It sounds too simple, too new age, but ask yourself, if your goal was to truly love your body the way you love your child, best friend or partner, what behaviors would you need to change?
Read moreDare to Take Up Space
The first time I met Ana Forrest (creatrix of Forrest Yoga) was at an event for her book, Fierce Medicine, where she spoke and signed copies of the book. I nervously waited in line to meet the woman whose teachings had been so powerful in my life. I walked up to the table she was sitting at and stumbled right into it, knocking it in to her. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" I squeaked. Then I knocked her cup over. "Sorry again." I was dying of embarrassment. She was so poised and calm and I was a hot mess. We chatted while she signed my book then she handed it back and I walked away. . .
Read moreCan I Do Yoga/Pilates?
When people find out I teach yoga & Pilates, the most common response I receive is “I’ve heard that would be good for me. Can/Should I do that?” That last question is usually prefaced by “I have a herniated disc/the tightest hamstrings in the world/a torn rotator cuff/a hip replacement . .”
My answer (assuming that injury didn’t happen yesterday) is always “Yes.” More specifically, "Yes, but only in a way that honors what your body needs from you to heal.”
Read moreNew Year's Goals & Being Enough
Photo credit: Steve Adams
This simple change is a radical act. It changes the whole paradigm of working out from a task necessary for our own or others’ approval to a self-care ritual that will make coming back to your mat something that you want to do, rather than something you “should do.”
Read moreSelf-Care Lessons From An Unlikely Teacher
My body was trying to do what my mind couldn’t – get me to slow down long enough to be present, to absorb everything I had accomplished and to cultivate compassion for myself, even when I couldn’t make it through more than a single item on my to do list.
My limitations challenged me to up-level my practice by feeling, rather than doing, more.
Read moreSun Salutations and the Rhythm of Life
That’s a Sun Salutation and that’s life. . . a continuous cycle where glorious highs are followed by slides back down. Sometimes then, the biggest step forward means just pausing and breathing – recognizing what’s happening and what we’re capable of doing in that moment and that moment only.
Yoga reminds us it’s not about perfection or arriving at the end destination. It’s about the journey there. We come to our mat to feel and to be – to just be – without the need to explain or apologize or be any different. To show up, to breathe and keep moving. To fall over, to modify, to rest when needed and just stay present.
Read moreFrom Ballet Drop Out to Rocking the Reformer
Abbie conquering her self-doubt on the Trapeze table
Peeking my head into the Pilates room, I thought to myself, "OMG, what is with the machines?"
Through the lens of my clumsy, often-awkward body, the Reformers looked like little death traps – with straps and odd springs everywhere. Um, no. . .
Then my friend and fellow Forrest Yoga teacher Lisa Day became a Pilates instructor and you know what Forrest Yoga teachers do? We support each other.
So one Wednesday evening, I took the plunge. . . And like most everything else in life that I said I couldn’t do or wouldn’t do and definitely wouldn’t like – I loved it.
As a yoga practitioner, I have always struggled with numbness in my low back, tailbone, and sacrum. In just one session of Pilates, I was more aware of the exact places that were shut down. As we did the simplest of roll downs, my body lit up with sensations that I had never felt before.
Read moreThe No Pain Game
What’s your weakness? Tight hamstrings? Tweaky low back? Joint aches from an old injury? Most of us have one – or at least we tell ourselves that we do – a reason why we’re in pain, why we can’t/don’t do more, why we aren’t as good as the person on the mat next to us.
Ultimately our “weak,” “bad,” or injured areas can be our greatest teachers – if we’re willing to listen. They show us how to move and live differently, with more care and connection to our bodies.
By ignoring and pushing through the pain or oppositely, diving into our stories about how broken we are, we stay stuck, robbing ourselves of the opportunity to grow, to learn and to move vibrantly and easefully through life.
Read moreYoga Nidra
Do you ever find yourself dreading what should be the best moments of the day? Those first few minutes upon waking in the morning or the last ones at night when you lay down quietly in bed and every last thought or care you have comes at you like a firehose.
In these moments Yoga Nidra has been the best way I've found to quite and relax my mind. It's essentially a guided Savasana to unwind the nervous system and quiet anxiety. A systematic relaxation practice designed to bring ease to the very deepest layers of our being, Yoga Nidra taps into both the conscious and unconscious mind to unwind deep-seated anxieties and even trauma which is why it's now being taught to veterans for PTSD and modern folk craving calm in an overstressed world.
Ch-ch-changes
Ch-ch-changes . . . Sometimes they’re baby steps, sometimes they’re giant leaps and sometimes they only look that way.
Change of any sort is scary and let’s get clear on this - there’s no such thing as fearless. To be brave, you must first be afraid. Courage doesn’t exist without fear and in an ironically cruel twist of the universe, the things that light us up are rarely waiting inside our comfort zone.
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