Week Seventeen - Way Beyond Compare

 

Improving Posture

By Suzanne Frank

Good posture is one thing I struggle with especially since having breast reconstruction. Prior to my surgeries when I became fatigued after a long day of meetings or working on the computer or having too much stress I found I was slouching/hunching my shoulders and even holding my shoulders up closer than I should to my ears. I was aware that I needed to work on fixing this. Much to my dismay my breast reconstruction left me with a much larger chest than my original size. My slumping/hunching worsened. I think this happened due to being self conscious and thinking that people would notice the new cleavage I was sporting (most people where I worked were unaware that I had breast cancer reconstruction). My body got used to being hunched over and I have been actively working on improving my posture. When I stood tall with my shoulders back and down and my hands at my sides it felt awkward and uncomfortable. This was going to be a challenge.

Here are some benefits of having good posture:

• Improved balance- this not only lowers your risk of falls, it can also improve your athletic ability
• Lower risk of injury- moving, standing, and sitting correctly reduces the strain on your muscles, joints and ligaments
• Less back pain- good posture puts less stress and tension on the discs and vertebra in your spine
• Fewer headaches- poor posture can put extra strain on your neck, which can lead to tension headaches
• Improved breathing and circulation-when your vital organs are compressed by slouching, it can help your blood flow more easily through your blood vessels and organs.

 I have to check myself several times a day to do a posture check and make corrections.There are many exercises that will help strengthen muscles to help improve posture. You can find examples on the internet or YouTube.

Here are some tips:

• Stand straight and tall with your shoulders relaxed and pulled back slightly.
• Stand with your feet approximately shoulder width apart with your weight mostly on the balls of your feet
• Keep your knees slightly bent
• Keep your abdominal muscles tight
• Keep your head level, not bent forward

I hope the information will help any of you that have challenges maintaining good posture.

Shake It Up

By Coach Anita


It is natural to get into behavioral habits. Once our bodies become accustomed to something or it doesn’t feel uncomfortable, we are likely to continue a behavior. This is especially true with exercise. Most of us have exercises we prefer to do versus something less comfortable or more taxing. Take a look at your exercise workouts and look for habits. Are there certain core exercises you always substitute out? Do you tend to favor more leg work than upper body? This generally means that the areas you favor are already strong, and the areas you avoid would benefit from more work.


This is true for cardiovascular exercise as well. The very first blog article I wrote was about the body’s different energy systems, and there was a link to cardio workouts for the different systems. Reflecting back on sixteen weeks, think about the types of cardio work you have been doing. Have you been doing work at 100% effort for brief periods of time, resting, and then repeating? If so, you’ve been training your ATP-CP system also referred to as the immediate energy system. This energy system is what we use in the first three explosive strokes of our start sequence. Have you been doing a little bit longer work at a high level (but not 100%), with brief rests and repeating? Oden’s workouts are structured this way. This type of training is benefiting your Anaerobic Lactate/Glycolic system, aka the short-term energy system. This energy system is what is active in high intensity work that lasts between 1-3 minutes. This energy system is predominant in a 500 meter dragon boat race. Maybe you’ve been focusing on training your Oxidative system (aka aerobic or long term energy system). This system is used for activities longer than 3 minutes, and is conducted at lower intensities than the others so that they can be performed for longer periods of time. Aerobic training can be done by walking, running, biking, paddling - just about anything where your heart rate increases - at an intensity level that can be sustained for a longer period of time. By training your aerobic system, you are developing endurance which also benefits your short-term energy system.


If you find that you haven’t been providing equal training time to the three energy systems, perhaps it’s time to diversify. If you do Oden’s workout once a week, maybe consider adding in a cardio focused workout by doing a long walk. Consider making it a combination workout by starting with an all-out sprint up a set of stairs or a hill, repeating it several times, and then do a longer walk at a lower intensity. This same behavior can be done in a kayak, on an SUP, a bicycle, rowing machine or with a jump rope.


The more diversity you have in your workouts the better your overall training. When you start to get bored with a workout or notice that the challenge isn’t as great, consider changing things up. It’s okay to take a break from focused workouts and just be active for the fun of it. After taking a break from your regular workouts you will likely feel reinvigorated and excited to begin again. If you don’t need a break but the thrill is gone, maybe set a small goal or two, and see if a little win here and there motivates you toward something else. I get energized when I read new research about the effects of exercise or find new exercises for a body part, and it helps me get excited to workout. There are many books and online resources for ideas.


