As each hectic holiday season comes to a close, many of us turn our attention to stepping into the new year on the right foot. Armed with lists of resolutions, we often feel motivated at the beginning of January, only to feel overwhelmed well before spring heads our way. Here are a few tips to help you see your intentions through, this month and for the rest of the year.
Get Your Om On
Is your resolution to move through life in a more relaxed, mindful state? If you’ve always wanted to try yoga or meditation, there are plenty of free and low-risk ways around town to get started on your journey to relaxation.
Twisted Times Yoga offers free and donation-based virtual yoga classes with teachers from all over the world, while Shambhala Boulder holds a free open house every third Sunday of the month to introduce newcomers to meditation and Shambhala teachings. One of the many great things about living in Boulder is the wealth of yoga studios to choose from — check out our list of the 6 best yoga studios in Boulder and get stretching.
Shambhala Boulder, 1345 Spruce St.
Say Bye-Bye to Booze
If you’re resolving to quit drinking (or, at least, rein it in a little bit) in the new year, you aren’t alone. According to a study conducted by The Oxford Treatment Center, 34 percent of New Year’s resolutions for Americans in 2021 had to do with cutting back on alcohol. With breweries, distilleries and bars everywhere you look, this can be a challenging feat, but abstaining could have a positive impact on your physical and mental well-being.
Start 2023 off strong by joining Mocktail Meetup’s Dry January Gathering at Oak at Fourteenth, or grab a kombucha at The Root Kava Co. Open seven days a week until 1 a.m., sober-curious Boulderites now have a place to hang and enjoy community events like live music in a safe setting.
Oak at Fourteenth, 1400 Pearl St.; The Root Kava Co., 1641 28th St.
Get Sweaty
Getting into a regular exercise routine is a traditional resolution, and for good reason: Every year is an excellent year to commit to your health. Fortunately, there are plenty of gyms around town that can help you reach your fitness goals.
Kondition Fitness offers a free introductory class to new clients so you can see if their barre, HIIT, spin, strength and yoga offerings are right for you. Book a free, 15-minute tour of Movement and receive a free intro to climbing class. Aside from climbing and bouldering, Movement also offers yoga and a fitness center for strength training and recovery, as well as youth programs.
Kondition Fitness, 3161 Walnut St.; Movement, 2845 Valmont Rd.
Get Outside
If gyms aren’t really your thing, you’re in luck, because Boulder is an amazing city for outdoor adventures, with accessible trails galore for a variety of skill levels.
Need a bit of accountability? Hit the trails and make friends while you’re at it by joining one of these local hiking groups for a stroll through nature. In January, you can hit the new (and challenging) Anemone Loop Trail, followed by happy hour at R Gallery + Wine Bar, with Boulder Social Hikers. If you’re looking for an easier excursion at a conversational pace, Boulder Ramblers might be more your speed, offering a range of fitness walks in January and beyond.
Go Plant-Fueled
It seems that every January, we become inundated with advertisements hawking the latest diet fads, posing a challenge for those of us who have resolved to eat healthier. From Whole 30 to Keto to intermittent fasting, there’s enough information out there to make your head spin. Luckily, if your resolution is to go vegan, vegetarian, raw or plant-based, Boulder has plenty of options to choose from.
Jill’s Restaurant and Bistro inside the St Julien Hotel & Spa is a well-established haunt for high-end vegan fare, and Leaf Vegetarian Restaurant sources ingredients from its very own Three Leaf Farm in Lafayette. There’s also Thrive, an organic drive-thru that serves a completely raw, vegan, gluten-free and soy-free menu and can help you stay on track with your resolutions when you need a meal in a pinch. Be sure to check out our list of the best vegan restaurants in Boulder for even more plant-based tips.
Jill’s Restaurant, 900 Walnut St.; Leaf Vegetarian Restaurant, 1710 Pearl St.; Thrive, 1509 Arapahoe Ave.
Go Waste-Free
Our planet is experiencing a climate emergency. Thankfully, changing our bad habits now could help preserve this beautiful Earth for future generations. While Colorado’s Plastic Pollution Reduction Act (PPRA) will phase out plastic shopping bags beginning in January 2024, you can reduce your impact immediately by shifting your grocery habits.
Read More: Zero-Waste Grocery Shopping Tips
Nude Foods Market makes waste-free shopping easy: Simply grab a pre-filled jar and return it to be sanitized and reused. They also offer online ordering for pick up or delivery to Boulder, Denver, Louisville, Lafayette, Niwot and Superior. Longmont residents can bring their own containers to fill with coffee, snacks and baking essentials at downtown’s Simply Bulk Market.
Nude Foods Market, 3233 Walnut St.; Simply Bulk Market, 418 Main St.
Spice Up Your Cooking Skills
Improving your cooking prowess can help you reap a number of benefits. You’ll eat healthier, save money and expand your culinary horizons, to name a few.
Food Lab offers cooking classes where you can learn how to make a plant-based Indian feast, dim sum or a Parisian date night-themed meal.
You can even have a meal kit delivered to you and make paella from the comfort of your own kitchen. With Cozymeal, you can have a professional chef travel to you and teach you how to make vegan pastries, an authentic Greek dinner or a classic Japanese spread for a per-person fee.
Food Lab, 1825 Pearl A
Learn a New Language
Whether you’re preparing for an exciting trip abroad this year or simply looking to bone up on skills you learned in high school, Boulder boasts an abundance of classes and meetup groups to help you expand your vocabulary and practice your second language.
Boulder Public Library offers free language courses to library cardholders in good standing, and you can choose from a menu of courses in Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, ESL and American Sign Language. If you’d rather practice your conversational skills in a social setting, Boulder Chinese Language Meetup Group and Italian Language Practice (Lafayette) are just a couple of language meetup groups in the area. The French Language and Culture Connection is based in Utah, but offers virtual events.
Boulder Public Library, 1001 Arapahoe
Read More
Do you have a stack of books you intend to dive into? Do you tend to abandon a novel just a few chapters in? Joining a book club is a great way to rack up more pages in 2023. Hot tip: keeping your current read on your nightstand will help you stay off your phone before bed. Even just a few pages every night is progress!
Boulder Bookaholics Book Club is a fun and low-pressure group offering meetups in fiction, non-fiction, fantasy/sci-fi, classics and mystery, so you can choose a book chat event according to your own interests. Boulder Bookstore hosts a number of different book clubs, including The World’s Best Books Book Club, a free, virtual meetup where you can discuss the classics with like-minded readers.
Boulder Bookstore, 1107 Pearl St.
