I went to Tahara’s wonderful Thanksgiving class, with 30 other students and I felt something I haven’t felt for a long time in yoga. It’s not uncommon actually, and it’s a great experience. I wasn’t sad, but I cried through her entire class. I even had to motion to her to please bring me a towel… not for the sweat, but for the tears. I started crying right from the start. I was kind of surprised by it. I wasn’t expecting it at all. And then I found myself crying all the way through, and I kept going all the way through savasana. Have you ever done that? I’d love to hear about it.

Years ago I was on a yoga retreat in Mexico and I bawled through the whole class there too. I’ll admit, looking out at the jungle and ocean when you’re in tree pose can help you get overwhelmed. But this was really a lot of TEARS…. and it lasted for over an hour. I just cried…like I mean, I bawled. My teacher, Eric, kept walking by and he’d look at me and I’d whisper “I don’t know what going on” and smile, and sometimes laugh through the tears. But those tears kept coming. Afterward when we were eating he said “You apparently really needed to release something!” I guess I did… I felt great afterward. I felt new. I still remember it many years later.

On Thanksgiving Day, when it happened, I again felt great afterward. If you come to my classes, you probably know things about my life. I share personal stuff… probably too much, so some of you know I’ve been walking through a storm… same as all of us sometimes do. The pendulum always swings both ways in life. The past two years have been two of the most difficult I’ve had so far. Kind of like a bomb went off in my world. It happened in April of 2023, and the mess it made has taken me a long time to clean up. People kept saying “I don’t know how you’re doing this.” I used a lot of “is that so” and “this too shall pass”… things I learned from Eric on that Mexico retreat, and all my yoga trainings. Like a buffalo, I headed straight forward, through the storm, head down, trudging through, one step at a time. I feel like I’m on the other side of the storm, making my way back out now. Don’t get me wrong, the past year has also given me some of my best days ever. My son graduated from high school and move off to college. I got married on August 8th to Bob, my best friend, who has been like a tether, keeping me from losing it. Our kids were with us, in Tulum, Mexico. (Apparently, I’m a fan of Mexico.) It was lovely… literally. Full of love. By far one of the best weeks of my whole life.

Speaking of Bob, the other day he said to me, “Can you come over here and help me hang this TV?” I was making dinner and I jokingly said “I’ll come over there if you can name one thing you love about me, and it has to be something I’ve never heard you say yet.” He was like “Oh come on!” He secretly likes when I do that though… I just know it. I stood with my arms crossed, tapping my foot, smiling. He said “Ok! Fine. I have one… You’re resilient.” I was like “Huh?” and he said “Yeah, you’re strong.” Ok, wow….that whole “tell me something you love about me” bit worked! That was nice! But I am. I humbly agree. And it’s because of all the storms I have gone through in my life. The ones I had to trudge straight through, head down, one step at a time. I’m grateful for those… they got me through this one. And when the next one comes, “here we go… let’s do this.” I don’t WANT another one! I’m not ASKING for another one! (Did You hear that up there? I’m not asking for more!) But we’re here on Earth to learn and grow, right? We’re here for the storms. “If nothing changes, nothing changes.” I heard once that we shouldn’t think of those so-called bombs as disasters, “but rather arrows, pointing us in a different direction.” That’s helpful.

In yoga you’ve most likely heard “we hold our issues in our tissues.” We hold on to stuff. I do! When I have a hard time I get knots in my back, a stiff neck, I can’t sleep, and I eat and get bigger. My tissues get bigger. (I should use that in yoga “we hold our french fries in our tissues.”) We do hold our issues inside though. We smile through the pain. We push our feelings aside and take care of other people. Thats why, sometimes in yoga, we cry. We move, we breathe, and we release. The issues in our tissues come out! The stiffness, the tension, the sweat, the tears…it flows right out. The past year and a half I have been neglecting my role as the Czar of Happy Hour, because I’ve had to handle other things. You might have noticed, I’m more present with work things. My time has freed up and I can do the things I need to do once again. I’m at the end of that storm cloud. I sold two houses, my daughter can drive, my ex-husband is improving daily, my mom has healed and is doing well, my son has transitioned into school, I’ve paid off huge debts, I’m planning a fun yoga event… I feel like I can breathe again. So at yoga on Thanksgiving Day, I cried. And it was good. Like letting go of a huge balloon with no knot. Can you picture me flying around the room making that fluttering balloon sound and gently landing at the back of the room, deflated and relaxed. That was me. All those issues came out of my pores, out of my tissues, out of my eyes, and it was wonderful!

