So many things seem improbable. Impossible, even. Ever look back at where your life has gone and wonder how in the hell you got to where you are? I do.
But here we are.
Read moreWhat About The NOT Holidays?
I know. We are always hearing about the stress of the Holidays.
But what about the NOT Holidays?
Sure, sometimes, December can be rough.
But with all the goodwill, decorations, parties and whatnot, even with how busy it can be, December can also be quite cheery. The month you gotta worry about—the one you gotta keep your eye on cuz it’s a troublemaker—is January. My apologies to anyone born in January. The month is better because you were born then.
Making Waves Great Salt Lake & Live Yoga Nidra Teacher Training
Yeah, today I’m excited to share about a collective poem I contributed to about saving Great Salt Lake as well as my next live Yoga Nidra teacher training.
A Word To Save The Waves
My very good friend,Nan Seymour—a dear friend/sister with whom I’ve been co-leading nature + yoga + writing retreats for the past 9 years—has been doing an incredible job, tirelessly raising awareness about the endangered Great Salt Lake.
I love this lake and love Nan and so when she asked if I would write a poem about this majestic but imperiled lake, I jumped at the chance.
Many people contributed and the results were a collective poem. I was thrilled to see that it was recently published as a book called Irreplaceable, A Collective Praise Poem For Great Salt Lake.
Tonight, you’re invited to a FREE event, a collective reading of this poem and I’ll be privileged to read my humble poem.
I’ll also get to blow my sax a little bit.
At this free event, we will be honored with opening remarks from Lisa Bickmore, Poet Laureate of Utah as well as a screening of the short film Irreplaceable, directed by John Meier.
Can’t wait!
When: Wednesday, November 20th from 6–7:30 pm
Where: Natural History Museum of Utah located at 301 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City, UT 84108
Cost: FREE
Please come!
Live Yoga Nidra Teacher Training
Also, I am excited to let you know about my next LIVE Yoga Nidra teacher training, January 24–27, 2025
I’m excited to be hosted by Rianne Maldonado of Wrae Aesthetics in Tucson, Arizona.
Training available via Zoom or in person, Tucson, Arizona.
Stand Out As a Teacher, Coach, or Therapist
Let’s face it—there are a billion yoga teachers, coaches, and therapists. This Yoga Nidra teacher training will help you become a Yoga Nidra expert and will help you stand out from the rest in your industry.
Yoga Nidra is SO more than just guided visualizations. Explore how this powerful but gentle medium facilitates massive and lasting transformation from anything to confidence, addiction, stress, sleep, and even spiritual awakening.
This engaging and nourishing training empowers you to become an effective teacher to meet the unique needs of your students and clients, to help them make important transformations in their own lives.
People are waiting to experience Yoga Nidra in only the way YOU can deliver it!
Stand out as a teacher and to facilitate lasting transformation for your students and clients.
What’s Unique About This Training:
Superb quality—Organized, easy to follow, flexible for your schedule, dynamic as per your learning style.
In-depth study—you’ll learn from a Yoga Nidra master and graduate a Yoga Nidra expert.
Highly effective—this training is ranked the top Yoga Nidra trainings in the world by Mind Is the Master.
Be Original! Most trainings teach you to be a rote version of your teacher. This training teaches you the larger principles, roadmaps, and concepts that allow you to tap into the wise teacher inside of you to be a truly effective teacher by teaching from the power of your own voice
Yoga Alliance Continuing Education credit.
In Great Company
Today, I want to talk about some excellent yoga and mindfulness teachers, wellness coaching, as well as yoga mentorships and/or small business mentorships.
First, I hope you’ve had a great week and that you’re gearing up for a great weekend.
PSA:
Self care is not only not selfish, it’s also not optional.
It’s imperative that you regularly do those things that help you feel ALIVE. Afterall, like the theologian and civil right activist Howard Thurman says:
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
If yoga and mindfulness, Yoga Nidra, help you feel alive, I hope you’ll join me over the next few days for some classes. Check deets below.
Also, I want to let you know that I feel totally honored and humbled to be surrounded by truly gifted and wonderful yoga teachers, two of whom I’d like to introduce to you if you don’t already know them.
Sasha Nelson
First, I’d like to introduce you to Sasha Nelson.
Sasha grew up in California and then moved to NYC and taught and practiced yoga at some of my favorite New York yoga studios. We love and practice with many of the same teachers.
Then Sasha moved to Paris and taught yoga at studios, businesses, and offered private sessions before moving to Nice, where I met her and where she is currently teaching. She also hosts yoga retreats and offers 1:1 wellness coaching that incorporates nutrition, yoga, sustainability for the planet, and mindfulness.
We resonate on SO many levels.
Sasha is a really talented teacher with a mission to promote wellness for body, mind, and planet. I truly admire her passion to not only help individuals but also help the planet.
To brag about Sasha briefly, she studied mindfulness with none other than Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield and has yoga certifications from Yoga Shanti and Yoga Works. She has a MFA in sustainable design.
It's fascinating to see how she’s incorporating her knowledge of design, yoga, meditation, sustainability, nutrition into very comprehensive private and group offerings. To boot, she’s also a great writer. I subscribe to her substack to get her regular writings which include recipes and yoga/mindfulness insight. Very cool!
Even though I moved back to the US over a year ago, I still get requests to teach yoga in the Nice area and I never hesitate to send Sasha instead because she’s just such a solid teacher.
I worked with Sasha personally and mentored her to help her expand her offerings and organize an already robust yoga business. I’m super proud of the work we did together and want to share her great work with you.
I want to highlight 2 things she does really, really well.
First, she has a fantastic online course called Mindful Mornings: Nourishing Rituals for Mind, Body & Planet. In this course you see her skill in design—It’s gorgeous—but it’s also really engaging, approachable and a fantastic day to create rituals for your morning and start your day off perfectly.
Next, because wellness is not a 1-size-fits-all sorta deal, she offers 1:1 holistic health coaching to help a person meet their wellness needs whether through diet, yoga/meditation, and sustainability. You can book a free discovery call with her to discuss what she does and how it might be helpful for you.
JACOBY BALLARD
Next, I want to talk about Jacoby Ballard
Jacoby Ballard is a social justice educator and yoga a teacher with me at Mosaic Yoga. He leads workshops and trainings around the country on diversity, equity, and inclusion. He’s a seasoned yoga teacher of 24 years and leads workshops, retreats, teacher trainings, among other things. He’s also the author of A Queer Dharma: Yoga and Meditation for Liberation.
Jacoby and I both teach Yoga for Stiffer Bodies at Mosaic Yoga—I teach on Saturdays at 7:30 am and he teaches Tuesday at the same time.
This Saturday, November 16th, we’ll be co-teaching my Yoga for Stiff Bodies class for a power-packed experience that will allow you to be introduced or reintroduced to this incredible teacher. As always, class will be 60 minutes and will be offered by donation.
I hope that your plans this weekend and early next week involve a little self care in the form of some yoga and Yoga Nidra. I hope to see you in class. Otherwise, please book a free no-pressure discovery call with me about the possibility of working together in the form of a mentorship.
Yoga and Small Business Mentor Programs
My mentor programs are organized systems that help you illuminate your unique gifts, who your ideal client is, and how to create an organic, massive, and positive impact on the world in a way that makes both you and your clients evolve into your highest potential.
I’ll share with you the exact system that I use every day, one that has helped me launch my career from being a struggling yoga and meditation teacher into a global presence in my field, making over 6 figures a year, and enjoying being non location dependent—fulfilling my dream to live in the South of France.
