Love the Shoulders

Wow!  The month of February came quick and moved along even faster.  For a short month, it was filled with emotions, memories and activities.  I was supposed to get this blog out in the middle of the month but the middle of the month came with a big snow storm and took some of my friends away from their families.  A heavy heart makes it really difficult to focus on anything.

When I cannot focus, I close my eyes and try to listen to my own breath.  As I do that, I can think about the parts of my body that will help me focus better.  The one part of my body that helps me move forward is my shoulders.  Whenever we are stressed, anxious or heartbroken, we carry that load on our shoulders.  We tense up our shoulders and pull them up close to our ears.  And because we are tensed up, the shoulders stay put in that position preventing us from having a full range of motion.

Shoulders hold a critical junction point between arms and the core.  They help the arms with any weight that it is lifted - like groceries.  They also help open up the chest so that the lungs and the heart can work more efficiently.  Therefore in the times of stress, it is important to pay attention to where the shoulders are.  Relaxing them by pushing them away from the ears, helps reducing the stress load on the shoulders and creates a larger mobility for arms and the chest.

I have a quick go-to routine to keep my shoulders strong.  For this routine, either a kettlebell or a dumbbell can be used.  Since I am a big fan of using things in our household, I use a gallon of water, which is part of my emergency kit. :)

The critical part on any shoulder workout is recognizing the time when you stress your shoulder as opposed to letting the muscles do the work.  Please try to be in front of a mirror and watch yourself.  The moment you pull your shoulder up towards your ears, either stop the workout or drop your weight.  Also, make sure that you are not leaning side to side or back and forth to lift the weight.

This quick routine can be paired with the legs routine from last month to give a solid 15 minutes strength workout.

High five to all of us for recognizing when we are stressed and trying to relax!

Can you spot our Truck?

Power to the Legs

Welcome to 2026! January is usually the month of inspiration for goals, changes and dreams.  As I think about how I can organize my own head this year, one of the ideas that popped into my mind was a slight change to my Blog.

I have started my blog as a way to provide inspiration for an active and nutritious living.  Over the years, I have shared with you my monthly adventures both physically and emotionally.  As of mid last year, I have started to include videos from my Train and Smile classes so that you get a collection of Strength Training moves that you can do at your own convenience.

My focus for my blog remains the same - inspiration for an active and healthy lifestyle.  I will also continue to share my monthly thoughts and highlights with you.  What I will add to it, is a further focus on parts of our body and why they are critical for healthy living.  My videos will focus on the particular body part that I will cover for the month.  And my goal will be to publish the blog in the middle of the month so that you can join me in focusing on that body part for the month.

When I started teaching group fitness classes, I was in my early 20s.  The biggest reason why I got into strength training was so that I can promote it to women as a tool to fight against osteoporosis. When you are in your early 20s, you really don’t know what those in their 40s, 50s, 60s, etc. are going through.  If you listen to them carefully, who can get a glimpse but physically you cannot replicate what their bodies are going through.  That was exactly why I was very drawn into “protecting” bones now for future decades.  I am still on that same mission as someone in their mid 40s.  It is never too late to act for our future decades to come.

So, why not start with a very critical component of our body: LEGS.  From our hips down, those two extremities carry our entire weight.  They receive the message from the brain, through the spinal cord and then act. They contain multiple “joints” along the way: The hip, the knee, the ankle.  Each one is a critical gateway to keep up standing.  These two extremities also contain some of the largest muscle groups in our body - Quadriceps and Hamstrings.  As we all know, muscles weight much more than fat, which means strong legs mean more weight on ankles and feet.  Therefore, when I think about my legs, I prioritize the health of my joints.  Stabilization and balance play critical roles in keeping the joints healthy and reliable - not to mentioned they make any strength training move that much more fun.

Below is a quick video of three leg moves that promote healthy joints while creating strong legs.  I demonstrated 3 levels per each move, beginner to advanced.  It is important to follow through modifications if needed.  The goal is to build strength NOT to get injured.

Thank you to all of my readers and followers over the years.  Please let me know your thoughts on the slightly new direction of my Blog.

High Five to all of us watching out for our future decades!

Are you surprised that this is how we started the year??

Curiosity Awaits...

October kicked off with a class I took on the power of curiosity.  I sat in a room with 40 of my colleagues with no computers or phones.  We did have fidgets on each table to keep our hands busy while thinking about curiosity.  The class ended up setting the tone for the whole month.

Am I a curios enough person?  What “better” questions can I ask? What are the things that I am curious about?  How can I be more curious about things that do not interest me? Do I need to be curious about things that do not interest me?

These questions lingered in my head through out the month.  I still don’t have definite answers to any of them.  However, I decided to observe my kids a little closer to see how they show their curiosity. After all, their minds are not blurred with bunch of grown-up stuff yet and they have already passed the “why” phase.  Whenever they show interest in something, the questions never stop.  When they receive enough answers then they digest what they learn.  Somehow, you can tell from the way they look at you that their mind is churning.  And finally, whatever they learned or absorbed comes out as a drawing, as a game or as a skill…. It is an amazing transformation of curiosity into reality.

