APRIL IS A PERFECT MONTH

Move forward with optimism, positivity and energy but be alert for tricks and trip-ups along the way. Am I talking about life? About trail running? About business? About spirituality?

Actually, what prompts this post is an offhand comment I made this morning when I said “April is a perfect month.” Then, as so often happens, I wonder why I said that and have been thinking about it all day. So, here I am at my computer and asking you for your thoughts as well.

Look. Any month that begins with April Fool’s Day can’t be burdensome or serous. One source describes the month as capricious. I like that word, don’t you? Sounds like a bit of fun.

I don’t know about you, but I think one of the best parts of anything wonderful is the anticipation. When we were kids, we would approach a birthday with such high anticipation and then crumble on the other side when it became history. Looking forward to a celebration, outing, trip (we’ll get there again; be patient) or athletic pursuit is often more exciting and perhaps even more profound than the event itself and perhaps that which underpins what ultimately become memories.

“April showers bring May flowers.” Yes, well, perhaps not in New England, but we do seem to be able to garden earlier each year. It seems that the word April comes from a Latin word that means to open. That makes sense. And then there’s the thought that the month is named after the goddess Aphrodite. Diamonds and daisies, blue skies and yellow daffodils, longer days and maybe shorts. Even Shakespeare adds to the clout of April when he says: “April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.” (Sonnet XCVIII) What’s not to love?

And another thing – some note that April is about moving forward. We are leaving cold and mud behind and heading into what, for some of us, is our favorite season. Again, anticipation is to be valued. Each year, to my utter surprise, I realize (sometime in July) that the Summer Solstice has come and gone and that the days are, indeed, getting shorter. Here I am, mid-summer, expecting the daylight to go on and on. But now, here in April, we can look forward to the lengthening of each day for another 2+ months. What a gift!

We do not wait; we move and we move forward. We spring clean, we detox, and we even take another look at our diet/budget twins. We pack away our winter clothes, comforters and skis as we happily unpack lighter wear, bicycles and running shoes.

If we pause, and take a really good look at what we see and how we feel, we may note that we see the opening up – not just of our community following long months of pandemic restrictions – but the opening up of our expectations, hopes and plans. We open our windows and we open our hearts. We inhale fresh air and exhale doubt; inhale boldness and exhale timidity; inhale possibilities and exhale fear; inhale generosity and exhale parsimony.

April is, after all, a month of contradictions that entice us forward with a spring in our steps and hold us back with an unexpected snowfall. April is about the beginning of the kind of inertia that consistently moves onward, not the stodgy old stagnant inertia deeply sloppy mud season.

As soon as the ice melts, jump in!

And though April keeps us guessing, it also encourages the pursuit of equilibrium. We are reminded that things don’t just happen, but that we must seek them. We must seek our own balance, generate our own energy and invite the Yin in our lives to integrate, not compete, with the Yang.

So yes, I think April is a perfect month. It is a month of excitement, renewal and delicate beauty.

If, however, you want more, just be sure to find your own way to celebrate the full Pink Moon on the 26th. Based on previous moons, this one is special, one of only two supermoons of 2021. Look forward, make a plan, execute your plan, and step out in full awareness of what this month has to offer. It is, indeed, perfect.

SUPERSTITION OR SCIENCE?

Photo courtesy of Jim Heins

Photo courtesy of Jim Heins

Last year at this time, Friday the 13th to be exact, here in Vermont we felt the jaws of lockdown close. The date is notable. (http://lindafreemanfitness.com/2020/03/30/coronavirus-friday-13th-new-normal-march-2020/) For a moment it looked like SUPERSTITION was the monster. But more and more we heard the word SCIENCE.

Fast forward to a new year. I will avoid the quicksands of politics, social reform, education and finance, and simply say it appears that things are looking up. It is an anniversary this month. There is much to mourn and many lives and losses to be honored. Lest we forget. It appears that the effects of this pandemic and the shifting challenges that inevitably lie ahead will serve as constant reminders of a time that begs definition.

Here we know to drop what we are doing and head outdoors when there’s a “bluebird day”

Here in Vermont, March can be an odd month. As many areas of this country are already skipping into spring, we don’t know if it’s winter or an early mud season, a brief thaw or a hard freeze. Notions of change tease. Maybe there are stirrings of spring cleaning or stolen hours of spring skiing. Maybe we are off our rhythms, a little unsettled, a little off balance; or maybe we can feel the energy beginning to flow along with the sap.

The month of March is full of promise. In a few days, we will set our clocks forward, “spring ahead” and. for a while at least, we will marvel at the longer evenings of daylight. (and for some of us, we will continue to head into the woods with headlamps for the first pup walk of the day) Dinners will get later and mornings will arrive more quickly.

At 5:37 a.m. Saturday 3/20 we make it official, and welcome the Spring Equinox.

Over the final weekend of March, Passover and Palm Sunday will share the full moon.

