Down time

Last week's Cowgirl Yoginis wore me out...in a good way. I am enjoying a bit of down time after our whirlwind retreat, and am reconnecting with Morgane through some unstructured playtime. While I am one of those people that thrives on structure and schedule, we all need days where there just isn't much planned and things are allowed to unfold. Had to share this picture from last week, I think it really captures the spirit of our Cowgirl Yoga retreats with a visual that includes yoga, horses and the big sky. Join us for our last retreat of the summer August 3-8, we've still got space. 

July Cowgirl Yoga-ing

The ladies here for the July Cowgirl Yoga are delightful...we're having a great time. lots of yoga, lots of horses, and the Gallatin County Fair tomorrow! Wanted to share a picture of my fave yoga horse and riding partner, Belle. She is an American Quarter Horse. More pictures soon.

More Summer reading

I confess to being a huge foodie; my life revolves around food. I love buying it, preparing it, and of course, eating it. It's my other big passion in life besides yoga. To quote from my latest fave book, "...everything about nourishment steadies my soul". In my 20s my magazine pile had the theme of beauty and fashion; right now, it's all about cooking. There isn't much that makes me happier than cooking for friends and family. OK, maybe yoga...

One of the topics on my mind lately is where my food comes from. With gas prices the way they are, I'm probably not alone, as awareness of this issue reaches new heights. Not all that long ago, I happily entered my neighborhood Whole Foods in DC, fully anticipating finding anything and everything I needed with only a vague awareness of if it was in season or not, not to mention where exactly it came from and how many miles it crossed to arrive in the nation's capitol.

The book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver really gave me a wake-up call. I have a lot of Whole Foods visits to atone for. The author and her family abandoned the industrial-food pipeline to live a rural life - vowing that, for one year, they'd only buy food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. It's inspiring, enlightening and funny. It made me love food even more, and wanting to improve my relationship with it by doing whatever I can to get it from as nearby as possible. A book recommendation is not complete without a fave quote:

Waiting for foods to come into season means tasting them when they're good, but waiting is also part of most value equations. Treating foods this way can help move "eating" in the consumer's mind from the Routine Maintenance Department over to the Division of Recreation. It's hard to reduce our modern complex of food choices to unifying principles, but this is one that generally works: eating home-cooked meals from whole, in-season ingredients obtained from the most local source available is eating well, in every sense. Good for the habitat, good for the body.

The food bounty is plentiful this time of year, so summer is a perfect time to read this book and start eating in season. Bon appetit.

July 4th Yoga, Riding & Hiking

Over the 4th of July weekend, I've been able to do three of the four activities that I love most and that are part of Big Sky Yoga Retreats' offerings. The only reason one was left out is because you can't ski in July. 

On Thursday, had an amazing yoga photo shoot high above the Yellowstone River with the Absaroka mountain range as the backdrop - no wonder I was inspired to do the poses that are the biggest challenge for me (well, that and the steady, not-always-so-smooth practice of them I've been working on for the last few months too...). Stay tuned for those pix making their debut on the website soon.

On Saturday I went for an all-day horseback ride on Belle, with Annie on Lady. We rode for hours and I finally started to believe Annie about how it is entirely possible to wear through your jeans. At the end of our ride, we were trotting down the side of 1-91 (a major roadway here that heads from Bozeman up to Big Sky and West Yellowstone) when my husband and daughter drove by and pulled over to say hi. I have to admit to thinking it was pretty darn cool that Morgane would see her mom riding a horse down the side of the road...the beauty of growing up in Montana!

And finally, today we went for a family hike under sunny skies and a perfect summer temperature in the low 80s. After all the snow and rain this spring, everything is a gorgeous green and the wildflowers are in full bloom. 

Have I mentioned how lucky I am to live here?! Hope you had a great 4th.