Wellness Wednesday

Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.
 John F. Kennedy

 
On a previous post, I failed to mention one of my favorite yoga dvds, Kundalini Yoga for Beginners and Beyond (shown below). Now, I'm not a huge fan of all aspects of Kundalini yoga (I can live without the chanting and the turbans, thank you very much!), but there are several things that I really like about it.  One of those things is called the Five Tibetan Rights (which is just a series of 5 postures that are repeated 21 times). There are claims that doing the Five Tibetan Rights every day will produce almost miraculous health benefits. I don't really know about all that, but I do know what I like about it. I like the simplicity of it. I like the fact that you work every part of your body in about 23 minutes.  I like the fact that I can do it anywhere, anytime, even without the dvd. I like the fact that between each series of poses, you just sit and breath. I like the fact that it ends with a meditation. Basically, it's just moving for a while and breathing for a while, moving a little more and breathing a little more.  I can handle that!

 If you'd like to try it, I posted links below :)


I hope you are well on this Wednesday~ Juli



click here for written instructions

clck here to purchase this video

Merry Monday

Pearl Tabers- My great grandma. This picture hangs in the studio space in my kitchen.

I'm merry on this Monday as I think about being part of a family of makers. They (my great grandmother, my grandmothers and mother) may not have been fine artists, and I'm sure they were makers mainly out of necessity, but they were makers, nonetheless. Through making out of necessity, they became self-educated, fine craft artists. These women created beautiful heirlooms; quilted blankets, embroidered towels, crocheted doilies and throws and  hand sewn clothes, all made by them, have been passed along through generations and are still being used today. And I feel blessed to have also been given the gift of their knowledge and passion for making things by hand.  It's part of who I am and it's part of them in me. Continuing this tradition makes me very happy.

Hoping you are merry on this Monday :)  Juli

It's been a rough week around here. Everything from sinus infections and colds to stomach viruses. Yuk! At this point everyone in my family is fighting or trying to recover from one or the other or  all three. Needless to say, I wasn't really focused on blog posts. The only thing I've been doing is disinfecting everything that I think may have a lingering "bug"! So, I'll try to make up for it this week, as, hopefully, things are calming down a bit.
For now, I'll leave you with a few photos of my weekend, which involved a lot of "piddling". As I've mentioned before, I have so many ideas for new projects and never enough time. And so, I "piddle"!

My very messy studio space.

Little Man's painting is just a few details away from being finished.

Painting detail- Little Man and his dad.

A very soft, little, one skein scarf. Made using the very simple granny stripe and Martha Stewart yarn. I used the instructions shown here and just reduced the count to 'scarf size'.

After this week, I couldn't resist bringing a little "spring" into the house to enjoy over the weekend.

 Hoping for a better week, this week :)   Juli

Wellness Wednesday...Relax

I have to admit, exercise is really not my favorite thing. When I was a kid, everyone in my family was athletic, except for me. While my brother and sister played softball and baseball and my parents coached and managed their teams, I was the one drawing pictures in the dirt with a stick, turning my school box into a tiny house or dressing my dolls. I had no interest at all in exerting myself and getting sweaty. Yuck! So, a few years ago, when I discovered yoga, I knew it was a perfect fit for me. Slow and steady movements, balancing and holding a pose, remembering to breathe in and breathe out- yep, this was my kind of exercise!

Really, though, it was more about exercising the mind, rather than the body. When you are in the middle of a downward facing dog pose or balancing on one leg in tree pose, you're not really worrying about that awkward conversation you had the day before or your plans for work the next day. You are noticing how many times your back popped going into that downward facing dog pose or how hard you have to focus on the end of your nose in order to stay in tree pose! You have to be in your body, not in your mind. And for me, that is a very good thing.

Having choices is a big thing for me, as I tend to get bored very quickly. And this is especially true when it comes to exercise. So, as a result,  I have built up quite a little dvd library. But, honestly, most of the time, I end up going back to a few of my favorites. I've shown these favorites below, along with a link to the website where you can purchase them. 

Be well :)  Juli

 
Click here for Rodney Yee's website

One of my favorites, by far. Five different routines to choose from for each day of the week. My favorite- 'Twist'.

This is my favorite for the weekend, when I have more time. One 55-60 minute session.

And this one is great when you don't have much time. Most of the sessions are 15-20 minutes long. My favorite from this one, 'Yoga for the upper body'

Merry Monday

Having an overload of ideas for new projects and paintings is making me very merry on this Monday. I've been making myself take more walks and the ideas just flood my brain while I'm in my walking "meditation" mode. I love that! Now, the hard part; weeding out the bad ideas and following through with the good ideas. There is one idea in particular that I'm really excited about, but I'll save that for another post.

No explanation needed here. Who wouldn't want their soul to grow?! ( Image found via Pinterest)

My Sunday was spent happily stitching.