Oh yes, there are more. Many more. But here are a few of my favorites:

3-1 National Peanut Butter Lovers Day

3-9 National Get-Over-It Day

3-13 National Good Samaritan Day (hmmmmm perhaps darkly appropriate? – but then there’s also 3-13 Open-An-Umbrella-Indoors Day)

3-17 and who could miss St Patrick’s Day? (or perhaps we should – green beer and masking might be a challenge)

3-21 here’s one: National Common Courtesy Day

3-30 National Virtual Vacation Day (wow – where did that come from?)

3-31 and not to be missed: National Little Red Wagon Day

What, you may ask, is Little Red Wagon Day? It is a day in which to celebrate memories in the making and ones already made. How much do you love this?

PAUSE

As we note this anniversary, may we ask ourselves “What are we learning? What is worth fighting for? What can we let go?” Will we carry forward some of what is good such as the recognition that connection, time, gratitude, compassion, creativity and generosity are indeed values that we need and can access? Can we functionally integrate activism with cooperation? Does hope underpin our character?

“Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, But the certainty that something makes sense,                  regardless of how it turns out.”  Vaclav Havel

Anniversary: celebration, recognition, remembrance, keeping, honoring, observance and, beautifully, triumph. We cannot overlook the opposite: lament and mourning. But, may this anniversary make sense.

FEBRUARY 2021 Navigating our Way from Winter to Spring

FEBRUARY 2021

Navigating our Way from Winter to Spring. Ground Hog Day has come and gone and we are anticipating more winter. Well, so? Here in Vermont it would be disappointing to anticipate otherwise. Bleak? Yes, for the glass half-empty kind of outlook, February is bleak, cold, often gray and blessedly short. But for the glass half-full there are many prompts for celebration. Valentine hearts and flowers can’t be beat and the days are, albeit gradually, lengthening.

Think back to February 2020. We seemed to have been living in a different universe, one in which masks, distancing and an attack on the Nation’s Capital were unimaginable. Then came a Friday the 13th in March that will, presumably, long be remembered. (I know, we’ve thought that of other events but ….)

However, rather than go down that rabbit hole, let’s return to today. Hope and optimism might have been temporarily buried, but are starting to reappear along with signs of new life medically, socially and politically. There are even hopes that the vaccines now being administered will effectively dampen the fires of Covid19 and perhaps reduce them to cinders from which no new strains will be tempted to flare. We don’t think it will be soon, but we do think there will come a day when we can hug our friends and families and return to some semblance, or at least hybrid, of what life used to be. May we learn lessons from these months, and potentially years, of Covid that will enrich what lies ahead.

But returning to February … I recently read that babies born in February tend to exhibit traits of honesty and compassion coupled with creativity and curiosity. Often quirky, February kids can be feisty as well. Do they take after the month itself? Their personalities do, however, dovetail nicely with some reading I’ve been doing lately.

You may have heard on Fresh Air a few weeks ago the interview of Sanjay Gupta (promoting his new book, Keep Sharp). Being a February kid myself I was particularly attracted to his thoughts on a sound brain, aging and activity suggesting that both intellectual and physical curiosity and exploration are healthy and that seeking new things to study and do, pushing oneself outside the familiar, that personal comfort zone, help sustain both body and brain.  And yes, the brain does continue to develop over the years. (I got so excited about this interview that I quickly bought the book to give as a birthday present to a family member much younger than me. Heads up, I just learned that it was written somehow in cooperation with AARP. I hope the recipient won’t think …. But don’t let that dissuade you from taking a look.)

Almost immediately after the interview a friend gifted me with the book Limitless by Jim Kwik asking that we experience this book together. (bless FaceTime) Kwik, too, encourages positivity, optimism, and action proving that we can indeed live limitlessly. (Is that a word? If not, it should be!) “The key to making yourself limitless is unlearning false assumptions,” Kwik writes. Both Gupta and Kwik begin with the brain but quickly connect with body, motivation, values, and the tools of learning, fitness, nutrition, sleep and the entire half-full concept. Clearly, motivation is a key component and Kwik advises that “Motivation is not something you have, it’s something you do. And it’s entirely sustainable.”

In the fitness world we know that we are unique individuals who have the ability to define ourselves and our possibilities based on what we’ve been given to work with. Sometimes, however, our talents are hidden or underappreciated. Recognizing creativity, willingness, energy, dedication and compassion may result in their use to turn possibilities into probabilities and energy into strength, competence and confidence.

For some, a return to pen and paper is helpful to learn and to effect positive change.

Kwik writes many paragraphs on ‘learning,’ giving it the credence and respect due. It is not news that roles of student and teacher are closely connected and that one enhances the other. As we learn, and as we embrace the wonder and delight that learning offers, we deepen our understanding and absorb the fullness of whatever it is when we in turn share it with others or turn our studies into teachings.

