I shared it with the blog team to see if anyone had anything more profound to add. Someone suggested that you might also choose to wear yoga pants on your way to divorce court after leaving this guy and any other guys who hold this opinion.
Probably the best internet response came from Twitter user @shesbonky. She honed in on the double standard angle of it all.
In honor of stupid Christians pretending that women's leggings are too revealing, each day I will be posting a photo of a man, exercising in almost nothing, in public spaces.
“In honor of stupid Christians pretending that women’s leggings are too revealing, each day I will be posting a photo of a man, exercising in almost nothing, in public spaces,” @shesbonky tweeted and shared a photo of a man jogging topless.
The case for cycling and kayaking as companion sports
In general, I think a number of us on the blog are fans of water based sports. When I first started the fittest-by-fifty challenge, one of my goals was to take up something new and I went for rowing. In this older post I talked about the skills overlap between rowing and cycling.
Last week, my upper back was tight and I tried a new (to me) video from Heart and Bones Yoga. While the movements were similar to many upper body yoga videos I have done in the past, this one included a small tweak that made a big difference for me.
The instructor was leading us through one set of seated twists and invited us to place our hand on the front of our waists and try the twists again.
The tweak in this twist? We were supposed to keep our hand facing forward and try to just turn from the ribs upwards. (She explains it better in the video but stick with me.)
A video from the Heart and Bones Yoga YouTube channel entitled ‘Yoga for the Thoracic Spine.’ The still image shows the instructor in exercise clothes doing a forward lunge on a blue yoga mat in a light coloured room. Their left leg is in front and their right leg is extended behind. The instructor’s left forearm is resting on their left knee while their right arm is extended forward. They are looking downward.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE!
I thought that the untweaked twist felt pretty good but when I modified my movement as she suggested it totally changed the nature of the stretch. It felt purposeful, targeted, and it was absolutely terrific.
I swear that small change made my rhomboid muscles feel better than they have in ages.
I have been practicing that tweaked twist in my chair, while waiting for the kettle to boil, and while brushing my teeth and I think it has helped a lot.
Your mileage may vary, of course, but if your upper back is tight, why not give it a whirl? (Report back! Please!)
PS – If you have always done twists with that kind of alignment, I’m jealous. I have never picked up on that specific alignment cue before. But, since she included it in her video, I guess it must be a common-enough thing.
Last Sunday, my friend Norah and I did a 2-hour workshop on yoga designed to help ease tension in head, neck and shoulders.
This is exactly what I need. All the time. Every day. Well, if didn’t have to go to work. In which case, I might be significantly less tense. But I’d want to do the workshop anyway because it felt so good.
Who else feels this way?
Yeah, I thought so. Everyone’s raising their hand. Thanks Gpointstudio for the pic.
First off, we did two variations on savasana, corpse pose. There were loads of props to make us optimally relaxed, including sand bags placed on our hands. In these images, sandbags were used on the elbows and shoulders, which I’ve experienced. It feels even better– like your entire upper body is able to relax into the best position possible. Counterintuitive, I know. But what can I say? It worked.
Yes, those are sandbags. We had smaller ones, but they worked well.Facing down, with arms and head supported so the whole back body can relax.
Standing, we did some shoulder stretches against the wall. They were intense (read sort of painful, but in a stretchy, not ouchy way) but had effects on my shoulders, arms and hands, too.
This can be done against any wall, with arm lower if you want.This pose extends the shoulder and deltoid and triceps, too.
One of my favorite poses was a very prop-intensive but extremely relaxing extended bridge pose.
Using a bolster, blankets, blocks, towel under head, one can achieve peace.
We did a lot more poses and variations, many of which were subtle but (for me) had palpable easing of the tension in my neck and shoulders while doing various lower-body yoga stretches. I’m ordering the book on which this workshop is based, by Iyengar Yoga teacher Lois Stenberg. It’s called Iyengar Yoga Asana Alternatives: The Neck and Shoulders. Many of these poses can be done, unaided, at home. And when I do them, especially the standing hand stretches, they help undo some of the computer-induced crampiness I get (I think you know what I mean).
