 Dear Friends,
It’s that time of year…when the leaves are a rich dark green and we are on the cusp of change but we’re not quite there yet. Last weekend I went on a ride through the park and was just hit by the heaviness of the world around me, the dark, rich green of the trees surrounding me as I rode past them. I saw very little color in the leaves as I rode through the park, although by the time this post comes out, there might be a bit more to be seen, but the trees were heavy with the final weeks of leaves, with the last gasp of the season. The seasons have officially changed from summer to fall, the air has gotten a bit crispier in the mornings, and we are on the cusp of that change in the world around us, but we’re not quite there yet. It’s almost like we’re in a bit of a pause before the next phase. For some that pause, that anticipation, might feel like a welcome relief…and for others there might be a space of sadness in anticipation of the next phase. Whatever you’re feeling in that space of anticipation, I hope you can give yourself permission to feel your own feelings, to breathe into the space where you happen to be just a bit more, to notice your own needs. My dear friends, may we breathe a little deeper during the changes in our lives this week. I hope you have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista
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 Dear Friends,
Back in June I wrote a post about “the shoulds”, and about a little patch of land in my backyard that in former years held a garden, and now was growing a jungle…how I thought about weeding that little patch of land, but my son wanted to keep our little jungle going, so we kept it. And, oh boy, did our jungle grow. It grew and grew and grew….those weeds got taller and taller. On the regular we would go out there and laugh and cackle about how tall they’d gotten. We’d show anyone who came over. They grew to deck height, they grew taller than the fence, they passed the top of the garage, they grew taller than the deck fence. I think the tallest one was about 12 feet tall when they finally stopped growing. Let’s be honest, at some point they stopped being attractive and just started taking over. The last big rainstorm that came through, they were done. They had grown so tall that many bent over toward the ground and took up the rest of the backyard…and it was time to let our little jungle go. So last weekend we spent a day tearing out our little jungle. It was time for them to go, so they went…but oh, how much joy that simple little patch of land brought us this past summer. All the laughing, all the cackling, all the wondering when they were ever going to stop growing. No, it did not utilize the space in a great way, and yes, it totally took over our backyard, and at some point turned into a bit of an eyesore. And yet, with all that, our little jungle sure did bring us joy. My dear friends, I hope you will find a little more joy in the most simple of things this week. I hope you will find a little more in your life to laugh and cackle about. Have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista  Dear Friends,
I’ve been thinking about and sitting in last week’s blog post a lot this past week, and in the thought of allowing ourselves to honor that space between where we were and where we want to be, to at times sit in the discomfort that comes in that space between. I think that space between is an essential part of our journey, and, I think, is just as important as any other part of our journey. And, even with the importance of the space between, eventually we have to cross that bridge, eventually we have to get to the other side. Allowing ourselves the time and space to cross our bridges is essential, allowing ourselves to be in that space of between without judgment is essential. And yet, just as essential as giving ourselves time without judgment, is the recognition that we can’t live in that space of between forever. My dear friends, if there are spaces in your life where you are between where you were and where you want to be, I hope you can come a little closer to where you want to be…without judgment, without rush, without a firm timeline…but with a willingness to continue walking over that bridge for as long as it takes. Have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista  Dear Friends,
Throughout the park there are bridges, spanning the creek and allowing movement between the trail and the road. A few weeks ago I was chatting with a dear friend. As we talked, and then as I thought about the conversation after we talked, I became increasingly aware of this particular space in my life that held a bitterness I thought I had let go of. I became aware that, while I thought I had moved past this particular spot, I hadn’t…I was still holding on to hurt in that particular area of my life. The following day, at a client’s house, I stumbled across a picture. In the picture was a woman jumping across a chasm of water. Above the picture were the words “Honor the Space Between”...honor the space between where I was and where I want to be. I think oftentimes that space between feels uncomfortable. We don’t like being there. Oftentimes we want to move from one side of that chasm to the other without really sitting in and honoring that space between. But, my friends, that space between is part of it. That space between is essential. Just as we have to cross that bridge to get from one trail to the other, so too we at times have to sit in the discomfort of the space between…between where we were and where we want to be. My friends, I hope this week you will find a little more comfort in the uncomfortable…knowing that the space between is an essential part of your journey. I hope you have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista  Dear Friends,
