Dear Friends,
Have you ever ended a long, hot day of hiking by taking your boots off and putting your feet in a cold stream? Oh, the bliss. Seriously, I think this might be one of the best feelings in the world. My friends! Do you have any pastimes in life that are pure, unadulterated bliss? This past weekend I did something I had not done in a long time, something that brings me that pure, unadulterated bliss. I spent a whole day re-reading and re-watching my favorite scenes from this book/TV series that I’ve been a little obsessed with lately (spoiler alert, it’s not high quality reading/TV, but it is enjoyable!). I used to do this particular activity a lot as a kid, re-reading my favorite scenes from books over and over again, re-reading my favorite books from front to back over and over again…but sometime between being a kid and now, I, my environment, or the world, or some combination, convinced myself that such an endeavor was a waste of time, that I wasn’t being quite intelligent enough and should feel embarrassment and shame when I enjoyed light and mindless books and shows, that I had better things to do with my time. Now, granted, we can’t spend our lives doing only pleasurable things, it’s true. But, my friends, that thing that I, or the world, convinced me of, that was a lie. It’s not a waste of time to find and spend time in that pure, unadulterated bliss. It is not a waste of time to give ourselves permission to purposefully take time to do things that bring us great joy for no other purpose than the pleasure of it. It is not a waste of time. My dear friends, I hope, this week, that we will all be able to find a little more purposeful, unadulterated bliss in our lives, without embarrassment, without shame…I hope we can enjoy our lives a little more. Have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista
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Dear Friends,
Some time ago, my kids, a friend, my sister's family and my mama, who happened to be in town, were all taking a little meander through Rock Creek Park on a Sunday afternoon. It was a lovely day for a meander, the weather was absolute perfection, and the company was grand. As we walked, we found ourselves fooling around near the water under Boulder Bridge. As teenage boys do, one of my sons and his friend began picking up the largest rocks they could find and throwing them in the water, trying to see how far they could get said rocks and how loud an echo would accompany the splash as the rock hit the surface of the water under the bridge. The two of them, they picked up some pretty big rocks, my friends. As I sat there, watching them and smiling, I couldn’t help but recognize just how much bigger a rock they could pick up and throw with the two of them doing the work, instead of just one. The momentum they could get by swinging it back and forth between the two of them allowed them to move that rock so much further than either of them could have done on their own. I was thinking about that in regards to our movement practices. So many areas in our lives, including our movement practices, are simply easier when we are willing to work together, to allow others help us out. We are not meant to walk through life on our own, my friends. This week, if you need a little help from a friend, whether to move a big rock or in some other area in your life, I hope you will be a little more willing to give yourself permission to take that help, and to recognize that we all need each other to walk through life. Have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista Dear Friends,
I was sitting next to the creek the other week in the middle of a walk, and as I sat there I was thinking more about the post from last week, and about how there are times our movement practices bring up big emotions in our lives and in our bodies. How often we move through life without slowing down, without stopping, without allowing ourselves to just be quiet, to just be still, to just be…to think through and process those harder spots in life. I think, at times, our movement practices allow us to hold space for ourselves, and allow others to hold space for us. Our movement practices can allow us to show up in our bodies and just be there, nowhere else to be, nothing else to do, fewer distractions…just to be there with ourselves so we can begin to process and sit in those bigger emotions. Sometimes that’s a scary place to be, to just be there with ourselves, but I do think it’s so very necessary, my friends. The ability to slow down, to stop, to allow our minds to be a little quieter so we can really feel our feelings, it’s just so important. My dear friends, I hope this week we can hold a little more space for ourselves, even when that space might feel a little scary. Have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista Dear Friends,
