Blog
Weekly Letter: Block or not to Block
When I first started teaching yoga, other teachers warned me there are students who don’t like to use yoga props. To those students, props show a weakness or an inability. I was baffled, as I was being trained the props give the person MORE access not less. And yet,...
Weekly Letter-The Forgiveness Series: Part 4
My friend had a very elderly dog who was demonstrating they were in some pain and losing their quality of life. My friend was faced with the impossible decision of whether it was time to put her beloved pup down. She and her husband went to their vet to discuss all...
List of Questions exploring Forgiveness
This is a working document of questions myself and a friend put together to evaluate our own feelings regarding situations of conflict. We created this in a conversation as we discussed boundaries and healthy relationships. As people who live out in the world, in a...
Weekly Letter-The Forgiveness Series: Part 3
My best friend comes from an abusive upbringing. Later she was in an abusive marriage. Now in her 50’s her parents who treated her so poorly lean on her to help them. Her and her siblings all have had different systems of processing their childhoods and some have made...
Weekly Letter-The Forgiveness Series: Part 2
I tried looking at groupings of friends we have in our life. Articles had some very interesting suggestions for categorization and didn’t include family, which can be the hardest category to forgive, so we definitely need to include them. One simple diagram used a...
The Forgiveness Series: Part 1
I struggle with the word ‘forgiveness’. The implication negates the difficult process by whittling it down to a single word. By doing so, it seems to undermine the power of the process. Some people are easier to forgive than others. Sometimes forgiveness takes a...
Weekly Writing: Light & Dark Part 4
So what does the light and dark show us? Much like strengthening a muscle, exercising the light and the dark invites us to become more sensitive and aware. To observe the delicate balance of both when we are in the moment so the moment doesn’t take us over. Exploring...
Weekly Writing: Light & Dark Part 3
There is something very loving about this idea of how yoga can approach you in ways that defy words. How it can be more a feeling than anything and when you hit the stride of it all you just move as though in a dream. Colors are different, and what you see and feel...
Weekly Writing: Light & Dark Part 2
Early in my teaching career, I was talking about the concept of light & dark in a general sense to a group of students. One of my students was very upset by this concept and expressed their belief yoga was only good and happy and peaceful. The thought of yoga...
Weekly Writing: Light & Dark Part 1 of 4
When I think back to my early days as a new practioner, attending the Washington Street studio for classes, I largely remember the light in the room. The way it moved through you as though a blanket of warm, safe energy reaching to hold you. My early days of practice...
Weekly Letter: Seeking Authenticity
In reflection after a weekend away with my husband, we were talking about what we love to do when we travel or go places and I surmised that we go for an authentic experience. I struggle with places that are too stark and crave places that have color or character. As...
Weekly Letter: The Obstacles are part of the Journey
I read something recently that said something along the lines of, ‘the obstacles are part of the journey. There will always be obstacles in the path. The practice is navigating around them.” Everything wants to get in your way-no matter the goal. But the exercise of...
Weekly Letter: Wisdom from George Carlin
As we go through the practice, alone on the mat. Sometimes finding our minds quiet, sometimes not. The practice asks us to observe, but it doesn’t tell us what to examine exactly. Your teacher offers you things to consider and its up to you to assign what that idea...
Weekly Letter: are we stifling yoga?
In late Middle English the word create was derived from the idea that something was ‘born out of nothing.’ And idea, a story, art. Even our postures came from spontaneous movement from deep meditation. The build of prana (energy) in the body caused it to begin to move...
Weekly Letter: Letting Go
The right combinations of words unlock awareness inside of ourselves. We find places we’ve never had access to or maybe learn something new we didn’t fully understand before. By using words and language we get to create all these new associations to better grow into...
Weekly Letter: The Same Practice
Why do we ask our yoga to be the same all the time? I am not the same every day. Some days I feel more strongly than others. Some days I need to take care of my emotions and be quiet or small. But the yoga isn’t asking you to be anything other that what you are. And...
Weekly Letter: Taking the practice deeper
The Bhagavad Gita says, ‘Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self.’ The word journey is tricky. In any journey, it implies a destination with stops along the way. Maybe journey is the word because so many yogis were nomadic. Journey is mentioned...
Weekly Letter: Send Love through Light
This past holiday season my neighbors and I decided to coordinate our porch decorations to tie the neighborhood together. It was a cute candy cane theme that was easy to do and be creative. We enjoyed the idea that our block would feel unified, festive and bright....