Periodic writings and updates
Wednesday February 19, 2020
A sacred temple must be maintained. If it isn’t, it’s no longer sacred, since it’s precisely the acts of attention and care that make a space so. If left to sit unattended, the inevitable decay and disrepair take over. Order returns to chaos, the great rule of life. And as with temples, so with bodies….
Read PostFriday January 24, 2020
Intention, simply, is a gathering of energy and turning of attention. It’s based in the present moment but it has one eye gazing toward the future. Intentions hold dreams, hopes, and in many cases, the expectations we hold of ourselves and of this life that is unfolding through us. When used wisely, intentions are the…
Read PostTuesday January 21, 2020
The end of anything marks the beginning of something else. To honor these moments (arbitrary as they may be) and take the time to end well sets up the stage for how we will begin… or how we will begin again. As we tip from one year into the next—one decade into the next—we have…
Read PostWednesday December 4, 2019
Unwrapping your gifts: Healing family wounds Perhaps you’ve had the experience of opening a wrapped gift slowly—taking the lid off the box, pushing the tissue aside, only to discover something you didn’t even know you wanted, right there in front of you. This is how I think about what it means to unwrap a self…
Read PostWednesday November 13, 2019
I need more time, more money, more practice, more quiet, more travel, more… I don’t give enough to my kids, to my work, to my community, to the planet, to… Do these lists sound familiar to you? The things you “lack”? The things you’re “failing” to do? These lists—the LACK LIST, the FAILURE LIST—have such…
Read PostFriday October 18, 2019
Raise your hand if you’re in training to win the busy Olympics. My arm is firmly up in the air; how about yours? Busy is the new competitive sport and the newest emotion in our repertoire—right alongside anger, fear, disgust, happiness, sadness, surprise. In fact, I bet it’s the most common response you receive when…
Read PostTuesday September 17, 2019
All my intentions, all my best-laid plans… All my commitments get tested through time. Time is the great equalizer that invites me to begin again and again. As a human, I know what’s generally good for me, what would support my most vital thriving self; and yet, do I always make those choices? Nope. Do…
Read PostTuesday August 13, 2019
dr̥g-darśana-śaktyor-ekātmata-iva-asmitā False-identification is confusing the nature of the seer or Self with the nature of the instrument of perception. In other words, false identification happens when we mistake the mind, body, or senses for the true Self. – Yoga Sutra II.6 So how does an ego-driven being check their ego at the door, anyway? The sutras…
Read PostThursday July 18, 2019
It truly is medicine “Laugh loudly. Laugh often and most importantly, laugh at yourself.” ~ Chelsea Handler This summer I find myself experiencing the subtle and persistent feeling of overwhelm. I’ve been “on the road” for nearly two months now; and though it looks like it’s all mosques in Istanbul, boats and sun-drenched islands in…
Read PostTuesday June 11, 2019
Each drop of water makes the river what it is. I often think of my life as a river. In that river, each practice on and off my mat—each asana, each seated meditation, each recitation of a mantra, each conscious encounter with another—is a drop. This metaphor connects me of the greater purpose whenever it…
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