I found it easier to be curious about things that I care.  I can spend hours to evaluate different workouts and moves, and try to understand the underlying benefits or potential dangers.  However, when it comes to things that I am not as interested, I then shut it down and move on.  Interestingly enough, my kids are very similar too.  If it is something that they are not interested in, then there is only one question, if any, and then they move on.

Curiosity is an interesting muscle to exercise.  I think the main challenge comes in when  you are faced with a task that you don’t care about or interested in.  It can become a fun game to figure out a good question to ask on something that you don’t care about learning.  What do you think?

Since my mind was very consumed with the idea of “curiosity”, I dedicated one of our Train and Smile weeks to the same theme and I asked the participants for ideas of tools to use.  The “board game” idea won!  Here is the workout, if you would like to give it a try:

High five to you all for asking that ONE GOOD question on a subject you do not care! ;)

My two curious minds

Can you guess what kaya was for Halloween?

Where are YOU from?

September was the month of getting back to the routines, embracing the change of the seasons and breathing the fresh air at home.  Our weekend travels to our cabin didn’t skip a beat - departing at 5am every Saturday and pulling into our garage in SF at 10:30pm every Sunday. We (should say Derek) got a lot done in the cabin - floors are in, nails holes are being filled, shiplap is installed…

Our family is used to the weekend travels, even though the kids complain about the early morning starts. It feels home when we make it to the cabin and it feels home when we are driving over the Bay Bridge into the city.  That feeling of home made me think about a simple question that I am asked often: “where are you from?”

Well… my simple answer is “I am from Turkey”.  But now, let’s complicate it a little: I am an American citizen, I have been living in San Francisco for more than half of my life, I grew up in Istanbul, etc.  What I really relate to is “l am from San Francisco”.  I have a hard time saying I am American but I have no problem saying that I am San Franciscan.  I can’t say that I am from Istanbul but I am definitely Turkish - very conflicting. Even though I was born and raised in Istanbul, I never related myself to  Istanbul the way I relate myself to San Francisco.  That being said I am proud of being a Turk because that is my heritage. I guess that makes me a San Franciscan Turk. :)

It is hard to believe that I have been in SF for more than half of my life. I celebrated more birthdays in SF than I did in Turkey.

Talking about birthdays, we finally had a birthday celebration at Train and Smile and it was a prime number! Nothing better than celebrating one more turn around the sun… How about you try out the class that we did on 9/13. You need a bottle of wine, unopened. I promise that we don’t shake.

High five to all of you with your upcoming or just past birthdays.

We are from San francisco - this is where we came up with alpine’s name

The Flow

After a month of none stop “go”, August barged in like a blank canvas.  There were no summer camps or scheduled events.  Therefore the initial plan was to go back to San Francisco.  However, in the last minute, I changed our plans and decided to stay in our cabin for one more week.  Now, I was facing that blank canvas…

If you are given a blank sheet of paper and a Sharpie, and asked to draw, how do you start?  I start with a simple line.  Then I add curves, then peaks, then more lines… I sprinkle small dots and lines around my design to make it fuller.  I create a flow as I move from one line to the other.

That was exactly what I did with my week, with the kids.  We started off simple - cabin time and neighborhood walks on Monday.  Then we added distance and more fun - we went to a close by mountain lake for the afternoon, followed by some “bunker timer” at Woodward.  We then followed the theme of Woodward - we created our own trails in our backyard to do more Mountain Biking on Wednesday.  On Thursday, I created some mystery - we went to a water park that the kids would have never expect.  And Friday was my final design - we went for a 10 mile hike to find the Upper Lola Montez Lake.   All of a sudden, what started as a blank canvas, became an amazing design that flowed from one line to the other.  It set the tone for the entire month.

It felt very refreshing to create flows into, out of and around the scheduled events.  The kids ended up having a very smooth start to a new grade, the family stepped into our non-summer routines fairly easily and most importantly, we put August behind with a huge smile in our faces.

The flow helps us in many different ways:  It helps us think about the next steps, it moves our body (both physically and mentally) with no extra effort, it provides us with a breathing room.  Therefore, creating a flow during a workout routine is critical.  As we move the body from one position to the another, if we create a flow, we let the muscles prepare themselves for the next move.  As a result, we promote stronger muscles while reducing the chances of injury.

One of my Train and Smile themes was dedicated to the “Flow” and our tool was our “Body” - no other equipment.  It ended up being a really fun week of classes.  Here is one of those sessions:

Let’s design our blank canvas one line at a time, not forgetting to give each other a high five along the way!

The lake that sits 7500 Feet off of sea level

the week of success

perfect depiction of all we needed in august

the flow is on the ground… those floors are a perfect example of a good flow…

On the Go

Where did July go?  It was filled with fun, adventure and busy days.  And certain days of the month felt like they would never end but yet, the whole month felt like it passed in a lightning speed.  As I look back at the month, it felt like a fast forward of a slow-motion movie - if that makes any sense.

Kids and I came back from Türkiye at the end of June.  We stayed in San Francisco for a week and then as a family, we traveled to Tahoe for the full month of July (minus one day).  Being in the mountains for the whole month was truly amazing.  Feeling the nature all around at all times, discovering new mountain lakes in every hike, letting kids be free in the neighborhood, hanging out with best friends at all times…. Even though we were “stay-put” in our cabin almost the whole time, constantly making plans with the kids created a rushed but laid-back atmosphere.  So we were “on the go” while we were “stay put” - again, makes sense?

