My husband and I were blessed to enjoy a Caribbean vacation last week, an ongoing celebration of our tenth wedding anniversary. We figured we would be consuming more than we were hungry for at the all-inclusive resort and decided to be active and feel totally alive while on respite. Heres what we did, how it was experienced, and ideas for your own travels this summer and beyond:
Conscious connections of clock time: Through 10+ years of vacationing together, we have come to realize that we enjoy holidays and days off thoroughly when, together, we outline what we want to enjoy and experience each day. So, over welcome drinks from the resort, we mapped out our plan for the week on the day we arrived, building in reading, sight-seeing, and active segments. My rating: Thumbs UP!
Consider including in your vacation: Connect with family and friends you are traveling with before the trip and share what you are enthusiastic about enjoying, including things to do together and by yourself. Revisit this on the trip, to make sure all are on course and experiencing what they envision for the hiatus.
Conscious inclusion on your Staycation: Even on lazy weekends at home, outline days with what you want to do. From this list, pick the three most important items - these could be from the home to-do list, canoeing down the Huron River, or cuddling on the sofa! Selecting three top items increases likelihood of those happening, and even if the others are not done, you feel (rightly) great about making it happen!
Meditate: We started every day with this practice, and it was energizing within and without. It was especially enjoyable because we were both on board and neither of us was embarrassed about wanting to do this. Look for more on meditation in additional posts. My rating: Creates CALMNESS!
Consider including in your vacation: Even if you are feeling totally zen, where you are relaxed and in the zone (e.g. romantic Caribbean holiday), you may enjoy enriching yourself.
Conscious inclusion on your Staycation: Yes, this should be practiced daily for 15+ minutes, but even better is meditating in each moment of life. BollyFit classes, for example, consciously weave meditation in the high energy, real life experience.
Morning Walk in the shore dipped waters of the beach: We walked after meditating each day, right before breakfast while it was still cool outside and quiet on the beach. My rating: Entirely ENJOYABLE!
Consider including in your vacation: Even if you are not headed for ocean waters, the lake or local river radiate magic of their own if we stop to consider. There is something about the warm waves drenching dry feet, ankles and calves that is so calming - especially in the morning, when the sands and sunlight stream softly.
Conscious inclusion on your Staycation: No waters where you are headed? Enjoy a morning stroll in the neighborhood with a friend, before the sun is strong later in the day. If clock time is available, yield at a cafe for chai or make a grocery store part of the path to pick up fresh fruit for home.
Mindful Menus: I am vegetarian and aspire to eat vegan. My husband, as he describes himself, is considering going vegetarian. This combination can make it tricky to find flavorful meals when traveling. On this trip, we let the resort staff know our dietary preferences in advance, and they graciously set up an on-site meeting with the head chef, where he mapped out many mouth-watering menus for us for the week. My rating: Mmmmm!
Consider including in your vacation: Did you know that most people typically gain eight pounds while on vacation? If you have special dietary needs, be comfortable with sharing your needs with restaurant staff. My experience is that most establishments are happy to accommodate, especially when they have some advance notice.
Conscious inclusion on your Staycation: If you are dedicated to consuming food in a certain way, please know it is still possible to do so even when the family wants to eat out. Try going online and checking out the menu before hand. Decide what you want to order in advance, and call ahead to see if the chef is able to make small adjustments to suit your preference. Then, fill up on fulfilling fruit on your way out the door. This way, multiple menu items won’t dance before your eyes in the way they might if you arrived with a grumbling stomach craving instant satisfaction!
Savor the Scenic Route via Stairs: Our room was on the seventh floor (the highest) of the resort, and we giddily took the stairs to and from every time, soaking in the fresh air along the way. Sometimes it was a slow ascent carrying purchases from local vendors in our arms, or a slow descent with me in heels when we were on our way to dinner. Either way, we enjoyed the ride - often beating the elevator anyways! My rating: If you are able to take the stairs, its a great feeling when you arrive sooner than the people you left waiting for the elevator. Oomph burns calories - and builds muscles!
Consider including in your vacation: Taking the scenic route, literally. Walk up and down stairs when in safe areas with a buddy. Even airports, when they have a steep staircase next to the escalator, provide a perfect space to increase blood circulation that is often lacking on travel days crammed in cars and carriers.
Conscious inclusion on your Staycation: Enjoy the stairs at home and beyond - be your own escalator and move your body, while enjoying the internal energy that is released along the way. Muscles are made to move…so let them do their thing! Walk up and down stairs when at work or in safe areas with a buddy.
Mid-day Workout: We mostly had the gym to ourselves and went on the elliptical for three of the full days we had. My rating: Quite honestly, the experience ENERGIZED me to resume BollyFit classes again back home! This was the second time I had been on a workout machine in six years. Needless to say, I have not missed it as (thank goodness) I have been able to stay fit through much more enjoyable means! My rating: The sweat was not worth the anguish!
Consider including in your vacation: Activities that you are enthusiastic about. Cannot stand the gym? Pack along an energizing workout tape or go for a power walk to see the sights. Better yet, find opportunities to dance! (And by the way, the upcoming BollyFit DVDs are soon to be available for your vacation and Staycation enjoyment )
Conscious inclusion on your Staycation: Activities that you adore. Why spend an hour in pain and misery to achieve your fitness goals when there are better options? Beyond your BollyFit classes, sweat it out at home or with the family to your favorite songs. Be inspired from classes to create your own choreography! Plus, BollyFit Belly and the newest BollyFit class, BollyFit Bhangra, are sure to spice up additional days of your week.
It was a fantastic vacation and we individually and collectively were able to enjoy everything we wanted to because we were conscious about it. In this same spirit though, I feel that every day with family and friends is a Staycation!
