Don’t Forget To Breathe

[Dutch Lock Down Day One Hundred Fifty Seven]

One of the core points of strength training is breathing on the hard part. If you’re squatting, that’s the going down bit. If you’re doing bicep curls, that’s the bit when the weight is going up.

Remember to breathe OUT right then.

Or at all.

Breathing is better than not breathing.

But first the news:

• Coronavirus death toll rises by 10, arrests at Covid-19 protest demo in The Hague
• AMSTERDAM FACE MASK FINES TO COST €395; NOBODY PENALIZED YET: MAYOR
• People in the Netherlands are losing faith in the government and RIVM

Quite often when I’m working out, if I run into a brick wall, I take note of my breath first.

Usually I gasp for breath right then because I’ve been holding my breath… and then I can go for another five, six, seven reps.

Similarly if I experience a rush of emotion, positive or negative, I immediately take a deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.

It’s a breathing style I learned from HeadSpace – an app that wants to improve the health and happiness of the world by making meditation and sleep simple.

And it’s getting me through this particularly rough time.

Yesterday, with the help of my life coach, I decided to face my grandmother’s passing – write about it, tell my boss and colleagues, mourn.

And that was ROUGH.

This morning was … heavy.

And I kept pushing through it, trying to work.

Going for a walk instead.

Trying to work again.

I was SUPER tempted to cancel my personal training session, take a sick day, and crawl back into bed.

Instead I dragged myself to strength training.

I kept forgetting to breathe.

Ifat kept reminding me.

After that the day got easier.

I went home and ate lunch – a slice of homemade peach cake, another slice of peach cake, a slice of homemade whole wheat bread with hummus, tomato, and bell pepper, and an apple.

And I went back to work.

I told my boss yesterday, so she reached out when I was super quiet all morning, asking if she could take one of my major projects off my hands.

“Yes, please.”

“….and thank you.”

And then I met with two colleagues who had no idea what I was going through and suddenly my brain shifted into work mode. For the first time in two days. I presented my plan to move forward and we discussed practicalities and next steps and joked and hoped and hacked on github and and and….

I remembered to breathe.

The rest of today has thankfully been Not Nearly As Heavy ™.

Remember, Warriors – breathe in, breathe out, repeat as needed.

Better yet, instead of me reminding you – could you remind me, too?

I seem to be forgetting that lately.

I could use a little help.