A to Z Challenge: My theme this year is NYC before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
HIP HOP DANCE CLASS: Last fall, I decided to try something new: hip hop dance classes at Dancewave, a dance studio a block from my apartment. I was nervous, but it was labeled as a beginner class, and I figured I had a decent level of rhythm and that I’d be well on my way to being a Fly Girl within the first few lessons. I could not have been more wrong. I was horrible. A humbling experience to say the least. And hard. Several of the dozen or so participants floundered like me, but I felt like the worst one; arms flailing and legs performing a hybrid of Riverdance and a Barre workout. At one point, I struggled to get out of a squat and by the time I did, I was eight moves behind. Hip hop moves fast. As a middle-aged, Scandinavian white woman, I should not have been surprised by my lack of rhythm–it showed. Regardless, I had some fun. Then the holidays came, then the virus, and so my Fly Girl dreams are going to have to wait. Check out @von_b, the class instructor, who bless his heart, deserves a medal for his patience alone. Even Elaine was better than me.
HEADSPACE.COM: I’ve had an on-again-off-again relationship with mediation. Click HERE if you’d like to read a magazine article I published regarding the benefits of meditation. If there’s any time to be meditating, it’s now. I know it’s difficult to do, but like anything, it takes time, effort, and patience in order to reap the rewards. In conjunction with Governor Cuomo, otherwise known as Saint Andrew, Headspace is offering a free, special collection of meditation sessions for New Yorkers. How cool is that? So light some incense, slow down, and take a break from the incessant news cycle. If you need some convincing, check out these studies on the benefits of meditation. Now go ohm.
This post is me through and through. I dance like Elaine, and I have a similar relationship with meditation. I’m trying, though! I use the Insight App.
I’ll check out that app!
LOL! I’m betting you can take Elaine. Let us know when we can start officially calling you Fly Girl. And BTW I admire your ambition.
I’ve been urged to meditate by some of the most intelligent respected people you’ll ever find. I’ve read about it from different sources which do not all take exactly the same approach. Twice in the past I have tried to get in the habit and then let it slide. One of the lines I added to the daily section of my planner a month ago was, “meditate / sanitize doorknobs” Since then I have done neither.
Luckily though, just the act of writing things into my planner gives me a small feeling of accomplishment and given the enormous volume of to-do items which appear every day, I feel like a star! Even if I don’t do any of them. Which generally I don’t.
Baby steps.