Somewhat on the flip side of all this positivity, I also read an article entitled Anxiety Fallout in the winter edition of the Johns Hopkins Magazine. Being an Alum, I tend to give weight to what I read in these pages. Few would argue with the current and growing crisis of mental health. Anxiety has become a household term yet the definition is fluid – anything from normal to devastating and even deadly. An element of anxiety that strikes a chord with me is what the author, Aaron Reuben, calls ruminating. “When you find yourself talking about the same problem over and over again, without finding you’ve made any progress on it, that’s when you can tell it’s rumination….Too often we get stuck in  defining problems when we need to move on to problem-solving.”  I recall thinking that when my mother was aging and living alone, what she told herself must have been a loop of negativity and her perception of reality looked quite different from what my brother and I saw. She obsessed. Just last night I was reading Kwik’s Limitless and underscored a quote by Melanie Greenberg, “Anxiety can also lead to overthinking, which makes you more anxious, which leads to more overthinking, and so on.” I wrote in the margins – “STOP obsessing!”  (Interestingly this was embedded in a chapter on Focus and the value of effective concentration.  Kwik counsels: “Your concentration is like a muscle. You can train to become stronger with practice.” Yeah, well, I get that analogy!)

So, back to February. As I write this, it is Valentine’s Day. I am a sucker for what I know is a Hallmark day but so what? I really do love the hearts and flowers stuff and get even more sappy on this day of all days. I DO know we are in a pandemic; our country is hanging on, it is winter where I live, and there’s a laundry list of suffering that I am blessed not to experience but have infinite sympathy for those who do. I recognize the enormity of personal responsibility for our brains and our emotions linked with the sense of helplessness when that which we have no control over descends. I dig deep inside myself for tolerance, compassion, hope and faith. And today of all days, love.

I often close a Yoga practice with these words: Honor your heart. Not only is your heart one of the most important muscles in your body, a source of life itself, but it also represents your ability to love and TO BE loved. Namaste.

WORD FOR THE YEAR, 2021

 

New Year’s Resolutions are out. What is in? Because, in the current environment, there is much emphasis on simplicity. perhaps a single word might be foundational to one’s aspirations for the new year.

If 2020 will go down in history as the year of Covid, or the year of insane U.S. politics, or the year of isolation, how will 2021 land? Can we influence the coming year? We have learned to honor connection and self-care. Could we choose to consider 2020 as a gap year, a sabbatical, or as my (current) favorite writer would suggest, a threshold? Join me, if you will, in consideration of a single, motivating, sustaining word to anchor our thoughts and actions throughout the year ahead.

Of course, there are huge words of enormous significance such as HEALING and WHOLENESS. There are the usual FITNESS and DIET words. There are the inevitable words dealing with AGING and lack, translated into LONGEVITY and ABUNDANCE. I have long chosen words such as BOLDNESS or COURAGE or AUDACITY or something that would push me out of my hesitation to do anything uncomfortable. There is comfort in strong words such as STABILITY, MOBILITY (some of my favorite Yoga terms), EFFICIENCY and EFFECTIVENESS. There are the words I use when I teach Yin Yoga – INTENTION and ATTENTION. YIN and YANG are complete.

This year I’m looking elsewhere. Of course, a primary aspiration would be STRENGTH – physical, mental and emotional. other candidates might include ENERGY, CURIOSITY, EXPLORATION, ADAPTATION, RENEWAL, BALANCE.  These are self-explanatory.

I identify as a teacher which means that I also identify as a student. Could 2021 be remarkable as an exercise in STUDY? Recently I completed a course in CONTENT management and realized that significant content, whether in writing, on my website, or in my daily life, is, well, significant. A new word has thus been added to my vocabulary.

CLARITY

CLARITY relates well to organization and problem solving, both of which seem to elude me during these months of Covid! And, I have long promoted the concept of PLAY as valid and, in fact, necessary, in each individual life.

PLAYFULNESS AND SIMPLICITY

I received a Christmas gift of beautifully crafted Mala beads of Dalmatian stone or Jasper. The attached note suggested that these beads encourage and support SIMPLICITY and PLAYFULNESS.

How to choose? On a very personal level, I prefer the concept of EXPERIENCING to that of aging. Furthermore, one of my kids and I have spent many hours discussing our HOPES and DREAMS. Even now.

DANCING WARRIOR

My granddaughter offered to share her word for 2021, WARRIOR.  I am tempted. I love the concept of ENGAGED or EXPERIENCED, the “fight the good fight” notion. And, of course, I love Yoga’s Warrior poses (yes, even Warrior 3 with which I struggle). Any of the many Dancing Warrior flow sequences appeal to me and I love the feeling of strength, coupled with openness in Warrior 2. But … war? No, I just can’t go there. I don’t want to fight. I’d rather go with the FLOW.