Have any of you tried some of these? What do you do for your head, neck, shoulders? I’d love to hear from you,
Here we are at the last day of 2022, the last day of December, the last day of my Making Space posts.
I hope that you have found these posts useful and that you have found your own ways to make space for yourselves in your days this month. I also hope that you have found (or are starting to find) ways to continue making space for yourselves in the days that follow.
And speaking of the days that follow – tomorrow, I start a series of ‘Go Team!’ posts that encourage you to be kind to yourself as you figure out the habits, systems, and practices you want to take on in the year ahead.
But before we get to that, I have one more thing to say about creating space for your future self and it goes like this:
New Year’s Day may be a symbolic time to start but you can add new ideas, habits and practices to your life at ANY TIME.
And, you can create your own symbolism or meaning around the time that you choose.
For example, even though I like the symbolism of starting new practices in a new year, I had a bit of sideways December so I couldn’t give a lot of thought to things I wanted to do in 2023.
Instead of putting pressure on myself to find time to focus on that, I decided to let December be what it was and that I would figure out what 2023 would look like once it arrived.
Or, to put it another way, I’m choosing to have Planuary instead of January.
By labelling next month as Planuary, I have given it a shape. I’m not going in without a plan and hoping things will just happen – that would never work for my ADHD brain. Instead, I’m planning to spend January figuring out what my plans could be.
And I’m inviting you to create space for your future self by doing something similar.
If you WANT to start something new sometime soon, you don’t have to come roaring out of the gate tomorrow. You can decide on your own terms and your own timeline when and how you want to get started.
You can plan to plan in Planuary.
You can write one thing on an index card and do that until you get bored with it.
You can make a giant list and a big chart and have a grand time with it (as long as you aren’t going to be mean to yourself if you have to change your plan – I can’t get behind that)
You can choose to just keep doing what you have been doing all along but add in the plan to be kinder to yourself in the process (THAT I can full endorse.)
Basically, I want to encourage you to give yourself the space to do things in your own way on your own schedule.
Your tomorrow-self doesn’t need to have it all figured out and doesn’t have to have the perfect plan.
Please be kind to yourself as you make space for future you to develop, expand, and think up cool and fun things to do.
NOTE:Have you ever seen DSri Seah’s Groundhog Day Resolutions monthly personal review system? It’s a cool way that they developed to check in with their resolutions and projects all year long. I love how they worked out a system that works for them without getting caught up in when things *should* be done during the year.
Here are our final videos for the Making Space series. At first I was looking for new year/end of year themed videos but there was such a variation in tone from video to video that I didn’t want to choose something that would be irksome. So, instead, I chose videos for calm and for energy/feeling good – I figured those could be most helpful.
I also chose a yoga video AND a cardio video so you could decide if you wanted to see the year out in a low-key way or in a burst of movement.
Whether you do these videos or do your own thing, I wish you ease, energy and lots of space for yourself as 2022 becomes 2023.
See you tomorrow for our first Go Team! post for 2023.
A video from the Yoga with Kassandra YouTube channel entitled ‘10 Min Morning Yoga for Calm. The still image features the instructor in light brown exercise clothing standing with her legs wide apart and her upper body folds forward toward the camera so she can touch her mat with the palms of her hands and her ponytail has flopped forward towards her mat. Text reading ‘10 Min Morning Yoga’ is overlaid on the upper left side of the image.
A PopSugar Fitness 10 Minute Feel-Good Cardio Workout with Deja Riley. The still image features the instructor standing in a white-walled studio with her arms in the air in a joyful sort of celebratory gesture (that is probably just part of an exercise movement but she looks celebratory to me.)
Another 5 Minute Mindful Meditation for Calm from the Great Meditations YouTube channel (I have really become a fan of that channel during this series!) The still age features light brown text reading ‘Calm 5 Minute guided meditation’ and a cartoon image of a person sitting in meditation with their arms, bent at the elbow, outstretched slightly to the sides in a welcoming or accepting gesture. Behind their head is either their long hair streaming upwards or a thought balloon that contains symbols of thoughts – question marks, ellipses, hearts, emojis etc. and behind their body there are symbols of tangible items like a clock, some gears, and the leaves of a plant.