Let me show you step-by-step exactly how this system can work for you and your business.
These programs are organized, effective, and actionable. They are designed to give you the secrets and specific skills to harness your talents and build what I call your own Mechanism of Influence.
In a mentorship, you will:
Illuminate your special and unique gifts
Clarify who your ideal client is and the unique ways that you can help them
Plan, organize, and execute how to build or improve a clean, effective, and actionable website
Communicate regularly with your ideal client with a regular, high-value message in the form of newsletters, blogs, and social media
Offer products and services that helps your clients stretch and grow and helps you to get paid what you’re worth
Maintain a high-level, trusting relationship with your clients
Regularly review your business to remain relevant, fresh, inline with your and your clients highest values and needs
If this seems like a lot, know that with organization, everything is manageable and this system will be your step-by-step way of helping the world discover the gifts that you have to offer.
These programs offer:
Experienced Guidance
I’ll show you step-by-step my proven system that I use every day which has helped me break through career plateaus, enabled me to be non location dependent, and enabled me to make a great living doing what I love. I have shared with dozens of people who are also reaching new heights in their teaching and business.
Increased Revenue
This system focuses on illuminating and maximizing your gifts, helping you to offer them to the world in a way that both you and your clients grow in energy, money, and love.
Accountability and Support
I’ll be your accountability partner, a crucial element to helping you stay focused so you can accomplish your goals. When questions or problems arise, I’ll be right there to help you solve them and move forward. When you’ve completed your program you can join support sessions with other students to keep you learning and moving forward.
A focused Strategy
My system takes the guesswork out of what you need to do to make great leaps in your business and even gives you a schedule for what you can be doing to build your business every day.
Clarity and Direction
I help you to refine the purpose and direction of your business which helps you save time and energy by knowing exactly where to put your attention.
Mindset for Success
Your business is an extension of your thoughts and beliefs. That’s why I’ll help you stay in a growth and abundant mindset with encouragement, meditations, and helpful tools. These will help you to understand your growth potential, understand speed bumps for the lessons they are, all the while eliminating self-limiting beliefs.
Practical Tools
This program gives you loads of useful tools in the form of guides, supplementary videos, and templates that make easy work of seemingly difficult tasks.
What Is The Price Of Wearing The Mask?
Happy Halloween!
Regardless of whether or not you’re dressing up for Halloween, we all wear masks.
I’m not talking about Covid masks.
I’m talkin’ the happy mask.
The helpful mask.
The promise that I’m not really really really bugged by what you’re doing right now—I swear!— mask.
The other day, in a mentor session with my mentor student Danielle Washington (check out her stuff, she’s amazing!), we were exploring this theme of wearing masks and how to use this in a theme while creating a Yoga Nidra practice and a great question came up:
What is the price of wearing the mask?
Sure, some of those masks may be necessary sometimes.
But ever feel like you’d like to get to know that person under the mask a little better?
Ever feel like you just can’t be yourself?
Ever feel the need to just take the masks off and be exactly who you are, without filter, without the need for anyone’s approval?
Yoga and Yoga Nidra help us to first recognize the masks we are wearing, then to see that what we are is something infinitely larger and more complete than that mask. Once we understand our True Self, we can go back and choose to wear or not wear the mask.
Point is, that the mask is actually a pointer to what you really are.
I invite you to get in touch with your True Self, regardless of the masks you may or may not wear.
Please join me for yoga or Yoga Nidra this weekend where we will get a chance to connect with our True Self.
This month in my once-a-month Restore Yoga and Yoga Nidra workshop (2-hour rest-fest), we’ll be exploring masks and the cost of wearing masks.
We Are All Tied For First Place In The Human Race
There’s Something Going Around
I’m getting over a cold.
It’s been no fun.
But today, I want to talk about something else that’s going around and that is even more nasty and lugubrious than a cold. It’s uber-contagious and gross and it’s making a lot of us very, very sick.
I’m not talking about sniffles and coughs, but something that is far more pernicious, something that is clouding our minds and hearts.
It’s an election year and what’s running rampant is a scourge of fear, negativity, and division.
I see it in my friends, my neighbors, and community.
I feel it trying to creep into myself.
It’s strange how we so willingly pass along the virus of negativity and fear to each other.
But yoga and meditation can help.
My Precccioussss …
I know people, and so do you, whose health is truly suffering because of this political “news” binging. They are losing sleep, experiencing anxiety, looking at the world increasingly in fear and paranoia.
The reason that all this negativity is so pernicious, so vile, so harmful, is that in truth … there's a part of us that loves it.
Outwardly, we might vociferously complain about our supposed political enemy but, if we are really and truly honest with ourselves, we cherish that displeasure. We’re like Gollum from The Lord of the Rings who holds onto the malevolent ring of power, the object of his deepest desire that is simultaneously eclipsing his heart and poisoning his mind so completely that he is utterly unable to release it. It’s like evil Sauron has given us all a golden ring of political negativity that is slowly poisoning us all.
This negativity conjured by this political season is as addicting as any drug, because it is a drug.
There’s a part of us that gets a massive emotional reward from all of this negativity—a heroic dose of dopamine that keeps us glued to our screens and refreshing our social media feeds for more and more of it. We become veritable “news” junkies, addicted to this bitter poison, lost in the continuous “pleasure” of the pain, and deafened by the echo chamber of our fears and one-sided opinions.
Like a pusher on the corner, politicians and sensationalist media alike understand exactly how addicting all this negativity is and are purposefully serving us an overdose of this junk for the simple and sinister purpose of power and profit.
The Peace Chant
One antidote to this suffering is The Peace Chant Om Sahana Vavatu, an ancient chant which I love, one that has been a sacred guide along my own spiritual journey. One of my favorite translations of this chant has a few lines that are so poignant, so right on.
It says:
May we not cherish hatred, anger, and displeasure.
May our hearts be full of love and may perfect friendship reign between us.
This prayer beseeches us to draw near to the best and most honorable parts of our hearts and to turn away from our natural propensity for negativity. In not so many words, it’s admonishing us to “Just say no to the drug of hatred, anger, and displeasure.” It’s a reminder of our innate True nature, that of love, friendship, and inclusion.
“But I Saw It On The News!”
We have to be discerning about both where we get our news and how much exposure we will allow ourselves to it. Sensationalist news sources are no different than “reality TV” that feed us selected and curated sound bites or scenes of an event, information that’s been edited with an agenda and designed to feed us an emotion and a story, one that often puts us lightyears from the entire truth.
This political “reality forming,” this fear mongering, these sensationalist soundbites, are not about informing us. They are designed to tie us in knots while simultaneously un-tie us as a people.
So What News Should I Consume?
We must be discerning enough to inform ourselves as best we can about the facts without abusing ourselves with sensationalist media. In your heart you know the difference.
We must search for balanced sources for the news.
My father-in-law is a prof of journalism and gave me some very helpful recommendations for exploring balanced news sources. I encourage you to check these out in a blog post I wrote called The News Is Consuming You.
No matter what news source we listen to or watch, we must always think critically, avoid extremes, use common sense, and above all, remain connected to our hearts.
Then we must turn off the talking heads, close social media, roll out our yoga mat or go on a fucking walk, to clear your head and ground yourself in your breath and body.
