relaxing – We Only Get One Chance

DOWN DOG

You may think I am about to write of just how wonderful my new puppy is? Not this time but I am sure he will make many appearances on the blog as the time goes. This is about another kind of dog, yoga down dog.

Just a couple weeks ago I had the incredible opportunity to attend Barefoot and Free Yoga Festival at Proud Lake Recreation Area south of Milford. I have been in attendance for all 4 years it has been running and this year I got to attend but also had a chance to present!

Best Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - Dr Erica Peabody - Down Dog

I am still trying to unravel all the learning and feelings surrounding that weekend and put them into words. It has taken some time to really digest it all but I will do my best.

When one of your passions in life meet and hit a crossroads with another, it is the best feeling! I had been brewing a class in the back of my mind for years and I call it “Yoga as a Prescription: How Asana Heals”. In the back of my mind it worked perfectly, but what happens when the rubber meets the road? Will anyone be interested in this topic? Will anyone join in to listen and participate?

I committed to the festival months ago, and par for the course right now with life, it all got out of control with timing and I ended up putting the final nuts and bolts of the course together all the way up to the moment that I presented.

Barefoot and Free Yoga Festival is a 3 day event starting on Friday and finishing in the evening on Sunday. Each 90 minutes, there are 5-10 classes being offered in everything from yoga (of course) to essential oil classes, herb walks, nature walks, stand-up paddle board yoga, meditation, Ayurveda, human connection classes, dance…and so much more. It is a fabulous venue that offers many locations for these classes to be happening concurrently.

When I found out my time and then the location, I took a LOOOOONG walk out to the yurt I would be teaching inside of. From the center of the festival grounds, it was a 20 minute walk through the woods to get to the location.

Like anything else in life that we do for the first time, I was super doubtful that anyone would want to learn that and then to have the long walk as another obstacle to deter students, I just thought I would be teaching to the inside of an empty yurt.

Sunday morning, following the first class of the morning, I made my way to the location. As I was walking that way, many people were just finishing up with other sessions and were heading back. “Great! Exactly as I suspected. Nobody will be here.” was my thought pattern. HELLO NEGATIVE SELF-TALK!!!

But as I descended on the yurt, 2 people were quick to follow me. I set up my mat and my props in the front of the yurt with space for what I thought would MAYBE be 10 people or so.

Others started to show up. Then more people and I kept shifting around and moving to squeeze more people in. By the time I was to begin my presentation, there were close to 40 people packed mat to mat inside of that little yurt. I won’t share all the details of the class, maybe another blog post, but it went off without a hitch and was SO MUCH FUN!!! It was exactly the class that I had planned for a few years in the back of my mind and it hit just the right ears.

Prior to class starting, I thought to myself “how in the world am I going to be able to fill up 90 minutes?” (again, enter negative self-talk). By the end of 90 minutes, I had only covered about 1/3 of the total content I had prepared and didn’t even get to tap some of the potential for what I have to share. The feedback from the participants was “Next year, can you ask to have 5 hours instead of just 90 minutes?” LOL!!

Being a yogi for going on 23 years, in combination with my private chiropractic practice for 15 years which I use “Yoga as a Prescription” inside of on a daily basis, OF COURSE I have a lot to share and I am beyond happy to give that gift and love and serve the people in any way that I can. ESPECIALLY when I am able to give, love and serve my yoga community that has given so much back to me.

Those of you who attended my class, thank you for showing up!!!

Those of you, students and especially my teachers, who inspire me daily and weekly inside of my round robin of yoga studios that I attend on a weekly basis, THANK YOU!!!

To my patients that are always open to learning a new pose to help with their healing journey and who trust the care of their entire family’s health to me and my team, we have only scratched the surface, thank you, you are all so precious to me. 🙂

To my personal yoga practice and the sweat and tears that get absorbed by my mat over and over and over and over again, I am forever grateful. I am one who really truly looks forward to every class. Another day, another down dog.

JANUARY

It is hard to believe we are a day away from the end of January!

How are you doing with the year so far?

What changes have you made?

What changes do you want to make?

What things do you want to do this year?

The polar vortex has put a little damper on this week, however, it has also given us a few minutes to slow down and sit still, or at least I hope you are taking some moments to sit still. This is a great time to contemplate, plot and scheme for your success going forward.

