The Trip and the Trade: Beautiful People Beautiful Country - Lotus Leaf Yoga

http://www.lotusleafyoga.com/

I arrived in Heber City around 8 a.m. yesterday morning with hopes to meet and speak with Natalie before our 9:30 a.m. yoga class at the Lotus Leaf Studio. The studio wasn't open so Arthur and I wandered around the town for a bit, saw some amazing fall color and then headed back.

When I got back to the Lotus Leaf building I met Ann and Steve, a couple waiting to take the yoga class. During our conversation I learned that they own a plant nursery and landscape installation company in Park City. They were so kind and supportive of The Trip and the Trade. While we waited for the class to start my friend Kristy showed up. It was wonderful to see her! I think that it had been 7 years!

Once the studio was opened I realized that Natalie was not there and that a woman named Katie was going to subsitute. Let me just tell you about Katie ... she competes in Iron Man races, runs marathons, teaches yoga, and has four children ... uh yeah, pretty amazing woman. The yoga room at the Lotus Leaf Studio is beautiful! It has light colored walls, dark wood accents, and large windows. Because of its location on the second floor we had a view of Mount Timpanogos, the second highest peak in the Wasatch Range. An amazing place to practice.

We all settled onto our mats and with this, Katie started our class, "Relax into yourselves, and focus on the brilliance of your life." THIS was going to be a great class. Katie guided us through a class that served all levels. She gave wonderful direction on poses and breath. Kristy hasn't had a lot of exposure to yoga and is going to have her baby in January. Katie paid special attention to Kristy throughout the class and gave her options on all poses. At the end of class I told everyone about The Trip and the Trade. It was a great group of people with strong practices.

After class another one of my good friends, Katrina, showed up to take photos for me. She and her family live out in Midway about 5 to 10 minutes from Heber City. She invited Kristy and I over for lunch. Katrina is a good cook so this was a positive development. After lunch I headed out for my community service.

Katrina had coordinated with Ms. Brooke, a kindergarten teacher at the Soldier Hollow Charter School. This school was soooo cool. The classrooms are housed in the 'tower' building in an area where many of the 2002 winter olympics were held. This school is called an 'environment' school meaning that the children get to have some of their classes out in the actual natural landscape. After I parked my car, I walked down a path that took to me to this facility. As I walked under the cross country skiing track bridge and past the 2002 Park City Olympics monument I entered what I can only think to call a 'mountain bowl'.

This open area is surrounded with mountains and hills covered in low growing shrubs soft pink in their fall wardrobes. In between these swaths of pink color were yellow poplars - yes, it was THAT beautiful.

I entered the school, went up the stairs and had to stop to take a look at some of the artwork. It was so sweet.

I must have looked lost because a little blond girl with a nose full of freckles approached me and asked if I needed help. I told her I was looking for Ms. Brooke's class and she proudly told me that Ms. Brooke was her teacher and led the way. When I got into Ms. Brooke's class all the children were working away at their stations. Ms. Brooke asked me to help some boys with their word find puzzles. After I squeezed myself into one of the tiny chairs I began to work with my new friends Maddox and Porter.

We discussed how to find words like 'fall', 'corn', and 'pumpkin' in the gaggle of letters above. We had a pretty easy time with the shorter words but when we got to pumpkin we decided that we had better spell it out so we knew what letters we sought.

Kari: What is this first letter?

Porter: P

Kari: Nice work Porter - what's the second letter?

Porter: U ... snicker snicker (plugs his nose and says in a nasal voice) ... that sounds like Pee-

you!

Kari: (putting on my best "adult" face) I know Porter, that's a good remembering tool - now

you'll never forget what letters you're trying to find. (inside I was snickering, too)

After we made stamps with apples and paint, class was almost over. Ms. Brooke had all the children sit down and go around the circle stating something they appreciated about that day (she asked me, too - and it was hard to narrow down my list). Boy, you really never know what kids will say - remember...these kids are five years old. One little boy said he appreciated electricity (I had to agree), another said that he appreciated his friend Isaac. Isaac's response to this was priceless, simultaneously he gave his admirer a thumbs up, winked his right eye, clicked his tongue, and said, "Thanks, buddy!" It was awesome.

Ms. Brooke partnered everyone up and we began the trek to the parking lot to meet all their parents. I brought up the back of the line to catch any stragglers. As we exited the building an older student was being extracted by his teacher from the recycling bin. Judging from the smile on his face I took this to be a voluntary situation. I had a nice conversation as I walked with the last pair, Elliot and Maddox. At one point Elliot looked up at me, smiled, gave me a big hug, kissed me on the hip (that's how tall he is :), and asked me if I wanted to hold hands. The only ponderable answer to this was ... 'you bet I do, Elliot.' So there is the end of my time in Heber City, UT.

I met wonderful people at Lotus Leaf Yoga and was reminded of the absolute beauty and innocence of children. Thank you Natalie, Katie, Katrina, Kristy, Ms. Brooke, and everyone else who helped create this experience - it was amazing.