“Perhaps / The truth depends on a walk
around a lake”
— Wallace Stevens, Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction
Draw Inward But Not In A Cave
Don’t get me wrong. What we should NOT do is hide in a cave, close our eyes to the world, and sit self righteously as we meditate in our own personal campaign of spiritual bypassing. On the contrary, I believe it’s a distinct privilege to be part of a democratic process and get to vote, to act to help make the world a better place.
But outward actions must be informed by our inward attention. Practices such as yoga, meditation, and Yoga Nidra are essential because they remind us of that part of us that is already whole, that is part of the Oneness, the part that is fundamentally tied to inclusion and compassion. Once we are “yoked” to our highest self, then we must go out into the world and respond compassionately to the needs of our world, doing the work that helps us all to unite in a spirit of friendship as together we build a brighter future.
Oh, and I might suggest meditating BEFORE looking at the news.
Compassionate responsiveness is anathema to fearful reactivity.
MLK, Gandhi, and Buddha Walk Into A Bar …
Nonviolence to others and ourselves is surely at the heart of our yoga practice, our practice as human beings, and another antidote to this nefarious negativity. The first observance of yoga is Ahimsa, or non-violence.
The world’s middle-weight champion of nonviolent social revolution, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. understood how essential nonviolence was to the lasting effect of social revolution. Many of his views on nonviolence came from studying the works and words of Mahatma Gandhi, the world's light-weight champion of nonviolence. Dr. King even traveled to India, in part as a pilgrimage to Gandhi's homeland. Ghandi understood very well the yogic texts along with their primary tenant of nonviolence as the genesis for revolution, both for individuals and peoples. Expounding on the principles of nonviolence taught by Gandhi, Dr. King said, “The nonviolent resister not only refuses to shoot his opponent but he also refuses to hate [them].” This malcontent, this hate for another person, people, or political affiliation is “the poison we ingest,” like the Buddha says—the world’s heavy-weight champion of nonviolence—“hoping that another will die.”
Violence Is Making Ourselves and Others Wrong
Violence is more than harming someone with force. It’s also violent to make someone else wrong or to vilify them. We don’t have to agree with other people’s opinions but, we must cultivate a clear enough vision not to also vilify them, to still see them as family. In truth, opposing opinions can be a marvelous illuminator for those things that are important to us, things which may have been dormant in our hearts until someone voiced a different opinion. Then, fueled with the fire of determination, we can practice compassionate responsiveness to act upon those desires.
What We Say Matters
I’m very proud to live in the shadow of the University that created something called The Dignity Index which scores speech with an eight-point scale, ranging from contempt to dignity. The creators assert that it’s not our disagreements that causes division between us, but rather the language we use to voice those disagreements. Their mission is to prevent violence, ease divisions, and solve problems. By drawing attention away from the speaker and more to their speech, they wish to negate the biases of partisan politics. They want to emphasize the power that each person has to heal our country and each by using dignified language.
My kid’s school district is even using the Dignity Index with a goal to teach our children how to use dignified language from a young age as well as to minimize things like bullying at school.
The Dignity Index recently scored the presidential and VP debates. You may or may not be surprised by the results.
No Matter What You Say …
And until we can all start to use language that promotes dignity, even within a disagreement, how might we respond when someone uses contemptuous language toward us?
The truth is, nobody can make you feel any particular emotion, regardless of whether or not it was intended to hurt you.
Sticks and stones, my friends. Sticks and stones.
Marshall Rosenberg, (author and founder of Nonviolent Communication, Ph. D. in clinical psychology and awarded Diplomate status in clinical psychology for his international work in personal, corporate, and international conflict resolution and peace talks) also teaches this essential yogic principle of nonviolence. He says that before we can practice nonviolence outwardly, we must first practice it inwardly by doing the work to eradicate negative self-talk and shame. This is yet another reason to practice yoga, meditation, and Yoga Nidra.
He says that in every circumstance, when we feel an emotion as the result of what someone did or said, it’s an invitation to lean into our heart, to understand what we feel, and to explore what needs that emotion expresses.
Here’s an example, “When _____ said ______, I felt [emotions: anger, sadness, fear, resentment, jealousy, disrespect, confusion , etc.]. I felt that emotion because it didn’t meet my need for [needs: justice, fairness, kindness, compassion, inclusion, listening, understanding, etc.].
Accepting personal responsibility for our emotions coupled with strong intrinsic practices of nonviolence (gentle yoga and meditation like loving kindness) help us to gain the vidya (clear seeing) that we are responsible for each of our emotions. Even more, that each emotion is a pointer to something else far greater than our emotions, something that is tied to the immutable and fundamental compassion of our being. While it often feels easier to blame someone else for our emotions, to truly be responsible for our own emotions is both humbling and immensely empowering.
With this consciousness toward nonviolence and taking responsibility for our own emotions, we are more capable to see that someone who pushes our buttons can actually be a gift, someone who illuminates what’s important for us and inspires us to compassionately respond to those important issues.
I DO Need To Have An Opinion About That
If you’ve been reading my writing for a while, you might be familiar with my beloved mantra, “I don’t need to have an opinion about that.” It’s truly been a game-changer. This mantra has helped me to recognize and release those things about which I truly don’t need to have an opinion—truly stupid stuff that truly doesn’t matter, like whether or not my dad listens to soft rock (two compound 4-letter words, deplorable doubled down).
Introspective practices like yoga and meditation also empower us to own our feelings and opinions, to see them as such. They teach us to listen to our hearts and discern between those things that truly matter and those that truly don’t.
“One only sees correctly with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eyes.”
—The Wise Fox in The Little Prince
By letting go of the stupid shit, that detritus that’s not worth the cognitive calories, by simply choosing not to engage with it, we save the energy and bandwidth necessary to go out and respond compassionately to the urgent needs of our world. And because our practices root us to the compassion that is fundamental to our being, when we do go out and act, we do so from a place of love, not from fear, or worse, hate.
Compassion Takes Courage
This kind of compassionate engagement with the world takes courage. The word courage comes from the latin root, cor, which means of the heart. We must stay connected to our hearts and courageously respond to the world’s needs.
We must be courageous, not just because it feels like the world is burning and we need to do something—it is and we do—but because the world’s problems are not going to be solved with another sign in the yard and another rant to our friends who only commiserate and confirm our complaining.
What Do We Do?
Voting is essential but isn’t enough. We must also walk across to the other side of the political street, knock on our neighbor’s door armed with warm hearts, warm cookies, and weapon-grade love. We must be willing to discuss the hard issues in between bites of chocolate chips and learn about our neighbor’s values, their hopes, and their fears.
We can learn to listen. Mark Nepo, poet, spiritual adviser, and author of The Book Of Awakening said,
“To listen is to lean in softly with the willingness to be changed by what you hear.”
We must practice seeing the human on the other side and see that at their core, they are not so very different from us.
We are all tied for first place in this human race.
We must refuse to be manipulated by sensational media who would encourage us as people to fight one another, like animals pit against each other in a cage for sport or profit.
By practicing yoga and meditation, compassionate action, balanced doses actual news, and a commitment to heart-centered discourse is what will change us from being the un-tied states of America to the United States of America.
(And if you’re dyslexic like me, you might have to read that last sentence like 4 times).
May we all learn to become united in the politik of the heart so that when this election is over, no matter who wins, we can look around at the aftermath and count our friends on both sides of the street.
To end, I’d like to offer the Peace Chant:
Om Saha Naav[au]-Avatu |
Saha Nau Bhunaktu |
Saha Viiryam Karavaavahai |
Tejas vi na vadhi tamastu
Ma vid ve sa va hai
Om shanti shanti shanti
Translation:
May the divine protect us while we are together
May all obstacles be removed which stand in the way of our understanding the truth that all is one and that there is no division or separation between us.
