fitness challenge: yoga under the stars

When I sat down to write this suddenly Garrison Keillor popped into my head. "Well, it's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, my hometown, out there on the edge of the prairie." Though I would change it to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and maybe the edge of a dead steel mill. But it doesn't have the same ring.

It's the first week in a very long time that I almost had the whole week off. I finished up at Lafayette on Monday. I had no training sessions, no online classes, no conferences. Nada. I could have gone on vacation. But alas, with no work I need to budget my money, so no vacation either.

Basically I goofed off all week. But I walked every day. Mostly in the neighborhood. I didn't make my step goals except for one day. That's always disappointing.

Wednesday my great nephew came over and mowed the grass. I weeded out an invasive plant. I finished it on Thursday. Friday I did errands and bought the silly pinwheel flowers above at the Dollar Tree. I don't impulse shop. But I did that day. Every time I see them out there they bring me joy. $3 well spent.

Wednesday my former walking coach from the Rodale Test Panels I did posted another one. This time for a book called "The Art of Stopping Time". It's on getting your time back. I applied. What the hell. Because usually I have no time. Last week was the exception.

Last night I attended "Yoga Under The Stars" at Cedar Creek Park in Allentown. It began at 9. I was falling asleep on the couch at 7:30. Clearly I am no longer a night owl. At 8 I considered not going. And then decided I was looking forward to it, even though my yoga skills are minimal, so dammit I was going. I left at 8:15. I wasn't going to give myself time to back out. Also I was unsure about parking. The lot near the pavillions is small.

I arrived about 8:35 and the lot was full. There were a lot of people assembling to the west, near the Cedar Crest College hill. And the people kept coming. And coming. People were still coming after it was dark and the Yogi started.  These buckets of candles lined the perimeter of the area being used.

While I waited for it to begin, I walked up and down the pathway to get some exercise. I counted the people. (I stopped at 125. At least 50 more came.) I was thinking about going home. I can't do this. I kept telling myself. Have you seen me get up and down? And everyone is sitting in the lotus position. I barely want to start. I haven't been able to do that since the 80s. But then the musician started playing the sitar at about 8:45. And the Yogi came over to talk to me, and I quieted myself and just did it.

I did not take my bulky mat which might have been a mistake. Instead I took the JCC towel I got from the JCC polar plunge a couple of years ago. It was not a good choice because it wrinkles up when you move on it. One thing I should have brought was a bag for my phone and keys and shoes. Once it became dark it was hard to see them.

It was a full moon and Saturn was right next to it. Above me was the Big Dipper. To the west of that was another planet. I'm not sure which. Maybe Jupiter? I looked on the star charts for last night and found that seven planets were visible, and the best ones were Saturn, near the moon, Jupiter,  and Venus.

I was in the back row, of course, so I was able to hear well. However, I'm sure many people were not able to hear. The PA went in and out and the Yogi was soft-spoken. At the end the musician said he would work on amplifying her voice for the next session. I think there were times even he couldn't hear her. But there's a fine balance between quiet and natural and blaring.

We started late but it was at least an hour. I was by no means graceful, but I could do most of the moves, often using the adaptions. There's no way I'm doing a tree pose without a wall.

I think I'm going back the 25th. It's glow night. A trip to the Dollar Tree for glowy stuff will be in order. There is no fee but they do donations for their kids program. Fair price.

Miles/Steps: 20-ish for the week
Bathrooms:   None
Wildlife:        City animals and birds. Geese were loud and honking last night
Weather:       Unseasonably cool.
$ Found:        4¢
Extras:          I forgot how much fun it was to lay on the grass and look at planets and stars. How cool is it to have the Big Dipper over your head?