Prana can be loosely defined as “life force energy” or the source of our consciousness, the source of our life force. It is also referred to as breath. Breath exercises are called pranayama. This is often a focus or theme of my practice. I call it a “root” theme because if I’m not in a
Our yoga practice is a great canvas for us to explore and learn about effort. Poses show us when we are straining or giving up. Breath reveals the quality of our ease. Our mind can be the birth place of our effort and where we cultivate sustainable effort, aka focus.
Acceptance of what happens is certainly a worthwhile chew for our times. The pandemic and our fight for freedom, justice and equality can stir discontent. At least it keeps our focus on what’s wrong and the need to fix. It can feel like acceptance means we are OK with the state of the world. It doesn’t.
Developing a personal practice is one of the most difficult, sincere and rewarding things one can do in a life. And while I’m applying this concept to a yoga practice, it holds true for all. A spiritual practice. A martial arts practice. A creative practice. Making it your own, doing it with dedication and devotion,
From the fear and uncertainty and grief of the pandemic, to the rage and fury of the continued racial oppression-terror-erasure in our country, I have asked my creator, “what am I to do or say?” As an Afro-Asian woman of color, as a trauma survivor, as an elder, I ask it. As a mentor to
If you approach your yoga or meditation practice – any conscious-elevating experience – with a result-oriented mind-set you’ve already missed the point. Make a mistake. I want students to feel that stumble in one-legged poses. I encourage folkx to allow that trembly, shaking feeling when their core is exerting in boat pose and it’s
I have no balance. This is a common claim of many who want to start yoga. They are hoping for a yoga pose or a video they can watch to “give me balance.” Balance is not a perfectly level scale. We are not perfectly symmetrical beings. We are not perfect. (just in case you were
(From Thanksgiving 2018) Gratitude is more than feeling fortunate. Feeling fortunate has been aligned with luck. Reveling in personal luck and abundance over others’ suffering and lack implies a right to an unearned privilege. I cannot celebrate my unearned privilege of fortune and be grateful I wasn’t in a wildfire, earthquake, volcano, typhoon, war, genocide
When I got a report that one of my teen yoga students had started an extreme starvation diet because she hated her body I knew it was time to jump into the deep end of the pool of body positivity with this group. I pulled out some Jessamyn Stanley videos. This beautiful, curvy woman
I led a group of about 7 people on a walking meditation recently. It was one of my workplace clients and our room had been changed to a conference room. I removed as many distractions from the room as I could. We cleared the white board of the project work that was scribbled there. We
“What am I supposed to be feeling?” This is a common question in yoga classes. What am I supposed to be feeling in this pose? In my body? What is it supposed to feel like? What “should” it be like, feel like? And quite honestly, the best answer I feel any teacher can
A student recently asked if I had any resources for meditation on the road. They have a long commute and they have a stressful job. So they wanted something to listen to in order to keep their connection to calm heading into work and leaving. As I scrounged up some of my favorites I thought
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