 Dear Friends,
The sun came out yesterday! After 9 straight days of rain and cloudiness, the sun was shining today in a spectacular fashion. Now, don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the rain. We’re in a drought in the DC/Maryland area, and having been born and raised in California and frequently in drought, I always love and appreciate rain. This time of year I especially love how green it turns the world, how the creeks and streams grow fuller and faster, how the rain creates beautiful colors around us. Even so, when the sky turned blue this morning and the sun came out, when the birds were singing in the trees around my house it was absolutely magical…what a difference some sun can make in our lives. There are times when it feels like we are perpetually under the clouds, with no sun, with no relief in sight…and if that’s you right now I hope you can find a little respite, a little blue sky, a little sun peaking out behind the clouds even if the clouds are still largely there. Have an amazing week, my friend. Love Krista
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 Dear Friends,
I was thinking about those Cycladic roads again this week, about how they work with the terrain around them instead of blasting through said terrain…and about acceptance and love of ourselves exactly as we are and where we are. We visited this beautiful monastery built into a cliff while we were on Amorgos. Legend has it that the monks who were building it first built it closer to the water, but the building materials kept falling down each night. Finally, one of the tools was found high up on the cliffside, and the monks decided, instead of the original spot, the cliffside spot was where they were called to build their monastery. Sometimes, in our very understandable rigidity, we get stuck in the thinking that acceptance of where we are now, and allowing ourselves to view ourselves as worthy and enough just as we are means we can’t move and shift from where we are. But, my friends, like that cliffside monastery, our lives are not either/or. They are both/and. We are both worthy and enough just as we are, right here and right now, and also, we are able to shift and change if we want or need to. My dear friend, I hope you can see your own worthiness here and now, just as you are…and I hope you can know that whatever future iteration of you is just as worthy also. Have an amazing week. Love Krista  Dear Friends,
Last week I had the privilege of spending a spectacular week leading a retreat on Amorgos, a beautiful little island with a population of 2000 full-time residents, and 370 churches dotting the landscape, in the Cyclades in Greece. Throughout the week we went on various adventures on our little island, we visited a beautiful monastery, Panagia Hozoviotissa, dramatically built into a cliffside, we visited the adorable town of Chora, went on a stunning hike, explored the town of Tholaria up the hill from our hotel, learned some greek dances and culinary skills…all the while, as we adventured, I was noticing the roads on our little island. The roads on our little island home for the week were built into the landscape. Instead of barreling through the landscape, they followed the curves and the altitude…which made for some really curvy, steep roads and a slower trip to get where we were going…it also made for roads that practically disappeared into the landscape around them. Instead of fighting the landscape they had and blasting through it, the Amorgans worked with what they had to build transportation infrastructure. I was thinking about those roads in terms of our own bodies. Sometimes we get frustrated with what we have…maybe our age, our old or new injuries, our weight, the way our bodies work…all those things sometimes frustrate us, and we end up getting in our heads about it. But I wonder how it might feel if we simply accept ourselves exactly as we are, right here and now, and then work with what we’ve got. I wonder how it might feel to judge ourselves a little less, to find beauty in ourselves, to work on knowing we are just right just as we are right here, right now. I hope you have an amazing week, my friend. Love Krista  Dear Friends,
A while ago while I was meandering in the woods I came to a fork in the road. I could continue on the paved trail I was on, or I could walk down what was clearly the old trail. Pavement is not my favorite surface to walk on, so I opted to head down the latter path, hoping to have a little less pavement in my life. Little did I know, although had I taken a second to think about it I might have figured, the old trail was full of broken pavement and potholes and was not the greatest to walk on…surprise, surprise. As I continued on, I came across a couple of downed trees crossing my path. I scrambled over them and thought about how there was no need for the rangers to clear said trees, because this particular path was no longer in use and had no need to be cleared. There are times, in all of our lives, where it's hard to discern when it’s time to continue down a path, and when it is time to walk away from something that is no longer serving us. My dear friend, I hope you are able to trust your own discernment even in the hard. Have an amazing week. Love Krista  Dear Friends,
That walk that I talked about last week, it was on one of those hot and sweaty days. As such, it was, for sure, a slow meander through the woods…taking my time, walking my walk, enjoying practically seeing the leaves get fuller on the trees around me. I was thinking, as I walked, about how much I love walking my own walk, going at my own pace, stopping, looking, noticing without being in a hurry, without anyone else dictating how fast or slow I need to go. Several years ago I realized I had been walking at other folks' pace for years, trying to keep up with people who were naturally faster than me and I didn’t want to do that anymore. I no longer wanted to run after people who were naturally faster than me…so largely I stopped. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are times when we have no choice but to keep up with others, there are times when keeping up helps encourage us to push ourselves further and do better than we might on our own, but there are also plenty of times when we can and should choose to walk our own walk, even if it’s a different pace then those around us. My dear friend, I hope you can walk your own walk this week, knowing with confidence that your walk is your own beautiful journey. Have an amazing week. Love Krista |
Hi, I'm Krista!Krista Mason is a movement instructor based in the Washington DC area. She founded an online strength, yoga and movement studio, teaches group classes, hosts both local and overseas retreats, hangs out with private clients, writes weekly blogs and absolutely loves the work she gets to do. Archives
October 2026
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