FLOW

I do like this one.  FLOW. I imagine the mountain brook flowing downhill bouncing over and around obstacles yet continuing. I imagine the unobstructed flow of air and the rhythmic movement of pedal strokes, running strides or ski glides. There’s a sense of letting go, challenging resistance creatively, and progressing with strength and freedom.  I see flow as active not passive, yet not determined to the point of self-defeat.  “Do your best and then relax. Let things go on in a natural way, rather than force them.” Paramahansa Yogananda.

But I have it. No, it’s not a very creative or original word, but it is right. Just this morning a quotation arrived in my inbox that ended my quest and provided a solution to my word for the new year. It is a curiously timely quote of Emily Dickinson who, though she lived in the 19th century in the nearby state of Massachusetts, is also considered the “American poetic voice,” (along with Walt Whitman). So here goes: “I dwell in possibility.” Good grief, how simple is that? But that’s it! So, my word for 2021 is POSSIBILITY. What is yours?

And my current favorite writer? I share a part of his Beannacht – A New Year Blessing:

“…May a flock of colours,

Indigo, red, green

And azure blue,

Come to awaken in you

A meadow of delight…

May there come across the waters

A path of yellow moonlight

To bring you safely home…

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,

May the clarity of light be yours,

May the fluency of the ocean be yours,

May the protection of the ancestors be yours…

And so may a slow

Wind work these words

Of love around you,

An invisible cloak

To mind your life.”

                                                                         John O’Donohue

Full Moon Hike, Bolton, Tara Dugan

C’s in a time of Covid – find personal Companions to Carry you through the holidays and into 2020.

Please, set aside a few minutes to Contemplate a list of words beginning with the letter C that might beg a little probing, might hint at hidden meanings or even shout out encouragement. It’s a fun game I played while walking in the woods. As Sophie, my Chocolate lab, lost her head following scents of who knows what, I marveled at the winter woods, branches stripped of leaves, but well-dressed by sticky snow; mud and ruts and decay made Clean by a blanket of white. And silence. And time to think with unhurried precision.

The words Continuity and Consistency have been popping up all over the place in the fitness Community. If ever there might be a time to put our heads down and get the job done, it’s now, in this December of Decembers in this year of years. Is anyone urging drama, maximum performance or blinding exhaustion? Not really.

Clause

The voices I hear are Counseling us all to just keep going, to Continue self-Care no matter what Challenges arise. Rather than shouts, I hear whispers of Compassion, Confidence, Curiosity, Creativity, and yes, Celebration.

Get the idea? Your list could look quite different from mine: Cardio, Carbs, Competition, Change, Charge, Complete, Can-do. Hey – whatever works for you, well, works.

Sometimes all we need is a little something. Perhaps Pooh’s little something of honey is more relevant today than when Conceived. Perhaps that quick text, random email, or dedicated phone Call become large somethings as we each work to perpetuate our Connections. And isn’t that the VERY large something that we have learned over the past ten months of dealing with Covid? Haven’t we learned that we can live without much more than we had thought, but that we Cannot survive without Connection?

I have a favorite C word. I once read that each of us, at some point in our lives, needs to feel Cherished. Oh, such sweetness.

Back to the business at hand, I Challenge you to make a little list of C words and then glean from them maybe four or five words that you can put into practice, words that you can Chew on, savor and roll off your tongue then hear in new and different ways. Maybe you like to write them down and doodle around them. Perhaps you like to record them or simply slip them into your mental back pocket to pull out at another time. In any event, as you and I walk into this December holiday season (distanced and masked, of Course!) with a new year oh so Closely following, may we do so with Courage, Caring and Commitment.

A Note on Music

P.S. A personal note on music. I want to share a little thought with you that blew into my brain while reading this morning. The time we are in is typically filled with music – music of all kinds from contemporary (forget the c’s) to sacred, from carols to classics (oh those c’s just keep coming) and from solos to choirs and choruses (ok, I quit). I have always had an aversion to “elevator music” or music that simply drones on in the background. I believe there should be either silence or listening. “Great music is not a matter of great ideas or intricate melodies. It is not about difficult phrasing or complex harmonies. Truly great music brings to expression the states of the soul.” (The Invisible Embrace, Beauty, Rediscovering the True Sources of Compassion, Serenity, and Hope by John O’Donohue. See why I’m reading this now?)  

It was interesting to realize that more than hearing music, I experience it. Great music awakens the dormant dancer in me. Great music drove the Spinning classes I taught and joined us in solidarity in our pursuits. Great music makes my heart beat. Great music leaves me with a flow of notes that, for lack of a better word, become a tune, a memorable melody that will replay in my imagination for hours if not days. I like silence. I do not like to strength train or teach/practice Yoga with music humming in the background. I want music front and center. I want music inside. And if you feel the same, may that music inside you awaken your personal dancer and may you dance – yes, well, “as if no one is watching!”

One last thing – 12/29 – usher out this 2020 by pausing for the Full Moon, surely a promise of better moments ahead. Thanks to my friend Steve Sampson for this gorgeous pic.

