June has been a bit of a chaotic month. So I’ve loved simplifying and leaning into small things.
This Question: What summons you?
SO MANY ANSWERS. Here are some seasonally-themed ones:
Spring: a baby calf, a lightweight hoodie from an Indie business, a pile of fresh cut grass
Summer: a tomato stem candle, a bouquet of flowers, a book with a compelling cover
Fall: cranberry anything, hot mulled fruit liquid (any variety), a red maple leaf
Winter: a ball of yarn, a sleeping Beagle, a fluffy blanket
Pick Your Own
When I was in Missouri for a visit, my parents and I picked blueberries at Ozark Berry Farm. I also spend last Saturday at Hill Country Lavender, where you can cut your own sprigs. I LOVE a pick-your-own situation. The produce matters less to me than the experience of getting my own things from the plants that grow them. I have mixed feelings about agritourism, probably from being from an agricultural area (it doesn’t make much sense to go to a pick-your-own apple farm when there are apple trees in your backyard). But the longer I’ve lived in cities, the more I think that this type of engagement is important for education and a connection to the land where we live, however mitigated by someone else.
Embracing a Chaotic Sleep Schedule
Summer does a NUMBER on my sleep. I can never decide whether I want to prioritize maintaining a schedule so August is less of a shock to the system or lean into the lateness of the dusk and shift my schedule back more naturally. I also can’t decide if it’s worth it to get up when it’s cool (or cooler - 82 at 7am hardly feels cools) or just know that a southwestern summer is like a northeastern winter, and I’m just going to stay inside a lot. This summer, I gave up and am sleeping when I feel like it and trying very hard to not decide what I’m doing on unscheduled days until I get up in the morning. Embracing the chaos has its own set of consequences, but it’s easier than trying to figure it out.
Pose of the Month: Lizard Lunge
I’ve been working with lizard quite a bit this year but thinking more about it this month. My first memory of this pose was actually one of my teachers saying, “I am not a fan of this pose,” during a class. At the time, I didn’t know what I didn’t know, so I thought I was doing okay with lizard. What resonated, though, was the idea that, “huh, it’s okay not to like a certain pose.” Permission to not like something, to struggle with it, to need a deeper breath than usual before facing it proved pretty freeing, both on and off the mat.
Fast forward to the past year or so. After literal decades of tight shoulders and focus on my upper body, the tension seemed to work its way down, settling in my hamstrings and inner hips. After quite a bit of research and asking a lot of questions, I discovered this might be from an increase in weight-training type exercises and pilates, so have started to more intentionally counterstretch after those types of activities. Lizard lunge is great for this, and I can also feel that this is what I’m supposed to be doing when I come into it, which is perhaps more important than even the knowing that it’s what I should be doing.
I also have a neighborhood of tiny lizards that live near my house. I’ve been watching them, mostly with interest, but also with some quiet horror in dawning on me as to why lizard lunge is called lizard lunge - I haven’t even been trying to put my elbows on the floor, which is where the “lizard” part comes in. Not that it has to be that (it doesn’t), but just that I have been missing a key component of comprehension of what could be for years.
Simultaneously, I’ve started to dip my toes into arm balances, with not a whole lot of progress, which, surprise, is because they’re about upper body strength, yes, and hip flexibility. More confusion, many more questions, and my teacher eventually suggested that I focus on one arm balance and a lot of lizard lunges, slowly working into my hips. After an eye-roll or dramatic sigh on my part (or, you know, probably both together), she said, “here’s the thing - I don’t know if you’ll be able to do xxx arm balance, and you don’t know that either; you may not be able to. But if you keep doing this, you will come out of the process with stronger arms and more flexible hips, and that’s good, too.”
And that’s good, too.
A perfect reminder that a sense of expectation of outcome and grasping for said outcome is at the root of suffering, and to take the good that comes our way.
I’d love to hear what you’re loving in June and looking forward to as we move toward July. I’d also love nothing more than to know what could summon you!
July’s calendar is here! I’m out of town quite a bit in July, for work things and not-work things, so I’ve got two Sunday practices to offer around those trips. Hope to see you there (lizard lunges if you want them, no arm balances yet, I promise).
What summons you - I love this question!
Some of my answers: blue hydrangeas, the first cup of coffee in the morning (especially if everyone else in the house is asleep), books arranged in rainbow order, a new rug, sunset or sunrise sky colors, the ocean.