I’m a bit hyper as I write this, because I am so excited to share two things: One is my recent interview with Amanda Green about object meditation and chakra six, and the other is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to combine adventure, yoga, and both the spirit and reality of evolution. 

First, on episode 19 of Jess on the Mountain, I talk to a woman I have known for many years, and have been a big fan of for just as many.  She is the real deal when it comes to understanding the sutras, meditation, and transformation. I was encouraged to reach out to Amanda several years ago when I was studying with Chase Bossart during my Yoga Therapy training at Yoga Yoga. He saw a couple of kindred spirits, encouraged us to get together, and he was right.  She’s one of those people with whom you get together and go deep and go fast. So I was thrilled when I invited her on the podcast and she was all in.  There are many takeaways from this rich conversation...

I don’t know how much you think about your energy, but when you’re in my line of work it comes up a lot.  Every Yoga Therapy session intake asks about it, every class considers it at the beginning, and engaging with the chakra system brings it into full focus.  This past weekend was no exception–and it was SO FUN!

At the monthly Chakra Savvy Yoga Practice at Castle Hill Fitness we went through every chakra, charging, releasing, and energizing our way up to finally a very quiet, balanced mind.  Quiet enough to listen to our inner wisdom.  One woman even remarked it was the first time she had ever experienced true stillness in her mind.  To me, that’s a HUGE win.  I mean, that’s what it's all about, really! So fun.

During the Chakra 3 (power center) portion of the class we stopped and did some partner work that so beautifully demonstrated charging and releasing energy that I wanted to share it with you here, and...

As I lay awake last night from 3am-6am I thought of you. (Is that weird?)  I'm normally pretty blessed with decent sleep, but every now and then it just doesn't happen. So as I sat with my mug of warm milk at 5am, I thought of a couple things that that might help us all.

Let's talk about vata.

In Ayurveda, the sister science to yoga, there are three main energies at play within us and in our surroundings.  Like the humors, they are related to the elements and explain the experience and behavior of our body and mind. We are all made up of various amounts of these substances: wind and ether, fire, earth and water.  You might have come across the terms

 pitta (fire and water),

 kapha (water and earth),

 vata (wind and ether).

Now there is A LOT to learn about all this, and I can't go into everything right now.  For our purposes, we're going to focus on the wind element and time.

Vata blows through our...