I’m running a little - a lot - behind with the Fall edition. All the blame goes to the distraction caused by non-stop election and COVID saturation. This week’s news about multiple vaccine breakthroughs makes it a lot easier to take a look at what else is happening in the world around us. Then I heard this and thought it captured the feeling that life might, maybe, begin returning to something like normal sooner rather than never.

Take a Break

Photo by Produtora Midtrack

You’re familiar with the saying, “When life hands you lemons?” For the hotel/travel industry, that means offering discounted rooms to the Work From Home market as a way to help make up the shortfall in travel reservations.

Nearly all the major brands have some type of deal available that often includes early check-in and (very) late check-out as a way to make a dent in what’s become a negative bottom line. Marriott offers packages, Day Use is what the Hilton brand is selling.

Depending on what your WFH job description entails, it could mean a comfortable environment free from the added stress of toddlers interrupting a Zoom conference, a safe place for making in-person connections, or simply a minimal environment free from tempting distractions.

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YPL Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Ten years ago last October 16th, I opened the door to a tiny fitness studio dedicated to teaching Classical Pilates, confident that my investment in time, training, and equipment would attract enough of a clientle for me to indulge my passion.

Since that day, I’ve continued to be rewarded with a dedicated following of fitness enthusiasts who have supported my dream, and to whom I’ll be forever thankful.

As I enter the holiday season while also navigating the pandemic, I’m grateful for the many wonderful friendships teaching Pilates has brought me, for the simple pleasures of enjoying a profession of my own choosing, and for the promise of hope in the days, weeks, and months ahead. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

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Fix Your Work From Home Posture

Photo by Marek Levak

As #WorkFromHome becomes less temporary and more permanent, maintaining proper posture becomes even more important as a big part in taking care of our physical health. There’s no refuting the data — we’re sitting more, and the result is poor posture, one of the easiest habits to slide into, and one of the toughest to break.

Here’s everything you need to know, from setting up your workspace to break exercises to relieve tension and relax shoulders. Bonus: tips for dealing with potential carpal tunnel wrist and hand issues.

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Beauty Salons Adjust

Photo by Adam Winger

There’s one thing a pandemic shouldn’t try and get between — a girl’s hair and a lady’s nails. Hard for men to understand, perhaps, but the regular trip to the beauty salon is more than the sum of its parts. It’s an essential therapeutic exercise that combines physical freshening up with psychological wellbeing — what a combination!

This article (not just for women only) brings you up to speed on the crisis facing salons across the country, the steps they’re taking to prevent COVID transmission and still deliver a quality experience, and what the future might look like if/when things begin returning to normal.

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Lets Keep in Touch

After resuming where we left off at the beginning of 2020, we face significant new challenges. Learning as we go means being overly cautious as we continue to learn the new boundaries of acceptable behavior during a pandemic.

If you’ve got unused sessions and don’t want to see them expire, I can put them on hold until you’re ready. The important thing is to stay connected. Keep that positive Pilates energy focused and engaged for a strong physical and mental benefit.

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Cardio: More Important Than Ever

Photo by Chander R

Want to help in the fight against contracting COVID? Healthy lungs are a big part of our body’s first line of defense against the virus.

As we’ve learned, the disease attacks our respiratory system first, and it attacks relentlessly. According to Raymond Casciari, a pulmonologist at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, California, “The better condition your lungs are in, the better off you will be.” Lets get busy.

What's important for lung health, Levy and others say, is to exercise at an intensity that quickens your breathing rate and leaves you feeling breathless, whether it's swimming, biking or walking briskly.

Running and jogging are the two basic exercises that come to mind, but they’re far from being the only way to keep our lungs and respiratory system healthy. In the studio I have clients use the jump board to get their hearts pumping, and the Wunda High Chair kicks those big muscle groups into high, along with the cardio benefit.

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Fresh, Frozen Food

A couple of things. Seafood has long been recommended as a meal item we should be consuming more. Finding fresh seafood, even on our West Coast (Key West Shrimp Company is our favorite), isn’t all that easy. To the rescue comes a look at alternatives that can be found in the frozen food section.

This article makes a point, among others, that even the so-called fresh fish in the grocery store’s seafood case has almost certainly been frozen during its journey, and may have been in the case longer than we’d like, yet that’s not reflected in the price.

Bonus content: ever since FoodSaver vacuum sealing became part of our kitchen routine, we’ve saved money, and extended our menus, by freezing with no loss of flavor items on sale, seasonal, or one-time special promotions. Check Amazon for various models.

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Your Garden Apothecary

Photo by Jessica Lewis

Having aloe around is one of those things that once established seems like free money at the bank day. This inconspicuous, easy to care for succulent has a range of really helpful uses, nearly all of which relate to skin care of one kind or another.

The great thing about aloe is that it requires little to no maintenance. It just bides its time quietly until needed. Using it as an eye refresher, for instance, can become a regular routine.

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COVID Spreads in Closed Spaces

I’m putting this entry from a Spanish news site under the general heading of Good News. It shows how COVID, using three common environments as examples, is easily spread indoors. It clearly demonstrates how the virus, in the form of aerosol (talking, sneezing, yelling, singing, shouting) distribution, is so effective at infecting its victims, and how a few simple precautions can totally disrupt that rate of transmission.

The animated graphics are great, and are easily understood. If you’ve been unclear as to why shutting down bars, restaurants, and other places where people like to gather in tightly packed groups should be the first line of defense, you can easily see the virus’ enormous advantage to spread in enclosed spaces.

What I find remarkable is how simple the precautions we can take are in really knocking virus spread out of contention. If you’re curious, and even if you’re not, it’s pretty interesting.

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The Pilates Contrology System

When Joseph Pilates created his fitness training method, his focus was on controlling the body by engaging the mind. He named his theory Contrology, and when understood and followed greatly improves the results you’ll experience at every level.

It isn’t easy to combine the physical with the mental. When we do The 100, for instance, it’s a lot easier to simply go with the flow than it is to concentrate on proper form, breathing, engagement, and the other factors that could be called multi-tasking.

You can learn more about the mind-body connection in this short article that does a good job of explaining the rewards of pursuing a Contrology workout.

At Your Pilates Lifestyle, my Classic Practice focuses on achieving the rhythmic harmony that naturally occurs when mental focus and physical conditioning are in synch. The feeling experienced after powering through the challenge of a Classical workout is one of accomplishment, control, and exhilaration.