Here’s 11 minutes of yoga for your favorite grandma. With or without some grandma friendly music in the background. The entire series is seated in a chair, so the practitioner can rest easy knowing that she will remain stable. Easy movements and attention to the breath will help keep joints mobile, the breath strong, and […]
Yoga Wind Down – 20 minutes
For the end of your day. For the purist, there’s no background music. Here’s a twenty-minute wind down to chill you out. You need a yoga mat or a towel, a place to lay down, and a strap. Your strap could be a belt or a tie. Dim the lights, close the door, and relax. […]
Sankalpa – a New Year’s Meditation
This meditation comes by way of Rachel Zinman, a stunning ISHTA teacher in Australia. My favorite teacher and Mentor Alan Finger always recommends the Sankalpa Meditation as a great way to start the New Year. He says that a Sankalpa- setting an intention for your self is different to a New Years resolution. A resolution […]
Going Vegan, Ep. 8: Eating out
If you’re going to eat out vegan, consider Greek. Everything was bathed in olive oil, fresh foods, roasted potatoes…if you could avoid the feta and the fish, you’d be in a vegan-approved land of culinary delight. I got the hummus with pita, roasted lemon potatoes without the feta, the gigantes (giant lima beans), the roasted […]
Going Vegan, Ep. 6 :The Airport
Today’s adventure: Finding Vegan food in the Airport. I trolled one end of Chicago O’Hare’s Terminal B to the other. If you’ve never been to O’Hare, I have to say that it’s a stellar place for a layover. Lots of interesting shops and eateries, as well as a Brookstone where you can try out their […]
Going Vegan, Ep. 5 – Protein?
Two revelations. One: my chocolate fears were ungrounded. While I could not have milk chocolate, I could still have dark chocolate, as it contains neither milk nor butter. However, my chocolate covered espresso beans were out, as they contained cream (always have to read the ingredients). Two: It was day two of my vegan lifestyle, […]
Going Vegan, Ep. 4: Chocolate
Something terrible occurred to me today. Chocolate. As I was munching on one of my stocking stuffers (chocolate coffered espresso beans), I realized that chocolate would be one the fruits forbidden to me during my vegan adventure. Sure, there was carob, a chocolate substitute, but what could really replace the smooth, creamy deliciousness of a […]
Going Vegan, Ep. 3: Family reaction
Hatching a New Years’ Plan I decided to put my plan into action for New Years. After all, a New Year, a new start…and that way, I wouldn’t have to sacrifice all my Christmas goodies. As I sit sipping tea (with milk) and banana bread (made with eggs and butter), I relished my last few […]
Going Vegan, Ep. 2: Steph gives me the vegan skinny
I decided to get the skinny from one of my vegan friends. Actually, she’s my only vegan friend. We met at a coffee shop and I had my favorite dairylicious breakfast of muffin and latte. I am aware my days may be numbered. Stephanie is one of those quiet vegans, who goes about her business […]
Going Vegan, Ep. 1: Chronicles of an vegan experiment
This is an everyday girl’s chronicle into the jungles of veganism. It’s for skeptics, the dabblers, the curious, the tolerant, the intolerant – for anyone who’s peered over the fence of conventional eating and wondered just what the hell was growing in the neighbor’s lawn. For anyone who wants to shake up their the burgers […]
Chakras – the practical side for the dubious
The chakras can seem a little…well, out there. Whirling wheels of energy? Rainbow light? Huh? But if we think about the body and its functions, the chakras do seem to match up pretty well to how we work. The root chakra – muladhara – is at our pelvic floor and deals with earth, downward energy, […]
Eckhart Tolle: Taking one conscious breath…
One Conscious Breath from EckhartTolle TV.
Clearing the Windshield
Our ego is like a sheet of glass that exists between the world and our mind. As information from the world filters through our senses, it passes through our ego on its way to our conscious thought. We screen though everything we perceive: “I like this because I did something like it before and that […]
Aum Shanti Meditation – from Alan Finger
Shanti, of course, is the Sanksrit word for peace. (The tradition of reciting “shanti, shanti, shanti” 3 times reflects the trinary nature of existence – – the relationship of peace within yourself, peace between you and others, and peace throughout the universe. Buddhists also refer to the Threefold peace of the body, mind and speech). […]
Hum-Sa Kriya – Alan Finger
This meditation was one of the first that I learned from my teacher Alan Finger. It is a beautiful way to calm and still the mind and connect to the energy of your body. The Hum-Sa Kriya is part of the “Ishta Diksha.” Diksha, meaning “initiation,” is the physical transference of divine energy directly into […]
Integrating the Shadow (or lovin’ Halloween)
“The truth will set you free. ” We’re all adept at seeing certain truths. For some of us, it’s easy to accept that we’re pretty, attractive, talented, loved, or successful. (And sadly, for some of us, it’s easier to accept a truth that we’re unattractive, unsuccessful, unloved, or untalented!) But these are simply ideas that […]
Mark Whitwell – What is yoga?
What is yoga? In this ten-minute segment, Mark – with his typical directness and humor – clarifies the purpose of yoga and exhorts us to participate with authenticity and intimacy in our own lives. I have studied with Mark on several occasions in New York and in Vancouver and always find his clarity and inclusiveness […]
Stroke of Insight – Jill Bolte Taylor
This astounding video recounts neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor’s experience of having a stroke. Not only is she able to contextualize the experience from a medical perspective, but she discovers that bliss may be a simple matter of “stepping to the right.” I also highly recommend her book, where she candidly offers her experience of recovery. […]
YogaFLIGHT – an unexpected journey
My session at the Vancouver Yoga Conference had taken a pause. An hour-break, then we’d all come back for four more hours of chakra realization. So far, I’d been banging my hips and sacrum on the ground, trying to tune into my pelvis and the first three chakras. Now I was fantasizing about tuna […]
My friend Chanda Rule’s smokin’ voice
My friend and Circle of Soul sister Chanda Rule sent me this outstanding chant as a little reminder to keep opening to grace. Keep on, keepin’ on, even when you feel like closing off. Another sister of mine once said that we were always in either a state of expansion or of contraction. Listen to […]