My 2020 Story

Photoshoot

It’s great when the to-do list doesn’t have a tight time-frame. This morning the sun was shining and I decided it would be a fabulous day to go to the beach.

Whenever I chat to people out and about they always assume I spend a lot of my time on the beach – and to be fair, it’s my go-to place for taking pictures for my social media. After all I live by the beach..

As usual, my trusty companion on these adventures is my mini tripod and my phone – though I’m hoping to upgrade to a regular camera that has the same ability to time-delay shoot and video. One of the great things about the phone is the screenshot ability – to cameras do that? – maybe I’ll have to do some online screenshots? – not sure.

I drive to my favourite beach and planted myself at the sunny end. Stripped down to single layer and bare feet – stacked the phone and tripod ready to video – and off I went. A bit of posturing – 3 mins – photoshoot complete.

Nice work if you can get it!!

Lockdown – the beginning

And so it began. Last Thursday the UK went into Lockdown 2.0. Well – apart from schools, Universities, essential shops and people who can’t work from home. I won'[t go into the whys and what’s it all abouts – not that I don’t have an opinion, just that this is not the place to share that. This is simply the how my life goes bit!

And it began with some baking.

Day 1 – the bread mix came out. Mostly because the packet which had been in the garage had split and it needed to be used rather than there being a shortage – I feel sure that had I wanted to buy bread in the supermarket this wouldn’t have been a problem.

Day 2 – a walk in the hills with a friend and her dog. It was her birthday. The sun shone and the hills were fabulous. Life is for living – not watching TV.

Day 3 – a walk on the beach. Totally stunning day here in the North East. But don;t tell everyone – we don’t like it when too many people come onto our beaches and roads!

Day 4 – a rainy day – and so, that day in front of the TV arrives.

Day 5 – New zoom routine starts – with 5 daily wake-up yogas and 3 weekly hour long classes to do. And a workout to fit in. Plus my housework and a zillion other jobs.

No rest for the wicked!!

Last day..

Yesterday was the day of lasts – the last day in a Crossfit class for a few weeks, the last in-person yoga class for a while. A day of mixed emotions for sure.

Emotions were running high at the gym this morning when we met up to start the workout. At Crossfit we keep each other healthy by working out together – that slight competitive edge makes you dig just a little deeper. We are a mutual support group emotionally too. And how many of us got ill – none? – except during lowndown when stress got the better of us. This makes me cross.

Yoga was pretty much the same – it’s a gentle release and a happy place for those who come to class. A place not just to stretch, but a place to ease into the body and relax. Sure you can do it online – but it’s not the same. There’s something about the ritual of going somewhere – the commitment – that makes it work. I dare anybody to suggest my yoga classes are not a safe and nurturing environment.

As my class ended so the gym closed. Sadness and anger mix.

Meditation Aspiration

Today was the first of the tutorials running alongside the year long Mediation course I’ve embarked on – personal development leading to teacher training.

We had to introduce ourselves and say why we’d started the course as well as what we hope to achieve through doing it. Here’s my answers

I’m 4 years post-career – left dentistry 4 years ago. Qualified as yoga teacher with Dru 3 years ago and now teach in the lovely North East of England wher I’ve been living for 2 years.

I’m really grateful to be able to access these courses via zoom – this is one of the major plusses of our current situation!

I hope to master the art of meditation – to slow down my busy mind – with the aim of being able to teach these skills to students. My aim, as always, is to make the best of this vehicle in which we travel for the duration of our time on this journey; to enjoy the journey.

Maybe in the not-too-distant-future I’ll go further and do the Yoga Therapy course too.

Medatation course part one – loving it!!

Positive Vibes Only

I knew this anyway – but somehow a bit of negativity crept into my space. I can’t be doing with negative vibes around me. I have a tolerance – a bit of leeway – everyone has bad days. But constantly glass half empty attitude – no.

I do think it’s easy to get caught off guard – to be generally happy and positive through life but to get caught in a negative cycle – and before you know it you’ve been sucked into a downward spiral. You can only see what’s wrong. There can end up being no way out. So I have a tolerance.

You do indeed become the sum of those closest to you – but when one of those influences is the constant TV news with its never ending splurge of negative content, the average becomes not pretty. If I’m in the same circle, no matter how positive I am, I barely touch redressing the balance. – And on the downside, that negativity rubs off on me.

Don’t get me wrong – I will not let fear and negativity rule my life, but I can’t help getting affected by it. I can feel it inside of me and I don’t like it.

As Tony Robbins says – see the situation for what it is – not worse than it is: know what it is you want: and take action to get there.

Positive vibes only in my circle please!

