WoW What's Up November 2021

Thankful for people supporting people.

View this email in your browser

Every walk enriches. It begins with those first few inhalations of fresh air. From there, it might be the light on water. It might be a cloud formation. It might be the changing colour of foliage. Occasionally, a walk offers an experience that stays with you for days, or longer. A couple of weeks ago, on Remembrance Day, we left for an early morning walk, with plans to pass by a newly installed cenotaph in our neighbourhood. It happened that as we were walking through the campus where the cenotaph is located we caught strains of bagpipes. Unknown to us, a sunrise ceremony had been planned for that cenotaph. We arrived just as the bugle sounded the first notes of The Last Post. The mother of three adult sons, I always find these services emotional as I reflect on the losses and sacrifices of families during wartimes past –– grateful that I never had to see any of my sons off to war. This year the sound of the bugle struck me as unusually poignant. We are living through an extraordinary time of upheaval and loss, similar to wartime. We are being asked to make sacrifices to protect the most vulnerable in our society, to honour the efforts of frontline workers, and to keep our healthcare system working to help those who may need it for reasons related and unrelated to the Covid19 virus. It's been a long haul. Our fellow citizens have mostly pitched in to help with the necessary community effort to keep the virus at bay. A tangible benefit of that community effort is that we are able sit inside in restaurants and cafes after showing proof of vaccination and ID. As The Last Post came to its conclusion, we continued walking beyond the cenotaph to visit a new local coffee shop. Sitting inside after 20 months of always getting the "to go" option, we enjoyed a delightful conversation with the owner who, with a friend, had recently committed to this new business. Then, a member of the Coast Guard auxiliary dressed in uniform who had attended the service, arrived for his coffee. Sitting at appropriately socially-distanced tables, we struck up a conversation. We learned about his work with the Coast Guard on Lake Ontario, the new cenotaph, and sailing the Great Lakes. We left feeling energized not only by our walk but by a type of social interaction from which we had been excluded for 20 months. It was a good reminder that humans need other humans –– whether it's by getting a vaccine or just having conversation. Let's get vaccinated, let's keep wearing our masks, let's keep walking.

CLASSES!

OUTDOOR HOLIDAY SPARKLE WALK WORKOUTS!!! We're excited for our annual 4-week Holiday Sparkle session starting next Wednesday evening, December 1, downtown Toronto. It's all here. Classes for the new year will be posted the first week of December.
Livestream Yoga. Drop-in purchase is always available for any of Lee's yoga practices which continue through to December 24! Easy Flow (9:15-10amET, Mondays), Easy Flow, Breath, and Meditation alternating with Gentle Hatha (9:15-10am, WednesdaysET), Hatha (9:15-10am, FridaysET). Purchase individual yoga practices here.
Finding that naturally sweet high. Our 21-day commitment to eliminating all added sugars, alcohol, and highly processed white flours starts SATURDAY!!!! (with a motivational Zoom meeting Friday, 8-8:20amET.) Feel good for the holidays! November 27 - December 17. Register here. The more research is done on added sugar, the more we learn how many physiological systems it affects adversely. Here is a great podcast by Peter Attia with nephrologist and researcher, Rick Johnson. It can get highly technical but you may have some "a-ha" moments nevertheless.
Winter Solstice Labyrinth Walk. We are excited to announce our first labyrinth walk since the pandemic began! It will happen at 11am on Tuesday, December 21 at the High Park labyrinth in Toronto. Everyone is welcome. This event is free but it is helpful if you RSVP. Masks are mandatory as you walk the labyrinth.
Video Library!!! Lee's video library (new for 2021) has a comprehensive selection of recorded Walk Interval Workout, as well as loads of yoga practices and strength classes. Access to the library is available for just $5 a month (free 5-day trial).

