Barre with Justine

Fitness and Wellness

little luxuries…

In the mid-nineties, Sarah Ban Breathnach’s Simple Abundance was published. If you were a fan of the Oprah Winfrey show, you may have watched her breathlessly describe how this book changed her life. It IS a wonderful book and one that I bought again (after losing my copy during university moves) during COVID. The premise of the book is to enjoy the simple joys of every day life and look inward to see what our deepest desires are.

For all the simple joys, the author ended up having some not great life changes in the years that followed but I still find comfort and encouragement in the pages of Simple Abundance.

My favourite parts of the book are the “Joyful Simplicities” that are listed at the end of each month (the book is divided into months and themes, with an entry and quote for each day). They are suggestions for simple ways to celebrate the month such as “[remembering] that ice cream is good for the soul” (June) or “mull cider and/or wine on the weekends for an autumn cup of cheer” (October).

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Dreaming of perfume…

bouquet of pink roses
Photo by Valeria Boltneva on Pexels.com

“My grandmother always talked about the experience of fragrance, and how discovering fragrance allows you to escape and dream…and I think now, more than ever, people are dreaming and talking about their bucket lists…” ~Aerin Lauder

Aerin Lauder, heiress and granddaughter of the iconic Estee Lauder, has created many beautiful perfumes under the “Aerin” line of the company. The quote above comes from an interview she gave in the spring of 2021 when the pandemic was still affecting our lives in a very real and substantial way. It’s interesting to note that consumer spending on fragrance has been increasing since the beginning of COVID and even more interesting to speculate on why this might be happening. Even in Canada, fragrance sales are projected to increase over the next few years:

Lauder connects the desire for scent with comfort and looking ahead to promising things. Personally I feel like we lost access to so many of our senses during the pandemic that perhaps we are more enthusiastic about getting out of our heads and into our physical bodies. It’s nice to be able to get closer with people, give hugs and be able to say “oh you smell so good!”

Lately I have been OBSESSED with fragrance – scented candles, diffusing floral essential oils and trying to find the most beautiful perfume. I think part of it is about using scent to create a memories that my children can carry with them as they grow up. I want to infuse their lives with scents that will bring them comfort and happiness, emotions that can quickly come back years from now.

Scent moves directly from our nose to the regions of the brain that deal with emotion and memory. Another really interesting fact about the sense of smell is how intense it is for children – it is the sense that is fully developed before we are born and the one that is the most developed in childhood. (Source)

My children have many memories that are triggered by scent. I have a body balm that smells tropical and, when I use it, my little boy tells me I smell like a holiday in Aruba 💗. My daughter loves exploring Bath & Body Works and has a recollection for almost every spray (“this smells like cake”)

There are perfumes that can instantly take me back in time. I remember receiving Tribe when I was a pre-teen and absolutely dousing myself in it. In university I asked for perfume for every birthday. I can remember perfumes that I used in university and they can take me back to the same feelings I had during those years. Tucked away in a drawer is one limited edition Lancôme perfume that is no longer available. It was called 2000 et un Rose (created to mark the Millennium) and it was a gorgeous rose-scented perfume in a light blue teardrop bottle. How I wish it were still available to buy!

It isn’t just perfumes that can make memories resurface. Occasionally I will walk into a house and I’m instantly back in my Nana’s house in Wales

When I was little, we performed our Christmas concerts at Ridley College’s Chapel and waited with candles in a long stone passageway where plaques commemorating the students who had died during the First and Second World Wars decorated the walls. Years later I was married in Ridley Chapel and it was amazing how the scent of the passageway was exactly the same – indescribable but identical.

Ever since a few of my favourite perfumes have been discontinued (including Estée Lauder’s Sensuous 😭), I’ve been searching for a fragrance that is soft and includes my favourite flowers (roses, peonies, tuberose). I haven’t had much luck yet although there are a few in contention! Estée Lauder’s Beautiful Belle , Lancôme’s La Vie eat Belle Rose, and Avon’s Peony Rose are all beautiful options that I’ve been trying out. It takes time to see how a fragrance feels and adjusts, based on our own body chemistry.

Do you have a favourite perfume that you wear for special occasions or even every day? Is there a scent that brings you back to your childhood in a flash?

Also, the obligatory list of essential reading about fragrance:

Harris, Aleesha. “Familiar fragrances bring comfort; Aerin Lauder turns to the power of peony as the basis for her newest offering.” The Province, May 02, 2021.

All about planks – one of the best exercises for our core!

Do you stress about including core exercises in every workout?

One of the biggest changes I’ve made in my own fitness routines over the last few years is to work on functional core moves that are gentle on the spine. Based on my experiences with disciplines like Balletone & Barre, and through reading the work of Dr. Stuart McGill, I’ve moved away from a lot of spine flexion (such as crunches) and into more core stability moves.

In practice, this looks like more moves like dead bug (unfortunate name!), asymmetric strength moves such as a single-leg deadlift, and planks. In a plank, there is very little movement in the spine; you may add in some leg lifts or knee drops, but the spine remains neutral and the core muscles are braced. This is important as many of us are dealing with lower back issues and repeated flexion of the spine can place a lot of stress on even healthy backs. In addition, we will often use a lot of momentum to do a move like an abdominal crunch and place stress on our neck & shoulders and hip flexors.

There are so many plank variations that you will never be bored with planks, even the set-up itself; you can do a straight arm plank, a plank with dumbbells in your hands, a forearm plank and a side plank. Best of all, we don’t necessarily need to hold a plank for a very long time – according to Dr. McGill, you don’t really need to hold a plank any longer than 10 seconds to get the benefits.

My favourite variations are:

  1. Forearm plank with single leg lift
  2. Forearm plank with arm extension
  3. High plank with dumbbell drag
  4. Low plank to high plank
  5. Side plank with leg lift and arm extension (just looks pretty!)

Setting up your plank for safe and effective work is important. Here’s some tips:

And don’t stress too much about incorporating a full core section into a workout if your workout includes balance and other moves that engage the core. In Balletone, I feel my core working hard in moves like finding the knee and falling side…it’s great to feel the core working hard during cardio.

If you are curious about the work of Dr. Stuart McGill (an expert in spinal health), definitely check out his website or listen to one of the many podcasts on which he has been featured. McGill’s work will make you question traditional core exercises and reevaluate how you train your essential core muscles!

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