Grateful for this journey and my friends

#goodMorningSunshine ?
#morningsAreBeautiful ?
#rituals of #theBeautifulJourney

This week I was able to get back to stronger leg workouts as my knee felt ok. All the attention it received payed out. I’ve always liked to focus on proper posture and technique over speed and quantity, but even so, injuries can happen.

I am so happy about the journey, the progress and achievements so far. This yoga and fitness training has helped my body so much. I’ve started with having a shoulder pain and tightness on that side of the body and now it released so much and it feels good, it is strong.

I am also so proud of myself, really , for the program that I’ve built and its proven effectiveness in the way I feel, look and can do things now. And the way I’ve mixed the fitness with yoga, so they complemented each other.

And I’m happy I kept everything in a spreadsheet, so I can go through it again, if desired.

I loved finding all those videos. There are so many nice people out there sharing what they know and what they do.
It is wonderful to have this kind of inspiration so easily accessible. I’ve been mentioning some of them in my weekly updates.

I’ve always looked for inspiration around me. I’m always curious what people are doing, what they have discovered. I know I don’t know everything and that I’d get stuck without the influence of others. This is one of the reasons why I share (so much) as well, i.e. for putting ideas out there, to open up to a potential inspiring conversation and learn more. From this angle, when people share things on social media, I’m quite happy to see what they are doing, maybe I get an idea of how I can expand my horizon of experiences. I choose not to think they are trying to portray a perfect life, instead, what I see are opportunities.

Lately I’ve started showing my acknowledgement and appreciation towards the people that have inspired me in some way, gave me an idea, because acknowledgement is important in everyone’s life. As Edgar Schein was saying in  Humble Enquiry – The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling:

Acknowledgement is more than good manners, tact and etiquette, is the very basis of society.

This goes deep and with most of the things we do,

We trust that we will be acknowledged as fellow humans and that our presented self will be affirmed.

In life, it helps to be a good team player and Patrick Lencioni’s book The Ideal Team Player was very inspiring on this topic. 

While exploring the ideas in that book, I’ve realized that boasting happens, in the work place and everywhere else, when there is no acknowledgement and appreciation shown by peers. And I know a lot of what shows up on the internet is seen as boasting. But, again, I think there is another way of seeing those things sometimes. Sometimes they are moments of happiness, of great perceived accomplishment, of a journey of great effort and resilience, and it is ok to want to share, to seek your tribe by doing that, see who resonates with you and might want to join you or just take something from it and make the most of it on their own. 

The Ideal Team Player is a short and quick read, but an essential book. See more about it  here.

I wonder if being more open to being inspired and being vulnerable or honest enough to admit it would cure many of our ego driven behaviours and their consequences within our relationships and society. ?

Another thing I have noticed, which reminded of Gerald Weinberg’s teachings from The Art of Giving and Receiving Feedback is that …

… certain people can be committed either to changing you or keeping you the same.

This also means that for certain people the changes you make will be hard to accept, hence the acknowledgement will be difficult to give, and you might need to let them go.

Life is really nice when you find your tribe, you surround yourself with those people that resonate with you, where acknowledgement and appreciation flows between you all easily.

This yoga and fitness journey was possible and so much easier for me with the help of the people around me.

My friend Victoria that showed up every day to all the sessions and went through this multi-faceted sports program. We have a saying in Romanian – where there are two, the power increases. Well, I’ve expanded it to say – where there are two, the motivation increases. Plus all the other friends that have given it a try recently. It made me so happy.

I’m also grateful to my lovely partner, Paul, for his help in making time for me to do these things by taking on dinner preparation. He is an amazing chef, seriously, and I feel like I am eating at a restaurant every evening! This is of great help as it allows for both early exercise and dinner in the evenings. And he is encouraging me to keep going.

I’m also grateful for my number one fan, my mother Corina, and for my cousin Cristina’s encouragement along the way and everyone else that gave me a positive sign.

Now, some aspects of this journey will transform.

My google spreadsheet says that this program has reached 5024 minutes (83 hours) of exercise since 05 April 2020 when we started.

Since I’ve started the Anatomy of Yoga classes, I’m even more interested in continuing my learning about yoga and with the current schedule I find it difficult to find even more time for the extra classes. So I’ll switch to a solo ride in the mornings so I can focus on yoga classes.

The evenings will change as well, to allow me to gain back some of the time from defining the sports program. That means switching to ready made training programs to which I will add only 15-30 min specific muscle area isolate workouts, which by now I should be able to produce quickly either as links or myself!  And dancing, of course! 

Plus, the lockdown rules are changing, the training might not have the same frequency, might need to adapt more and don’t want to put too much time into something that might go to waste. But will keep on training with amazing friends and instructors that are out there!

I like Beth Alexander’s saying:

I don’t sweat! I sparkle!

Until next time … what can I say? What a beautiful journey!

This has been week #8 of daily exercise started during lockdown.
#theBeautifulJourneyWithiuliana