Blissful November

I've been reflecting on all the wonderful retreats I've put on over the years and I realized that I've had a funtastic friend who has been able to share most of my retreats with me.  Usually before I put on a retreat I say; "Viki, where should our next yoga retreat be?" 

I've taken two years off putting on retreats because I needed some time to focus on filling my own cup and re-settling in a new place.  I've finally settled into Breckenridge, Colorado, and my cup is overflowing, so I'm ready to put on my next retreat! 

My new P.O. Box is:
Vanessa Fairy Mermaid Butterfly Charles
P.O. Box 6457
Breckenridge, Colorado 80424


I'll be offering a yoga retreat here in Colorado in February. 

Before I give you more details I wanted to share about my friend, Viki Draper.  She has inspired and helped so many people including me, so I wanted to share some of her light with you all! ​

​Viki Draper (Schrader)

​ I met Viki in 2005 in Rochester, Washington when I taught yoga in an old classroom every Thursday. Viki had gone to school in the room I was teaching yoga in 60 years earlier. Viki is always laughing, makes everyone feel welcome, will help anyone if she can, and is always up for an adventure.
​
​Our Rochester, Washington Yoga class is fantastic and the majority of them still do yoga together every week since 2005! They not only do yoga together but they also help one another when it floods, if someone is sick, or if someone just needs some extra help. Most of them volunteer at the Food Bank and the schools. We often would have dinner or chocolate and wine after class. Our Rochester Yogis aren't just a class, we are a community that helps one another be our best. Not only that, but these group of yogis convinced me to put on my first yoga retreat in 2007 on Whidbey Island! And then another one on Orcas Island in 2008, and then those yogis got me to put on my first Hawaii Yoga Retreat and the rest is herstory ; ).

 The picture below is of our first retreat on Whidbey Island which turned into our yearly Blissful Life Retreats.

​ This is Baby Viki with her Daddy, Frank in Bremerton, WA, 1945 (If you look at the first photo of Viki above and baby Viki she still has the same smile-laugh)

Viki was the first baby born in the new hospital in Bremerton, Washington in 1944, during World War II. Her dad was working in the Navy Ship Yard. That hospital is now a nursing home and Viki jokes that she; "can go up there and die in the same place I was born and go full circle." Her mom and her mom's mom had a pie and chili shop outside the navy yard.

The women in Viki's family have been creative, ambitious, and have a "can do" attitude just like Viki. A year after Viki was born her mom became pregnant with Viki's little brother and she decided to have more support so she moved to Monument, Colorado where her mother-in-law and father in-law had a tree nursery.

Her dad would  stay with the military to finish out his service for two more years at the Navy Base and in the Pacific where he was a part of the Army Core of Engineers that helped clean up after World War II. He even helped clean up after WII in Iwo Jima, but he wouldn't ever talk about what he saw there. ​

Below is a picture of Viki, her brother Terry, and their mom, Elsie 

In 1947 Viki, her new brother (Terry), and her mom moved back ​to Washington State.  ​They moved to Kid Valley by Mount Saint Helens where her dad was a logger. After a couple years they moved to Chehalis, but couldn't find housing so they lived in a motel that was a one room cabin with now three children and her parents. 

​Eventually they found a home to buy in Grand Mound instead of Chehalis because that's what was available and that's how Viki ended up next to Rochester which is where she still lives 65+ years later. Her family grew to five children with Viki being the eldest. They were all in one bedroom until her dad eventually added onto the house to make more bedrooms.

Viki, the oldest, with her four younger siblings. She is on the left holding the baby.

 They always had a cow or two (and Viki still has a cow or two), a garden, and canned a lot of their fruits and vegetables. Her dad traded a pig for their first television. Her dad worked wherever he could including the coal mine, logging, he drove a CAT that helped build the freeway in Southwest Washington, and he was a mechanic. He was the most talented at being a mechanic, he could fix anything. He ended up at Dairy Gold where he fixed their trucks until he retired, twenty years later. ​

Viki's parents; Frank and Elise

Frank Schrader, Viki's dad, Frank, grew up in Monument, Colorado where their family owned the Colorado State Tree Nursery. His mom was one of the first women to get a degree at her college. She got a degree in music and was a wonderful pianist and organist. Frank's dad was a natural musician and could play music by ear, especially on the accordion.