There was only one day of the month that both “laid back” and the “stay put” part of the feelings did NOT happen and we “rushed” to be “on the go”…. That was when I had to take Kaya to SF to get his front teeth fixed after he broke them while doing a Multi-Sport camp in Tahoe.  That was a crazy week where my emotions were all over the place.  I was glad that Kaya was not terrified about the accident and was able to finish up his camp with broken front teeth.  However at the same time, I was worried about the future of his teeth.  I was also angry at myself for not picking him up faster so that I could have avoided the incident, since it happened while I was chatting with the coaches.  I was also nervous on how he would take the “fixing” part of it.  The swirl of emotions was like a tornado above my head and the only thing that helped to get the tornado dissipated was to be on the go. Whether to the ice cream shop or back to SF, when I had to move, the load in my head was lightened up.  I was able to joke around and bring the laughs back.  We even made the trip down and up as fun as we could, regardless of our 6am departure to come back up to Tahoe.

Being “on the go” doesn’t mean that regular routines cannot happen.  It just means that the routines adapt to the movement.  That is why it is important to keep your workouts even when you are traveling.  The scenery and tools might change but the workout can still be as challenging.  Therefore, I came up with a routine that uses a roller bag and I added the laughter to the routine by naming the moves.  Check out the video from one of our Train and Smile sessions in July.  Let me know if you enjoy the names.

July flew by but the emotions it left behind is still in slow motion, especially joy, fun and anything fluffy.  The rushed moments of the month rested in a laid-back attitude.  And all those “on the go” adventures ended up in one place - back in the cabin. It was almost magical to experience all the opposites all together.

High five to you if you can pause in the middle of a fast forward to watch everything in slow motion!

after our “short” hike (7 miles)

broken teeth and a wasp sting - but he is still happy and hungry!!

ON the go with us - and always at a watch-out

best buddies forever - non stop…

Being Gentle

Have you ever encountered stray dogs?  In Türkiye, stray dogs and cats are part of every day life.  Cats are more approachable while dogs are big and ragged looking.  When I was a kid I remember being slightly scared of the stray dogs.  Luckily my fear didn’t last too long because I quickly learned that those dogs were more gentle than some of the domestic ones.

This summer my kids created strong bonds with the dogs and cats in the neighborhood.  They learned to be gentle towards these animals.  And they quickly realized that gentler they were, the animals responded to them the same gentle way.  It was simple: what you gave ended up being what you got.  The beauty behind this exchange was that my kids didn’t care how the dogs looked.  They focused on being very delicate with them no matter how rugged they looked.

Towards the end of our trip, I kept thinking of those moments of being gentle.  The “gentle” exchange wasn’t just with the stray dogs, it was all around us, including within ourselves.  It was a month filled with being gentle: recognizing others’ feelings, listening to our own body, being delicate both physically and emotionally.  It was definitely not easy to say “see you next summer” but we all manage to do that as delicately as possible.  And amazingly enough the tears were less.

Just like those stray dogs, our bodies also deserve a gentle approach.  Once we got back from Türkiye, I dedicated a week of Train and Smile to the “Be Gentle” theme and we used pair of tongs as our tool.  Check out how we can be gentle with our bodies and still get a good workout!

High Five to you for every gentle exchange you experience in our day!

My Daughter with my grandma - can it get any gentler between them?

Kaya’s love of cats despite of his allergy

I was extra gentle with my parents during one of our train and smile sessions

Back to Basics

The focus of May was all about basics.  It was a month of recovery but also a month of closing loose ends prior to summer.  Relaxation and frenzy went hand in hand during the month.

During our regular routines, I find it very easy to forget about the basics; the basic needs, the basic reasons even the basic moves.  As I cover it multiple times over the years, relaxing is a basic need to move forward even stronger.  However, given the daily routines it is very easy to push off to a later date.  Having fun is a basic reason on why we do certain activities.  However,  when working around scheduled times it is easy to get caught up in the panic of making it from one activity to the other.

In May, I began with the most basic reason - why I came all the way to San Francisco.  Most of you already know - to windsurf.  I decided to make it happen again at a regular cadence.  Even though, windsurfing heavily relies on the wind, San Francisco is great at delivering it on a daily basis, especially in May.  Therefore, I made a plan.  I loaded up the truck and made it an activity FOR ME where the kids would need to accompany with - as opposed vice a versa. It became our Friday event.  I played it by ear and it worked.  Most importantly, we all had fun  regardless of the cold water.

Secondarily, I focused on my most basic need - relaxing.  Thanks to my dear friend, I was able to do my very first yoga retreat.  It was amazing.  One and a half day of doing Yoga, being with my good friend, breathing the ocean air, meditating cleared my mind so much that sitting in traffic for 35 minutes didn’t even phase me when the retreat was all over.  I came home with a huge smile, relaxed shoulders and filled with energy for the rest of the day - regardless of sitting in the traffic and watching the same traffic light circling through colors multiple times.