Daylight Saving

It almost doesn’t really matter what time you call it, winter or summer – short hours of daylight or shorter hours of darkness, I’m a person that wakes up to the sound of the birds waking up and the sun making its appearance. When the sun sets in the winter months and it’s dark by 4pm – you’ll find me wrapped up on the sofa and ready to hibernate.

Daylight saving to me means getting up to greet the sunrise – making the most of the available hours: going out for a walk if the sun shine breaks through the clouds for a while (it does that quite often, I’ve noticed now I’m retired).

I’ve never totally got why we bother shifting the hours around in the spring and autumn – yes, I get it’s to do with children walking to school in the winter and farmers in the North – but in today’s world surely this matter less? Surely it would save us all a lot of bother if we just adjusted our habits a little to suit the changing seasons. Save our own daylight locally, as it were.

Getting up with the sun instead of having the clock tell you when to rise feels far more ‘in tune’ and makes a lot of sense to me. Time to slow down and enjoy the journey?

Admin day

How has retirement ended up this way? Monday to Wednesday I rush around, – ok so it’s mostly Crossfit (every day) and yoga (2 lessons on Monday, one on Tuesday and one Wednesday evening) – oh and dance practice on Wednesday which takes up about 3 hours including travelling.

Today is the first chance I’ve had to sit down and do my admin – emails, messages, social media in preparation for next weeks rounds of superbusy-ness.

At least it’s not boring. And it’s not all work related admin – school notices, courses I’m doing or would like to do, arranging catch-ups with friends – it’s a hard life. The think that keeps getting side-lined, though, is the tax return – there’s so much not-fun about filling in those numbers!

Do you keep all your admin til one day or can you manage to keep up with your life on a daily basis?

Morning Routine

Inspired by the Miracle Morning ‘SAVERS’ routine and Tony Robbins’ Prime routine, I think it’s about time I set a useful morning routine for myself.

I think we all probably do have a way we set up for the day – for some it may be a roll out of bed after 4 snooze buttons – for others a bounce up with daybreak. But from there – is it on with the kettle and try to gee up via a few coffees?

My morning starts with a few cups of lemony water and no food til my 16 hour fasting time is up – that may well be after a visit to the gym. In the week I start with mindful movement – 745 on Zoom – a small group join me and I love that to move the body gently.

Thereafter – in touch with social media, get the teenager out of the house for school ang gym to complete. I’m a total list maker – so by the time I’m moving I’ll have a plan for the day.

In Tony R’s Prime routine he spends some time warming up the body, into breathwork followed by a period of gratitude, a body scan and finally some goal celebrations. I think I will do a live FB on this one!

Morning routines – do you have one?

UPW.live

4 days of Tony Robbins wisdom – live from his multiscreen studio to thousands worldwide. The even should have been in Birmingham – but as it was in happened right here in my kitchen.

Each day began with a posture expert talking us through the importance of good posture – so energy can flow effectively through the body and we can be protected from disease. Pretty much what I teach every day – though there’s always room for a few more cues and tips.

Next came a three piece exercise group – I’d call it zumba-style. Lots of energy. Loud party music – really increases the energy in the body. A bit much for an aged body so early in the morning – but looking at the other participants I was definitely in the older co-hort. Good time to make a coffee….

Each day from there had a theme-

Day 1 – Breakthrough Day. Much talk about mindset and discarding old patterns of behaviour. Considering reasons why we might not have reached our potential.

Day 2 – Closing the Gap Day. Identifying areas for improvement and seeking a mentor in any area you are not your best self.

Day 3 – Transformation Day. The day the magic happens: Led by Tony himself and his obvious passion. Moving blocks and feeling good about creating new patterns. Tony’s daily routine for unbreakable mindset.

Day 4 – Health and Fitness day. And a fair bit of upsell-talk to promote his many other events. Concluding with some experts in various wellness fields and a meditation to close the event.

This was billed as a stop-gap until the live event we had signed up for was to take place (Next June in Birmingham) and at the last minute it dropped that the June event would also be online. In fact the news was dropped in the guise of a ‘special offer’ for those signing up to the June event – very badly done news-break and a major disappointment in terms of PR from the Robbins camp. Wonder how that will pan out?

Focus and energy

The simple truth is that energy goes where the focus goes. That’s the basis of all that is the mind:body connection and the Law of attraction – in fact it’s the secret to manifesting magic in your life.

Do you have a dream in your mind – an outline, perhaps, of what you want in life? – Have you those desires in your head like a list – maybe like circling the things you wanted for Christmas in the toy section of the catalogue?

The difference between the things that manifest in your life and the things that remain as dreams is how much you focus on those dreams. Add energy, total focus – passion in those dreams. Then those dreams will have no option but to appear in your energy space.

Energy space ? – we’ll call that the space your physical and emotional body occupies. Mind:body connection – fascinating and so exciting!