It’s August 2020. No one could have predicted we’d be in the situation we are today, so use this shakeup in routine to shake up your routine. Share in the comments if you’ve found something to help reinvigorate your routine.

Week Seventeen Workout 
with Coach Oden

Link to  a written workout 

Sore and Very Sore

by Coach Pat

Last week I had the great fortune to be looking at the Ross island Bridge from the water. I was paddling but the bridge was staying the same size, it looked close but with current and head wind the last stretch was difficult. I was trying a new outrigger stroke , and to make distance going in and out of power sets. I work out and I have paddled a couple of other times this year. Every year when we get back to dragon boating there is a period of acclimation for our bodies, paddling is just different. But this was new and I got a real good reminder of what it feels like to start a new workout / sport.

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) usually sets in from 8 to 24 hours after an activity and peaks 48 - 72 hours after. The muscles which have been torn down start to heal and build up. Extreme soreness shouldn’t happen all the time, but when you push too hard at something new you can have serious pain. Time is your friend, but there are some other things you can do.

Get off the couch: no matter how sore you are you need to move. Get the blood flowing to your muscles. This should be a light workout, depending on how you feel your regular workout may not be the answer. At the Wednesday night workout , everyone heard how sore I was, but I powered through the workout and felt better for doing it.  On Thursday I managed a good walk and Friday was total rest.   How hard you work out has to be judged based on how and where you are sore. Don’t sit, but you may need to modify intensity and weight load.

Hydrate and then hydrate some more: It is generally believed that good hydration will help minimize soreness and that continuing to hydrate will assist your body in eliminating the toxins and waste products produced from breaking down muscle.


Stretch : Stretching and foam rolling may bring relief. Keep it light and avoid pain.

Eat Protein: Protein is essential for healing muscle. Try and grab a protein rich snack within an hour of exercise.

Ice and Heat: Icing will provide temporary relief by reducing inflammation. Heat, like a bath or hot tub can also provide some relief but is much more tricky as you can get adverse side effects. Try icing for 20 minutes each hour.

Keep your focus on your body. If the soreness hasn’t reduced or gone away in 72 hours you may have an injury. If you are experiencing sharp pain or had sharp pain during your workout this also could indicate injury and not just DOMS.

Read More

Week Seventeen - Way Beyond Compare

 

Improving Posture

By Suzanne Frank

Good posture is one thing I struggle with especially since having breast reconstruction. Prior to my surgeries when I became fatigued after a long day of meetings or working on the computer or having too much stress I found I was slouching/hunching my shoulders and even holding my shoulders up closer than I should to my ears. I was aware that I needed to work on fixing this. Much to my dismay my breast reconstruction left me with a much larger chest than my original size. My slumping/hunching worsened. I think this happened due to being self conscious and thinking that people would notice the new cleavage I was sporting (most people where I worked were unaware that I had breast cancer reconstruction). My body got used to being hunched over and I have been actively working on improving my posture. When I stood tall with my shoulders back and down and my hands at my sides it felt awkward and uncomfortable. This was going to be a challenge.

Here are some benefits of having good posture:

• Improved balance- this not only lowers your risk of falls, it can also improve your athletic ability
• Lower risk of injury- moving, standing, and sitting correctly reduces the strain on your muscles, joints and ligaments
• Less back pain- good posture puts less stress and tension on the discs and vertebra in your spine
• Fewer headaches- poor posture can put extra strain on your neck, which can lead to tension headaches
• Improved breathing and circulation-when your vital organs are compressed by slouching, it can help your blood flow more easily through your blood vessels and organs.

 I have to check myself several times a day to do a posture check and make corrections.There are many exercises that will help strengthen muscles to help improve posture. You can find examples on the internet or YouTube.

Here are some tips:

• Stand straight and tall with your shoulders relaxed and pulled back slightly.
• Stand with your feet approximately shoulder width apart with your weight mostly on the balls of your feet
• Keep your knees slightly bent
• Keep your abdominal muscles tight
• Keep your head level, not bent forward

I hope the information will help any of you that have challenges maintaining good posture.