MANY VERMONT ROADS TO FITNESS, A LOCAL APPROACH.

Fitness and well-being are journeys unto themselves. The pathways to self-care are as diverse as each traveler. Curiosity, motivation, energy and good, old-fashioned stick-to-itiveness are tools equally important as any physical attributes of strength, flexibility or genetic advantage.

One benefit of our months of dealing with a Pandemic seems to have been a renewed awareness of the need to take care of ourselves, especially in light of our need to connect with and care for others any way available. The internet is flooded with You Tube, Zoom, and subscription classes in everything from weight training to Yoga (and my personal obsession, Peloton!).

FALL FOLIAGE – AN ANALOGY

Here in Vermont we see many enjoying the outdoors.  In a recent post Governor Scott wrote:

“Fortunately, we all live in Vermont and it’s one of the most beautiful times 
of the year for us. So, I hope many of you can take some time this weekend,
get yourself a maple creemee, enjoy the foliage, visit a state park, climb
our beautiful mountains, whatever you can do to take care of yourselves
because your mental health is important as well.”

So, yes, one of the paths to mental and physical health is making the best use possible of outdoor activities. We are learning we do not need to participate in organized sports or events to do so. I read daily of individual and small group adventures on the Long Trail, Lake Champlain or a country road and applaud the efforts demonstrated – surely with good results.

There are online communities that offer guidance and dedicated programs as well as inboxes full of opportunities and advice. While there is no one-size-fits-all approach to fitness, there are certainly multiple approaches. Surely one will fit! Recently a young soccer player told me of her struggles to adjust to a new position on the field. I suggested that she take several mental “jerseys” to her practice and consider each to represent a position. When her coach tells her to go in to play center-mid, for example, she should pull that jersey on and go do it. This concept fit. Can you do something similar?

Note, too, that some find contemplative wanderings satisfying while others need a challenging hike or long cycling hours. More and more we recognize the need for multiple types of fitness – physical, mental, and spiritual. Once again approaching individual fitness from many roads is significantly important – cross training if you will.

Teaching a Yoga class a few days ago I suggested that our fall foliage is somewhat analogous of the times. We are living in chaos super charged with fear, sorrow, rage, uncertainty and angst. At times it is as if we are caught in a whirlwind of events over which we have no control and can only experience from a distance. At other times we are touched by the struggles of family, friends and our local communities.

THE ANAOLOGY CULMINATES

Liken the chaos to the foliage – vividly colored leaves screaming their brilliance from their branches only to be caught by the wind and rain as they swirl and collide on their route back to the earth where they lie in what? – Peace? Submission? Death? Renewal?  Hmmm. Perhaps that is our experience too as pandemic, politics, economy, fear, courage and kindness scream, collide and ultimately find stillness in some sort of unity.

And what is the bottom line? Keep on keeping on? Attend to our self-care the best we can? Support our local businesses and communities? Put on our game jerseys and play our positions?

In any event, it is all a journey. Whether we are seeking fitness, or health, or financial stability, or peace – it is all a journey. May we see the beauty along the way, connect with each other (distanced, of course!) but always continuing the journey with curiosity, motivation, energy and good, old-fashioned stick-to-itiveness.

BEAUTY

THRESHOLDS BETWEEN BUSYNESS AND SELFCARE

Though a threshold often mark the start, the beginning or an entrance, perhaps a threshold also marks transition and connection. Recently I had removed a partition between living rooms in my house and another room designated as my home gym. A threshold was installed to make the transition from one room to the other safer, easier and more attractive. Yes, it is a physical piece of wood, but it is also a metaphorical threshold that invites and welcomes me when I enter my gym space to take some time for myself to ride my Peloton or lift weights or step on my Bosu. threshold gives me permission to use the room as intended and encourages dedication to my training. When I finish, I can almost hear my threshold saying “Well done!” as I cross back into my daily life.

Today on my walk I paused to look across a country road to two wonderful old draft horses with nothing more to do than swish off flies and pass the time away. The low stone wall separating them from the road and beyond was more of a visual boundary than an actual restraint as they could easily have made their way over it if they had wanted. Likewise, I could have joined them in about 3 strides. But from what – respect? – it seems we all bowed to the appropriate separation and continued on our way. Does threshold represent boundary or freedom?

