Above Average August
Basking in glorious sunshine and being outdoors as much as possible characterizes August days here in the northeastern United States. How do we balance being outside with our obligation to work?
This month marks the first anniversary of this newsletter. In my head, I committed to 6 consecutive monthly newsletters. I am pleasantly surprised to have surpassed that goal. I am ready to commit to another year if you are. Feel free to let me know what you want more of - or less of - from this newsletter. There’s a place to leave comments below.
It feels too early to start thinking about back-to-school. The days are still long, with the sun setting around 8.30pm. This is my favorite time to watch how the light changes. When I am at home at this time of day, I make myself a cup of tea and head to my home office and face the west. I open the large window as far as it will go to catch any passing breeze. I watch and wait as the sun sinks behind the trees. Sometimes the colors are vibrant like fireworks. Sometimes they are muted and subtle. Always beautiful, though in different ways. I am often not giving my full attention to the sky. If I am working on an essay, I may sit quietly with my laptop poised. I draw inspiration from the changing light, even having watched it from this same place hundreds of times. Or I may be reading, looking up every few minutes to check out the sky. Do you have a spot where you watch the evening light changing? Do you have a ritual that surrounds this time of day?
As I write this newsletter, I am sitting at the end of a long dock in a very comfortable Adirondack chair on Lake Chautauqua at the Chautauqua Institute in western New York. I have been teaching gentle yoga classes in the morning by the lake and an embodied writing practice at lunchtime each day. The weather has been as perfect as one can hope for in that, outside yoga, while sounding idyllic, can be too hot, too cold, too buggy, all fairly unpredictable. But not this week. We have had cool evenings, and the mornings have had just the right amount of sunshine with temperatures in the high 60s and low 70s (15-20 degrees Celsius for my Australian/British readers). The grass is often wet from the dew. To me, all of this made the experience all the more delicious. I didn’t use my mat most of the time, because I enjoyed feeling the coolness of the grass under my feet.
Sometimes I still move my classes outside even when conditions are not as idyllic and make do (perhaps moving to the shade or lighting a mosquito coil) because I (and those in my class) will benefit simply from being outdoors. Yes, I had my hat on and my water bottle at hand and was sunscreen-slathered. When things align in this way, my theory is “let’s breathe consciously together for an hour.” I’m not one for making guarantees, but I am pretty confident that doing this will produce a positive result in the mind, body, and spirit. Ok, so I throw in some gentle movement and actual breathing practices. How pleasant it is doing a Warrior II while gazing out at the lake.
My point is to take your work outside when you can. The situation doesn’t always allow for an outdoor transition, but it is worth pushing a little. My lunchtime writing class was in a stuffy, cold, second floor smallish room. It was fine. But it was right off a lovely verandah. We took our chairs out onto the verandah and did our chair yoga practice together, then did our writing practice wherever we wanted. I usually stayed on the verandah, or I would stand and rest my notebook on the railing, staring out at Bestor Plaza taking in the people getting their afternoon jolt of Starbucks, the musicians, a band, children and adults on bikes, and ice cream lovers all around (shout out to Millie’s Ice Cream that began from my neighborhood in North Point Breeze, Pittsburgh). The breeze, the writing, and the company were memorable.
Each morning as I kicked off our yoga class, the nearby camp kids sang their morning gathering song as they began kayaking for the morning. The Bell Tower chimed the nine o’clock hour, and all was well in the shire. I am moving more here, both walking and biking. My body feels better for it (no kidding). I realize I have intentionally made more time for movement, allowing for the extra time it takes to walk and bike. I am wondering how I can sustain this intention when I am back in Pittsburgh.
On Wednesday, New York Times best-selling author, Kwame Alexander was the main speaker here. I only recently became acquainted with his work through his new memoir, Why Father’s Cry at Night: A Memoir in Love Poems, Remembrances, and Recipes. Chautauqua has a theme for each week. This week it is “A Life of Literature.” Kwame told his own story through literature. He was mesmerizing as his story unfolded, and he regaled us with his poems. We laughed, we cried; he had us in the palm of his hand. Clearly, he is a gifted and practiced speaker, and he seemed relaxed and entirely natural, even taking a picture of the audience and getting choked up, then beaming when he received a spontaneous standing ovation. Chautauquans know how to engage with an author and show their appreciation.
Here's my poetic version of that experience:
My inspirational bucket is full
My aspirational bar is set
Because Kwame Alexander has reminded me
Inspired me that, indeed, words are important
A life of literature transforms us
We learn, we heal, we grow.
We travel to worlds that are not our own
We get to stand in another’s shoes
Consider a different point of view
Lights go on, connections are made
We are animated through engagement
We nobodies become somebodies
All we ever wanted really
As poet Lucille Clifton reminds us
That we can “sail through this to that”
Any day that we want.
Oh yeah. That’s me with Kwame. I lined up with several hundred people to get that pic. He was still smiling.
Here’s a little “lakeshore magic” to round out your day:
Finally, as September rolls around, I will teach Gentle Yoga weekly again, beginning Tuesday, September 5, 8-9am ET. I will also be opening spots to see clients for yoga therapy one-on-one, in person or via Zoom. Email me at joyogi5@gmail.com to set up a time for a one-on-one class or click on the link below for the group class details.
Here’s the NEW recurring Zoom link and the details on registration.
Enjoy the rest of your August. Go outside when you can, bike, walk, take your yoga mat outside. But for now, I am off to teach a class a Bethany Beach, DE. Don’t forget your hat!
Be Well,
Joanne