It is Saturday night. My husband is far away on a business trip to China, and we are clamoring away on the phone. Missing him, I have two boys nestled in bed with me - my snuggable six and four-and-a-half year old sons. We were exhausted after a full day of pee-wee soccer, a friend’s birthday party, and a BollyFit Family event at a local library and a Kindergarten soccer game, capped off with a mini-road trip to a favorite diner that features Indian street food - and yet, something was still missing.
With Daddy gone, I try to make the best of the evening. I entice twinkling excitement in the eyes of the boys with the prospect of watching a 184-minute Hindi film together, ensuring a much later bedtime.
The kids pick the 1977 film, Amar Akhbar Anthony, one of my all-time favorites. I watched this movie over a hundred times growing up, like a child today might watch their favorite Disney film. As I set up the $0.99 copy picked up in an ethnic grocery store, a magical memory curves my lips into a slow smile that reaches my eyes. I recall my two older sisters and me, dressed up as the title characters in the film - Amar (played by my middle sister), Akhbar (played by me, the youngest), and Anthony (played by my oldest sister). Mustaches, male clothing and all, we had danced our rendition of the title song in the heart of Detroit at Hart Plaza, well before Bollywood was a household name. The title song link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2POYb3hO8g
I find myself pausing the movie every ten minutes or so, compelled to share important life lessons with my life-blood along the way, lessons that appear so vividly in the film. The boys soak it all in attentively as the three-hour movie drags into the fourth hour.
Many people have strong feelings about Bollywood films - they are loved for their knack for portraying a fantastical story while being upbeat and fun, yet criticized for their sometimes unrealistic depiction of reality. No matter - my mission is to find the best lessons in the good films, weaving the magic, idealism, joy and love existing here into my own life and into BollyFit classes.
Adults and children alike have heard these lessons before, yet they are often forgotten by the wayside in the busy, stressful environment of today. We can all use an awakener to remind us of the values that help set our lives on the right path. How has the concept of respect, family, and money changed in the modern world, for example? My next few blogs will explore these lessons and more in context with our hectic lifestyles, making us pause as we try to apply them to our own lives and inspire the lives of our children. Along the way, I invite you to share your own stories and experiences.
What prompts us to savor a succulent salad at suppertime instead of sugary sogginess? It is the recognition of the experience’s essence that allows us to make the best decision. The more aware we are of what happens within us before, during and after each experience, the more the awe awakens and guides us toward a particular path.
If it is wellness that we seek, it is important to recognize that this is not borrowed or given from elsewhere. Deep within, each being already has hints of health and wellness. It’s a matter of clearing space within and without for this natural state to emerge. With each awakened experience we peer through layers of smog from our surroundings. With each moment there is recognition of the inner glow, the smog sheds and paves the path for another such experience, for the healthy state of being that is already within to emanate.
Trust yourself and embrace what resonates. Most likely it is healthy. Know that being healthy is a natural state. See what happens within with a particular decision. What is the essence of the experience?
This is something I am guiding my soulful six-year-old son about quite a bit now, as he navigates his newfound ability to make his own decisions! I watch what happens within him the first time I ask him get dressed in the morning, for example. What is the experience, the consequence (yes, we use these words!) when he chooses to do something that deep within he knows is the right thing to do? And what happens when he chooses not to? We chat about: What are the possible actions? What is the consequence within himself? And the consequence without?
It’s the same concept, whether six or sixty years old. When aware and conscious in making a decision, whether about food or fitness, the self is free to be who s/he is. That awareness of what happens deep within and without is energizing and healthy. Recognition of an experience of being healthy within ripples from beyond the physical self-wellness into the world.
Invite you to consider and embrace what happens within you and without you, as you consciously experience life. And, yep, would love to hear your thoughts!
I read a New York Times article this week about slim and trim actresses purporting to regularly eat unhealthy but oh so good food where and when they want. Especially when they meet interviewers from glossy magazines for a meal! The article considers whether or not the meals really are an accurate representation of the women’s typical eating habits. And considers the possibility that the unhealthy but oh so good meal is ‘just part of the show’ to convince fans that they are just like the rest of us.
Wondering now...what do you think, do you buy it? That they can really do this on a regular basis and look the way they do? If you’d like to read the article, please click here .
Similar claims by rich, famous, ‘fabulous and fit’ women who are ‘just like the rest of us’ but whose bodies, faces and lives magazines want us to emulate include:
“I don’t exercise regularly.”
“I don’t have a nanny.”
“I’ve never had botox or plastic surgery.”
Not all models and actresses make these claims and are truly honest when granting interviews. And, for sure, some women are certainly telling the whole truth when they make these types of statements. But what about the majority?
Well I can’t speak for others. And am certainly not rich and famous so am not putting myself in anyone’s shoes.
But I am a woman. I have a body. And I know what it takes to keep my body fit, mind clear and illuminate from within. To be energetic! To accept the loose, stretched out skin from two c-section operations regardless of how fit I am. (The only way that is ever going to go away is by going under the knife. Not going go happen!) I am aware of the internal and external environments that work for me and allow my days and life to manifest magically the way they do. So, here, I’ll speak for myself. And am curious as to what you really do to look, feel, be your best for yourself
Dear Friends,
Here’s a fav poem of my kids by Shel Silverstein from Where the Sidewalk Ends. Sums up February 14 and, hopefully, every day! Thanks to dear friend, Iran, for the book. Enjoy....
Hug O’ War
I will not play at tug o’ war.
I’d rather play at hug o’ war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles and rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.
Shel Silverstein
(Sorry web page is not allowing apostrophes and similar punctuations....)
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