Fun & Fitness in These Times
Corona bandits
Daily twilight walks around our hilly neighborhood in South Seattle with my husband have made this weird time special. I am so grateful that this Stay Safe Stay Home time is during spring which in our region is glorious! Flowers are one my of my favorite things about this planet, and each day I see something new and beautiful. These walks have been a fun way to be out and greet people – at a safe distance.
At the beginning of all this I had just gotten back into Kettlefit (after recovering from hip surgery) and I wasn’t about to let it go, so I invested in kettlebells from www.kettlebellsusa.com. Seattle Kettlebell Club has free Friday videos and a really affordable online class plan. Totally worth it to get that contour back in my guns! This is my Monday/Wednesday 45-minute kickass workout. But since it’s videos, I can move it around if I need to take a rest day.
Tuesday mornings, 9:00-10 pacific we do Betsy Snyder’s Awareness through Movement class on Zoom. Betsy is my new favorite Feldenkrais teacher. Betsy leads you so skillfully into conscious movement that before you know it you are easily moving in ways that seemed impossible. At the end I feel like my limbs are languorously hanging from their sockets, the muscles released from holding it all together.
Ba Duan Jin
Thursday morning, 8-9:00 pacific it’s Qi Gong with me on Zoom! I started offering this because I feel great when I start my day with Qi Gong, and if I’m teaching, I have to show up! I have more students in the Zoom class than I did with my physical class, both from the Seattle community and all across Canada. We do gentle warmups, a qi building meditation, and then the main event, Ba Duan Jin, an easy-to-follow Qi Gong sequence. Energizing and relaxing! Email me, Sifu Kim, for the Zoom link. And then please make a donation to Rainier Valley Foodbank or your favorite charity in lieu of tuition, if you can.
Saturday morning, 9-10:00 pacific, it’s a rigorous Zoom workout with Jacob Lay’s Lift Club. Jacob is Head Trainer at Motus Training Studio in Toronto. He guides you in a “body weight workout” to develop a balanced form, from his living room with the help of his adorable family. It’s FREE, but after a month of this you’ll want to sign up for his online personal training. He also does 8:00am classes on Mondays and Wednesdays.
Sundays I teach a short Kungfu class for my buddies at Friendship Circle Washington as part of their weekly Sunday Circle. Friendship Circle brings together children with developmental disabilites and teen volunteers in friendship through play. Our friends are even more engaged in the Zoom class than the one at the community center, inspiring me to change how I teach when we’re back in the real.
And check these out:
Master Junhong Chon is a World Champion of traditional Shaolin Kungfu and has a vast library of practice videos on his youtube channel. He is teaching classes on Zoom Monday – Friday afternoon.
Local dance champion extraordinaire Tracey Wong teaches Waacking on Zoom Tuesday evenings, and it’s a party! Email her for zoom link for classes (donations welcome) and follow her on IG @waacking.dance.
Free video classes in yoga, Zumba, dance, and more from Seattle Parks and Rec’s instructors. I hear they’re great!
Splendor of spring!