Music for Yoga in the Park

 

8/26/21 Fran Gallo leads her class in the tree pose as Third Harbour plays traditional Celtic music.

My yoga instructor Fran Gallo has offered a Yoga in the Park class series every summer for 21 years. In recent years, it became my tradition to sketch her class annually. I skipped it last summer, but this year I felt comfortable resuming my tradition. Even more convenient for me, she moved her class from Wallingford to Green Lake in a nice shady spot with trees.

We didn’t need the shade last Thursday, when the wind and cloud cover made it downright chilly by early evening, but it was a class I couldn’t miss: Third Harbour, a trio playing Irish/Celtic music, performed lovely, traditional music for her students. As I sketched, I could feel my own and everyone’s blood pressure dropping as stresses of the day fell away. Fran begins every class with a dedication, and on that day it was “walking on sacred ground.” The music was ideal for connecting the mind, body and spirit with the earth.

It looks like all her students are doing different poses, but that's because as soon as I sketched one, the pose would change!