As some of you know, over the past months of Covid related changes, I have stolen more time to read and have done a deep dive into the works of John O’Donohue. If ever there is a writer who tackles the concept of “threshold,” it’s O’Donohue, and I urge you to make his acquaintance.  He often speaks of duality, opposition and the striving for balance. “Duality, then, is informed by the oppositions that meet at this threshold. I would argue that an authentic life is a life that is aware of and willing to engage its own oppositions, and honorably inhabits that threshold where the light and darkness, the masculine and feminine and all the beginnings and endings of one’s life engage.” (Walking in Wonder by John O’Donohue, Convergent press, 2015)

As a Yoga instructor and practitioner, I am in love with Yoga itself, the physical strength, mobility and stability benefits, and the mind-body connection. In my teaching I encourage all to balance the Yin and Yang in their Yoga practice, sports performance, daily life, etc and to become aware that these are not competing forces, but necessary opposites that integrate, support and find equilibrium in us physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

“Genuine spiritual practice offers a way to face both our inner and outer worlds and to bring these two related realms into living, loving dialogue.” (from tricycle.org; Gaylon Ferguson, “Natural Bravery”)

I did hear a few complaints of boredom after the lockdowns of spring. For the most part we found ourselves busier than ever sourcing food and supplies, learning coping mechanisms and how to protect our families, teaching our kids, and for so many businesses, how to remain viable when all but essential workers showed up via Zoom or other internet platforms.

Busyness has taken on new meaning. So has selfcare. There was a time when selfcare was for the individual with abundant funds and time to spend at the spa. No longer. Now we honor the concept. Selfcare precedes care of others and without it reserves of generosity and service empty too quickly. Selfcare underpins effective action and softens the edges of tolerance. Selfcare multiplies patience and gives value to connection.

And just how does threshold play a part in all of this? There is all too often an inherent resistance to selfcare. Perhaps there is a mental boundary keeping us from doing for ourselves, investing in stress relief or strength and energy production. Maybe, just maybe, that boundary could be observed as a threshold – a line between time or space, to be sure, but a line that encourages  transition to cross it. Like the stone wall separating the horses from the road, that line just maybe will discourage anything that might devalue or intrude upon our time of selfcare.

At the beginning of each day, as we cross the threshold from sleep to wakefulness, may we do so knowing that at some point when we need it most, we will step over another threshold into that which will renew, settle and free the flow of energy and goodness within us so that we may begin again to reach out to those in our lives and do whatever needs to be done. May your personal threshold say “Well Done!”

Seasonal changes offer nature’s threshold into what is to come.

LATE SUMMER-EARLY AUTUMN

Late Summer-Early Autumn may be a season of it’s own. Lacking definitive start and end-dates, it’s a season that confuses itself. One day may mandate shorts and sleeveless tees and the next day it’s on with the fleece and maybe even gloves. As the daylight shortens, a sense of loss teases sadness, but just as quickly turns to anticipation of some of the best outdoors adventures of the year.

As past field editor of the Rutland Herald and Times Argus “Active Vermont” Sunday page, I often dedicated a Labor Day issue to the changes brought by return to school, K-post graduate. (Now THAT has traditionally triggered unique emotions as parents hand-hold little ones to their first day of school or reluctantly drive away from having deposited their big kids in their college dorms. Ouch. I for one hated those and often shed tears. Yeah, I know ….)

Needless to say, 2020 is different. Here in Vermont, not only is the season confused, so are we all and questions hang thickly around us as to what the school year will look like: in school or online or a hybrid? School sports are a go? What? How in the heck are kids supposed to qualify their mile run or fight for possession of a soccer ball all the time wearing a tightly fitted face mask? And why are they even having fall sports if we all agree that face masks are helpful? (well, most of us anyway) And oh lordy, please don’t anyone test positive. Dorms are occupied? But I digress.

As I reread some of my previous Active Vermont pieces, a common thread also connected with today. Whatever our age or association with the scholastic life, it’s quite possible that we continue to be influenced by an academic calendar. September means saying goodbye to a relaxed summer attitude and hello to the take-a-deep-breath and get-yourself-organized sass of a new school year a/k/a that which we must begin, complete, or otherwise dedicate our talents and energies.

In the good ole days, last year for example, athletes might be seriously training for, and anticipating, snow sports. Again, the mountains here are confused as to exactly how the snow will be utilized this season. Perhaps it is safe to say that since last March, every recreational or competitive sport or activity has been reimagined. And as I write this and you read it, it’s quite likely that some serious adaptation will continue past this confused and confusing season all the way to what – the end of the year?

But it’s not all bad. Just as those of us who have been blessedly unscathed by illness during the time of Covid have found unexpected pleasure in newfound gentler ways of living; and just as those of us who have been unfortunately impacted by the financial blows of Covid but are still afloat have found unexpected pleasure in simplicity, so, too, it is perfectly possible that we are finding new forms of connection, exercise, and pathways to fitness and well-being.  (Phew, that was a long sentence but you do understand, don’t you?)

So, perhaps, at this time of year that doesn’t quite know if it’s still summer or if hints of cold are real or imagined, perhaps we, as passengers on this rerouted train might find novel ways to reimagine the sights and reconfigure our response to what is happening all around us. (Note, more than the Coronavirus can be novel!) As we turn the corner into mid-late autumn, stick season lies ahead. Until then we can carry on with a restructured lifestyle, reaching out safely to those in our network and embracing our personal and professional communities as we become more and more adept at distancing, masking, Zooming and loving. Living creatively has never been more in vogue.