May we grasp this understanding with full comprehension and without doubt so that all misunderstanding will be dissolved within us.
May we not cherish hatred, anger, or displeasure
May our hearts be full of love and and may perfect friendship reign between us.
May the space around us be free of fear.
May the north and south, east and west be free of fear.
May the earth be free of fear
May the past and future be free of fear.
May we have no foes
May we all be friends.
And may the entire human race unite in one fearless friendship.
Om. Peace, peace, peace.
A Yoga Nidra Recording For You
I’ve made a Yoga Nidra recording that is designed to help you stay grounded during an election year as we practice compassionate inclusion.
Namaste,
Yoga Nidra and Archetypes: You're Every Card In The Deck
I love the subway.
I love that everyone gets to where they need to go sans car.
I love how you get to experience all parts of humanity on the subway: people sleeping on the subway, people breakdancing on the subway (like, seriously, breakdancing on the subway), people crying on the subway.
But perhaps what I love most about the subway in NYC is the poetry bombs.
When I lived in NYC, there I was, minding my own business, zipping uptown on the 1 train to teach a yoga class and I glanced over and saw this …
The Lovers
By Timothy Liu
I was always afraid
of the next card
the psychic would turn
over for us —
Forgive me
for not knowing
how we were
every card in the deck.
Boom.
Suddenly, I’m the guy who’s crying on the subway.
I love this poem because it reminds me that we all have a litany of different characters within us that make up our general character. Also, there are parts within us that sometimes express different kinds of wisdom in different kinds of ways, characters like the joker, the victim, the boss, the super hero, etc.
What are the different characters inside of you?
These separate parts are our internal archetypes and can be very helpful to understanding ourselves on a very important level.
For example, I had a profound experience once during a Yoga Nidra practice where I used the layered Awareness and systematic relaxation of the practice to source an archetype within me, the archetype of the Oracle or wise teacher. In this practice, a vivid visualization opened in my mind …
There I was sitting in a chair in the office of one of my favorite profs from college. He was leaning back in his chair thinking about something, rather, deciding how he was going to say what he wanted to say to me. As clearly as I’m hearing my fingers tap across my keyboard, in this vision, I could hear the squeaking of his chair as he leaned back, see the tawny grain in his desk between us. I watched as he scratched his beard. Then, looking at me sideways with a glint in his eye and a wry smile on his face, he broke the silence.
“You know … whatever you believe in, practice it every day.”
Boom!
Such a simple message with such profound implications.
I think about that message all the time. In fact, I have to remind myself that the image and message from my professor came from me, that it didn’t happen in real life. Regardless, the message is as valuable (or more) than if it had.
That’s an example of the power of leaning into an archetype. That wisdom existed inside of me and I needed to get relaxed and receptive enough to hear it.
Yoga Nidra can help do exactly this.
It helps us to relax into a conscious daydream state which is like a secret passageway to the roof of our ultimate consciousness. In this state, we can learn to see and appreciate all the intriguing and multifaceted parts of our being and learn what they have to say to our conscious mind.
Yoga Nidra facilitates conversations between our imperfect humanness and our perfect beingness so we can go back out into the world, zip across town on the 1 train, and see our life all as the miracle that it is.
Thanks 1 train and Timothy Liu for reminding me of this.
What a gift!
Now, I want to share with you another amazing thing that happened regarding archetypes. It happened yesterday, in fact.
It might involve you. …
So, I’m heading out of town this week to host my yoga retreat in the French Riviera. And normally, I teach a live online Yoga Nidra class on Sundays mornings but since I’m going to be busy doing yoga while overlooking the emerald green ocean of the French Riviera, a beret on my head and croissant in my mouth, I pre-recorded Yoga Nidra class.
In this pre-recorded but original class, I decided to explore archetypes. As always with my live online Yoga Nidra class, I start with a hello, I open to sacred space through grounding and breathing practices and lead us in chanting a mantra (you can join or listen. Hell, it’s on Zoom so who cares), then in this class I offer a bit of a teaching on archetypes and how they are accessible and useful in a Yoga Nidra practice.
And to add some flavor to the idea of using archetypes, I did something I’ve never done before. I grabbed a deck I own, 52 different cards featuring all different types of archetypes symbolized by an array of nature elements, people, and animals—very cool. I shuffled the deck and the spread them out.
But, before picking 5 cards, I infused them with spirit by breathing on them, clearing out any past energy (cuz I’m good like that) and held the intention and possibility of us ALL (including you) regardless of when you watch the class, to pull the precise cards we need in order to get a deeper message and clearer direction about ourselves individually and collectively.
Oh, the implications!
Now, believe me, I’m usually more than a little skeptical about this kind of thing but I shouldn’t be because, like every time I use this deck, the cards I pulled were nothing short of A–MAZING! The card choice was completely cosmic and worked PERFECTLY for our session. But I can’t tell you what they were cuz that would ruin the surprise.
I can’t wait for you to check this out.
So, in class, I read each card and discuss their meaning as suggested in the booklet the deck comes with but also to consider what wisdom each card may present outside of the suggested meaning.
Then I invite you to lie down and get relaxed as we enter into a long Yoga Nidra practice. After relaxing into a deep state of receptivity, I lead you through a vivid and detailed visualization that incorporates each of the cards in a way that gives you personal direction for your life.
It’s SO cool!
You could do this Yoga Nidra practice a thousand times get a different message each time it. That’s the power of Yoga Nidra and archetypes.
You gotta check it out!
Whatcha do is click the button, fill out the form to register for class (drop-in, pass, or membership), and you’ll get the class emailed to you around 9 am MT on Sunday, September 8.
The following week, I’ll be back from my Riviera romp and class will be live.
And if you want to share, I’d love to hear about what your archetypes said.
Please check this out and seriously consider becoming a monthly subscriber. As a subscriber, class is only $10 and if there are 5 sessions in a month you get the 5th one for free. Plus, you get access to literally HUNDREDS of previous Yoga Nidra class. Cancel anytime.
What are your archetypes telling you?
AI, French Beaches, and Stretches
TGIF!
(Thank Ganesha it’s Friday!)
I hope that the sun is shining on you today, that your heart is peaceful, and that you’re looking for ways to share your own light with the world.
The world needs your special kind of special.
You matter and we are lucky to have you on our team.
French Riviera Yoga Retreat: One Spot Left for You!
A little bird told me that you might be ready for a luxurious European adventure.
So, I’ve made arrangements to accommodate ONE MORE PERSON to join me in my French Riviera yoga retreat going down Sept. 7–13th.
You’ll be sharing a luxurious suite overlooking the sea in one of the most beautiful places in the world. We are going to practice all-levels yoga and meditation, eat decadent food, tour the Riviera coast, walk the cobblestone streets of medieval towns, and relax on some world-class beaches.
I just saw some flights to Nice for less than $800.
Our seaside villa while on the retreat
Seriously, jump on this. I want you there with us.
OR, if you are looking for some soul nourishment in the deep woods, there’s one more spot at my Nature + Writing + Yoga retreat I’m co hosting with Nan Seymour and Amy May, Aug 29–Sept. 2 at Harriman State Park, Idaho.