Shake It Up

By Coach Anita


It is natural to get into behavioral habits. Once our bodies become accustomed to something or it doesn’t feel uncomfortable, we are likely to continue a behavior. This is especially true with exercise. Most of us have exercises we prefer to do versus something less comfortable or more taxing. Take a look at your exercise workouts and look for habits. Are there certain core exercises you always substitute out? Do you tend to favor more leg work than upper body? This generally means that the areas you favor are already strong, and the areas you avoid would benefit from more work.


This is true for cardiovascular exercise as well. The very first blog article I wrote was about the body’s different energy systems, and there was a link to cardio workouts for the different systems. Reflecting back on sixteen weeks, think about the types of cardio work you have been doing. Have you been doing work at 100% effort for brief periods of time, resting, and then repeating? If so, you’ve been training your ATP-CP system also referred to as the immediate energy system. This energy system is what we use in the first three explosive strokes of our start sequence. Have you been doing a little bit longer work at a high level (but not 100%), with brief rests and repeating? Oden’s workouts are structured this way. This type of training is benefiting your Anaerobic Lactate/Glycolic system, aka the short-term energy system. This energy system is what is active in high intensity work that lasts between 1-3 minutes. This energy system is predominant in a 500 meter dragon boat race. Maybe you’ve been focusing on training your Oxidative system (aka aerobic or long term energy system). This system is used for activities longer than 3 minutes, and is conducted at lower intensities than the others so that they can be performed for longer periods of time. Aerobic training can be done by walking, running, biking, paddling - just about anything where your heart rate increases - at an intensity level that can be sustained for a longer period of time. By training your aerobic system, you are developing endurance which also benefits your short-term energy system.


If you find that you haven’t been providing equal training time to the three energy systems, perhaps it’s time to diversify. If you do Oden’s workout once a week, maybe consider adding in a cardio focused workout by doing a long walk. Consider making it a combination workout by starting with an all-out sprint up a set of stairs or a hill, repeating it several times, and then do a longer walk at a lower intensity. This same behavior can be done in a kayak, on an SUP, a bicycle, rowing machine or with a jump rope.


The more diversity you have in your workouts the better your overall training. When you start to get bored with a workout or notice that the challenge isn’t as great, consider changing things up. It’s okay to take a break from focused workouts and just be active for the fun of it. After taking a break from your regular workouts you will likely feel reinvigorated and excited to begin again. If you don’t need a break but the thrill is gone, maybe set a small goal or two, and see if a little win here and there motivates you toward something else. I get energized when I read new research about the effects of exercise or find new exercises for a body part, and it helps me get excited to workout. There are many books and online resources for ideas.


It’s August 2020. No one could have predicted we’d be in the situation we are today, so use this shakeup in routine to shake up your routine. Share in the comments if you’ve found something to help reinvigorate your routine.

Week Seventeen Workout 
with Coach Oden

Link to  a written workout 

Sore and Very Sore

by Coach Pat

Last week I had the great fortune to be looking at the Ross island Bridge from the water. I was paddling but the bridge was staying the same size, it looked close but with current and head wind the last stretch was difficult. I was trying a new outrigger stroke , and to make distance going in and out of power sets. I work out and I have paddled a couple of other times this year. Every year when we get back to dragon boating there is a period of acclimation for our bodies, paddling is just different. But this was new and I got a real good reminder of what it feels like to start a new workout / sport.

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) usually sets in from 8 to 24 hours after an activity and peaks 48 - 72 hours after. The muscles which have been torn down start to heal and build up. Extreme soreness shouldn’t happen all the time, but when you push too hard at something new you can have serious pain. Time is your friend, but there are some other things you can do.

Get off the couch: no matter how sore you are you need to move. Get the blood flowing to your muscles. This should be a light workout, depending on how you feel your regular workout may not be the answer. At the Wednesday night workout , everyone heard how sore I was, but I powered through the workout and felt better for doing it.  On Thursday I managed a good walk and Friday was total rest.   How hard you work out has to be judged based on how and where you are sore. Don’t sit, but you may need to modify intensity and weight load.

Hydrate and then hydrate some more: It is generally believed that good hydration will help minimize soreness and that continuing to hydrate will assist your body in eliminating the toxins and waste products produced from breaking down muscle.


Stretch : Stretching and foam rolling may bring relief. Keep it light and avoid pain.

Eat Protein: Protein is essential for healing muscle. Try and grab a protein rich snack within an hour of exercise.

Ice and Heat: Icing will provide temporary relief by reducing inflammation. Heat, like a bath or hot tub can also provide some relief but is much more tricky as you can get adverse side effects. Try icing for 20 minutes each hour.