And lastly, I brought the focus in Train and Smile to the basics - the core of all the moves.  Using a chair was extra helpful, especially when we worked on our squats, as basic as anyone can get.  As we advance in our workouts, it is very easy to let go off the basic moves like a simple squat pulse or a lunge hold.  In our heads, we have already mastered those moves.  However, it helps to get back to them from time to time and focus on precision as opposed to quantity.  Our body readjusts and corrects whatever might be wrong.  Below is our first session on “Back to Basics”.  I hope you will have the chance to test it out and leave me a comment

A big high five to you when you have the chance to focus on the basic - of whatever it might be!

Love (and coffee) - basic

Good food - Basic

Have fun - Basic

And all basic moves combined for the Murph challenge - 1 mile run, 100 pullups, 200 pushups, 300 squats, 1 mile run (all in 30 minutes)

Color Orange

My favorite color has been orange for a very long time.  Over the years, it faded to the background a little but the fact that it is my favorite color has never changed.  The color orange cheers me up and puts a smile on my face.  Wearing a bright orange jacket does not make me feel like a traffic cone, instead, it makes me feel vibrant and happy.  I admit that those years of having something orange on me ALL THE TIME have passed.  Now a days, I carry the color more selectively, on or with me. Interestingly enough, my son’s favorite color is also orange since the day he could talk.  Maybe there was some unconscious conditioning given that there was always something orange on me when he was a baby. :)

In the month of April, my favorite color moved back to the forefront because it was also Addie’s favorite color.  Addie was my daughter’s good friend from the ski team who died at the end of last month.  I spent the entire month of April to process my feelings around loosing her.  One of the things that helped me a lot was my favorite color.  Initially, Ela and I put on something orange to memorialize Addie.  Then, my favorite color evolved into being my reminder of life and my strength for the life’s curveballs.  Now, whenever I feel anxious, I look at the orange on me (or around me) and let my cheer defeat the negative feelings.  So far, it is working most of the time.  After all, I am still a “work in progress”.

What is interesting with colors is that they are not as tangible as single objects.  They could appear anywhere around us, without us knowing.  They could be in the sunrise, they could be on a flower or randomly drawn on the sidewalk. The joy I get from finding my color hiding around me, is very similar to the joy I get after a good workout (minus the sweat).  A good workout is a continuous reminder of life in the sense of breathing, moving and achieving.  That is why I value celebrating birthdays or mourning losses in my classes.

My first Train and Smile class for April was dedicated to Addie, where we used a “gallon of water”.  It was a great tool to celebrate a life of a 7-year old.  It was heavy but fluid.  It was hard but playful.  The water in the bottle signified the tears and the sweat.  It made us breathe hard but also gave us the chance to appreciate the single breath. That class ended up becoming the “Addie Workout” and became my weekly routine.  If you would like to give it a try, here is the link:

Addie was a joyful kid who was up for trying anything, even if it made her anxious.  She did it with a mischievous smile on her face. Having this session dedicated to her is a constant reminder of her joyfulness and bravery.

High five to you all for finding the joy in life, one breath at a time…

Orange in nature

Can you spot our oranges??

And the orange is very forefront!

WE DID IT

The month of March was filled with courage, persistence, stamina, joy, fear, dreams, somber and many more… Basically, it was a great depiction of LIFE.

It all started with the ski-racing in mind.  We had total of 7 races to go in 4 weekends.  A ski race means: starting your mornings early, shoving the kids’ feet into ski boots, rushing the kids to the events and then waiting for hours in the cold, coping with your kids’ emotions while keeping them moving, holding your breath while they are racing, trying to keep it together no matter what the situation is…  It is a roller coaster of feelings on top of your regular day.  You keep learning more about your kids and about yourself throughout the experience.  You get proud, upset, happy, sad, all at once.  Happy to note that we came out of this month stronger than we entered it.  Kaya placed 34th among 107 boys in his championship.  Ela came in 10th in one of her races. We did it!

In the midst of ski racing, we had birthdays to celebrate, both family and friends.  It is always an extra joy to find the gift or the surprise for the birthday recipient.  These birthdays make me appreciate life year by year.  Hence we do push ups for each year of the birthday person’s age. Our youngest celebration was 9 and the oldest celebration was 94! We did it!

As the birthday wishes, dreams and hopes were being celebrated, I was able to treat myself to an early birthday dream… Something I worked on for many years (19 to be exact), something that I put many thoughts into it, something that meant a lot to me… A symbol of my family got tattooed on my arm by my favorite doctor’s daughter.  It all happened in my home with the support of my husband and my kids.  We did it!

And then came the end of the month.  Right when we were happy that most of our ski races were done and that all the birthday celebrations were helping us build those chest muscles, we had to say goodbye to a very young member of our ski team community, Ela’s close friend.  The first week of April will be dedicated to that cheerful little girl’s life as we workout.  We are still learning how to process those feelings as the month is coming to an end.

Life is filled with all these mixed emotions and constant curve balls.  AND life can be very short.

My focus is to memorialize those beautiful moments and thinking twice before I react to things.  Ironically, one of our Train and Smile themes in March was to “memorialize”.  At the time, it was all about birthdays not losses. Now I look at the below class in a different lens.

