Living Well is a Practice
Like everything else, the more you do it, the better at it you get.
The avalanche of design projects under which I have been flattened finally began to thaw a bit in the last two weeks. So I’ve been able to take care of Life Things© like make long-delayed doctors’ appointments (I saw the grumpy allergist again!), get a haircut, pay URSSAF, wash woolens to prepare them for their moth-repellent hibernation until next winter, return to dance class, go to a café from time to time to enjoy a small window of doing nothing in the sun.
It’s been glorious!
If New York magazine were to call and ask me to describe How I Get It Done, I would say that my secret is this: Monday through Friday I set the alarm for 6am and I don’t hit snooze. While that may sound very “rise and grind” (a phrase I detest), it is anything but. It’s more like this: I am a chronic overachiever and hate feeling rushed so my system is to build more time into the beginning of each day so that I feel like I have a modicum of control (or the illusion/delusion of control) over the unfolding events.
Does it always work? No. Things can — and sometimes do — go totally off the fucking rails by 10, but as long as I’ve had coffee/meditated/run or done some yoga/eaten something yummy, I don’t feel like the entire day has been a complete failure. Is this a frequent subject in therapy? What do you think? 😉
All of this to say: if you only have a fraction of a moment to take care of yourself, DO IT. Close your eyes and breathe. Look up at the sky. Stretch your arms overhead. Step away from your computer, open a window and listen for birds. Add vanilla extract to your cup of tea. I have to remind myself every single day to do these little things for myself and as silly and insignificant as they might sound, they make me feel more like a human and less like a hamster on a capitalist treadmill.
Living well is a practice, even when it doesn’t involve movements that look like yoga or sitting that looks like meditation.
After the jump: four fun ideas in May for Doing Yoga in Paris, and then because I couldn’t help myself (I’m an overachiever, remember?) a couple of creative field trips in June that will take you out of your routine and into new expressive territory…
FUN MAY YOGA EVENTS
Marc Holzman has scheduled two more Guerilla Yoga sessions at the American Church in the 7e this month, if you’re hankering for a class that opens with an inspiring yoga practice and closes with a deeply relaxing and meditative Yoga Nidra. Donation-based. Saturday May 10th and 31st, 2025. 11h-13h. No need to reserve, just show up with your yoga mat and an open mind. Good vibes guaranteed ✌️
In addition to having recently relaunched her online yoga class platform, Paris-based Clotilde Chaumet is teaching a few local classes where you can catch her before her purported move to Los Angeles. Pranayama sessions on Monday May 12th and 19th, 2025 (19h30-20h30); Open level yoga class on Saturday May 24th, 2025 (10h-11h15.) Reserve here.
If you have a midweek hole in your schedule that you’d like to fill with inversions, join Laetitia Lecuyer for one (or both!) of these workshops that will emphasize biomechanics in order to safely build strength and stability. Wednesdays May 14th and 21st, 2025. 10h30-12h. Reserve here.
Baba Yoga Social Club is celebrating its birthday with a day-long Portes Ouvertes. New students will benefit from a FREE class, and current students will be gifted a FREE coffee. Saturday May 17th, 2025. Reserve your spot via email, or DM.
AND THEN IN JUNE: CREATIVE EXPLORATION
One of my very favorite dancer/choreographers, Mourad Bouayad, is teaching an open-to-everyone dance class at Bandha Studio. If you want to dance, explore new techniques, and make friends with your body’s innate desire to move, go! Sunday June 15th, 2025. 14h30-17h. Reserve here.
Amy Hollowell, poet, French-English translator and Zen meditation teacher, will lead a writing workshop entitled Saisir l’Insaisissable at Fondation Giacometti. Using different exercises, this session will show you how poetry can emerge from mindful and personal observation. Sunday June 29th, 2025. 14h-17h. Reserve here.
Love it! So impressed you get up at 6am every day, M! I've been doing it with Jared on Monday and Tuesdays when he has to call in for a substitute teaching assignment, but the other days, it's more like 7:30 or 8. What time do you go to sleep when you get up at 6? I'm cooked by 9pm.