Keep your focus on your body. If the soreness hasn’t reduced or gone away in 72 hours you may have an injury. If you are experiencing sharp pain or had sharp pain during your workout this also could indicate injury and not just DOMS.

Read More

Week Sixteen - Breaking Through

What Now ? 

by Coach Anita

I spent a moment looking over all of the past editions of this blog. It helped remind me of how things felt when we first started it. We’d been off the water for a few weeks and it felt like it might be a few more. Only a few of the early season races had been cancelled, and we had our eyes on the latter half of the season. Sixteen weeks later, we all know that the future is far from clear. We’ve emerged from our confinements and are cautiously venturing out more. We’re wearing masks, carrying hand sanitizer, and know what six feet of distance looks like. We’ve started new routines, and are looking at old behaviors and wondering how to adapt them to new standards.

So where do we go from here? Is it important to be continuing to train for an activity we might not be doing for a while?

Only you can answer that question. Some people enjoy fitness work for how it makes them feel. Others use exercise to meet their performance goals (i.e. being strong in a dragon boat). And some see exercise as the means to a healthier life, enjoyment notwithstanding. I was a bit of a late bloomer when it came to exercise. I slowly started exercising in my late 30s. It wasn’t very organized and I started and stopped a lot. After starting a new job and gaining more than 20 pounds, I turned to exercise for weight loss. It was a slow process. I joined a gym so I had access to equipment but I didn’t understand how to structure a workout, why or what recovery was, or even that I needed to reduce calories in conjunction with the exercise if I wanted to fit into my pants again. Over the past 20 years I have learned a lot about diet and exercise, and paddling has helped me tune into the importance of strength and aerobic training. Strength and aerobic training enables us to do things more easily and more confidently - work in the garden, walk the dog, ride a bicycle, play with children, go hiking, and mundane tasks like carrying sacks from grocery shopping. While you may choose to not train for dragon boat paddling right now, participating in various forms of strength and aerobic training is good for your overall health. It doesn’t have to be as strenuous as you might to prepare to be in the boat. The more fun something is, the more it fits into your schedule, the more likely you will do it. And that’s the idea - do it. Do something, whether it’s paddling focused or not.

Do I want you to continue training and planning to paddle? You betcha. Because we’ve had a long time off the water and are looking at quite a while until we’re back, it’s appropriate to be varying the intensity of your workouts as well as the exercises. It’s also appropriate to have taken an off-period. Look at this period as time to play a little and start something new. If you’ve been getting out in a kayak, maybe it’s time to start thinking about doing workouts on the water. If you’ve been on your bike toodling around, maybe it’s time to start thinking about doing hill work or distance training. There’s so many activities you can choose from to keep things interesting. And just about anything you can do for light fun, you can also use to get a workout.

Need some ideas for how to make a workout doing a particular activity? Put your questions in the comments section.

New Race

At the midpoint of a race many callers will say “New Race”, start again fresh and go forward. I feel like we have just passed the 500 meter mark on a 2000. Still I think it is time to say “new race”.

I am excited to announce we will be stepping up the workout opportunities offered to Pinks. We will target Monday evenings for these workouts and they will be varied each week. How are we going to do that ? We will be letting Pinks share their workouts. Anyone who has a workout they would like to share is invited to coordinate a time and date to be a leader. Maybe you have something you do all the time that you can lead, or you have a YouTube favorite you would like to share. We are striving to match our Saturday format. One group with breakout rooms for the different workouts at the same time then back together for cool down and goodbyes. Lead one workout , lead many your choice. Anything goes - meditation to kick boxing.

Details:

• Workouts Schedules on TeamSnap for signups
• Monday Nights at 6:00 pm anticipated time commitment 40-45 minutes
• Group Warm Up - 25-30 minute workout - Group Cool Down
• Monday holidays will be off.
• Start date : Monday August 10th
• Email patricia@schafer.net to sign up to lead a workout(s)

This is in addition to the Wednesday workouts at 6:00 pm. Let’s stay connected as best we can while we can’t be on the water.  Look for more details coming your way via email.

