There are countless benefits to taking a yoga vacation with an experienced teacher you know and love to a place that is heaven on earth.  Here are my five favorites:

Remember

We each carry around several identities.  We wear them in layers around our True Self. They are the labels of our life, like mother, director, husband, employee, caretaker, and leader.  Each label carries with it its own responsibilities and obligations.  When you go on a retreat...they all go away.  You get to be the person you were before you got married, before you had kids, before your time became swallowed up with adulthood.  You get to remember who YOU are, with no strings attached. 

Replenish

There are “vacations”  there are “trips,”and there are “oblications.” They are all different degrees of fun, and they get you out of normal day-to-day activity.  But afterward, you often need to recover! Rest after a...

If you've been a student of mine for any length of time, I'm sure you've heard me quote my dad.  And though he passed away 18 years ago, his voice still advises me in my head. 

One of my favorites came to mind today, and that is how he sometimes made decisions about what he should do at any given time based on what he would think about in the "rest home."  I don't know how p.c. it is to say "rest home," but that's what he called it.  (Also "old folks home," if you prefer.) 

For example, when advising me on who to marry, he suggested I marry someone I'd want to still talk to in my "rest home rocking chair."  Or should I spend money on a certain extravagance? Well, what do you want to count in the rest home, money or memories?

Experiences were always important and worth it, in my dad's opinion.  Worth the time, the money, the risk, and the effort.  This guiding principle has pushed me out of my comfort zone to go for it so many times, and...

Can you believe we're already in the last week of October?  And we all know what that means--once the ghosts are returned to their graves and the candy is secretly stashed away, we are racing towards full-on holiday mode!  This might make you grin, or it might make you shiver.  Either way, I know one thing that helps is yoga.

When you have a daily practice of yoga, several things begin to happen:

  Stuff bothers you less.

 You have fewer aches and pains.

 Your relationships improve.

 You feel stronger.

 You become more flexible--literally and figuratively.

 You experience an increase in self-confidence for showing up for yourself on the daily.

 You become more aware of your internal state of temper and emotions.

 You walk through the world more mindfully. You are present! 

 Joy starts to sneak into the mundane moments of your day.

 Your mat begins to call to you like a dear friend--practice becomes...

As you might already know, last Thursday was my birthday.  This means I got to start the day teaching--which is my favorite way to start the day.  What a gift!  But as I shared with the class last week, that wasn't always the case.   I used to stress about it, starting the night before.  "What am I going to teach?  What poses will my students like?  What will they find inspiring? Will they even show up?? Will they come back?  What am I going to wear??"

The problem with these questions is that they were all about me and how I was doing and how I would be perceived.  I'm telling you now--that's a real joy-sucker.  WHILE I'm teaching I've always loved it, but the lead time had strife.  Unnecessary strife, to be sure. Because I was missing it!  I was missing the gift life had handed me with my silly worrying.  So I changed the language.   Now, instead of thinking, "I have to...

I’m getting excited about our October Yoga Community Gathering happening on October 24! (Information and registration HERE.)  In thinking about being at the Firm Foundations Equine Therapy Ranch again, I remembered I wrote about my experience there back in 2019.  It's been a while, and now you might actually MEET Charlie the horse, so I thought I'd share it again for you here. 

It's really interesting to me to read this pre-pandemic post from a post-pandemic (or during pandemic) point of view.  Living with uncertainty is the norm now, and I recognize every day just how much I don't have control over.  Somehow I'm more ok with that as well.  See if you feel the same…

I have to tell you about this amazing experience I had last week.  I went out to Firm Foundations Equine Services in Wimberley, Texas.  Lindsey, the therapist there, had reached out to me to see if a collaboration might be something worth...

What was your nickname as a kid? If you're like me, you had several. My dad called me "Fly," because when I was a baby I moved my hands and feet like a fly. (Who didn't?) It sounds gross, but it stuck to the point of my dad putting a custom-made fly decal on the driver's door of my first car, complete with fancy eyelashes.

My mom called me "Itsy Bitsy Guru." The origin story there is unknown, but I like to think I was a wise and knowing toddler ;)

What a guru actually IS, is anyone or anything that brings light to darkness. Gu, meaning darkness, and roo, meaning dispel. Together, guru. 

The light reveals what is hidden; what is in the shadows. When we can't see in a dark room, we are prone to fear, to stubbing our toe, to standing still rather than risk walking in the dark. So we turn on a light and walk right in.  It is the same with our lives. It is the same in our mind.

Every chakra, or energy center within us, has a shadow, or a dark side.  It is the process of...

As I think about my New Year intention and resolutions, I’m trying to remember that there are no disciplines or practices that will make me a more worthy human. Now I can stop grasping, pushing, clinging, struggling, and fighting to self improve. Just be

Welcome to 2021! Feels much like 2020, huh? I'm ok with that. Big change and worthy transition takes time. I'm still reflecting a bit, even as I'm super excited to forge ahead.  Recently on my podcast, we listened to each chakra and asked ourselves how 2020 affected us in all areas of our lives.  (If you haven’t listened yet, I encourage you to listen to that PODCAST episode (#101) where I take you through the chakras and corresponding questions. You can also download the accompanying PDF, and spend 15-20 minutes asking yourself those questions.)  I really feel looking back is imperative to moving forward with wisdom and right action. Because we DO want to move forward!

Even...

Have I mentioned before that I love teaching about the chakras?  I've taught my chakra series for about ten years now, and it never disappoints.  This year is no exception. Last Thursday in Hatha was Anahata day, or 4th chakra, located at the heart center.  This is where we house grief.  And there is PLENTY of that to go around these days.  After class, several of us on Zoom stayed back and shared some tender moments. We realized how close to the surface our sadness is sometimes.  

• We are grandparents who have gone a year without seeing our grandchildren. 
• We are immunocompromised and scared everyday. 
• We miss dinners out with our friends.
• We miss hugs.
• We have deep sadness for our friends of color, our indigenous people, and all those who see themselves in danger and on the fringes of society.
• We're worried about our teens' development. 
• We fear we're losing our mind in isolation. 
• We mourn those we...

How tuned in are you to your energetic flow? Do you know when your cups are getting low and you need a refill?  Do you know what I mean by that?

This blog is posting late because my cups got emptied...by poison ivy.  Before last weekend I was rocking and rolling, so excited about our 5 Day Challenge and planning all the fun things I have in store for us. That same strong energy took me from weeding a small area in my back yard to clearing brush and weed trees on the edge of our property.  I was KILLIN’ it!  And I didn’t even notice our 3-leafed friend.  But my body did. And it kinda overreacted. 

I’ll spare you the journey, but it wiped me out.  And I’ll tell you what I’ve learned after many years of pushing through--it’s not worth it.  I’m happy to say as soon as the wave of fatigue hit, I went to the doctor, cancelled all my appointments, and went to bed.  It’s what...