It’s been an absolutely bonkers-good weekend. I’m going to tell you all about it, so I hope you want to hear it. 🙂
It started off by taking Friday off and going to a WATERPARK!! Yes, I am 38 years old, and yes, I arranged for a group of adults to go to a waterpark with absolutely no children. It was just grown adults, enjoying the sun, the slides, and the joyful vibes. It was super, duper fun. It reminded me so much of going to our local waterpark, Wacky Waters, when we were younger. The park was even playing music from the 90s.
Saturday started off well as well with beautiful, fall-ish weather. We took advantage of the weather and did a quick 16 mile bike ride in the morning. On Friday morning, I had taken my Luna sandals out for a quick jog/sprint session, and I think the sprints totally increased my aerobic capacity! We did the 16 mile ride very fast, and I even got Queen of the Mountain on Main Street Hill, which means I’m the fastest girl up that hill. And I HATE hills! But I power boosted right up that one. ALL HAIL QUEEN OF THE MOUNTAIN.
Saturday afternoon Mom and I did our first joint venture – Relax, Renew, and Brew. It was hosted by an awesome micro-brewery in Rock Island, IL, Radicle Effect Brewerks. They reserved their whole back room for us and even brought in snacks and offered us drink specials.
I opened the class with a 3o minute mostly-seated yoga sequence. I did a bunch of reading on asanas that enhance creativity. I found that the sacral chakra is the root of creativity, so postures that work your center are supposed to raise the vibration of that chakra. I started with a creativity intention-setting mediation and then moved into some postures. We did some seated torso rotations, seated pigeon, and then moved to standing postures where we did some wrist therapy (to loosen up our wrists for the subsequent painting extravaganza). Once standing we also did some hip circles (which looked as if we were hula hooping with invisible hula hoops), and then we did a visualization where we place our hands right below our belly button and envision bright orange light emanating from our hands.
Once the yoga was finished we moved right into the painting portion of the class, taught by Mom. She taught people how to paint circular designs on rocks, using a series of circles or dots. Maybe it was Mom’s excellent teaching, or maybe it was my excellent yoga-ing, but everyone’s rocks turned out really beautiful and individualistic. Not one stone looked like another, but they were all beautiful.
It was so much fun working with my mom and hanging out with friends and loved ones, creating some artwork and having good conversation.
And today was just a good. A friend of mine introduced me to a friend of hers who is also a yoga teacher. This friend, Emilene, practices a version of yoga called Adamantine. With this type of yoga, you practice a series of 20 postures with a specific breath count. The sequence is meant to be done first thing in the morning Monday – Saturday. Emilene was kind enough to introduce me to the sequence and to share her book with me. I’m super jazzed to try it. I don’t have time to drive to Moline for yoga every day, so I really need to practice at home. However, when I have to consciously focus on what asana to do next, it makes the practice much less meditative for me. So I really like the idea of doing the same thing every day and just perfecting each pose daily. I’m excited to learn more about it.
After meeting with Emilene, Tim and I took advantage of yet another gorgeous day and went disc golfing. We had SUCH a great time. Despite the blusteriness of the day, we both played well. It was super nice to be outside, walking on the grass, enjoying the late-summer sunshine.
And let me just give a shout out to my Luna sandals. They make me so happy! I love feeling the grass between my toes, and they make running so much more enjoyable. I run on the grass next to the bike path. I enjoy feeling the unevenness of the Earth beneath my feet. They are great just for walks and casual wearing too. My feet are getting tan, and they really enjoy being able to breathe more. They told me so.
We tied up the day with an excellent home-cooked meal of sweet fire pork chops, baked kale chips (coated with parmesan and nutritional yeast), and grilled red size B potatoes. And now we are sitting out in the back yard – me wrapped in the blanket my mom made me 30+ years ago, writing a blog post, and Tim reading the Mistborn Triology and cuddling with Lucent. Life is good.