Enjoy 5 days, 4 nights at a pristine wildlife and bird refuge located just south of Yellowstone Park, on the banks of the Snake River, in the heart of the Henry’s Fork caldera. You can expect a morning meditation ritual, deep and soulful writing sessions, exquisite food, connection with self and others, and the copious bounties of the natural world. We plan to deeply connect with the earth and each other as we weave together an authentic and caring community. This year we will have more time than ever built in for connection to nature and contemplation, along with meaningful practice, strong community, and space for personal growth.
The BEST way to start your weekend is at my Yoga For Stiff Bods class. Join live in person or via Zoom. This gently dynamic class starts with a generous warm-up, move into some invigorating but approachable poses, then wrap up with some long, slow, deep stretches to help you feel like a million bucks all weekend. You’re done early enough to still make it to the Farmer’s Market or do whatever else your weekend is calling for.
7:30–8:30 am Available via Zoom (link below) or in person at Mosaic Yoga, 1991 South 1100 East, SLC, UT.
AI Workshop For Conscious Entrepreneurs
Finally, I’m so excited for my online workshop happening Sat. Aug. 17th 10 am to 1 pm via Zoom.
AI Alchemy: Amplify Your Gifts, Preserve Your Voice
Understanding how to use AI ethically and effectively is becoming essential for conscious entrepreneurs like us.
I'm excited to share with you what I've learned about how to harness the power of AI to share your message with the world and elevate your conscious business while maintaining your own human voice.
Here's what we'll dive into:
Prompt engineering: The art of 'talking' to AI effectively
Creating content that resonates with your audience (without losing your unique voice)
Ethical considerations: Using AI in alignment with your values
Practical applications: AI tools for yoga, meditation, and wellness businesses including coaching, therapists, energy workers, etc.
Balancing technology with mindfulness in your practice
Real-world examples of how AI can boost your income potential
This workshop is a MUST for the emerging technology of our time.
What you'll receive:
✓ Live, interactive 3-hour workshop via Zoom
✓ Replay access for unlimited reviewing
✓ Exclusive list of AI prompts designed for conscious entrepreneurs
✓ Step-by-step guide to effective prompt engineering. This is GOLD!
✓ Detailed PDF manual to guide you during and after the workshop
✓ Access to a community of like-minded conscious entrepreneurs
This workshop is about amplifying your unique gifts, not replacing them. Together, we'll explore how AI can be a powerful ally in reaching more people, creating more impact, and growing your business—all while keeping the heart and soul of your practice intact.
Spaces are limited to ensure personal attention.
Whether it’s joining a yoga class, retreat, or workshop, or just by being your own incredible self, I invite you to stretch into the person you are meant to be by practicing wellness, kindness, and inclusion as we explore that fascinating intersection of our humanness and our beingness.
Drop me a line. I’d love to hear from you.
Namaste,
You Don't Have To Be A Good Writer: How AI Helps You Write Content
How Can AI Help To Be A Good Writer
Unless this is your first time ever reading my blog, you know what I’m all about: the world NEEDS your message. How can AI help you be a good writer?
When I mentor others about how to share what they do with the world, I always hear the same things:
“But, I’m not a good writer!”
“What do saaaaaay?!”
“Does anybody want to hear what I have to say, anyway?!”
Yoga Business Mentor
In fact, these complaints are so common that a core focus of my 1:1 mentorship program is guiding students through a few crucial steps: first, clarifying their own identity; second, deeply understanding their ideal clients; and finally, crafting a message that resonates deeply with those clients' needs.
Then we work on products and services.
AI Can Make Writing Easy
But guess what? AI can help make this easy.
For starters, AI can help by generating perfect ideas that marry your rad skillset and unique voice to the very specific needs of your client. When you tell AI who you are and what your client needs are, it can generate seemingly limitless topics for newsletters, blog posts, and social media.
It can even suggest product ideas.
AI Helps You Be Organized
Plus, AI is superb at helping you stay mega organized with direction and outlines.
Now, I often write to “discover,” which is a slow and arduous process of throwing a bunch of stuff onto a page and rearranging, editing, and adding to it ad nauseam until what I REALLY want to say slowly, painstakingly, comes into view. It takes forever and involves a lot of swearing. During this process, often my wife, kid, and dog will hear me cursing from the other side of the house, “WRITING IS HAAAARD!”
But it doesn’t have to be, especially if you’re organized.
I’ve written 3 books (with 3 more in the works) and each of my published books only took me only less than 5 weeks to write … that is AFTER I had a solid outline. Once I had my outline tight these books practically wrote themselves.
I’ve learned to throw my brainstorming sessions into AI to organize it all beautifully. They are all my own ideas but organized in seconds, giving me more time to write, or apologize to my wife, kid, and dog for yelling obscenities through the house.
AI Helps Your Writing Be Clear and Professional
Another thing AI helps you do is edit your writing so it reads clear and professional.
For anyone who thinks that they are not a good writer—you know, those who don’t know or couldn’t care less about the difference between an Oxford comma and an Oxford shoe— consider this: you don’t need to be a good writer.
You only need to be yourself … and have a good editor. AI is that brilliant editor that will keep your voice so you can say what you want to say in a way that others can read it.
Sharing Your Message
Sharing your message with the world is a must. It’s not optional. It’s what you were put here to do.
If you’re a little hung up (or even curious) about sharing your message with the world, please join my AI Alchemy workshop happening THIS Saturday, Aug. 17th from 10 am to 1 pm MT via Zoom, where we will explore how the incredible tool of AI can help you ethically and responsibly share your message with the world while also keeping your authentic voice.
People are waiting to pick up what you’re puttin’ down.
Will you join me?
PS
If the timing doesn’t work for you or you live in Antarctica or in a cave somewhere, don’t worry. It’s hosted and recorded via Zoom so you can watch live and/or the replay.
Just come.
K. See you there.
Conscious Business AI: Mindful Technology
Come and discover the transformative power of AI for your conscious business. I’m hosting what I feel is a groundbreaking online workshop that will be both fun and exciting, not to mention very helpful to get your skills out into the world.
Read moreWhy Is This The Best Online Yoga Nidra Teacher Training
I’m absolutely passionate about Yoga Nidra! Seriously. I’ve taught and practiced literally THOUSANDS of hours of classes, privates sessions and Yoga Nidra Teacher Trainings. This is why I created what I feel is the best online Yoga Nidra teacher training program out there. I understand the power and importance of Yoga Nidra and becoming an extraordinary and effective Yoga Nidra teacher to truly make lasting transformation for your clients and students so I created what I feel is the best online Yoga Nidra teacher training out there.
Read moreHelp Us. Help Us.
May we all celebrate every new day we get to live on this beautiful and complicated earth. And like Ram Das says, may we all help each other by taking each other by the hand as we walk each other home.
Help us [to] help us.
Read moreLive Yoga Nidra Training: What Do You Love?
Everybody’s got their thing.
Julia loved to cook.
Picasso loved to paint
source: https://blog.zoneswimwear.com/post/houdinis-water-torture-cell-explained
Houdini loved to submerge himself in water upside down, locked by his ankles with padlocks to see if he could get out alive.
Whatever.
We all gotta lean into whatever we love, right.
Me? I love teaching Yoga Nidra. I feel I was BORN for it, you know?
I love helping people not only find massive benefits in their life through practicing better rest, better sleep, and managing stress, but also with other important things. Things like aligning personal and global perspectives, about sourcing a sea of creativity within, and relaxing deep enough to finally turn off the chatter in the incessant hamster wheel of the mind. With Yoga Nidra a person can tap the part of themselves that already knows the solution to life’s biggest and smallest problems and allows those solutions to rise to the surface.
