I learned of
Daybreaker several years ago, but it wasn't until this morning that I actually had the chance to experience it myself.
Daybreaker is a yoga practice and dance party first thing in the morning (like, wake up at 5am to get there on time kind-of-morning). I've always been a morning person, and I love yoga and dancing, so this is essentially my JAM.
After enjoying a quiet ride on the
metro, I made my way to the
Smithsonian American Art Museum (the venue changes each time). I saw other people with yoga mats walking briskly toward the museum, all of us scurrying in the dark like urban rodents in athleisure wear.
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| The Kogod Courtyard. Image found here |
The
Kogod Courtyard between the SAAM and the
National Portrait Gallery is beautiful and the perfect place for this event. As I walked in I was stunned by the crowd. There were at least 100 people laying down their yoga mats, all fanatic enough to leave our gyms and studios to experience yoga elsewhere.
I did not catch the name of the yoga instructor, but she was wonderful! She had bright energy, and she led a practice that was both challenging and restorative. We sighed out our exhales to match the sounds of crashing waves playing in the background; we watched the sky mutate from black to navy to steel gray as the sun rose above us. All of this, along with the trees inside the atrium, gave the impression of the outdoors (and practicing yoga outside is one of my favorite activities). That and the sounds of the sheep:
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| This sheep and her sister were at the museum entrance. It would "baa" loudly, interrupting our meditation every so often. |
After an hour of yoga, we enjoyed breakfast snacks like
Manitoba Harvest's hemp,
GT's Kombucha,
Elmhurst's peanut protein shakes,
the GFB's gluten-free bars,
Matchabar's "Hustle" energy drink, and others. At that point more people came into the room; I guess there were tickets for the yoga portion as well as just the dancing part. The DJ started playing music immediately after the yoga practice, which I think was jarring to some people. But for me, the music actually wasn't enough to get things going. For the ten minutes I stayed after yoga, very few people were actually dancing. Most people were standing around talking, and the energy of ecstatic dance I was hoping to feel was non-existent. I think the music should have been louder and faster, and there should have been some sort of light show (like a tech disco ball). Perhaps if I had waited longer, more people would have started dancing, but at that point the glow of my experience was already started to fade. The yoga practice felt like a tiny taste of the
Interfusion Festival, which was delicious at the time, but then the reality of having to go to work sunk in. Hard. And I don't think I was the only one with that sensation.
But I am so glad I went; the yoga itself was worth it. And I would definitely go to another Daybreaker event in the future!
