It was sunny here last Friday so my husband spend a bit of time shoveling snow off of our patio – mostly to have something to do outside.
When it was sunny and spring-ish on Saturday, we wanted to have the patio door open so I dug the screen door out of the shed and had the brilliant idea (if I do say so myself) to drag a few patio chairs out at the same time.
Now it was sunny and relatively warm and we had chairs on the patio so it suddenly felt like our outdoor space was available to us again.
Obviously, my next step was to drag out a mat and do some yoga outdoors.
Did it feel strange to be doing yoga outside with snowshovels in the background? I’ll let you interpret that for yourself.
Image description: a selfie of me (a middle-aged white woman with a round face and light brown hair that is pulled back by a cloth band that happens to contain earphones) in a dark pink hoodie with the sun shining on my face, smirking at the fact that I am doing yoga outdoors while there are still necessary snow shovels propped against my house.
Was it weird to be lying on my mat in the sunshine while the grass in my backyard was still mostly covered in snow?
Well, it felt weird enough to take a photo of it at least…
Image description: a photo of my legs with the backyard full of snow visible in the background while propping myself up a little as I was lying on my mat on the patio. In the photo, I am lying on the ground with my right leg bent so the knee is toward the sky and the foot is on the ground. My left leg is bent so the outside of my foot is resting on the top of my right knee and my left knee is pointing to the left. You can see my blue yoga mat and part of the patio through the triangle formed by my legs. On my right is our patio mats, and more patio slats and beyond them you can see the railings, a whole bunch of snow, some leafless trees, the blue sky and our faded wooden fence.
But even though it felt kinda weird, it also felt great to be doing that slow, steady, focused movement in the bright sunlight and the fresh air.
Despite the snow, it felt like warm weather and more outdoor fun might be just around the (very long!) corner.
And if you saw this when you opened your eyes after Savasana, you might have believed it, too.
A photo of my view upwards from my yoga mat. Image description: a photo of bare tree branches with just a hint of growth on them with the bright blue sky in the background.
PS – Thanks to Steve for shoveling off the patio and setting this whole thing in motion.
Race Against Time takes on a whole new meaning as you age. I’m no longer trying to get faster. I’m just trying to stave off what feels like the inevitable crumbling.
The orange silhouette of a woman is superimposed on a white clock face and black background, with the words Race against Time in blue, white and orange letters on the right side of the image. The image was found at: https://ability360.org/uncategorized/august-18-race-against-time/
That ankle injury I wrote about back in December is still bothering me. The muscle tightness is easing, but it looks increasingly like I have a partially torn hamstring.
While I wait for an ultrasound (next week, yay!) I am continuing with my other health care providers, who are giving me more exercises to do. It’s all good advice, but it’s a lot!
My massage therapist has had me doing at least 10 minutes of yin yoga each day. I have chosen to do YouTube videos to relax before bed. Sometimes they are done IN bed, which is rather nice, as well as being easy on my knees.
My physiotherapist has assigned balance exercises. My Pilates class focuses on bone health, fall prevention, and building up our cores so we can get up off the floor easily. This has proven surprisingly difficult, so every day I am trying to add in extra strength exercises and as many of the class exercises as I can remember.
Of course I am continuing with my regular activities. I made the mistake of doing absolutely nothing except a bit of yoga one weekend, and I felt like I could barely walk by Sunday night. Never again will I doubt the importance of active rest. Motion is clearly lotion for my body.
These cartoon bottles of lotion wearing blue caps and doing various exercises on a green background made me happy. The image is from the Queensland Health Facebook page, posted June 23, 2025.
First things first: Today’s post is late because I made space in my day to have brunch with friends but I forgot to make space to write this post beforehand. I don’t know if that makes me a good example or a bad example but I’m definitely something. 😉
Here in the Northern Hemisphere, today is the Winter Solstice.
It’s the darkest time of the year and traditionally a time when everyone would slow down, tell stories, do some reflection (or divination), and find ways to bring the light inside…at least metaphorically, through warm fires, bright candles, and good company.
And, of course, a lot of people still do all of that in one form or another.
Personally, I enjoy small rituals to mark special occasions and the change from ‘it’s getting darker all the time’ to ‘it is slowly getting lighter all the time’ feels like a good occasion to celebrate.
