My Christmas Gift To Myself

Friday’s post was meant to help get the holiday anxiety off my plate. Instead, it only filled to the brim. And before I knew it, I found myself writing this love note to the holiday at hand:

My best way to make sure this didn’t happen: get moving. While many struggle to keep up their workout routine during the month of December, I never have. I’ve seen getting to the gym or to the yoga studio as not only a way to keep those holiday pounds off but as the best way to manage my stress levels. This is how that played out over the holiday weekend:

• Friday the 23rd: Advancing Practice Class at Nishkama – even in my abbreviated 75 minute attendance – helped centered me again after feeling borderline panic attack with the stress of all that “had” to get done before Saturday evening. I also held side crow for a significantly longer time that morning than previous attempts!
• Saturday the 24th: Nishkama Yoga at Nishkama – It’s our version of a vinyasa flow class – a solid 90 hot yoga class filled with sun salutations, inversions, hip openers, backbends and savasana. It was only made better with a packed room of fellow yogis ready to celebrate the holidays on their mats.
• Sunday the 25th: A special Christmas morning vinyasa class at Nishkama – While the turn out wasn’t quite as crowded that morning, the flow was just as energizing and the perfect way to start the holiday.
• Monday the 26th: Advancing Practice Class at Nishkama – not only did I kick up into handstand on the first try, I got into tripod handstand for the first time ever on my own. Still against the wall, but I’m working towards more…
• Tuesday the 27th: Cardio at the gym – After four days of arm balances, I went to the gym for a good cardio fest. After a brief warm up on the elliptical, I tackled Couch to 5K Week Two Day One. After several rounds of running at 6.0MPH for 90 seconds and walking for 2 minutes at 4.3MPH, I felt even more inspired that I hadn’t lost my running legs this fall.

So while I may have splurged on a few pairs of yoga pants last week to be placed under the tree, the above collection of workouts was my real gift – making time for myself. A little selfish, sure. But sometimes you need to take care of yourself first before you can take care of others.

That said, our holiday was lovely – filled with plenty of family, tasty food, a trip to Christmas Eve mass and a special treat of Starbucks Christmas Blend on Christmas morning. Side note: when you haven’t have the java in two months, you will be super wired for 12 hours, then have a glorious crash before you can drive home from Uncle Jeff’s house. And while we said “I don’t want anything”/”don’t buy me presents”, Hans and I both got each other little surprises, including a new robe for him and new pans for me (seriously excited for these – mine were looking so sad). I also now have enough dark chocolate to last until my birthday. A dark chocolate caramel from Malley’s is perfectly normal to enjoy at 9AM, right?!

What was your holiday gift to yourself this year?