I love that you don’t need any prior experience of yoga or meditation to do Yoga Nidra and that a person can get massive benefits even from their first session. I love that it offers even the newest of practitioners—often people who roll into class in cuz their wife told them that unless they learn to chill the $%^& out they would need to find a new place to call home—an easy way to experience effortless and lasting rest.
And when you’ve spent as much time as I have practicing, teaching, thinking and writing about Yoga Nidra, the topic gets really expansive. So I love exploring the nitty-gritty of not only what Yoga Nidra is—its history, its method, its purpose—but alo why it works, the neuroscience and psychology of it.
For me, I love to connect the dots between Yoga Nidra and myths, storytelling, poetry, and my own personal life stories—YOUR life stories—to see how it’s such a powerful and available pointer that reminds us of who we truly are and how we are all truly connected.
Who knew you could get all of this from a guided nap?
In addition to teaching Yoga Nidra I also love, love, LOVE teaching OTHERS how to teach Yoga Nidra. I think what I love most about it is training other people how to facilitate massive and positive benefits in the lives of the people who are in their particular niche, those they encounter regularly whether they are clients, students, family, or members of a particular community. I love teaching about how Yoga Nidra is more than just guided meditation, more than another guided visualization. So much more. It’s more than checking out and dreaming yourself into bliss. It’s also a pathway to awakening to the truth of who you are. That’s why I call my method, Waking Up with the Yoga of Sleep.
What do you love to do?
Do you love to make a difference in people’s lives?
Maybe you’re a teacher, a therapist, a coach.
Maybe you teach yoga or meditation.
Maybe you’re a school teacher.
Could Yoga Nidra be one of the tools you use regularly to help you do whatever you love to do? Could it help you stand out in your field? Could it help those you’re in contact with every day?
This weekend begins my next live Yoga Nidra training where together we will dive deep into the art and science of Yoga Nidra and explore how it can help you to facilitate positive transformation for your clients, students, family, and especially for yourself.
What is the particular niche of people you hang with regularly, whether through your job, history or situation in life? Could they benefit from Yoga Nidra offered in only the way that you can offer it?
So, whether you’re connecting with others through coq au vin, cubism, or conjuring an escape, Yoga Nidra can help you help others in massive ways.
Now’s the time for you to learn to teach Yoga Nidra for yourself and for others.
Check out the details below.
Live and In-Person
and via Zoom
Salt Lake City, Utah
An in-depth Yoga Nidra training
for teachers, coaches, and therapists
interested in facilitating powerful transformation
for self and others.
May 11th & 12; 18th & 19th
Yoga Nidra and Small Kindnesses
Today, I am excited to tell you about my next live Yoga Nidra teacher training, Restore Yoga workshop, as well as offer you this incredible poem …
I heard Helena Bonham Carter read this poem and it stopped me in my tracks. Granted, she could read the IRS filing instructions and it would sound inspiring and poetic.
Small Kindnesses
By Danusha Lameris
I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk
down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs
to let you by. Or how strangers still say “bless you”
when someone sneezes, a leftover
from the Bubonic plague. “Don’t die,” we are saying.
And sometimes, when you spill lemons
from your grocery bag, someone else will help you
pick them up. Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other. We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot,
and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile
at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress
to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder, and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass.
We have so little of each other, now. So far
from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange.
What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these
fleeting temples we make together when we say, “Here,
have my seat,” “Go ahead—you first,” “I like your hat.”
I love the notion of “these fleeting temples we make together” the container of love made by a simple gesture, a kind word, a smile.
To me, this poem epitomizes that fascinating intersection I like to play at and study, that crossroads between our humanness and our beingness. Here, we can celebrate the messiness of being human, knowing that behind the hot mess that is being human, there is a foundation of goodness, and compassion.
We are Source and Source is love.
I love practicing our ability to compassionately respond to life’s ups and downs instead of reacting to them. Practicing this essential skill through Yoga Nidra is like learning to become a ninja of life, except of course that instead of mastering nunchucks and throwing stars, you get to lie down and practice napping your way to enlightenment while drifting on clouds of bliss. When you get done, you get to go back out into the world and show up as your best, most responsive self.
To help us all practice this essential life skill, I invite you to join me for my Restore Yoga and Yoga Nidra workshop and my live, in-person and online Yoga Nidra training.
Live Yoga Nidra Teacher Training:
May 11–12; 18–19, Salt Lake City and via Zoom
Yoga Nidra is far more than guided visualization—it's a profound pathway to personal transformation and even spiritual awakening. In this comprehensive 30-hour training, you'll become an expert in harnessing the life-changing potential of Yoga Nidra. I’ll guide you to gain a mastery of this ancient practice. You’ll emerge with the skills to guide your students into deep states of conscious relaxation, facilitating lasting shifts in their physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Whether you're a yoga teacher, coach, or therapist, adding Yoga Nidra to your repertoire will allow you to profoundly impact the lives of those you serve.
Stand Apart as a Truly Transformative Teacher: Facilitating Transformation with the Yoga of Sleep
In today's crowded wellness landscape, becoming a Yoga Nidra expert is your key to standing out. This training goes far beyond teaching you rote scripts—you'll learn the overarching principles and roadmaps that allow you to teach from the wisdom of your authentic voice. Gain the ability to dynamically craft experiences tailored to your students' unique needs. People are yearning for the powerful transformation only you can provide through the ancient art of Yoga Nidra. Seize this opportunity to become a master guide on the journey of self-discovery and radical growth.
Restore Yoga and Yoga Nidra Workshop:
Sunday, May 5th 12–2 pm at Be-ing Community
Normally this is held at Mosaic Yoga but there is an event at Mosaic on the 1st Sunday of May. So, on May 5th I’ll be hosting this workshop at a different venue:
Be-ing Community 355 N 300 W. Salt Lake City, Utah 84111
$39.
In this class we will dip into the timeless with resting poses, poetry, and a decadent Yoga Nidra practice. This 2-hour class will incorporate supported and resting postures using yoga props (provided if you don’t have them). I try to use minimal words to allow for a generous and open spaciousness. You can also expect poetry and music to help connect your soul with timeless presence.
Also available via Zoom. Please email me in advance to tell me you’ll be Zooming in.
May we all bend over to pick up the lemons that spill out of a stranger’s grocery bag.
May we all learn to access our highest good by exploring the depth that exists in the dance between our humanness and our beingness.
And may it begin with a simple gesture of kindness, a word like … YES!
The Truth And The Magic
Here, Einstein, the epitome and icon of intelligence, reminds us that if we want to solve problems—any problem: personal, social, or global—it's essential to change our fundamental level of consciousness.
Read moreSo Bad, They're Good!
Yoga Nidra: Accessibility
Yoga Nidra is a fascinating and transformative practice that can help you with sleep, rest better and deeper, and can even help manage or heal emotional, mental, or spiritual problems. In my Yoga Nidra teacher training I encourage people to make this practice accessible and for some that might mean calling it something different. Maybe the name “Yoga Nidra” would turn off someone who could potentially be interested in the practice.
Here, I share an idea of my encounters with this issue and I’ve come up with some alternate names, many are so bad that they’re good.
I meet a lot of people thanks to my dog.