I've also been thinking a lot about balancing what I create to sell and what I create just for the sake of creating. I have to be honest with myself, some of the things I make, no one wants to buy. But that isn't always the point, right?  My weekend, for example , was spent working on a painting for my son and making some onesies for my Etsy shop. My son is definitely not going to pay me for my work, but knowing that I'm creating something for him that he will have for the rest of his life and pass on to future generations is extremely rewarding. And the onesies. It will be great if someone likes them enough to buy them. And imagining them on someone's cute little baby is definitely motivating! But, really, I just love the process. The act of stitching is very relaxing and comforting to me. And coming up with unique designs and seeing a well-crafted, finished product is pretty neat. So, really, it's about the making. It makes me very happy. What follows is just icing on the cake :) 

Hoping you're having a merry Monday~ Juli

Wellness Wednesday- Hydration

 I have to be honest, I feel kind of silly writing about wellness today because, well, I haven't been well! After visiting the doctor, I am very aware that one of the reasons that I'm not well is that I am not hydrated.So...I need to drink more water. Simple enough, huh? Not for me. I'm very guilty of only hydrating (or maybe it's more like dehydrating) myself with coffee and wine. I know, I know- it's bad! But, true. I've really been trying to try think of ways to get myself to drink more water and I've come up with a couple of ideas. One, is to stock up on bottled water and put 2-3 bottles in my bag at the beginning of the day. My goal is to have them gone by the evening. Also, I'll try to have only one cup of coffee in the morning and replace the others with herb tea.( I'm in no way a tea connoisseur, but I have found that brewing tea using the Keurig K-cups results in a much more pleasant flavor...no nasty paper flavor from the tea bag.)
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Do you struggle with staying hydrated? Or am I the only one who, honestly, hates the "flavor" of water?

Again, I know this blog is supposed to be about what inspires me to create, but I think wellness is relevant no matter who you are and no matter what you do.  For me, I can't be creative, productive or happy when I'm not well.
Hoping you are well on this Wednesday ~ Juli

Merry Monday... but posted on Tuesday!

A  corner of my home.  I spend a lot of time in this space- working on projects, journaling and sketching ideas and designs, grading papers, and of course, watching my rotation of favorite movies :)

Well, I have to say, the only thing I could think of that is making me merry today, is being at home. It is all I thought of since I pulled out of the driveway this morning. But, that really doesn't surprise me, as home has been on my mind a lot lately. Many of my family members have had changes in their homes lately and more are about to change in the near future. The book that I mentioned in my last post, 'My Heart Wanders', is about making a home wherever you are. So, with that in mind,  I hope everyone realizes that home is what you make it, wherever it is. What you do there, who is there with you (or not), what objects you choose to surround yourself with,etc., are the things that make a house (or an apartment!) a home.
Just a thought for this Merry Monday.... Hoping that everyone feels at home where they are right now. ...  Juli

Slow Sunday

I'm spending my Sunday in slow mode. After spending the morning at the Urgent Care with an eye infection (that's what happens when you spend every work day in a room with 150 kids!), I came home to the new book my husband brought me last night (a late Christmas gift- I love it!) and more yarn. I finished the green scarf and sent it in to be delivered to the teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School, so while I was in scarf making mode, I started one for myself. These scarves are super easy to make using the blanket (or woven) stitch as the base and edged with single crochet.
I am also loving the images in the book 'My Heart Wanders' by Pia Jane Bijkerk. Very inspiring.

Here are some resources if you're interested in any of the things listed above.

For information on the Sandy Hook scarf project, go to:
http://www.sentimentallyme.blogspot.com/2012/12/can-you-help-newtown-directly-hope-so.html


To learn how to crochet the blanket (or woven) stitch, go to:
http://www.hookedonneedles.com/2008/07/how-to-crochet-woven-stitch.html

And to learn more about Pia Jane Bijkerk, author of 'My Heart Wanders", check out her blog at:http://blog.piajanebijkerk.com/

I'm back to enjoying my slow Sunday. I hope you are doing the same~  Juli

Wellness Wednesday

For Wellness Wednesday this week, I want to share some quotes that have had a huge impact on my mental health. My mental health has a HUGE impact on my physical health. I tend to be a "glass half empty" type of person and I constantly have to remind myself to think positively and these quotes are always running through my head as a way to do that. I've been tempted to embroider these quotes on pillows and leave them around the house, write them on the bathroom mirror with lipstick, hang them on the refrigerator, etc. But...I don't want to freak out other family members, so I'll just keep them in my head. Well, until now, since I'm "sharing" them here. So, here they are:

“You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That's the only thing you should be trying to control.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

 “What we can change is our perceptions, which have the effect of changing everything.”
― Donna Quesada, Buddha in the Classroom: Zen Wisdom to Inspire Teachers . 

Another piece of advice from Buddha in the Classroom, although I'm not sure of the exact quote, is to always  be in the present and evaluate the situation. Most of the time, most people can honestly say to themselves, "Right now, I am happy". And that's all that should matter. What IS, right now. Not worrying about what HAS happened or worrying about what MIGHT happen. What IS, right now. 

Hoping you are well on this Wednesday....Juli