We have been open a good portion of our regular hours this week as other business have chosen to be open, and some have closed.

I was reviewing some things in my life last night as I was trying to figure out whether to be open today or not (we are OPEN!!!!). First off, some of you know and some of you may not know, I lived in Anchorage, Alaska for 3.5 years, I got my bachelors degree at University of Alaska Anchorage. It was an amazing experience just to be up in Alaska, much less get a chance to live there and be able to experience it all. I have a great appreciation for the arctic northern temperatures having to live and work in negatives (-40 for an entire month one winter) for those years.

I watch you all get out of your cars here at the office this week, all bundled up with 1-6 children in tow and I applaud and honor you. It reminds me of getting bundled up to go to class and work at one time. I honor you for taking a moment to make it in to town and stop by our office. I honor you for your commitment to the change you want to make for yourself and your family this year.

If you have cancelled your appointments this week, I honor you for staying home and staying safe and warm, I honor you for respecting that small voice inside that said “not today”. I honor each and every single one of you and I watch as schedules change daily due to school closings. I honor you for being resilient enough to shift and change your days around to be able to manage it all.

We are open because I am going to be here anyway.

We are open because cabin fever is a real thing and has set in for many of you and you need an excuse to get out of the house and go do something.

We are open because our shifts are a little slower but it gives us a chance to catch up on other things, like hanging pictures and signs, getting ahead of the endless paperwork and doing a lot of cleaning.

We are open because we are here to serve you, and not as arctic heroes or something, but because we can make it here to the office and we also know you are doing a lot of extra shoveling and shivering and that there is a little extra stress this week that we can help you with.

We are here for you. We honor you for staying inside your cozy home with your loved ones and hunkering down. We honor you for getting out in the cold and heading this way.

Old Man Winter took his good ol’ precious time getting here this year but came in with a blast! When it warms enough to get outside, I encourage you to do so because I believe one of the healthiest things we can do through the winter months in Michigan is get outside and get some fresh air.

While you are inside of these slower moments, take a glance at what your plans are for this year and make a choice today to move you in the direction you want to go. That can be as simple as grabbing an extra glass of water, taking a few more trips up and down the stairs to get the heart pumping, journalling, reading a book or playing a game of checkers with your child.

Bundle up!!! Stay safe and warm!!! Take a few minutes to evaluate how you are doing now that January is coming to a close and let’s connect soon!!!

LAUGHTER

Laughter helps everything.

There has been a lot going on in life lately, all of it really good stuff but keeping laughter at the forefront of it all helps everything!

For Memorial Day weekend, Mike and I headed up north to be with my family. On Saturday we decided to kayak/canoe/float the Betsie River which runs right by my parent’s house. It was a beautiful day, quite warm for late May in Northern Michigan and it felt great to get out on the river. I always forget how relaxing and healing a nice float down the river is until I am on it.

Mike insisted that I just relax in the front of the tandem kayak and not paddle and that he had it all handled. I trusted him completely and he gave me very little reason not to…at least for the first part of the trip.

We had rented a sit-on-top kayak from Crystal Adventures. The adventure company owners advised that we bring one of their dry sacks with us on the boat and I said “It is nearly impossible to tip one of those things over but we will for sure take one.”

Famous. Last. Words.

Mike did and incredible job (THANKS BABE!!!) at navigating the river until one tricky part. I was so used to sitting back and taking in the scenery that I did not see it coming and I don’t think he did either. A big tree branch was down in the water and in very slow motion, I remember being in total disbelief it was even happening, the kayak got stuck, the current was super strong and tipped us right over. I grabbed the stuff that I could and the rest headed down the river to be retrieved by other family members. We were both soaked in clothes not necessarily planned for dunking in the river but laughing. I am not sure what else there was to do but laugh. Mike felt bad but was also sort of bruised up. I had some scratches and bruises and we just laughed and went on our merry way.

Around the bend, my brothers were whispering to each other “That must really be the right guy for her if she was that calm, cool, collected and both of them were just laughing.” They were pretty shocked at our response to the whole thing.