The trail might be right in front of us, but it still takes getting started down it. Getting back at it. It’s hard, not super fun…and at times it’s downright demoralizing. A couple of days ago I was on a walk/hike/jog in the park. It was my firm intention to go for a jog, but it’s been a minute since I’ve had any regular cardio in my life. Covid hit me and my household, then there were a couple of recovery weeks post-Covid where I was minimizing my extra activity, and then summer and its loveliness and busyness and lack of routine happened…and now here we are. And, as I moved through the woods a few days ago, I could feel that lack of cardio, my heart and my lungs could feel that lack of cardio. So I walked, I hiked, I did a little bit of jogging and went back to walking. Back and forth, back and forth, in all honesty, significantly more walking than jogging, but movement all the same.. Let’s be honest, it was a little demoralizing. Getting back at it frequently is, right? Getting back to a space in life that formerly felt easy can be demoralizing. It can be really easy to, instead of cheering ourselves on for getting back, to instead let our minds and bodies move into a space of annoyance and judgment. But, my friends, what if we really allowed ourselves to work at getting back to that space that might have formerly felt easy without annoyance, without judgment. What if we simply allowed ourselves to get back into habits without looking down on ourselves for falling out of those habits? I hope, this week, we can cheer ourselves on just a little more. I hope we can celebrate ourselves and the ways we’re getting back, instead of casting judgment on ourselves for the way things used to be. I hope you have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista  Dear Friends,
Transitions, they’re rarely easy. Important, yes, but seldom are they easy. Life has been busy, I haven’t gotten out to walk in the woods very much lately, and I’ve been feeling it. Busyness. Of late, I’ve been noticing a tendency of mine. I’ve been noticing how, in anticipation of the future change and transitions I spoke about last week, I have this tendency to overfill my present time, to “make the most” of the time I have left at this particular stage in my life. And of late, I’ve gotten a bit of much needed push-back due to that particular tendency of mine. I’ve been noticing my reactions to that particular push-back. We all have a choice in how we’re going to react when we get feedback, right? We can choose to listen, to hear what those in our lives are saying, and to integrate that feedback if appropriate. Alternatively we can choose to shut that feedback down and dismiss it. My dear friends, I hope, this week, when we get that inevitable feedback that might not always feel so good to us, we can listen and hear what those in our lives are saying a little more fully. Perhaps we can allow the people in our lives to feel a little more safe so they feel like they can speak into our lives. Perhaps we can integrate that feedback into our lives if that’s appropriate. None of us can do this alone, none of us can do this perfectly, may we be a little more receptive to the wisdom of those around us this week, even when it stings a bit. I hope you have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista  Dear Friends,
A few weeks ago I was walking down a trail I’ve walked countless times previously. As I meandered I was noticing the regularity, the familiarity of the world around me. I was noticing how it all looked as it had previously. There were some new things I noticed, this pile of rocks to my left that looked a bit like I would imagine a fairy garden to look like…I hadn’t noticed those rocks, or if I had, I hadn’t internalized it….but mostly it all looked familiar to me. As I walked I was thinking about an upcoming life transition of mine. With one kid entering his last year of high school very soon and the other following the next year, transitions and life shifts have been on the horizon and have been settling into my body and my mind of late. There is this comfort in the familiar, right? There is a regularity, a coziness in knowing what’s going to come next, in what feels familiar. There’s a comfort in knowing what’s going to come next on the trail ahead of us, to see the markers that allow us to know where we are. And while we can and do grow and change in the familiar, I think there is a certain amount of forced growth and change that comes in the transitions, in the life shifts. But it doesn’t mean they're easy, right? Those transitions, those life shifts are important, essential…but never easy. My dear friends, may we breathe a little deeper into our transitions, into our life shifts this week. May we take comfort in those spaces in our life that continue to have regularity and familiarity, and may we look at our coming change with the knowledge that those shifts are also so very important. I hope you have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista  Dear Friends,
