Five years ago, if you’d asked me what bliss looks like, it probably would have been an image of me in the center of … something. I would have been at a book signing, the front of a packed yoga workshop, the cover of a magazine. I cringe a little writing that, but I’ve always […]
Balance is bullshit
Go hold a tree pose for 10 breaths. What do you feel? You’re wavering quite a bit; your ankles are quivering, your hips sway a bit side-to-side, you may even notice your whole body moves front-to-back. The illusion is that you are standing steady and perfectly balanced, but you’re actually just constantly working toward balance, […]
How to prevent burnout
Rest comes in a lot of forms. We think of ‘rest’ as meaning a true vacation, but it doesn’t have to. Whatever it is you are digging deeply into, rest simply means to dig deeply into something else for a period of time. It requires you to put your primary occupation on the shelf while […]
How do we improve at yoga?
I started calling myself a writer in my mid twenties. Sure, I’d been published as early as 5th grade and studied writing in college, but it wasn’t until I was earning my living through writing that I used the title. Of all the benefits I’ve received from being ‘a writer,’ though, money has been the […]
Finding your Inner Support System in Life
Recently, in a mom therapy group, our facilitator spoke to us about resiliency. She asked, “What can we do to help our children be resilient?” The current generation of teenagers has some of the lowest resiliency rates we’ve ever seen; anxiety and depression rates are through the roof. What can we do to set the […]
Finding your inner support system
This week on the mat, we’ve worked on identifying the muscles that comprise the deepest layer of support for our posture. We regularly hear about the psoas and transversus abdominus, but what about the multifidus and pectineus? When we are in a state of functions, these muscles work without our conscious engagement; unfortunately, many of […]
Never worry about numbers
Years ago, in a travel bookstore, I picked up a copy of a memoir called The Camel Knows the Way . It was about a woman traveling through India, and I felt immediately called to the picture on the front; always choose a book by the cover! What I didn’t know was this woman’s life […]
Make people your priority
At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is people & our relationships with them. I hold fast to that truth. I have to hold fast to it, because very often my first or natural impulse is to prioritize other things. While I’m not one to prioritize material objects, I certainly tend […]
Use the right tools
I returned last night from a week-long trip to visit my family. Hollis met her great-grandmother, great-aunt, great-uncle, aunt, a second cousin, and two first cousins. She went to a luncheon, her grandfather’s workplace, the zoo, the pool, and the pickle ball courts. And she did it all with her best friend – Flapjack – […]
Why and How Yoga Works
This week at Mommy & Me support group, our therapist shared the single-most important factor in raising successful children. Can you guess? It’s not enrichment education, healthy diet, effective discipline, attachment practices, or any of the usual suspects. The single most important factor is self-reflective parenting. When she said it, I thought, “Yea. Obvious.” Why? Children […]