When you think about it, the internet really can be a wonderful place. Despite mind-boggling algorithms and polarisation being a bigger problem than ever. As Victoria Munson states in her blog post about the impact of social media on mental health and wellbeing, it can help us stay connected to people and therefore reduce feelings of loneliness. Especially as someone living away from my home country and away from my closest family, I can relate to this.
Staying connected through home workouts
Thirty years ago when a friend of my mom moved abroad to study she could only call her family once per week because it would otherwise become too expensive. I have the crazy privilege of being able to call my family every day if I want to without it costing me too much if anything. During the lockdowns last year due to the pandemic, it proved to be immensely helpful to me to be able to call my family and friends to reduce feelings of loneliness and isolation. As I proceeded to sit in front of a screen even more hours per day than before, I quickly figured that I would need at least some form of exercise if I were to be able to roll out of the house once the lockdown (and, the thing we all loved, curfew) would be lifted again. So my sister and I started following Kyra Pro on YouTube. Kyra Pro is a content creator who makes workout videos on YouTube and what especially sets her apart from other workout YouTubers are her dance workouts. At least a couple of times a week my sister and I would video call, choose a dance workout, mute ourselves for each other and then proceed to do the same dance workout at the same time during the call. Almost as if we were there in the same room doing it together. Almost. Although nothing beats connecting with people in real life, face-to-face, this proved to be a fun and creative way to stay active and spend time together even when away from each other.
But that is not all there is to it
Not only did my sister and I enjoy the benefits of spending time with each other while working out, soon enough my mom would hop on board from time to time and dance with us. Although my mom’s inconsistency when it comes to working out made for that most of the time it was just my sister and me. Although the gyms are open again and we can thankfully go out among people and connect in real life (at least that is the case at the time of writing), I have kept up this little habit of doing home workouts. Currently, my focus has shifted more towards yoga to balance out the business of suddenly being out and about again. I think some of you may already have guessed who I am going to mention next, Yoga with Adriene is my dear yoga YouTube workout buddy at the moment. Amusingly enough, I have found myself doing yoga through video calling with my mom more often than with my sister lately.
For me, home workouts have proved to be a great way both as a way to stay connected to my family and to stay (at least somewhat) healthy. Not only does it have tremendous physical benefits but mental benefits as well. That way we can all take care of our physical and digital mentality while staying connected. What ways do you use to stay connected and fit with the help of the digital?
Super fun blog!
It’s so wholesome to read about how you, your sister and mother spent time together during the lockdown, and creative as well! It does not only sound like a healthy way to keep yourself fit, but also as a healthy way to maintain enough social contact with the people you’re closest to.
Back in my teens, my mom and I also danced together often! We bought a bunch of Zumba CDs and made us dancing together a weekly happening. I feel quite some nostalgia reading your blog because I think back to those days ^-^
I’ve never heard of Kyra Pro! I’ve been subscribed to Blogilates for a while, but Kyra Pro will be added to that list!
Lockdown has sadly made me realize that I do not exercise enough. I used to bike to and from school everyday when I was still in high school, but because of all the lockdowns I don’t even have to bike to university anymore. Luckily, I also discovered something fun to do with my family while still exercising: Just dance! Sadly it does rely on being together with you being together with your family, so you can’t do it online. But those videos by Kyra Pro seem really fun! They also came across my discovery page a few times and I always love the different themes she uses in her videos. I will definitely check it out sometime, thanks Unnur!
Very nice post! During lockdown, there has also been a period for me where I was very into the online fitness videos although I have to say that I could not stick to them. I think it has to do with the lack of human interaction like you mentioned in the article, although it could just have to do with a lack of self-discipline (or the fact that I’m more of a swimmer anyways haha). I think home workouts are great digital tools to keep yourself in shape, especially during COVID lockdown or for people for whom something like a gym is less accessible, online home workouts are a great (often free) tool for people to still be able to exercise, especially now in lockdown where exercising and taking care of yourself is even more important.
I love that we were able to discuss this in class, because during the first lockdown I did do a lot of online dance classes and it has opened my mind to a new form of excersize. Though I did miss my regular work outs.