It also feels like a good time for us all to Make Space for to give ourselves what we need – whether that is movement, rest, meditation, ritual, journaling, delicious snacks, good company, or anything else we can think of.
In that spirit, I have compiled my usual offering of a movement practice and meditation practice AND I have a bunch of other things for you to try – if you are so inclined.
And, as always, I wish you ease as you create more space for yourself in your own life and please feel free to ignore these suggestions and do what you need to do.
Here are some Winter Solstice journal prompts from _WovenWomen and Therapy_with_Noel and if you’re like me and you like a personal ritual to mark different times of the year, here are some simple ones for Winter Solstice from The Mystical Society*
Here’s our movement practice for today. It’s a longer video but please don’t feel that you must do it all – just do what you have time/capacity to do.
The still image for this 30 minute Winter Solstice Yoga from PERSON shows the instructor doing Virabhadrasana II (warrior 2) pose on a yoga mat with a large window behind them. They are wearing a blue tshirt and leggings and their hair is in a ponytail with some strands falling around their face. Their torso is mostly facing the camera, their right arm is extended in front of them and their left arm is extended behind them (both at shoulder height) their bodyweight is shifted onto their right leg which is bent and pointed to the right. Their left leg is extended in line with but away from their right and their left toes are pointing towards the camera.
When I looked for Solstice meditations on YouTube today, I found that they were either very long or that they were wandering too far into metaphysical spirituality to share casually without discussion.
*I like the simplicity of the rituals they suggest but I disagree with their characterization of more complicated rituals as bullsh*t. I also disagree with anyone who suggests that everything needs to be complex to be helpful. I’m sure it will shock you to discover that I think everyone should do things in the way that serves them best.
Today, I’m inviting you to take an extra moment to give yourself something you need.
Perhaps that’s a little extra movement or a few more minutes rest.
Maybe you need some time away from your email or a little time to chat with a friend.
You may need a warm cup of tea, a blanket, or some paper to make a list.
I’m sure we all have a lot of needs that are much bigger than any of those things (and I hope you can meet those needs, too!) but we definitely all have relatively small needs like this that we tend to delay meeting because they aren’t part of the big plan or because they feel a little inconvenient.
But imagine how much better the rest of your day would feel if you made space to meet one of those needs?
Personally, I am going to meet two of my current needs – putting slippers on my chilly feet and making a cup of tea – as soon as I finish typing this.
Whether you are meeting one of those small needs, following this yoga practice, giving progressive muscle relaxation a try, or doing something else entirely, I hope you can make a little extra space for yourself today.
And, as always, I wish you ease and kindness.
Here’s our movement practice for today:
In the still image for this 10 Min Neck & Shoulders Stretch from Yoga with Kassandra, the instructor is pictured on the right hand side. They are wearing a white tank top and blue leggings and sitting crossed legged with their left arm behind their back while stretching the left side of their neck by tilting their head to the right. Their eyes are closed and they look peaceful. There are a lot of windows in the background and snow on the ground outside.
And here’s our mindfulness practice for today:
In the still image for this 6 Minute Progressive Muscle Relaxation Guided Meditation from Beam Therapy & Training there is a circle on the left side that encloses a photo of a person with long hair, wearing a green sweater and blue jeans sitting crossed-legged with their eyes closed and their face turned upwards. Text listing the name of the video and the url http://www.beamtraining.co.uk is on the right side. The background is dark green and there are polka dots and other green shapes along the bottom edge.
Last week, when I wrote my list of ‘10 activities for the 10th Month‘ I made sure to create a mix of ‘easy’ activities and slightly more challenging ones.
And my definition of easy and challenging is not just limited to the physical effort involved.
Physical effort is one factor, of course, but on any given day my ADHD brain might toss up some extreme resistance to anything that requires turning on the computer or changing clothes or asking someone to shift a plan.
And the really annoying thing is that I might not be consciously aware of the details of my resistance. My brain will just kind of slide over the idea because it is ‘too hard’ and unless I make a point of focusing on why I can’t seem to do that specific task, I’ll just kind of have the impression that there’s a logical reason why I’m not doing it.
Yes, in case you were wondering, that is all just as fun as it sounds.
So, I was prepared to face some resistance to starting my tasks, no matter how easy I had initially thought they would be but I hadn’t prepare to face continued resistance once I got going.
After an unexpectedly busy week last week I finally got around to choosing something from my list on Sunday.
