When I was on my recent vacation, I did a lot of physical things including biking, hiking and swimming. I got up early every single morning (even when I was jet-lagged) and diligently did my meditation and breathwork practice which was great (because how I feel when I don’t do that is NOT great). I walked and saw sights and played and explored but there was one thing I did not do: the physical practice of yoga.

My yoga mat flew with me all the way to Spain and besides sitting on it for meditation and a small amount of what I’ll just call stretching, it barely saw any action.

Then I flew home to Colorado for three days, did no yoga, grabbed my cat, and flew to my other home in Florida for a couple of months. Yoga mat still in tow.

Tuesday, the day after Halloween, I decided to get my stiff, tight body to a yoga studio. I was really excited. As a yoga teacher and former yoga studio owner, I absolutely love walking into a yoga class where nobody knows me and I can just be a regular student and receive the teachings from the instructor.

So, I hopped online, found a studio not too far from me with a class time that worked with my schedule, grabbed my yoga mat that now needs its own passport and drove a few minutes across town.

As I walked into this new place, I heard a student ask the teacher, “How was your Halloween?” He replied, “Great, but now I feel like crap. It’s going to take me several days to get over it.”

Fabulous. My yoga teacher is hung over and feels like it’s appropriate to share it with students.

As we all know, this past weekend was a pretty huge party weekend. From bars to neighborhoods to boat clubs to movie theaters and everywhere in between, bashes were thrown in honor of Halloween.

The bit of fun designed for children has morphed into a drinking celebration for adults. The irony is that there’s no need for costumes when we’re drinking. Most of us turn into someone totally different after the 2nd or 3rd drink anyway.

Sociologists tell us if you want to understand a culture, look at its holidays.

In other words, we are what we celebrate.

In the past, I’ve definitely gone all out for Halloween. This year, I was tired from Hurricane Ian yardwork clean up and had a quiet night in.

The overheard comment from the yoga teacher made me think about the adult pursuit of fun… and if what we are really doing is trying to recreate our childhood thrill. I think we all remember bounding down the sidewalk in the cool October air, excited to be up late, juiced on the power that comes from knocking on strangers’ doors and demanding candy.

In the past, I’ve dressed up in crazy costumes, pretended to be someone else, danced in a room of people who looked equally silly and embarrassing and made believe that everything in my world is perfect and easy like it was when I was six.

It was fantastic!

In an adult world of so much fake fun (like standing at a party full of people you barely know yelling at each other to be heard) it makes sense that we pursue the real fun we remember from being a kid.

When I think about it, Halloween is a great, ridiculous, childish and very-much-needed adult holiday.

‘Cause honestly, we all need doses of REAL fun.

But maybe real fun as adults looks like more playful connections with friends and loved ones doing activities that bring you joy and less spooky cocktails that often cause fights and car accidents.

And if you’re a yoga teacher, slightly more discretion with your students.

What brings you real fun and true joy during holidays like Halloween?

Reach out and let me know.