ZOOM FATIGUE

Yoga at home with Zoom

Zoom Fatigue is more than a hip and savvy buzz-phrase. It is relevant, here and now, blurring the lines of work and home while robbing possibilities and extinguishing the potential to thrive.

As the early days of March are crawling forward through the remaining weeks and months of 2020, reliance on technology continues to provide that which is desperately needed as, at the same time, it overwhelms and causes very real problems.

As early as April, 2020, Zoom Fatigue received media attention.  Forbes.com, for example, pointed to communication disconnect, technical challenges, and maintaining a work/life balance as energy draining. Physically what does all that screen time do to our shoulders, necks and upper bodies as well as our eyes and those poor hands and wrists typing away in response. We stare at the screen and need to work harder to find the nuances of personality and body language reactions. Even what has been the fun of showing up in our pajamas, has a down side. Dressing for an event puts us in the mood and helps sharpen us mentally as well as energetically.

This is a broad topic indeed. Let’s narrow it to the Yoga business. Yoga teachers and business owners are creative! By the end of March, my colleagues and I were all doing battle with streaming live classes, recording those classes to be shared later, seeking ways to build an accessible video library and, perhaps most daunting, reaching out to students encouraging them to open their hearts and minds and shift their practice to an online format.

We as teachers had to quickly relearn how to plan and teach, how to adapt space, camera, audio and light to recording. We needed to seek help from others and simplify our practices, slow down, and offer safe asanas and flows that could be easily followed. We became addicted to podcasts of those who had gone before us. Studio owners needed to compute the costs of maintaining a studio in hopes of future use, recalculate when partial use was offered, and care for their instructors as well as clients. (Note: some business owners furloughed their instructors without pay while others nurtured online teaching.) As I write this, many large and successful big city Yoga studios and franchises – with big city expenses – have gone out of business. Small studios fell early on, except for a few who are hanging on due to the dedication and generosity of their owners. The tipping point is precarious. Often what saves is the sheer commitment of the clientele who realize that their continued support is more than a kind gesture; it is an act of continuing self-respect and self-care.

There is no question that this business is forever changed. Numbers tell the story. First there was the initial reluctance assuming that things would return to normal in a few days or weeks. Then there was surprised enthusiasm for streamed classes in which participants could actually visit with each other prior to and after the class. Noting the value of this, many who started on Facebook made the move to Zoom. For awhile, it took off. And then the numbers began to decline. Students no longer prioritized their class times and somehow just didn’t get around to opening the link to the recorded session. The HABIT, and yes, jumping on a Zoom call for a Yoga class became a new habit, was weakened if not broken and Zoom Fatigue became a reality.

ZOOM FATIGUE

What about the student? I can speak here from experience as I am both a student and a teacher. As much as I love my Yoga practice, it is often very challenging for me to roll out my mat and fully engage with the online class I am about to take. Once begun, it is equally challenging to remain with the practice and not wander to the kitchen to refill my coffee mug or stop to check my text messages. As my community gradually reopens I find more and more conflicts with the live classes that I have joined daily, and then am challenged even further to put aside the space in my day to utilize the video recording. There are times when I simply must force myself back into the momentum and, of course, after, I am transformed.

As a student and a teacher I can say, if we want our Yoga connections, if we want to maintain our Yoga habit in community, if we want our studio to be there for us in the future, if we want to truly realize the value of this amazing practice, we must step up. Stepping up might mean buying another class package or stepping up might mean creating a Yoga space in our home where we will step onto our mat daily to balance, strengthen and regenerate ourselves with or without guidance and support. Stepping up might mean exactly what we do in Savasana – receive, be open to other options, look forward with curiosity and anticipation not back with regret.s

Thich Nhat Hanh said:  “If you want a garden, you have to bend down and touch the soil. Gardening is a practice, not an idea.”  Well, there you have it.

Fatigue can take you down so far it redefines itself into something dark and dangerous. Each individual experiences fatigue in a uniquely personal way. Some do the proverbial “pull yourself up by your bootstrap” thing and, by putting one foot in front of the other, get back on track. Some find it best to honor fatigue – give it space and time to heal and regenerate. Whether we simply keep on or take a break assumes that first we have acknowledged that fatigue is threatening. Quit or renew? Ahhhhhh.

Yes, Zoom Fatigue is real. It is a very today thing. Though Zoom may not be your platform, it is clear that the foundation of your daily life as you knew it on New Year’s Eve is substantially altered. Where next? Seek courage?

“Know that you are not alone  And that this darkness has purpose;  Gradually it will school your eyes  To find the one gift your life requires  Hidden within this night-corner.  …

A new confidence will come alive  To urge you toward higher ground  Where your imagination  Will learn to engage difficulty  As its most rewarding threshold.”*

 *FOR COURAGE. Excerpted from To Bless the Space Between Us, A Book of Blessings, John O’Donohue, Convergent Books, 2008.