I was walking in the woods on one of those insanely hot days a few weeks ago. It’s always cooler in the park, so while it was hot, it wasn’t so stifling. I was walking a trail along the water, just enjoying the sounds of the world around me, and a park that was fairly deserted on a weekend due to the heat. As I hiked, I came across a trail I frequent, and decided to take a left up that trail to do a bit of a bigger loop then I had originally planned. I walked up the hill, and away from the coolness of the water and got hotter and hotter. While the world around me was still nice and shaded, the combination of increasing my elevation, and moving away from the water really increased my temperature. So instead of completing that loop, I took the first shortcut I came across and went back down to the water to continue my walk. There are times, my friends, when we need to figure out how to give ourselves some relief from the heat, where we need to find a little more ease, where we need to give ourselves permission to take what we need. There are times when we just need to take that shortcut. I hope, this week, if you need a little more ease, you can give yourself permission to take it. Have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista  Dear Friends,
Sometimes we simply need to make a plan. Remember last week and my total lack of motivation? Yeah, me too. So, my severe lack of motivation continued through the weekend last weekend. It felt near impossible to get myself to do anything in all honesty. Sunday afternoon I was feeling it. I was feeling down and unmotivated…but I knew I would feel better if I got myself outside. So midway through Sunday I made myself a plan and wrote it down. Part of my plan was to take a nap for a bit, as I was really tired, but to set my alarm and get myself up. After my alarm went off, my plan was to get down to the park and go for a nice long hike…and then on the way home my plan was to stop by the pool, take a dip, and spend an hour or so reading by the pool. I made my plan, I wrote it down, I executed it…and it was exactly what I needed…I just felt so much better after making and following my plan. There are times, my friends, where we simply need to make ourselves a tangible plan to motivate ourselves to do those things that we know will help us be and feel our best selves. I hope you have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista  Dear Friends,
There’s this spot in the park with a little stream running through it. After one of our heavy rains the stream is prominent, flowing down toward Rock Creek…but after a dry spell the stream frequently fully dries up, turning into practically nothing but a divot in the earth. This past week I had plans. Prior to this past week I had a list of things to get done during this week, and a plan to get through said list. And then I was hit with it. A severe lack of motivation, a lack of desire to do anything, really. Feeling tired, lethargic, hot, irritable…with zero desire to get through my checklist. So my plans, my list…well, let’s be honest here, most of it didn’t get done. The ebbs and flows of motivation, it’s real, folks. There are times when we need to get ourselves out of stagnation, where we need to find outside motivation even when we can’t find it in ourselves at the moment. But I think equally important is learning to practice less judgment for ourselves while we are in the midst of those very real and natural cycles of life. So, my friends, perhaps this week it is time for you to fill that little stream and find a little more outside motivation, or maybe it’s time to accept the dry spell you’re in with a little less judgment…or, as I frequently find in my own self, it’s a little bit of both. Wherever you are this week, I hope you have an amazing one. Love Krista  Hi Friends,
Last week we talked about finding pockets of slow even in the busy cycles of life. Finding pockets of slow amidst busyness…I believe this to be a really important practice for our own well-being. But here’s the thing, while it’s good and healthy to find pockets of slow, sometimes…well sometimes both the hardest and the most important thing we can do for ourselves is step away from places that are adding extra busyness to our lives. Perhaps we don’t want to step away, perhaps these areas that are increasing busyness in our lives are simultaneously areas that are sparking joy in our lives. Perhaps, as I experienced this past week with my September retreat, it feels embarrassing to step away from a commitment that you’ve already told others you’re going to do. Perhaps you feel there’s no feasible way to step away from that busyness, there’s no choice but to keep plugging through…and it might be true, there might be no choice but to keep plugging through. But, I wonder how it would feel to really look at our own commitments through the lens of our own well-being and unique needs. I wonder how it would feel to actually sit in and think through those areas where we have no choice but to keep plugging away, and those areas where we might be a bit embarrassed, where it might hurt us a little to walk away, but in the end, we actually can walk away, and that walking away can directly benefit our lives. I hope you have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista  Dear Friends,
My kids and I were driving home from the beach a few weeks ago in early July. The days are long and the sun was headed towards the horizon as we were started home from a day on the water. It was just a spectacular evening to watch the sky change colors and the sun set as we drove through the Eastern Shore on our way back to DC. As we were driving and I was watching the sun set, with nowhere else to be, with nothing else to do, I was thinking about the cycles we all go through. I’ve personally been in a bit of a busy cycle of life and work…all good things, but also busy. I can see a slowdown coming up, and while I’m enjoying all the various things I’m doing, I am also really looking forward to the slowdown. As I watched the sky turn a little pinker as the sun dipped below the horizon, I was thinking about the pockets of slow we can find, even in the midst of busy cycles of life…the spaces in our busyness that allows us to slow down a bit, to breathe a little deeper. My dear friends, whether you are in a slower time in your life, or whether life feels a little on the busy side at the moment, I hope you can find some pockets of slow, some spaces where you can breathe a little deeper, notice the world around you, and find a little more rest. I hope you have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista  Dear Friends,
