And so another week of life in a global pandemic comes to an end. We received news yesterday that our governor is extending stay at home orders until May 8 and news today that schools will be closed for the remainder of the year. I was not surprised to read either announcement. How are you guys doing? What’s going on in your state or country?
If this very informal Instagram poll offers any indication, it seems that most of us are on the stressed side. Sleep has been really tough for me lately. I’ve been waking in the middle of the night and unable to go back to sleep. I’ve tried all the tricks in my book…reading, meditation, visualization, breathing exercises, etc and I just lie there with my mind racing.
Note, I cannot recommend Yoga Nidra enough as a way to help you relax your body and mind. You can find plenty of guided Yoga Nidra meditation options on the Insight Timer app and here is my personal favorite with Rod Stryker. It’s so, so good. Please try it if you’re struggling with stress and anxiety.
My friend Clara shared these words from Tara Brach’s book Radical Acceptance. They brought me comfort and I hope they do the same for you. This book is next in my Audible line up.
I had an okay week. I stayed close to home and only left the house to make my weekly trip to the grocery store, to do a curbside pickup at Verizon (more on that in a minute) and to see Dr. Bradberry. I have a hip issue that I’ve referenced but haven’t explained. It’s a long story for a dedicated post. I’ll tell it soon but in short, until I can have surgery weekly visits to Dr. Bradberry are keeping me as mobile and pain-free as possible.
When stay at home orders went into place I opted to stop my weekly visits because I told myself they weren’t “essential.” After a few weeks without care I realized that in order for me to teach and work the way that I needed to support myself, I had to take care of myself. It blows my mind every time that I see Dr. Bradberry how much relief that I get from our short sessions. He mostly does active release therapy with me and a quick adjustment of my back/hips.
As I shared a few weeks ago, Virginia has been my quarantine buddy and she was a huge help this week with Finn while I taught class. She took him for a walk on Wednesday evening while I taught and said that halfway through the walk she had to stop to clean up after Stella. She asked Finn to hold the leash and then he wouldn’t give it back. He “walked” Stella for the last 30 minutes of the walk. He loves her!
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Here’s a video of the end of my class when Finn, Stella and Virgina got home. <3 This will forever be a moment that makes my eyes fill with tears!
This weekend I am taking a virtual module for my 300-hour yoga teacher training at Asheville Yoga Center. As I mentioned a last week, it’s The Moon Path: The Sacred Teachings of Yoga for Women. I had Finn with me for the first few hours of training this morning…which was interesting…but I have the remainder of the weekend to really focus on learning while he’s with his dad.
But seriously, how cute is downward facing Finn? 🙂
About that Verizon curbside pickup. UGH. My iPhone X bit the dust after two years of service and I updated to the 11 Pro Max. On the one hand, I use my phone so much for work that it’s important for me to have a high-functioning, high-quality and super updated device but man is it hard to justify the cost. The saving graces are that I can write it off as a business expense and that Verizon allows you to spread the payments out with no interest so I didn’t have to pay it all at once, it’s included in my monthly bill.
Now that I have the 11 Pro Max, I wish I would have updated sooner. The camera is incredible. Like, seriously makes me question if I’ll keep using my DSLR camera. I had already transitioned to 90% iPhone photography before and I know it will be even more now. It’s totally wild to me how much smartphone cameras have improved in quality in my 10 years of blogging.
Off to heat up some leftover pasta and make like this on the couch.
Sending big love to all of you.
QUESTIONS
How are you? What’s going on where you live? How’s your sleep?
Are you doing any medical maintenance appointments/physical therapy kind of stuff?
Any weekend “plans?”
