All things human. Reflections and research on everything that contributes to our well-being and human experience beyond the yoga mat.
It is so ironic to admit but I have been in complete burnout twice as a yoga teacher. Doesn’t it sound funny when you hear someone acknowledge they are burned out and then you find out they are a yoga teacher!!! Burnout can happen to anyone—it doesn’t discriminate from one career to another—but it’s rather […]
As social interactions and human connection remain limited, anxiety continues to surge through our society. To combat these anxious feelings and emotions, people are trying everything that they can to experience the levels of joy they once knew. Yoga, whether at home or in person, has been an extremely effective solution to calming the past […]
“The beginning of freedom is the realization that you are not the thinker.” – Eckhart Tolle Many of us go through life believing that our thoughts are who we are. Thinking is so familiar to us, so much part of our moment-to-moment reality, that we can’t imagine who or what we would be without it. […]
Hi all! I liked this sweet little infographic from Health Perch; it’s a nice quick reference for meditation styles and tips: “If someone says “meditation” to you, what do you think of? You might think of Buddhist monks, chanting together. Or you might recall a bunch of yoga devotees sitting together in silence and thinking […]
A decade ago, I was a new mother, trying desperately to make the most of my maternity leave before returning to my job in the creative field. I was living in San Francisco at the time, a city regarded as one of the best for maternal care and resources. I had my pick of plenty […]
In The Yoga Sutra (sutra = “thread”), the yamas and niyamas are often translated as “external” and “internal observances,” or guidelines for conducting ourselves with others and ourselves. My first teacher suggested that the yamas and niyamas were, “yoga’s version of the Ten Commandments.” The yamas (external observances) are: non-violence truthfulness non-stealing celibacy non-grasping The […]
When the floor falls out from under me, I tend to lose my poise: I become anxious, contracted, and my mind starts to “hamster wheel” about worst case scenarios. I experienced this when my marriage disintegrated from alcoholism, when I agonized over trying to get pregnant (on my ow at 42), and again with the […]
It’s easy to get grumpy. We live in a culture of “get more!” and “look good” and “get more likes on Instagram!” When we’re in a hustle-hustle life, we can often feel like we’re constantly falling short. Our culture’s cult of celebrity and the shininess of social media makes it harder than to stay grounded […]
Greetings from Berlin! Week 4 of our 52 weeks of health: no sugar. You can take this as strictly as you want: anything from “I won’t eat the cool whip directly from the container,” to “no sugars at all, including simple carbs like sugar, pasta, wheat…” Choose your spectrum of health! Too much simple sugar […]
Meditation.We’re gonna make this really accessible. At least two minutes a day. Meditation has shown to be incredibly beneficial for your mental state and for stress. Getting into the practice of mindfulness is a relatively low hanging fruit in the health world. We just have to shut off the monkey mind (“one more thing to […]
I really like control. As in…really like it. When the world starts to slide, my impulse is to batten down the hatches. I make lists, design spreadsheets, and straight jacket anything that feels shaky. With steely-eyed determination, I impose order on chaos and bring entropy to its knees! Naturally, this doesn’t always turn out very […]
As the clocks strike midnight at New Year, if not before, attention quickly turns towards setting resolutions. Resolutions are often pitched as an opportunity for new beginnings, a new you, as though the old you just wasn’t quite good enough. Setting resolutions is big business, for example, a diet regime; gym membership or such like […]
Here’s our challenge for this week. Chew your food. Now, I am a human hoover. I can suck down a salad like it’s a lukewarm milkshake. I think my need to rush through eating comes from some sense that life must be constantly in a hurry. I have an underlying anxiety that I must constantly […]
Here’s the idea: every week in 2020, we choose something that we want to do better. Something small. You know, probably one of those things that we’ve been “meaning” to do for a long time, but somehow didn’t manage to quite make a habit out of it. I have a whole bunch of them. For […]
Do you want to get better at living your values in 2020? I do. So here’s my idea. Every week in 2020, we choose something that we want to do better. Something small. You know, probably one of those things that we’ve been “meaning” to do for a long time, but somehow didn’t manage to […]
So many of us feel disconnected, sad, or stuck in our lives (I certainly have). Over the last twenty years, I’ve participated in a variety of processes – therapy, self-development courses, even cults (yes, cults!) – in my ongoing search to reconnect “home.” My work as both and actor and yoga teacher has been part […]
Twelve tips for self-care during times of transition. The uncertainty that is involved in a big life change – death, divorce, moving, illness, job loss, marriage, kids, to name a few – doesn’t get settled all at once. And stress, though it may feel like it’s all in your head, can have profound effects on […]
In my recent dissection experience, I spent some time handling a human heart. To literally hold someone’s heart in your hands is a humbling and awe-inspiring experience. Even though its owner had passed and the life force had left, the heart retained a poignant and palpable vibration. Your heart is your lifelong companion. The medical […]
When I practice Yin Yoga, I become myself completely and experience a deep feeling of peace within myself— I am fully myself and do not have to please anyone else—either proverbially or in reality. While some types of yoga specify precisely how certain positions should look, and many practitioners do their best to emulate this […]
Last week, I went into the lab with Gil Hedley. I experienced my previous 6-day human dissection course with Gil back in 2012, so it’s been awhile since I shared space with the dead. The dead are magical teachers. Back in 2012, my steely-eyed intent was to “get” anatomy. I wanted to see the insertions […]
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