I wrote this prompt a couple of years ago when I was nursing a pretty badly sprained ankle from an ill-advised, very distracted run in Rock Creek Park, but I never did anything with it until now. That ankle took an annoyingly long time to heal…but heal it did, mostly, with attention, care and love…although at times, like this morning as I was sitting in the park admiring flowers, it still reminds me that I hurt it. A few weeks ago some students and I were talking about movement and grief, and how our movement practice sometimes has an ability to bring up emotions that we have been holding on to…which, if we’re being honest, sometimes manifests itself as crying during a yoga or movement practice. I’ve done my fair share of crying during a yoga and movement practice, during a walk in my neighborhood or the woods, and I know I’m not alone in that…but sometimes that manifestation of our pain leads to embarrassment, and we end up wanting to hide from it. But here’s the thing, my friends. Our pain stays in our bodies when we choose not to look at it and work through it. It doesn’t go away because we’ve ignored it, because we’ve pushed it down, it stays with us…it manifests itself in different ways in our lives, but we don’t get over pain by ignoring it. Sitting in that pain, in that discomfort…it’s not fun, it’s not a place where many of us want to sit, but I do believe it is really important to allow ourselves to sit and to look and to work through those emotions. We may not want to, we may feel deeply uncomfortable, it might be a terrible pastime, but, my friends, it is so important. My dear friends, I hope this week we’re able to sit in the spaces where we need to sit a little more fully, knowing that even if that space is uncomfortable right now, moving through those emotions will help us be healthier and happier people in the future. Have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista Dear Friends,
It’s getting toward peak bloom for lotuses at the Kenilworth gardens…it’s that time…it’s time for these magnificent flowers that spring forth from the mud and stun all around them with their beauty, to shine in all their glory. I write this note on what would have been my 20th wedding anniversary. You all have walked with me these past 2 ½ years as I navigated unexpected changes in my life, changes that I did not anticipate would happen, and I am forever grateful for your support and love. I’ve been thinking about those changes today as I looked through my facebook memories and recalled the emotions I felt on this particular day in the past two years…and I was struck by the change in emotions on this particular day today, how I don’t feel the same sadness, the same emotional charge, how I was not particularly emotionally triggered today, even when looking at old memories. Not to say that I don’t ever feel sadness, or that I’m never triggered anymore, if I said that I would be lying to you…but the emotional heaviness that I had felt in the past…that emotional heaviness just wasn’t there today. My dear friends, if you are navigating unexpected changes in your life, and you feel like you are stuck in the mud, know that you won’t be there forever, things will hurt less…even if it feels like you’re never going to get through it now, things will hurt less. Just like that lotus has to move through the mud to burst forth in all its beauty, so we too at times might have to walk through the mud in the anticipation of future beauty. I hope you have an amazing day my friends. Love Krista Dear Friends,
I write this on the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. This year, in my area, it happens to be a supremely gray day also...even so, even with the gray, the light will stay longer today than any other day this year marking a clear transition from spring to summer. We have these markers, these transitions, these moments in place and time. In a couple of days my oldest son will graduate high school, and soon after leave for college…my youngest will follow suit the following year. A marker, a transition, a moment in place and time. I’ve been sitting in the emotions that have been cropping up surrounding this particular transition. Excitement for a child who is ready to move forward, excitement for a new chapter for both himself and me. Trepidation about change and the future. Sadness because this chapter of my life with my kids has been such a joy, and it is hard to recognize that this particular chapter is coming to a close…sure, they might come back, but even if they do, it won’t be the same nor should it. Change is important…it’s sometimes exciting, sometimes really hard, and many times a mixture of both. My friends, I hope we can all give ourselves permission to feel those very real feelings surrounding change, no matter what they happen to be, and to breathe deeply through the many emotions we might be holding. I hope you have an amazing week my friends, and a very happy summer! Love Krista Dear Friends,
I was walking past Boulder Bridge in the park the other day. As I walked past that beautiful bridge, I was thinking about how they took those stones out of the earth, repurposed them, and built something new, different and strong with them. Last week after I posted my last blog, one of my amazing students was telling me how she hadn’t ever moved her body in her younger years in the way that she’s been moving it at present. She told me how much fun she’s had noticing how her body moves and the ways in which she can feel strong...that just made me ridiculously happy to hear. Yes, we age, and our bodies change as we age, and sometimes our bodies change in frustrating ways, but, for most of us, certainly not all, but most, we can still move our bodies in new ways, we can get stronger in our bodies, we can still feel capable and alive…we can still show up in ways we want to move, even if those ways look or feel different as we grow older and our bodies shift and change. All the activities we might want to do, all of them, whether that’s hiking, exploring a new city, or playing with our grandkids, they all take strength, and my dear friends, we are still so capable of such strength at any age…it might look different then our strong did previously, but we are still so capable. My friends, we are capable of so much…we are capable of being new, different and strong…so long as we are willing to keep moving, so long as we are willing to continue to show up to our movement practices. Have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista Dear Friends,