Viki's dad was always in trouble growing up, maybe that's where Viki gets it. Haha, in my yoga class Viki is often in a pose long after the rest of the class had moved on because she was busy chatting with her neighbor and the whole class would have a good laugh about it. Her dad did end up getting diagnosed Bi-polar in his later years and that helped Viki make a lot of sense out her dad's anger outbursts. Viki said; "everyone loved Frank, he would help anyone and everyone. But sometimes something would trigger him and he would be verbally and physically violent." They surmise it happened when he was logging and he got hit in the head. Her mom thought about leaving him but it was just too hard with five kids.

​Luckily, Viki inherited the desire to help everyone and not the bi-polar from her dad. Since I've known Viki over the last fifteen years I've seen her rescue a man who was about to drown in Puerto Rico, make a thousand people smile and laugh from the neighbor on our flight to the server at a restaurant to a new friend she met while walking through the Farmer's Market in Kauai, to flying out to help different friends though surgery, or volunteer at the schools, Viki Is always being of service when she can and she has a great time doing it.

Below is a picture of Frank and Viki in Alyeska, Alaska

​ Elsie Peterson Schrader  Viki's mom, Elsie and her dad, Frank met in Colorado working on the ski slopes. They fell in love and the rest is history. Elsie decided to stay home with her five kids until they were all in school. Once they were all in school her mom worked sewing gloves at Churchill Glove Factory in Centralia.

She moved onto to being a house parent at Maple Lane School for Girls where girls were sent for running away often from abusive situations and sometimes girls who committed some criminal offense. She worked nights until her kids all graduated and then moved onto becoming a counselor and then an administrator. Viki's mom worked nights at Maple Lane to start, but soon worked her way into cottage supervisor and counselor.

She loved working with those girls and helping them gain confidence, which is what Viki also loved to do! Elsie became active in the union when she nearly finished with a degree is sociology at Saint Martin's College in Olympia. She got a job with the Federation of State Employees as an area representative--which was unheard of in the 1970's for a woman to hold that position.

She is still recognized by local and state union people as a progressive and advocate for people who needed to be represented in the workplace. Elsie's mother, Viki's grandma, struggled to have stability in her life since she married young and had children young with an unreliable man who became an alcoholic. She left him for another man who was also not that great. Elsie watched her mom find jobs and make life work for her family and that might be part of her passion for women's rights.

Elsie became a member of National Organization of Women (https://now.org/now-foundation/about-now-foundation/) which is an organization that helps women achieve full equality through education and litigation. When her mom saw injustice she did something about it just like Viki. Elsie even went to the National Conference in Houston as the WA Representative in the mid 70's.

​It's funny because when I think of Viki I often hear her saying in my mind; "don't try to find a man to find your wholeness, find friends, a job you love, and the "man" or partner is just the icing on the cake." Okay, she didn't say it in those exact words but that is what she meant. Her mom was also a mover and a shaker in the local Olympia YWCA where she encouraged women to find their confidence. I, Vanessa, remember going to the YWCA after I graduated college when I couldn't afford nice business clothes and they let me pick out three professional outfits which helped me land my Big Brothers Big Sisters of Thurston County job.

 Viki's mom was both serious an a lot of FUN!

​
 In 1962 Viki graduated from Rochester High and went to Eugene, Oregon to live with her Great Aunt Sue who was a professor there and paid for Viki's college. Her Aunt Sue died of breast cancer in the middle of her sophomore year, so after transferring to a dorm in Eugene Viki decided to move to Seattle Pacific College.

Viki's boyfriend, David, was going to college at SPC and they ended up getting married two years later, in 1966. She is still married to him and they continue to make one another light up after all these years. Viki graduated college with a BA in English and a minor in Education.

