I never go up there.

I enjoyed a 30 minute yin - YWK Yin Yoga & Affirmations for Healing. It had a pose called "cat pulls its tail" which I loved. Also 5,000 steps.

I'll come back to chat - hello for now!