High Five to all of us for managing though the emotional roller coasters.

Ela’s race morning

Kaya is up next!

Birthday Celebration continues…

Take a Rest

By now, we all know how important “sleep” is for our bodies.  The way I explain it to my kids is, the moment we fall asleep, little workers in our body starts working on anything that needs attention.  If we don’t fall asleep, they don’t get to work and we end up overusing our body - regardless of how old we are!

So now let’s take that “sleep” concept and apply it to our workouts.  Just like our whole body needs a rest, in the form of sleep, our muscles also need a rest, in the form of “taking a break”.  When you overuse the same muscles over and over again, doing the same activity, the muscles fibers don’t get the chance to repair themselves.  Eventually, they either get super fatigued or, even worse, injured.  Therefore, rest days are very critical.  Those rest days don’t only help with the muscle fibers but they also help with the emotions.  Resting creates a boost for the future activities, both mentally and physically.

The month of February was very special for me and for my family, because we were able to take one weekend off from skiing.  And the best part of it was that it was not planned.  It was a last minute decision and therefore, we didn’t have the chance to plan anything else for the weekend.  We ended up doing “nothing” and truly resting.  It was an amazing morale boost the following weekend when we pulled into the resort.  For a change, the kids were not complaining and the parents (Derek and I) were filled with energy to ski with and without kids.

Just like sleep being critical for your health, taking a break from time to time is also very important to be able to reset.  Amazingly enough, the body learns how to quickly recover when you allow it to take a rest.

I hope you all prioritize your rest as much as your sleep.  Hight Five to you for letting the recovery happen!

when we take a rest, we build a bowling course from legos

We can also take a rest by playing with the snow. Can you spot Ela?

Focus

Focus… easy to say, hard to do - especially for me.  Every year, as I select my word for the year, I think through actions that would be impactful to my life.  Last year was all about “embrace”- embracing what I have and what I don’t have.  I certainly needed remainders along the way to keep my attention on “embrace”.  It wasn’t an easy task.  Therefore, once 2025 started and January took off as quickly as it did, I realized that what I really need to pay attention, is to be able to “focus”.

At any given moment, I have multiple things to juggle.  As much as I call it multi-tasking, we all know that it ends up being one thing at a time with less attention since the brain has the other “multi-tasks” in there.  I know that my “multiple things” are not going away.  However, I can be better at “focus”ing on one task at a time, even if that means I get a smaller portion of that task done but with FULL attention.  How many times do you grab your phone to search for something but then you get carried away with an email or an article or a post?  That happens to me very frequently.  Or while you are in the middle of a task, a ping/call/text comes about your household/family/friend where you get sidetracked from your task?  That also happens to me a lot.  I loose my attention on the task at hand and move on to something else without finishing the initial task or by finishing it haphazardly.  Where this lack of full “focus” hurts is with my family - I loose my train of thought and cannot even finish a sentence during a conversation with my husband or I try to play with the kids while I am cooking which ruins both the game and the food.

January hit the full family with sickness within the first week.  As painful as it was to lay on the sofa all day long, the sickness (it was probably the flu) gave me the opportunity to truly “focus” on what I need to do.  My only task was to get better.  And for those of you who know me well, that meant “getting better with no medicine or pain killers”.  By the third day, as I was dealing with all sorts of body aches but no fever, I decided to focus on the task at hand - to get better.   Not taking medicine was a personal choice and clearly it wasn’t doing its magic.  I ended up with two Advils so that I can get up and prepare myself my hot lemon tea and anything else that can help me to get better.  It worked.  Thinking through my options clearly without getting distracted with other “stuff” certainly helped me to get better.  Therefore I made the decision to “focus” more clearly this year.

Focusing not only on the task but also at the moment is also part of this year’s theme for me.  Kaya turned 10 this January, which means that the years go by very fast and I do not want to loose those moments.  So, if I am playing with my kids then everything else can wait, inclusive of dinner prep. I already have the muscle memory of ditching my phone while getting the household ready for the evening but now I will try harder to bring that muscle memory whenever I am working on a single task that doesn’t involve my phone.

Talking about muscle memory, here is a great class from January, where the focus was on the core.  This was also special class since we celebrated Kaya’s 10th birthday.  What I really enjoyed in this class was that we used pushups to focus on the core without putting the emphasis on the core - if that makes any sense.  Give it a try and do NOT multi task!!!

High five to all of you who can complete a full workout session without loosing your focus!

focus is on “having fun'“

never left my side through out my sickness

kaya’s team practice on Slalom - pure focus and determination

AND ELa’s team prior to the race…

Embrace the New

At the beginning of each year, I pick one word to focus on through out the year.  This was started as a work activity and became a part of my annual routine.  For 2024, my word was to “Embrace” so that I would focus on embracing what I have and what I do not have.

Ironically enough, the last month of 2024 brought the concept of “Embrace” to the top of my mind as I was forced to accept the big change in my vision.  You see, my whole life I have been the one with the perfect vision.  I hardly needed to go to an optometrist. However, lately my squinting became more of the norm and given that I hadn’t been to an optometrist for the last 6 years, I decided to take the plunge.  And as a result, I ended up with readers.  “Readers” might not be a big deal for everyone, but it is for me.  It means “embracing what I do not have any more” and at the same time it is refreshing because it is something new.  I am still getting used to putting them on and trying not to look at a distance with them.

