Earlier this week I did something I haven’t done in a very long time — and I was much more unsure about it than I expected. More about that later…

It made me think about this idea of living in alignment.

It’s one of those phrases that can sound a little… yoga-ish. But when you strip away the language, the idea is actually very practical:

Does the way I’m living reflect what matters to me?

It’s easy to say that family matters, health matters, creativity matters, rest matters — and then look at an average week and realize very little time is actually going toward those things.

That doesn’t necessarily mean something is terribly wrong. Sometimes life is just busy. Sometimes we’re still living according to priorities that made sense a few years ago but don’t quite fit anymore.

A few signs that something may be a little out of alignment:

• You keep saying yes when you really want to say no.

• Something takes a lot of your energy but doesn’t feel very important anymore.

• You say something matters to you, but somehow it never makes it onto the calendar.

There are so many things we do simply because they seem sensible, productive, responsible, or expected — without stopping to ask whether they still make sense for us.

Which brings me to something I did yesterday.

I was both a little anxious and at the same time excited.

And to explain why… we need to go back about 50 years.

I grew up in Sweden in the 70s and 80s, when disco was IN.

I went to my first disco at age 6 — a mini disco for preschoolers at the local community center. (And yes, in Sweden you don’t start school until age 7.)

Once I started school, there was dancing all the time.

By the time I was 15, we wanted to go to bigger discos. The problem was that I grew up in the countryside. There really weren’t anything nearby, and there was no chance our parents were going to drive us. You walked, biked, or took the bus — and the local bus stopped running around 6.

So someone converted a barn into a disco and organized a bus that drove around picking up teenagers from all the little villages. Heaven for stranded teenagers!

In college and as a young adult, I went out dancing several times a week. Not just to party or meet people, but because I genuinely loved dancing.

And now?

I might dance a few times a year.

How does something you really love just quietly disappear from your life?

Being 55+ also makes it surprisingly hard to find places to go out dancing without feeling like the odd one out.

So yesterday, I did a little something about it.

I went to my first beginner hip-hop class for adults.

Was it exactly what I’m looking for? Not sure yet.

But I took a small step towards something.....

Salsa might be next.

And maybe that’s what living in alignment looks like sometimes.

Not changing your whole life.

Just noticing that something you love has gone missing — and deciding to make a little room for it again.

Living in Alignment: Yoga + Journaling
Wednesday, September 2 • 6 PM
Fred Fletcher Park

Living in Alignment: Yoga + Journaling

See you soon,

Tina

Yoga Explorer

Want to reach me? Just reply to this email! Always here

PS Sunrise yoga with Jessica Friday August 28th, 7 am

PSS Living in Alignment: Yoga + Journaling, Wednesday Sept 2, 6 pm

PSSS Around 8 Friday night, find a quiet spot, look east, take a deep breath, forget about everything else for a minute, and watch the full moon rise.

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5 class pack- $49

September schedule

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