Marconi Union has released a new video for ‘Weightless Part 5.’ The release follows the immense success of previous video ‘Weightless Part 1’ (nearly one million views), hailed as the “most relaxing song in the world” by Time Magazine. The original song has been well received in the yoga community for its calming and tranquil […]
Archives for July 2015
Sacred Space for the Inner Child
As somebody who carries anxiety from early childhood on, I have always created some sort of hideout subconsciously. I loved building forts. In there I could be myself, hidden, safe as if I were to savour the taste of my own soul, marinating in presence. Nobody could see me, it was just me, my breathing […]
Observing Love
We love, but . . . We often find ourselves as loving + receiving love with strings attached. We pull love apart, squeeze it into a ball, + mould it into questioning shapes. We assess, assume, and attempt to change those we love. Thank you, Elena Brower + Erich Schiffmann, for raising a redefinition of […]
On Loving the Work
A few months into my marriage I had a call with my coach. I shamefully admitted that this whole marriage thing seemed like a lot of work, that it wasn’t very easy and if things were right, aren’t they supposed to be easy? My coach at the time asked lovingly, “Is everything you love easy?” […]
The Epiphany in an Injury
I went to yoga the other day, after 5 weeks off. Being a teacher, that’s a long time. A pretty bad ankle sprain kept me from getting on the floor for about a month, so even my home practice was minimal. I had a crazy experience after that first class back – I got ‘Yoga […]
The Meaning of Sacred Space
When I found myself in the throes of an extended, debilitating period of post-partum depression, a poet friend gifted me with the mantra “the long road”. This mantra was and is a reminder that I am not interested in short-term success, in unearned bliss, or in personal gain, but in living a life worth telling […]
Locating the Teacher Within
For most of my life I’ve been obsessed with approval and positive feedback. Some call that narcissism. Others call it a lack of confidence or underdeveloped self-trust. Perhaps it’s that I’m too dependent on the external. Or maybe it comes from some past life or childhood experience that I haven’t yet redesigned or unraveled. My […]
Defining Sacred Space
I have traveled and lived in many countries, and been a foreigner in a place that I tried to call home. In each place that I lived I attempted to create sacred space in my home and my surroundings. In some places I felt effortlessly at ease, and in others it was not so easy. […]
Sacred Space
A sacred space for me is a physical space that I have put great effort into assembling in such a way that it holds a spiritual significance to me. My definition of “sacred” is not a religious one, but it is spiritual and it guides my journey towards deeper meaning in my life. A sacred […]
From Holding to Embracing
I keep hearing the words, “Don’t let go. Don’t ever dare to let go. Hold on tight as tight as you can.” Why hold on tight, when the rest of the world is screaming and shouting to let go? Those things we wish to drop and forget, those behaviors and battles we wish would vanish […]
Max Strom
Since I began studying in LA in the late nineties, Max Strom has taught me only a handful of times, but his intelligence, humility and kindness have been a captivating example of teaching at its most simple and highly refined, all at once. What’s your favorite part of your work? My favorite part of the […]
My space. A sacred space.
During my 20’s I fell in love with a book called “A Room of Her Own” by Chris Casson Madden. It’s a collection of pictures and beautiful stories by women, about women’s personal spaces and it sat with me as a seed for a long time. After a stretch of time, a career and two […]
Rewind: the birth of my first book “Heartbeat A Yoga Symphony Mixtape”
Truly beautiful, how everything is somehow connected. Isn’t it exciting and wonderful, when we can recognize how experiences and interactions have finally lead to something, we couldn’t imagine before? The whole journey of my book started when I did the Creativity Coaching training with Eric Maisel in spring 2013. At that point I decided that […]
Absorbing Magic
Exploring anima, the commisure between earth & sky. A subtle reverberation of energetic intoxication within this vessel, the message is clear…be here now, while you let go of fear. Touching the soul, skin, fascia & bones with every exhaltation explore your unknown. Fluidity within the channels & gullys of our receptivity. Opening, surrendering, agree to […]
H a r m o n i o u s Shoulders
What do the shoulders and an orchestra have in common? When I describe the elaborate structure of the shoulder joint to my patients and yoga students, I often reference an orchestra. I’m far from a musician, but I do appreciate music and the underlying details are intriguingly similar. The mechanics of the movement of the […]
Just. jump.
I am turning my back on uncertainty and taking some big steps back to get a running start and dive head first into everything that is possible. If you’ve been following along thus far, you may think I’ve already done this. // I did too //. I’ve come to realize that I’ve been doing this […]
Stillness is the Point
Becoming still is why I move. Savasana is why I vinyasa. If there aren’t moments of pause tucked within, around, and beside the movement – it becomes tricky to soak in the gifts. I become too wrapped up to see the sparkle shining right in front of me. Stillness allows our bodies to absorb blessings. […]
An Inquiry into Addiction and Parenthood
Addiction shows up often and in different forms in my life, but for a long time it was with alcohol. To the point that I awoke every morning to a hangover and spent all day waiting for 5:30pm, because I had decided that was an appropriate time to enjoy my first of many glasses of […]
Keeping Your Teaching Fresh:: an interview with elena
As a movement educator and therapist, curious creative, and thirsty teacher, I am constantly looking for ways to deepen my own practice of class preparation and the art of teaching. This interview with Elena Brower is a reflection of some of my burning questions. So thankful for Elena’s time and insights in this short interview. […]
Back-Engineering Love
“Yoga in contemporary Western Culture is not cultivating world-denying mystics, but with the proper resources and training in bhakti (devotion), the West can produce love-intoxicated seekers and realizers.” Prem Prakasha (The Yoga of Spiritual Devotion) I was sitting with a great teacher of yoga, Andrey Lappa. He told me in his thick Ukrainian accent, “Katie, […]
Radical Love: Prenatal Yoga at Rikers
Twice a month I drop my kids off at school and travel from New Jersey to Rikers Island. Anyone familiar with New York City traffic can imagine that the drive is sometimes terrible. Once I get to island there are still many steps before I reach the women I am there to see. There are […]
The Mind-Body Benefits of Handstands
A trend sweeping yoga these days is the handstand. Because it is not considered a “traditional” yoga pose, I was initially skeptical of all the hype. It seemed everywhere I turned there was an instagram of some yogi or yogini upside down. But, once my teacher began strengthening me on a path toward handstand, I […]
Pranayama For Postpartum
There is a rawness, a joy, and a special light about the postpartum period. Those six weeks after your baby arrives feel like a veil has been lifted between you and the universe…you have welcomed a new soul onto this planet we call Earth. When you stare into a newborns eyes or sleeping face, you […]
Living on the edge of Brilliance & Ignorance.
