What Part of Shelter In Place Do You Hope Continues On?
“I hope that the efforts people are making around self-care keep going.”
That’s what I said this week during a recording of The Wine Makers podcast, in response to the question of what part of our current Shelter In Place conditions we’d want to continue on, once we return to “normal.”
It was a spur-of-the-moment response but, as I kept thinking about it afterward, I realized how many demonstrations of self-care we’re seeing within this very community of A Balanced Glass.
The question itself was inspired by Brian Casey, Wine Director at the girl & the fig in Sonoma, who asked about A Balanced Glass during the podcast.
Brian’s own response to the question?
He hopes that he’ll continue to take the time to consider things, as he’s been able to do during SIP, rather than keep running on the “hamster wheel” of everyday life-as-normal working in the wine industry.
Taking the time. Slowing down the rate of change in our lives. That’s self-care right there.
Here are four additional ways I’m seeing self-care play out within the ABG Community, within the past two weeks alone.
Creating New Ways to Stay Connected
By this point in the SIP cycle, even the introverts among us are getting a little antsy. I love seeing colleagues and friends get creative about ways to connect that they hadn’t been doing before corona hit, like Anna Cabrales and her #TalkingWithMyMouthFull Instagram Live series, Reka Haros and her husband documenting on video the reality of life at their Italian winery during this extended lockdown, and Kat Thomas expanding her WineGoddessLV yoga offerings online.
In some ways these examples are hard to see, as they tell of the painful circumstances (personally and professionally) that are strangling our industry. Yet these are also creative ways to cope, which is itself self-care. Their viewers who can commiserate, by seeing shared experiences that they can relate to, are participating in that self-care too.
Writing It Out
This week another ABG Community member, Jayne Portnoy, offered us a writing workshop around the topic of gratitude and “the art of the toast.” At first it sounds counter-intuitive to raise a glass in “toast” to the global pandemic but that inherent tension is exactly what Jayne’s workshop meant to explore.
If we were to toast this pandemic as if it were a person, Jayne prompted, would it be gentle and kind, angry or bitter? “See if you can articulate,” she challenged us, “what it has taught you emotionally, physically and spiritually.”
Putting THAT into words, in a safe space and for only ourselves to see, is enlightening. Which is self-care in black and white.
Meditation as Self-Care, Phase Two
Last weekend we closed out the ABG On The Cushion four-week meditation series, and I asked participants for their feedback particularly around what a “phase two” or follow-up series could look like for this community of wine professionals in particular.
Their responses have started to shape the landscape of what we might need in terms of self-care: taking care of ourselves (more “metta,” that is, or the practice of lovingkindness), dealing with loss (from not being able to travel to actually losing a friend or family member), dealing with fear (of the unknown, and of getting sick ourselves), handling big changes, and ideas for simply getting through the day.
Announcing ABG On The Mat: Starts TOMORROW
Starting this weekend, Commubity member Elizabeth Van Emst will kick off ABG On The Mat, a virtual 60-minute yoga practice designed to ground, connect and balance. The class will be a foundational vinyasa flow class, and all levels of experience are welcome. Here’s the link for tomorrow’s class; once you register, you’ll receive a waiver form to complete online, then Elizabeth will send you the Zoom link for the class itself.
What have you also noticed in terms of self-care? What other efforts toward self-care ring true for you? What parts of SIP do you hope will continue on, post-pandemic? Please let us know. We’d love to hear.
There’s no universal formula for self-care, no prescription, and no right or wrong way to do it for any of us individually. I’m encouraged by these unique efforts and ideas, as we all continue on, doing the best we can.
Namaste,
Cathy
What We're Reading:
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic we are adding to the weekly reading and resources. Here's what has piqued our interest this week.
The Pandemic is Making Me Deeply Anxious About Food, by Kat Kinsman for Food & Wine
The shortages and economic uncertainties due to COVID-19 are bringing up some longstanding obsessions around waste and having enough to get through.
31 Healthy Habits to Embrace While Social Distancing, by Heidi Wachter for ExperienceLife.com
Maintaining or starting healthy habits that can build resiliency is essential for living through challenging times.
An Ecotherapeutic Meditation in Ten Steps in the New York Times
This is an exercise to help your body release the stress of constantly bracing for a disaster.
I Walked Out of Rehab and Into a Pandemic, Nick Rahaim on Vox.com
Isolation is not the best thing for the newly sober.
Meet the Community!
Our community is only as strong as the company we keep, and here we meet some of the folks who make our profession so dynamic.
Helen Gallo Bryan, Wine Industry Steward, Boston (USA)
Years In Industry:
Since the age of 22, I have worked 38 satisfying often hectic years in the wine industry. These years have come to define the person I am today. I could not have dreamed of a career so fulfilling, and yet so challenging due to the nature of our industry’s evolution in nearly four decades.
In 1982 I accepted a job with the Ernest and Julio Gallo Winery (on premise) where I worked for eight years in various positions, my last role was as National Accounts Manager. In 1990, I left the E & J Gallo Winery and, after numerous positions in the wine business, I landed a job at Winebow Imports where I stayed for nearly twenty years before recently joining a relatively new import company, called "Vero".
My biggest challenge to wellness:
In another time, if I spoke about my personal life as it related to wellness it was considered a weakness. Finding personal time has always been my struggle which is somewhat generational too. I worked during a time when I feared what a male boss might say about me taking personal time.
Everything now merges after being diagnosed in 2018 with stage three advanced ovarian cancer. You cope, you manage, and you pray. There is no compartmentalization. Cancer threw me into full-blown menopause early and abruptly which presents a whole other list of challenges some of which are bone loss and insomnia. The effects of chemo drugs have a whole other set of challenges.
Like many men and women in the wine industry, I juggle a lot. When my day wine job duties are done there are always the wine events, the wine dinners, and travel to get to the next wine gig. In full disclosure to my husband and children, I often leave a day early for business travel to get my paperwork done, share a meal I did not cook with a good customer. Follow that up with a good night’s sleep and I am temporarily refueled. It took years to accept that this was an unrealistic pattern to maintain.
How I keep it together to stay well:
Thank God for my husband Dave who has been there for me throughout my career every step of the way. I enjoy my family, engage my teenagers in the discussion, walk my dog, cook, and garden. Sometimes I stay well in more cerebral ways like puzzling, yoga meditation, genealogy, or just sitting down with paper and pen catching up on handwritten correspondence, something I have always done and enjoy. I also collect postcards and vintage paper and randomly send them to people. A simple way of old-time “generational” connecting!
You can connect with Helen on LinkedIn or Twitter @hgallo , via Instagram @h_gallo or online at Vero Vino Gusto.
Let's Meet Up - Virtually!
In light of current world events, we are offering online gatherings for ways to connect. Check it out.
Saturday April 25 | 4pm PST (US) | 7pm EST (US) | 9am Syd (AUS)
Foundational Yoga with Elizabeth Van Emst (60 min)
Join Napa Valley Yoga Center teacher Elizabeth Van Emst for a NEW weekly yoga practice.
Sign up with the link here and email events@abalancedglass.com with any questions.