… Pat

Week 16 Workout 

Coach Oden

Parting Thoughts

Read More

Week Sixteen - Breaking Through

What Now ? 

by Coach Anita

I spent a moment looking over all of the past editions of this blog. It helped remind me of how things felt when we first started it. We’d been off the water for a few weeks and it felt like it might be a few more. Only a few of the early season races had been cancelled, and we had our eyes on the latter half of the season. Sixteen weeks later, we all know that the future is far from clear. We’ve emerged from our confinements and are cautiously venturing out more. We’re wearing masks, carrying hand sanitizer, and know what six feet of distance looks like. We’ve started new routines, and are looking at old behaviors and wondering how to adapt them to new standards.

So where do we go from here? Is it important to be continuing to train for an activity we might not be doing for a while?

Only you can answer that question. Some people enjoy fitness work for how it makes them feel. Others use exercise to meet their performance goals (i.e. being strong in a dragon boat). And some see exercise as the means to a healthier life, enjoyment notwithstanding. I was a bit of a late bloomer when it came to exercise. I slowly started exercising in my late 30s. It wasn’t very organized and I started and stopped a lot. After starting a new job and gaining more than 20 pounds, I turned to exercise for weight loss. It was a slow process. I joined a gym so I had access to equipment but I didn’t understand how to structure a workout, why or what recovery was, or even that I needed to reduce calories in conjunction with the exercise if I wanted to fit into my pants again. Over the past 20 years I have learned a lot about diet and exercise, and paddling has helped me tune into the importance of strength and aerobic training. Strength and aerobic training enables us to do things more easily and more confidently - work in the garden, walk the dog, ride a bicycle, play with children, go hiking, and mundane tasks like carrying sacks from grocery shopping. While you may choose to not train for dragon boat paddling right now, participating in various forms of strength and aerobic training is good for your overall health. It doesn’t have to be as strenuous as you might to prepare to be in the boat. The more fun something is, the more it fits into your schedule, the more likely you will do it. And that’s the idea - do it. Do something, whether it’s paddling focused or not.

Do I want you to continue training and planning to paddle? You betcha. Because we’ve had a long time off the water and are looking at quite a while until we’re back, it’s appropriate to be varying the intensity of your workouts as well as the exercises. It’s also appropriate to have taken an off-period. Look at this period as time to play a little and start something new. If you’ve been getting out in a kayak, maybe it’s time to start thinking about doing workouts on the water. If you’ve been on your bike toodling around, maybe it’s time to start thinking about doing hill work or distance training. There’s so many activities you can choose from to keep things interesting. And just about anything you can do for light fun, you can also use to get a workout.

Need some ideas for how to make a workout doing a particular activity? Put your questions in the comments section.

New Race

At the midpoint of a race many callers will say “New Race”, start again fresh and go forward. I feel like we have just passed the 500 meter mark on a 2000. Still I think it is time to say “new race”.

I am excited to announce we will be stepping up the workout opportunities offered to Pinks. We will target Monday evenings for these workouts and they will be varied each week. How are we going to do that ? We will be letting Pinks share their workouts. Anyone who has a workout they would like to share is invited to coordinate a time and date to be a leader. Maybe you have something you do all the time that you can lead, or you have a YouTube favorite you would like to share. We are striving to match our Saturday format. One group with breakout rooms for the different workouts at the same time then back together for cool down and goodbyes. Lead one workout , lead many your choice. Anything goes - meditation to kick boxing.

Details:

• Workouts Schedules on TeamSnap for signups
• Monday Nights at 6:00 pm anticipated time commitment 40-45 minutes
• Group Warm Up - 25-30 minute workout - Group Cool Down
• Monday holidays will be off.
• Start date : Monday August 10th
• Email patricia@schafer.net to sign up to lead a workout(s)

This is in addition to the Wednesday workouts at 6:00 pm. Let’s stay connected as best we can while we can’t be on the water.  Look for more details coming your way via email.

… Pat

Week 16 Workout 

Coach Oden

Parting Thoughts

Read More

Week Fifteen - Summer Breeze

                     

---

Self-Care: Is It Selfish?

By Coach Anita

I think of self-care from the basic premise that we are all meant to be happy. It is our default state of being. So if I am not happy, it doesn’t matter what else can be done for others, I need to look at taking care of myself before looking outward. It’s like the airlines tell us, put on your own mask before assisting others.

