So, I did a thing. Not a thing I usually do, but I did it. I wrote a poem.

I feel like I should put quotes around the word poem because it doesn't rhyme, it doesn't have a structure, and it doesn't really have much of a rhythm. But it's not prose, and it came in creatively, so I'm calling it a poem.

It also expressed for me something that needed expressing. You see, while I was on my recent retreat to Chacala, Mexico with Dr. Deb Kern, I had a chance to focus on expelling some mental goblins. It's  the negative self-talk voice in my head. (Perhaps you're familiar?) This is the voice that can keep me on the sidelines, knock me down a peg or two, and convince me that me being fully me would have some dire consequences. Like, I won't be liked.

Womp, womp.

This voice doesn't have much to say when I'm home and with people I'm comfortable with.  But travel and strangers bring in the voice like my own personal doomsayer. So even getting to the retreat was a chance to start the...

Hello! I'm just coming down from a very high weekend of teaching the chakras to the teacher trainees and yoga therapists-in-training at My Vinyasa Practice. They were a bright and engaging group, and I believe we all came away with a new understanding of ourselves in relation to our energy, life story, inhibitions, and gifts.  But since I had never taught for 10 hours over a weekend before, I had to think a lot about preparing myself and conserving my energy for the long haul.  My personal routine was paramount to my preparation. That routine starts first thing in the morning. 

I believe that how we enter the day can set the tone for how the rest of the day will flow. So we best be mindful about it!

I was recently looking through some poetry in my personal library and came across a Mary Oliver poem that I think inspires a beautiful start to the day.  We often practice Sun Salutations in yoga class, so a salute to the sun is a long standing practice...