Because I had plenty of time, I decided to do two things – journaling while sitting on the floor and a yoga video that was at least 30 minutes long.
The journaling was pretty easy and I enjoyed sitting on the floor to write for a change.
I had already rolled out my yoga mat to sit on and I had already picked out a video to do so I thought I had removed any obstacles to my practice.
By the way, this is the video I chose:
A YouTube video from the channel ‘Yoga with Bird’ called 30 Minute Restorative Yoga for Stress and Relaxation.
I was totally wrong about the obstacles.
It turns out that my brain did NOT want to do a 30 minute yoga practice that day.
In fact, it didn’t want to do any kind of yoga practice at all and it threw every thought it had at me.
‘You have other things you should be doing.’ – I did not. This was the time I had picked for this specific task.
‘You aren’t really up for a long practice today. You can stop here and do a long practice tomorrow.’ – There was no physical reason why I couldn’t do my chosen practice on Sunday. And there was no reason to believe that I would be suddenly more able to do it on Monday instead.
‘This is too hard for you right now. Maybe just do some alternate poses.’ – Sure, some of it was a little out of my range right now but there wasn’t anything especially difficult for me in the practice.
‘Maybe you should stop this and do some drawing or reading instead. It’s way harder to find time to do that stuff – you can do yoga any day.’ – This is a straight-up lie. It’s harder to find a time when my brain will let me do 30 minutes of yoga than to find a time when I can read or draw.
I think I know what was going on there.
My brain knows that my capacity has varied WILDLY over the past few years and it wanted to protect me in case I actually couldn’t – mentally or physically – do the practice.
If I CHOSE to do something else, to switch or shorten my practice, to be creative, then it would feel like self-care.
If I COULDN’T do the practice then it might end up feeling like a harsh reminder of the challenges I have been facing. It might even feel like failure.
No wonder my brain was trying everything to get me to change course.
But I chose to keep going.
I didn’t do it by white-knuckling it and forcing a sort of gritty, ‘no-excuses!’ style of self-discipline.
Instead, I just gently kept going – giving myself permission to stop if it felt like too much.
One of my drawings for ‘March of Robots’ back in 2019 – it seemed to match the vibe of this post. Image description: a drawing of a small grey and purple robot sitting on a metal box with its legs folded and its hands together as if in meditation. Some text at the top is supposed to be a from an instructor and it reads ‘relax your circuits, return to the bolts’ and text at the bottom reads, ‘Robot meditation…it’s hard to let go of your programming, even for a few minutes!’
I didn’t force anything – I tried to do that yoga thing of ‘meeting yourself where you are’ – and to just find some ease in one movement and then in the next.
I don’t think I found a lot of flow and I definitely didn’t get into any zone.
I had to choose to keep going over and over again and that kept me in a self-conscious, hyper-aware kind of space that was really not ideal.
But I knew that even if I wasn’t having a ‘perfect’ yoga experience, I was having an honest one, and my body was going to benefit from it all the same.
I was right – my body felt much better when I was done than it had felt when I started.
When I was a kid, I sometimes watched and followed along with Kareen’s Yoga. This long-running 1970s show, out of British Colombia, was hosted by German-Canadian yogi Karen Zebroff. I think I even owned a copy of one of her books.
Kareen Zebroff as I remember her, from her website.
Occasionally I think of those early experiments with yoga and give it another whirl. I have tried Yoga with Adrienne but it never stuck as a habit.
I experimented with chair yoga during the depths of the pandemic work-from-home period. I checked out Yoga with Kassandra on Youtube with hometown Ottawa yogi Kassandra Reinhardt. I connected most with Paula Lay (yoginimelbourne) and did many of her short videos focusing on spots that hurt or to help me sleep.
I’m currently on a break from ballet, swimming more frequently, and I have been working hard to change how I engage certain muscles thanks to my awesome physiotherapist. The downside is that I am feeling more tight than usual. So, once again, I am poking into doing yoga.
It’s all a bit random, to be honest. I’ll do nothing for days, then suddenly get the urge to do an hour’s worth of videos focused on hip mobility. Or do a couple of shoulder/neck stretches while standing in my kitchen waiting for something to heat up.
I would love to figure out a way to become more consistent (that doesn’t involve changing into yoga gear first thing in the morning, or going to a studio). Maybe I just need to acknowledge that my yoga practice will always be random, but I will keep coming back, just as I have always done.
