My 2020 Story

A dip

After 10 days of ‘not going out’ I’m starting to feel a bit of a lull – a dip in my energy.

I started a routine from the start – daily yoga online teaching those who tune in. The sessions are slowly gaining popularity and feedback is that they help others with their day. To be fair they definitely help me with my day too – it’s fab to feel you’re helping people and great to see a bunch of familiar faces.

I do my workouts as offered by the crossfit gym – which if I had to make them up myself I definitely wouldn’t do. I want to keep those going 5 times a week to maintain a level of fitness.

I’m making an effort to keep up my social media and contacts both as a form of reaching out to offer positive support to others and to maintain my own self of worth.

I am sharing my isolation space with my teenager and my partner – who moved in with his cat on the first day of lockdown.

I have a lot to be grateful for and some habits I believe will help me through. But even so, today I did feel a bit of a dip.

Self care – are we interested now?

Self care has always been on the edge of acceptance – you know you should ‘do it’ but there’s either never enough time or you just don’t know where to start. Or maybe you felt that somehow you just didn’t need it or somehow didn’t deserve it?

Self care isn’t selfish – it’s essential. If you don’t look after you how can you possibly look after those who rely on you? I think that has become increasingly apparent in recent weeks. So where to start? How can you improve your personal resilience through self care?

4 Area to look at

Good diet – including certain supplements
Great lifestyle choices – including both high intensity exercise ald low intessity ‘innercise’
Regular sleep
Mindset – including meditaion and how we respond to stress

There has never been a better time than now to look at your self care – for your sake as well as for those around you. We will emerge from this crisis stronger than we went into it.

No haircuts

It dawned on the teenager yesterday that he wouldn’t be able to get to a barber for the next 3 months. And with the hair already getting out of control – what to do? Was it to be dreadlocks, an almighty mess or a close shave?

He opted for a close shave of his own accord – and luckily my partner has a set of clippers (I understand there’s a universal acknowledgement of this problem and therefore a universal shortage of available clippers). So today the big shave happened.

It might not be perfect, but at least when we emerge at the other side of this lockdown it will have grown again to a manageable length!

Small problems of life in lockdown.

Zoomed out

As we approach the end of the first week of lockdown with businesses and services racing to go online – including my own services – I’m feeling totally ‘Zoomed out’.

Zoom, the online conferencing app is coming into its own this week as we all seek ways of maintaining connections both socially and in business. It’s great to be able to keep in touch!

Zoomed out

That feeling when you’ve seen more than enough people in the virtual world, tried exercise classes, meditation, networking, distance learning, family chats – the list goes on.

It’s maybe time (most certainly for me) to step back and take a while to focus on those in my immediate surroundings. No more pressuring myself to attend this zoom event then the next. It’s a period of adjustment for all that’s for sure. Reset and find a new groove.

Crossfit at Home

One of the things I love about Crossfit is the community – that sense of when you look at the workout for the day that you’re not on your own.

Now, of course, all that has changed because we’re all on our own in our own homes – and that will be the case for a good while yet! So how to keeop motivated to workout at the crazy level you do when you’re in the gym with your Crossfit buddies?

Out gym has been posting daily workouts to be done at home. They were also kind enough to loan some of their equipment out – though not all of us have the same stuff of course. I took enough to compliment the things I had at home anyway.

I’ve been working out at my usual gym times, adapting where necessary to allow for the lack of props (I can’t do kipping pull-ups, for example). I’ve been putting in an appropriate level of effort as I don’t want to emerge in 3 months time feeling like a beginner! Today was my regular day off – so I rested.

We also have our community WhatsApp group to stay in touch – so maintaining a sense of togetherness. – Here’s hoping we can get back to the gym soon!!

Settling In

Can you feel the change happening? The UK has been in Lockdown for 2 days. People are making changes. Not all people – there are always the exceptions who think that rules don’t apply to them – but most people are making changes.

More people are staying home. There are less cars on the roads. There is less background noise.

In my garden the birds seem louder (did they always sing this loud?) and I can hear the metro in the distance when I normally can’t.

At home my teenage son is reluctantly settling into a routine of schoolwork via email in the morning and a little exercise in the afternoon.

My partner has decanted to my place (along with his cat – but that’s another story) and, having finished work on Monday, is still getting used to not having to work (his job can’t be done at home). He’s taking time to settle into my place as well as the lack of structure that work brings but I’m sure he too will find a new groove.

Me? I fill my days with my online yoga teaching replacing the face to face classes, I exercise daily using the crossfit programme offered by the gym I use, I maintain my social media presence with the aim of spreading positivity to the world.

The settling in period is noticable all around me, both in real life and in the world of social media. It’s time to find a new groove..

New Moon, New Paradigm

As the prime minister last night restricted our movement for the sake of the greater good in order to slow the spread of the virulent coronavirus it struck me that the timing is somewhat auspicious. Today is a new moon.

The new moon brings with it the opportunity for a fresh start – new beginnings and fresh intentions. With the country in lockdown perhaps now is indeed a great time to reflect on all that has brought us to this point and look to the future with hope in our hearts.

My hope is that those who get through this difficult time are more humble, more appreciative of all that we have and that we can all slow down and enjoy our life more. I hope we can value this time we have in this lifetime and look after the planet and ourselves with more empathy. I hope the hours on social media translate into lasting and close friendships when we finally meet again face to face.

With the new moon I welcome the opportunity to look forward with hope as we face a new dawn.

Zoom

So the first day of teaching from home – after a bit of practice with family and friends.

Zoom is an online conference platform, free to use for up to 40 minutes. The 40 minutes starts, however, from when the forst person logs into the call – and this morning some early birds were there 20 minutes early: which resulted in the class being 20 minutes too short! Apparently there’s a setting so others can’t enter the online ‘room’ until I let them in: later I will be trying this feature!

So today’s online classes

8am and 5:30pm – 20 – 30 minutes of yoga/mindful movement to start and end the day of working from home.

11:30am – Yoga for a Healthy Back

6:15pm – Yoga for Health and Wellbeing

To join our community and access the classes either live on zoom or in the Facebook group, message me or join the group here

It can only get better!

Stranded – Yoga at Home

As we all enter self-isolation it seems now is the time to launch some classes online. Yoga and exercise will help us get through difficult times.

The classes will be available via Zoom and streamed live into the Facebook group; Stranded – Yoga at Home where they will stay either for the duration of the class only or for 24 hours after the class – some may stay for longer.

The group will also house short guided relaxation sessions which may be accessed at any time to follow the yoga classes as you wish.

The whole thing is very much a work in progress and delivered from the heart with the intention of helping us all through these difficult times.

Hope to meet you there. Amanda xx

Isolating on the move

In these crazy times we have been advised to stay away from other people – stay indoors. If you go outdoor then keep a distance of at least 2m. I can do that!

So today, with the sun shining and blue sky as far as the eye could see – I opted for the latter. A walk over the fields and down to the beach where, it has to be said, there were more people than you would normally find on the beach on a Thursday afternoon. But still – found a quiet spot to sit and admire the view. Absolutely beautiful – what a fabulous place we live.

Shoes off, walk along the waters edge (you get used to the cold water) and back up the road after an ice cream.

Ok the ice cream did involve talking to someone. Maybe next time I’ll take a flask.