It may not be a cold wintery day celebrating a white Christmas holiday in the snow but relaxing on a hike through the white sugar sands at Highlands Hammock State Park in Sebring, Florida is even better!

In the freedom of a warm, sunny day looking up at the puffy white clouds, it is the perfect time and setting to enjoy the sun and fun on a beautiful day in December. It is a White Christmas all the time walking through the wooded trails on “sugar sand” at the park. The ground is firm and sky blue offering a wonderful time to roll out the Yoga mat on solid sand and transition into a slow-moving Yoga practice. As the sun shines gently through the trees, you find a peaceful spot to regenerate, breath in fresh air unfettered by the sounds of the city. There is a variety of choices on the horizon to relocate or stay where you are on an open shaded path, whatever suits your mood to deeply breath in harmony and begin a new year in Nature.

At Highlands Hammock State Park, there are many nature paths, some more challenging than others but it is your choice to follow your intuition. Like many other nature explorers, visitors to the park enjoy letting go of an agenda or worrisome thoughts and just open the ears and mind to absorbing “beauty” in silence. Only the bird songs accompany your stroll or run into Freedom. The winding trails unfurl, just like our minds and offer a refuge to enjoy a white Christmas holiday in harmony and freedom.

As I was exploring the trails, I found a long section of road embedded in white sugar sand, firm enough to do Yoga standing and reclining postures far away from the world. There is such freedom when you practice Yoga enhanced in the beauty of Nature. Taking Yoga outside into the wilderness stimulates peaceful thinking.

Nancy Dale often begins her daily Yoga routine with a modified version of the Downward Dog.

When you settle your Yoga mat onto the floor of Nature, the inner consciousness of the mind opens for the release of pent-up tightness and stress. One pose I often enjoy when I first begin my daily Yoga practice is pictured of myself lengthening through modified “Downward Dog.” In this pose, the body is face down on the ground with arms standing tall, down from the shoulders. To enhance the posture, raise one leg straight to the back, head in line with the shoulders and the body weight on the arms. Once satisfied in the pose, hold the posture for several deep breaths. As close the eyes and hold the pose, you feel the wonderful freedom in Nature away from toxic pollutants.

Turning into your own Nature, you rediscover inner freedom and harmony. Any time you want to let go of “the world” take your Yoga mat and settle into a peaceful spot in a wooded area and practice some flowing Yoga postures. As the 1800’s poet, William Wordsworth said of the stressful time of the Industrial Revolution, being absorbed in materialism distances man from Nature. “The world is too much with us, late and soon, getting and spending. We have given our hearts away, laying waste our power. Little we see in Nature that is ours.” It is time to take off the blinders of beauty and rediscover our own Nature. Become part of the location in which you choose to practice. Enjoy Life and enjoy the self-awareness you gain through your integrated Yoga practice. Namaste!