About Making Space 2022
In December 2020, Fit is a Feminist Issue blogger Martha created a tradition – a series of reminder posts to take good care of ourselves during this last month of the year when it is far too easy to get swept up in your to do list, no matter what you are celebrating or not celebrating. Last year, it was my turn and after an introductory Go Team post called Give Yourself Some Space, I created a series of reminders called ‘Making Space‘ that offered a suggested short exercise video and a suggested meditation in case you needed an easy way to find space for yourself in your schedule.
For 2022, I’ll be doing the same thing but I’ll also be including a link to Martha’s post from the same date in 2020 and I’ll offer a few extra ideas for relaxation, creativity, and self-kindness here and there.
These posts are not about insisting that you do more, more, more during this busy season. Instead, I want to encourage you to remember that there IS a *YOU* who is doing all of the things and you are worth taking good care of.
Perhaps the things I suggest aren’t what you need in the moment. That’s totally ok. Perhaps you can use something else to create some space, something that will help you feel more relaxed or more in charge of your day.
I have to tell you that it made me VERY happy to find a short yoga video about creating space to include today. The video, of course, is about creating a feeling of space in your body and my advice tends to be about creating a feeling of space in your mind but, since we are all very wise and sage people, we know that that distinction is arbitrary, don’t we?
(If we were talking in person right now, I would be giving you an exaggerated wink so you’d know that I, too, know that while the difference is fairly arbitrary it doesn’t always FEEL that way. I do think that we are all wise and sage though, even when we feel foolish.)
ANYWAY!
For these last few days of December, I have been inviting you to consider ways to make space for your future self – even as you use self-kindness to make space for your current self.
NOTE: If you are just here for the videos, please scroll on down. I’m about to get chatty.
Today, I want you to think about how to make some mental space for future you by removing or changing a recurring hassle . That is, figuring out ONE small annoyance or frustration you can remove for your future self.
I’m thinking about things like the basket in the corner that is not *quite* big enough for the things you want to store in it so things keep falling out.
Or about the fact that your measuring cups are on a shelf that’s a bit too high for you to easily reach so you end up either making do with a regular cup or you take down all the measuring cups and then leave them on the counter.
Or the fact that everyone in the office keeps asking *you* for the same piece of information (a phone number/copier code/person’s name) over and over because they can’t seem to remember it.
Or the fact that something needs its batteries charged or that there’s a branch that makes a weird noise against the house when the wind blows a certain way or the fact that there is nowhere to lay your keys down near your front door so you end up misplacing them on the regular.
I don’t know what kind of recurring hassles take up your mental space but these kinds of low-key hassles end up occupying a lot of my mental real-estate – both in the moment and whenever they cross my mind.
But the thing is, those are the kinds of hassles that often don’t get dealt with because they seem like they shouldn’t be a big deal or that they aren’t worth the effort to fix or that they wouldn’t be a problem if we ”just” did…whatever thing that we clearly have trouble doing.
But it IS worth dealing with these things if they free up your mental space.
You have enough things that you *have* to think about without letting this stuff crowd its way in, too.
You don’t have to deal with every hassle at once though.
Today, I’m inviting you to just consider one thing, whatever pops into your mind first, and then make a plan to take care of it.
Get a bigger basket or store some of the things elsewhere. Find a new spot for your measuring cups. Write down the number or the code or the name. Charge the batteries. Cut the branch. Get a hook for your keys.
If you can’t enact your plan right away, schedule a time when you will take care of it.
Knowing that you have a plan and a schedule will immediately create some room in your brain because you will be able to stop asking yourself when you are going to take care of the thing and you will stop admonishing yourself for not having taken care of it yet.
