Summer In The City
Unplugged's other half: community events.
I was standing in “jail” as the all-out battle that was capture the flag took place around me. I watched Will, a middle aged guy we met in the sauna a few days before, use the trunk of a maple tree to perform a kind of kick turn as he tried to get one of us free from jail. Full focus. Full grin.
We’ve been having fun with community events lately and we’re just getting started. A week ago we hosted fifteen people on a curated coffee cruise that featured stops at three of our favorite locally owned shops. Last Friday night was the third installment of the Dunbar Ride which finished it with an outdoor screening of The Engine Inside. A beautifully produced, poignant message about how bikes are here to help us achieve whole health.
“When we shift our perspective, a new way of doing things opens up. Biking can transcend sport and become a form of artistic expression. A creative act that gives us immense joy for no other reason than for the simple pleasure of riding. Our cities are so much more than places to live, work and move through. The streets themselves can become a canvas.” - Phill Liggett (the David Attenborough of cycling)
Saturday was a ruckus game of capture the flag outside the courthouse in downtown Salt Lake. According to Wikipedia, the modern rules of CTF have been around for at least 160 years. It’s skills include: speed, endurance, keen observation, teamwork, and stealth maneuvering. It feels primal and silly, and was really fun. After the third game which lasted at least 40 minutes, we sat in a circle, cracked seltzers and broke down the happenings. Everyone was psyched to nominate one of the high school kids with the teammate award for his excellent communication skills and effort under duress. “Trying is the outcome,” our friend Alex said with a smile.
We’re coming up on peak summer here in the northern hemisphere. With warm days that stretch into the night. Trees and grass that are still green with life. And we get to fill our lungs. Living, laughing, loving. For now.
None of us know how many more June’s we’ll get. But here we are and it’s all already happening.
Our Montana Wellness Retreat is right around the corner. A cohort of fun loving, open minded people have signed up and we have room for a handful more. If that’s you or someone you know, we’d love to hear from you: tripsunplugged@gmail.com
We have some badass workshop leaders for this trip with at least one more soon to be announced.
Katie Cook-Bretson is an acupuncturist & somatic bodywork provider. Katie brings 20 years of studying yoga, anatomy, bodywork, Chinese Medicine, the nuances of balancing the nervous system, nutrition and herbal medicine to support the dynamic health of what it means to be human. She believes being intimately connected to each other, nature, our bodies, and our spirit is inseparable and essential for the health of one another, and our world. She is a founder of Enso Natural Medicine and is active in her community. When she’s not supporting client’s vibrant capacity in health she is looking at life through her child’s eyes, dancing through the mountains on many modes of transportation, or making food from the garden for her chosen families.
Casey Carr is a naturopathic physician based in northern Idaho who believes in whole body care: mind, body, soul. She believes in nature’s power to heal us. Dr. Casey works to address root causes of chronic health issues which can often be related to more deeply seated causes outside of the physical aspect of the body. She often asks her patients to get curious about narratives they have about themselves as she dives into the psychology of emotion alongside them.