May, 2023 As a yoga instructor who has been teaching since I was 25, and who prefers a slow and gentle...
September, 2022 Dear friends, I was talking on the phone with a friend the other day, and after a couple of...
THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING AND SHARING In this third year of pandemic life, I just want to take a moment to thank you for the support you have offered Source Yoga. I can guarantee we would not still be here without your commitment to the studio, to your yoga...
April 20, 2022 Recently, I was talking with Chris Martin, a Source Yoga student who regularly attends our Gentle Yoga...
April 2022 Welcome spring! The days this week have had such welcome pockets of sun and warmth, so inviting after...
February 16th, 2022 If this last two years has taught us anything, it’s that we really don’t know what the future holds. We have been happy that so many of you have gone with the flow and adapted with us. We have LOVED the opportunity to be with...
With some sadness, I let you all know recently about my decision to close our University Place studio location. The...
I received an email from a student recently asking for help looking for yoga classes for her parents who live...
The longer I teach and practice yoga, the gentler my teaching and practice become. I tell my yoga friends, “pretty soon we will just be doing Savasana for 90 minutes!” That might be an exaggeration, but for me (and for many teachers I know), there is a broader movement towards...
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.
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?
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.
