At the beginning of each meditation or yoga session, I am accustomed to setting an intention. Usually, a word will pop into my mind that reflects a quality that I am needing on a particular day or to meet some current challenge. I believe that our minds are quite powerful (although often underused), and the
My bet is everyone reading this blog has someone that they have not been able (or thought they even wanted) to forgive. But I would also bet that this lack of forgiveness has been fraught with suffering. Not only have you suffered from whatever happened in regard to the other person but you have suffered
I couldn’t decide which of my exciting January offerings to tell you about this week, so I decided to write about both! The time I’ve spent preparing these programs has already given me more energy, joy, and attention to what’s most important in my life–staying physically, emotionally, and spiritually healthy so I can connect with
This is the season where we often give gifts to family and friends that we love and cherish. To that end, I would like to suggest my newest book Savor Every Bite: Mindful Ways to Eat, Love Your Body and Live with Joy, as a beautiful offering to those you love. It is an inexpensive
People generally want to be happy, but there seems to be a definite difficulty in achieving it. I don’t mean the kind of happiness that is absent the tapestry of human emotion. Our lives are filled with difficulty and challenge. No, the happiness that I’m talking about is the kind that embraces all aspects of
I have been noticing some extra impatience and disappointment lately, which are sure signs I’ve let my meditation practice slide a little. I have been doing other practices, like yoga, but there is something about getting my butt on the cushion that movement practice doesn’t address. So, I’ve re-committed to my sitting. In fact, my
I love yoga and I love teaching and sharing yoga with others. Why? The simple answer is: It makes me feel good and I think it will make you feel good too. The complex answer you will find below. If you don’t know a lot about yoga, you might immediately conjure up images of people
Most of us listen to our minds all day long without hardly checking in with the body from the neck down. This overinvolvement with the mind and under-involvement with the rest of your body can have significant deleterious effects. Listening to the Mind First of all, the mind has about 60-80,000 thoughts a day and
Teaching mindfulness to beginners for many years, I’ve learned that people tend to focus on certain aspects of the teaching and forget or have a harder time grasping others. Specifically, people focus on the “being present” part of mindfulness but quickly forget both the intention and the heart qualities of kindness, compassion, and nonjudgment that
Wake in the early morning, escorted by pastel shades of dawn. Sit in the consciousness of stillness and become poised to listen. Let yoga speak to you as the sun rises. There is no better way to awaken than moving your body on the mat and aligning your heart and mind to spirit. Sound enticing?