Shortly after college, 1966, they moved to Ithaca, New York so David could go to Cornell Law School, but in 1968 David was drafted, luckily to Europe instead of Vietnam. He went to basic training in New Jersey and Viki continued teaching in Ithaca, New York.

In 1969 Viki finished her teaching contract and moved to Worms, Germany where David was stationed. They lived there for a year and traveled all over Europe together and had a fantastic time.
 
In 1970 they moved back to Ithaca for David's 2nd year of Law School and Viki teaching again in Ithica as well as finishing her Masters In Education.

After ten years away from home Viki and David decided to buy David's grandparents acreage in Independence Valley, Washington. This is a gorgeous area but the house was a big project because it was old and didn't have water or a septic tank and was many miles from town. 

In 1978 her first son was born. He was very sweet and was also challenging because he had down syndrome. Then a year later their 2nd son, Zach arrived. He was also wonderful but because of a mistake at the hospital he was born with cerebral palsy. He was also a wonderful baby but with some extra challenges. These fantastic boys were a blessing but it was hard for Viki to be alone much of the time in a house without a septic, water, or a real kitchen with two special needs babies. This was a time where she went through a hard time and needed some help. 

In 1973-77 Viki taught 7th and 8th grade and had 3 foster kids during that time.  When Viki's children were 5 and 6 she lost her mom and that was the biggest and most difficult life transition. She decided to get some emotional help and went to therapy and got some medication as well as a book she called; "her bible" called Feeling Good www.feelinggood.com/books/ by David Burnes. She used the book like a workbook and would go to different chapters and work through exercises to help cultivate her positive attitude that she had lost. She retrained herself using that book. 

No matter what happens in life we can choose to be happy or not, sometimes it means asking for help, or using medication or/and amino acids, but we do choose. With Viki's new attitude she had the energy and confidence to take the lead in finishing her house. She got money from the bank, had her neighbor draft a floor plan, and hired her brother as well as had herself and David to help build her new kitchen. Slowly, but surely Viki helped lead the way to finishing her home and now it truly is heaven, it feels and looks like a retreat center.

​Viki was the pioneer in Rochester to get special needs kids in the classrooms. Zach only had physical limitations but was fully sassy and smart as a whip growing up. Ben had more intellectual and emotional challenges, but Viki helped integrate both her children and they did great. Viki was also on the school board from 1986-2012 advocating for special needs and she was very effective.

 Her son and my friend, Zach, Viki, David, and their other son, Ben 

 Viki got into yoga in January of 1999. She had just gotten a new job at Centralia College in the Family and Studies Department for seven hours a day. She heard there was yoga taught 5 days a week by a woman she knew and loved (she was her sons' Montessori School Teacher).  Once Viki decided to do something she is all in! So, she brought her towel, haha, yes, she started yoga with a towel like many of us in the 80s and 90s. She felt very fancy when a few months later she bought a real yoga mat. She used that yoga mat twice a week after work for years and she still uses that yoga mat most mornings by her fire almost twenty years later, although she say's; "it's kinda stretchy now".

​She had several teachers at the college and her last teacher, Brigid (who was also one of my favorite teachers) asked Viki to take over teaching but Viki wanted yoga for a place to re-fill her cup and not be giving like she did all day, so she politely declined. Unfortunately there wasn't a new yoga teacher so in 2005 Viki kept her eyes open for a new class and on her way home there was a sign at the Community Center; "Yoga Tuesday and Thursday 6-7pm". And the next week she joined our class.

 Viki loves yoga because it has made her more flexible in her body and mind, stronger, and she is able to let go of tension in her mind and body much more easily. Before she did yoga she didn't notice that she clenched her jaw or tensed her shoulders but after she learned how to completely relax her body she was able to tell when she was tightening her muscles and she was able to easily relax her body and not only that she began to realize when she was holding onto a negative feeling and was more able to let go of that as well. She got rid of her TMJ (pain and tightness in the jaw muscles) and grinding her teeth by simply learning to relax her jaw throughout the day and eventually she naturally stopped clenching her jaw and grinding her teeth while she was sleeping and her TMJ went away.

