Writings
Trust Yourself
It was the third day of studying with my late teacher, Michael, and before I asked him to officially be my teacher. At the end of practice, he guided us into savasana, and, to let go of control of our breath. After a few moments, in which I thought I had set aside any shaping of my breath, Michael quietly walked over, sat down next to me, and placed his hand on my abdomen. He asked me if I could let go of my breath. My belly began to shake and warm tears streamed down my cheeks and flowed over my ear lobes. I didn’t know why I was crying. But, I did know that this was an important teaching. I asked him to be my teacher later that afternoon. An ask that had only happened once before in my life, and one that hasn’t happened since.
You Are Enough
Each year, it’s not uncommon for me to write about my challenges with New Year’s resolutions. I used to make resolutions every morning, week, and month, and certainly every New Year. This was when I was in the throws of disordered eating, in my pre-teen and teen years. It was a painful cycle of feeling awful in my own skin… I didn’t like myself. I didn’t like what I saw in the mirror or how I felt, and I was years away from loving myself. Now, decades after those painful experiences, I still cringe at our cultural obsession with resolving to be a “new you”. Yoga teaches us that, at our core, we are perfectly imperfect. We are born into this world with an innate understanding of love, compassion, and equanimity.
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).