It’s a beautiful summer afternoon at the beach! It looks like Tinkerbell came floating by and sprinkled her glittery fairy dust all over the surface of the water. Like shiny little diamond specks everywhere! I am here with my son and his friend. There are a million things I could be doing at home for work and family, but I chose to be here. I am grateful that I get to make that choice today.
Our summer days here in Minnesota can be unpredictable, so feeling gratitude for every beautiful day is a wonderful practice! Take every second you can to soak it all in. I am lying on a pizza slice shaped floatie that looks so realistic, my stomach is now craving pepperoni pizza. This is so comfortable that I actually fell asleep or a few minutes (don’t tell our friends mom). As I am lying here, working on diminishing my ridiculous tan lines, I found my mind drift off to a yoga class I taught this morning. It brings a smile to my face because it was awesome! Not because of the teaching, but because of the full room of women and their collective, beautiful energy. There was a wide range of ages, body types and personalities all gathered together in our space for one general reason-quieting their minds and bodies. Rest. Me time. Time to rejuvenate. New moms, grandmas, newly empty nesters, young girls…all breathing their combined energy together. This is a tribe. As I smiled I also felt a little jealous. About what? That I wasn’t here as a student. Let me clarify, I am always a student, and my students are my best teachers! But this morning I was really tired. Dog tired. Like I could definitely down 6 more cups of coffee and lay in savasana (corpse pose) all day or binge watch a Netflix series with one of my kids. This is a sign that I obviously have not been getting my own yoga in for myself. I’ll get it in later, eventually, hopefully.
As I lay on this pizza slice floatie looking to the water, I watch the boys play, laugh and splash. I find myself falling into a focused rhythm of breath, feeling the inhale fill the belly and up towards the heart and the exhale drawing in towards the spine. A steady, calming breath. I am grateful. Grateful to know this practice. Grateful that it doesn’t need to be done only on a mat. Grateful that I can lay belly to cheese and pepperoni, while observing children’s pure joy at the beach and…breather. Full breaths. I hope I get some physical yoga practice in today. If I don’t, I have this. A little chunk of time at the beach. Me, my floatie, the boys and my breath. That’s my yoga today. Gratefulness, breathing and a pizza floatie.
The lady parked next to us at the beach just yelled to her kids,” What kind of pizza should I order for dinner?” I almost answered pepperoni. (I am not making this up.) Maybe my grounded floatie made her hungry too? I love this crazy beautiful life!