Celebrate the Trees!

February 3rd, 2007

Today I took a day off. Yes, there was lots I could have done, but I decided to do some relaxing. I slept in and got some coffee with the fiansor in the morning, then I went to the gym for a NIA class. Later I took a nap. The NIA class was fun! There were some things that weren't ideal about it. There were a few older women who kept complaining about the music volume, which sent the teacher going back and forth and back and forth adjusting in the first 20 minutes. More bothersome to me were the big windows in the back of the class that face out to the cardio room where people are running on treadmills looking directly into the aerobics room. I managed to forget this some of the time, but some of the time it was a little awkward. NIA, which is a combination of dancing and martial arts and yoga movements and reminds me a lot of simply playing and stretching to music, isn't something I really want people watching me do unless they are participating. Particularly because (and this is me judging) I feel like most of the people running away on the treadmills wouldn't exactly "get" this type of class. Ah well. It's busy on Saturdays too, so perhaps it would be less weird with a weekday morning class. I'll try that another time. The things I did like about it, were the play involved, the adorable teacher with the thick accent and the leopard print garb, and the fact that she mentioned the Jewish holiday of the New Year of the Trees, Tu B'Shevat and based some of the exercises on it.

I had never heard of this holiday before, but last week I joined a gym at a Jewish community center near my home. It's not just a gym for Jewish people, but there is a large Jewish population there along with writing in Hebrew on the walls and Jewish related events (Jewish author book signings, Jewish musical groups, etc). The gym is beautiful though, clean and with great equipment, so we decided to join. As an aside, my father and the fiansor's mother are Jewish (or they were raised Jewish, but don't actively practice), but neither of us were brought up Jewish as my mom is Catholic and his dad is Greek. Great combos, eh? We've been exposed to various Jewish holidays and temple and celebrations with our families.

Anyway! So, when I walked in last week I noticed they had painted up the glass doors of the entrance with a big tree and swirly words announcing that February 3rd was the holiday of the trees. I thought this was so cool! I love trees, who knew they have their own holiday? Yeah, I know we have arbor day, but this seems somehow more spiritual and I feel a sort of spiritual connection with trees. So, happy birthday to the trees! I love you!

Um, yes, I just declared my love for trees. I'm getting a little giddy over the fact that my last day of massage school is tomorrow. *happy dance!* I haven't quite finished that art piece I've been talking about, so I'll leave you with an older piece that hangs in my hallway called "The Tree of Life."

Treeoflife

9 Responses

i really love this painting! i have always wanted to try a NIA class, but i haven’t had much finding one where i live…congrats on finishing massage school! that reminds me that i am in dire need of one….

mmmm…this is a beautiful painting and an interesting story to go along with it! Happy Tree Day, Leah! I think your happiness is rubbing off on me! :)

lovely piece and great post…

hugs,
sage

Oooh, a holiday to celebrate trees. How wonderful! And what a great way to honour those trees with your creativity! Beautiful! Thanks for sharing this holiday. It is new to me, and I’m a real fan of trees too :)

I’m so glad that you got to experience a Nia class. Because Nia is such an “in the groove” kind of experience, I can understand how distracting it would be to have others watching. I hope that despite the local and other issues, you find joy in the experience. Maybe you’ll even inspire some of those people to leave the treadmill and come out and play :)

Beautiful! Beautiful! Hooray for you!

I *love* this piece! Hurray for taking a day off. xoxo

Oh. Trees. Who knew they had their own holiday! I LOVE it! I love trees. I am a tree hugger. Not only do I hug them, I also talk to them. So does husband when we’re amongst the redwoods where for the first time in his life he finally *understood.*

lovely; like a patchwork quilt on the ground

I love trees too and I know that if you love them they’ll love you back, in their own way :-)

Love your picture too.

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