All things human. Reflections and research on everything that contributes to our well-being and human experience beyond the yoga mat.
Before you select a sperm donor, you have to go visit an approved counsellor. I guess so they can make sure that you aren’t crazy. My fertility clinic provided me with a list of therapists and sent me on my way to make my appointment. My deep ambivalence about having a kid as a single […]
I experience anxiety and depression. In my life, I have fallen into despair and loneliness, had suicidal thoughts, cut myself to purge the pain, taken anti-depressants, and curled up on my floor in isolation. I’ve held hands with terrible feelings and had many “dark nights of the soul.” I am sharing this confession because I want […]
Have you ever noticed that whenever you have a party, everyone winds up in the kitchen? No matter how much you decorate your living room or spruce up the dining room, everyone winds up chatting in the kitchen, drinks in hand, perched on countertops. Kitchens are the heart of the home. We go there to be nourished by both good […]
This past week I had a difficult conversation with a loved one. It was one of those rip-your-heart-open-say-what-you-really-think experiences where I felt uncertain and scared. Usually a rational and controlled strategist, I found this heart-driven communication terrifying. Imagine for a moment that you are surrounded by a lovely sphere in which “life is comfortable and […]
I’m right! You’re wrong! Ooooo, it feels so good to be right!! Doesn’t it? Being right is brain happy food. “He is soooooo wrong!” I say, outraged (but somehow gleeful). When I’m right, I feel safe, secure, and wonderful. “I’ve got this.” Control maintained. Oh happy day! And then my dad says, “Do you want […]
Your mind is a beautiful cage. Glorious, glittering, shiny, and infinitely complex…but a cage nonetheless. From the time we’re children, we create an understanding of the world and live by the subsequent rules that we create. And for the most part, these beliefs go unchallenged. “I can’t sing.” “I’m not good at math.” “You can’t […]
“No rushing,” my yoga teacher admonishes sternly. She’s helping me with backbends. I’m moving too fast. I take a breath and pause. I slow down. “Good,” she nods, “no rushing.” Ah, yes, as in yoga, as in life. Rushing used to make me feel important. “I’m so busy!” I sighed dramatically, secretly thrilled by the sense […]
It’s the month of November and time again for this most remarkable time: saying no. At first, saying no sounds bad, like a five year old staring at their brussel sprouts. “No! I won’t!” He sticks his tongue out. To me, saying “No” still smells like failure, like I’m a bad sport (bad friend, bad worker, […]
I fall over in handstand. I try, I miss, I get afraid, I fall. I am not one of those effortless inversion mamas, deftly floating from pose to pose. I admire those practitioners, marvel at their grace. I’ve been afraid of handstand since I fell out of it over four years ago. I have other sins. […]
One of the most powerful gifts that yoga provides to us is a safe space to feel richly and authentically. How many of us get caught in days of politeness, with work or with friends, “Why yes, Amanda, while I agree your projections are viable, I respectfully disagree and hope that we can find a mutually […]
It was day one and I was already befuddled. First of all, allow me to confess that I drank a glass of wine. I know, I know! SO not paleo! But I just moved into a new apartment, and a glass of wine was the perfect toast to end my Ikea-bed-assembly-beg-my-neighbor-for-help-adventure. And – I’ll have you know: […]
I relish new beginnings: new diets (oh my sugar free, pegan fads…you know me!), New Year’s Resolutions, yoga practice plans, website launchings. I get this rush, a burst of bright satisfaction. The start is intoxicating: I’m making a plan, I’m doing it, yippee! But then, some way down the line, upholding my intention becomes, well, boring. I’m going to the […]
Two armies are poised for battle. Our hero falls to his knees at the impossibility of the choice: should he uphold his righteous claim to the throne and slay his enemy – who also happen to be his kin? Or shall he be killed and forsake his duty? Frozen by terrible consequences on all sides, he collapses and […]
I slept an unprecedented 10 hours last night. That’s right. Ten. For a gal who usually weighs in under 7, 10 felt like a luxury only reserved for vacation or illness. Oh, and then I had a nap. For an hour. What the what? Perhaps it’s because I’ve been chronically underslept since my early twenties, […]
I like to plan. I’m a great planner, a presidential planner. I have an app called Omnifocus that agendifies every area of my life. Until recently, reminders in this apps included things like, “Call Mom,” or “Phone out of town friend,” lest I forgot to feel my beating heart while navigating my labyrinthine to-do list. Planning makes me feel […]
What coffee has to do with constructivism “Why don’t you make it the way I do?” he asks, as I pour the coffee grounds into the Bialetti coffee maker. I look at the coffee maker in consternation. I pour the grounds directly into the filter in the machine. He does it separately and then puts […]
“Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise…” – James Kirk Yogis, we’re going on a fantastic voyage. A voyage that reveals the importance of inner space… A famous study entitled “From Jerusalem to Jericho” was conducted in the 1970’s to analyze the good Samaritan story from the Bible. Researchers sought to determine […]
Or, education happens in the darnedest places. A seven year old sidles up next to me on the N train to Astoria. I’ve got my laptop flipped open, working on an article for EME 6414, my Web 2.0 course. He sits quietly for awhile and watches. “You type fast,” he observes. I look over at […]
“People and institutions exist now in information and communication ecologies that are strikingly different from the ones that existed just a generation ago…It is not an either-in person OR online dichotomy; it is an in-person AND the internet AND mobile contact comprehensiveness.” – Lee Rainie & Barry Wellman, “Networked.” Thank God. Reading this book is […]
As my social media course winds to its conclusion, I am reflecting back on the first decision I made in the course: how much of myself do I reveal? At the beginning of the course, I made the decision to post the educational blogs as myself, interwoven into the fabric of my current website. Deciding the my […]
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