Do you have a practice around the way you see the world? Are you a glass half full, half empty, or overflowing glass kinda person? Because the way we see things is what dictates how we respond to situations, how we feel about situations, how we think and how we engage with others, it is exceedingly important to investigate, and hopefully improve, the way we see the world. 

When I was doing my yoga teacher training back in NYC in 2003, it was in the lineage of Anusara Yoga, developed by John Friend, who came out of the Iyengar tradition. In this particular way of teaching, there is a great importance placed on the theme of the class. It was a heart-based practice that also had a very strong alignment component. Basically, we were to facilitate awakening the hearts of our students to beauty and grace, and help their whole body, mind, and spirit come into alignment with that awakening. It was a really beautiful style of teaching and learning. 

And it changed the way I saw the worl...

Have you been keeping up with the Summer Olympics this week? Once again, I’m completely enamored, impressed, and inspired by these amazing athletes from around the globe. Their heartwarming stories of trials, failures, injuries, successes, and true dedication light me up and make me want to do and be better! 

And, of course, I see in these athletes something we yogis are always going for in our postures and daily lives: 

The balance of effort and ease, or sthira and sukha. 

It seems counterintuitive to look at the high level of effort and discipline it takes to become an elite athlete (or an elite anything) and think there is some ease there, but I believe there is. Just watch the swimmers. They are ALL IN with their physical and mental abilities. They are pushing to their absolute edge. At the end, they are panting and red. And yet…

There is such grace and beauty as they move through the water. There is no flailing. There is absolutely no inefficiency in their stroke o...

I'm happy to report I'm easing back into all the parts of my teaching that I love, including my podcast. This season we are focusing on the theme of delight, and it was truly a delight to get back to recording. Please allow me to share with you about this week's episode of Jess on the Mountain: A podcast about yoga, chakras, and becoming your own guru. 

In the journey of traveling up the mountain of chakras, from base to top, this week we are moving through the heart, where we ask the question,

How do we delight in love?

How does the quality of delight, that rises from the pleasure principle in the second chakra, make its way to the heart so we know that we are loved, are worthy of love, and can love others well?

To love is also to lose, to risk heart ache, to be vulnerable. We have to let go of a lot in order to let love in. I’m not the first to say it: Love is hard. And it’s such a big topic to tackle, I’m going to a trusted source on all things feelings:  Brené Brow...

Are you living “within human scale?” This phrase has been dancing around in my head since I first heard it on Brené Brown’s podcast, Unlocking Us. She tells a funny story about getting her hair done and working on her computer at the same time. It provoked a thoughtful conversation between her and her stylist, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since.  Listen on Apple. Listen on Spotify.

It seems to me that we are indeed living beyond human scale right now. Between our social media feeds, the 24 hour news cycle, podcasts, and online news outlets, we are bombarded with world events and everyone’s opinion of them. 

But we’re not meant to take all that in. 

And if we try, we’re living beyond our capacities to consume, digest, assimilate, and release. We can only overwhelm our systems for so long before anxiety, sleeplessness, agitation, digestive distress, and depression creep in and make us feel less than our vibrant selves. 

So if you’re finding yourself needing a nap, or...

As I was sitting in my meditation this morning, I got to a nice, quiet place, and then suddenly I was flooded with ideas. I was bombarded with thoughts of how this can work, and that can change, and this problem get solved, and ideas just kept interrupting my quiet. I tried to say to the thoughts, “Good, let's think about that later… Let's think about that later.” And then I thought, “Hey! I'm having a creative impulse. Let's just sit with it! Let's let it percolate, because apparently that's what my system would like to do right now.” (I'm convinced there's a difference between distraction and inspiration, and I am trying to discern the difference between the two.)

After my inspiration-filled meditation, I started thinking about creativity itself. If you believe you're not a creative person, perhaps that's because we usually think of creativity as the creative arts. Maybe you don't paint, or sing, or write music.

But believe me when I say: We are all creators.

We all creat...

