Welcome to this week’s Newsletter. 

I do really feel like we are jumping through Spring at the moment. On my drive back from classes I saw calves with their Mums galloping across a field and, across the road, lambs with their Mums skipping around … it really made me smile and in spite of the rain it’s definitely a sign of Spring. 

This week’s Exercise of the Week is Week 3 of my Roll Down/Push Up combination. 

If you are following this exercise progression you should be ready for this. It’s a great combination giving you strength, mobility and flexibility … however, make sure you work at the appropriate level for your body and keep away from pain. 

When I look back over the week I can honestly say it’s been a challenge, for lots of different reasons. On top of various events that affected my emotional health I then had some technical issues for my online class on Tuesday which meant I couldn’t join my Tuesday Morning Movement gang, and neither could anyone else!! This seemed to tip me over, ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’ as the saying goes.

It’s interesting that in the scheme of things the technical issues were the smallest of the problems I experienced, but it was this that fully knocked the stuffing out of me. All the feelings of letting people down who would have joined me in class, feeling out of control, disappointed that I couldn’t resolve the technical problem myself, also disappointed that I couldn’t let everyone know in time so they could get on and do a recording. 

Have you experienced this? Things going wrong, personal issues, difficult interactions with people and then one small thing that on any other occasion you’d manage and deal with, sends you spiralling? 

I feel lucky in that I work with a group of health and fitness people and we meet online once a week to chat and work on our work/life balance. The reason I feel lucky is because at our meetings it gives us the opportunity to check in with how we are feeling. It's a very safe space, so if we feel we want to we can open up and talk through issues, but also it brings perspective and enables us to acknowledge what we can do to make things feel better. It gives us space and time to talk through strategies that may help when we need it, and what will help to get better balance back into our lives and how we are feeling. Each week we also set out the three things that we are going to do before we catch up again the following week, and this week we looked at what ‘guiding principle’ we could use to help us with our thoughts and actions. So for me this week I set out my 3 goals that I know will give me some balance in my life, but also my guiding principles are respect and compassion. 

So over this next week, if I make mistakes, or things go wrong, not as planned, or if I have social interactions that make me feel uncomfortable, I will respect my feelings,  and deal with them with self-compassion and kindness. 

The three goals I set myself that I know will give me better balance — contacting two of my closest friends and arranging to meet up; rest without guilt; devote 15 minutes everyday to taking care of my knees and hips. 

If you have experienced a week like this where you have been tipped over the edge by one single mistake, then don’t let that be your whole story, set out what you can do that you know will make the difference to you, and grant yourself some kindness and compassion.

Have a good week — keep moving, feeling and looking good.

With love

Jane xx