Meditation, Yoga, Fitness…and Booze?
Wait a sec! Wasn’t that last part supposed to say ‘cold pressed kale juice with a ginger and cayenne twist’?
Nope.
You read it correctly.
And yes, all four, and then some, are now being offered under the same roof in venues from Los Angeles to the Big Apple.
In an article entitled Mind, Body, Spirits in this month’s Vogue[1], we learn about the growing trend of ‘boutique fitness studios resembling discos and members-only wellness clubs offering the promise of spiritual and social enlightenment’.
The author points out very early on that her social life has merged with her fitness life and shortly thereafter we read a telling quote from the CEO of Equinox which that ‘working out is the new happy hour’.
We also learn about the first brick and mortar opened by Brooklyn Based mindful-events company[2] located in Hollywood[3] where one can, for $159/month, practice yoga, attend guided meditation sessions, dine in a James Beard nominated chef’s restaurant and take a vegetable-fermentation workshop).
Similar venues are taking it a step further and offering tequila chaser to down after than freshly pressed green juice.
Is this all a step in the right direction or are we blurring the lines too much between healthy living/clean eating/fitness and bar hopping/clubbing/hooking up?
In all honesty, I’d have to go with the former.
I’ve always felt that there’s no one best form of exercise that is well suited for everyone and encouraged clients to find the most enjoyable physical activity that draws them in so much it feels like playtime.
Some love a trail run more than anything else, while others get their groove on at dance class and still others yet find the camaraderie developed through team sport to be an integral part of what males them tick…and sweat.
In other words, find the type of exercise you love, whatever that may be and so long as it involved moving your body in some way with frequency, go for it!
And with regard to eating, as much as I continue to be a believer in a true paleo approach, I also empathize with and support testing and trying different approaches until each of us finds our own perfect fit.
So if we circle back to the idea of merging social and fitness, I’d say, why not?
If fitness and wellbeing are truly to be a part of anyone’s real, day to day life, wouldn’t make the most sense that their friends and perhaps family, those who they’d voluntarily spend the most time with, would have the very same interests in common?
Of course, we can’t always choose the people with whom we’ll spend our time. There’s always that one person at work who just rubs you the wrong way or the family member who just doesn’t see eye to eye with you, but that’s part of life and ideally could be regarded as something we all have to just deal with sometimes.
But when it comes to engaging in something so important as what you eat or how you move, the very nature of doing so with people you also happen to like makes all the sense in the world.
Why not do a yoga class in which you practice your asanas while tropical house pipes through the room as a light aroma of patchouli and jasmine wafts through the air?
Or schedule a meeting over a kombucha and raw kale instead of another stuffy lunch you simply didn’t want to eat?
As far as spiking the juice with tequila, so be it, if that’s your balance.
No one ever said one must completely abstain from alcohol and so long as you balance it out and don’t try to pretend that part of your ritual is helping with your detox or alkalizing cleanse, in the grand scheme of things, given that you’re now exercising and eating well, it’s really not a crisis.
While I love my sport and happen to be someone who enjoys the sheer simplicity of being able to run, I’m still quite curious to check out some of these scenes in my off season, and Wanderlust Hollywood seems just the place to start.
Yoga, mediation, fermented veggies and even a little tequila? Bring it!
[1] Meltzer, Marisa. “Mind, Body, Spirits.” VOGUE DECEMBER (2015): 190-92. Print.
[2] http://wanderlust.com
[3] http://wanderlusthollywood.com
