A Day in the Life: Social Distancing with Lyra Star

by - June 16, 2020


The quarantine experience has been a true test for all of humanity, but I think particularly for artists and creatives. I am a pretty big introvert, so I didn’t mind it much at first. I allowed myself time to sleep in, take hot baths and do a lot of self-care. However, as the days continued and it was announced that California would be in it for the long haul, I started to realize how much I need to interact with other humans, despite loving being by myself. It’s a different story when it’s enforced upon you.

Honestly, I have spent most of my time on my yoga mat. I practice every day and work on contortion training. What has kept me feeling normal is teaching yoga and Pilates classes via Zoom Monday through Friday. I have chosen to give myself Saturday/Sunday off, which was not the case prior to quarantine. I was always teaching classes, even on the weekends. In the past couple of weeks, now that parks and trails have started to open up again, I have been using the opportunity of weekends off to do some hiking. Getting out in nature always helps me feel better, so it was really challenging when all of the parks were closed down for a while.

I thought I would do a lot more songwriting during this time, but my creativity has felt a bit stifled musically, so I’ve only managed to finish a couple of songs and am about halfway through some others.

My biggest challenge was figuring out how to release my latest music video. It is a breakout work for me that we thankfully finished shooting prior to the lockdown. However, my grand plans of having a big release show were ruined as soon as it was clear that COVID-19 was not going away any time soon. I chose to release it on June 12, and right at the beginning of the month, the country erupted in protests sparked by the tragic incident involving George Floyd. I then turned my attention to researching racism in our country and desperately seeking ways to help from my home without having to go out into the streets to protest.

These past few months, the world has become a completely different place, and the hardest part for me is that I just moved to LA a year and a half ago to try to pursue my art and career as a fitness instructor. These were the first industries to get shut down, and they will be the last to open. I had been hustling in both areas to the point of exhaustion, but I was finally starting to gain some good momentum. In a lot of ways, I feel like I will be starting from scratch once all of this is over.

All of that being said, I try to focus as much as I can on the positive. I am so grateful that I am safe and healthy. I am also incredibly inspired by the way that LA has showed up as a city to peacefully speak up against racism and injustice in our country, and I believe that the lockdown and these protests are going to result in change for the good. This is a very unique time in world history, and I believe that there is a light at the other end of the tunnel. We are making our way there, slowly and steadily.

While practicing social distancing, watch my latest music video for "Under the Water":

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