What do you do for fun?

That’s the question our yoga teacher, Pleasance, asked us in class recently. She said, helpfully, it can be something you did 10 years ago, if there’s been nothing lately…?

I’m attending a 10-week women’s yoga series. I chose the moon class (“…a little sweeter, a little softer, and a little slower”) on Thursdays over Tuesday’s sun class (“…a little more energy, a little more movement, and a little more intensity”), not actually being sure I could make it through one class, it having been awhile.

I needn’t have worried. The class is so nourishing, so supportive. Pleasance watches each of us like a mama hawk, and appears with a block or bolster if we are straining more than is healthy. Wow. Who knew yoga could be like this? After a short series of classes, I am possibly addicted!

When Pleasance asked What do you do for fun? she turned her beautiful, vibrant face toward me and said, Jo, you go first! Hmmm… Something joyous, playful, carefree…. My life has not felt very carefree lately, but I contemplated that feeling and came up with… hiking in nature! Always a great love, full of beauty and awe, chance encounters with woodpeckers, chipmunks, and enchanting butterflies, glorious fragrances and shafts of sunlight. Turtles sometimes and blue herons.

We went around the room. Two women said the beach. The feel of the sand, the cadence of the waves, walking, sitting, lying, reading, swimming, surfing! One said traveling, anyplace, it didn’t matter where, it could be Pittsburgh, that the thrill of travel always buoyed her. One said knitting, that she hadn’t knitted in 20 years until just recently, and smiled radiantly as she mimed knitting. One said vegetable gardening, getting her hands in the soil, growing things. The last woman said, being here, now. She said as she had gotten older that she found herself being surprisingly content with whatever she was doing, wherever she was going, no longer needing a trip to Paris to inspire joy. Since I feel much the same, I wonder: is this warm, mellow pleasure in the now a part of aging?

I honestly hadn’t thought about this question of fun in a long time. Upon further reflection, I added visiting art exhibits and cooking with my son, Arran, and going to the ballet with Anna and Shakespeare Theater with Sau to the list, along with tea with friends, reading and taking photographs. Thinking of more fun things to do sounds like… fun!

What do you do for fun?