One of the conversations we have been having in our current Yoga Teacher Training is about the value or detriment...
November 2023 When big things happen both in our life and in the world around us, we might struggle to...
So…full disclosure – I got an email from Source Yoga the other day saying, “we haven’t seen you for a while.” HA! I guess it’s been a while since I have made it in for class. Things have been busy for me for sure – with kids and business...
When I taught on New Year’s Day morning, I was happy to see my regular Monday morning crowd. I am...
Only a week later, my inner yoga teacher shows up again; she too, has gone on retreat. She reminds me of the definition of the word mindful, as used by Jon Kabat-Zinn, the originator of MBSR in the West. Mindfulness is about paying attention in a non-judgmental way. I can pay attention mindfully, I like to think. I have a much harder time paying attention without judgment. So my inner yoga teacher says: What if your discomfort isn’t something for you to analyze away? What if you don’t need to do anything about your discomfort? What if you just noticed it?
“Mindfulness, cultivated even for a few minutes, draws the heart toward itself. It invites the intimacy we yearn for and that is calling to us because, ultimately, mindfulness is intimacy – with ourselves and the world – underneath any apparent separation between the two.” Jon Kabat-Zinn I think about why...
I’ve meditated at the pool with my kids, believe it or not. (Don’t worry—they are old enough to swim on their own, around lifeguards.) Several times this summer, I was at the wading pool and sat quietly in the water. Closing my eyes, listening to the water falling around me, the sounds of the water splashing, feeling the sunlight warm on my eyelids. Swaying gently when other kids are running in the water around me. I’ve meditated at the wave pool, and it’s a beautiful image now, the ruffled waves coming into and crashing, the pull of the water as it receded. I’ve even taken time to meditate on the ferry. Those seconds stretch into minutes, the minutes into time without measure.
Photo courtesy of Liz Gill Where can you pause? For me, it started in the fall. I had just dropped...
Normally, I’d be all about the homework. I am one of those people who’s ridiculously happy to be a lifelong student. I have 2 grad school degrees, for goodness’ sake. I miss taking classes besides yoga. But I have to admit that the MBSR homework is a struggle.
“In an age of speed, I began to think, nothing could be more invigorating than going slow. In an age...
When we first begin to meditate, we might notice that there is very little space inside our minds. It might...
I stood at the front of the room, my breath a bit shallow, a little nervous to look at the sea of young faces in front of me. I am not used to teaching children – a room full of adults is far less intimidating to me. I took a...