If one more yoga teacher tells me to let go of what is no longer serving me, I may just have to let go of yoga itself. This phrase, though it sounds good, doesn’t carry the integrity of yoga nor valuable advice for any of… Read More »Don’t Let Go of the Story
Shortly after we opened our doors, Lisa Menard Schmahl gave me a simple piece of advice. She told me her grandmother was a gardener and kept to the motto: “The first year it sleeps, the second year it creeps, the third year it leaps.” I learned this phrase… Read More »Sleep, Creep and Leap: Our goals for 2018
I can’t remember ever feeling this much warmth and fuzziness in my life. I’m generally a prickly person – just ask anyone who has ever lived with me. It’s coming as a shock. I’m the proverbial Grinch whose heart was too small and has suddenly grown… Read More »My home at The Yoga Harbor
You know all those guided meditations that are so popular these days? I think they’re lying to you. I don’t think those lies are harmful; most people tell me those recorded meditations are helpful. But, to me, they are lies in that they aren’t really meditations. They’re… Read More »Do I Have to Sit to Meditate?
At the end of my teacher training, I sat in the center of a circle while the people around me “bombed” me with love. One friend said, “You are a very dedicated person, and I respect that.” She was right. Since childhood, I’ve been good… Read More »What are you devoted to?
In December of 2015, I’d bought a book called, Let Me Be Weak: What People in Pain Wish They Could Tell You. I didn’t know it was a Christian book, or I’m certain I’d have disregarded it before the prologue. I didn’t need anyone else… Read More »How I Found Faith in the Season
Shiva Rea is not new to dealing with haters. In 2011, she received a huge amount of critique for her “trance dance” at an Indian yoga festival, partly for the way she was moving and partly for the way she was dressed. In a deeply… Read More »Does Yoga Tell Us to be Non Judgmental?
Deciding to meditate is like deciding to “go on a diet.” It will take a tremendous amount of willpower, you’ll probably fall off the wagon, and you’ll likely reach a point when you call it quits. I’ve done a number of 10 day, 30 day, or… Read More »How I Learned to Meditate
“I am thoroughly convinced the reason you married me is because I’m one person you think is right as often as you think you are.” That’s what my husband said to me yesterday after one of our sparring matches; we get into it, not necessarily… Read More »Why I Meditate
Each year, my father writes one personal note to the associates he shares an office with. This year, his note fills me with joy, pride, and a knowing that I am – for better and worse and everything in between – my father’s daughter. His… Read More »My Dad’s Thanksgiving Letter