What are ice-breaker questions and conversation topics for new engaged couples that they should ask each other?
After all the googley eyes, cooing, cudding, smooching, incessant texting did you ask more incisive questions about their beliefs, values about topics such as in-laws, finances, how to vacation, savings, thoughts about what religion to raise your kids, how to educate your kids and if you wanted to live in the city, the suburbs or the countryside?
You are probably aware that in many countries of the world engaged couples don’t really know each other before they get married. Well, that actually happens in every country.
Ice Breaker Questions and Conversation Topics for Engaged Couples
I’ve known men and women who “dated” for 6, 12 or even 24 months who were surprised at whom the person they married really was. A woman told me that after she was married for a couple of months, she found out her husband hated kids. A man wrote to me to say that he discovered several years into his marriage that his wife had been in prison.
Ice Breaker Questions and Conversation Topics for Engaged Couples
Other men and women have been shocked to learn what their mate thought about sex, religion, careers, household work, money and the future. In fact, many of these differences have led couples to divorce court.
I believe a lot less couples would get divorced (or even not marry each other in the first place) if they actually knew each other well enough before they got married by asking ice breaker questions and engaging in these personal conversation topics. Engaged couples could cut down on a lot of their clashes if they knew more about their mate’s thoughts, beliefs and emotions. The best way to get to really know someone is with ice breaker questions about their values, beliefs and lifestyle choices.
Whether you have been dating for 5 months or have been married for 500 months, you absolutely must know your beloved’s answers to these questions
You need to use a certain amount of wisdom with these 1,000 questions. Someone who has just begun dating shouldn’t accelerate the relationship by starting off with questions on marriage and sex. If you don’t think you and your partner are quite ready to commit to one another, it would be best to start off with the questions on personality, your past experiences, favorites and perhaps pets. The best relationships are built on a solid friendship, so first address the questions that will help build that base.
Some people will want to answer four or five ice breaker questions in a sitting. Others might like to spend several hours and answer 50 or more. Some people will want to put the questions in letters and mail them to each other on the same day so their answers don’t influence each other’s. Those with computers might find email to be a good way to get to know each other (and even keep the emails for future reference).
Do not avoid certain conversation topics just because you find them uncomfortable or even embarrassing. Break down that communication barrier and learn to talk about those issues with your partner. If someone is unwilling to talk about certain issues, it should throw up a flag for potential problems down the road.
If you don’t think a question applies to you, ask it anyway. Your partner might have some interesting thoughts on the matter. What are some of the probing questions for engaged couples that I really like? Out of the 1,000 questions just will give you a little taste.
Do you have a role model in your profession? What about them do you admire?
Do you screen phone calls before answering the phone? Can you let the phone ring during meals or when company is over or do you feel compelled to always answer it?
How long do you usually take to get ready in the morning?
Would you rather live modestly and retire modestly at 50, or would you rather live more extravagantly and retire modestly at 65?
If I were really bothered about you sharing our fights/disagreements with your friends and family, would you agree not to do it? Or would you agree to discuss it with them only if we couldn’t solve the problem on our own within a couple of days?
What are the pros for eloping? What are the cons? Does it sound appealing to you?
Are there any scents that turn you on?
1,000 Questions for Couples before saying ” I do”
Does a person’s sexual past matter if you really love them?
What do you think is the best way for couples to handle disagreements?
If the doctors detected that your unborn child had a severe birth defect and they could easily abort it, would you still have the baby?
Have you given any thought to how you would want to discipline your children during early childhood, adolescent years and the teen years?
What did your previous partners complain most about you?
Is there anything that you constantly worry about?
If someone tells you a juicy tidbit about a friend or coworker, do you have difficulty keeping it to yourself? Do you ever tell people they shouldn’t gossip?
If you were paid a salary to work for any one charity for an entire year, which charity would you choose?
Yoga has been my salvation with all the discomforts, pains or pregnancy.
I hate it when some women tell me they “LOVE being pregnant”… I love having life inside of me but really hate feeling like I will throw up, having excruciating sacroiliac pain so bad I can’t even walk, having terrible insomnia, leg cramps so bad they wake me up at night and now feeling like I can barely get out of a chair. Climbing stairs in my house is like scaling Mount Everest.