I was on a slow, turtle-paced walk in the woods a while ago…enjoying the sounds and smells and sights of life around me while I ambled through the woods in the least of hurrys. Nowhere else to be, nothing else to do… Until I realized the time…because, turns out, I did have somewhere else to be. What was a slow, enjoyable walk in the woods without any distractions turned into an unexpected fast walk/jog where I was really paying attention to the time and racing against the clock. Now, if I had been paying attention, I could have anticipated that pivot and I could have planned for it, but there are times in life where we just have unexpected pivots, where we thought something was going to look and feel one way, but unexpectedly it looks and feels completely different. My dear friends, we all have unexpected pivots. Let’s see if we can breathe through those pivots a little deeper this week. Have a wonderful week, my friends. Love Krista  Dear Friends,
Don’t Quit Before the Miracle Happens I’ve been thinking about last week’s blog post a lot, and about my desire for one particular “miracle” in my life as I was out walking in the woods a year and a half ago. But here’s what’s been on my mind this past week…that miracle, I think the miracle isn’t in that “one” particular thing in our lives that we’re hoping for…I think the miracle is in the journey, right? It’s not a particular time, place or thing, it’s this journey we’re on, this path we’re taking, this walk we’re choosing to walk. It’s putting one foot in front of the other, even when the journey feels hard and tough…even when the path ahead of us is unclear. It’s figuring out ways to make our own journey, our own path feel better and more nourishing, more sustainable for ourselves over the long run. It’s allowing others to walk the path with us when we need them, to help us along when we need help. At times it’s moving away from those who are a detriment to our journey, even when that decision hurts. My dear friends, wherever you are on your journey, I hope you will see the miraculous. Love Krista  Dear Friends,
I was on a solo backpacking trip in Dolly Sods, WV a year and a half ago when I came to a divide in the trail. On the trail marker was this adorable rock someone had left that stopped me in my tracks and, in all honesty, completely took my breath away. The words on that rock stayed with me not only through that trip, but lodged themselves in my heart in the weeks and the months to come also. On the rock was painted “Don’t quit before the miracle happens.” I had been in the middle of a particularly hard and painful time in my own life, and as I stopped to take a picture of this rock that had spoken to me so clearly, I gathered those words and wrapped them around my heart before continuing down the trail. “Don’t quit, Krista, don’t quit before the miracle happens.” Don’t quit before the miracle happens. Here’s the thing. The miracle I wanted desperately to happen while I was walking that trail…well…it didn’t. The miracle I was wishing and hoping for at that time in my life, the miracle that caused me to wrap those words around my heart…it simply didn’t come to pass. But, my friends, I didn’t quit, I didn’t quit. The months and years have changed and grown me in ways that I didn’t know I desperately needed, but I did…I needed that change and growth in my life. I continue to need change and growth in my own life and self as I walk this new path I’m on. I didn’t get the miracle I had been so desperately hoping for on the trail that day, but I got something so much better…turns out, all that change and growth that was happening and continues to happen in my life as a result of that particular time and space is, in fact, an absolute miracle. I hope you have a miraculous week, my friends. Love Krista  Dear Friends,
A week ago I lay under one of my favorite trees in my neighborhood, feeling the light breeze on my skin, listening to the sounds of the city around me and watching the fireflies light up the night until the sky got dark enough that they put their light away for the evening. Magic. Fireflies are pure, unadulterated magic. There were other things I could have been doing that evening. I definitely had work that could have been done, chores needed doing…any number of things. That list of responsibilities didn’t go away because I spent time under that tree…it never does. Turns out my list was still there waiting for me when I got home. But I paused, I lay in the grass, and I just allowed the magic of the beautiful evening to wash over me. Fireflies above my head, the moon in the sky to the west, the sounds of life all around me. Pure, unadulterated magic. My dear friends, I hope we can give ourselves permission to seek out and make a little more magic in our week, even if it requires us to leave some responsibilities for another time. Have a magical week, my friends. Love Krista  Dear Friends,