All the weekends, and weeks for that matter, are spent managing things, handling projects and making things happen. This past weekend was no exception as we framed and wired an entire basement at one of my rental properties. It is a rather large space and a lot of work. We finished the project around 10pm on Sunday and were wrapping everything up, finishing laundry and loading the dishwasher. We sat down in the living room for a few minutes and as we were heading up to bed, Mike put a couple things in the sink. As he stepped up to the sink, something felt strange. Looking down was the view in the picture below!

You see, neither of us has had a dishwasher in our lives for over a year. I am not sure how he did it but mistook liquid dish soap for dishwasher soap and the kitchen was filling up with bubbles. I just start laughing. First off, we are old enough and know better, or at least I thought we did. But secondly, we have both missed having dishwashers in our homes so much it has been something we have looked so forward to!

Here he is standing in ankle deep suds from putting the wrong cleaning product into the dishwasher and bubbles and spewing out the sides and continue to flow. I am laughing so hard at this point that I think I am actually making him a little irritated. Through laughter “BABE!!!! How on Earth did you do this???” both on hands and knees cleaning up the floor. (Side note: our kitchen floor is extra shiny and nice now!!)

We pretty much laughed ourselves to sleep that night.

Laughter helps everything!!! Truly lightens the mood, shifts the tone and make it all better. Mike and I do a lot of laughing together all the time, life is just too short to be any other way.

Look around in your life. Are there areas you can laugh more? Are there things you can laugh about instead of get angry or irritated with? How can you choose laughter more through your days? We only get one chance in this life!!! Let’s have some FUN!!!!

THE HARDEST DAY

“It is hard to prepare for the hardest day of your life when you have no idea about what the hardest day in your life will be like.”

That was a quote from my brother, Garrett, last night as I sat in my office with 3 women who will be heading to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2 months.

Since my trek, many local (semi-local in the region) people have stepped up to ask what it is like to do that climb because they are heading that way within months.

“How did you train?”

“What did you bring?”

“What was the most used piece of gear that you didn’t expect?”

“What about medications? And which vaccinations?”

“What is the bathroom situation when you are climbing?”

“What did they feed you?”

“Tell us about summit night…”

“What do you mean ‘Don’t die with your day pack on?'”

The last one was the best one.

I walked and talked these ladies through my entire trip last night over 2 hours of conversation. They are bringing their husbands and teenagers with them.

As we were going through all the details, I realized just how amazing the trip was doing it with an incredible group of women. I remembered around any corner, if anyone needed anything, someone had extra of it and was willing to share. What could you possibly want that one of the 31 women didn’t have...I mean half of them were moms and MOMS ARE PREPARED!!!

We all suffered a lot during the trip but, and this may be a major over-generalization and stereotype (sorry, not sorry), women are pretty graceful at dealing with suffering and moving forward anyway.

When Kelly and I headed over to Kilimanjaro, WHOA Travel gave us a packing list and sort of an idea about the trip with the FAQs of course, but we didn’t have anyone to sit down and have this kind of conversation with, which looking back was a blessing and a curse.

How did I prepare for dealing with having to go to the bathroom out on the trail?

How did I clean my body and what was it like to use wet wipes as a “shower” every morning and night for all those days?

How did I manage my period that started on day 2 of an 8 day trip and summit on the day of highest level of anemia in oxygen levels half the normal of sea level?

What about the hole in my heart and the decreased oxygen levels that I experience at sea level just walking around much less 19,341 ft above sea level.

How did you manage the 10 day trip with a total of 24 hours of sleep? How did you function like that?

What did you do at night when you were unable to sleep? and then the next night? and the next? How did you keep hiking 6-7 hours per day with such little sleep?

How did you keep your clothes in good working order and what materials did you prefer to wear up there?

How do you manage temperatures from 90 degrees at the bottom to below zero at the top?

Were you bored out on the trail during the days?

How do you hike 15,000 ft to 19,341 on the final day with barely anything to eat or drink (due to my own specific circumstances) while having 3 bouts of massive diarrhea and having to still manage your period sitting and squatting on porous lava rocks at zero degrees?

What do you mean your porter had to help your every single step for the final 100 yards to the top?

It seems so strange that going down is actually harder than going up? A walking boot for 6 months following your trek? Still not healed? How is that even possible?

