The Tampa Adventure Group is learning how to do standup paddle board yoga or SUP yoga.

It's a first for Britton Julian.

"I like saying yes to a lot of adventures that I normally wouldn't say yes to," says Julian.

What SUP South Tampa Instructor Tessa Blosser says is as long as the water is calm it can be smooth sailing.

"We're all anchored out, so we're not floating away from each other or anything like that. No one's like 'hey, come back over here' in the middle of your yoga class," Blosser says.

But Blosser says SUP yoga can be a lot harder than yoga on land.

"Being on a paddle board brings the instability into your yoga practice and so you really have to focus on that while doing the yoga," Blosser said.

The easiest poses on land like modern warrior, down dog, and dog spilt can all be more challenging on the paddle board.

"If you really want to push yourself to get a certain move or a certain pose, then you have a chance of falling in," Blosser said.

"During a normal yoga practice you're focusing and you're stable on ground, but here the water is definitely going to put in another variable," Julian said.

Read more here:
Life Lessons: Yoga on a paddle board

Broadway Proper hosting Wonderland

Broadway Proper retirement community will be hosting a Winter Wonderland event Jan. 15 at 400 S. Broadway Place.

A happy hour will be in the main lobby at 3 p.m. A dinner by chef Michael Montesano will be served in the Sky Island Dining Room from 4 to 6 p.m.

Guests may be photographed against a backdrop of snow-covered trees. A classical piano performance accompanies dinner.

Cost is $10, and reservations are required; call 296-3238.

The Rev. David Wilkinson, pastor of St. Francis in the Foothills United Methodist Church, will present a discussion at 11:45 a.m. Sunday at the church, 4625 E. River Road, on the life and work of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: A Prophet of Oneness.

Everyone is welcome to participate in the discussion, which will be in the Church Center.

De Chardin was a Roman Catholic priest who worked as a paleontologist in China for many years while developing a philosophy/theology focusing on evolutionary spirituality, according to a press release from St. Francis Church.

He sought to merge his evolutionary thought with Christian theology in what he called Christ consciousness. This got him into trouble with the Catholic hierarchy, and his books were banned by the Vatican.

Coffee and refreshments will be provided.

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Neighborhood briefs

Brittany Hillen

Lenovo has popped up with a handful of new products recently, among them being the ThinkPad Yoga, a flexible hybrid laptop with a touchscreen panel that can fold all the way back into a tablet-like mode. This follows the ThinkPad X240 we reviewed last month, and rather than sporting the X240's extremely long battery life and somewhat thick body, Lenovo elected to give the ThinkPad Yoga a more conservative, universal appeal -- namely, a thin, flat profile and a slightly less no-nonsense design, something accompanied by a high-end 12.5-inch FHD touchscreen display. Read on for our full SlashGear review to how the ThinkPad Yoga fared.

The ThinkPad Yoga is available with both a fourth-generation Intel Core i5-4200U and a Core i7-4500U processor, with the former up to 2.6GHz and the latter up to 3GHz. This is accompanied by 4GB of memory and either a 128GB or 256GB SSD. There's Dolby Home Theater version 4, as well as enhanced audio for VOIP usage. The keyboard is a lift-and-lock backlit offering, and the webcam is a familiar 720p HD unit.

As far as size goes, the ThinkPad Yoga is fairly small, though heftier than some of the ultrabooks out there. Measurements come in at 12.46- x 8.7- x 0.76-inches, and the weight sits at a decent 3.52 lbs. The system, unfortunately, doesn't come with a hot-swappable secondary battery, so while thinner than the newest T and X series models, the battery life isn't as mind-blowingly long. Based on our usage, between six to eight hours is what you can expect, with the variation being dependent on how you use the system -- cranking away at media or games will naturally lower the number.

Ports include two USB 3.0 ports, one of which is powered, as well as a combination 3.5mm MIC/audio jack, a OneLink Dock, mini HDMI, VGA/RJ45 with the OneLink Dock, and a 4-in-1 card reader. There's both a TrackPoint and a 5-button trackpad, and connectivity includes both WiFi (b/g/n/ac) and Bluetooth.

As mentioned, the ThinkPad Yoga comes with a touchscreen, as well as an integrated stylus and hinges that allow the display to be folded entirely backwards. Because of this, the Yoga presents itself as a bit more than the average touchscreen-enabled laptop that does not have such flexible hinges and an included stylus. For this reason, we tested out the stylus and touchscreen with more than simple handwriting, using it to draw some pictures.

More:
Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga Review