By the way, if this is a thing you have been meaning to get to for a while but you just couldn’t do it, please be EXTRA kind to yourself if it ends up only taking a few minutes. Yes, the task was small but the obstacle was large and hard things are hard – being mean to yourself in the process doesn’t make them any easier.
If you have multiple things to take care of but none of them have a deadline and none of them seem obviously more urgent than the others, pick the one that is first alphabetically or the one that will make the most visible difference. When there is no obvious place to start, it doesn’t really matter WHERE you start, it only matters that you start somewhere.
This is about reclaiming some of your own mental space for your future self. You don’t have to pick big things, you don’t have to pick obvious things, you only have to pick things that matter to your current self and your future self.
And, as always, I wish you ease in the process.
⭐ <<<<This is for your efforts in figuring this out.
A video from the Yoginimelbourne YouTube channel entitled ‘Create Space 7min yoga flow’ and the still image features the instructor from the waist up, leaning their upper body and outstretched arms to her right while looking upwards to the left. They are indoors and the leaves of a houseplant can be seen on the lower left while the video title appears in black on the upper right.
The yoga video about creating space made me happy but so did the fact that this meditation video is specifically about breathing space. SPACE! We all deserve a bit more in the places where we want and need it.
A video from Teik Yen Ko’s YouTube channel entitled ‘Mindfulness Meditation: 3 Minute Breathing Space’ by Professor Mark Williams from the Oxford Mindfulness Centre. The still image features the light green cover of a book by Mark Williams called ‘Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World’ and the image on the cover is the silhouette of a city skyline reflected in a body of water.
About Making Space 2022
In December 2020, Fit is a Feminist Issue blogger Martha created a tradition – a series of reminder posts to take good care of ourselves during this last month of the year when it is far too easy to get swept up in your to do list, no matter what you are celebrating or not celebrating. Last year, it was my turn and after an introductory Go Team post called Give Yourself Some Space, I created a series of reminders called ‘Making Space‘ that offered a suggested short exercise video and a suggested meditation in case you needed an easy way to find space for yourself in your schedule.
For 2022, I’ll be doing the same thing but I’ll also be including a link to Martha’s post from the same date in 2020 and I’ll offer a few extra ideas for relaxation, creativity, and self-kindness here and there.
These posts are not about insisting that you do more, more, more during this busy season. Instead, I want to encourage you to remember that there IS a *YOU* who is doing all of the things and you are worth taking good care of.
Perhaps the things I suggest aren’t what you need in the moment. That’s totally ok. Perhaps you can use something else to create some space, something that will help you feel more relaxed or more in charge of your day.
Today seems like a great day for some restful self care.
Hmm, that’s misleading. I think EVERY day is a good day for restful self-care, and active self-care, and, well, any kind of self-care at all, really.
ANYWAY, on to my point…
We are just a few days from the end of the year, and a few days from the end of a busy month. Instead of thinking in terms of getting more done or cramming more things into our day/week/month/year, I’d like us to be thinking about how to take things slowly, how to ease forward.
And, of course, I’d like us all to be kind to ourselves while we do that. 🌟💚
Here are two videos to help us to be kind and loving towards ourselves as we take things as slowly as we can.
PS – Martha’s delightful 2020 Wellness Calendar posts ended with a round-up post on December 26, 2020. So I am flying solo from here on in.
Jessamine Stanley’s 8-Minute Yoga for Self-Love from the Health Magazine YouTube channel. Still image features the instructor sitting on her left hip and using her left arm to support while herself while the sole of her right foot is on the mat, right knee is bent, and her right elbow rests on her right knee. She is dressed in pink/flowered exercise clothes and is on a pink yoga mat.
Loving Kindness Meditation 5 Minutes with Sharon Salzberg from the FitMind YouTube channel. Still image shows Salzberg (who has shoulder length blond hair and dark-framed glasses and is wearing a purple bottom up shirt) speaking into a microphone. On the left side of the image is text reading ‘Loving Kindness Meditation.’
