Hot! Hot!
Stock photo (not actual nephew hands).
One of my baby nephew’s first words was “HOT!”
I’d help him wash his hands and he’d exclaim “HOT! HOT!” no matter what the temperature was.
Even though he’s a grownup grad student now, I still hear his little voice saying “HOT! HOT!” every time it’s hot.
Which is pretty much all the time these days.
The heat is so physically debilitating, even for those of us fortunate enough to have all the fans and all the AC we need. (It’s also depressing and distressing, which doesn’t help with the physical part, and vice versa.)
One of my daily struggles with the heat is figuring out how to slow down, physically, when I can, without giving in to the urge to grind ... to ... a ... halt.
Because while we have to slow down when we can, we still have to move.
If I don’t do some full-body moving around every day, I start to stiffen up, FAST. To be honest it scares the daylights out of me.
But the good news is that we don’t have to move in a lot of extreme ways to maintain and even regain mobility, whatever our starting point.
The key here is getting to know / coming to accept that starting point, by which I mean what your body is like in the present moment, without harking back to how you used to move 10 or 20 or 30 years ago and chastising yourself or mourning. It doesn’t have to be a big deal.
If that sounds intriguing, if you feel like you could benefit from more full-body movement in your life, yoga is a great option. And if you’re thinking of starting a yoga practice, here’s a hint:
It’s easier to make a routine of something when you do it in good company.
That doesn’t have to mean joining a gym or trudging out to a yoga studio where you pay for a lot of stuff you don’t really want or need. You might be surprised to find how much value there is in a live, online practice.
Here’s how my student Julie put it: “I didn't know what to expect doing it remotely but it works out well. I'm looking forward to the next one.”
And here’s what Sarah said: “I love the live yoga from home. I can’t get motivated to do pre-recorded YouTube classes. I love the feeling of ‘it’s time for yoga and here we all are!’ It feels so sweet and connected and I’m always happy to see other regulars in class.”
STAY COOL!!