Over the last two weeks, we have proudly boasted about the incredible strength of our Alexandria Wellness (AW) community. The strength of all of us together and individually has been a silver lining of COVID-19. Each of us is gaining strength in ways we never felt possible.Don’t forget we still have limited space in Lis’s Virtual Small Group sessions where you too can experience strength in ways you possibly hadn’t imagined before.  

• Meredith G - “Because I now work from home full-time and spend more time at my desk, I’ve needed to really focus on increased movement and flexibility. Lis has continually made this a focus of our small sessions, always ensuring we are incorporating work to address the side effects of sitting at a desk all day. That and weekly virtual yoga with Lis have helped relieve tension and ensure I’m getting plenty of mobility work in to keep me feeling energized and strong.” 

 Strength can look and feel different to each of us. One person that held a deep fear of handstands is now begging for them; others believing in their capacity to own this time and not allow themselves to get drawn into negativity. So hard! 

• Maggie - “I joined the Alexandria Wellness Community right before COVID shut down life in Alexandria. Adrien’s and Lis’s support these past seven months helped me grow stronger, improve my balance, and, most importantly, stay sane!”

 See our Strong(her) Part 1 article here and Strong(her) Part 2 article here.  

• Kirsten - “I am fortunate to have been friends with Adrien for over twenty years and she has seen my ups and downs with weight and confidence over the years. Through her encouragement and strategies, I’ve been able to recommit myself to prioritizing all-around wellness. The silver lining of this pandemic has been the ability to make time for myself and the new friendships that I have with my workout pod!”  

 With strength comes confidence in your training and that also translates to strength in your life. With strength comes joy in daily interaction. With strength, joy becomes infectious and helps build up others around you. Strength builds community. It built ours. 

Your strength makes a big difference in other’s lives.

 We have all talked a lot about the “silver lining” of COVID. (I know Elizabeth and Brad so beautifully embraced their own COVID silver lining with their own health experience). 

• Kay - “What’s helped me get stronger during the pandemic is committing to three progressive strength workouts a week, noticing my own progress, and having smart coaching and lots of encouragement. One of the things that helped me keep getting stronger is noticing and celebrating the differences in my abilities. For the photoshoot we had to walk up three long and steep flights of stairs. When I got to the top, I smiled to myself and thought ‘Well, that wasn’t very hard.’”

  For many in the AW community there are a bunch of silver linings or benefits that have come from being in this new experience. Below are the strategies we see every day being practiced by our members:

• • Increasing their training sessions, some even to five times each week
• • Developing their individual practice of mindful eating
• • Starting to practice nose breathing
• • Practicing daily meditation
• • Focusing on the importance of their sleep as a foundation for their wellness
• • Embracing menopause and finding their own individual relief from symptoms

• Rosemary - “In addition to continuing my twice weekly kettlebell workouts and weekly yoga with Alexandria Wellness via their Virtual Small Groups, I use outside physical activities to keep connected with friends in a safe and socially distant manner, including: 
• - walking two to three times per week one-on-one with a friend
• - taking up golf again after six years and playing weekly with a friend
• - kayaking weekly with my husband (we have our own kayaks)
• I also used this time to focus on eating healthy by cooking more and learning new recipes. I lost three pounds without even trying.”

 What more can we say? Now it’s time for you, ladies, to get strong – inside and out. If you must, start on the outside. Eventually, your physical strength will lead to better decisions, less reactivity, and, best of all joy!