About Making Space 2022
About Making Space 2022
In December 2020, Fit is a Feminist Issue blogger Martha created a tradition – a series of reminder posts to take good care of ourselves during this last month of the year when it is far too easy to get swept up in your to do list, no matter what you are celebrating or not celebrating. Last year, it was my turn and after an introductory Go Team post called Give Yourself Some Space, I created a series of reminders called ‘Making Space‘ that offered a suggested short exercise video and a suggested meditation in case you needed an easy way to find space for yourself in your schedule.
For 2022, I’ll be doing the same thing but I’ll also be including a link to Martha’s post from the same date in 2020 and I’ll offer a few extra ideas for relaxation, creativity, and self-kindness here and there.
These posts are not about insisting that you do more, more, more during this busy season. Instead, I want to encourage you to remember that there IS a *YOU* who is doing all of the things and you are worth taking good care of.
Perhaps the things I suggest aren’t what you need in the moment. That’s totally ok. Perhaps you can use something else to create some space, something that will help you feel more relaxed or more in charge of your day.
In the Northern Hemisphere, December 21 is the Winter Solstice – the 24 hour period with the least daylight in the year. After today, things start to get a little brighter day by day.
It’s kind of like when you know the most challenging part of something is almost over and there is some ease ahead. At this point, you have to keep putting one metaphorical foot in front of the other and you will get through.
One December 21, 2020, Martha was inviting us to Embrace the Light – not only to be hopeful about the fact that there will soon be more hours of sunlight but to look for other sources of light in your life to help lift your spirits.
That’s some really great advice from Martha. Not only can we take action to bring more literal light – candles, lamps, strings of coloured lights or whathaveyou – we can also look for things that lighten our spirits – friends, family, treasured memories, enjoyable pastimes- and make them part of our days.
So, if you can, try to create some space around those ideas today: What brings light into your life? How can you stay connected to those things, those people, those activities, throughout the year?
However you decide to embrace light today, I wish you ease and peace of mind.
I hope you can be kind to yourself as you move through your day.
May you have the space and the light that you need.
My sister Denise likes to greet the sun on the winter solstice. This is her photo from December 2021. Image description: A photo of the sun rising over a distant hill on a winter morning. In the foreground are the silhouettes of large evergreen trees and in the middle ground are streets lined with houses and other buildings. There is a light dusting of snow here and there throughout the photo.
Some people who practice yoga regularly like to greet changes in season (such as the solstice) by doing 108 sun salutations. If you are more casual with your yoga practice, 108 might be a bit much for you but perhaps you might enjoy welcoming the light’s return by doing a shorter version of the practice. I have found two videos you might like, a 10 minute practice from Yoga with Adriene and a chair yoga practice from Donna Freeman.
For our meditation today, I have three things for you to choose from. The first is a slow, breath-focused practice, and the other two are opportunities for reflection rather than guided meditations.
A 10 Minute Sun Salutation Practice video from Yoga with Adriene. The still image shows a blue panel on the left with white text reading ’30 Days of Yoga’, on the right, Adriene is doing a low lunge on a pink yoga mat that is resting on a brown wooden floor.
A video from the Donna Freeman YouTube channel entitled ‘Chair Yoga Sun Salutations: Two Ways.’ The still image shows the instructor facing to the left while sitting on a kitchen chair in a home studio space that features a large painting of a daisy hanging on the back wall. The instructor is at the edge of the chair with their legs extended in front of them (touching the floor), and their arms extended overhead and forwards. Their upper body is leaned forward slightly.
A Winter Solstice Guided Meditation 2022 from Jenna Goldman’s YouTube channel. The still image is divided horizontally with a black and white photo at the top that shows darkness between two outcroppings of light-coloured rock. The bottom image is of the sun in the distance rising over water.
In this video from the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, Joely BigEagle-Kequahtooway from the Buffalo People Arts Institute explains what the Winter Solstice means to her. The still image, shows the speaker (with a museum exhibit behind her) speaking animatedly with her hands, palm upwards, in front of her. She has long brown hair with some grey in it and she has glasses. She is wearing a red shirt, a pink scarf, and a necklace and earrings made with traditional materials.