There was a real thought on my plane ride over there that it is possible, possible anytime of course but more possible than anything I had done before, that I wasn’t coming back. Of course that wouldn’t have been ideal, and I am glad that it didn’t happen and I lived to tell all these stories, but truly that trek is quite dangerous. The trail is relatively safe but exposure to the different elements, not to mention 19,341 ft elevation, can cost you your life. I am not sure they ever really considered that deeply…maybe they have but I think they were caught off-guard that I would speak about it so casually.

I also remember, when I had that thought I mentioned above, that I was okay with how my life had been and how much I have done and accomplished and just how many lives I had helped to make a difference, big or small. Because life is truly about contribution. When exposed to cultures like what was in Tanzania, and spend those 10 days with them, life gets really simple. Clothes on their backs, shoes on their feet, roof over their heads, foot to eat and family and that is true happiness. Truly. <<<—-THAT is the simplest thing of all.

So how do you prepare for the hardest day of your life….put a smile on your face, look around, be sure you packed the right layers and take in every last moment because your life will FOREVER BE CHANGED…for the better. Best of luck to that group, I am sure you will all have massive success and I am excited for the report back when you are done! <3

I’LL TAKE A HUG

Out of the mouth of babes “I think I’ll take a hug.”

Be still my heart…let me set the scene.

Life has been incredibly busy and full and I haven’t gotten specific time to hang with my nieces and nephews like I usually do. Actually it is not just the time of life, it has more to do with the season than anything. We hang out every weekend all summer long playing together on the lake. When winter rolls around, although we all love the wintertime and the snow, it just isn’t as organic to get together.

A few weekends back I chose to take time from the regular busy life, canceled a few things and headed up north to ski with some of my family and be able to have some high quality time together. I am not a skier but when I am out on the slopes helping with the little ones, it is nearly impossible to do anything helpful strapped to my snowboard.

I bought a set of skies about 2 years ago, after not skiing for 22 years, and have been having a lot of fun with the kids out on the slopes as they learn to make turns on their own.

It was a fun filled day of skiing and each of them were eager to show Aunt E just how good they are getting…and they really are! It is the best to be able to be with them as they are learning so much and putting pieces of their own worlds together. I absolutely love being in the role of Aunt E.

So at the very end of the day, I was going to drive back downstate to be with Mike for the rest of the weekend. I said my “good-byes” to all of the adults and had to hunt down a few kids to give them squeezes and kisses and one more exchange about how proud I was of their skiing.

There were a missing group tucked in a back room watching a movie together. As I knocked on the door and entered, I found them all huddled around a little TV on the top bunk watching a movie together, a precious site in and of itself.

I said “Hey guys! Aunt E is going to go now and I just wanted to say good-bye and tell you how great you are all getting at skiing.”

“Aunt E, where are you going?”

“I am going to be with Mike for the rest of the weekend and so I will be driving back down to our house in Frankenmuth and we will have Sunday together.”

“Awe, do you have to go?”

“Yes guys, I want to be able to get some good sleep and wake up refreshed for Sunday back home.”

“Ok. Well maybe we will be able to ski again some other weekend?”

“Absolutely!”

They were all tucked together and up high and so I wasn’t able to really get up to them to do much so I said “Hey, how about high fives all the way around?”

They did that and I turned around and headed for the door when Charlei chimes in and says, “Hey Aunt E? I think I will take a hug.” …and proceeds to climb all the way down to give me a hug.

It was the sweetest thing. In fact I left and shed tears of gratitude during the first 30 minutes of my drive back downstate.

I am fortunate to have such an incredible family.

I am blessed and lucky to have these little one running around calling me Aunt E and caring about spending time with me. In all of the things that I do to make a small difference in my little corner of the world, knowing that I have touched them is one of the most important things.

“I think I’ll take a hug.” from the mouth of my 7 (almost 8) year old niece. They all mean the world to me and that phrase landed so intensely on my heart in the most beautiful way. Thank you sweet little ones!

NATURE CALLS

Nature calls.

No, really, it truly did call but probably not in the way that you are used to hearing that phrase.

Since my climb last year, I have spent almost no time out in the woods. I had a severe calf/foot injury that locked me into that boot for 6 months.

Of course I have had to keep my body moving and so I found some routines inside the walls of my gym that I could do and still keep my body moving and built a lot of strength at the same time.

