NamaSTAY in Wanderlust
Last week, I left Atlanta to meet one of my new besties from Israel in Austin for one stretched out weekend.
A fun and funky block party celebration filled with live music, races, guided runs, tours, adventure, dance sessions, and yoga all in the center of the vibrant city of Austin.
I arrived in Austin on Thursday afternoon to find my Airbnb host unable to let me in until later that evening. Stranded with luggage in tow, I was lost with nowhere to go. All alone in Austin.
To top the cake of struggles, my blog was down, my charger broke, and then my friend Katie’s flight got delayed by a whole day.
Alright Austin- the helpless love child of erroneous happenings, it’s not your fault. Thanks to my traveling nature, I managed to trudge ever forward, finding a nearby Mexican restaurant.
If you ever get stranded, Austin is the city to be. Happy hour specials on nachos and margs with a side of wifi. #winning
Bad experience always melt into a blessing. Sometimes that blessing doesn’t come in a time crunch.
After an accident-prone day, I finally made it to the AirBnB. I got lost multiple times trying to find the gym, but I eventually located it after begrudgingly shedding a few tears from a mistake-filled day. Post workout struggles, I grabbed a shower, jumped in my granny pjs, hopped into bed, and called it a night, opening myself to a fresh new day to come.
Embrace with grace.
Friday
Katie arrived that morning and we hit the mat running.
I started my day with an ashtanga mixed vinyasa class. The instructor was over 60 and more flexible than me!
Beyond the physical, bring the Self into practice to discover the rhythm of your soul.
zen kat. down dog.
We were advised to leave our worries off of our mat in order to strictly savor the practice. Fine by me.
Next was party trick yoga: Hands Down, Toes Up with Ari Witkin where falling is a-okay. Just get back up, smile and laugh about it.
We ourselves must walk the path. The mind is everything. What you think you become.
-Buddha
-Buddha
Our next class was Rock n roll yoga with Los Angeles based Vinnie Marino. Grooving out in down dog was a fun experience. Deep stretches, opportunity for balance and the inclusion of inversions. Rocking out clearly revitalizes the mind.
Our final class of the day (our 4th one, so exhausted was an understatement, even for energizer bunnies) poured in as Workout and wine down with Kurt Johnsen from Z Living TV. Kurt instructed us through an upbeat yoga flow infused with a post-savasana happy hour sprinkled with inspiration.
Go where you want. It’s your life. Your choice. Go with the flow.
Yoga with wine?
Cheers to new spirits.
Saturday
After a long night out, I started the day with a clarity magnet of hot and sweaty west coast playful Hip Opening Yoga with Eoin to run from restrictions. “The energy of the hip area can be alive and vital or dull and dormant. The hips connect the upper and lower body and are where we experience significant tightness, from the stresses of sporting activities and the inactivity of sitting in chairs for more hours than our ancestors could have imagined possible.” Learning the foundation of the Yin and Yang of Yoga, we can explore the pelvic anatomy and promote the psychology of the hips.
Next we hit another Hip Opening class to continue unfolding in order to walk without inhibitions.
Accept the current stance to improve the play.
Along with hips, we also opened our eyes to the artsy city of Austin.
Exploration led us to new truths.
Where different is good, flip the perspective and reap the change.
Our final class of the day was a Whole Lotta Love with Ashley Tuner and DJ Taz Rashid with a yoga mash-up of Led Zeppelin tracks. We swayed and fluttered to the music. We let our limbs fly like the colorful children of Woodstock. We allowed our minds to be the vessel, leaving the body to comfortably relax in the plush passenger seat. Heavy limbs. So energizing.
We might have looked crazy, but it felt great.
Try it. Stand up, let your limbs hand and just move.
Jump up and around.
Shake if off. Shake if off. yay yay
What you think, you become. What you feel, you attract. What you imagine, you create.
Even if you’re broke[n], you can still pay attention. Work through the issues in your tissues.
Before ending our day of wander, we relaxed to “a smorgasbord of Cab Calloway, circus sideshow, KISS, cabaret, Hee Haw and Robert Johnson served up at Andy Kaufman’s bat-mitzvah. A joyous mixture of the absurd and sublime, the six-piece ensemble gracefully blends a musical amalgam of Hokum Blues, Hillbilly Swing, Country and Hot Jazz.”
We left our yoga clothes on and breezed over to and met our friend at Swift’s Attic for tasty tapas.
Edamame dipped in salted pop rocks, hot and meaty squid fries, fried cornbread nibblets, and then some.
The plan was to hit a speakeasy after dinner, but I actually got tired, so we opted to stay in for a movie night fall asleep after 5 minutes of watching a move kind of night.
I swear I’ve got movie narcolepsy.
It’s a problem.
Sunday
Still going strong, albeit with a little less energy, we arose for an Austin staple.
Everything’s bigger in Texas, including the lines.
Food trucks are the thing in Austin. And so are breakfast tacos for Sunday brunch.
Howdy chowboy.
Bellies full of tacos, we were ready to get back to our dreamy, wanderusting yoga festival (just keep swimming, just keep swimming).
But first, we HAD to try the deep fried cookie dough though…
I’m sure the gurus would understand. 😉
Once we got back to the festival, we went to Walk your asana off where we cruised the streets of the city while getting conversationally deep with new friends. #Courage
My final activity at Wanderlust was a 5 mile loop on the trail around Austin’s Lady Bird Lake. The run offered a nice compliment to all the weekend stretching.
Austin is an ausim city.
Before leaving, we got the hook up with Quest Bars, Healthy Warrior Chia Bars, Prana, Spiritual Gangster, So Delicious East, and much much more.
Thank you to the Wanderlust team for having us! Can’t wait for next year!
“Accepting means you allow yourself to feel whatever it is you are feeling at that moment. It is part of the isness of the Now. You can’t argue with what is. Well, you can, but if you do, you suffer.”
-Eckhart Tolle
-Eckhart Tolle
Question: Have you ever been to a yoga festival?