This video from the Canadian Mental Health Association is entitled ‘Holiday Story Time: Mouse Celebrates The Winter Solstice’ and the still image features the story title in the foreground and a background of evergreen branches, twinkle lights, and a small red star.
About Making Space 2022
About Making Space 2022
In December 2020, Fit is a Feminist Issue blogger Martha created a tradition – a series of reminder posts to take good care of ourselves during this last month of the year when it is far too easy to get swept up in your to do list, no matter what you are celebrating or not celebrating. Last year, it was my turn and after an introductory Go Team post called Give Yourself Some Space, I created a series of reminders called ‘Making Space‘ that offered a suggested short exercise video and a suggested meditation in case you needed an easy way to find space for yourself in your schedule.
For 2022, I’ll be doing the same thing but I’ll also be including a link to Martha’s post from the same date in 2020 and I’ll offer a few extra ideas for relaxation, creativity, and self-kindness here and there.
These posts are not about insisting that you do more, more, more during this busy season. Instead, I want to encourage you to remember that there IS a *YOU* who is doing all of the things and you are worth taking good care of.
Perhaps the things I suggest aren’t what you need in the moment. That’s totally ok. Perhaps you can use something else to create some space, something that will help you feel more relaxed or more in charge of your day.
When we have a lot on our metaphorical plates like many of us do right now, we tend to put our heads down and just try to plow through our lists.
These Making Space posts are intended to encourage you to look up every now and then and try to find ways to take care of yourself – the person managing that unwieldy list.
I’m this post, I’m hoping to encourage you to not only make space for today’s you but to make a little extra room for a future you, as well.
Don’t worry, I’m not going to go all science fiction-y on you here, I’m just wondering if there is anything your current self has time to do that will help future you have some extra time or a little more brainspace?
As in, what is something you will need tomorrow, Friday, next week, on January 2nd, or whenever that you can start to put in place right now?
I don’t necessarily mean going out to buy things in advance – although that can be handy. I’m thinking of things like making up a guest bed now instead of right before the guests arrive. Or baking and freezing a cake today so you don’t have to bake it right before the party. Or setting a reminder to pick up ice on the way to your Aunt’s place so you don’t have to keep trying to remember it. Or, like scheduling some downtime the morning after a hectic event. Or putting the files you’ll need on your first day back in your top drawer. Or making notes on that report so you can have a head start when you return to it.
That isn’t an exhaustive list, of course, only you know how to best make space for your future self.
And, no matter what you choose, or how small a space you manage to create, I’m sure that future you will be grateful for the breathing room. 💚
Gentle reminder: I know I have suggested this before but remember that you can also create space for your future self by deciding to drop some of those ‘if I have time’ items from your list in advance.
Martha’s 2020 post for today was Get close to water and that’s great advice if you need a little peace of mind or a way to refresh. Taking a shower or bath can help you create a little mental space and getting near water can do the same thing.
If a shower/bath/visit to the water isn’t possible for the rest of your day, maybe these videos can offer a similar feeling of refreshment.
The first is ‘water element’ yoga at the beach and the second is 5 minutes of a waterfall video for meditation.
If the sound of running water makes you need to pee, visit the bathroom before that second video. 😉
Whether your water-based mental space comes from a shower, a video, or a frosty glass, I wish you ease today and always.
Please be kind to yourself. ⭐️💚
A video from the Miranda of the Mountains YouTube channel entitled ‘Gentle Yoga for Healthy Joints (water element)’ The still image shows the video title on the left and a photo of the instructor on the right sitting cross-legged on a beach with her arms extended (palms up) in front of her as she faces sideways to the right with the ocean behind her and on her right.
A 5 Minute Water Meditation video from the YouTube Channel ‘Seek Within You.’ The still image shows a rushing waterfall in the background with text reading ‘5-minute Water Meditation’ in the foreground on the left side.
