High Vibe Festival

A couple of weekends ago, myself and some fellow yogis loaded up and headed down south for a one-day yoga festival. Friday night we headed out for a delicious dinner and drinks with some other Sioux Falls yogis, and then we went to bed pretty early in anticipation for our big day!

Our hotel was right next to an awesome breakfast spot, so I convinced Julie to join me to fuel up for the day. Avo toast and a beet+orange juice was heavenly. Food coma good.

Then it was time to head to the festival. We started off the day with a huge class as a community in the middle of a field. My girl, MC Sweet, lead the class, and it was the most magical way to start the day. She had a singer/guitar player sing us through savasana, and it was Stevie Nick's Landslide, which was a song my mom used to sing all the time. The festival was two days after the anniversary of her passing, so I had all the tears. Savasana tears, so necessary.

Next up was a class led by our yogi friends from Sioux City. Jackie owns the most beautiful studio. It's exactly what I'd dream of having if I owned my own space. Gorgeous. Her and Jianna led us through a really challenging but fun flow as well.

We had a great lunch nearby, and I was ready for a nap. But it was time for more yoga! I took 5 total classes during the day for 7.5 hours of yoga. Woof. I was one sore girl, but how do you say no to classes taught by friends and teachers you only see once in awhile?! You don't.

It was such a lovely way to spend the day with my teacher friends. Can't wait for the next one!

Yoga Rocks the Park

In March of 2015, I started my 200 hour yoga teacher training through Lotus House of Yoga in Omaha, Nebraska. They sent staff up to Sioux Falls every other weekend for 5 months as we got to open up their brains and pour their knowledge into ours.

One of my favorite teachers organizes an awesome outdoor donation based yoga class that is on Sunday afternoons. Last summer, I tried to coordinate a weekend trip down there, hoping to take my mom along because I thought she'd enjoy just listening to the music and soaking up the energy, but either the weather wasn't good, my schedule didn't work, or my mom was too sick. Since it was her birthday weekend last weekend, I wanted to make sure I did fun stuff to celebrate her to keep myself from being in a state of mourning.

So Emily and I packed up after our 5k and drove down to Omaha. And since I had never actually been to Lotus before, that was our second stop! Home! or H (om) E. I finally snagged myself a coveted cat/cow tank top and then we popped over to the Farmer's Market.

I felt like we totally earned brunch after our sweaty walks to Lotus and through the Farmer's Market, but I had to be lame and abstain from alcohol because I was so nervous about the heat. This ginger/lemon/sparkling deliciousness was spot on, and I chugged about a gallon of water to prepare. The guac+toast+egg was what brunch dreams were made of.

It was record heat through the weekend, so Emily and I were nervous about outdoor yoga. I DON'T LIKE HEAT. I was drinking water like crazy and we showed up at the event two hours early to scope out a shady spot. We snagged them early on and were sweating just sitting on our mats. I got to see my two favorite yoga teachers and we shared hugs.

And then class started and it started to sprinkle. With the bluest of skies and brightest sun. And then it started to rain a little harder, quickly turning to flash flood level downpour, but we were so hot that we just kept flowing. And then the sound system cut out and we listened closer to MC's cues, just smiling and laughing through it all.

It was the most magical and awesome yoga class of my life. And as we wrapped up savasana the insanely oppressive heat was back, and we were on our way back to SoDak. Craziness.

500 Hour Yoga Teacher Training

On the last day of our 200 hour yoga teacher training, the owner of Lotus House of Yoga talked to us about the next level of training, the 500 hour yoga teacher training. This training would be an additional 300 hours of training. While the 200 hour training is seen as the "undergrad" level of training, so to speak, the 500 hour is the "masters" level.

It's a very small monetary commitment to sign up for the training, and then the weekend trainings are workshop based and pay as you go. While I don't ever intend on teaching yoga full-time, this really appealed to me. When I'm excited and passionate about something, I want to learn everything I possibly can about it! I decided I'd sign up in early 2016, and set aside the money I make teaching to pay for the workshops as they come up.

The workshops are primarily in Omaha and Lincoln, and there are quite a few of my classmates that are planning to do the 500 hour as well, so we could certainly carpool and share lodging when I'm down there, which will be great.

Recently my yoga studio announced that they are bringing up instructors to Sioux Falls for trainings, each of the weekends totally 25 hours toward my 500 hour certification. When I told Kyle about it,  he asked if I wanted the workshops for my wedding present. YES!

So in almost a month, I'll be starting my 500 hour training, and I'm so excited!