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Benefits of Yoga – Sarvangasana
Benefits of Yoga – Urdhva Prasarita Padasana
Benefits of Yoga – Adho Much Svanasana
Lingering in this position is soooo good for you. It also strengthens your wrists and stretches your hamstrings. Also, I was taught spending time upside down is the key to staying young!* What’s not to love!
* Anecdotal
Benefits of Yoga – Utthita Parsvakonasana
I shared with the class on Monday the many benefits of this yoga pose. All yoga poses have a host of benefits, sometimes they would surprise you!
Beginners Yoga Begins! With Valkyrie Kata at Halo Salt & Yoga
Belfast City has a piece of my heart
Wether I refer to it as The UK, or Ireland these days from far off North Carolina, Northern Ireland is both a piece of my past, and very much linked to my heart every day. I enjoyed the culture, the food, the nightlife, shopping and lots of concerts and events during my 20 years of having home base only 30 minutes away from the bustling city centre. My eldest girl still lives and now works there, kicking butt as an Estate Agent and has taken the companies social media to new outstanding heights. Belfast City was a place I had to learn to love, but my restless soul found plenty to keep me engaged and it will always be the place that nurtured me while I nurtured my girls.
Spanish Sun
One of my favourite places to be is on the balcony at my brother’s house in Southern Spain. It isn’t just the temperature, it isn’t just the proximity to the beach, it isn’t that I’m usually in holiday mode when I’m there, it’s being with family, that brings warmth, relaxation and a general sense of wellbeing to the world.
Unisex Hoodie
This design, the “Peter”, was inspired by my brother. I was looking for gift that summed him up without looking like he was boasting about his many skills and talents. So this design is subtle but sweet. Words read “sailor ~ viking ~ father ~ lego master ~ husband ~ low key computer hacker ~ super nerd ~ master mechanic ~ pancake chef ~ prepper ~ son ~ biker ~ sim pilot ~ brother ~ bbq king”.
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$25.00 – $30.00
Valkyrie’s Log – Blending, Baking, Confucius and confused Cultures
Location: Home, Colorado.
Status: Cultured.
Today should have been a day of long walks and cupcake baking. But instead was all culture killing and Zhou dynasty quizzing. Our Saturday had consisted of Kombucha bottling and Banana Bread baking, banana bread so good that we totally ruined our appetites for dinner and ended up going for a very pleasant guilt induced evening walk for nearly an hour. Guilt for putting ice-cream in our lunch time smoothies (1 apple (peeled), 1/2 cup blueberries, 1/2 cup plain yogurt, 1/4 vanilla ice-cream, splash of milk and 2 ice cubes) that were supposed to be paired with salad but somehow the salad became unnecessary😅 Also mild guilt for the accidental dinner of L’s freshly baked banana bread, only mild as it was almond flour banana bread with relatively low sugar content (comparatively speaking).
So today started out as a “back on track” healthy active day. We had tuna salad for lunch and only the smallest square of banana bread 🤤 Then I was going to make yogurt and L was going to knock out the rest of her Social Studies from the previous week. But boy oh boy do the social studies of the Phoenician culture and the Shang & Zhou dynasty’s know how to swallow a day whole! Mid lecture, having pasteurised the milk to 180ºF, while clarifying the tactics behind the Mandate of Heaven and the influence of Confucius… I dumped my thermophilic culture into a piping hot half gallon of milk. Yogurt makers of the world will be simultaneously gasping in shock and groaning in sympathy. I put the whole pot in the fridge in a vain hope that if I cooled the milk down to the required 110ºF fast enough and scraped the meagre amount of leftover starter yogurt into the pot, things would somehow magically be saved… tune in again tomorrow to hear the most likely inevitable plight of our latest batch of Instant Pot yogurt (I’m going to give it the night in the hope that those few mighty cultures will take a leaf out of their Viking host’s book and conquer the whole darn pot!).
Grateful for:
- Banana Bread and Skype
Valkyrie’s Log – How to teach your homeschool student to enjoy exercise
Location: Home, Colorado.
Status: Working it out.
We became the proud owners of an FTX Inspire home gym a couple of weeks ago and now that it is all set up, we’ve made ourselves a fitness plan. I told my husband I wanted to work out a little every day, I find it much easier to pop down to the gym in the evening and knock out a 20 minute work out than to commit to an hour 3 times a week. These workouts will supplement our morning dog walks of 40 mins minimum and keep us in good shape for twice weekly hikes!
I love a good table so here is what I made for my daughter L and I (M for Mom). Explanation of exercises is below. We can fill in the sheet as both a record of (hopefully) our improvements in strength, and as a record of L’s Physical Education.
Upper Body 3×10
1. Pull Ups 3 x 10 or 4 x 5
2. Inclined seated press 3 x 10
3. Negative Push ups 3 x 10
4. Standing Shoulder row 3 x 10 each side
5. Rotator Cuff Pull out (elbow in) 3×10 each side
6. Bent Row 3 x 10 (3-5kg)
7. Tricep extensions with rope. Elbows tucked
8. Tricep dips on bench
9. Bicep curl elbow tucked
10. Hanging knee lifts
Cardio
1. Squats x25
2. Push ups x10 (Knees down if needed)
3. Straight arm pull down (v low weight) x25
4. Lying leg lifts x15
5. Crunchies x25
6. Russian Twist x25
7. Jumping Jacks x20
8. Burpees x10
9. Mountain Climbers x20
Lower Body 3×10
1. Side Leg Out (handle on ankle)
2. Goblet Squats
3. Reverse Lunges
4. Calf Raises (stand on toes)
5. Hanging Knee lifts
6. Hands through reverse squats (rope through legs, back to machine, heavy weight)
7. Glute Bridges
8. Back Extensions
The quantities for Upper and Lower body work are a target for us to work towards as we build our fitness over the next couple of weeks. The cardio numbers were higher originally but my husband decided it was best to start low and build up rather than to have numbers that felt wildly unachievable.
To begin with we will focus on form and familiarisation with the machine. Yesterday I did 10 of each Upper Body exercise just to get the hang of it, some 10’s were enough, others were easy. L will use no weights, working mostly to her own body weight and building up strength befitting her build, for her using the machine is more about novelty rather than necessity, no baby body building here! I will work my way up to weights that make the numbers achievable but still challenging and then I’ll work to build up the numbers.
The most important factor is to enjoy working out together, focus on form & fun, quantity (repetitions) and quantity (weight) come second.
Grateful for:
- A healthy family who enjoy staying fit and strong.
- The convenience of a home gym