​ Viki's first retreat was a Yoga and Detox Retreat on Orcas Island in 2008. She loved the yoga, but she didn't like detoxing because it made her constipated. So, she said she would go on the next yoga retreat that wasn't a detox. Viki's first Non-detox Yoga Retreat with me was on The Big Island of Hawaii in 2011. I was in massage school on Maui at the time so it was such a treat to see her. She flew out on her own and I picked her up at the airport and enjoyed a beautiful intimate yoga retreat with Carole, Barb, Tami, Viki, and our chef in Hawi.

Big Island Yoga Retreat, 2011 

Below is our beloved Tammy and silly Viki at a nice and warm swimming hole.

Below Viki and I are laughing and looking at the lava flow

 Viki and I doing a little partner yoga on some lava rock (Tammy was our photographer). 

 Maui Yoga Retreat, 2012 

On Viki's 2nd Hawaii Yoga Retreat she bravely flew out to Maui with another Rochester Yogini, Diane White, where my Aunt met them at the airport with a big sign that said their names on it.  After picking everyone up we headed to Iao Valley on Maui. From left to right Viki, Diane, Aunt Chris, Uncle Willy, and me.

What happens when you bring a bunch of New Yorkers together and a Vanessa and a Viki; laughter, a lot of laughter. This is Viki and Diane after going to the Maui Aquarium.

 Kauai Yoga Retreat, 2013

Viki decided we should try Kauai, so here we are. Our chef decided to have us try only eating if our friends feed us, so there is Viki feeding me.

 One of the most beautiful hikes in the world is in Kauai; Na Pali Coast. We hiked a few miles but it goes for 22 miles. Luckily we had a gentlelady named Danielle to help us across the river.

 A view from the Na Pali Coast Trail

 Virgin Islands, 2014

I was thinking about moving to the Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico so I asked Viki if she wanted to do a retreat there and she said; "Sure". So, off we went. We went to Puerto Rico first and then arrived on Saint John, Virgin Islands. The water in the Caribbean is incredible!

 Another Rochester Yogini, Willow Whitton, who started Holy Lamb Organics www.holylamborganics.com . We had so much fun together.  Willow and Roy had gone on our first Yoga Retreat on The Big Island in 2010. We were blessed with Roy and Willow's new family member, Rhea. She was so much fun on the retreat.

 Maui Yoga Retreat, 2015

In 2015 we decided to go back to Maui for another retreat with some amazing Olympia ladies! My roommate LouEllyn, the incredible yoga teacher; Sharon, and lovely Viki.

This was one of my favorite locations; right next to the beach where all the whales were breaching. We did yoga every morning and a few mornings looking out at the ocean and the sunrise.

Maui Yoga Retreat, 2016

 Viki is such a trooper. She had a bum knee but came to the Maui Yoga Retreat anyways. We did more gentle yoga and she took it easy, but soon after the retreat she had surgery.

Viki visiting me a few months after I moved to Winter Park, Colorado

 Viki visiting me in Winter Park, Colorado this past winter. She was 9,000+ feet higher then normal so she decided to have some oxygen.

Yoga Retreat in Machu Pichu, 2018 with Mountain Moon Yoga

Viki went this past spring with one of my favorite teachers; Margaret Strom www.mtmoonyoga.com

 I asked Viki what tips she would give on living a vibrant and blissful life and she said;"It's not always vibrant and blissful and that's okay. You'll go through touch patches and you will work your way through it. Sometimes we need to ask for help and that's okay too.

She also realized that she was blessed with a Pollyanna nature most of her life and the most joy she get's is helping others gain hope where they lost it. It's very important to give back, It's not all about ourselves.

​She believes in daily walks, good food, lot's of laughter, yoga twice a week, acupuncture for her knee and hip, adventures, good friends, and time with her loved ones.