I took note of a downed tree in the park as I walked a few days ago. At one point in the past that tree was standing tall and strong, but whether it was wind, rain, or blight, something brought that tree down. I’m not so infrequently asked by various students what happens when we can’t do our movement practice like we once did. What happens when our bodies change and shift, what do our movement practices look and feel like when change inevitably happens, when we can’t do what we used to do on the regular. Aging happens, right? There’s not one of us who can move through this life without our bodies and our abilities changing, even if we move on the regular. If you’ve been around me long enough, you’ve probably heard me say “well, we’re never going to be 23 again” (usually in reference to balance issues, haha). It’s true though, most of us are never going to be 23 again. Our bodies, our abilities, our minds shift as we change and age…and that’s ok, my friends. That’s more than ok. We can shift with those changes. Just because our movement practice might not look the same way it did when we were younger, doesn’t mean it isn’t just as important to our mental and physical health. Even though our bodies might not be able to move in the same way it once did, doesn’t mean our current movement practices are any less useful and meaningful. My friends, change happens, bodies change and age, and the ways we show up in our movement practices inevitably change with those changing bodies. I hope, as we move through this life, we can see the importance of our movement practice no matter how it might change over time. Have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista Dear Friends,
There is this magnificent oak tree in Rock Creek Park, right at the top of the hill next to the horse arena, you might have seen it if you live around here. It stands there at the top of the hill growing into itself and aging in a strong and beautiful way. One of my main goals in teaching movement practices is to teach in a way that allows my students and myself to grow and keep mobility and strength in a sustainable way…not just for now, but for our bodies and minds well into our future. I have this amazing client who is 100 years old. She and I have been working together since she was 94. She’s fabulous and awesome, a total rock-star and an absolute joy in my life, and while there are times when I think she’s definitely super-human and genetics for sure play a huge factor into what she can do, most of the time I’m aware that she just keeps moving even when she’s tired and doesn’t feel like moving. She keeps showing up to her practice on the daily. She keeps riding her stationary bike, and doing her weights and her mobility exercises even when she doesn’t feel like it, and, my friends, I think that makes such a difference. Let’s be honest, there are times when we just don’t want to show up to our movement practices. There are times when we feel like there is absolutely no time in our week or our life to show up to our movement practices. But, my friends, not just our present selves, but our future selves will thank us if we continue to show up even when it’s hard. Have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista Dear Friends,
After months of debate, I finally got myself a fitbit. Let’s back up a little. I hate having things on my wrists….watches, bracelets, you name it, I can’t handle it. The only things I can tolerate are hair ties because, well, I don’t have a choice in the matter, I need to have a hair tie accessible. So, through the years I’ve purchased various watches, gps’ etc., hoping I would be able to tolerate them...let's be honest, they’ve all gone to the wayside. But of late, I’ve been noticing I need a little extra help, a little outside accountability. I need something other than myself encouraging me to get to bed on time and get enough sleep, to make sure I’m getting outside and getting steps in my day. I need some accountability other than myself. So here I am with my little fitbit…hoping that it’s small enough so that I can continue to tolerate it. Sometimes I think it’s easy to start judging ourselves when we find we need more than just internal motivation, when we need that external motivation also. There are times I think we can start talking down to ourselves, telling ourselves that we should be able to do it on our own, we should remember the beauty of the world around us and use that as our motivation, we should remember how we feel when we feel in control of our food intake, our movement practices, our sleep habits, and use those feelings as motivation. But my friends, it’s not either, or. We can use both. We can embrace all the internal and external motivation that we need to help us through this life. And sometimes we just need it all. Let’s embrace the help we need, and let’s do that with a little less judgment and a little more acceptance. Have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista Dear Friends,
