Archives for February 2016

Work-life balance just might be the great white whale of our time. It’s the thing that we are constantly seeking to conquer, yet never quite able to attain. I work twelve hour days, seven days a week. I wake up before dark just to get my four miles in before the kids wake up. On […]

Teaching: simply a conversation from your body to your students’ bodies. – Missy Tyszkiewicz And I feel inauthentic because I don’t know how my body feels. Get out of your head and into your body. Stop thinking and just feel. It’s a tall order, but try it. It doesn’t matter what you look like. Let […]

Hi, are you listening? I am speaking to you. Yes, you. I want you to know that you are enough. Enough – not like “I’ve had enough of you!” but rather “I have enough water, thank you.” Enough, as in, you have everything you need. You are adequate and sufficient. You are not lacking in […]

Emergence As I delve deeper into my self I begin to experience a new found freedom, My faces fall away, the pretense, the hiding, the “love me”, the “I’m not good enough.” I stand exposed in my own brilliance Unafraid to shine. Shedding my masks reveals my true identity No longer the chameleon, shape-shifting to […]

One of my students told me a story about a stressful creative project. As he spoke it became clear that the failed assignment had made its way into his self image, leaving him crippled with self-doubt. In short, failing at work left him feeling like a failure – a tendency I know well, but we […]

I once had a friend who was a Buddhist monk. He told me that he chose to become a monk, because he knew that he needed the spiritual practice so desperately. He knew that he needed to completely immerse himself in the practices in order for them to really work. He knew that by wearing […]

As human beings, none of us have an exemption card from pain. It is inevitable that there are times when it feels like our world gets turned upside down and the pain literally makes our hearts ache and our stomachs turn. Whatever the challenge, our egoic minds often like to grab the reigns tightly during […]

Whether or not it’s conscious we continuously weave one moment to the next. Our inhale into an exhale, our thoughts into words, and our intentions into actions are all moments woven together and filled with an opportunity to build life-enhancing awareness. Below are three powerful mantras that will help build presence from the inside out […]

Recently I graduated from a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training program. At 45 years old, I’m a bit older than your typical graduate. As I began thinking about what’s next I was met with paralyzing fear. I’ve worked so hard to get to this point yet what if I’m not good at teaching? What if no […]

Over the last decade, I’ve taught yoga in a variety of places. In most, teachers were treated as easily replaceable, and that sentiment eroded morale and spirits. From the first time I walked through the door of Nashville’s Shakti Yoga, to practice, I felt at home. Soon after, I started teaching there. The sister-owners, Kelly […]

I believe. Say it, out loud. Let it sit inside and reverberate through you. Do you BELIEVE it? I believe. Seems so simple, right? Believing comes from extracting fear and worry, which requires observation and practice. And in order to get to the other side, in order to get to the place where you believe, […]

What does it mean to bring your awareness to your pelvis in class? As teachers, we know that the alignment of our pelvis is key to the safety of our physical body, and the way to a deeper understanding of all asana and meditation practice. A teacher once described my pelvis as the hub of […]

We’re born as loving creatures, but over time become armed with fear and distrust. Yoga teaches us to reconnect to this natural state and live without regret and angst. This liberated identity is known as your ‘highest self.’ Yoga encourages us to define ourselves with consistent criteria, void of anything material. So who are you? […]

How will you open to today? Perhaps with curiosity and wonder. Perhaps with gratitude and grace. Perhaps with an intention to be seeker and finder, to be giver and receiver, to be awesome and joy-filled. So, what is stopping you? There are no barriers holding you back from you experiencing your wholeness, from you experiencing […]

Imagine if you will a medication that can do all this, Calms the mind. Brings you back to your heart space. Helps you to think more clearly. Provides solutions to your problems. Gives you a moment to yourself. Allows you to protect yourself from negative energies. Helps you to protect others from negative energies. Makes […]

When you do and seek things that are in alignment with your deepest truths, the light greets you there. I can’t remember where I first read or heard the above phrase, but I do remember that I rolled my eyes so far back into my head that I may have sprained an optic nerve. Up […]

One afternoon in 1998, I turned on the television. Interviewing Madonna, Oprah asked what she would teach her daughter. “Self-respect.” Oprah then queried what she’d teach her daughter about men. Madonna snapped, “If I teach her to have self-respect then I don’t have to teach her about men.” That fall I moved from Nashville to […]