It is extra special to end the year with something new.  Accepting and embracing what I do not have made me feel strong.  And it feels good to feel strong as 2024 is coming to an end.  I hope you all either had the chance or will have the chance to flex that “embrace” muscle!

And now as we think through those muscles, here is our Train and Smile class that focused on stability of those muscles while having fun with an empty cardboard box.

Happy ending of a year and a start of a new year!

Say or Write

Feelings are tricky.  And this November was filled with many of them - mostly happiness, gratitude, thankfulness, cheer and some tears.  Despite all the crazy rain in San Francisco, November was still that “warm” month.

What I love about November is the gratitude that surrounds us AND the thankfulness in the air.  This year, it was extra warm and cozy because my parents came for a visit.  Hence the blend of many different feelings - all good, except the sadness due to departures.

Their visit reminded me how much better I am in “writing” about my feelings than “saying” them.  Looking into my parents’ eyes and telling them how much I miss them everyday and how much I love them, is hard.  I tend to turn things into goofy comments, tight hugs and kisses and stop the actual words from coming out of my mouth.  However, when it comes to putting these feelings on a piece of paper, I can write books.  For me, written words make everything sound more correct than spoken words - for no reason.  So many times, I wanted to look into my mom’s eyes and tell her how happy I am that they are here.  Instead, I joked around saying that she is doing her cleaning and cooking job right.  I wanted to tell my dad that he was an amazing help in being the kids’ UBER while I was on a business trip but instead I joked about his stress of getting the routine down.  There are times that I hope my loved ones know me well and other times I don’t want anyone to “assume” that my goofy comments mean love.  That’s why I resort to mini notes or surprise messages so my feelings are on the paper and there is no need to assume.

This blog kept getting delayed because I wanted to “write” about the feelings correctly.  I didn’t want November to come across as a sad month because it wasn’t.  But it was a month that represented a lot of feelings, which can be tricky to write about.  As I think back, the biggest feeling was “LOVE”.  The departure tears were due to LOVE, just like the arrival hugs were.  Missing each other is also due to LOVE.  Cheesy but true. :)

The consensus for November was “Don’t cry because it is over, smile because it happened”…. As I think about that quote, I want to say - just feel the love, because it all happened with love.

What is your preference? Say or Write? Don’t say neither because it is never fun to try to guess the feelings.  After all feelings are tricky.

As we talk about tricky feelings, exercise usually induce those tricky feelings too - typical love and hate relationship.  How about you give the below exercise a try and let me know if it makes you smile when you are done or makes you angry at me (with a followed happiness, of course)

Either you “say” it or “write” it, HIGH FIVE to you all for getting it out!

here is to Happiness and love… ANd Happy birthday to my little baby!

party time for our youngest!

departing eyes do not know what to do

Up and Down and All Around

After a month like September, October allowed me to get back to myself by creating beautiful sceneries around me.  Since I was a kid, I have always enjoyed looking up, down and all around to find things that no one might be noticing.  As I grew up, this childish game became my outlet of clearing my mind and entertaining other’s minds.  Back in 2000, I even decided to start a Blog called “What’s Up” so that I would share all those that are unnoticed, with the world. Even though my blog idea never came to life, I never stopped to pause and look.

Lately, (for the last decade), my life has been all about “go/go/go” with pure focus on a direction.  That being said, I hardly ever forgotten to take the time to pause to look up, down and all around.  What made September so hard was the fact that I couldn’t pause but also I couldn’t “Go” because I couldn’t pause.  Therefore, the fact that October let me enjoyed the little nuances around us, I was able to see the light even in the dark.

What do you think I saw in October?  I wonder if you have noticed them too… I saw a beautiful moon set at 7am in the morning.  I saw a sunset that resembled a fire.  I saw a comet at 8pm on a Sunday as we were driving back from Tahoe.  I saw a sparkle in my daughter’s eyes in the morning of Halloween, from excitement.  I also noticed a dead mouse under the leaves, in the middle of the side walk.  It was beauty, it was excitement, it was disgust… regardless, it was not right in front of me, it was all around me.  I truly liked being able to notice them all.

Of course we should be looking at where we are headed to, both literally and figuratively.  However, there needs to be moments to pause so that the direction that we are traveling to takes a whole new meaning.

Even during your workouts, I would highly recommend to take that pause.  There are multiple ways of doing it.  For me, the main two ways are: 1. Taking an appropriate rest in between my strength training sets while focusing on something that is totally different than my workout, 2. Finding items around me that can become my workout.

This month, one of the items that we used was a hand mirror.  It allowed us to focus on ourself while creating a very different tool as our workout equipment.  Let me know what you think about the below exercise:

Big high-five to all of you who can notice the unnoticed…

buried behind all those wires is an amazing Moon trying to set!

Behind us and gorgeous…

look what’s up! a smiling rainbow…. :) LIFE is good!

