In May, we 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!
May Memories
Felt at home in both Hawai’i and Germany, both happy and homesick in each location.
Personal Glows
The month of May was a wave of impressions and memories such as:
- May Day/Lei Day/Beltane
- Kailua-Kona Family time, feasting, Dad’s birthday, online teaching, touristing, beaching, Sea Turtles, Monk Seals, Dolphins, Waterfalls
- Coaching Week: shared resources such as Fine Feedback follow-up from the workshop end of April, relevant articles from myself and other creators
- Family medical stuff: Dad’s procedure finally planned, suspenseful waiting, so grateful for capable care teams
- 2-day trip back to Cologne, Jetlag & Allergies
- Boheme Sauvage Golden ’20s Party birthday celebration for a friend all decked out
- Our little Nephew turned 2
- Rose Garden Artist Date with my flower and bird friends, pens, and notebooks
- Davide Art Gallery Opening
- Q1 Wrap-Up, Reflections
- Trans History Week
- May 26: reached 1,000 Subscribers on YouTube!!!
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 what I was up to in my notebooks and life in May 2025:
The video above is a flip-through of the month in my Seasonal Book including goals, glows, media favorites, and events I recorded along the way.
I shared my initial monthly setup on Instagram here, inspired by plants and seas and sands plus my Art Deco origami papers. Updated my Monthly, Weekly, and Daily Logs, Annual Collections, set up my June spreads once I got back to Germany.
Continued to savor writing my Morning Pages and notes with colorful inks in my fountain pens, including a couple new shades in cartridges I brought with me traveling.
Teaching & Coaching
Continued with online Mindful Movement teaching while at home, returning to in-Studio & Elective Classes in Cologne including Ballet technique for all ages and levels, Yoga, Hip Hop, my “Feel Good” wellness course, and ongoing movement research, choreography, syllabus design and so forth.
Creative Challenges
On the heels of impactful challenges in April (MC for a WHDT ballet and hosting the “Fine Feedback” workshop on the Big Island), in May I shared resources for International Coaching Week here on the Blog, on Social Media, and a new Coaching Toolkit YouTube Playlist on YouTube.
On Instagram I posted about the prism of empowering feedback
and asking the question: What is the best/worst feedback you received? Also promoted other creators’ work, such as Dance feedback you need to hear and Things more dancers should say out loud from jessiecrouch.
Writing & Publishing Articles
In May 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.
May’s new articles:
- Fabulous to Fraught – Real Life Criticism From fabulous to fraught, giving & receiving input to empower, My recent “Fine Feedback: giving & receiving critique” workshop at West Hawai’i Dance Theatre was great fun and provided a range of powerful tools that the dancers, choreographers and artists who participated can use lifelong in their creative practice! I shared examples of input I’ve received or heard in the past about technique, performance, and choreography, even videos here on YouTube. Some is constructive and empowering, other bits less so.
- March into Spring & Outstanding Quarter 1 Things – 2025 Month 3 & Q1 Reflection wrap up the month of March and Quarter 1 as a whole as related to my own projects, life and events, and favorites.
- Traveling Dancer Yoga – Mindful Movement on the Go For frequent flyers and folks for whom it is important that we freely move, I’m offering yummy yoga poses, practices, and a playlist full of goodies for small spaces of time and elbowroom.
Filming & Sharing Videos
I published 4 videos to the A Blythe Coach YouTube Channel on the topics of dance, creativity, and purposeful living in May:
- Chill Child’s Pose: I recorded this 9-minute gentle Child’s Pose Variations yoga stretch while overnighting at a hotel before a recent flight from Germany to the US. Carrying luggage, navigating various transit modalities, preparing for the unexpected–travel and daily life can be stressful for body and soul! Take a pause to decompress by compressing/folding in the major joints, rest your head and mind, find a version of the pose that works for you today, restore and rejuvenate.
