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It’s Spring!

I have to say, that after what seemed like a very long, very cold and all around difficult winter, I am beyond excited for Springtime in Kansas City. I’ve been getting things ready for the warmer weather–purging old clutter, removing obstacles both physically and spiritually to make room for the new growth that Springtime brings and getting out to explore the city as it comes to life again.

Springtime in Kansas City.

Another way I am honoring and creating space for growth and renewal within myself is by taking a moment to reconnect and get back into my exercise routine.  The winter treated me pretty well overall–I got to run the PsychoWyco (lemme tell you about that sometime!) and connected with a personal trainer, but I can definitely tell that the long nights, lack of sunlight and cold have taken their toll on me.

 

Like anything trying to grow, however, I am trying to remind myself that it’s going to take a little bit of time for the habits that I took for granted last year to become fully realized in this moment. It’s a little hokey, but I can relate in some ways to the sprouting flowers and the beginnings of blossoms I see on the trees around here–we all know that they will become, but it’s a process to get there.

 

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People talk a lot about New Year’s Resolutions and what they are going to accomplish–I have started taking a different approach.  I am making seasonal resolutions–trying to focus my time and energy on things that are appropriate for the season. I have found that when I go with the seasons and stop trying to fight the natural world’s rhythm, things fall into place.  For example, Winter is a time to reflect, draw inward, nest, build and support a home structure–it is also a time to work on warming the body from the inside through powerful, earthy Yoga sequences or brisk, winter-time activity fun such as skiing or snowshoeing which use deep core muscles and groups.   Winter is also a reminder that simple can be the most beautiful–taking in a landscape that is essentially devoid of color and seeing the beauty in it can be as therapeutic as meditating.

 

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So, now that it’s Spring, I’m moving out of hibernation as it were and into the routine of active growth, self-exploration and moving meditations. I am also figuring out ways to bring the elements of the budding world around me into the home–fresh flowers, small changes in color schemes and fresh, seasonal foods are all working their way into my daily life.

 

It’s not easy in the world we live in to stay mindful of the natural flow of the earth and the environment–we have every device and technological advance available to make nature more of an accessory than a guide.  But, I believe that allowing the seasons to influence us on a deeper, more involved level can lead to a sense of purpose and happiness.

 

So, get out there and start enjoying Spring and all the months of growth and warmth to come!

 

If you’re looking for more great tips on how to bring seasonal rhythm into your life, check out this article from Yoga Journal!

 

 

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WordPress snow and longing for some deep winter

WordPress has some fancy footwork in play (hooray HTML5), which makes the screen appear to be snowing. It’s making me long for some real-life snow of our own. People can argue for or against Global Warming all they want, but the reality is, we’re living in different times than we used to and it’s really scary. The Yoga I practice tells me that I should accept change as it comes, breathing in and out all the same, accepting the day-to-day fluctuations. But the idea of rapid, major Global change is terrifying to me. It’s overwhelming and it makes me want to get out there and do something about it–and then reminds me how small of a blip on the map I really am.  It’s very humbling to look at and process the numbers of people on this planet and the rates at which we consume every single day. And those of us who recycle and make or grow our own foods and drive less, walk more, ride bikes, whatever it is, aren’t even making a dent in the overall population.  We aren’t putting the atmosphere back together every time we make a good decision and ride a bike instead of driving our cars.  We are accomplishing lots of other wonderful things but it’s not like we can simply undo what we’ve done already.

I don’t mean to sound pessimistic but it’s something that I think about, a lot.

I don’t like talking about my fears like this and I don’t like being controlled by them, but I’ve also learned the value of expressing those emotions and feelings which threaten to consume me.  And so, there it is. I am afraid of Global Warming and of not having any power to stop it.

 

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Merry Happy Holiday Stuff!

So, the holiday season is upon us here in Kansas City and, while it’s far from snowing here, it is still starting to feel a little bit like the holidays.

This being said, I wanted to share my Etsy site with you all and let you know that I happen to be hosting a sale.   All you have to do is enter coupon code Merry15 at checkout!

Love you all and have a safe and wonderful Holiday Season.

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So it’s been a while. Hopefully all can be forgiven.

