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...

Well, it's finally here. For many parents, grandparents, caretakers, teachers, administrators, guardians, and students young and old, it's back to school. In the Goulding house, this meant a big change.

In case you don't know my brood, I have two high schoolers: Havia (sophomore) and Nate (junior). They have had a long and winding road in the education arena, as they have been home schooled, co-schooled, charter schooled, and now public schooled.  We have adapted their school choice to reflect the needs and values of our family at that moment in our lives, and it's been a really great journey.  

So it wasn't incredibly surprising that Nate decided to change schools this year.  His talents are emerging in the area of global history and economics, and he wanted to go to a school that focuses on that.  But to change at junior year!  

I could see the apprehension this morning.

So I had three things to tell him before he...