Australian Cobberdogs are absurdly social creatures and so when I’m with my dog and we are walking the neighborhood or running trails or throwing the ball at the dog park and my dog finds someone he simply cannot pass by (everyone) without greeting, with loving, without pouring his doggie heart to, when he is literally shaking and crying at the feet of his current victim of affection, the person who he has forcefully pulled into his presence with the tractor beams of his puppy love emanating from his big brown uber-cute eyes, as he is quivering with unfettered delight as his most recent best friend is scratching his ears scratched, of course, the humans gotta start to talk. I mean you can only coo over a dog for so long.
So as the conversation starts, inevitably, I see it coming. Sooner or later I know I’m going to get hit with the question.
You know the question.
It’s the default question we all ask, almost unconsciously, when we are trying to get to know someone. We are trying to understand who this person is. We are trying to politely size them up. When we are trying to somehow mentally wrap them up in a bow and place somewhere on a familiar shelf in our mind.
The question: What do you do?
We ask because subconsciously we want to know whether we can trust this person. We are curious whether this new person we’ve just met is a doctor, a doorman, a student, a stunt double, a stay-at-home parent or a stay-away-from-me bodyguard. I don’t know, maybe they are an accountant. But regardless, we all are curious to know, right?
We ask what a person does because that kind of implies their financial and social status— and we like to size people up like that. Gross.
Personally, I feel a far better question is to ask a person what they LIKE to do. This opens the door for a much more interesting conversation.
Fortunately for me, I can give the same answer whether I’m asked what I do (for a living) or what I like to do.
But here’s the problem …
It’s kind of hard to tell people what I do. What I REALLY do I fear they don’t get it, won’t understand.
I tell people, “I’m an author, teacher, and mentor around the subjects of yoga, mindfulness, and wellness.”
“Oh.”
“… Cool ….”
I see the gears whizzing away in their heads as they stand there and try to figure me out. I see them looking for the crystals hanging around my neck. I see them start sniffing for the not-so-faint scent of patchouli. I see them scanning my body to see what a career of practicing yoga has done to my form.
If they press on with more questions, I’ll get a little more specific. I’ll tell them that while I teach a lot of forms of yoga I’m an expert teacher and trainer in a relaxing form of yoga called Yoga Nidra.
Yoga Ninja?!
“What? Yoga Ninja?! Like martial arts?”
“Oh.”
“… Cool ….”
“No, it’s Yoga Nidra. Nidra means something like sleep in Sanskrit, or better said, that interesting place between sleeping and consciousness. Yoga Nidra feels like a guided meditation and is the practice of using systematic relaxation and layered awareness to deeply rest the body. It’s super effective at nourishing the body, the nervous system, and can also calibrate a person’s entire personal and global perspective on life. I call my Yoga Nidra program Waking Up with the Yoga of Sleep because through guided rest practices, a person can wake up from the illusions of limitation and wake up to the truth to their true potential as they celebrate the intersection between their human-ness and their being-ness.”
Then I take a deep breath.
“Oh.”
“… Cool ….”
Often it’s at about this point, I realize that I’ve gone too far. They start looking at their watch and start addressing my dog, telling him that despite his plaintive whimpers and uber-cute eyes, they MUST get going, that they have a meeting happening soon.
A Rose Buy Any Other Name
In truth, I think I lose people at the name.
Yoga Nidra may be what it’s called but when people hear the word yoga, they think stretchy pants and impossible poses and what in the hell is Nidra, anyway?
I think I might be better off calling Yoga Nidra something different. You know, to help people realize that what happens in these sessions is approachable, enjoyable, yet very necessary.
In my Yoga Nidra teacher training program, I teach the value of making the practice accessible. If the name Yoga Nidra would turn someone off and potentially preclude them from experiencing the benefits of this life-changing practice, then perhaps you’d be better off calling it something different.
After all, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
So I’ve been brainstorming some names that I could call this practice and I’d love to get your feedback.
Here goes … (not all of these are winners and some of them are so bad that they are good.
Rested Development
Snooze Fest
The Chill Pill
Relax Shack
Rest and Roll
Restafarian (so bad it’s good)
Relaxed Witnessing
Being Chill
Relax, already.
True Rest
Rest Teacher
Rest Method
Rested Soul
The Rest Guy
Right Rest
Awakened Sleep
Rest Ninja
The Rest Fest
Right Rest
Rest Right
Best Rest
Anyway, those are a few ideas that came off the top of my head.
What are your ideas? If you’re familiar with Yoga Nidra, how would you describe it? Do you have any killer names that would make someone be just a little curious about this practice?
Please reach out, I’d love to hear from you.
Art Doesn't Happen In A Vacuum: The Context of A Love Supreme
A Love Supreme: What Was Going On In 1964–5?
Art doesn’t happen in a vacuum.
It’s the product of the events that preceded it.
And in some cases art can even forecast the future, or at very least guide us into the future with wisdom and hope.
I think with a lot of art that seems so immortal, so timeless, art that can withstand the test of time, it’s easy to think that it just somehow arose out of the ether one day and will forever live untouched by the events surrounding its inception.
I mean, think about Picasso’s masterpiece Guernica. Though we may think of it now as timeless, it’s rooted as a statement against war after the bombing of the city of Guernica in the Basque country in 1937.
The inimitable novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo was written in 1862 and inspired by the political and social unrest during the 1832 June Rebellion in Paris, a specific time and place. In its preface Hugo portends its importance: “… so long as ignorance and misery remain on earth, books like this cannot be useless.”
Another example of art holding a cultural context is one of my favorite punk rock albums of all times, London Calling by the Clash, recorded in December of 1979. Do you know this album? LOVE IT! Throughout the album you can hear references to the nuclear age as well as rising unemployment, racial conflict, and drug use, especially in Great Britain.The concepts and lyrics are all completely historical, political, and social.
Though Picasso, Les Misérable, and Punk Rock all seem to have a particular context, their art continues to speak to our souls today.
Today, I’m thinking about the enduring art of John Coltrane’s album, A Love Supreme which is also rooted with a fascinating cultural context. I’m fascinated by this iconic, spiritual, and deeply moving piece of sonic art and I want to share it with you at a bright, open venue with the space and time to truly experience this immortal album in a way that I believe it was meant to be heard.
Better than at a nightclub, I believe this album is best suited to be absorbed at yoga and meditation studio. After all, this album is more like a meditation than a traditional jazz album. So, let’s meditate together to the spiritual sounds of A Love Supreme. And if you don’t live near Salt Lake City, you can Zoom in and catch it that way.
Changing Times
A Love Supreme was recorded in late 1964 and hit the record stores and airwaves in early 1965. And like I said, this album—this musical meditation, this masterpiece—didn’t happen in a vacuum. It’s fascinating to consider the events that were happening in America and around the world at this time because it gives a greater context understanding for the music and message of this album.
Were you around in 1964–1965? What do you remember about the events of that era?
I recently learned some cool perspectives around what was going down at the time that John Coltrane recorded A Love Supreme. Starting last week, I’ve started conducting in-person and Zoom interviews with clients and students to better learn about what I can do to better serve my students’ needs and so last week I met at a coffee shop with Bob and Cindy, friends and students who were both around 1964–1965, and by chance, not knowing that I was studying this era as it relates to A Love Supreme, they told me about what it was like to be a teenager/young adult at this time.
Bob, from New Jersey, told me that he graduated high school in 1965 and noticed a massive cultural shift in the summer of 1965. From his perspective, early in the year, when he graduated high school everyone had short hair and nobody smoked weed. People around him seem to live an Ozzie and Harriet lifestyle. But by the end of 65 he said that things changed drastically. What seemed like overnight, all the guys had long hair and smoking weed was suddenly a thing. With rock and roll firmly underway and Vietnam raging, the younger generation were definitely starting to think outside of the box. He also said that the parents of the younger generation had zero context nor preparation to cope with much less understand the massive shift in attitude of their kids.