RETURNING? I DON’T THINK SO. Reimagining a new way to teach and train in studio, gym, outdoors or virtually.

 

It’s not just the large gym or small studio in urban or rural U.S. Globally the fitness industry is metaphorically scratching its head wondering how to handle each day. Though there is no one who is able to predict the future, it is becoming increasingly clear that a “return” to life as it was before the pandemic (and it’s not over yet, oh dear) is not a reality. Can we patch things up and do a mockup of something similar? Can we limit numbers, insure spacing, sanitize endlessly, mask uncomfortably, and provide safety assurances? Is that even productive or wise?

finding ways to distance and pause

This post is not yet another diatribe about the state of today’s world financially, socially, politically, or medically. It is a small voice from the small perspective of a small town in Vermont. I am a Personal Trainer and Yoga Instructor and, primarily because I have participated in many activities and am constantly studying anything available relative to my work, my depth of information and practice is appreciable. Over the years, working one on one, in small groups or large classes, as a director of a gym and as an athletic coach for individual sports, I have watched participants, sometimes reluctantly-sometimes enthusiastically, strain, drive, compete and press towards goals on individual paths. I, too, became obsessed with heart rates, watts, mileage, speed, power and an infinite variety of numbers to measure everything from fuel to output to recovery time all designed to indicate success or failure.

Savasana

Fortunately for my own personal well-being and hopefully for that of my students and clients, I have become passionate about the practice of Yoga – whether it is Yoga for Athletes (my introduction to Yoga with Sage Rountree), Vinyasa (thank you Freeport Yoga Company and Kripalu) or the complementary practice of Yin Yoga (Josh Summers and Terry Cockburn, Summers School of Yin Yoga). I can speak only from my very small dot on the map of “return.”

Who knew? Those of us who have spent 200, 300, 500, 1,000 hours in Yoga Teacher Trainings, specialty courses, even in cadaver labs as we have learned about the thousands of years old Yoga theory and practice, anatomy, even how to teach; who knew that we would need to add a crash course in technology and become adept at something called live-streaming, recording or Zoom? Who knew we would suddenly need to learn to teach a different way – and, for that matter, to learn a different way as we joined other students in other teachers’ virtual classes? Who knew we would be faced with legal technicalities, internet crashes and how to create space in which to teach, adapt or purchase camera and sound equipment and on and on and on. 

Perhaps the trickiest hurdle has been connecting with our students and providing them with practice and support that is worthy of their fee. In the beginning many teachers offered online services as a gift. The next step was an honor system. Then links and passwords needed to be purchased and voila a new industry was born. Recently I listened to a mind-boggling podcast about a new wave of abuse – no, not the inappropriate touching scandal that has suddenly vanished – but the abuse of instructors who are paid a set sum to teach their class and then forever after their videos are sold with profit only to the business owner. Ouch. (And, as I have used the word “small” frequently in this post, please note that in the small studio where I work this is a completely foreign concept. We are all in this together supporting each other and our lovely leader, Ana. http://www.mountainrosevt.com) Just sayin’

quiet trails for exercise and contemplation

But there are beautiful and significant observations to be made as well. As soon as it was deemed safe to go outdoors, masked and spaced, individuals and families, thrilled to be able to do so, were out the door walking, running, hiking, strolling, climbing, cycling and paddling. Gone was the drive that forced such an adventure. Exercise, action, the outdoors, all became a privilege and, in this new light, became gifted joy.

Community has been redefined. Even the tiniest connection – a phone call or text, photo or face time, card or package – is duly appreciated forging bonds replacing tenuous strands. And in my own small (there’s that word again) world of Zoom, those minutes of unmuted video before and after a teacher-led practice are golden; they are fun and sensitive and compelling moments of genuine community.

Inserting stillness, a by-product of Yoga, everywhere and anywhere.

Virtual hugs are bogus, are they not? Those foolish little emoji of the smiling face with 2 arms? Give me a break. I’m not so sure about the etiquette of a handshake, but we will hug again. We cannot resist! But perhaps we will retain some of the goodness of this experience. Perhaps we will live a cleaner and simpler life. Perhaps we will offer and receive touch untainted by skepticism or misunderstanding. Perhaps we will gratefully relish the effort to proactively care for our own well-being in order to reach out to others in our lives. Perhaps we will loosen the fetters of restrained emotions and be honest, sharing and, yes, grateful. Perhaps we will find cause for happiness in things as presumably insignificant as a buzzing bee all the way up to financial stability or a clean bill of health.

Perhaps we will like taking a Yoga class in a new setting, bringing our own props, and washing our hands.

create a personal home Yoga space

Perhaps we will even like participating in a Yoga practice in a virtual community, as we say, “live or later.” Perhaps we are ready for what is new and not a mended version of what was before. Perhaps.