I think I’m talking mostly to myself in that title but ya know, whatever.  It’s been an awesome, busy, ridiculous and stressful month of July and as it came to a close on the 31st, I can’t say that I was sorry to see it go.  First and foremost, this blog is supposed to be about the random awesome that can be found in Kansas City. SO, for all of you who don’t know, we just wrapped our 8th annual KC Fringe Festival and by god was it awesome or what.  457 shows, 30 visual artists, a mobile Art Truck (Yes, the one from the pictures I posted earlier in the season! Wait til you see it now!), amazing, amazing volunteers and good friends.  It’s a force to be reckoned with.  </soapbox>  Go check out our webpage if you haven’t before and if you’re in town next year, check us out.  We’d love to have you!

 

This blog is not just focused on Kansas City, however.  It’s also focused on the growth that I have experienced and continue to experience during my time here.  Maybe it’s narcissistic.  Maybe I don’t care.  Ha.  Ego.  Take that.

 

We recently went to Colorado and it was a strange but great trip overall.  I did all the requisite revisiting of places and spent time in the mountains.  I even showed off my new job skills by working from Golden while sipping a mocha in the beautifully cool air.  We mountain biked, we indulged, we fell down mountains and got really sunburned and had to reorganize our trip a bit to accommodate for said blunders….and yet it left with a really strange sense of uncovering something that I had left deeply buried.  I still can’t wrap my mind around it really but I feel like something has been opened up, uncovered, exposed perhaps.  I don’t know.  It’s not that I want to move back to CO just yet, I’m not ready for that for all sorts of reasons.  But I also don’t want to sit in KC the rest of my life.  It’s a strange place to be in;  on one hand I’m involved in and making a difference in some really awesome things in Kansas City–experiences that I don’t feel would be as readily available in other cities, especially one as competitive as Denver–and yet, I know this isn’t where I’m going to end up.  I want to go to grad school, I want to continue to travel, I want to experience living with new horizon lines and an ocean–or maybe different mountains–or both.  I say it’s a strange place to be because it’s not exactly wanderlust I’m feeling–at least that I know what to do with.  I’ve spent most of my life wanting to be somewhere else.  This “exposing” of whatever it is that is driving this shift in perception comes at a time when I thought I was getting better at living in the present.  Perhaps I am.  Perhaps that’s why I am not experience true wanderlust and instead something that is quieter–different.  

 

I don’t know.

 

I have been trying a new yoga class the past few weeks–I’m still going to see Bernie of course–but I added a Kria Yoga class to my regime.  I was really, really skeptical at first.  Me?  Use props?  My inner Ego just about threw a fit.  I had always and incorrectly perceived that props were for people who couldn’t just touch their damn toes.  I’m wrong.  I knew I was wrong but now I really know it.  We did a supported chest opener that was practically religious.  It was amazing.  We don’t cover as much ground in this new class but the ground we do cover is very thoroughly done.  I appreciate the slower pace and the focus and attention given to some of the more forgotten parts of the Yogic body.  And, the teacher comes around and gives scalp massages.  It really doesn’t get any better than that!

 

More on all of this later–definitely needed to jump back into the Blogging Waters though! 

 

 

 

 

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Mmmm Tasty TED Talks. (c:

 

I have quite a lot I want to write about but it’s taking some time to percolate and form itself in my mind.  So, I’m waiting.  I’m trying not to procrastinate–sometimes these blog posts are difficult for me and I don’t know why.  I feel like I’m trying to saysomething but I can’t quite get to heart of it.  I have missed my blogging, however, and it’s time to get back on the saddle.

It has been a very crazy transitional period for me the past month or so and as the dust begins to settle I can see that it’s been a very good thing.  Prana is in everything and we need to stir it up sometimes!

 

I just returned from a trip to Colorado where we went mountain biking and visited some old and new haunts–wonderful trip filled with all of the requisite “Summer Things”:  Lots of playing outside from dusk ’til dawn, delicious iced coffees sipped from verandas with mountain views, sun-soaked skin and a dose of adventure and pure Nature.  I have much more to say and some stories to tell but I don’t think now is quite the time.  So, instead, go enjoy the TED talk on creativity and the roles and destruction of “Genius” from Elizabeth Gilbert and I’ll be back shortly with some musings.

 

Namaste.