READY FOR REFRESHING. My partner in walking and life rarely says it is cold outside. Rather, he describes it as "refreshing." Well, we're approaching intensely refreshing temperatures! It's always helpful to review what might make walking in refreshing conditions, more comfortable. The key is layers! You'll want to be a bit cool to start with a layer or two that can be removed. While it's a personal matter the material of these layers, I am a fan of merino wool - a natural fabric that is highly functional for thermo-regulation and tends to smell better than synthetic fabrics. Synthetic fabrics have been engineered to keep you warm while wet, and I have quite a collection of these, but there are concerns over nano-plastics entering our waters from during washing.
Consider layering on your head and hands too! Neckwarmers can keep you toasty as soon as we get into negative temperatures and when it gets REALLY REFRESHING (lower than -10 Celcius), a balaclava may be required to protect your entire face from frostbite.
Finally, your feet! Any shoes that are truly waterproof will likely be heavy. Consider wearing your favourite training shoes but switch to wool socks. Yaktrax or any other type of ice grippers can be invaluable when there is ice and/or packed snow. Remember...if you have the right clothes and shoes, every walk is a good walk!

LUNGING FOR STRENGTH AND BALANCE. For decades we have championed the walking lunge as a total body strength exercise that will help people who power walk to strengthen propulsive muscles of the legs. And, because walking lunges challenge our balance they also encourage improved strength in the muscles of the core. Additionally, research is now finding that challenging our balance not only builds muscle strength but improves our neurological functioning. There are several ways to progress to greater and greater balance challenge while doing lunges. Here are six progressions. 1. A first progression would be to stand with your side to a counter or railing, and place one hand on it. Step back into a lunge. The front ankle will be positioned under the knee in such a way that you can see the toes beyond the knee. That front heel stays glued to the ground. The back heel will be lifted off the ground. In this staggered lunge position, the feet remain hip width distance apart. From this position, keeping the front heel stationary and the back forefoot stationary on the ground, move the body straight up and down for 12 repetitions. Repeat with the other leg back. Both knees will flex and extend to accommodate this vertical motion. 2. To increase the balance challenge, remove your hand from its support for increasing numbers of repetitions. For example. you could start with removing the hand support for one or two vertical repetitions, increasing until you can do all 12 repetitions without support. 3. The next level of challenge would involve stepping back into this lunge and then pushing off with this back foot to return to standing. Alternate the leg with which you step back. 24 repetitions (12 each leg). Again, this can be done with a hand on a supportive structure and you can practice removing it for several repetitions until you no longer need the hand support. 4. Increasing the balance challenge again, after you push off and come to standing, instead bring the back leg into a knee-lift position and, at the same time, lift the heel of the weight-bearing foot off the ground so that you are balancing on the ball of what was the front foot. Then, slowly lower the heel of that weight bearing leg, followed by the foot of lifted bent leg. Repeat on the other side. 5. For the next progression, you could move to a forward walking lunge. Starting from standing, step forward with one foot to arrive at your position as described in 1. above. Return to standing and step forward with either the same foot or the alternate foot. 12 repetitions each leg, or 24 alternating legs. 5. From standing, step into the lunge. Push off with the back foot and step straight through to the next lunge (no standing with two feet under the hips). 6. A highly de-stabilizing walking lunge (i.e. a SUPER balance challenge!) would involve a step forward into the lunge, pushing off with the back foot to bring it to a knee lift and, at the same time, lifting the heel of the weight bearing leg (as in 4. above). Lower the heel of that weight bearing leg and then step forward with the leg that was in the knee lift position into the next lunge. Hopefully, these ideas keep you going for a while with fun variations and increasing balance challenge.

Snap Workout. Easy walking for 5-10 minutes to warm up. 1. Walk as fast as you can for 50 steps, easy walk 50 steps. 2. Walk fast for 100 steps, easy walk 100 steps. Repeat 1 and 2, 12x. Easy walking for 5-10 minutes to cool down.

Words to Walk and Live By: By walking in stride with those around us, we cannot help but put ourselves in one another's shoes. ~ Jeremy DeSilva, First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human