Pilgrimage – the yearning of the heart

From her book ” pilgrimage – the sacred art : Journey to the center of the heart”, Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook writes: “The sacred art of pilgrimage involves both an inward and outward journey. … The pilgrim’s strives to hold both the inward and outward journey together, sometimes in tension, but always focused on the search […]

7 Questions for Constructive Introspection

Blog by fellow yoga teacher and my VA, Juzbi Walia:  When was the last time you gave yourself a luxurious amount of time and space to sit down and deeply reflect on your current thoughts and actions? The last time you pondered about what it means to live a fulfilling life and check if your […]

Grab your all-terrain boots! Here’s what’s ahead for you and me

Do you know you are on a journey with me?  Grab your all-terrain boots!  There are going to be mountains to climb, waterfalls to swim through, sunsets to gaze at, inclement weather, calm weather, struggles, thrills, laughter, and a TON-O-LOVE! As I recently completed my 42nd trip around the sun, I am only just beginning […]

Community and Not-self

“To fully understand who I am and what I am capable of, I need to always see myself in terms of a community.”  -John Hunter, public school teacher I’m allowing myself to feel today instead of writing. But I’ll write to support understanding. 😉 As I walked into the great cathedral of Good Shepherd Church […]

I am getting real here

If I am to ‘journey to self’, I feel there must be a willingness first. The willingness to actually be with myself. To take a look at myself. To get to know myself. If I am not willing, then there is no opportunity for change, healing, or growth.*I get real about this at the end […]

My retreat into ‘seeing clearly’ meditation

Oh where to begin? Last week’s Vipassana meditation retreat was life affirming and life shaking in the most positive way! Vipassana means “to see clearly” and it is a form of meditation for insight. In fact, it is often called insight meditation. So it is quite interesting that I got conjunctivitis, pink eye, on the […]

Doing things that serves us (despite the nerves)

As I prepare for a week of silence and meditation, and in an  attempt to do this while still living at home and taking the kids to school and picking them up, I’m feeling a lot of things.  Thank you for indulging me and sharing and also part of this is for you!… Can I […]

Savasana, Death and a New Dawn

It has been a moving and life affirming experience to be in the journey to the peak community this month. It’s been particularly potent because this month’s peak pose is savasana, corpse pose.  With this pose we can sometimes immediately think of death. And with death, many people feel many different things around this topic. […]

Training our Mind towards Compassionate Attention

Training of the mind

In my personal decision to choose to be present for all of life, the good and the bad, I know that I also need tools and aspects that are going to help keep me grounded and stable. Last week’s blog on compassionate attention really started to show me that that is a foundation from which […]

Offering Yourself Compassionate Attention

Offering compassionate attention

I enjoy how a lot of people choose one word for their year ahead. That’s never been my goal. I don’t want to feel limited to one word. Because life is so fleeting and fluctuating, sometimes one thing is just not enough. I want to feel it all. That’s terrifying and exhilarating. Some feelings are […]