Yet that is what so many people, and especially women, do not do. There is societal pressure to be an everything mother, an everything partner, an everything caregiver to parents, an everything career pursuer, and very little focus on being true to what makes us feel unconditionally happy. Unconditionally happy means you are not relying on other conditions to be present - like your house being clean, your children being content, your weight being ideal, your partner to be satisfied - in order for you to be happy. When a woman does not prioritize others above herself the word often wielded is selfish. I have heard women say, “Oh I’m taking time for myself” only to learn they first took care of arrangements for everyone around them before taking “time for herself.” That’s putting herself last.

The story of a woodsman laboring at a wood pile with a dull axe illustrates the challenge many people face. Asked why he didn’t stop to sharpen his blade to make the work go faster, he said he didn’t have time. By not putting your needs - your happiness - first, you are metaphorically not working with a sharp blade.

But how do we overcome that word, selfish. Most of us recoil at the idea of being called selfish. We have been raised and societally conditioned to put others’ needs before our own. Women who focus on themselves have been socially chastised with a scarlet S. And as much as we hate the accusation upon us, we have been so deeply conditioned to focus on the needs of others that we slap the label on other women instead of championing and emulating their brave self-first stance.

So what do we do? I subversively suggest that we reclaim and reframe the word selfish. Make it that to be selfish is to understand the importance of taking care of yourself. To be selfish is to know that happiness is our birthright. To be selfish is to truly love ourselves. To be selfish is to be present with a fully sharpened blade.

Tell me in the comments something you have done to be selfish in the past week. And if you haven’t (YET), tell me something you are going to do to make yourself happy. I’ll start: I started making newspaper beads. I ordered a new book. I had a cocktail at 4p in the afternoon and FaceTimed with a friend across the country.

Tell me, Pinks. Are you selfish?

---

Week 15 Workout  with 
Coach Oden 

Link to video if you don't see it here :  https://youtu.be/_SAQfEDTHFM

---

“Being mindful that rest and relaxation are important to maintain our physical and mental health”.   

---

Self Care - What is it , do I do it ?  
 by Coach Pat

Self care is anything you do deliberately to take care of your mental , emotional and physical health.  Self care has to be enjoyable, not a chore. Self care has to be deliberate. Those words, enjoyable and deliberate narrows the list.   Self care can be eliminating something from your routine as well as adding.   Is there an activity that makes you stressed ?  Then think about saying 'no' as part of your self-care routine.   For example,  during these Covid days I said "I will no longer iron anything" and we are getting along fine with a few wrinkles and I don't have the stress of a never ending chore.  Paddling was a big part of my self care routine it helped me physically and it fed my mental and emotional health because of the time with friends. Now  I have had to replace that with other activities.   My workouts are now virtual but one of them is done with the Pinks and that is a big boost for me.  I have made time each Saturday morning to get on the Pink Zoom call.   I am also making deliberate appointments to check in with all of my grandchildren each week.   I read more and do Facebook less.   Think about what you are doing,  make a list of the activities that are helping you take care of yourself,  those that are deliberate and enjoyable.  Get on a Zoom call with a friend and help each other establish a self care routine.  It would be great to get some items reported back as comments on this newsletter.  

---

Read More

Week Fourteen - Summer State of MInd

Pinks Stay Strong - Week Fourteen 

---

Mindful vs Busy

By Coach Anita

I have been reading Oprah’s The Wisdom of Sundays, which she created from her interview series Super Soul Sundays. Oprah took her interviews with spiritual leaders, social psychologists, authors, sports stars, and world leaders and created chapters with their thoughts on topics like Awakening and Intention. After TeamFitness decided this week’s topic would be busyness, I began to think about the chapter on Mindfulness. 

Mindfulness to me feels the opposite of busy. Not because being mindful means you don’t have a lot to do, but because mindfulness means being present for exactly what is happening in front of you. And when you focus on what is happening right here and now, the clutter and hamster wheel feelings dissipate. Oprah introduces the chapter with this (emphasis added by me):

There are so many simple pleasures that allow me to delight in the present moment. A long walk in solitude or a spirited hike with friends brings a renewed sense of gratitude and connection. I consider reading a book a sacred indulgence. And I also happen to love a cup of piping hot masal tea. The daily ritual of being at the sink, boiling the water, steaming the milk, and then steeping the tea helps bring me to a place of stillness. Whether it’s watching a sunset, or really feeling the steam of water hit your face in the shower, everyone needs to take time to find a way to quiet themselves. 

Allowing these moments of awareness and recognizing that it is a magnificent thing to be alive, regardless of what might be pressing on me, has brought a level of calm that words can’t adequately explain.   

