We are learning that pandemic life has no on/off switch, nor an instruction manual with delineated steps. But we will have small victories along the way, as each phase moves us forward into safer, sweeter times.
Read moreZero Degrees of Separation
If you've benefited from the wisdom practice known as yoga, rooted in centuries of teachings originating from South Asia, then you are connected to India.
Read moreThe Chorus of Change
When we recognize yoga as an embodied practice, it becomes a projection of our deepest voices asking for peace to prevail, for justice to rule, for humanity to rally round itself.
Read moreLearning To Be Together Again
I wanted to hug everyone, but I knew we weren't ready for that yet.
Read moreFinding the Spring You Need
The simplest practices of steady breath, accessible movement, and gentle tending to heart and mind allow our true spirit to shine anew, at once reliable and miraculous, like blossoms appearing on a warm spring afternoon.
Read moreRelentless Optimism
A toppled tree in the woods forms a backdrop for the encroaching emerald carpet of springtime. On a contemplative morning walk, nature provides a nurturing reminder of how to be relentlessly optimistic about new growth and the potential in what lies ahead of us, in spite of what has fallen around us.
Read moreBehold the Light
More often than not, staying with the rhythm of fully present inhales and exhales is more than enough to ground us in the moment, and buffer us with patience until we wait for more or better information. More often than not, there's no monster in the darkened hallway, but simply a reflection of light from a brazen moon.
Read moreMoonlight and Perception
Imagine you found yourself sleepless, wandering alongside a lake in the middle of a dark, windy night. Restless, your troubled mind might mimic the choppy water whose fluctuations fracture an otherwise steady beam of reflected moonlight.
Read moreHope Is In The Air
What does hope feel like in the spring of 2021? Damp ground revealed by snowmelt. Softer temperatures warming the skin. The rumbling engine of a school bus rounding the corner. And a barely-felt needle in the arm to unlock a less anxious, more free near future.
Read moreProbables and Possibles
Few things are ever guaranteed beyond the daily sunrise—and even then, stormy skies can block our view. Last March is a bold reminder of how sharply the course of our lives can shift.
Read moreWould you like some poetry with your science?
As we navigate today's turbulent pandemic seas, what will hold us intact as we find our way to safer shores? For sure, we all need tangible and scientifically-proven invaluables such as healthy food, warm and dry shelter, reliable internet, and masks to reduce the transmission of infection. But I also need a little poetry to go along with my science.
Read moreTelling Our Stories
British colonial rule had an undue influence on the way India's story got told to the Western world, and part of that story includes the sowing of the seed of yoga that grew into a fractured transnational phenomenon. There’s a great gulf between the yoga practiced hot and sweaty in a gym and the yoga of the Bhagavad Gita, but there certainly is some common ground.
Read moreMaking Snow Angels
I find profound beauty in plopping down, sweeping limbs in and out, and admiring the resulting shape our body makes on the snow-covered earth. There is power in proclaiming with our whole selves, I am here! I made my mark!
Read moreThe beautiful doldrums
In our exhaustion, we hope we never have to live through a winter like this one again. But what if we never do get to live through a winter of imposed quiet like this one again? Will there be anything in retrospect that we long for?
Read moreFinding clarity
We don't need fancy pants, flexible body parts, or showy moves. We simply need our breath, a consistency of awareness and attention, and the loving (virtual) presence of each other for support and encouragement along the way.
Read moreEyes wide open
Now, in the tyranny of blue lit devices, we watch ourselves watching current events unraveling with shocking disturbance and visceral torment. Perhaps these times call for a two-way mirror, the kind that uses one side to show you how you appear in the moment, and functions on the other side like a clear window to the world.
Read moreIt's 2021, are we better yet?
If you woke up each morning this week thinking it was supposed to feel different, we're sympathetic. And if you feel the heaviness this morning that our world is still profoundly unpredictable, unprecedented, and unstable, we're with you.
Read moreThe breath comes in, the breath goes out
The demarcation of one day compared to another, or one year compared to the next, simply allows us to pause and take note. Each breath offers an invitation to consider what we can release as past, what we can observe as present, and what our aspirations hold for the future.
Read moreSoft Determination
The humble snowdrop, our region's earliest flowering bulb, may offer inspiration to anyone who spies it rise up against the frozen earth's surface later this winter.
Read moreRadiance for the Holidays
It's a holiday season we'll all remember, and not for the usual reasons that memory serves. We may be keenly aware of all that's been hollowed out by the storm of 2020 – the gatherings that didn't happen, the meals we couldn't share, the embraces we were warned not to make.
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