July for me is about high summer, brought a heat wave and then cool rain to Cologne PRIDE, and kicked off my “Swashbuckling Summer” and “Splits this Season” series with glowing energy and creativity.
In this article I’ll wrap up the month of July and start of Quarter 3 as related to my own projects, life and events.
July Jollies
July was a wet one, brought full Summer in Cologne and I basked in the warmth, as well as events such as:
- Cologne PRIDE / Christopher Street Day weekend, highlights for me included a peaceful, colorful, and well-attended Dyke March, live music at the street fest and the big parade with friends (yes, even in the rain, we show up!)
- 4th of July meditations on independence, liberation, freedom
- Turned in reports on my elective courses from School Year 2024-5
- Found out that I have the exciting opportunity to teach daily ballet classes for the Advanced Dance Program from Studio 29 Berlin here in Cologne this fall
- Orthopedist visit about my hip/back pain (more info after imagining in September…) and had a minor tooth chip smoothed at the dentist, whew!
- German Tax Return information ready to file
- “Fly July” insect invasion, evacuation (and other flighty inspirations that would also inform August creations…)
- Burgunder Weinfest: Wine Fest among the grape fields with my favorite Rose, Ela’s mom, friends, music, food and all the good things
- Nectarine season
Bullet Journaling & Planning
Because of its role in my creative process, journaling has become a part of my YouTube channel content along with dance, yoga, and joyful living. Here’s my monthly behind on what I got up to in my notebooks and life in July 2025:
I shared my initial monthly setup in my Seasonal Book on Instagram here with shades of blue and butterflies then the flip-through video above shows what happened with my goals, glows, media favorites, and events “after the pen.”
Updated my Monthly, Weekly, and Daily Logs, Annual Collections, and set up my August spreads over the course of the month, continued to savor writing my Morning Pages and notes with colorful inks in my fountain pens.
Teaching & Coaching
Regular Mindful Movement classes in Balletlicious Ballet Barre+ and Yummy Gentle Yoga, studio classes in Ballet continued, and my “Feel Good” wellness course and Hip Hop elective came to a close for the school year with a special field trip.
There is currently one coaching slot available in my weekly schedule, and in February I started planning upcoming offerings such as coaching sample sessions (message to schedule), workshops, and guest teaching in Cologne coming up.
Writing & Publishing Articles
In July I published 3 articles to the blog here at ablythecoach.com This is a great place to find out what I am up as well as other experts and creators who I recommend.
July’s new articles:
- May Replay – 2025 Month 5 Reflection: in May, I had one more week of work and play on the Big Island, several days of travel back to Cologne, then jumped jetlagged back into teaching, coaching, publishing and celebrating there! Felt at home in both Hawai’i and Germany, both happy and homesick in each location.
- Jolly Roger July & a Piratical Summer – being freedom, treasure & adventure brought the Swashbuckling Summer vibes: Though I may not want a life on the open sea myself, I was raised on sailing and pirate stories and appreciate the ethos of freedom, treasure, and adventure. What better time to embark on a fantastical journey of imagination than summer?
- 5 Steps to Soar into the Splits this Summer – Season of Stretching welcomes you to the Splits this Season series! This sequence of videos demonstrates a variety of stretching shapes from which to choose to adapt your condition and mood as well as encouragement and accountability to practice most days and achieve improved flexibility, performance, and comfort. This article and the accompanying SPLITS this Season Video Playlist on YouTube provide lots of tasty options for moving towards your splits, soon!
Filming & Sharing Videos
I published 5+ videos (additional bonuses exclusively for my online students to review between classes) to the A Blythe Coach YouTube Channel on the topics of dance, creativity, and purposeful living in July:
- Get Your Splits this Season – Part 1 Lunge with Support – Season of Stretching Dance Mobility video on YouTube Welcome to Splits this Summer, a challenge to work towards the splits this season, in support of your dance & athletic training goals (as appropriate to your condition and in consultation with your physician like always!). This mini-series will demonstrate a variety of stretching shapes to adapt your condition and mood, encouragement and accountability to practice most days and achieve improved flexibility, performance, and comfort. Part 1 here features supported lunges we can do from a standing position without getting down on the floor, with a stable bench or ballet ballet barre. Practice while warm, most days, work up to holding at least 30 seconds/32 counts.
