Today, June 21, nature moves us through yet another one of her cycles! This day marks the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and is the one day of the year when there is more light than dark.
Historically, all around the globe, rituals have long been performed to honor the energy of the sun, its life giving force and gifts of beauty.
Read MoreLiving with tension is like getting dressed to go to a party in clothes that are two sizes too small. Everything feels constricted. It’s uncomfortable. I don’t know about you, but if I’m wearing something even one size too small, I feel annoyed and grumpy. It’s hard to enjoy what I’m doing. I’m at this party with all the people I really want to spend time with, and I can’t pay attention to them. In fact, I can’t pay attention to much of anything except my own discomfort.
This week, live on Zoom we will practice how to slip into something more comfortable. Mon. Meditation (FREE), Wed. & Fri. 10 am EDT. Plus Psoas Release Workshop & Minimal Props Teacher Training! Information as follows.
Read MoreI have long used the practices of breath-based yoga practices, restorative yoga, conscious relaxation, and meditation to awareness of where and how I harbor tension, to befriend myself and my tension, and create conditions for my tension to soften and to feel more spacious and at ease.
Read MoreIn my past 25 years of teaching, I have never met a person who isn't harboring some level of habitual tension. Tension has a psycho-neurological component. Every time we don’t feel okay about something, we tense up in our body and it doesn’t release until we feel grounded, slow down, take a deep breath, and soften our body.
Eventually, stress can manifest in the body as tension. Tension, IS the stress response finding a home in the body.
When we relax areas of habitual tension, we send a message to the body that we don’t need to be armoring ourselves and defending ourselves from a threat.
Read MoreI came to learn that inside, I held buried feelings that came from growing up with a chronically ill and volatile father. I just was not aware of how deeply I was holding onto things...until I had the panic attack. What seemed to have happened, was that the trauma of losing my sister-in-law, who was around my age and a lot like me, was a trigger event for facing the vulnerability that I'd been suppressing for so long.
Read MoreSeptember launches us into new schedules, goals, and a long list of things to do. And while it can be exciting, this transitional season can also cause us to have a harder time feeling grounded and calm. Take a moment to slow down and nourish your self with a FREE ONLINE practice I am offering on 9/27 Yoga Journal's Webinar Series. (This practice will help you create balance with autumn's ungrounding energy. Details below.)
Read MoreRestorative Yoga is a practice of allowing ourselves to unfurl, unwind, untangle - deep habitual holdings is a very advanced practice.
In restorative yoga we learn to relax all muscular effort, allow our body to land on the earth completely and our breath to flow freely. Then, if we find that we are still holding ourselves up somewhere, we relax all over again... and again... and again...
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