This summer was the hottest on record, and finally, some cooler weather is ahead of us. To celebrate beating the heat and the arrival of autumn, Fitness Under the Stars may be just the place to go.
Taking place around sunset every Friday until October 18th, Fitness Under the Stars features free yoga, barre, spin, and aerobics classes led by a collective of local fitness studios. The nine-week-long summer/fall fitness series takes place at Mud Island River Park, providing an aquatic background perfect for letting go and getting fit at the same time.
“It’s all about coming and leaving all your issues and problems, everything, on the mat,” says Courtney McNeal, who has partnered with Mud Island River Parks to present Fitness Under the Stars. “Or, as Janeen Gordon told me during an interview, ‘Just let it all flow down the river.'”
Izabella Sandoval
Take me to the river — for some yoga.
Fitness Under the Stars got its start when McNeal, who’d been a member of Your Inner Yogi, saw the need for more free fitness programming in Memphis.
“There is yoga that takes place on the riverfront. And that’s been pretty consistent,” she says. “It’s fabulous. I’ve actually participated in it several times. But I wanted to do something a little bit different — something that gives a little more variety and at a different location.”
The stars aligned when McNeal heard about Fuel the Fourth Bluff, a community grant provided to Memphians with ideas for programs to revitalize the Civic Commons footprint, a six-block area that stretches from Main Street to Mud Island, as part of a national initiative called Reimagining Civic Commons.
Fitness Under the Stars, Mud Island River Park, Friday, September 13th, 6 p.m., free. Register at fitnessunderthestars901.eventbrite.com.
