I woke up unusually sore on Sunday morning. We worked with a shearer to manage over 50 sheep in 95F+ weather for almost 9 hours on Saturday, and although I am very active, I still felt like I had completed a triathlon the following morning. I had a couple of opportunities to "go for a ride" with uncooperative rams while working to get them to the shearer. At the end of the day, the sheep are more comfortable in the heat with their new hairstyles, but I had done a lot of pushing, pulling, bending, and picking myself up off the ground.

I was a little slower pulling weeds, watering the gardens and doing farm chores in the late Sunday afternoon heat. Some people are athletes and train hard for events, but I was reminded on Sunday that the rest of us are really just training for our everyday lives and working to age healthily - whatever that looks like for each of us. It gave me a renewed appreciation for what yoga and other activity does for me. Endurance, the ability to recover quickly, and the strength and flexibility to wrangle sheep that don't want to move without getting myself (or our wool babies) injured.

I taught senior yoga this past week on International Yoga Day, to a large group of students up to 96 years old. We all had one thing in common - whether 30, 50, or 80 years old - we were all investing in our functional wellness and connecting with each other to nurture our emotional wellness. There is wisdom in every pose, breath and movement in yoga that supports all of our daily movement.

Whatever your life's equivalent is to shearing sheep, let's practice some functional wellness together! If you haven't taken a yoga class in a while (or ever), this week is an amazing time to catch up with me on the mat. I have fun and energizing flow and chair classes live online every day of the week, and also offer relaxing restorative yoga sessions.