Just a Hug

After such an uplifting August, I do not know what happened to September.  It was a tough month overall.  As I look back, I cannot find anything specific that made the month difficult.  However, it felt like I walked around with a dark cloud over my head.  As the month approached to an end, the dark cloud slowly dissipated and finally let the light come through.

The support I had from my community was the biggest help to get out of that cloud.  However, the key was to let my community know that I needed their “hug”.  It wasn’t easy to admit and it wasn’t easy to ask for it.  I was upset with myself for not being able to get out of that dark cloud on my own.  I knew that the people around me had more serious issues to deal with.  Why bother them with mine?  Why add to their list of things to worry about? Was I just being a drama queen like my daughter?

Coincidentally, I had assigned a theme of “hug” for the Train and Smile session.  When I first assigned that theme a month ago, I was thinking of my mom’s birthday and how I would love to send her a “hug”.  Who would know that the theme would come in handy to admit that it was ME who needed a hug that week.  It started with me joking around it initially, however, then it became real.  I realized that no one around me knew that I was going through some tough days.  The moment I admitted that I needed some mental rest, everyone (including my dog) was there to support.   What I really wanted was that warm “hug” and I got it from, both physical and virtual.  My non-cuddling dog even cuddled with me and didn’t leave my side.

That physical strength transfer of a sincere, tight hug is the best light to any dark cloud.  I am never shy of giving that hug to someone who is in need and now, I know that I have to be better at asking for it when I need it.

When I came up with the below routine for the Train and Smile session, I wanted to everyone to practice that tight hold, hug, squeeze. Grab your sofa pillow and let’s practice the “hug” while sweating and working those muscles.

A big hug to you all…

A cheer-me-up snack - Avocado, peanut butter, meat sticks... warm hug by food. :)

Something New

Have you ever wanted something and then successfully talked yourself out of it? I have… many times… for good reason.  However, once in a while, there are those that I can’t stop wanting, no matter how hard I try to talk myself out of it.

August was all about going out of the routine, trying new things… It was a very refreshing feeling despite the fear and uncertainty of stepping out of my regular boundaries.  With the spirit of trying new things, I thought of one thing that I wanted for a long time and decided to get it - a small piercing in the cartilage of my ear.  You would think it would be easy and straight forward.  It was not… I don’t know how many pictures of ear piercings that I viewed in Pinterest to select the correct location.  I had no clue that every single part of our ears had a different name. I, then, had to think through my regular routines - using EarPods, wearing helmets, etc, so that the location of the piercing wouldn’t cause inconvenience.  And finally, I decided that if I get my “rook” pierced, I would have the least interference with rest of my activities, and It would be subtle and pretty. This level of thinking happens when you decide to get a piercing in your 40s as opposed to teens.  Luckily I already knew where to go for the piercing - the same place that I got Ela’s ears pierced 3 years ago.  I went through another “analysis” as I was trying to decide on my day - it had to fit with kids’ school pick up and after-school activities.  Finally, I made my appointment for the last Monday of the month.  I picked up the kids from school, did our grocery shopping and then I told them that they would accompany me for “something”.  3 of us went into the Tattoo and Piercing shop.  They were almost as excited as I was.  It was weird to be on the chair while my kids were standing up on the corner - the roles were reversed for a change. The piercing was quick, easy and not that painful.  What was very surprising was the expected healing time of 9 months.  Now I have one more thing to look forward to - selecting earrings for my piercing 9 months later!

Being able to step out of the routine, to perform outside of my comfort zone and to get a tiny wish list item done felt very refreshing.  I even brought the theme of “something new” to our Train and Smile session.  Below is one of the workouts we did in the month of August, while focusing on “Something New”.  Grab a ribbon and follow along for a quick 30 minute exercise.  Why wait? Step out of your routine and give this workout a try…

A big high five to you for each time you step outside of your comfort zone…

Something new - we went to a movie theater :)

Something new - new grades, new teachers...

And something new - didn't i say it is subtle?

Into the Nature

The entire month of July, nature surrounded me whether I wanted it or not.  It made me look deeper and closer.  It made me embrace everything that it has to offer - mosquitos, dry dirt, sap, wild flowers, lakes, rocks…. I will admit that some of it wasn’t that easy to embrace, like mosquitos.  However, in overall, the nature re-trained me to go with the flow.

I took many wrong turns in long and hot hikes.  And yet, in all of them, I managed to get back on track, even with complaining kids and a whining dog.  In each of those hikes, we created a new adventure and ended it with a big smile.  I can’t help but think about my life like those hikes.  Each “wrong” turn is a new addition to the overall adventure.  It is unknown what is at that turn but once I leave myself to the flow, there is a junction back to the main path. To me, leaving myself to the flow, does not mean just following the wind. It means, paying attention to everything around me to tell me the story or show me the path.  It could be the flowers around or someone else’s foot steps or the view to the end point.  And as I pay attention to everything around, that’s when the flow appears and I get to enjoy the unintentional turn. Again, just like my life…

Given that nature was everything about July, it was also one of my chosen themes for the Train and Smile weeks.  Bringing a piece of nature to our workout was definitely great.  I challenged my participants to go out and find a rock that is about an ostrich egg size. That way, there is also the challenge of paying attention.  I bring that same challenge to YOU.  Whether you did the class with me or not, how about you go out and find a rock to complete the below workout?