It was my wish, as I signed off last week, for us all to be able to slow down and notice a little bit more. Easier said than done, right? Our lives sometimes go in cycles, and there are times and seasons when life is just busy, and there’s not a whole lot we can do about it. I don’t know about you, but in my life it feels like I’m in that busy cycle, with the end of the school year coming up, summer changes and all that entails. I was thinking about that this past week, about my wish for us to slow down and notice, with my own life feeling definitely less than slow…and, let’s be honest, my brain feeling a little too full. But even in those spaces and cycles of busy, I think we can find a bit of time to slow down, to find a little more spaciousness. A couple of nights ago, toward the end of the night, I took a quick walk around my neighborhood and talked to a friend while walking and noticed these ridiculously beautiful peonies that are blooming in my neighbors yard. The other day I sat by the creek with my coffee for a few precious minutes. It was just a few minutes, it wasn’t long, but it was something. Certainly, it wasn't as long a walk as I would have preferred, certainly it wasn't as long a sit as I would have preferred, but I found a little bit of spaciousness in the midst of busy. My dear friends, if you, like me, are in a busy cycle of life right now, I hope you can give yourself permission to find a little bit of spaciousness in the midst of busy. Have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista Dear Friends,
It’s easy to see the growth, change and evolution of the deciduous trees in our area, with the yearly life cycle of leaves falling, bare wintering, new leaves and growth in the spring, culminating in the bountiful green leaves of late spring and summer. I was walking past an evergreen tree the other day, as I walked past I noticed the bright green tips on the end of each branch signifying new growth and change in the tree. This change, this new growth, it’s not quite as easy to see as the very prominent life cycle of the deciduous trees in our area, and if you don’t look for it, if you don’t slow down, you might not even notice it. Even so, it’s there. New growth, change, it’s there, it’s happening even when it is not quite as noticeable. But without slowing down and paying attention, you just might miss it. My dear friends, I hope we can slow down a little more this week and notice the new growth and change in our lives. I hope we can see the work that we’re doing and recognize it for what it is. I hope we can cheer ourselves on in the good work we’re doing, even if we might want to do more. I hope you have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista Dear Friends,
I’ve been thinking a lot about our post from a few weeks ago, about needed change that might be prominent and bountiful, and on the other hand, that needed change that feels like it’s just ground to a halt, like there’s a log blocking our path. The change, if we’re putting in the work, that change is still happening, it’s still there, even if we might be discouraged about the progress. I wonder how it might feel if we really pay attention to those small, minute changes…the ones that are so hard to see and notice, but if we’re really paying attention, are still there in our lives and our bodies. I wonder how it might feel to really notice the small, needed changes in our lives and in our bodies. I wonder how it might feel to pay a little more attention to those changes. I wonder how it might feel if, when we get discouraged about areas in our lives where the change might not look the way we want it to look, how it might feel to really see and notice those other areas in our lives where we are succeeding. I wonder if we could notice ourselves breaking free from that log across our path. My dear friends, our paths to change might not always look the way we want it to look, it might not be as easy or as straightforward as we would like, we might have those logs blocking our way, but if we really spend time seeing and noticing our successes, we might be able to see a little more clearly the areas of growth and change, a path through. Have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista Dear Friends,
