Barefoot & On the Mat, April 2022

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I love this quote I found yesterday:
“April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.” ~Shakespeare, Sonnet 98

I thought I would go ahead and start us on the new month - I'm not sure how it got to be April already, but I'm glad!

If you are just peeking in on this checkin for the first time, please join us! We are fun, diverse, international group (thanks mainly to Margot at this point). Our emphasis is on barefoot workouts, which could be anything - e.g., Pilates, yoga, barre, CS/Essentrics, dance, even cardio and strength training. We don't have any rules; we welcome anyone to post at any time.

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Happy Friday all!!!

cyana, thanks for your PSA. DH & I are waiting on the 4th shot now, mainly b/c we are in are early 50s (moving to mid-50s later this month, haha) and don't have any high risk factors. We haven't ruled it out but are just waiting for more info.

Pat, I love the Bellyfit Elements, although I with Alice's longer routines, I always want to do 2-3 less rounds. I did enjoy doing her Shakti Yoga Warrior (#8, I think) earlier this week.

[Paine]

Raising the Bar (all of the Upper Body plus calves, outer thigh, inner thigh and quads)

I had a good workout with Margaret this morning.

Beth, thank you for starting our April month!
I hadn't heard about Juliette Wooten but I previewed her workout that you posted and it looks like something I would like to try. Thank you for sharing the link!

Egads Cyana, it's going to be hard working a full day today after waking up at 2am. I bet you'll sleep better tonight due to exhaustion.

Thank you DonnaD, Pat, Cyana and Beth for your thoughts about another covid booster. I have mixed feelings about it so I thought I'd ask what others have decided.

[Pat58]

Thank you Beth!

Reposting: Good morning friends, TGIF! Yesterday featured:

~ LWR Walk Fit Challenge W3D4
~ Bellyfit Elements Earth
~ My own deep stretch
~ 7,416 steps

The Bellyfit was so much fun. I recall being aggravated by the TIFTING years ago but last night I wanted to keep going.

Did anyone see Lee Holden's Facebook post about starring in a new superhero move, Qi Man? Turns out it is an April Fool's joke! Groan ....

Cyana, I am getting very leery of the boosters and fear things are going from "save the world" to Big Pharma as usual. I had no objections to the first two shots and the booster, but really don't think I'm going to jump up on any upcoming boosters. I got so sick each time and have so many new antibodies floating around, and having an AI illness in the first place makes my take pause.

Waves to all!!!!

[JustSandra]

Hi everyone!

Beth: Thank you for starting us off this month.

The knee that froze up on Wednesday (my left knee) now feels 95% better. Now my right knee, the one with the chronic issues, is complaining a bit, probably because I stressed it while hobbling around on Wednesday. Yesterday I bought this book on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I am finding it a clear, helpful overview of what we can do for aging knees. I also found a Bob & Brad (physical therapists) segment on Youtube which also has a lot of good information:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRcQshMgnV4

No workout for me today but am going out for a short, gentle walk -- which seems to be the most effective knee soother I know!

Waving to all!

[yogapam]

Thanks for starting us off Beth, I love the quote!

Yesterdays workouts:
~Joint/fascia stretches & strength exercises Day 1
~hip focused stretch & yin poses

Today’s workouts
~Jenny Ford MAA California
~Joint/fascia stretches & strength exercises Day 2
~hip focused stretch & yin poses
~MELT: Cool the Quads & Call in the Core - a mix of MELTing & Pilates with the half roller

Sandra - I hope the knee book is a helpful resource for you. When I’m feeling sore or creaky, gentle movement always helps me too.

Pat & Beth - I need to get some BellyFit in again soon! I have a new series to work through.

Paine - I also hear mixed opinions on another booster. We are behind you so I expect it will be a while before they are offered here. I know of so many people who’ve had omicron recently, all vaxxed & all with mild or no symptoms.

Waves to all!

[Margot]

Happy Saturday everyone!

Beth, thank you for starting us off. I'm so glad Spring is on its way, although it doesn't feel like it at the moment!

Yesterday's workouts:
- Body Groove (15 mins)
- ETV Sahra's live class (30 mins)
- Karin Adductor workshop practice
- Pete Caughey qigong - Balancing on one leg!

I just received the download for Bellyfit's DOTM. I love these shorter practices, each around 20-25 mins. I'm planning on doing this month's practice tonight and the meditation afterwards.

I'll be back later with personals. I just want to see if I get the dreaded 500 server error before I type anything else!

[Margot]

Apologies for the lengthy post. I'm sure you know all this anyway; I'm just a bit passionate about the subject! lol Here are my two cents:

It’s tricky knowing whether to go for future boosters or not, as we’re all unique in our physiologies, as well as our thoughts, beliefs and habits! How is the health of our own immune system and how does it respond? I agree with Paine and Pam about maintaining a healthy lifestyle to better protect ourselves from pathogens. Also key, is mental and physiological stress; it’s the low-grade long-term stress that has the biggest impact on the Autonomic Nervous System. Getting stressed for 5 minutes can trigger over 600 chemicals to be released in the body and it can then take several hours for the body to get back to homeostasis. Ironically, despite taking really good care of my health, it was when I was doing my course on the immune system and getting really stressed out from trying to meet deadlines, coupled with walking for hours a day the week before in February freezing cold temperatures, that I picked up a terrible virus, close in match to Yellow Fever.