I have been teaching less yoga these days… in the first half of my pregnancy I felt pukey and just couldn’t focus on everyone else’s needs in a group class. During the second half I feel so awkward and clumsy and I can’t demo many of my favorite poses. Going to other prenatal yoga classes has been my favorite part of the week. I love being in a sea of swollen bellies, sharing what is going on with us physically … it’s quite a bonding experience that I wish I could just do more. I often have to teach at the time of my favorite prenatal class so it feels like I only make it there 1 – 2 times a month instead of 1 – 2 times a week like I would prefer.
Some of the poses that relax the most involve laying on my stomach or on my back which I can’t do these days. After about my 4th month Icouldn’t lay on my back anymore. So now I am limited to side lying poses, some standing poses and lunges. Probably what I do more than anything these days are pelvic tilts – cat-cow poses and a lot of child’s pose. I’ve had a lot of low back pain, SI joint paint (sacroiliac pain) so lunges and pelvic tilts have been my salvation. Also some hip opening poses and some non-weight bearing squats.
I have a few regular private yoga students these days and I think I look more forward to our yoga sessions than they do even though I have to get up early on Saturdays and drive quite a bit to get to their house and then schlep a bunch of stuff inside. I still look so forward to our sessions.
Also in this pic in the post, I got the idea to have my swollen belly painted with liquid gold latex with blue butterflies. I was not sufficiently warned about the impact of covering your body with liquid latex and when I peeled it off it was like waxing…. except instead of it being a small area like my eyebrows it was about 20 square feet of skin. It felt like ass to peel it off.
That was just the beginning of that pain though.
The liquid latex made my belly skin erupt into a horrid looking fiery red rash that was SCORCHING. I put everything I could to soothe myangry belly. Aloe vera, creme benedryl, ice… we got some Aveena Oatmeal bath packets and instead of soaking in the bath we made this into a paste and let it marinate on my belly. That helped. I rinsed it off and my belly erupted again into a ball of pain. I started pacing the house like a lunatic screaming from the pain….. we were moments away from going to the hospital. We put the paste back on my belly and I just slept in it.
I don’t generally sleep in dried oatmeal on a large part of my body but it was either this or the ER. I woke up the next morning, rinsed off the oatmeal but my fiery belly demanded more oatmeal. So I put more oatmeal paste on there. Thank god I mostly work from home since I put a slightly wet towel over my oatmeal belly to keep it moist. It was weird but this was working.
So it’s almost two weeks since the oatmeal belly incident and my belly is just about healed. I talked to other folks who did liquid latex and they also got rashes. Apparently you are supposed to put a layer of vaseline on your body before you put on the liquid latex.
We usually start the class with a grounding meditation and some simple warm-ups. We focus on breath, gratitude and intention in the beginning of class and I lay out a few
guidelines for not pushing yourself or your part past their physical limits. The second part of the class, we do some more active poses, some balancing poses and some traditional and classic yoga poses but that are done with a partner so even people that have done yoga hundreds of times before will come into a familiar pose in an entirely familiar way. Then I will have a transitional pose that is more restorative or an inversion so people can start to drop down into the deeper part of the practice.
Then we will move into the massage-y part of the class. At this point the lights are pretty low. I like to keep the lights low during the part of class so that people do not feel like they are on display and it feels more intimate. We emphasize intention and not techniques or skills. I also encourage a lot of checking in on how the pressure is and to notice their partner’s breathing…it should be slow and rhythmic.
If their partner has fallen asleep then that means the massage giver is doing a really great job. After both partners have gotten a massage then we move into our final relaxation pose. Instead of it being a traditional relaxation I encourage silent cuddling and spooning.
We stay here for about ten minutes, usually my own partner has fallen asleep and is snoring at this point… occasionally I have to scratch his head or his fingers to gently rouse him without startling him. I then start to gently bring the room back to groundedness. At this point, everyone is feeling so relaxed and connected that I keep the light fairly low so it feels intimate and private.
Before I close the class, I encourage people to linger and to just be focused on their partner and not the other couples and to not worry about taking direction from us once the class has closed. At this point, most of the couples are wrapped in a loving embrace. Sometimes, the emotion and love in the room is so strong that it moves me to tears and I feel my eyes starting to well up. This doesn’t usually happen and I do my best to regain my composure when it does.
As the leisurely start to clean up their belongings then we check in with them and encourage them to continue this connectedness with candles, wine, soft music at home…. no heavy metal music, no loud bars and I encourage them to avoid TV, the internet, computers and cell phones for the rest of the evening.
It has been trickier to teach since my hubby and I are dealing with a fair amount of health limitations. He can’t or shouldn’t do forward bends or inversions and I have been avoiding squats and lunges….. those kinds of poses are about half of the poses so I’ve been feeling more limited lately.