This past weekend I (finally) got on my bike for the first time this season. I really wanted to get to the Arboretum to see the azaleas before they all went their merry way back into the earth, so I made sure that part of my ride included a trek to the Arboretum. I was certainly not alone in my idea, I’m pretty sure practically everyone in the DC area was walking in the Arboretum on a spectacular spring day this past weekend. I enjoyed my time there and the bright and beautiful azaleas, but as I was riding out of the Arboretum, I noticed this adorable patch of wild daisies, spreading their happy blossoms in a small patch of land. As I rode by them, they just put a smile on my face, their white and yellow blossoms stretching up toward the sun. Noticing, paying attention, and delighting in the normal…I wonder how it might feel in our lives if we really allowed ourselves to notice and delight in the normal, in the every day. I wonder how it might feel if we took stock of the small things in life that are there for the taking if we stop, slow down a bit and pay a little more attention to the beauty in the world around us. I hope you have a delightful week, my friends. Love Krista Dear Friends,
This past weekend my younger son and I took a little college visit road trip, as he’ll be a senior in high school this coming year, and colleges are on his horizon. As we meandered around one of the campuses we were visiting, we stumbled upon a delightful redbud that was in full bloom, with blossom nodules covering the tree from top to bottom. It was amazing, this tree, with blossoms and bumble bees all around it. We stopped, took some pictures and simply enjoyed that beautiful and, let’s be honest, really weird looking tree. If you walk around noticing the redbuds right now, you might notice these little blossom nodules growing on the trunk and branches of many trees. Turns out they’re completely normal, a good indication that the tree is on the older side, but other than that totally normal. They don’t seem normal to me though, they feel completely Seussian, something straight out of one of Dr. Seuss’ books. This tree, in particular, felt completely over the top, absolutely delightfully strange. My dear friends, I hope this week we can find delight in something completely normal, in the regular, in the every-day. I hope this week we can be a little more delighted. Have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista Dear Friends,
That intoxicating bright and new green of spring…oh my goodness, it is just fantastic. I was driving home a few days ago, as I was driving I was noticing the bright green of spring erupting all around me…it is impossible not to notice the colors, the sounds right now...the flowers, the blossoms, the leaves, the birds…everything is bursting back to life at once, you can practically see the change happening all around us in this area right now…stare at a tree for long enough and you’ll see the leaves get bigger and brighter while looking at it. I was thinking about that change as I drove home. Right now, at this moment in our world around us, the change is impossible to miss. It’s in our faces, it’s there, there’s no getting away from it. But, my friends, in the middle of the summer, when the leaves on the trees are darker and heavier, change is still occurring, it’s still happening…it’s just more subtle, harder to notice, slower…but it’s still happening. Sometimes when we have areas we need to change in our lives it's easy to get excited in the beginning when we can tangibly see the change happening, when it’s impossible not to notice, when it’s easy to see…but if you’re anything like me, we can get discouraged when we are in the middle of needed change and it feels like it’s ground to a halt. It hasn’t, change is still happening, just at a slower pace, in a more subtle way. My dear friends, whether you are in the beginning of change, or if you feel like change has ground to a halt, I hope you can see and feel the good work you are doing, and you can be encouraged that change is happening even if you don’t feel it. Have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista Dear Friends,
There’s this tiny, little waterfall in Rock Creek that I pass every so often when I’m driving to a class. Throughout winter and this time of year, while the leaves are not quite out in their full splendor yet, I can see that little waterfall clearly from the road as I drive by…but in a few short weeks that waterfall will be hidden under the bounty of leaves. That little waterfall, that little spot elicits just a ridiculous amount of joy in me when I pass by it. It’s this little pocket of joy while the trees are bare and the leaves are on the ground…in a few short weeks that waterfall will still be there, we’ll still be able to find it, we’ll just have to do a little more searching as it won’t be quite as clear. Sometimes spontaneous joy is in our lives just there for the taking, right? Sometimes we don’t have to go looking or seek it out in order to find and feel that joy…it just shows up without any effort on our part. But sometimes we have to seek that joy out, we have to look for it. Sometimes we have to go searching for that joy, for a little more lightness in our lives. Sometimes that joy might be there, but it might be hidden for a season and we have to search it out to find it. I don’t think either of those options are right or wrong…I don’t think either of those ways to reach joy and happiness are more or less valid, they’re just different. My friends, I hope you can find a little more lightness and joy in your week…whether it’s spontaneous and easy, or whether you have to seek it out and put some effort in to find it. I hope you have a joyful week, my friends. Love Krista Dear Friends,
