Stay Vibrant in December; Find Balance in All Ways

Taking care of yourself this month means putting yourself at the top of your gift list! Also a yummy but challenging Movement Bite Exercise Video just for you

Dec 01, 2025

Last month’s Vibrancy Bites looked back at my two week road trip and what Pillars of Health I managed to hang on to while traveling. This month, with it being the beginning of the Silly Season, I thought I’d look at things we can do to stay quasi sane over the next 31 days and into January.

Even if you are not a let’s-deck-the-halls-in-November-I-love-Holidays-with-a-capital-H type of person i.e. you celebrate in a more sedate manner or even not at all, you can’t help but be affected by the frenzied energy around Christmas. I know for me it def takes some effort not to be overwhelmed and fatigued by the time the big day rolls around.

So, I’ve been thinking about balance. Not just in the physical movement sense (aka the combo of our visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive systems) but in all senses of the word.

Don’t worry, I will challenge your balance with two movement suggestions for the month including a “fun” Foam Roller Flow Video.

Sneak Peek👇

four photos of a woman standing on one leg with either a foam roller or mat as a prop — video stills so probs not my best look(s), lol

Movement / Community & Relationships / Environment / Creativity / Mindfulness / Sleep / Nutrition

My seven Pillars of Health are equally important, in fact they blend, overlap, and influence each other. For example, I had a work Christmas event which included a sleepover. We had a team building workshop (more fun than it sounds), time to be social, and a delish dinner with some yummy treats for dessert. I indulged in it all but slept poorly that night.

So was it

the foreign bed which was a change to my usual environment?
the sweet treats too close to lights out, aka a questionable nutrition choice?
the intense lean in to community and relationships through deeper conversations with my work mates?

Who can say? What I can say that is this month we’ll all probably be upping our social commitments, whacking our sleep by staying up later than usual, and if we have visitors for example, less able to control our micro environment.

Other Pillars might fall by the wayside as well. Anyone besides me already telling themselves they’re too busy to ____________

Fill in the blank:

a. get outdoors as much.

b. meditate.

c. journal or follow their creative practice.

d. all of the above.

Here’s how I’m planning on finding balance during this most wonderful time of the year:

Getting the right balance between good sleep and festive activities. I have a hard time sleeping in - the sun this time of year wakes me up and the dog and cat have expectations that I will attend to their needs (they are soooooo demanding) so this means I have to be wary about staying up too late.
Finding a balance in my diet by not saying f**k it for the whole month, i.e. trying to still eat as healthily as possible with all the rich food on offer but not denying myself a few special treats. God knows why but my ultimate junk food is Nacho Cheese flavoured Doritos?! I never buy them except one small bag every year to eat on Christmas day. And I usually make a ginormous chocolate cheesecake for Xmas day dessert - I love chocolate and I love cheesecake! Considering that there’s just the hubby and me we end up having cheesecake for breakfast well into the New Year because we. just. can’t. help. ourselves! Yes it feels very decadent - because it is - but we know it happens once a year and we enjoy the crap out of it!
Finding the balance between maintaining my movement and exercise schedule and giving myself down time to unwind and completely relax. This one I actually find hard to do because I am really quite lazy and once I let it slip it’s harder to get back into the habit.
Finding the balance between work and play. I close the studio for a couple of weeks and turn the dining room table into Jigsaw Puzzle Land!
Finding the balance of saying yes to joyful get togethers with friends but knowing that it’s okay to say no and have a day/night on the couch. We spend most of Boxing Day making calls to the other side of the world to talk to our families and friends and I gotta admit sometimes I am not psyched to be on a screen for that long.

Methinks this post I wrote years ago about balance is a nice complement to today’s

Your Balance Perspective Both Literally & In Life

Bec Forde

March 1, 2023

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Work on your Literal Balance

Okee Dokee, here are the two balance exercises I teased at the top of the post.

First up

I heard a great hack about standing on one leg and balancing while you brush your teeth. The opening goal is 30 seconds a side. If you have an electric toothbrush with a timer it’s super easy (the timing part, not the actual balance bit). I’ve been doing it for a week and because it’s at the end of the day and I’m tired it’s harder than I thought it would be. Once it feels that it’s not enough of a challenge I’ll up the ante and do a minute on each leg with the ultimate goal of two minutes per leg. If you brush your teeth twice a day this would be easy (again, only the timing part) one side in the morning and the other at night, but I only use my electric toothbrush at night. I am what my dental hygienist calls an “enthusiastic brusher” so I have to not go too crazy on my dental enamel therefore I will be alternating legs each day. Is that TMI on my dental hygiene?

And

Last week I was invited to teach a Pilates on the Foam Roller class for Member Appreciation Month at my gym (I already teach Mat classes there). I came up with this standing flow as part of class. By the time we got to it we were all hot and sweaty plus several of the participants had already worked out so it was a challenge (in the best possible way).

Note - You might notice that I screw up the sequence - whoops! And I talked about modifications in the video but wasn’t super clear on what they were so here you go:

Stand on a firmer surface
Keep the range of motion smaller
Use a wall or the back of a chair for balance
Do the whole flow with a smaller prop or even without one

See what you think and please let me know how you go :-)

Your Balance Perspective Both Literally & In Life

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