Traditions take a new twist.

Every 4th of July our family takes a 4 hour trek up ( along with thousands of other Minnesotans)  to Northern Minnesota to enjoy what every Minnesotan affectionately calls "the lakes." It doesn't matter where you are going in Minnesota, if you are headed to one of our 10,000 lakes, you simply call your sweet spot  in this state, "the lakes".

We have been going to the same lake in small town Minnesota for roughly 14 years. We stay on a cabin cruiser in a marina and spend our days either wake boarding, wake surfing, fishing, swimming or nothing at all. Our tradition is pretty predictable and enjoyable. The kids run and gun from sunrise to well beyond sunset. Night time fishing is a hit amongst the men despite the onslaught of horse flies and mosquitos that suck your blood dry. For some reason, the guys don't seem to mind the constant swatting and cursing at those flying vampires but I do so I stay nestled in the boat.

This year, however great our tradition has been, I decided that I need to shake things up a bit. I was getting bored with the predictability of it all. I'm a sucker for a new experience and after 14 years of the practically doing the same thing, I thought I'd throw myself a curve ball and do something different. I know you're probably thinking that I opted for some crazy, wild, up North adventure;  you may be shocked to hear that what I opted to do was to take a local Soma yoga class with my mother.  Not your true blue Minnesota 4th of July activity but I'm not your average gal~ nor is mother.

My mother invited me to join her at her local yoga studio for what she called " a different type of yoga", as she smirked, she giggled, " I think you'll like it." I'm always a little leery about things that are presented to me that way but I figured I'd go with the flow and check this new thing out. I've done yoga before and I understand how a class goes but after this micro and somewhat mysterious explanation  of this class, I was curious at best. We entered the dimly studio and as we did, this petite, grey haired, tattoo clad woman came in at the same time with her bag of yoga tricks and a smile. We were introduced and she was sweet as pie. I was ready to do yoga and work out the kinks from the 4 hour drive but she had other plans. She was a talker and chatted our ears off in this sweet little voice about her experience at a Soma Yoga conference where she came into contact with her newest crush, "Sean Johnson and the Wild Lotus Band." She crooned on and on about this band and their live band yoga classes etc. I kept waiting for the yoga to start . . . more chatter. She went on to tell us how she'd be telling us a "story" about Shiva, the Hindu God and creator of the Warrior pose. Great, I thought. . .stories ( insert sarcastic tone), I'll never get my yoga fix today.

We did a few yoga poses, did a "get to know our toes" exercise and then sat up ready to be read the story of Shiva, Hindu God. As she started reading, my mother and I trying to be polite, and in the moment of the story, shot each other wicked glances of "wtheck??" We quickly refocused and listened to the story. The instructors enthusiasm was great and we did learn a little something  but in the end,  this was not the yoga class I had bargained for. Finally, we came to wrap up the class with the coveted and much awaited "resting pose". I spread myself out on my yoga mat, got comfy and steadied my breath ready to meditate for however long I possibly could. It just so happened our instructor  had brought her the latest cd from Sean Johnson and the Wild Lotus Band ,so she slipped her music in and we sat and listened to the chant. Deep into my relaxation and kind of digging the music, my body was electrified with a live human voice chanting along with the cd. . .yes, our instructor was chanting along. After I got used to that addition to the music, I let my ever exhausted body melt away into the music. While in my deep state of relaxation, I heard, " I think we lost Carmen." I slowly opened my eyes to see that I was the last one to come out of the chanted trance. Clearly, I'd managed to find my own sweet spot in this yoga class despite the stories, chatter and strange, yet oddly stimulating "get to know your toes" exercise.

Despite the fact that this yoga class was most definitely NOT the kind of yoga class I was expecting, I walked away pretty darn inspired. What does this have to do with travel you may ask??? Well, It has to do with meeting the locals of the destination and looking deeper into what a community ( no matter where you are ) has to offer. We may get caught up in our regular activities while on vacation but as a challenge to yourself, step out of the box of what you usually do and try something different. My take away from this side trek on the 4th of July is this: the coolest experiences come from being willing to try new things that stretch us beyond our level of comfortability; there are such interesting people in the world doing such amazing things with a contagious level of passion that leaves us inspired and renewed. Why would you want to pass an opportunity like this up? I know that the next time I  find myself in the Warrior pose in a yoga class, I'll be thanking Shiva for coming up with such a great pose and I'll have that cute little tattooed, grey haired yoga instructors sweet voice in the back of my head saying, " Isn't that so cool?"

Dare to dream it. Viva la Vida.

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