- Fine Feedback Examples – Real Life Critique & Input – dance technique, performance, choreography: during my new “Fine Feedback: How to Give & Receive Constructive Criticism & Promote Dance in the Process” workshop, we practiced a host of powerful tools for distinguishing fact, interpretation, empowering & disempowering input about our creative work. I shared examples like the ones I read off index cards in this video, from fabulous to fraught, of words of feedback I’ve heard and received in the context of dance technique, performance, choreography, and even publishing here on YouTube!
- Tropical Tree Pose – Gentle Adaptive Vrksasana Yoga for Grounding, Dynamic Balance & Visualization: This 10-minute gentle adaptive “Tropical” Tree Pose / Vrksasana yoga stretch was recorded on a lanai of my family home on the Big Island of Hawai’i, inspired by the abundant flora there.
- April Flip & Reflection: This is a particularly chatty flip-through of the month in my Seasonal Bullet Journal Book, stationery & ephemera, personal media published and consumed, highlights, new experiences, challenges, and events. April brought adventures on two continents and an island: Cologne & Frankfurt, Germany, Portland, Oregon and Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i. So fortunate to see some of my most beloved places and people in the world, savor flavors, moments, memories.
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 4 Email Newsletters in May, which you may still read in the links:
- May Day is Lei Day in Hawai’i Nei, first run of Fine Feedback workshop, Chill Child’s Pose email
- Real Words & Resources for Coaching Week email
- Tropical Tree Poses, Marching into Spring, Quarter 1 Reflections email
- Traveling Dancer Yoga, Performing Arts Symposium, Feeling Good on the Go email
In addition, I posted 9 times to Instagram, averaging a couple times a week, which is aligned to my goals on that platform.
Media Musings
My May in reading, listening, and viewing pleasures:
Books & Reading
- Working on a few non-fiction selections, including travel and tourism-relevant Airplane Mode: An Irreverent History of Travel by Shahnaz Habib and
- Creativity-based Someday is Today by Matthew Dicks
- Finished Flavia De Luce mysteries #s 5&6 by Alan Bradley, Speaking from Among the Bones & The Dead in their Vaulted Arches
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: Songs, Playlists & Albums
- Hawai’i loves their Bruno Mars, and in particular 2 songs rocked our radio waves: “APT.” a dancey ear worm with Rose, and
- Heart-wrenching “Die with a Smile” with Lady Gaga
- Janet Jackson’s “Escapade” also fit my jet-set vacation mood
For dance accompaniment, I continued playing, adding to and rearranging:
- My Spring Sensations Dance Playlist on YouTube
Monthly Viewing Highlights
Top sights from May:
Series
- “The Connors” Sitcom
- “Ghosts” Comedy Series
Videos
- This is a deep dive on Target statistics, but I found it relatable and absolutely fascinating
- You should make art that is weird and bad from the Cozy Creative
- Seasonal planning to get things done from Rachelle in Theory
- Morgan E. Cook’s revelation about living an extraordinary life
- Justine Leconte’s review of Met Gala outfits
- Dancing into a flow state like Dance Magazine and @dr.julia.f.christensen
Live Sports
While on the Big Island, we watched local sports on TV in sports bars, such as the newly-formed young women’s flag football league in Hawai’i, exciting stuff!
Questions for Reflection
- What went on for you during May?
- What holidays and accomplishments are you celebrating?
- Where do you feel at home?
- For what do you thirst this summer/season?
- What adventures do you look forward to next?
Resources for Further Exploration
- Float in 2025 – Word / Intention of the Year Article
- Twenty 25s in 2025: Analog Project Planning & Action Tracking, Creative Bullet Journal Style Article
- January was Gently Jumping into the New Year – 2025 Month 1 Reflection Article
- February was for Demonstrating & Dancing, Love, Karneval & Eating Disorders Awareness – 2025 Month 2 Reflection Article
- March into Spring & Outstanding Quarter 1 Things – 2025 Month 3 & Q1 Reflection Article
- April Adventures on 2 Continents & an Island – 2025 Month 4 Reflection 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