I was having a beautiful conversation last night with a dear friend, and she told me something about SCUBA diving that I didn't know. I've never SCUBA-d, so there's a lot that I don't know. But apparently sometimes when you're down there, you can get discombobulated as to what's up, what's down, and right and left.

That sounds horrifying! But there is a way out of that discombobulation: 

Follow the bubbles. 

Bubbles are always going to go up. So if you're ever wondering what's up, what's down, or you're feeling a little lost, follow the bubbles to the surface.

This got me thinking: what are bubbles anyway? An exhale. And when we exhale and blow bubbles, we don't push it out forcefully.  We let it out. It's a relaxation. And the exhale takes longer than the inhale. This is actually a pranayama (controlled breath) that calms the nervous system and activates the Vagus nerve response, taking you to rest and digest, and out of fight or flight. 

For clarity of the mind and to cult...

When you want to do or create something, how does it go for you? Sometimes great, sometimes not? Can you tell what is driving your desire to do and create? At any given moment, do you know what you want, why you want it, and where it's coming from? 

This is a path of discernment I've been on for a very long time. I'm constantly asking myself if what I'm doing is to satisfy my ego desire and a drive for success as our culture defines it, or if it is for the highest good and comes from my inner divine spark. 

Does my ego want this, or does my spirit call me to it?

Since being on my "maternity leave," I've continued simply teaching my classes and seeing individual clients in Yoga Therapy and Whole Life Alignment. Without putting time into future plans, blogs, and podcast episodes, I have had the luxury of waiting. I'm waiting to see what's next. The spirit speaks in a whisper and comes in its own sweet time. The ego, on the other hand, is always at the ready, and includes a decen...

I can't believe I haven't posted a blog in over a month now! If you saw this social media post, you know why. If not, here's what I said:

~

"I’m taking a maternity leave.  I need time and space to process this transition called graduation. 😢 🤩 

This maternity leave means being fully invested in mothering the last month of this era. Not only my family, but myself! You can catch me at a Maroons game, planning and attending graduation parties, pulling out photo albums and keepsake boxes, and generally trying to hold it together. And hold Nate tighter. 

You might not catch me in a new podcast episode or on the blog. And that’s ok for now. 💜

You will catch me in my yoga classes, as they and the students ground and support me as much as I do them.  We ROCK at transitions together. And there’s lots of wise women there who have gone before me. 

To all of you who’ve had your babies graduate, I see there’s really no way to prepare. We just have to walk it. Thanks for leading the way."

~ 

I am back from an AMAZING retreat experience at Blossom & Bliss Women's Yoga Retreat. We really couldn't have asked for better weather, better hosts, or better connections. The whole weekend was about what's blooming in our lives, and we discovered something that I found quite interesting:

Something is always blooming, but it's not always joyful. 

When I was planning our intention for the retreat, I had thought to focus on what's blooming, as in what's good and going well. And we did do that. But it turns out we were more confronted by things that occupy our mind and need our attention. The things that are making us stop and inhale for a moment. For some of us, change and transition was in bloom, for others it was recognition of sadness, or that it's time to move on from something. These experiences lend their own bouquet to life, and they are as a part of life as the joy and celebrations are. 

As I was driving home from our weekend, I couldn't help but again notice the ama...

For those of us here in the path of totality of the upcoming eclipse, things are getting pretty exciting. People are traveling from all over to get a better glimpse of the moon covering the sun, giving us a rare experience of a celestial expression of darkness covering the light. It occurred to me that, of course, we have a microcosm of this macrocosm right within us at the third chakra of Manipura. 

Your “inner sun,” the energy center surrounding your solar plexus, is your own fire of transformation and will. Just like the sun in the heavens affects the Earth, the energy of your inner sun gets you up and going, helping you make things happen that you feel good about doing. It’s your “master manifester” super power chakra!

But sometimes, it’s covered in a shadow…

Sometimes, it’s eclipsed…

The bright light of chakra three is a healthy self-esteem. When your inner sun is vibrant and shining, your world appears lit up and you feel it from the inside. But every chakra has a...