I got used to those routines and got comfortable and since the environment was controlled, I stuck with it which really worked out well for me.

What I didn’t realize inside of that time is that I hadn’t been able to get outside and walk, hike, bike or just stroll through the woods…and I also didn’t realize how much I missed it.

Two weekends ago, as I wrote in the previous blog post, I ran a 5K on a trail in the snow. It was a test for my foot which responded well. This past weekend I thought I would test it again and I went snowboarding on Saturday. If you have followed me through the years, snowboarding is one of my greatest joys. My foot managed snowboarding well too.

Sunday, Mike and I decided to go out snowshoeing along the Arcadia Bluffs overlooking Lake Michigan. Through these two adventures, snowboarding and snowshoeing, it hit my core that I hadn’t hardly spent any time outside in almost a year. It also reminded me just how much power and peace I find from being out in nature. Being in the woods and in fresh air is an absolute MUST for me.

As I am cruising the trails on snowshoes, I am taking in the fresh air, the scenery and the trees around me. With snow falling and getting stuck in my eyelashes, I feel that peace and I begin to remember just how much that serves my soul. WOW I have missed that!!!

Fortunately for us, we have had loads of snow back at home and so Monday night I went out after dark and put my snowshoes on again and wandered out around my old stomping grounds by the light of my headlamp.

I am so grateful for the reminder that was offered to me last weekend. And since I have manage more and more outdoor activities as my foot heals, I am opting to spend less time in the gym and more time in the fresh air. I am grateful for all the lessons I learned during “boot camp” and I am also really excited to be getting back to my normal life.

I am a nature girl. I love the outdoors. I relax on walks in the woods, mountain biking, snowboarding and hiking. I need that in my life. In fact, I think all humans need a regular dose of nature in order to maintain health and peace.

We all have a tendency to stay focused at the task at hand and taking care of the needs of those around us and we unintentionally veer away from grounding and centering forces like getting out and exploring the Earth.

Have you noticed a place in life where you recharge your batteries? Is there a spot outside that you like to visit? An outside activity that you enjoy for re-centering life? Share with me your favorite things when nature calls!!

UNKNOWN

Today I found the unknown staring me in the face.

The unknown is intimidating, very, very intimidating.

As most of you read in my last blog post, I GOT ENGAGED!!!! I am absolutely OVER THE MOON EXCITED, blessed and honored that this man has asked me to be his wife.

…and I have a GORGEOUS RING!!!

Newly engaged, it is hard to turn my eyes away from the ring. I had the chance to pick it out in the beginning of December but to actually wear it is a whole new experience.

As many of you know, I was married at 19 for 7 years. At one point someone said to me “Oh, you have had your ‘starter marriage’.” “STARTER MARRIAGE”??????? Um, sure??? I am not a fan of that concept, I understand the idea of a “starter home” by not a “starter marriage”.

Since then I have dated for 14 years and had some long term relationships, however even during all that time, the voice in my head would chime in and say “How do people actually get to the place of committing to marriage anyway?” I couldn’t make sense of it at the time. Now In retrospect, it is simple to see that internal voice was just making sure I would eventually find the right one and I get it now.

I look down at this ring and it says “commitment” to me in the most beautiful way. But staring right back at me is this huge UNKNOWN.

There are so many unknowns…things that have been on my radar but also things that I/we haven’t thought through completely.

It is scary to look down and know that I have literally committed to the unknown with Mike. The longer I linger in thoughts of the unknown, the more nauseated I get. It’s pure worry and I am sure there may be some place in your life that you can relate to that feeling.

When I snap out of that I think to myself “This unknown is WITH MIKE, my Mike.”

“We’ll figure it out” has rolled off our tongues so much to each other throughout our courtship. It is accompanied by this incredible I’ve-got-your-back energy, confidence, respect and honor and is followed by actually figuring things out together.

It is the most beautiful thing I have ever been involved in, the most innocent and precious connection.

We have not had a simple and easy road so far. We have been together for just over nine months but we have already scaled some walls and traversed some valleys that stood in our way. Something that is working in our favor is our age. I think when I was involved in my marriage at such an early age, as was Mike was as well, it is difficult to know who you are and what you want life to really look like. Also there is so much growth and evolution that happens through the 20s, it is simple to get set up in relationship patterns that will not go the distance.