It happens. Quite often. Lots of times in a yin yoga class people just cry. Sometimes in a vinyasa class. Any class really. It’s not weird, it’s a beautiful thing. A release. I hope you experience it one day. Let me know if you have. Now if I could just stop eating.

Thanks for “listening”… namaste.

Why not buy a friend a gift!! A sample of classes at Happy Hour!! If your friend ends up buying a package, YOU GET A SWEATSHIRT!

A SAMPLER PACK FOR A NEW CLIENT  $40

This is purchased FOR new clients ONLY!  The recipient you choose will get 1 apparatus class and 3 yoga classes to try at the studio.  This option will expire 6 months after you purchase it. 

Go to the online store and choose Sampler Gift Card.  Choose the recipient and the date you would like the email to be sent.  You can also include a personal message.  The recipient will receive an email on the date you choose and can click on USE in the email and start booking classes immediately. 

Here’s the BEST PART!  If your recipient purchases a 10 pack or a monthly/annual membership after they finish the sampler pack, YOU GET A SWEATSHIRT!!  Just let me know that your friend made a purchase, and we’ll get you the sweatshirt. 

I blogged three days in a row and then…crickets. My thousands of followers have probably been waiting on the edge of their seats wondering “Where is Nancy?!?” Stop worrying all of you. I’m right here. (Is anyone even reading this?)

So my last post was on a Friday. I knew I would probably not post on the weekend. And now it’s Wednesday. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving so it’s been an abnormal week. I left town Monday and came back Tuesday. I visited a friend in prison. Someday I may tell you about that, but not today. I wanted to jump on here quickly and make a brief post even though kids are home, no school today, husband is off work… it’s your typical get-up-to-a-quiet-house and post kind of day. But here I am, trying to stick to the plan.

I’m going to try and get to the store early. I haven’t purchased one item for Thanksgiving tomorrow… well except for cream for my mom’s coffee, cuz I always forget that. I’m going traditional this year…turkey, potatoes, stuffing, cranberries… nothing weird. My mom’s OG… is that how I’m supposed to use that in a sentence?

When I woke up to blog this morning, I realized that none of my blogs/posts were publishing to the Blog page. So an hour later and a click of a button, I fixed it. But I wasted an hour… so I have to get going. I still blogged though! So good for me. Happy Thanksgiving every buddy!

I’m trying to create this habit of writing every day, and so far so good. Three whole days! I’m trying to get to 21 days and then keep going. I taught vinyasa yoga last night and asked everyone if there’s a habit they’d like to START… like I’m doing here. Is there a habit YOU would like to start? What could you start doing today that you could keep doing every day… or every week that would be good for you? Make it a routine first. I think we’ll start doing this at the studio for the New Year. Instead of giving up something, START something.

I’m wondering if I should do this on the weekends or just the week days. I don’t think I’ll do it on Sundays. I spend Sunday mornings planning my Sunday morning class at the studio. It takes a while. I plan that class Sunday and tweak it all week for my other classes at the studio during the week. I usually make a playlist and do the same with that all week long. And I go through ideas in my head of some sort of message I can bring to the class. Usually, it’s something I need to hear for myself… and I just say it out loud. So I may skip writing on Sundays, but I’m going to try and keep this up all week, every week. The hardest part is thinking of something to write about. I’m sure that will start getting easier. Right now this is a bit like Seinfeld. A blog about nothing. I wanna keep it like that in a way.

