Pandemic sheltering - Yo Adriene and other coping methods

There have been three constants that provide me with stress release and relief throughout the last 2 months:

1)  exercise of all kinds, but especially yoga
2)  gardening
3)  sitting in the sun - or what I like to call Vitamin D explosion

As a family, we have never been as consistent with exercising as we have been since this thing started.  Because we are usually too busy to do it.  The boys were expected to get at least 45 minutes a day of some type of exercise to log for their PE grade, which I think is wonderful.  It's so easy to be distracted with all the other stress that we don't notice how much time they spend playing video games and/or being lumps on the couch watching one horrible Netflix movie after another.  (alright, sometimes they are good).

We've been walking the dogs while G rides his bike and J his scooter just about every night.  Sometime these walks are pretty long.  We were worried that Tucker's arthritis might be a factor in going longer distances, but the vet tuned us in to what to watch for if he is struggling (sitting down during a walk, having to pull him to get him to keep going),  and he has not shown ANY of those signs.  That made us very happy.  Blitzen was very overweight when we adopted her, and I would venture a guess that she has lost over 20 pounds since January.  They are both in such good shape it's ridiculous!

We humans also try to supplement with strength building circuit training 3x a week.  When I discovered how inflexible the boys are, and how weak Joel's core seems to be I started working with them on all I've learned in yoga to strengthen core, and increase balance and flexibility.  Jav wanted in on this because his back has been stiffening up on him lately.  Everyone likes it, which totally blows me away.  Although Joel always ends up yelling - "Is it time for rest (corpse) pose now?"

All of this has definitely toned me up, although I can't say that I've lost much weight because we are eating like we never have before - baked quick breads for breakfast, mini ice creams every night for dessert, garlic bread with pasta and on and on.  So many habits I had stopped have now crept back into my regular eating.

But one great habit that I started was my sister-in-law's recommendation to try Yoga with Adriene.  She lives in Austin and has become a Youtube phenom in the yoga world.  Millions of followers all over the world.  I gave her a try and I can see why.  I've been doing yoga on my own at home for almost 25 years.  It took me a good 10 years to realize it's not really about the physical benefits, but about improving your overall fitness, strength, flexibility and maintaining balance as you get older (which is a big deal to me now). It took me another 5-10 years to try to realize it's also about peace of mind, learning mindfulness and to get the breathing right, but no one has ever explained it to me as simply as Adriene.  I decided to try her challenge of 30 days of yoga, and although I've had some days where I skipped I have kept at it better than ever before and the results have helped me stay somewhat sane on these crazy days.  She has such a calming manner.  Slow and steady, but very challenging some days - I've been trying poses I have never had the nerve to try before.  I look forward to my half hour a day with her like nothing else right now.

I'll skip the gardening bit for now because I want to post some pics of what my de-stressing has produced.

Joel and I enjoying the vitamin D explosion.

The last coping method came about merely because I needed a little space/quiet/outside time with the birds and dogs to get away from the stress in the house.  I used to walk the dog for my quiet, away time.  But with Blitzen added I cannot hold both dogs by myself right now, and we are all trying to go together every night.  So every afternoon between 2 and 3 or so I would find myself outside, sitting in a lawn chair in the sun.  I also had a severely stopped up ear that I couldn't hear out of and my mom suggested this method to help clear it out.  I guess vitamin D really is like a miracle to we humans, because it worked.  And there is something about having the warm sun move over you and slowly warm you from the outside in that is SO anciently human and comforting, but I've never enjoyed it like now with the exception of vacations at the beach when the water was chilly.  Of course, now that the weather is getting much more hot and humid I will have to go out early to get the comfort, which means weekends only since I'll be at work.

My view of the back porch during vitamin D sessions.

All in all my mental state has not been very steady, but when it has run well it was due to these three activities.  I have definitely noticed a mental difference on days when I don't make time for at least one of these things.  So these are things I need to keep up for myself even after things go back to normal (even though I don't think that will happen for some time).