Birthday Yoga and a Card

My friend C's birthday was on Sunday, so I made this card for her:

I was inspired by this post, though I did my own take on it. (But I do love how her bunting can be removed and actually used! Mine is just paper).

To celebrate C's birthday, she had us get together for yoga on Saturday morning. We all took yoga together once a week last school year, but our (fabulous!) instructor had taken the summer off, so this was our first session together this fall. It was so wonderful to be back together and practicing yoga again!

But we didn't get together in our regular location. We had an extra-special spot for C's birthday yoga - the Sculpture Garden in Minneapolis. We did our yoga right on a work of art!

The beginning of the school year is such a busy time as a teacher. Last week I felt I hardly had time to even sleep. And at first just the thought of getting up and having to actually be somewhere on a Saturday morning exhausted me. I contemplated (briefly) not going, but I am so glad that I did. Though it was C's birthday, she was really the one who gave all of us a present.

To just ::stop:: for a while and be fully present in the moment. To take the time to clear my mind and focus on nothing more than my breath. To feel the sun on my face and the wind against my skin, to not worry about the looooooong to-do lists. To exercise my body. To laugh with friends.

It was a good reminder to slow down, to enjoy this moment instead of concentrating on everything that has to happen next. And it's something I'm trying very hard to keep in mind as another incredibly busy week at school starts up!