Sayulita Mermaid Yogis Retreat: Part IV

And just like that, a whole year has passed since I took off on a yoga retreat with a group of girls I'd never met before. A year ago yesterday, I was on a flight back to San Diego from Puerto Vallarta, smiling to myself as I thought about the amazing week I'd just spent in Sayulita.

Today, as we get further and further into the fall season, I'm already trying to figure out my next trip back to Mexico. But before I do, I want to wrap up the recap from the trip I already took. Writing the recaps from the trip have let me hold onto it beyond that final plane ride home. Over the past year, I've found myself inspired to write them on rainy days, when I need a little dose of sunshine in my life.

It's not raining today but after a night of howling winds and a blustery morning, I could not have been craving Sayulita's sunny skies and warm waters any more than I am now.

Sayulita Mermaid Yogis Retreat: Part III

Where did August even come from?

I'm pretty sure that yesterday I was stoked about kicking off summer on Memorial Day weekend and somehow here we are, at the beginning of the end of my favorite season.

Sure, in San Diego it seems like we have an endless summer... and we sorta do. But I have 20+ years of East Coast seasons baked into my circadian rhythm. I can't help but feel like August is an endcap. Actually, I just saw a perfect description on Instagram this morning: August is like the Sunday of summer.

As of right now, I have yet to plan any end of summer activities and it's making me antsy. The only thing I have decided to do this month is participate in the #MermaidYogas yoga challenge on Instagram, even though I have a lot of catching up to do already! One of the prizes is the gorgeous Glide Lotus SUP Board... I'd say winning one of those puppies would be a pretty epic way to round out summer.

But in the meantime, the challenge is a nice way to stay connected with a fantastic group of merbabes who I first got acquainted with last November, when I went on a retreat with the founders of the Mermaid Yogis movement: Amelia of Stoked Yogi, Mandy of Zen Girl Chronicles and Janalyn of Horizon Light Productions.

Starting the challenge and seeing a bunch of these chicas at the One Love Movement yoga event on Saturday made me miss our adventures in Sayu and I remembered for the millionth time that I really needed to finish recapping our retreat on this blog. Plus, all of these wonderful women have just announced different retreats coming up this fall. So if you're thinking about going on your first yoga retreat, take this as a glowing endorsement for some of my favorite mermaids around!

Sayulita Mermaid Yogis Retreat: Part II

For most of the country, May is a welcome reprieve from months of horrendous weather. But in San Diego, it's actually the start of our cloudy season. May Gray and June Gloom are aptly titled after the marine layer that typically descends upon us right when most people are celebrating the start of summer.

I know right? Boo hoo, we get a month or two of partly cloudy weather. Poor San Diego.

But I'm not one to shy away from complaining about the weather. It's part of the reason I moved here: I was unbearable to listen to when I lived on the east coast.

During the first week of May, I tried to suck it up, but it's legit bumming me out now. The morning that I started this post was no different: clouds, wind and rain. I wore a sweater and my winter jacket to work. Sweater weather? It just sends me tearing for photos and memories of warmer times with far lighter (and fewer) clothes.

Which is what prompted me to write the second part of my Sayulita yoga retreat recap oh... only six or seven months after it happened. Ironically enough, I left off right when things were getting not-so-sunny in Mexico. But rainy Sayulita is still blissfully tropical... and I'll take warm and rainy over cold and cloudy any day.

Sayulita Mermaid Yogis Retreat: Part I

This past November, I did something crazy.

That's how it felt at the time: crazy. Crazy to go on a yoga retreat when I wasn't that great at yoga. Crazy to spend a week in the jungle with girls I'd never met before. Crazy to spend so much money on a vacation to a place I'd already visited nine months earlier. Crazy to spend that much time away from Ryan and the dogs, crazy to sign up for so many water activities when I had only just learned to swim. Crazy.

But it wasn't crazy. Not even a little bit. In fact, it was one of the smartest, refreshing, and inspiring things I've ever done. And if I could go back to that drunken night in August at the bar with my friend Anjali, and have her encourage me to sign up all over again, I wouldn't change a thing.

I first learned about the trip on a blog written by a girl named Mandy. I'd followed Mandy's blog for years and never met her or taken her yoga classes even though she lived and taught in San Diego. Last summer, I read her post about an upcoming retreat in Sayulita and it sounded amazing: one week of yoga, SUP and surf in Mexico. I thought about it and thought about it and when I finally took the plunge and reserved my spot, I couldn't believe it.

And then, all of a sudden, it was November 8th, and I was about to get on a plane for Mexico.