I was 24 when this picture was taken...

This kid is 24 today.  I work out because I want to be there for all the rest of his birthdays.

Why do you?

Float like butterfly... unless this is a moth

I lift weights because I want to be powerful.  The news is full of things that seem uncontrollable, that I can’t change.  Sometimes that is true.  Other times, I just need to remember that I can do things.  And weights help me remember this.

Over time, I can do more.  I practice.  I can lift heavier things than I used to with better form and less fatigue.

I am not the only one.  We can all use to get more powerful.

Writing is like fitness, and vice versa

“Okay.  Your kids are climbing into the cereal box.  You have $1.25 left in your checking account.  Your husband can’t find his shoes, your car won’t start, you know you have lived a life of unfulfilled dreams.  There is the threat of a nuclear holocaust, there is apartheid in South Africa, it is twenty degrees below zero outside, your nose itches, and you don’t have even three plates that match to serve dinner on.  Your feet are swollen, you need to make a dentist appointment, the dog needs to be let out, you have to defrost the chicken and make a phone call to your cousin in Boston, you’re worried about your mother’s glaucoma, you forgot to put film in the camera, Safeway has a sale on solid white tuna, you are waiting for a job offer, you just bought a computer and you have to unpack it.  You have to start eating sprouts and stop eating doughnuts, you lost your favorite pen, and the cat peed on your current notebook.

“Take out another notebook, pick up another pen, and just write, just write, just write.  In the middle of the world, make one positive step.  In the center of chaos, make one definitive act.  Just write.  Say yes, stay alive, be awake.  Just write.  Just write.  Just write.”

Natalie Goldberg wrote that in her amazing book Writing Down the Bones.  Yes, it is about writing, but it might just as well be about working out.  There will always be reasons not to work out.  There will always be things, big and small, that want to take our attention away from our healthy practices.  They will still be there when we are done working out and we will be better for having taken care of ourselves.

Monday Workout: Reboot the circuit!

I’ve been enjoying experimenting with these shorter circuits.  I hope everyone else is, too!  Go for four or five rounds.  If you don’t have a kettle bell, a dumbbell works fine for the swings.  If you don’t have a resistance band, substitute body weight squats.

1 min cardio
KB swing	20
plank to side balance	10
reverse fly	20
plank straddle jumps	20
band squats	20
femur arcs	10

This picture is a pile of frogs and has nothing to do with the post

Let’s talk about celebrating.  The theory is that celebrations make us feel good.  So we eat too much and drink too much and stay up too late and the next day we feel… not good.

Let’s try celebrating by doing things that actually make us feel good, like laughing and running around and ice skating and drinking one cup of cocoa and giving people gifts that make their faces light up.

We can feel better all the time that way.

Please tell me!

A long time ago, now, I worked as a coordinator of a service-learning program.  Service-learning combines cognitive components with real-world experience, which allows each to enrich the other.  Doing community service is certainly always valuable; reflecting on the underlying problems, seeking to understand the people involved, soliciting input and feedback, and applying all that stuff to the service can really change the world.

When I recently decided to open the studio for meditation and to offer free mat Pilates on Friday, I forgot one of the things I used to know when I was actively involved in service-learning:  the community needs input.  So:  What can I or should I offer to you, my community, from my studio?  Do you want free mat class?  Do you want access to meditation space?  What times and days do you feel the need?  Is there a need?

Please let me know so I can spend my resources wisely!

Why?

Sometimes I forget.  Working out is not just about working out.  While sometimes the process itself is fun, the point is that working out gives us stuff in the rest of our lives.  I remembered when I was out on my bike.

Technically, riding my bike counts as working out.  In real life, it is just joy.  It is being in the sun, feeling the wind, seeing the birds and dogs and people and trees and water.  Without working out, I would not be able to enjoy that feeling, or I would have to be limited by my body’s capability.  With working out, it’s all play.

Let’s remember what we work out for.