Today’s world is offering many challenges to our children and families. Challenges that our society and its pivotal structures are ill-equipped to effectively support. One need only to look through a critical lens and see that we are attempting to raise our children in an outdated paradigm of rules, regulations, demanding structures, and very little […]
Archives for November 2017
Tales From India
I was on a spiritual high as I said goodbye to my dear friends in India. Feeling grateful and blessed for 3 magical weeks of teachings, temples, prayer and devotion. Hugging, promising to be back soon, I heard something hit the floor. I looked down and saw half of my Cartier Love bracelet on the […]
As You Are
The world will give you many opportunities to not love yourself to believe there is something that needs fixing that you are broken fragmented unlovable and unworthy your ego will give you many thoughts that say how pathetic how much of a failure how insignificant and inconsequential you are there will be more than enough […]
Substance
Be here fully now, she says, dive in with your senses with your thoughts and your words immerse yourself completely commit to presence and I answer every time I choose to lean in I answer every time I align to love I answer when I embody sobriety because there is nothing to escape anymore there […]
Yoga for Diabetes- a way to find balance
As someone who started yoga at the age of 17, I’ve always seen yoga and yoga practices as life-changing, transformative and something that anyone can benefit from. Being a young and enthusiastic yogi, I assumed that yoga had the capacity to prevent and cure all disease. You can imagine my total shock when at 42, […]
Expansion
Do not confuse your personality with your soul or the small mind with the universal cosmic mind the little self with the big Self your body with who you truly are because when you feel like you don’t belong when you live in comparison when you can’t see yourself when the world seems dark and […]
Keep Yoga Sober
Dear Yoga Teacher, I’ve got something I need to say to you and I’m going to sound like a party pooper. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I can’t remember reading anywhere in the Bhagavad Gita that a fine glass of Merlot goes down well after a challenging Vinyasa class and I don’t think […]
Look for the GOD in everything
God. A white man with a long white beard who lives on a cloud? Some presence to be feared, that is always checking up on you? Growing up, I was drawn to Church. I liked the idea of something bigger than me on which I could rely to guide me in my life. Each time […]
From Ashes
Recently, here in Northern California, fires tore through cities and burned thousands of homes and businesses to the ground. Lives were lost, and many of us were left stunned, breathing in people’s and animals’ lost lives and dreams, and hearing stories of those who lost everything. These fires came on the heels of hurricanes that […]
Who Are You?
Who Am I? Sat Nam. Truth is my name, truth is my identity. I AM. What does that mean? Sometimes it means everything. Sometimes it can explain anything. Sometimes it requires further inquiry. Who AM I? What is my IDENTITY? Am I a Writer, Yogi, Director, Teacher, Mentor? Yes. And no. These are all things […]
Listen More, React Less
The spider web glistened by the light of the sun. Larger than my hand, radiating from each shiny thread, it appeared untethered to any physical structure at first glance. As I nudged closer for a better look, I could see strands that stretched out from the web to a bench on one side and a […]
Learning to Teach While Pregnant
I always knew I’d give birth for a second time. It was just something my husband and I knew we wanted. When my oldest child was two, I decided to jump in head first and sign up for my 200 hour teacher training. It would be ten months long, and I had hoped I would […]
Sacred spaces in rural places
Rural places want and need yoga. The task for a rural yoga teacher is to create a sacred space in public places. For the past two years, I have been teaching yoga in towns of 4,000 or fewer. In Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, I opened Simple, Joyful Yoga, a studio based in my living room. […]
Body Talk
I used to smoke. And run marathons. Not at the same time but I would light up on the drive home. My knees would hurt so I’d take seven Advil, so I could keep running, keep working out, terrified that I’d “get fat” if I missed a day. I drank most nights Taking only one […]
The Practice of Vulnerability
Vulnerability. Does it make you uncomfortable? Fearful? Do you cringe a little bit? I do. A little voice within goes “Eeeek!!! No way!” Then I realize: whatever situation is bringing this up in me, is something I should probably lean into. First, what does it mean, to be vulnerable? It is defined as “being capable […]