We have both been there and have learned a lot along the way. The lessons have been interesting and some so painful it was often difficult to see any light. Neither of us fantasize about how easy marriage will be, but we do remain hopeful that things can remain simple.

What I have learned through 14 years of dating is that core values are the most important key to finding a partner. Deep core values NEED to line up. I have dated enough to know a little bit about connection and what questions to ask right from the start. When I was younger, it was difficult to ask the heavy hitting questions and that landed me in relationships that couldn’t endure he long haul.

So Mike and I had a lot of hard discussions right up front and vetted out some of the serious topics to be sure we lined up. Of course there will always be that work to do.

The other thing that has really built our foundation we bring up absolutely anything and everything that is on our minds, no matter what it is. Because of this we have been able to get to the roots of our personal challenges and have the hard talks about life and what we are looking for.

He is my safe place, my home and has been from the very beginning.

Together we will walk hand in hand into the unknown. From the outside this may look and sound like a match made in heaven with all rainbows and butterflies and unicorns. There are many obstacles, I will reveal more as time goes by, big obstacles that we have overcome already and some yet to be uncovered.

Jumping off the cliff into the unknown seems do-able with Mike. Father Time will be the great determiner and until then I will embrace the work, lean into the discomfort, have faith and put one foot in front of the other.

As I am writing this, I am curious to know more about you. I am curious if you have found yourself staring into the face of the unknown as well as maybe a hint or two about how you stepped in anyway. How did you do that? What did you bank on? Where was your courage sourced from? I think we can learn a lot from each other’s experiences. Leave your comments for me…

FIVE LAYERS OF NOTHING

I have found an entire five layers of nothing.

What on Earth does that mean????

I AM OVER IT!!!!!!

I am over talking about this boot and I am REALLY OVER wearing it! I am being restricted in my life but I also realize that the patience I have had and the grace I have afforded myself through this process has been the reason I am making any progress at all.

Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - Five Layers of Nothing - Dr Erica Peabody

I have always been an athlete and directly involved in the fitness industry through my late teens and all the way through my 20s. These are the years when habits form and I have formed a strong habit of working out on a regular basis.

Prior to June of this year, I would have some sort of movement or exercise as part of my day, every single day. Intensity varied of course, some days it would be as simple as a 20-30 minute walk while others I would attend a 60 minute step class or a 75 minute hot vinyasa yoga class.

I live an active lifestyle, yes that is so true…but now I have realized something else.

In March 2017 is when I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. I trained hard leading up to that and of course the 8 days of climbing was the most grueling physical activity I have done in my life up to this point.

When I returned home I continued with my “normal” workouts but also jumped in on a 6 week yoga challenge at Bent Yoga. The challenge was to do 32 classes in 42 days and started at the end of April through beginning of June. As I did that and earned my free t-shirt, I was noticing an increase in pain over those weeks and so I decided that I would scale way back on my workouts.

Scaling back meant taking a month break from the hot vinyasa classes at the yoga studio, no step class and no running. This felt like I was “doing nothing” as compared to what I had been doing for decades.

By the end of June, my hopes were to be able to start to train to run the Crim 10 mile road race that I have run every year for the past 12 years. By the end of June, there was no way to start running as it was getting difficult to even walk which resulted in me putting an end to my regular walks. Having to take that out of my regular days it really felt like I was “doing nothing”.

I was still going to the gym and mindfully walking around and lifting weights, core work and my boyfriend and I were still riding bikes (since that was not weight-bearing). Although x-ray and MRI showed nothing was wrong, all of that got to be too much and I had to cut out bikes and all yoga and that really, really felt like I was “doing nothing”.

Then it got to the point that weights had to go, gym time had to end completely because I was too tempted to do too much if I went to the gym. If I did go to the gym, I would simply alternate going from the cold plunge to the hot tub and back to the cold plunge. This was really the end, this time I was really “doing nothing”.

Just when I thought I was “doing nothing”, I would still be racing around my office all day long but then get home and want to spend my off-time shopping and getting other things done. Then Mike put his foot down, raised his hand at me and said “Babe, just sit there. Let me get your shoes for you. What do you need upstairs? Where is it and let me climb the stairs for you. When you have time off of work, just chill and relax.”