Happy Baby, possibly my favourite yoga pose. Photo found at Mamduka.com.
Last week I outlined my plans for April and I thought I made things pretty easy for myself.
And I kind of did.
But, apparently, not quite easy enough.
It turns out that a mindful cup of tea – clear break- in the afternoon is a lovely addition to my day.
My days have felt a bit calmer.
I have gotten to have tea with friends three times, including tea with my sister Denise on her birthday.
I just feel really good about making a point to stop for tea and a rest.
And I’m sure that yoga would have a similar calming effect and would feel great for my body and my brain…
If I could remember to do it.
I mean, technically speaking, I have done yoga daily because I did a few focused stretches and a little time in Savasana (corpse pose) before heading to bed.
But that wasn’t what I had intended to do each evening.
My plan was to do a 10 minute yoga video before bed so a few stretches and some time in Savasana was not the kind of practice I was seeking.
Instead, it’s the kind of practice I end up doing when I realize moments before bed that I don’t have enough energy to do 10 minutes of movement – even gentle, restful movement.
So, since the tea practice is coming to me fairly easily, I will just let that one roll along and I will focus on figuring out how to remember to do that 10 minutes of yoga before I am too tired.
This week, I’ll experiment with setting an alarm for 9pm and see if that makes things easier.
And once I’m done my daily yoga, I’ll probably even have another cup of tea.*
Image description: A photo of the edit-alarm screen on my phone. The background is black and there are settings for the time (9:00 PM), Repeat (daily), Label (Yay for Yoga!), Sound (Constellation), Snooze (option is on),This isn’t from this week, I just like this photo. Image description: a large glass mug decorated with stars is sitting on a wooden table. The mug is partially full of tea (a tea bag is still in the mug and the white tag is hanging over the side) and next to it is a green post-it note that has the word reminder at the top and below it is a drawing of a robot pointing to a sign that reads ‘Everyone needs to recharge!’
*Don’t worry about me drinking tea at 9pm. Mostly it’s ginger-peach tea but even if I have caffeine at that hour it won’t keep me up – this may or may not be related to my ADHD.
I’m starting April while on a school storytelling tour with my friend Catherine (not blogger Catherine, a whole other marvellous Catherine) so the month is truly off to a good start.
Storytelling is great for my mental health and the fact that I am taking a break from my usual routine AND hanging out with a dear friend compounds the positive effects.
And this tour has been good for my physical health too because Catherine is a big proponent of finding energy by getting outdoors. So there have already been several times when her choice to go for a walk has shifted me into a more active rest mode after a busy day instead of just sitting around.
(To be clear, there are times when sitting around would be the right thing to do but in this case the walk felt waaaaaaaay better.)
Since the month is starting on such a positive note I have decided to add more positive health elements.
1. I found out yesterday that April is Afternoon Tea Month which is definitely a made-up kind of commemoration but as an avid maker-up-of-things, I’m here for it.
I’m going to celebrate by taking an afternoon tea break every day.
I can hear my sisters’ voices as I write that, “Chris, don’t you already drink tea every afternoon?”
And the answer is “Of course I do!”
But my April plan to to focus on the ritual of it, the making of the tea, the clearing of mental space, the sitting down to drink it.
This isn’t going to be a ‘drink tea at my desk while working’ kind of thing, it’s going to be an actual break in my afternoon.
One of my favourite cups for tea (a gift from my friend Mary) Image description: a cup of tea sitting on a small mat on my table with my ebook slightly out of focus in the background. My cup has a blue octopus on the side (only part of it is visible) and it has an ice cream cone held in one of its tentacles.
So that’s a small April addition for my mental health, now on to my physical health.
2) I mentioned last week that I am following the Active April calendar so that is staying part of the plan but I am also going to really commit to evening yoga (again!) and I have made a YouTube playlist to choose from each day.
And since I know sometimes get stuck in the decision making process, I am giving myself the default that if I can’t pick one, I have to choose the video immediately after the one from the night before.
I have often done evening yoga before and I throughly enjoy it when I do but I have gotten out of the habit so this is as good a time as any to get started again.
Wow. January flew by and it’s time to check in on all those fancy words & promises I made to myself in December and January.
