PLAN B IS FOR BEAUTIFUL

Our carefully planned hike lasted exactly as long as it took to pull into the Lake Minnewaska parking lot and discover that everyone in the tri-state had the same idea.

So, like Ross and the too-big-for-the-staircase sofa, we pivoted. It was the first of a few detours that weekend, and the detours kept turning out to be the best parts.

 I’m writing this fresh off a long weekend retreat in Kingston with a lovely group of Pearl people, co-leading with Reggie at Church des Artistes, a 200-year-old Gothic church turned guesthouse that is absolutely packed with character. Stained glass, antiques, sky-high ceilings, piles of blue-and-white china, and that soft Nancy Meyers light dappling through every window. It’s the kind of place where you find yourself drinking tea out of a tiny beautiful cup all afternoon, pretending you have nowhere else to be.

Friday night gently drifted off script - Reggie and I had planned to cook for our eight guests, and then dinner became a group project, with new friends wandering into the kitchen to chop and stir. We found ourselves slicing onions next to people we’d only ever seen lying on Reformers. That’s truly the best  thing about retreats. People who know each other from class turn into actual friends, simply because there’s finally time.

Back to the parking lot. We split into small groups and improvised, and mine found another trail and ended up having a picnic in an alternate forest beside a creek. Fresh air, foliage, an afternoon in the woods, just not the one on the itinerary. We spent it remembering that there are other things to do with our eyeballs besides stare at a screen, a lesson I need more often than I’d like to admit. I spend my days behind a computer telling the Bronx to get up and move, and then I close the laptop and pick up my phone. 

That night we ate family-style at a mind-blowingly good restaurant called Cleo, where a skate wing piccata and a sourdough ice cream sundae (Cocoa Krispies from a much more sophisticated planet) set off several rounds of delighted disbelief. Late that evening, bellies full, we set intentions under the new moon, thinking about what we wanted to let go of and what we wanted to make space for.

Sunday’s plan was apple picking at Rose Hill Farm. When it poured rain, we abandoned our wholesome farm fantasies, and headed to the modern art museum Dia Beacon instead. As backup plans go, it’s a pretty spectacular one.

I love that we ended up with both: a day immersed in the landscape, followed by a day looking at what people make when they have the space and imagination to create something extraordinary. The colors and textures of the woods in October, then the colors and textures of works of art. One made by nature, the other by human hands, both capable of stopping you in your tracks. 

I plan for a living, with schedules and itineraries and a time next to everything, and I still believe in a good plan. But maybe the best thing a plan can do is get everyone out the door and into the world. After that, you have to leave a little room for whatever happens.

We closed with one last yoga practice, followed by the bittersweet scramble of packing up, sorting recycling from compost, and making sure every china cup found its home before checkout. Back to reality, and reality has very specific opinions about where the food scraps go.

I’m home now, and the inbox did not magically empty itself while I was gone. But I came back feeling like I’d spent a few days actually living my life rather than just managing it.

Thank you to everyone who joined us, and to Reggie for co-leading and bringing her wonderful energy to the whole weekend. I’m already looking forward to the next one.

 See ya on the mat 💙

New Class Alert 🪩

P.S. City Island, we have a new dance class! Come check out The Get Down, with our new dance instructor Alabi, on Sundays at 1:30. 

It’s a music-driven dance + cardio class that pulls from African, jazz, and modern dance. We start with a mindful warm-up to settle into your body, then the music picks up and so do you, with rhythmic movement, dance combinations, and a little conditioning with resistance bands and light weights. It’s moderately paced and beginner-friendly, and no dance experience is needed, just a willingness to let loose and find out how good it feels to dance.

Grab a spot and bring a friend. Sunday afternoons just got a lot more fun