Lifestyle

Yoga and Lessons on Being Human

Let’s talk about how we take what we learn and practice on the mat into our everyday life. You may have heard me say that what we do on the sticky mat is rehearsal–the real yoga is everything it takes to live in the world. The time you spend on your mat learning to move well, connect to your center, balance, explore your boundaries, and grow them, all while breathing well, is all preparation to apply yoga out in the world. When you are on the make you cultivate presence and awareness. Are you bringing that into your daily life? Consider how you feel after a satisfying yoga practice. Words like present, calm, and centered may come to your mind. Your body feels good, your mind relaxes and becomes more at ease, and your energy feels balanced. It feels so good that it keeps you coming back for more. […]

Earth Day Actions

Caring for the planet we live on is something that is near and dear to my heart. Since my teenage years I have been conscious that we only have one planet and it is our responsibility to take care of it. My passion on this topic has only increased with the years as I learn more and as we find ourselves in a more dire place. I have written before about living more sustainably and I try to be an example of it in my life. One of my core missions as a yoga instructor is to help people be more aware of how they are living in their own body and with the hopes that the awareness will ripple into the choices they make everyday about the footprint they are making on the planet. Plastic is everywhere! We are at the point of no return. We need to change […]

Manage Your Stress

The word on the street is that yoga can help to reduce stress in your life. But stress is a complex topic, and there are a lot of different kinds of yoga out there. So you may wonder, how does it all work? Stress is caused by the release of a hormone in your body called cortisol. When life circumstances become difficult to manage, the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) kicks in and releases cortisol to heighten your awareness, pump blood to your limbs, and focus your brain to get the task done. Later your parasympathetic nervous system (PSN) is supposed to help you recover by bringing you back to a state a relaxation. If you spend a lot of time in a state of stress, it is common for the PNS not switch on, and when you don’t fully recover stress is compounded. To find the most effective tool to manage stress and triumph in […]

15 Things You Can Do To Make Earth Day EVERYDAY

Turn off the water while brushing you teeth, shaving, or another time-consuming task. Bring your own grocery bags to shop for food and other items. Ditch plastic water bottles, disposable coffee cups, and straws. When making a purchase choose items with little or no packaging. Reduce the amount of take out food you consume. Even one less meal per week makes a difference in the trash you make. Refill containers of laundry soap, dish soap, etc at a place like Rainbow Grocery or Green 11. If you live where there is a place that carries bulk items, commit to filling bottles rather than buying new. In the Bay Area you can get cooking oils, vinegars, syrup, honey, nut butters, dry foods, and much more. Use cloth napkins instead of paper. Bring your own cutlery instead of using disposable. To-Go Ware is a great option. Buy local and close to home […]

The Yoga of Life – Five Steps to Being In the Flow

Do you believe that everything you do is infused with the energy you do it with? If you are frantic and stressed in your life then your life will be frantic and stressful. If you are peaceful and calm you will have more peace and ease in your life. This DOES NOT mean that difficult things won’t happen to you or that you won’t be challenged. But, there is evidence that your internal state determines your external state. Yoga holds the potential for you to approach everything in your life with peace and calm in your heart. The physical practice on the mat is just the beginning. There is more to learning how to confront fear and step past limitation besides doing a fancy arm balance, a graceful backbend, or a crazy contortion. Do your efforts on the mat support you in your open eyed Sadhana – that thing we call […]