So much yoga, singing sopranos🎶, and always something new!💚
Keep yourself flexy!
Get $5 off your next Mantra Massage for a review on google- both for Mantra as a business and also your fav massage therapist - whoever that may be:).
I’m headed to Asheville July 11 - I have Table and Thai Massages available for y’all while I’m there, as well as Energy Healing and Reiki. I’ll be around til the 27th, serving up some healing vibes for ya, so check out the schedule and find your spot for your very own relaxation time. Or get yours in before I go:) 💆🏻♀️💆🏼💆🏽♂️
The Nancy and David Wolf Holocaust and Humaninty Center at the Union Terminal has been celebrating Upstander Month, uplifting change makers in the community who embody the spirit of standing up for what’s right. They’ve been having engaging programs honoring resilience and courage, and I’m sure you won’t be surprised to learn I attended Yoga in the Rotunda, followed by an evening of art making with Cedric Michael Cox, local artist and educator. It was a delightful evening of movement and creativity, color and flowers. We met new people and shared stories about our creative lives and current dreams, with snacks of course!
Our pieces contained one of our most prevalent qualities (creativity is mine!), and also our names- can you find mine in the picture? The flowers corresponded to our top five qualities.
“Piggoletto”
In seventh grade, we spent eons learning about Eugene Onegin, a Russian opera we would eventually see after a rare bus ride to Music Hall. Though overall jealous of my friend who’s mom let her stay home because “no kid want to watch a boring old opera”, I do recall watching the performance and finally understanding what Sr. Hary Melen was trying to get through our thick skulls all those weeks. It wasn’t until later in college when I worked as an usher that I accidently fell in love with opera, the tweeting call from the Queen of the Night’s aria drawing me in from my studies in the lobby. I’ve ventured into many operas since then and this week I happened to catch Rigoletto at the Cincinnati Opera. They have some Pay-What-You-Want tickets and I ended up in fourth row center! It was a fabulous show and I’m grateful to have been so close to the action.
A few years ago, a friend and I talked each other into going to watch a movie of a performance of Rigoletto on the large floating stage of Austria’s Lake Constance. Yes, it was a many layered endeavor! I was keen to attend this Cincinnati performance in order to see it on a traditional stage and be immersed in the live energy of the actors and audience. It did bring tears to my eyes, though my neighbor thought I was having a breakdown when the tears kept falling as someone’s perfume invaded my cryin’ eyes.
And then I went to see Tosca - the most amazing fabulous chilling vocals of Karen Son - her stagecraft was impeccable. Mesmerizing!
It’s summer salad season! I’ve planted some kale and nasturtiums, and celery because those little fresh celery bits are surprisingly scrumptious. I’m working on my little perennial herb patch at the new place, so my larger needs for cilantro and basil are being supplemented by Pipkins - for now anyhow- and I’ve made some connections for community gardens and compost spots - I’ve found a delightfully stinky load of broken down coffee compost if you are needing it! I’m hoping to get to some new farmers markets this summer - it was so cool it hardly seemed to be market season, but now things are heating up and summer is in full swing.
This newsletter is perpetually free for you! It’s great to keep up with everyone of yous and I’m thankful for your participation and check-ins. If you’d like to support this endeavor and others like free yoga, pay-it-forward massages, spontaneous shenanigans, and keeping me goingness in general, then please participate here. It keeps me growing in all ways so there is more to share.
The best pool in which I have ever swum. (This is not my pool.)
Pools open! It’s still waiting for me to show up- how about you? Again, it’s been so cool and overcast- and muggy! Ha! That’s how long I’ve been writing this - now there’s a heat warning and it’s scorching to be out there. And now it’s raining😂. So close! My friend went to the water park recently and said they had to wait in line to get in the Lazy River! Regardless, I’m hoping you are both keeping cool and cooling off in your most favorable ways:).
I had the great opportunity to do yoga with the Bengal Tiger at the Bengal’s Stadium! It was super rad. I was podering what it would be like to have regular yoga class on the field, like yoga always happening there for us all. During savasana, the energy of the field was electric! In the quiet I could sense the sounds of the game and hear the clashing and effort associated with the game. It was nice to spend time doing an activity I love with a group of people willing to brave the hot, humid, early morning in a unique setting. An incredible yoga opportunity to be active in such an awe-some location and perhaps, really, a little of that fierceness soaked in to me as I face the other side of the gauntlet of family turmoil and emerging into this new human on a new playing field.
I’m working it out to teach regular yoga classes to you and ya’ll! in August. We’ve had a consistent class going since the winter and looking to expand to a bigger space so more of us can expand! I’ll keep you posted - there’s a few spots left for next week on Wednesday - so sign up early for a spot! I am offering a few different types of curious and adventuresome sessions for novelty and experiment! These sessions are uncommon on most massage menus and rare to find around town - I know them! So reach out if you are interested in receiving a new and dynamic service - they are all fun and effective and relaxing and rejuvenating. First up is Watsu - water shiatsu. It takes place in a pool! You become seaweed and I work out those knots. Tok sen works with the sen lines of the body and has a rhythmic and soothing cadence - I know the reasons, but tok sen is still a magical practice to me. And finally there is Luk Pra Kob, or Thai herbal packs. Made with healing herbs, the pots are steamed and use similarly to hot stones (tho also not!) and pressed and worked into the body for a warm and medicinal revitalization of the skin and senses. An amazing session that will keep you coming back for more.
I also got to pedal slowly through set-up for the Pride Parade, getting a glimpse of the early festivities. Reports said a good time was had by all, despite the heat and if you went, hope you had a fab time too!
Happy Fourth to you and yours! Get out there and have fun with your gang, be safe and cool on the most dangerous of holidays and tho we may not always all be in like, total like with America, I still love her and want the best for her and her people and all the world. And gladdened that you might could too:)
This homemade newsletter is whipped up by yours truly, free as the wind and connecting you to whatever might light you up and tidbits that jostled my curiosity. Join in on Substack to conversate with us or find me on IG and the other places.
Yay! See ya soon!!!
Andra