On Excercise, Stress Relief and Crazy Old Women

Last June, I made a major overhaul of my exercise routine. That overhaul being, of course, that I went from refusing to exercise at all to exercising when possible, 4-5 times per week at the gym. I go to the local YMCA which is a warm and welcoming place with no pressure like some other gyms that I have belonged to. Even though sometimes, I purposefully skip a few days or I get a little bored with my routine, I generally love being physically active and I really, really love the energy that i get and the way I feel post-workout.

Lately, I have also been feeling more stressed out than normal. I think it is because I over committed myself and also because planning a full scale move across the country when I have never moved more than 10 miles from my last location (Wales excepted but that was a small scale temporary move) and I have been overwhelming myself with all of the things that I need to do. I went to a lunch on Monday where the presentation was about how to manage stress mentally, physically and emotionally. The presenter, a psychologist, was a really interesting guy and I feel like I learned a lot of tips but he just kept reiterating over and over again that cardiovascular exercise is one of the best stress management tools in existence.

I had to ask myself if my exercise made me any less stressed than I was before I started in June and the answer was a resounding yes. I am happier now and less dramatic and fewer things really get me all kerfluffled. I also can feel my ability to manage stress decrease when I have been forced (or chosen!) to skip working out for several days in a row and I definitely find that I have a lot of nervous energy. A couple of weeks ago was one of those times. I just didn't feel like going to the gym and I had so many other things to do and felt so perpetually behind on my life that I sacrificed my one on one time with the elliptical machine. Poor choice, Kimberly. This actually meant that I became even more overwhelmed.

This brings me to the crazy old lady part of this post. I have needed some alone time for the past couple of days because for the month of March, I was overwhelmingly social (which was awesome but at the same time, my psyche needs a bit of a rest.) and so I have actually been doubling up on my time at the Y. I go do cardio and sometimes weights in the morning and then at night, I do some sort of pilates/yoga/stretching business. (Generally, I just go every morning before work.) Last night, I went to a class called "Gentle Yoga" that I had never been to before. The woman who taught it must have been in her early seventies and introduced herself with both her given name and her yoga name. She was a hoot and completely awesome. We did affirmation claps and also, a mindfulness walk. I think I burned a total of about 12 calories but really, this is irrelevant because as kooky as it sounds, it really did relax me and restore my peace of mind. The money moment of the evening came when one of the regulars pointed out that the teacher's embroidered sweatshirt was misbuttoned and that it was screwing up her ability to relax. The teacher replied, "Oh, so it is. This is how it came out of the dryer!" and left it misbuttoned for the rest of the class. I respect that attitude so much, it's ridiculous. She was just so in the moment and full of joy that those kind of details don't bother her at all. That's the kind of relaxation I want to achieve.