Mindfulness is acknowledging only what you are feeling in the moment and not projecting what might happen in the future or lamenting past mistakes. Whatever may be looming on the horizon, you will handle it when it actually arrives. Busyness feels like taking step by step instructions for remodeling a house and throwing all the tasks into a large bowl to figure out what to do first. You can’t look at everything at once and see anything. By taking what is in front of you right now and then consciously moving to what is next, you allow for stillness which helps create the level of calm Oprah mentions. If you define busy as having a lot to do then Oprah is BUSY! But I don’t think she suffers from busyness, which goes beyond the to-do list and into the realm of not wanting to be idle. From presence and stillness - which are both derived from mindfulness - much can be accomplished, and the feeling of doing so isn’t overwhelming or draining.  

Oprah said:

My goal is to live my life as a more awakened, vibrant, alive human being. My prayer is to not let any moment pass without my acknowledgment and full experience of it. In order to do that, I’ve got to practice. (my emphasis)

Every single behavior we value requires practice. Be it turning the lights off when you leave a room, responding kindly to someone who’s an irritant, starting your recovery with your hip, or slowing down to acknowledge where you are and how you feel - it all takes practice. The more you do it, the better you become at doing it, and the easier it is. There is always time to practice what you value. You just need to value it enough to practice. 

---

Busyness and How to Get a Handle on It
By Suzanne Frank

I grew up with the notion that you should always be doing something. It could be tasks that needed doing such as housework, dishes, sewing clothes or preserving food or leisure activities like fishing, swimming, watching sports or sitting by a campfire.
My dad was a teacher and an athletic coach/director who was always "busy" although he never used that term. He could very seldom sit still and relax. He had to be doing something. I have to work very hard at just "being". I feel guilty if I'm sitting pleasure reading or not or not doing something "productive". Am I just being lazy??? Guess what, the answer is NO.

Before I retired I would greet my close colleagues and ask "how are you". The response I got 90% of the time was "I'm busy". I found myself giving this reply to others as well. I didn't care about that, we are all busy. I wanted to know how they were, physically or emotionally.

There is a major difference between being busy and being busy enjoying life.
My family tells me I need to sit and relax more and stop my busyness. The laundry will always be with us, but spending time with family and friends is a time to cherish.

These are the steps I have started using to help change my thinking that I always need to be productive. I need to realize that leisure relaxation are important and necessary for my well being.

1) Identify the root cause of my busyness. In thinking about this I decided mine was a learned behavior from my childhood. I needed to redefine my definition of what is productive and what is not. Relaxation and taking time for yourself is productive behavior.

2) Tracking my time for a week. You have to strike a balance between activities you have to complete versus activities you want and enjoy doing.

3) Know the purpose for the things you do. Make sure what you do has purpose. Saying "no" is something we need to learn how to say. Learn to take back control of your time by saying no. We don't have to do it all.

4) Prioritize leisure time. Do whatever possible to use your leisure time in intentional, rejuvenating, and recuperative ways. Build in leisure time on your calendar. Don't feel guilty being actively leisure.

5) Disconnect. Make sure you are not spending too much time on your digital devices.

6) Practice Mindfulness. Meditation, exercise, diet and sleep.

7) Slow down and smell the roses.

Feeling "busy" can leave you feeling overwhelmed, stressed, feeling like you didn't give your full attention or effort to and assignment or task and feeling anxious.

My advice is make good choices that will lead you out of the land of "busyness". This may be difficult but practicing this weekly may turn out to be just the thing you need.

Also, if one day I ask you "how are you" please don't respond "busy" rather say I am busy enjoying life! Lol

---

Busyness and Clutter

What busyness and clutter means to me, or better yet, doesn’t mean to me: It doesn’t mean neglecting yourself. It doesn’t mean filling your days because you’re bored. It doesn’t mean taking care of others before taking care of yourself. To have experienced the busyness within myself during the midst of moving, I neglected to take the time in the morning to refocus and reset. With that came an unsettling feeling. I know what it feels like to take time in the morning for myself and enter the day with an open mind. Yet at times I neglect to do it. At a stressful time when it was most needed, it was what I overlooked because I thought I didn’t have time. The truth is, I don’t have the time not to.

Be good to yourself.

- Coach Oden

---

Pinks Stay Strong Workout

---

Read More