Sometimes the green finds you! This Saturday Mr. E and I competed in the second German Open Haidong Gumdo (Korean Sword Art) near the Bergischer Ring in Cologne. After the event, our curiosity was piqued by a gorgeous copper beech – we see them everywhere this year – towering above a hedge behind the sports hall… Read More Green in Cologne
Today‘s strength/conditioning session – a bit more intense with the high jumps (mostly for martial arts, but a bit more height can’t hurt for ballet either!) plus we felt like adding some abdominal strengthening exercises between the KB swings and Turkish Getups: Warmup Vacuuming the living room 🙂 Feet warmup (ball pickups) Rope skipping 250 regular jumps… Read More June Workout 2
I absolutely love this free(!) 18-minute restorative stretching routine using yoga blocks with the incredibly talented Chloé Bruce Check it out below: Chloé is an amazing martial artist, and she has recently created a wealth of online strength, cardio, flexibility and kicking workouts. You can find them on her Youtube Channel (free videos, kicking challenge and… Read More Chloe Bruce Restorative Stretch Routine
Today‘s walk – a lovely 11km round near Langerwehe – featured wild flowers, a field of foxgloves, sticks, butterflies, mixed woodlands, very huggable trees, a fearless toad, a plethora of balancing opportunities and.. a beaver dam. Our starting point was ‘Parkplatz Rennweg’, from there we followed part of the Eifel Woodlands trail, then a bit further… Read More Walking in Langerwehe
This beautiful spot by the Maas/Meuse feels like a living work of art. Meet mom’s (and Mr. W’s!) garden: Gardens are a curious thing. They take work, and patience, plus good soil and seeds to start from. But the real magic does not happen overnight. It takes time. You have to keep tending to it, regularly,… Read More Mom’s Garden in June
Today‘s strength/conditioning session, a fairly mellow one – first one after travel season. Followed by a nap 🙂 Warmup Feet warmup (ball pickups) Rope skipping 250 regular jumps (100 + 150 – with a breathing break in between sets) 100 one-legged jumps (2×30 + 2×20) Kettlebells Simple & Sinister warmup (8kg) 2 x 10 KB Swings (16… Read More June Workout 1
Meet my new friends ? I’ll be sharing some of my favourite routines using yoga blocks in the coming weeks. In the mean time: what are your favourite exercises/stretches/routines/uses for yoga blocks? Share them below! PS: The ‘sixpack set’ in the picture are from VLFIT They’re super lightweight, made of high density EVA foam.
If you’re reading this.. give yourself a little re-set. Look up, or out the window, see the sky. Take a deep breath. Oxygenizing your brain. Relaxing your nervous system. Lowering your blood pressure. Softening your body. Softening your mind. Listening. Sensing. Calm. Take another deep breath.. There you… Read More Take a Breath
In staying with the theme, below are a few captures of the incredible sunset we got to experience at the start of last May’s DancEscapade weekend in Crete. This one had a heart. Literally. And it brought all of us joy. We were dancing and cheering. Do you recognize that, feeling elated, and even a… Read More Sunset by the Sea
Recently, both in Haidong Gumdo and Taekwondo classes, a surprising (to me!) thing happened. I had come back to classes for the first time after a serious dance travel bout, and: – For the first time in my (admittedly short) sword class student life I was able to fairly consistently execute a horizontal cut from… Read More A Break-Through