When I first heard about Yoga+ Chicago, I could not wait to attend their first event. It sounded like the perfect girlfriend day date, so I convinced my dear friend Jen to come along with the promise that we would come home with flowers!
What is Yoga+? An interactive event series started by two fabulous sisters that includes a vinyasa style yoga class followed by learning something new with a local establishment. Their first event was held at a new shared workspace in Goose Island called Workshop and featured Larkspur flower design.
In other words, my perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon!
The yoga portion of the event is led by Andrea, the yoga teacher of the two sisters. It left me feeling relaxed, calm and energized which is exactly what I look to accomplish in my yoga practice. I loved how Andrea integrated the concept of flowers and roots into her teaching, which helped link everything together. This was Jen’s first class, but she seemed to follow along just great. I really enjoyed Andrea’s teaching style and fully appreciated the beautiful light streaming in from the windows and the city views during class.
Once we were relaxed and energized, we refreshed with a delicious spread of snacks.
The second half of the event involved Beth from Larkspur leading us through the basics of floral design. I loved how she opened up by asking us what we wanted to know, which created a great dialogue that continued throughout the class. Then it was time for us to try her tips out for ourselves!
One of the best suggestions that Beth gave was to keep in mind the event and place that your flower arrangements will be in as you choose your color palate, vase and type of flowers that you use. She recommended that we piece together our arrangements in our hand as we chose our flowers, helping us get a visual of what we were creating.
When putting together our arrangements Beth stressed the importance of using foliage to create a base. This helps build a shape and crisscrossing the stems creates a grid pattern that will hold the flowers together.
After you’ve built your base, fill in the heaviest flowers next followed by the lighter flowers to fill in the gaps. Considering where your arrangement will sit is something to keep in mind. Mine was going on my nightstand so it was one sided, but if it were sitting on my dining room table I would’ve created it to have four sides.
It was so fun to look around and she was others were up to as we created our masterpiece. Jen and I asked Beth a million questions and she was so awesome with answering them all. It’s not every day that you get to create floral arrangements with a professional and I’ll be using her tips for many years to come.
The next event will be a pasta making class at Sepia on July 19th. I hope to attend and would definitely recommend it if you’re looking for something fun to fill your summer!
Thanks so much for writing about our workshop last weekend Katie! It was so much fun, I enjoyed every minute of it and appreciate your thoughts on taking the class. Wishing you the best!
Thank YOU Beth! I learned a lot but you made the process seem so un-intimidating, which I really appreciated!
I saw this event online & regret not going after seeing your lovely pictures! Looks like a good one 🙂
It was fun, check out next months!
Wow, what a cool event! I’ve never even thought about what goes into floral arrangement, so that’s awesome that you got to learn about it. And do yoga AND eat snacks…perfect day 🙂
It totally was!
What a super cool idea! How unique and inspiring to mix yoga and floral design! Your bouquet is beautiful too, looks like you were a good student. 🙂 what a great bonus of city living, all these cool things you get to try!
Very true!