My word of the year is “steady” and I’ve maintained a consistent workout schedule which is feeling good and maintaining my steps per day at 10,000 a day.
I aim to cycle 30 km a week. At my current pace that’s 90 minutes of spinning. I’m in the ball park each week and trending towards hitting that consistently. I’m not stressing about it, I’ve already done more km this January than any previous ones. Yay!
The first few weeks I needed a day or two between spinning sessions as my legs were quite sore. After 4 weeks a recovery rides feel good even on consecutive days.
I continue to go to physiotherapy for my balance. Most recently Emily gave me some core exercises to further support my stability.
To compliment my targeted training I’m also trying exercise “snacks”. 5 minute yoga moment focused on wrists? I’m there.
10 minute standing core workout? Perfect!
15 minute dance cardio? Heck ya, let’s grapevine like it’s 1999!
I’m finding a bit of play and joy by not taking things too seriously. I am highly unskilled at dancing, lateral movement and core workouts. I find a sense of humor helps as I ineffectually flop about trying to cajole my brain and body into doing something new. I’m coming for you neuroplasticity!
I had recommitted to a daily yoga practice. I’ve taken a big tent approach to that by including stretching and meditation as “daily yoga”.
It’s feeling good. I’m more stable on my feet walking to work on icy sidewalks.
So far, so good with my 2025 plans. Hope yours are going well too!
Nat smiles at you wearing a green plaid shirt. Her hair is longer than it’s been for many years.
Do I know how many parts there will be in Planuary? I do not.
I do, however, know that this is Part 1 so I am going to forge ahead from here.
By the way, Planuary extends far beyond my fitness/mindfulness/wellness plans but since this is not the “Christine talks endlessly about her life” blog, I’m going to stick to things related to our focus here at Fit is a Feminist Issue…mostly.
So, since I can’t seem to stop myself from overthinking at the moment, I decided to lean into it and just let my brain wander around until it settled on something that appealed to me as a possible new fitness practice to incorporate into my life this year.
And I settled on pushups.*
I really want to be able to do pushups easily and, more important than that, I want to *know* that I have the upper body strength to do pushups easily.
I don’t have a particular number of pushups in mind because the number doesn’t matter to me – I’m chasing a specific feeling.
This is the feeing I am looking for – it’s not that pushups are necessarily easy for her but she has put in the work and she knows she can do them. Image description – a woman in black exercise clothes lowering herself into a pushup. She is outside on a deck and the sun is shining.
And I think that seeking a specific feeling will be far more useful to me than trying to reach a certain number because seeking a sensation feels more like a meaningful practice than trying to reach an arbitrary target.
Of course, once I got that settled in my mind, I went into overthinking mode again. This time I churned up a bunch of thoughts about overdoing things, about how my shoulders and neck might not appreciate my pushup goal, and about how anxious I feel when my neck muscles are tight and and and…well, you all know how overthinking goes, right?
And that’s when I overthought my way into a possible solution (yes, this *does* seem to be a dangerous precedent, indeed.)
I’m going to pair my pushup work with some yoga for my upper body.
I know, not a groundbreaking solution, but hear me out.
I have trouble convincing my ADHD brain not to rush through stretching so even if I had great intentions of stretching after each pushup practice, I would soon be strolling along a road paved with those intentions and heading for a hell of my own making.**
BUT
I can definitely convince myself to do a 10 minute yoga sequence for my upper body every day for a month. My brain loves a month long challenge!
This seems like a helpful sort of twist, doesn’t it? Image description: a woman, seated on a yoga mat outside, is doing an upper body twist so her lower body is facing the camera but her upper body is twisted away. Her right hand is on her left knee and her upper torso and head are facing to the left.
So, when I put those two things together – a plan to get used to pushups over time and a plan to choose an enjoyable yoga practice that will ease tension in my upper body – I may just be on to something.
Now, I’m moving on to Part 1(b) – choosing and practicing an upper body yoga sequence that I enjoy and then adding Part 1 (c) – choosing and following a pushup plan that seems doable.
Further updates as Planuary warrants.
*Yes, I have tried a pushup goal before and, no, it didn’t stick at the time but I know more now than I did then so it’s worth giving it a try.
**Is a hell of your own making the worst kind of hell? There is a case to be made here but I think the philosophers on the Fit is a Feminist Issue team are better equipped to discuss that than I am.
