One of my dreams as a yoga teacher has always been to devote an entire class to teaching practices other than asana. (Asanas are the shapes we make with our bodies in yoga classes.) Asana is amazing and transformative, but it’s not the whole enchilada.…
Continue reading Whole Yoga// The Other 7 Limbs
I’m reading David Foster Wallace’s brilliant Infinite Jest right now (although right now means for the past two years on Thursday, but if you’ve immersed yourself in this book, you’ll know that it takes awhile). On every page there are so many words and concepts…
Continue reading Jnana// Embodied Knowing
There is always space. There is always s p a c e . In every beat. In every breath. Out on the edge of the vastness. The embrace of our own heart is a beginning. A tender and magical beginning. Safety. Sorted-ness. These already are.…
Continue reading Love// A Prayer
What I need to tell you right now is… that this space is a collection of my ruminations on my own practice. A snap-shot of this space in time. My teaching is always ever evolving with my practice. I think that if a teacher is…
Continue reading feeling for the edges of the container// i am here for now
In my in-real-life classes, we have meandered our way through the limbs of yoga as described by Patanjali to arrive at Dhyana/Meditation/Contemplation. Dhyana. We have to come out of something to know we’ve been in it. The realization. The thought. The spark of awareness inevitably…
Continue reading It’s All Good// In and Out of Concentration
The sadness that descended on me last week when my elderly dog was very ill informed me of just how long it had been (if ever) since I last felt truly sad. She is quite old– nearly fourteen. And I know that the time for…
Continue reading Attending Sadness// Practice. Non-attachment. Love.
This summer in my real-time/ in-person classes, we have been discussing the Eight Limbs of Yoga as described by the Yoga Sutras. If you are familiar with my classes, you may already know that we tend to focus on a philosophical theme for a period…
Continue reading The Yoga Sutras// An Introduction & Resource Hub
{This is the beginning of a series of posts distilling a conversation I have been having with and listening to in the contemplative community.} When I’m giving answers rather than asking questions, my opportunity to grow diminishes. I just scrapped a post I was…
Continue reading Dogma is Boring
By cultivating attitudes of friendliness toward those who are happy, compassion to those who are suffering, delight toward the virtuous and equanimity toward detractors, one’s thoughts are purified and the obstacles to self-realization are lessened. {Yoga Sutra 1.33} We are still working through Yoga Sutra…
Continue reading Objectivity, Compassion and Equanimity as Acts of Self-love
When the student is ready, the teacher appears. The teacher rarely takes the form we imagine it will/should/does for everyone else. We must have alert senses to recognize the teacher when it arrives. The teacher for me right now is Yoga Sutra 1.33. We have…
Continue reading The Yoga of Relationship/ Seeing Yourself in Others