All things human. Reflections and research on everything that contributes to our well-being and human experience beyond the yoga mat.
What crossing your eyes has to do with gratitude. Cross your eyes. Go ahead. Do it. “It’s as plain as the nose on your face,” they say, and if you take a moment to cross your eyes, sure enough, you’ll see that there is a big, dark, shiny thing that lives right between your […]
Sweet, sweet freedom. Oh the freedom to date whomever I want, whenever I want! To run amok with plenty of fishies, tinder dandies, and e-harmonics! What could possibly be more liberating that to have the absolute freedom to date anyone I want without commitment or a care in the world! Right? Hmmm. Actually, no. I […]
I love to live in denial. Not deliberately, of course, but it kind of slips in around the edges, hovers just outside of the edges of my vision. And the funny thing about denial is that I don’t even know it’s there. And when it finally swims into focus, the wake up is often astonishing. […]
When I was a kid and my parents wanted to have a “talk,” that meant something bad was about to happen. Usually I had done something thoughtless like forget to clean the birdcage, left a mess the basement, or hurt my sister’s feelings. “Rachel!” a voice would shout up the stairs, “Did you leave the […]
I’ve recently returned to the online waters after a hiatus. Towards the end of my last go-round, I had gotten to the point where I was dismissing profiles with incredulous gasps and eye rolling. “OMG, can you believe this one?” I said to my girlfriend, “His only picture was clearly taken at his wedding and […]
I was a theatre actor for many years, and I had terrible stage fright. About a week before the show, the little hamster voices inside my head started to whisper: “You’re going to trip.” “You’re going to mess this dance step up. It’s so hard. You messed it up in rehearsal.” “You’re going to go […]
I have a bad habit of reading my phone while walking into heavy traffic. Yesterday, walking to lunch, I had to deliberately return my phone to my bag on three separate occasions after, zombie like, my hand decided to reach in and pull it out. “No, Rachel, No!” I muttered out loud, as if my […]
Once upon a time, there lived six blind men in a village. One day the villagers told them, “Hey, there is an elephant in the village today.” They had no idea what an elephant is. They decided, “Even though we would not be able to see it, let us go and feel it anyway.” All […]
You know how it is. Picture this: You’re at the water cooler. Your galpal comes up to you, looks around, and hisses under her breath, “You are not going to believe this.” Your ears prick up. “What?…What?“ “Maria, in accounting,” she gets a little closer, “she just went out to lunch…(dramatic pause)…with David.” You gasp, […]
Tinder. The new art of dating. Tinder is a strangely compelling (and slightly disturbing) app that allows you to connect with potential dating (or friends?) in your vicinity. It’s like Angry Birds meets Plenty of Fish. How it works: you set some parameters, view the profile pic of potential candidates, then swipe right if you’re […]
When I first starting practicing yoga, I knew that it would change my life. After my first sweet Savasana, I suddenly realized that if I practiced diligently and consistently, I would become calm, kind to stranger, sweet to horrible children, magnanimous with ex-boyfriends and generous with catty women. As I looked upon the serene and clear […]
“We accept the love we think we deserve.” – Mr. Anderson, Perks of Being a Wallflower Consciously, we know that we are good, smart people. Good people who try hard and deserve to have good things. So why do we find ourselves in situations in which we would be aghast to find our friends? Through […]
Awkward happens when “who we want to be” is revealed to be different than “who we are at this moment”. Maybe we are trying be suave in front of that cute guy, savvy when we talk to our new boss, or awesome in all our yoga poses….when suddenly we insert foot in mouth, lose the […]
I took my kitty to the vet. Now for any pet owners, you know that taking your kitty to the vet can be a pretty harrowing experience. There could be claws, there could be flying fur, there could be plaintive meowing to break a kitty mama’s heart. Jonesy – my cat – was a little […]
The beginnings When I first started practicing yoga, it was one of the most challenging and rewarding physical disciplines I had experienced. I got stronger, I felt great, and my practice improved. I felt like I had come home. After several years of yoga-euphoria, something changed. First my practice plateaued. And then it started to […]
In November of this year, I themed my classes around “No”vember, essentially asking, what can we say “No” to…in order to say “yes” to something greater? * The premise is simple: You are already complete You already are your best self, and in your deepest self you know your highest vision for yourself (you know […]
I love to sing. Ever since I was a kid, I have sung in choirs, in musicals, a cappella groups, and even the occasional rock opera. Even when I sound like a laryngitic cat, I relish the attempt. About a year ago, I started to take singing lessons. Yay, I thought! Now I will have […]
My god, what a week. The fatigue was unreal. I’m not sure which had the greater effect on my energy – caffeine withdrawal, the food detox, or the kick-my-booty yoga workshop with Desi Springer and John Friend – but I was a tired puppy dog. Surely it’s a combination of all three, but I’m putting my […]
Um, I think I’ll consider this week a warm up week. A…mostly elimination diet week. I’ve done a pretty good job of cutting out the potential causes of digestive alarm, but…there have been a couple slip ups. Mostly involving decaf coffee and diary substitutes. (Starbucks – why do you only have soy? Why?) […]
Oooohhh, coffee! Coffee I miss you! Ohhhh, your sweet, sweet caffeine-y goodness! Well, I have to share, I’m not off to the most perfect of beginnings. Let’s just start with coffee. I’ve spent the last ten days in Hawaii, where I went a little overboard (okay – a LOT) with the kona deliciousness. Oh, delicious […]
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