- June BuJo Flip & Reflection is a flip-through of the month in my Seasonal Bullet Journal Book, a peek at my Morning Pages notebooks and completed/used-up “empties” of supplies used, media published & personally consumed, high & lowlights and special events.
- May 2025 Flip & Reflection: May memories include time with family and friends on the Big Island of Hawai’i and returning to Cologne, coping with jetlag, teaching and creating prolifically.
- Twenty 25s in 2025 Midyear Check-In – Playfully Tracking Creative Projects & Priorities Q2 Update: High time for a check-in around my “Twenty 25s in 2025” projects and Annual Collections Book so far, including creative challenges, publishing, inspiration, recorded actions taken in each of these areas.
- Quick Kitchen Kitri – ballet variation rough draft – no instruction small space for student use: Let’s grab a fan and feel the heat of the Spanish summer in this 1.5 minute ballet variation, adapted for online intermediate ballet learners dancing in small spaces at home, demonstrated from the back for practice purposes. The extract is from Act III of the ballet “Don Quixote” and is full of imperfections, but I hope my students have fun reviewing the material, and others get a sense of how we dance together in the online setting.
Connecting: Email & Social Media
The best way to keep up-to-date on everything I’m coaching, teaching, creating and sharing about as well as work from others that I believe to be of value for fellow creatives is to subscribe to my weekly email newsletter. It lights me up to see new subscribers there as well as responses to me missives.
I sent 5 Email Newsletters in July:
- July gems, Cologne CSD, Quarter 3 came in HOT!
- Dancing in the Street, in the Kitchen, in the Studio, Online & Everywhere (someone unsubscribed after this one!)
- Shiver me timbers: plunging into a Piratical Summer of freedom, treasure & adventure
- Soar into the Splits this Summer: season of stretching, fun flexibility & other training contexts
- Midyear Refresh, June & Q2 wrap-up, Twenty 25s in 2025 update, Yoga Wednesdays in August
In addition, I posted 4 times to Instagram, my favorite being this one:
Creative Challenges
Teaching Artist, Choreographer, Movement Educator & Coach, I get to explore my soul’s expression through my work, and face new challenges each month. Some I design myself, and some I take on at the impulse of other creators.
For my summer celebration of (comparative) freedom and self-determination, I declared Jolly Roger July, in the article above, as well as a flexibility goal for myself and students to soar into the Splits this Summer, doing a Midyear Refresh, and showing up for Cologne PRIDE and Nonbinary People’s Day.
Twenty 25s in 2025
Above is my video update on my “Twenty 25s,” a playful way to track various leading metrics, projects and activities I wish to keep an eye on this year through the end of June, which I compiled in July.
At the midyear point I reached 11/20, over halfway there and I plan to continue to apply myself to these activities and take another look at the end of Quarter 3.
Media Musings
My July in reading, listening, and viewing pleasures:
Books & Reading
Books Read
I completed another novel in July from the Feminine Pursuits romance series by Olivia Waite (my 3rd) as well as a Rom-Com in a contemporary setting:
- The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics: A Regency Historical Romance Novel of Love, Astronomy, and Forbidden Desires by Olivia Waite, should have probably started with this one, but also fine to read them out of order. Really enjoyed the characters, story, and writing, could have done without the spicy scenes.
- The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez: I preferred the first I read by this author, Part of Your World, that small town is more diverse in terms of sexuality than the LA crowd in this first in a series. Deals with very serious topics and tragedy, not just romance and comedy.
Still reading along on some of my nonfiction picks (also scripture, personal growth):
- Airplane Mode: An Irreverent History of Travel by Shahnaz Habib
- Someday is Today by Matthew Dicks
- 365 Poems for Life: An Uplifting Collection for Every Day of the Year collected by Allie Esiri
- The Notebook: a History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen, found through from Carie Harling on YouTube duing One Book July and being notebook obsessed, I am loving reading it!
