Checking in on my Twitter stream, I found out there’s a Holiday Trail of Lights at Lake Hope State Park. I didn’t know where Lake Hope was or anything else about it, but walking a trail at night and having motion activated lights turn on sounded fun.

Some research showed that Lake Hope was nestled southwest of Nelsonville and pretty darn close to Athens, too. That’s a decent day trip.

Then I found out they have cottages … that are open all year round.

On a whim I reserved one of the Furnace cottages. And we were set for a trip on Saturday.

We left town in the late afternoon after taking care of the Saturday stuff. High Street was packed. As we drove past Target, my 6-year-old son asked, “Why are there so many cars at Target?” When I told him, his response was, “I wouldn’t want to be *there*!”

Neither would I.

As it turns out, getting out of town into the hills of southeastern Ohio was a great idea. As soon as we hit Lake Hope Rd., I felt a relaxation that I didn’t know was missing. Just trees to look at. All bare so you can see the rise and fall of the hills.

The cabin was warm when we got there and we could see the sun setting over the hills from the living room. The next morning we walked down to the lake to watch the steam roll around on the surface.

Getting to see trees out the window, spot a pileated woodpecker, and try to guess what critter made the only ripples on the lake, moved me to silence and contemplation rather than towards the next item on my to-do list.

That’s a good day.

BTW, we skipped the Trail of Lights. We’re not list-checkers when it comes to relaxing.

So much to plan for, so much to buy, or not buy. Places to go, people to see. Eat, drink, BE MERRY, dammit!!

Well, if it’s all too much and you just need a break, it might be ok to check out some restorative yoga. Especially if you haven’t ever done yoga before and you’re frightened someone might make you do parivrtta surya yantrasana.

Classes are being held all over town, because the studios know it’s what you need.

Check out the schedules at:

• Center for Wholeness

• Balanced Yoga

• Yoga on High

• Harmony House Wellness Center

This is a talk by Dr. Kevin Barrows, Director of the Mindfulness Programs at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine. He covers a variety of ways to approach mind/body health and the practices that focus on it:

I tend to call what I’m interested in here at Well Columbus mind/body practices. These include yoga, tai chi, NIA, etc. But there are many other activities that acknowledge the interconnectedness of these erroneously disconnected aspects of living as a human in a body.

The following information page from the University of Minnesota has called the movement practices: mindful movement, which I like a lot. It offers a new term that might help you fit this into your paradigm. The following short overview describes of few mindful movement modalities and provides useful information on their uses and cautions:

While many types of aerobic and anaerobic exercise promote physical and mental well-being, there are specific “schools” of physical activity with a more distinct mind-body approach. For example:

Read more…

Photo credit: Tai Chi by Jonathan Joaquin, via Creative Commons License.