Often I find myself feeling like I’m living on a tightrope between brilliance and ignorance, one moment feeling amazing and then the next like a failure or even both simultaneously. Striving for balance with me can come in many forms such as diet, state of mind, home to work and so on. There is a […]
Accountability in Yoga
When people ask about a program, primarily training programs, there is usually an inquiry on how this program differs from other programs. Having the privilege to serve as a specialist on many training programs, there is a degree to where it is visible how I support the overall program structure in a way that varies […]
The Practice of Reverence
Reverence. Until very recently, I reserved this term for people and things outside of myself. In fact, it was not a word to which I gave much attention and if it did amble into my path of experiences it carried a weight of formality and decorum, which, if left to my mind’s own traversing, created […]
Grace Bats Last
This beautiful piece by Anne Lamott on the challenges and miracles of recovery. I sent it to Elena who it inspired as well. On July 7, 1986, 29 years ago, I woke up sick, shamed, hungover, and in deep animal confusion. I woke up this way most mornings. Why couldn’t I stop after 6 or […]
Pilgriming: Take your yoga for a walk
The first time I visited Peru and Machu Picchu it was a truly transformative experience. On that trip I became a pilgrim. I found the awe that gives you the courage to go to the places that call you. Through experience I’ve become a better pilgrim. I’ve learn to travel lighter, to connect to the […]
Getting Comfortable in the Teacher’s Seat
Young people highly curate their self-representation because they draw a straight line between looks and beliefs. As we mature, we realize that our authentic self does not rely on the right outfit, but how we show up in the world. But stepping into a teaching role can feel like online shopping. We buy it and […]
Teachers of Yoga
“Do you know where a church is,” she asked, as I stepped off the escalator. In the dim aisle of the drug store, she explained her mother had died the night before, and she wanted to light a candle for her. “I just talked to her,” she wept, “two hours before she died. And, it’s […]
Awakening
I greet yoga each day as a friend I can release my deepest wounds to without judgement or commentary. Not anger or hurtful, but solace and calm. Staying with breath to relax the mind, open my heart. Awakening, just awakening to follow the path God has set forth. HIS path that guides me. Not to […]
The Power of Yoga
Have you noticed how you feel when you take a moment in Sukhasana (Easy Pose) after your yoga practice? Or at the end of your class when you look around and see your yoga students with their faces relaxed and eyes sparkling. One of my greatest joys in teaching yoga is to witness the transformation […]
Hello, Shadow
There she is again; the heavy chill of my shadow side, whispering nasty sentiments as I go about my day. My energy is drained as I try to combat it. She shadows my eyes as the world turns dark; she stiffens my body, and I hear her voice in mine as I speak. She is […]
Muscled into Memory
For so long, I wished for my work to look different. I wanted to be the teacher who wasn’t sweat-covered and wearing athletic-wear. I longed for my work to be delicate and gauzy and dressed in white. And so I kept my work up and sought those teachers out and traveled again and again to […]
The Long Road
When I found myself in the throes of an extended, debilitating period of post-partum depression, a poet friend gifted me with the mantra “the long road”. This mantra was and is a reminder that I am not interested in short-term success, in unearned bliss, or in personal gain, but in living a life worth telling […]
Feeding Your Practice
As a yoga teacher, this subject isn’t new to you. You already know how you feel with and without your yoga practice but do we always know how to support it? How can we feed it? Have you yet tried to avoid gluten and wheat, go cold turkey with caffeine, follow strict vegetarian/vegan path and […]
Quieting Fear
As teachers, there is no shortage of opportunities to lead and share our work. For many, being in this spotlight can certainly trigger fear. Over the years, I’ve realized how important it is to quiet this energy so I may enter into these spaces in an empowered way. Here’s the method I use: BREATHE Nothing […]
The Gratitude Attitude- Lessons Taught by Kids
“Yoga is everything” was the response I received from Krishna a few weeks back when I asked him what yoga meant to him. “It’s a part of everything I do. It makes me stronger and more balanced.” Krishna’s mom giggled as she confessed, “He is practicing Surya Namaskar each day! I told him that if […]
Yoga as a State of Mind
Can yoga be a state of mind? I teach and practice. Most of those who come to my classes are real people. They hardly make it to yoga more than once or twice a week. They struggle with the warrior poses. They are making their baby steps on their yoga journey. They are graceful and […]