Have an experience or a story you’d like to share about a couples retreat or workshop you did?
Just wanted to let everyone know that we will be holding our yoga classes at Amrita in Fishtown near Center City. We are SO excited about this! We have held our classes in many different locations in the Philly metro area, mostly in Manayunk and in other areas as well such as King of Prussia, Havertown, West Chester and Ardmore. Without a doubt Amrita is the most stunning yoga studio I have ever been in ( and I have been in hundreds of yoga studios at this point…. maybe even over 1,000…. you don’t keep track anymore after a certain point.)
If the Four Seasons was designing a yoga studio it would look like this. If you have ever been in the Mandarin Oriental or the Setai in New York or Miami that is a bit of the feeling they are going for. Zen luxury.
Amrita Yoga and Wellness has been around almost four years in the hip and happening Fishtown. Right next to some outstanding eateries such as the Fette Sau and Frankford Hall . I also discovered they are right near Federal Donuts which has some of my favorite guilty pleasure food – fried chicken and donuts. On my way to Amrita today, I stumbled upon Federal Donuts and got the finger-licking spicy chili and garlic chicken and then the chocolate and sea salt donut. Not very yogic at all but a most yum-yum treat!
I’ve been to an aerial yoga class at Amrita earlier this year and was beyond impressed with the facilities, ( showers, changing rooms, cubbies to put your belonging in and shoes in) as well as the actual classroom set up which has water falls and fireplaces and stunning light fixtures that feel very romantic and ethereal. The room we will practice in has a key feature that is almost always missing – a fireplace! Actually there are two fireplaces!
Lighting is a very key thing in a couples yoga class. For daytime classes there are bright and airy skylights which give a heavenly feel to the room. At night the sconces on the side dim. Since you are sometimes lying on your back in a yoga class, you don’t want bright lights to blind you as you are attempting to find your inner bliss.
Since our couples yoga classes are the most popular in the Winter months, we will start up our couples yoga season in January with classes almost every Friday night until March. On Valentine’s Weekend we will have an extra Saturday night class as well.
Belly Pilates, a motherhood fitness and maternal fitness and wellness studio, comprehensively serving the health, wellness and educational needs of the multiple stages of motherhood, is excited to present FREE and low-cost Instructional pregnancy yoga and pilates classes in Philadelphia for parents throughout the Philadelphia and Main Line area.
Workshop topics include: Partner Massage for Labor, Breastfeeding 101, Baby Development & Milestones, Baby Sleep Solutions by Baby Sleep Expert, Jennifer Schindele, Baby-wearing 101, Benefits of Doulas, Infant Massaging, and much more.
Pregnancy Yoga Classes in Philadelphia? Free Workshops
Kelly McBride, owner of Belly Pilates, Birth Doula, Childbirth Educator, and the tri-states’ only certified Master Instructor of Prenatal and Postpartum Pilates, comments, “The inspiration for creating a lengthy series of free workshops came from a real passion to provide specialized, expert information for a growing number of moms interested in taking a more natural approach to leading a healthier lifestyle for themselves and for their families. I’m so pleased to see how many ‘mompreneurs’ rallied behind me to offer such a well rounded line up! Not only do I welcome moms to explore the holistic services to be presented in many of these workshops, at no cost, but I encourage all parents to take advantage of this coming fall’s series!”
For more information about the Free Instructional Workshops to be presented at Belly Pilates, visit: www.bellypilates.com. Pre-Registration is required.
Clients also benefit from the community of wellness partners and key resources McBride has established over the years. It is McBride’s goal to continue to expand and grow this community to better serve the needs of moms. A list of these partners and resources can be found on the Belly Pilates website at: www.bellypilates.com or contact Kelly McBride at 610.608.5883.
couldn’t lay on my back anymore. So now I am limited to side lying poses, some standing poses and lunges. Probably what I do more than anything these days are pelvic tilts – cat-cow poses and a lot of child’s pose. I’ve had a lot of low back pain, SI joint paint (sacroiliac pain) so lunges and pelvic tilts have been my salvation. Also some hip opening poses and some non-weight bearing squats.
angry belly. Aloe vera, creme benedryl, ice… we got some Aveena Oatmeal bath packets and instead of soaking in the bath we made this into a paste and let it marinate on my belly. That helped. I rinsed it off and my belly erupted again into a ball of pain. I started pacing the house like a lunatic screaming from the pain….. we were moments away from going to the hospital. We put the paste back on my belly and I just slept in it.