I’ve just completed a workshop on Inflammation and again we’re looking at stress, in which the Vagus Nerve, the major inflammatory control system of the body, plays a major role. It is believed that in a few years, it will be customary to have your vagal tone measured when you visit your PCP for a check-up. The gut microbiome is another emerging science which is key to our health - another fascinating subject!

After a lifetime of worrying and anxiety, I’m starting to take my own advice, which is to do some daily exercises to keep my Vagus nerve happy. I’m also endeavouring to monitor my thoughts to stay calm and positive, which is much easier said than done! Of course, all of us here are one step ahead with doing our breathwork, meditative practices, yoga, qigong and somatic-type movements.

Pam - Thank you for your kind offer to attend one of your classes. I may take you up on this one day, once I get over my camera shyness!

Wishing you all a happy and stress-free day!

[Paine]

Smithey Buns of Steel (floor workout)

I think I'll be sore tomorrow from Smithey.

Yesterday I went for a neighborhood walk with my youngest grandson. It was such a pretty day! One of the neighbors had California poppies growing in their yard and I pointed those out to my grandson since it is our state flower.

Margot, thank you for sharing your thoughts.

[cyana]

Happy Week-end - especially to those who will not have to work. Unfortunately, that will not include me, as I have something huge due on Monday, so I'll be spending this nice sunny day working, and probably tomorrow, too. This is definitely one of those weeks where I'm thinking "Retire tomorrow!!!" Then I'll have an "oh crap" moment, like after DH went to Costco on Thursday and said "You know those bagged avocados you like? They're now $9.50 a bag." That's up at least $2.50 in a month-ish. Holy moly.

Since I was chained to my desk for an eternity again yesterday, I pedaled for at least 90 minutes with my increasingly close friend Mr. Cubii. Little did I know how much I'd use Mr. Cubii when I purchased him, so I have to thank Linda for bringing this little guy to my attention.

Oops - I kind of missed the fact that yesterday was the 1st of the month when I posted in the March thread.

Paine - I did better than I thought I'd do yesterday, considering the lack of sleep. I worked at least 11 hours, but was in bed by 10. I'm trying so hard to get to the point where I automatically wake up around 5:30-ish so I can get a decent work-out in before work since all bets are off once my work day begins. The insomnia gremlins haven't been helping! I love your California poppies.

Beth - Hopefully April will put the spirit of youth back in me soon, LOL! We are definitely getting into our pollen everywhere time of the year - had to wash the windshield before we drove my car to the farmer's market this AM.

Pam - I need to get better at cook once eat twice (or more). I'm pretty good at foraging for leftovers and throwing something together, but DH typically cooks since I'm still working, and while he's a decent cook, he sometimes needs prodding to come up with a plan. Of course, it would help if he'd think about it before late afternoon. Are you using Teams instead of Zoom these days? I got my half roller earlier this week - hopefully I can try it out this week-end.

Pat - I think you're well-advised to think through how AI might respond to various medical therapies, to include the COVID shots. Most traditional vaccines, for example, contain adjuvants to stimulate the body's immune response, and I'd love to see unbiased research into how different populations react to those substances and are we using the safest agents versus the old defaults (like aluminum ). You're not unreasonable to question the profit motive on the vaccines - Pfizer had record profits last year and Moderna had never brought a medication to market prior to their COVID shot. One of the downsides of my job, I get daily e-letters on the business side of the medical and pharmaceutical industry, which would rattle anyone's save the world mindset. I got the Holden newsletter about Qi Man. Max (the e-mail writer) comes up with some pretty wild and crazy April Fool's fables.

Margot - I loved your post. I've always questioned medical dogma, which was frequently met with a hostile response, but it never stopped me from pressing. I'm with you on the Inflammation train - for many years I felt this was a vastly underestimated contributor to numerous illnesses. Even when I was a young ER nurse back in the late 70's, I'd see these 40 year old men come in with chest pain. They weren't overweight, they didn't smoke, they led a reasonably to very healthy lifestyle, etc. It would be blown off as bad luck or bad genes, but that never satisfied me, as I knew there had to be something else at play. My voracious appetite for knowledge drove me past the traditional medical journals (which I also devoured and still do, but to a lesser degree) to find others who knew we needed to look past A Pill For Every Ill. I am a textbook picture of chronic stress and overwork and it has taken a toll on my well-being over the past several years. Righting myself has been a much more challenging (and ongoing) journey than I ever imagined. Was Heart Rate Variability discussed in your workshop? I recently heard a physician discussing the gut microbiome as relates to COVID and it was quite interesting. She advocated eating real food as the number one priority. I'm feeling a strong pull toward yin/restorative yoga right now.

Sandra - That sounds like a really interesting book! I liked the review that indicated it starts with most conservative and works up - that common sense approach resonates strongly with me. I'm a big fan of Bob and Brad. I like their goofiness and enjoy the wealth of knowledge they have on their channel for free. I frequently use their videos.

Donna - Hope you're feeling well this week-end and not experiencing any side effects from the booster.

If I'm going to get some work done today, I need to stop procrastinating and get the work computer fired up. I think it's pretty obvious I'm having a major lack of motivation, LOL!

Waves to ALL. Hope everyone has a lovely week-end.