Writings
Got Anger?
Friends, we are in the midst of so much tragedy in our country and in the world. Extreme fires and hurricanes, neo-Nazis, DACA, North Korea, and so many more examples of natural and human destroyers. I don’t need to dive into the details here… you know them already, and there’s a lot of fuel to feed the fire of anger and to exacerbate anxiety. My intention in writing to you is to give you some tools to navigate these tumultuous emotional waters.
Why We Sit
Can you believe it's May ?!As I sat down to write you the newsletter this morning, I plugged in all of my upcoming announcements and events… the easy stuff, and then my fingers fell still on my keyboard… I wasn't sure what to share in the opening article. I usually like to give you a little slice of my practice… a teaching I'm working with, or what I'm inspired by lately. But today I found myself with… not a whole lot to say. So I decided to take a break and sit instead.
What Fuels Your Motivation?
Happy New Year!'Tis the season for new year's resolutions… yoga classes are packed, the gym is bumpin’, and people are swearing off sugar and refined flour across the nation. While all this inspiration for self-care and growth is great, if you’ve ever made a plan to change a habit, you know how hard it can be to stick with it.Before I go any further, I want to be clear about my opinion of new year's resolutions–I approach them with caution. Here's why: when I was a teenager and young adult, I would make grand resolutions way more often than once a year (sometimes every day).
Embody the Mind - A Tool for Orlando
As I sit to write this month’s newsletter, all I can hear is my heart crying “Orlando”.How can I write about anything else? This colossal tragedy, loaded with misunderstanding, hate, violence, and murder, creates ripples that unsettle and affect all of us. When I first read the news my body was flooded with hot anger, then frozen with fear, followed by a core-deep feeling of grief. Each emotion occupied and saturated different parts of my body.
The Five STATES of MIND
One daily activity for me, that's different each day, is my sitting practice. I sit in the same room ... in the same spot ... do the same things in a certain order ... sit for the same amount of time. Every sit is different. Sometimes, I experience a tremendous stillness and peace, and, others, I feel like Iʼm on a battle field. One might ask, how can such a routine elicit such different experiences? It all boils down to what's happening in the mind.Yoga philosophy says that there are five basic states of mind, and our minds constantly fluctuate between each of these states.
Tapas! - Raja Yoga
Not the delicious Spanish kind.....
As we near the middle of February and realize it's still winter, despite the previous weeks of amazing weather, I remind you to continue your practice. After the initial excitement of the new year, resolutions can begin to slip to the wayside as the general quiet energy of winter persists. This is a time of introspection, which is a divine gift. We need to take time to tune in, tap in and connect with our True Self. However, this naturally slow period of the year can lead to a challenge in maintaing new approaches to life and living. So how do we stoke the fire of our resolutions?