It’s cold outside. Very, very cold. And if you combine that chill with a small case of the post-Thanksgiving blues, along with the morsels of economic news capable of making anyone’s hair stand on end, you may have become a bit of an icicle.
Luckily, I’ve found a few quick solutions that have allowed me to thaw right into the cheerful spirit that can accompany the holiday season. I recommend any and all of these, especially if Jack Frost has been getting you down.
1. Hot Yoga
Yes, this is the yoga class you’ve read or heard about, where you move through a series of intensive yogic postures in 80 to 90 degree heat for an hour or two. It may sound rather deadly. But in truth, it’s pretty magical during the colder months, especially if you enter a class with a very open mind and several 24-ounce Gatorades.
Like any yoga class, hot yoga in fact is not about flexibility or agility or really any other results-oriented action. It is about breathing and taking care of yourself, focusing only on the singular moments you experience throughout the class. Sounds a little New Age-y, I know. But during the holiday season, in particular, with the wind whipping and the demands on your time raging to the boiling point, it’s pretty great to have an hour-and-a-half to be “in the moment” – which you must be when working to catch your breath as you stretch and bend in the heat. In the end, I’ve found that hot yoga creates a different perspective with which you can exit the yoga center and bring back out to the cold… plus you get a pretty good jolt of Floridian temperatures while you’re in the room — not a bad deal if you ask me! If you’re in NYC, try Big Apple Power Yoga, bigapplepoweryoga.com, — it’s the best.
2. Hot Chocolate
I decided to head out to Connecticut this past Saturday evening, forgoing the typical “going out” NYC scene in favor of some family time. Call me crazy, but it was pretty wonderful. It started to snow just as I arrived, and I got that internal bubbling of happiness that still seems to accompany the season’s first dusting of big fluffy flakes. It was a good reminder that it’s the small things that create warm smiles and the uplifting sense of possibility; and if you combine those snowflakes with a comfy couch situated in a living room area larger than your NYC apartment, a good squeeze from your mom / loved one, and a nice mug of hot chocolate, you’re all set.
3. Liza with a ‘Z’
As you may know, Liza Minnelli currently has a show at the Palace Theater in NYC, at 47th and Broadway. I’m not much of a Liza fan, but my mom snatched some tickets for my grandmother, great aunt, and the two of us, to celebrate the season and spend some time together. While her voice is not what it used to be, and her nimbleness diminished through what I understand is two hip and one knee replacement (among other things, I’m sure), Liza’s spirit soars so high that you can do nothing but smile and appreciate a very gutsy performance. If you share your trip to the theater with a couple people who know a thing or two about Liza – I now am pleased to report that I can tell you the entire history of Judy Garland’s career and mothering abilities, Liza’s upbringing, and the Palace Theater, courtesy of my grandmother and great aunt – you are bound to be filled with a warmth that only the energy of a packed house responding to a theatrical dynamo can produce. And if the show doesn’t do it for you, you still can walk out with a souvenir… and who doesn’t love a present around the holidays? A warming experience for sure.
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