Thanksgiving is less that a week away. It seems like a very busy week this year. I have my great nieces baptism and my son’s birthday on Sunday, going to visit a friend out of town Monday and Tuesday, I’m forgetting something about Wednesday, a Thanksgiving class Thursday morning that Tahara is teaching, a small Thanksgiving dinner here at my house on Thursday, a big Friendsgiving on Saturday for my son and all his college buddies who are finally back together this week! Four days later is my daughter’s birthday. Fun…but I prefer the quieter weeks. I think I’ll decorate the house for Christmas on Sunday.

So today’s blog was a bore… but that’s not the point. Not yet at least. It’s day three. I’m just trying to keep my word to myself. Whether it was boring or riveting makes no difference. I’m sticking to it. So what can YOU do? What can you START today… “day one”… and make it three days through. And then four… and then…. It doesn’t have to be Earth shattering or mind blowing. If it’s exercise… just walk around the block. By day three, just walk around the block again. Be realistic and start slow or you’ll hate it and quit. Like me…. a boring post, but I’m doing it! Just start the habit… just say it out loud. That’s your first step… and then start. One day? Or day one!

I did it. Here I am again! Day two of my new habit of writing each day. Is there a habit you’d like to start? Habits are usually hard to stop… but maybe even harder to start! You know how you stop working out for a little bit, and then it’s so hard to get back going again? Well at least for some of us. “Me, hi, I’m the problem it’s me.” I need to get back to my own personal yoga practice. I used to do yoga every day… sometimes twice a day. When you become a teacher it changes your practice. In a lot of ways… that’s a post for another day. But if there’s a habit you want to get into, why not start today? I started yesterday. And I’m bringing you along to hold myself accountable. Of course there’s a chance I won’t keep it up. But there’s a good chance I will, because I said it out loud. So here I am, day two.

I saw Neil Diamond’s A Beautiful Noise last night in Chicago. It was great. I got us tickets for my stepson, for his birthday. He loves doing musicals at school and he’s a really good singer. He’s 17 years old and it’s hard to think of a gift for a 17 year old boy. Well, except my son… he wants anything that costs over $500. Whatever that is… that’s what he wants. Bobby likes music and plays and musicals, so we took him last night, and my mother-in-law too. We all loved it… it was great. I’ve always loved Neil Diamond. I’ve seen him a few times in concert. I didn’t know he was so plagued with anxiety. I think some yin yoga would have been good for him. If you have a chance to see it, I recommend it! I can picture Bobby living in the city one day, doing musicals and living his best life! I hope he follows his passion.

So, before I start my day… back to yin yoga. It really does help with anxiety and depression. I think the whole world should practice yin yoga. Anyone can do it. It’s a very relaxing and slow moving class. Last night when I was sleeping I woke up with a cramp in my calf, and again this morning, a cramp in my chest. I have neck issues and ever since, I’ve gotten cramps in my pectoral muscles. Usually when I cross my arm in front of my chest… it’s weird. I need to drink more water… yes, I know. Another habit I need to start. Anyway, I immediately thought “I need to do some yin yoga”… it would open up that muscle, the fascia, all the tissue in my chest. So I opened up into a twist until it loosened up. If you get really tight it’s a great practice to add to your day. If you’re a weight lifter, a body builder, a couch potato, a truck driver, a golfer, swimmer, pickle baller… anyone, anywhere… it’s great for you! And it will teach you to quiet your mind. I hear a lot “I can’t just lay there and do nothing.” Yes you can… and you should. Yin yoga will teach you how, and you might (once you learn…and practice) just enjoy slowing down a little bit. “Day One” or one day? Give it a try. At Happy Hour we call our yin classes Let Go. Check it out on the schedule and try it. Or look up “yin yoga near me” wherever you are and find a place near you. You’re welcome.

I’m off to the coffee pot again. Time to start the day… gunna plan a Black Friday discount for the studio, clean my desk, make some fliers for the big yoga fest coming up, do payroll, and do a little shopping. My son’s birthday is Sunday… now where did I put that $500?