Sonya's Patates Braavos: Edition #35 💌🥔

TLDR: Toronto recommendations + coaching philosophy

welcome 👋 

Hello, brave patates! 🥔 How are you celebrating Thanksgiving? I am going with David & his family to a Georgian restaurant tomorrow, for both Turkey Day + David’s birthday celebration. It’s kind of a big relief to not have to worry about cooking anything…

melting pot of recommendations

• Primal Flow class at Mula Yoga was the most fun workout I’ve ever done. It wasn’t quite yoga. We hopped, squat-walked, plank-walked, jumped, lunged, and stretched from one side of the studio to the other. A lot of movements were functional, designed to help you develop strong ligaments, joints, and mobility. A lot of it was very monkey/child-like which feels so natural and playful! I felt like I was gonna blackout a couple of times because it’s a lot of cardio so sat out a couple of exercises. Good reminder to hydrate a lot and eat before a strenuous workout lol.

  • ClassPass has all types of workouts, from spin to yoga, from open gym time to meditation, plus saunas, massages, and even beauty services all in one app. It works well in Toronto where hundreds of studios signed up. You can save 50% on class prices. Plus your credits roll over. In Ottawa, there are only a few studios on there but if you like strength training or CrossFit, it might still be worth it. NYC, MTL, and other big cities have lots of studios, too, so it’s a great option to keep active while traveling. Get 1 month free on me, with 54 credits! My class was 5 credits so that’s a lot of free classes.

• A cute Japanese coffee shop in Baldwin Village located in an old house: Butter & Blue. I had a hashbrown & egg in a milk bun and a hot Hong Kong milk tea.

• Authentic Northern Chinese bao & dumplings in Toronto’s Chinatown: BĀO.

• For David’s birthday, I rented a luxury sportscar experience at a racetrack in Bowmanville. He picked a Lamborghini and got to race it at the track with an instructor! It was a whole event with other exotic cars there, and a lot of fun. Fun fact, did you know experiences have a longer-lasting positive effect on our brains than material things? I learned that in The Science of Wellbeing free class at Yale University a few years ago. It’s still a thing!

• In childhood, our psyche builds trails to help us cope with hard experiences. “When X happens, we need to do Y.” Over time, these trails become well-traveled roads. For example, that first time, your brain took you straight and then right. Because at the end was salvation, or at least the lack of pain. Now, when faced with a remotely similar experience or emotion, your brain immediately turns right, because it’s done that for decades—it knows the way. It doesn’t know there’s even an option to turn left. Even if our usual road derails us and we crash, time and time again. We still turn right. My coaching work is about showing you this road, that you may not have seen or even thought about before. And eventually, the “turn left” sign. What you do then is up to you. The path to sincerity can still be turning right, but at least now you know you are doing it on purpose. More details, a specific example, and how to action this are linked here.

If you got this far, thanks for reading ❤️ cooked something yummy? lmk. went to a cool event or read a fun book? lmk. see you on the flip side 🥔