A couple of weekends ago we had our first really hot, muggy weekend of the season. It was hot, like ridiculously hot, muggy and all-around gross. I hadn’t been able to get on my bike much this season yet, so even though it was slated to be a hot day, I decided to go for a ride that Saturday. I pulled myself out of bed super early, but even with an early wake-up call, it was already getting fairly stifling outside. As I rode north on MacArther Blvd I noticed the honeysuckle in full bloom, they were absolutely beautiful, these bushes full of gorgeous flowers and childhood nostalgia. But the honeysuckle wasn’t just something I got to experience with my eyes. As I rode, when I would ride past a honeysuckle bush, I would just get enveloped by the rich smell of honeysuckle. It was a full-body experience, riding past those honeysuckle bushes that day. The heat and heaviness of the air around me allowed the smell to linger and intensify. I did not have the most favorable conditions for a ride that day, but those conditions also allowed me to experience something in a beautiful and intensely different way. My dear friends, I hope this week we can notice and experience something in a beautiful and different way, even if we might not have the most favorable of conditions. I hope you have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista  Dear Friends,
I have this little patch of land in my backyard that has turned a bit jungle-like of late. In former years it held a garden…but not this year. I thought about weeding and mowing it these past several weeks, but my younger son prefers the jungle-like quality of it, so I figure, why not keep growing a jungle? It’s causing no harm and it’s bringing joy to my son… so we continue to grow our own little jungle. I don’t like gardening. It’s not my thing, it’s not a space in my life that brings me joy, and instead it just ends up feeling like a burden to me on multiple levels. I love that it brings so many others joy and peace, but it’s just not me. But here’s the thing…for years I thought I SHOULD like gardening. I judged myself for not liking it. As ridiculous as it sounds, at times in my life I pretended to like it because I thought it was something I ought to like. But I just don’t. I’ve been sitting in the ways we cast judgment on ourselves for things we think we ought to be doing, things we think we ought to enjoy, ways we are different then our expectations of what we should look and be like. And I’ve been wondering how it would feel to really stand in our own, genuine self without casting judgment. I’ve been wondering how it might feel if we could give ourselves permission to be exactly who we are, instead of who we think we should be. My dear friends, I hope we can all let go of the shoulds a little more this week, and stand in our own genuine selves. Have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista  Dear Friends,
This past weekend I had the enormous pleasure of leading 12 wonderful women on my first yoga hike in Rock Creek Park through my own studio. Years ago I led weekly yoga hikes with Yoga Hikes DC. In all honesty, I can’t remember how I stumbled across them, but when I did, the description stopped me in my tracks. Yoga Hikes felt like an absolute perfect combination of my own passions…and it turns out it was. Our time together last weekend was simply lovely. A wonderful time of connection and movement surrounded by the lush nature around us. It was absolutely wonderful. As I’ve been thinking about that time these past few days, I’ve been sitting in gratitude for the opportunity to explore my own passions in new and fun ways…and I’ve been thinking about how important it is to give ourselves time to explore and dig deeper into our passions, into the spaces in life that captivate and interest us. Sometimes life gets so busy that those are what we set aside in lieu of other, more “important” work, but giving ourselves permission to take some time for our own passions and interests allows us to continue to grow and develop…giving ourselves permission to take time for our own passions and interest is, in fact, “important” work. My dear friends, I hope you can give yourself a little space and time this week to dig deeper into the things that make you tick. I hope you can recognize that you deserve time to explore your own passions and the spaces in life that captivate you. I’m already looking forward to my next Yoga Hike. Have a fabulous week, my friends. Love Krista  “We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable and powerful selves to be deeply seen and known, and when we honor the spiritual connection that grows from that offering with trust, respect, kindness and affection.” Brene Brown
I’ve been sitting in the second half of this quote a lot this past week…“and when we honor the spiritual connection that grows from the offering with trust, respect, kindness and affection.” Last week I spoke about the courage it takes to open up and be vulnerable with the people around us, and the oftentimes deeper connections we are able to forge as a result of that courage. But that willingness to be vulnerable, that courage to open up…that’s not the only part of cultivating love. That “trust, respect, kindness and affection” we offer those around us when we choose to be a safe space for those around us is equally if not more important. The willingness to listen and hear the people in our lives, the willingness to perhaps be a sounding board who provides safety and kindness, who puts judgment to the side. My dear friends, I hope this week we can offer trust, respect, kindness and affection to those in our lives who need us. I hope we can see the connections we cultivate and allow them to blossom as we hold space for the people in our lives. Have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista |
Hi, I'm Krista!Krista Mason is a yoga and fitness instructor based in Washington DC. She owns an online studio and loves it! Archives
September 2022
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