This was the very end of “doing nothing”. This was truly nothing.

Just when I thought I was “doing nothing” back in June, layers and layers of “doing nothing” showed up after it. As I have chatted about this, I will sit back and laugh at how twisted and skewed my brain is surrounding physical activity. I have laughed at just how ridiculous the standards I have kept for myself have been.

When I tell people this they ask me “How do you survive and keep your sanity while you are ‘doing nothing’?”

Three words: Meditation, gratitude lists and journaling.

When my major release of stress usually happens through physical activity, I had to find a good combination of some things I could commit to in order to keep my sanity. All three of the above have been part of my wellness routine regularly over the past years however daily commitment to all three has been key.

So maybe that was part of the Universe’s plan during this “boot camp” of sorts. I have found a lot of time to cultivate inner peace through this process and I actually feel really good. Of course I am also itching to start walking and get back in the yoga studio regularly, however having these things in my regular day to day, allows me to be patient with this healing process.

Working all the way down through the five layers of nothing has been like peeling through the layers of an onion and although it has been difficult to sit still, I have learned so much. More than anything I have found a real appreciation of the difference between the time to do lots of things and the time to truly do nothing. …and Universe, if you are listening, may I pretty please with sugar on top get back to at least my regular daily walks now if I promise to keep them around 15-20 minutes??

THE SECOND STRAP

He always reaches for the second strap.

It doesn’t matter how many hundreds of times I have put this walking boot on, he reaches for that second strap to help out.

Most of you know I have been in a walking boot since early August. This has been an overuse injury do to my climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro back in March. Actually it didn’t happen on the mountain, it was when I got home and never took the proper time to rest that the injury happened. And beyond that I have been dealing with plantar fasciitis off and on for the past 4 years in my left foot. It was simply the perfect storm of events.

The trip to Mt. Kilimanjaro was life changing and amazing however since Kilimanjaro it has been the best seven months of my life and all due to meeting one heck of an incredible man.

He has been such a light in my life and I will be sharing our incredible life adventures as we go but I wanted to introduce you all to Mike.

He is the most kind, gentle, generous, hilarious and loving man I have ever been around and I feel lucky to even be able to hang out with someone like him on a regular basis and even luckier to be loved and supported by him.

The other day as I was leaving to head back into work after my lunch, he was there grabbing the boot and helping me. Of course I am the only one that knows exactly when I am putting it on and taking it off but as soon as I grab and velcro or un-velcro the first strap, he always grabs the second strap. I got choked up “Even after all this time, how do you just keep doing that and helping me?”

Last week must have marked 500 (not exaggerating) times or so that I have taken this boot off and put it back on. If he is with me, he jumps up from any place and is instantly up in my business and helping me get this thing back on and he is always fast enough to grab the second strap. There are 5 total and by the time he has his hands on the second strap he is fixing the rest of them up for me to go out and take on the world. Every. Single. Time.

We have worked and camped and traveled and danced and played since I have had this boot on. He is always always always making sure it is handled.

There is an air pump on the boot that pumps air around the liner and softens the hard rough corners of the boot. He knows it takes 8 pumps to pump it up to a comfortable level and that when I stand up it needs 2 more pumps of air for it to be solid. He counts out loud as he does it. It comforts me.

I have never ever known a man so willing to help me in my life. He is there for the fun times but also there, right by my side for the mundane-ness of life…like taking this boot off and putting it back on. The extent of his help is endless, I am just using this simple task as illustration.

I would be a liar if I said this has all been easy for me but honestly, to accept help in my life isn’t easy to begin with and it has taken this long to really be alright with leaning on him. His continual willingness to grab that second strap has been eye-opening, as well as mind-boggling. For the 40 years of my life so far, I have never had so much help, love and support.

Does it sound strange to say that I believe the Universe sent me such a crazy injury that needed so much tending to and sent him at the same time just so I could truly have a shift in my being and allow him to infiltrate my life? Does it sound crazy that this boot has been like a “boot camp” of sorts to break me down, break all the guards down and teach me to allow someone, him, in?