About Making Space 2022
About Making Space 2022
In December 2020, Fit is a Feminist Issue blogger Martha created a tradition – a series of reminder posts to take good care of ourselves during this last month of the year when it is far too easy to get swept up in your to do list, no matter what you are celebrating or not celebrating. Last year, it was my turn and after an introductory Go Team post called Give Yourself Some Space, I created a series of reminders called ‘Making Space‘ that offered a suggested short exercise video and a suggested meditation in case you needed an easy way to find space for yourself in your schedule.
For 2022, I’ll be doing the same thing but I’ll also be including a link to Martha’s post from the same date in 2020 and I’ll offer a few extra ideas for relaxation, creativity, and self-kindness here and there.
These posts are not about insisting that you do more, more, more during this busy season. Instead, I want to encourage you to remember that there IS a *YOU* who is doing all of the things and you are worth taking good care of.
Perhaps the things I suggest aren’t what you need in the moment. That’s totally ok. Perhaps you can use something else to create some space, something that will help you feel more relaxed or more in charge of your day.
In the spirit of putting the most important things as early as possible in your day, let me start by saying that today is my Mom’s birthday – Happy Birthday, Mom! I hope your day has the perfect amount of space in it.
As for everyone who *isn’t* my Mom, maybe you’d like to offer yourself a little space in honour of my Mom’s birthday. Think along these lines, “I’m awfully busy but it IS Carol-Ann’s birthday and traditionally one celebrates that by taking good care of oneself – just as she would advise us to.”
Is this actually a tradition? Well, I celebrated my Mom’s birthday on the blog last year so this is two years in a row – that seems like a tradition to me.
Listen, I know and you know that we don’t actually need anyone’s permission to make the space that we need BUT a lot of the time we find ourselves waiting for that permission – from ourselves, from someone else, or from the universe as a whole. If you have that kind of feeling today, consider this official permission to make that space.
On December 16, 2020, Martha was inviting us to Unplug – to take some time away from all of the devices that both bless and curse us. I fully endorse unplugging at whatever level works for you – after all, your phone is a device for YOUR convenience, not a device to put you at other people’s beck and call.
And, I invite you to metaphorically unplug from the need to wait for your rest, from the unconscious need to get permission to make space for yourself and I hope you can untie the knots that keep the word ‘should’ tied so closely to your decision making process.
Today, as you celebrate my Mom’s birthday by making a little space for yourself, I hope you find ease and I hope you find fun.
Whether you try the videos below or make space on your own terms, I hope you are kind to yourself in the process.
A 10 Minute Upper Body Yoga Stretch – Beginner Yoga for Neck, Shoulders, and Back from the Yoga with Kassandra YouTube channel. The still image shows the title of the video on the upper left and the instructor on the right, kneeling on their mat in blue yoga clothing, stretching their face and neck to their right with their hands clasped behind them and to their right. In the background is a wall made from large sections of log like you see in rustic cabins.
A 10 Minute Meditation for Creating Space from the YoginiMelbourne YouTube Channel. The still image is of a person sitting cross-legged, meditating in the woods with sun lighting the greenery behind them. The title of the video is in white text on the left of the image and the name of the channel is in the bottom right.
About Making Space 2022
About Making Space 2022
In December 2020, Fit is a Feminist Issue blogger Martha created a tradition – a series of reminder posts to take good care of ourselves during this last month of the year when it is far too easy to get swept up in your to do list, no matter what you are celebrating or not celebrating. Last year, it was my turn and after an introductory Go Team post called Give Yourself Some Space, I created a series of reminders called ‘Making Space‘ that offered a suggested short exercise video and a suggested meditation in case you needed an easy way to find space for yourself in your schedule.
For 2022, I’ll be doing the same thing but I’ll also be including a link to Martha’s post from the same date in 2020 and I’ll offer a few extra ideas for relaxation, creativity, and self-kindness here and there.
These posts are not about insisting that you do more, more, more during this busy season. Instead, I want to encourage you to remember that there IS a *YOU* who is doing all of the things and you are worth taking good care of.
Perhaps the things I suggest aren’t what you need in the moment. That’s totally ok. Perhaps you can use something else to create some space, something that will help you feel more relaxed or more in charge of your day.
