Boston + New England

Free Yoga Boston (Winter/Spring 2022)

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Whew! Between moving in October, working, the holidays, then getting COVID, things got away from me. This list is up far later than I’d hoped, but it’s also very special. I recently realized that this is a milestone list. Back in 2012 was the first time that I posted a full listing of free yoga classes by day of the week. That’s 10 years ago!

While I may abandon word games at the drop of a hat, I’ve hung in there with Free Yoga Boston. Much of the reason is because I’ve gotten such great feedback over the years from many of you about how useful you find this information. Back then, I could have never imagined all the virtual classes. Life comes at you fast! So we adapt.

Make sure to check the Free Yoga Boston Facebook Group in addition to the Free Yoga Boston Facebook page. The group is private, but you can request to join. Members share information and sometimes there are additional classes and events listed.

You can also find classes on Eventbrite and Meetup. Classes listed here are free or donation based and the time is Eastern. Click on the links for more details on dates and to register. Because of the way some of the classes are listed, it was easier to include a few that will take us into summer. You can plan early!

As always, this list is a work in progress that will have changes and updates. Please let me know if you have any questions, corrections and/or tips! Enjoy!

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MONDAY

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care: Ongoing (Online)
5:15pm – 6:15pm

TUESDAY

Yoga Hub & Boston Public Library Yoga: May 3 – June 7
(Senior Chair Yoga @ Codman Square Branch, 690 Washington St., Boston)
11am – 12pm

WEDNESDAY

Humble Roots Yoga: Ongoing
(Thomas Crane Public Library, 40 Washington St., Quincy)
9:30am – 10:30am

Pranayama ~ Joy of Breathing: Ongoing (Online)
1pm – 1:30pm

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care: Ongoing (Online)
5:15pm – 6:15pm

THURSDAY

Humble Roots Yoga: Ongoing
(Tufts Library, 46 Broad St., Weymouth)
9:30am – 10:30am

SATURDAY

Yoga Hub & Boston Public Library Yoga: April 30 – June 4
(Family Flow @ Lower Mills Branch, 27 Richmond St., Dorchester Center)
10:30am – 11:30am

Yoga Hub & Boston Public Library Yoga: March 19 – April 23
(Family Flow @ Adams Street Branch, 690 Adams St., Dorchester)
11am – 12pm

Yoga Hub & Boston Public Library Yoga: May 28 – July 2
(Hatha Yoga For Active Adults @ South Boston Branch, 646 E Broadway, South Boston)
11am – 12pm

SUNDAY

Vinyasa Yoga (Biweekly starting 2/20/22 – Registration Required)
(Allbirds, 29 Brattle St., Harvard Square, Cambridge)
9:30am – 10:15am

Boston Parks Winter Fitness Virtual Yoga: Through April 24 (Online)
6pm – 7pm

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Solar Spring Arrives!

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solar spring sun on Feburary 5 2022

Have you heard of solar spring? Since weather preoccupies most of us New Englanders, I follow several meteorologists on Twitter. Early this week, I learned from Eric Fisher that today is solar spring!

Today, Dave Epstein followed-up on Boston.com with an article about solar spring’s arrival. He describes this “happy astronomical marker” as the first of three spring markers. Meteorological spring is March 1st and astronomical spring, which I think most of us consider the real spring, will bless our timeline a little after 11:30am on March 20th. Happy happy joy joy!

Finally, the first of all the springs start today! The winter months are tough and for me January is the worst. It’s a long month and we’re usually getting snow for real. Like many feet of snow! It’s literally freezing and dark all the time. The mornings are dark. Late afternoon is dark. It’s just downright gloomy.

February has another vibe. I used to think it was the hardest month. But really it’s not. It’s still cold and snowy, but the light is different. You can see the change. It’s brighter and melts the snow quickly. It’s lighter longer too. There’s light after 5pm and the sun rises earlier in the morning. We get a visible hint of spring. We know in our New England bones that our long cold dark winter will soon end!

According to Epstein, we get more than four more hours of light between now and early May. It’s a big win and plants and animals start acting accordingly. I was thinking that I had more time to decide what I want to grow on my balcony. The plan is to have a small container garden with flowers, herbs and some vegetables.

With Mercury no longer in retrograde, and actually no planets in retrograde for more than two months, it’s a great time to start setting my garden plans in motion. The Mercury shadow period lasts until February 23rd, but after that, it’s all systems go!

The Blizzard of 2022!

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snow on balcony

For those of us who are of a certain age living in the Boston area, the Blizzard of ’78 has been the reference point for all snow storms. I’ve seen the generational shift happening in many ways, but it was even more apparent today when someone tweeted that 2015 was the year to reference. Really? I think of 2015 more as a series of storms over a month and not just one storm.

Today’s storm was a whopper though and will be remembered for years to come, so I thought it was worthy of a post. I measured and marked the snow totals by feet on my balcony window. Close to four feet because of the wind and drifts! That’s a whole lot of snow and I wonder how long it will take to melt.

Luckily I kept power through the storm, so I did a bit of blizzard baking. Oatmeal, chocolate-chip and butterscotch-chip cookies for the win!

Free Yoga On The Library Lawn

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yoga on the libary lawn

Over the years, I’ve read about many free yoga classes at public libraries in Massachusetts and in other states as well. This morning, I was finally able to attend a free yoga class right here in Quincy, outside on the lawn at Thomas Crane Public Library. This class was the first in a series of community classes taking place each Wednesday morning in September on the library lawn.

It’s hard taking pictures and enjoy the relaxing vibe, but I managed to snap a few.

There was a nice breeze — and lots of bees. Four or five bees hovered over blades of grass in front of me. A few ants made their way onto my mat too, but no stings or bites!

I was beneath a large tree, so there was some shade and bright sun streaming through the branches. There was a mostly clear blue sky with a few wispy clouds floating by. Even though the class was in the morning, it was warm and a tiny bit humid. Perfect weather and a reminder that summer is still here.

There was a good turnout and new arrivals kept showing up through most of the class. We were mostly an older crowd, but there was young woman who arrived towards the end with the cutest little girl. They both got on their mats and dove right into their practice.

From conversation I heard, a few people said this was their first yoga class. Our teacher, Rhiannon Skolnick of Humble Roots Yoga, was enthusiastic and has a gentle soothing way about her.

This might have been my first yoga class since the pandemic started. Possibly the second, but the first this summer. Because I’m vaccinated now and there was a lot of space to spread out on the library lawn, I felt comfortable not wearing a mask. Hopefully the weather will cooperate next week for another wonderful class.

The Alexandra Hotel Reimagined Again

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Alexandra Hotel

Here we go again. I wrote about Boston’s Alexandra Hotel back in January 2019. Then many updates to the post followed, because the situation with this property kept changing. As it has for the decades that I’ve been following it.

As expected, the pandemic didn’t make the proposed development of the property any easier. To me, it feels like this property has a purpose that hasn’t been found yet. With an owner that hasn’t been found yet. Because everything with it has been difficult for such a long time. When the purpose and owner are aligned, I would think things would flow easily.

But who knows? Maybe this next proposal will be it. A virtual public meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 7, 2021, 6:30pm – 8:30pm. Also, the public may submit comments through Friday, September 17, 2021.

The last proposal for Alexandra Hotel was for a 150-room boutique hotel. Because the pandemic completely changed the hotel industry, that plan was scrapped. Now the intent envisions 106 residential condos. 71 of those units will be “Compact Units” that are a mix of studios and one bedrooms.

The last meeting I attended in person, so seeing this all play out on Zoom will probably be pretty wild. I’m planning to watch.

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Photo Credit: Nina LaNegra