A friend said to me the other day “I sympathize with your foot thing as I dealt with something similar for 6 months. It took me getting to a place in my mind that if this is how it was going to be for the rest of my life, if this pain is permanent and I have to deal with this limitation for life, I accept that as my reality…and then I started healing.”

That hit me like a ton of bricks mostly because I have learned to accept it into my life with the condition that it is just for the time being assuming it will heal and feel better. But taking the idea up a level to the concept that if I have to live in this boot for the rest of my life and be alright with that has really allowed a huge emotional release for me and I can feel the healing happen…on many levels.

…because if I get to have his help with this (which I am finally healing so I will be back to normal in the next few weeks so I won’t need help with it for a lifetime BUT there are ALWAYS other obstacles) life for the rest of my life, I open my arms and heart fully and accept it.

After all of these months and never wavering ever even once, I know he will always be by my side ready to grab that second strap and help me move forward. I am forever grateful for his love.

#YOGAEVERYDAMNDAY

As a compliment to my calling as a chiropractor, I am yogi and have been for decades now. If you are in the yoga community, you know that there are online yoga challenges happening all the time, all over the world. I finally decided to join one called “#yogaeverydamnday”.

The point of this challenge is have yoga as part of “every damn day” no matter what. It doesn’t mean to strike a pose and take a picture (although to some people it does). Yoga is a way to mindfulness…or is it mindfulness is a way to yoga? To me, they are one and the same. To me, it also means to move the body in some mindful way to bring our awareness and existence back to the present moment.

Every day I would find a bit of time, some days was a little and some days was a lot, to do some form of yoga and then share a bit about that day. (It is all on Instagram @drericapeabody)

I have been a yogi for over 20 years. In a past life, I taught yoga for years inside of a gym setting (have I told you that in said “past life” I was a group fitness instructor?). I also took Yoga Teacher Training with Ethos Yoga about 4 years ago. I didn’t take the teacher training curriculum in order to teach yoga in my current life, it was more about bringing even further awareness into my own personal practice, I don’t have the ability to commit to more in my regular week at the current moment. Who knows, maybe someday.

You also probably know about the walking boot I am currently wearing that I discussed in one of the “Sitting on the Sidelines” blog posts. My physical yoga practice has taken a back seat to my healing and I haven’t been able to attend many classes since June. Following my summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro in March I was fine while taking a yoga class, but after class my foot would start screaming and I decided was not doing it any favors to continue so I took a break.

September rolled around and one of the people I follow on Instagram, Rachel Brathen aka “Yoga Girl”, decided to do her “Yoga Every Damn Day” challenge for 30 days. I needed a little shift for myself and decided I would join.

After decades of yoga, I like to attend very specific hot, intense and sweaty classes with specific instructors. I am reminded of the irony of having rigid guidelines of classes and instructors as I practice more and more yoga…seems it should be the other way around. Honestly, if I am going to be in class, I want to spend my time exactly how I want to practice and I have my favorite instructors all over the region, just depends on the day and time for which one I would attend.

I also love yoga for the community aspect of it. Doing yoga with other people has a very different feel than practicing solo, or at least in my mind.

I am currently limited in my range of motion as well as the ability to get into different postures. But inside of the the 30 day challenge framework I just mentioned, I learned so much.

During the month I did make it to a couple classes, having to modify almost every posture…I learned new modifications.

Some days I felt like I am all the way back to square one with my practice, a beautiful reminder of all the progress i have made.

The only way in and out of the postures is through breath and where in my life can I take some deep breathes?

As the 30 days progressed, I relished going back to the basics and cherished the strength I have built in my core.

My movements were slow and very deliberate. Where else in my life can I be slower and more deliberate?

I had to change many of the transitions in and out of postures. Are there other paths in my life I can or should alter?

As I look around in life, I see so many ways yoga has opened my eyes and offered me different perspective on life outside of the yoga studio. That is the whole point of yoga and is one of the most powerful parts of having a regular practice.

Of course there is also the part about being flexible so as life comes at me, I can bend instead of breaking.

Thank you #yogaeverydammnday challenge, i have learned more in the past 30 days about myself and my life and how to alter and modify things and be ok with doing less than I am used to. In the end, I am so very very grateful that my body even allows me to move around like this at all…and I am (fingers crossed) can announce that I am on my way (although slow) back to a BOOT FREE LIFE!!!!