As you might know, cherry blossom time is upon us in the Washington DC area. I don’t know about you, but I try to get immersed in cherry blossoms several times a season…whether that’s getting down to the tidal basin, or taking a walk in the Kenwood neighborhood, or meandering through the Arboretum…I try to take some extra time in the week or two that they’re around to enjoy the beauty of those trees. I find something absolutely magical about being surrounded by these stunning trees, there’s this magnetic pull for me that I can’t fight even if I wanted to, which I don’t. Certainly, there are crowds. Oh, how there are crowds. There’s really no getting away from people no matter where you end up…some spots are less crowded, or have wider streets than others, but at the end of the day, there are throngs of people wherever you are. But for me, personally, it’s worth it. It’s worth braving those throngs of people in order to be surrounded by this beauty that is so very fleeting, this wonder that is here and gone so soon. I think there’s something pretty fantastic about purposely getting immersed in beauty. It might not be cherry blossoms for you, the crowds might add a level of anxiety that makes that experience totally and completely not worth it or even damaging, but I do think there’s something wonderful about being purposeful about finding something beautiful and intentionally spending time in that space. My dear friends, I hope this week you can purposely and intentionally find something amazing, something beautiful…and perhaps spend some time taking that beauty and wonder in. Have a beautiful week, my friends! Love Krista Dear Friends,
The daffodils are out with a vengeance right now, with whole hillsides covered with these happy yellow flowers, it’s pretty magical. I was walking past a patch of daffodils the other day, thinking about how they reproduce…thinking about how they both reproduce with seed, and also with dividing their bulbs and cloning themselves over the years. You can do absolutely nothing with that daffodil bulb, and year after year, not only will that flower come back, but it will make more of itself. I was thinking of that, and thinking about our movement practices. I don’t know about you, but I think many of us struggle with starting too fast, with putting too much on ourselves when it comes to our movement practices, and then burning out and giving up when we inevitably can’t fulfill our goals. I was wondering how it might feel if, just like the daffodils, we started out with small, manageable and achievable goals…and then built from there. Maybe we started with the goal of moving our bodies 10 minutes a couple of days a week, and then when we established that, maybe we gave ourselves a bigger goal to reach. I wonder how it might feel if, as the daffodils, we gave ourselves permission to build our movement practice over time instead of all at once. My dear friends, I hope this week you can give yourself permission to start out with small and achievable goals, knowing that, with that, you can build something over time. Have an amazing week, my friends. Love Krista Dear Friends,
Last weekend my son and I went in search of snow for one of his school assignments. As both of us love a good road trip, we excitedly hopped in the car bright and early Sunday morning to head toward West Virginia where we knew snow had fallen…it was a lovely drive for about 2 hours, and then a wrench was thrown in our plans. After about 2 hours, my car started having issues. Now, let’s be honest, I can’t say I was super surprised, this particular issue has been headed down the pipeline for a little while now, so I knew it was coming. Even so, it reared its ugly head so much so that we weren’t quite sure we were going to make it home…we gave ourselves a 23% chance as we turned around and headed toward home, and I think, in hindsight and with very little mechanical skill, that was a pretty accurate assessment. Growing up, I only ever had ridiculously old cars and a perpetual premium membership with AAA, so car trouble isn’t particularly unfamiliar territory to me, but it doesn’t matter how much experience one has, car trouble is stressful….and made for a pretty stress-filled trip home. Despite said stress, as I drove, I worked to breathe deeply, to regulate my nervous system, to find calm in the midst of anxiety…and, you know, to stay in the right lane. My friends, breathing deeply and regulating my nervous system didn’t fix my car, it didn’t solve my issues, and it didn’t get me home without breaking down. And yet, while breathing deeply didn’t do any of those things, it did, in fact, make that stressful trip home a little easier. Our movement practices won’t make the hard things in life go away, they won’t solve our problems…but our movement practices will give us a few more tools in our toolbelt when life is inevitably harder and more anxiety-filled than we expected it to be. I hope you have a stress-less week, my friends…and if you don’t, I hope you can breathe a little deeper into whatever stress you might encounter. Love Krista |
Hi, I'm Krista!Krista Mason is a movement instructor based in Washington DC. She founded an online strength, yoga and movement studio, teaches group classes, hosts both local and overseas retreats, hangs out with private clients, and absolutely loves the work she gets to do. Archives
May 2024
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