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The Practice of Yoga Begins Now

If you have ever practiced with me, you know that I almost always end class with Pattabhi Jois’s words, “the practice of yoga begins now”.  This is the firm reminder that the practice is not solely Asana, but rather the body, the mat and the teachings create rich metaphor and healing expression; an atmosphere of inner awareness promoting refined, cohesive and healthy outer living. I have recently had many students comment how the gravity of this statement has made a deeper…

Post Traumatic Growth

There is a significant rise in the understanding and exposure to Post Traumatic Stress (PTS).  Note, I do not refer to PTS as a disorder (PTSD).  Some more progressive Somatic clinicians feel that PTS is a biological and evolutionary response to a traumatic event.  It is not a disorder but rather a naturally systemic and primal response to threat.  The concept of ‘trauma’ is becoming a more common sensitivity to psycho-social conversations.  As a person who has dedicated most of her life, education and career…

Pondering Pine: Lessons from a Tree

I am one of those who loves the tradition of a fresh tree for the holiday season. Growing up in Montana as nature and land lovers and typical hunter-gatherer people, the quest for a family tree, and its resources, was respectable and serious. The cold winters were placid and the deep, isolating freeze often left us indoors at the edge, and mercy, of the wood-burning oven where we were curiously engrossed and hushed by the blaze of fire.  A fascinating juxtaposition between the wild dance of…

Full Moon Fire

The last full moon of 2019 is upon us and has been very busy in stirring up some intense emotions and patterns.  This is a wonderful, and most appropriate, time of the year to purge these old ways. Set some time aside in the evening to contemplate some of the least healthy thoughts and behaviors you have. What have they taught you?  Are you willing to let the oppressive and complicated comfort of their familiarity go? Pull them to the surface of the mind and…