Listening Highlights
Favorite things heard over the course of the month go here, such as concerts, songs, pieces of music, playlists, podcasts and more.
Music: Live
A musical highlight from Cologne Pride was stumbling into a band called The Titty Twisters, who performed some very decent covers including “Pink Pony Club” by Chappell Roan, who despite global fame still has gone somehow unnoticed by many of our friends who were bemused when we started dancing our faces off. Also saw an entertaining band and lots of folks filled the dance floor at the wine fest.
Playlists & Albums
- Balletlicious Summertime Dance on YouTube is the playlist of the season in ballet classes and everywhere I move!
- 🔥 This * is on Fire playlist on YouTube is new and I’m curious what you would add to this hot topic
- A Pirate’s Life for Me – Music to be Free YouTube Playlist is also new, to inspire my Swashbuckling Summer and a timber-shivering time
Songs & Pieces of Music
- Speaking of “Dancing in the Street,” Martha Reeves & The Vandellas created the classic
- Wildlight’s “Honey” was current music to move to, along with
- “The Crowd” by Zero 7 was my chill warmup tune
- “Suga Suga” by Baby Bash: I have to laugh that this one-hit wonder came to mind, but it really reminds me of a time, and also has to do with the butterflies that fluttered through my month
Monthly Viewing Highlights
July sights included…
Live Performance
Cologne Academy of Media Arts opened its galleries to viewers for special showings and I was refreshed by diverse techniques and topics, including a good friend and another writer who read from works about Silk Moths, textile trade and family history in Italy, and the misunderstood lives of moths and related household “pests.”
Film
- Watched more series than films during an active July, but this list of 11 Best Classic Summer Movies from Camille Styles has some great picks
Series
Standout series seen:
- The 2nd season of “The Ultimatum: Queer Love” is the kind of trash reality TV where they always say “I think maybe this was a mistake…” and then it most certainly is! We started down the slippery slope with post-PRIDE bingeing of “Princess Charming“ then a friend told us about this one this year, and then
- “I Kissed a Girl“ dramatic lesbian “reality” series
- Continued watching the new (last!) season of “And Just Like That”
- Worked on OG “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” and
- “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” has got us now
Questions for Reflection
- What was special about your July?
- How do you create safer spaces for yourself and others?
- What will you savor before end of summer?
- What fantasy character will you adventure as next: pirate, fairy, mer-person, prince/ss, unicorn, dragon…?
- What creative pursuit are you leaning into this month?
- How may I support your journey?
Resources for Further Exploration
- Summer Fun in or out of the Sun: a Bucket List of Hot-Weather Hits: Warmer weather lends itself to many activities I enjoy, such as time outdoors, bicycling, picnicking, and eating fresh produce. I try to seize the sunny fleeting days wherever I can and not miss out on my favorite bits before they’re gone again. Less decoration and dressing up, more dressing down, decluttering, deep-cleaning, taking in the natural beauty. Here is a collection of resources and activities that might provide a jumping-off point for your own longer-day adventures.
- Float in 2025 – Word / Intention of the Year
- Twenty 25s in 2025: Analog Project Planning & Action Tracking, Creative Bullet Journal Style
- Jaunty June – 2025 Month 6, Q2 & Midyear Reflection
- April Adventures on 2 Continents & an Island – 2025 Month 4 Reflection
- May Replay – 2025 Month 5 Reflection
- Leaps & Bounds in 2024 – Reflecting on a Year’s Highs & Lows
- Quantum Leaping into 2024 Word of the Year Article
- Twenty-Four 24s in 2024 Article
- Say the Magic Words Article
- Analog Journals for Creativity Article
Further monthly reflections for 2025, special workshops and collaborations in dance, coaching, creative living and more coming soon.
Thank you for reading, for being, and for dancing with me, in spirit or in fact!
Take care of yourself and keep moving mindfully, let me know how if I can be of service, would love to see you in my email newsletter or on social media as well.
Blythe Stephens, MFA & Bliss Catalyst
they/them or she/her
Creator of A Blythe Coach @ablythecoach
helping multi-passionate creatives dance through their difficulties,
taking leaps of faith into fulfillment through coaching, yoga & dance education