Seasonal Growth

Winter finds adults spending more time indoors, keeping warm and making plans for the rest of the year. This season also encourages self-reflection and time to initiate the changes you’ve been considering. Fortunately, this community is bursting with opportunities to exercise the mind, body, and spirit. Here is a sampling of self-improvement projects to consider:

Discover your innate musical talent:

Christopher Macor will get you started and soon you’ll be accompanying yourself in the bathtub instead of singing acapella in the shower. Macor’s tag line is “any age, any style” because he wants you to learn to play your favorite songs on acoustic or electric guitar. He will teach you in his Twin Lakes studio or come to your home. Have 2017 be the year you learn to play an instrument. Visit http://www.soyouwannaplayguitar.com or call 303-349-2763.

Join a bookclub

Are you the only person you know who isn’t in a book club? This is easily fixed. Sleep experts recommend turning off screens and electronic devices at least one hour before retiring. Turning the pages of a book or swiping an ereader by the light of the bedside lamp quiets the chatter of the mind and prepares the body for rest.

The Niwot Bookies are accepting new members. Email [email protected].

Recent studies have shown that creating art has a stabilizing effect on individuals and particularly reduces stress in older adults. Reveal the artistic side of your soul with these local mentors:

Linda Roth teaches watercolor in her Niwot studio. Register for Botanical Art classes through Lifelong Learning. Call 720-561-5968 or http://www.BVSD.org/LLL.

Claudia Lewis, M.A. offers Batik, Shibori, Tie dye and open studio time in her Gunbarrel l’Atelier. Working with textiles is a versatile medium. You can frame your finished product, wear it, or fashion into a useful object. Imagine sitting next to a cozy fire reading the current book club selection while propped on a pillow you designed and produced.

Call 303-530-1534, email [email protected] or visit http://www.fullcircleartdesign.com.

Stimulate your brain while learning a new skill. Euchre is a 4 person card game. The regulars will let you watch and learn. Soon you’ll be winning free beer. Wednesdays at Bootstrap Brewery 6778 North 79th Street, Niwot.

It is generally accepted that yoga is the most accessible form of mind/body balance. It requires minimal equipment, is affordable, and beneficial to all body types and levels of ability. These local studios welcome new and returning students to a yoga practice: 63rd Street Yoga, Hidden Yoga, Energy Source, Inc.

Unleash the inner warrior: Hidden away in a north Boulder neighborhood near Wonderland Lake is the Zenko Kyudojo center of traditional Japanese Archery. More than just target practice, Kyudo is a moving meditation and a form used to tap into one’s spiritual nature. Indoor and outdoor practice areas. http://www.japanesearcherycolorado.org or 720-446-0857.

Whatever you choose to do for yourself this year, commit fully and participate with enthusiasm. Trending these days is a concept “yolo” (you only live once) but William Earnest Henley stated this more eloquently over one hundred years ago, “I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.”