Here is my high five for you for all of your “wrong” turns (not so wrong) that lead you back to your path!

look at the detail. and the color...

when alpine doesn't even want to continue...

...we still managed to find gems on the path!

there is more to find on this path

Memory Lane

Traveling back home to Turkiye with my family brings out many feelings.  Happiness is the overarching feeling which embraces excitement, curiosity, joy, gratefulness, empathy, pride and a little bit of sadness…. Most of these feelings stem from having my kids and my husband walking through my childhood memories (and rest, from missing home).

For the last couple of years, kids and I have been digging into my old boxes that my mom had saved.  Kids learned a lot about walkmans, cd players or old school landline phones. They also listened to numerous of my stories that was related to one simple object like a key chain.

This year’s focus shifted slightly away from my boxes to the wardrobes, specifically my mom’s and my grandma’s.  As I was getting amazed with my mom’s high school outfits, my daughter was equally impressed with my grandma’s closet.  I found myself trying my mom’s high school graduation dress that was made by her aunt while Ela was putting together a fashion show with my grandma’s summer clothes (just like I used to do when I was her age).  Each dress had its own story and we had plenty of time to listen.  Kaya also joined the fashion show with his own picks.  He made sure that he was a part of this journey in the memory lane.

All of a sudden the stories that started with the objects, evolved into stories related to the experiences - like the sunsets. I realized that the kids started to get curious about everything around them.  “What did YOU wish when watching the sunset when you were our age?””Did you also like jumping into the water from the shore?””How did these hills look like before?”  Those questions were for everyone, inclusive of my 93-year old grandma.  I could tell how she was finding herself in that magical world of memories, most of which included my grandpa who passed away 5 years ago.  Even though there were tears involved, bringing the past to the present was filled with smiles.  And watching my 6 year-old not leaving the side of my grandma and creating a whole new memory, was precious.

I don’t know how much of these stories from the memory lane stick with my kids.  However, I know that these stories help them see the people around them with a different lens.  And these stories help the story tellers to stay in that memory lane just a little longer.

Guvercinlik is the little village where most of my stories and my dreams were built.  Every June I look forward to spending time with my kids in that village and re-living those memories with them. This year, I also had my grandma join us which made it even more special, because all my childhood summers were spent in that village with my grandparents.

As most of you know, I continue to teach my classes no matter where I am - even if I am deep into the memory lane.  Here is a class, focused on balance, dedicated to the heat of Guvercinlik and filmed in my childhood place:

Big high five to those of you who can find that balance between the past and the present to move forward to the future.

with my grandma

story telling is in full swing

kaya’s part in the fashion show - jacket is from my grandma, outfit selection is purely Kaya

Powerful Mind

Flexing the muscle of my mind ends up being more effective than flexing any other muscle in my body when I am faced with a big physical challenge.  However, I tend to forget about that special muscle very easily and quickly.

For the last 4 years, every May, I have been participating in the Murph Challenge.  Here is the link that explains the history of the challenge: https://themurphchallenge.com/ .  In general, this is a big physical challenge that consists of a 1-mile run followed by 100 pull-ups, 200 pushups, 300 squats and ending with another 1-mile run while wearing a 20lbs weight west.  As it sounds, it is VERY challenging.  Modifications are allowed so I generally ditch the weight west, instead, I do the challenge in 6700-feet elevation.  I also break the pull-ups, push-ups and squats into 10 sets.  Regardless of my modifications, the challenge is still big and very physical.

This year, I integrated an added stress into my challenge and decided to beat my time from last year.  I had completed the last year’s challenge in 35 minutes and 36 seconds.

As the Memorial Day weekend approached, I tried to find excuses in my mind to skip the whole workout.  Why do I need to do it anyway?  Wasn’t I tired from all the traveling across the country within the last 15 days? Shouldn’t I focus on spending time with my family?  Shouldn’t I get ready for my trip to Turkey instead? Even though my excuses were very convincing there was a part in me “wanting” to go through that challenge.  The weekend was filled with work in our cabin so as Monday approached, I had even more excuses for not doing it.  Then on Sunday night, my mind showed its power. I had a dream where I was going through each of my 10 sets.  I felt the tiredness in my arms, the sweat on my back and the heavy breathing.  When I woke up, even though I wanted to say “I did it”, I felt ready to tackle the challenge.  We started the morning with a 1-hour family hike up in the mountains and then I head over to the gym to face my challenge.  This year, I decided to do this at the gym so that I can measure my 1-mile run to the point - given that running is my LEAST favorite part of this challenge.  I won’t lie,  the last 1-mile was the WORST but it really helped to be on a treadmill and watching the distance go down.  I completed the challenge in 31 minutes and 37 seconds!  I ended up beating my time by 4 minutes.

Thinking through the challenge as opposed to dreading it, made me stronger when the time came to face the challenge.  Mind is a strong muscle that I need to remember to flex and to train.

Now, I challenge you to think about one of your dreaded physical activities.  Then walk yourself through each action you need to take to complete it.  And do it.  My high-five is up there waiting for you once you are done!

FAMILY hike prior to my murph challenge

my timier when my last run was over!