In the same year that John Coltrane created and recorded A Love Supreme, Bob Dylan released his album named for its title track, “The Times They Are a-Changin’.” And whether it’s Dylan or Coltrane, analyzing the events of the day, it’s obvious that nothing could have been more of an understatement.
Crossing the Threshold
1964–65 marks a big threshold for the US and the world socially, artistically, and politically.
A Love Supreme is a compassionate and enduring response to a massive change that was happening both personally in John Coltrane’s soul as well as throughout myriad domains in the world. In moments of huge change like this I think it would be easy for an artist or writer to be cynical, foreboding, or negative about the changes they are noticing. But recognizing the monumental shifts that are happening in the world, shifts that will change the world forever, John Coltrane instead chooses to help usher us over the threshold to a new era by laying bare his heart and exposing his deeply personal spiritual conviction, the result of his spiritual awakening, by reminding us that no matter what, we are all being carried over this threshold by a Love Supreme. Afterall, Coltrane made a deal with God: If he could kick heroin and booze, he would devote his life to sharing love and making people happy by the power of his music.
In a nutshell, this is what A Love Supreme is all about.
Context
One way to gain a deeper insight, context, and appreciation for this important masterpiece of music is by understanding what was happening at the time that it was born. Have you ever researched the newspaper archives and read the current events on the day you were born? It’s a trip, right? Well how about we explore what was going on around the time that A Love Supreme was born.
To take a snapshot of 1964–5 when this album was recorded and released, I’ve made a list of notable events and lumped them into very general categories, Social/Political, Art And Culture, and Other. They aren’t necessary in either chronological order or in order of importance.
Check this out …
Social/Political
July 2, Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights act, abolishing racial segregation in the United States
February 3, Black and Puerto Rican groups in New York City boycott public schools. Protesting against school racial segregation.
February 4, the United States authorizes the Twenty-fourth Amendment, outlawing the poll tax. Payment of a poll tax was a prerequisite to the restoration for voting in a number of states and existed as part of the Jim Crow Laws. Until the 24th amendment, the poll tax prohibited people, especially black people and minorities, from voting.
April 20, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Moscow, simultaneously announce plans to reduce production of materials for making nuclear weapons.
Vietnam:
Estimates between 400–1,000 students march through Times Square, New York and another 700 in San Francisco, in the first major student demonstration against the Vietnam War. Other marches also occur in Boston, Seattle, and Madison, Wisconsin.
May 12, 12 young men in New York publicly burn their draft cards as an act of resistance to the Vietnam War.[17][18]
July 8, U.S. military personnel announce that U.S. casualties in Vietnam have risen to 1,387, including 399 dead and 17 MIA.
Six days of race riots begin in Harlem, New York, United States, prompted by the shooting of a teenager.
December 11, Che Guevara addresses the United Nations General Assembly; a bazooka attack is launched at the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York City.
December 14, Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States (379 US 241 1964): The U.S. Supreme Court rules that, in accordance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, establishments providing public accommodations must refrain from racial discrimination.
October 14, Martin Luther King Jr., becomes the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded to him for leading non-violent resistance to end racial prejudice in the United States.
Arts and Culture
The musical Hello, Dolly! opens in New York City's St. James Theatre.[4]
Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. in the United States.[5]
Plans to build the World Trade Center in New York City are announced.
The Beatles commence their “British Invasion”:
February 1, The Beatles vault to the #1 spot on the U.S. singles charts for the first time, with "I Want to Hold Your Hand".
April 4, The Beatles hold the top 5 positions in the Billboard Top 40 singles in the United States, an unprecedented achievement. The top songs in America as listed in order, are: "Can't Buy Me Love", "Twist and Shout", "She Loves You", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", and "Please Please Me".
April 13, The 36th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Jack Lemmon, is held at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Tony Richardson's Tom Jones is tied with Joseph L. Mankiewicz's Cleopatra for the most award wins with four, winning Best Picture and Best Director for Richardson. The film receives the most nominations with ten. Sidney Poitier also becomes the first black actor to win the award for Best Actor.
San Francisco Giants make champion outfielder Willie Mays the highest-paid player in baseball when they sign him to a new $105,000 per season contract.
September 26, The sitcom Gilligan's Island, starring Bob Denver as Gilligan premieres on CBS.
October Dr. Robert Moog demonstrates his prototype synthesizers.[27]
December 11, Sam Cooke, African American singer-songwriter, is shot and killed at a motel in Los Angeles, California.
October 21, The film version of My Fair Lady premieres in New York City starring Audrey Hepburn. The film will win seven other Oscars, including Best Picture, but Hepburn will not be nominated.
December 6, The 1-hour stop-motion animated special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, based on the popular Christmas song, is broadcast for the first time on NBC.
Other
United States Surgeon General Luther Leonidas Terry reports that smoking may be hazardous to one's health, the first such statement from the U.S. government.
September 12, Canyonlands National Park is established.
September 27, The Warren Commission Report, the first official investigation of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, is published.[23]
October 15 Craig Breedlove's jet-powered car Spirit of America goes out of control on Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah and makes skid marks 5.97 miles (9.61 km) long.
October 29, A collection of irreplaceable gemstones, including the 565 carats (113.0 g) Star of India, is stolen from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
Births
Michelle Obama
Sarah Palin
Jeff Bezos
Nicolas Cage
Tracy Chapman
Crispin Glover
Stephen Colbert
Tom Morello (from Rage Against The Machine)
Wynonna Judd
Courtney Love (married Curt Cobain, Hole)
Chris Cornell (of Soundgarden)
So zooming in to look at the events that occur right as John Coltrane records A Love Supreme, he goes into the studio and records it with his iconic quartet on December 9th. On December 10 Martin Luther King Jr. is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. On December 11th iconic soul singer Sam Cooke is shot and killed. By January of 1965 A Love Supreme is released to the public. In February of 1965, Malcolm X is killed.
John Coltrane dies July 17th 1967.
Were you around in 64-65? What was your experience like during that time?
Understanding the personal, social, and cultural context in which A Love Supreme was created helps us have a deeper connection and understanding to this music yet as a timeless piece of art, it remains as important a voice today, one that continues to shape our individual soul as well as the soul of our world.
Please come and experience this divine piece of music for yourself at my John Coltrane and A Love Supreme yoga and meditation experience and see what this music says to you today.
This experience will be perfect for both those who are either new or already familiar with yoga, meditation, and jazz. If you're familiar with yoga, meditation, John Coltrane, A Love Supreme, or jazz in general, come to experience it in a way that you likely never have before. If you’re new to any or all of it and are curious this will be a really cool introduction to all of it.
At this event, we’ll do some gentle movement then we will meditate while listening to the album. We’ll discuss, process, and integrate its feeling and message.
Plus, I will play some live music on my sax along with one or two other musicians.
You don’t want to miss this!
A Love Supreme
Your One Message
If you could say ONE thing to the entire world, what would it be?
Well, John Coltrane's big something to the world was clear and direct: "All praise to God, who is a Love Supreme."
Today, I want to explore the relationship between John Coltrane, Eastern thought, yoga and meditation the the lens of A Love Supreme. I want to explore why Coltrane's big something is so important in general, but more personally, why it's so vital to me.
I also want to invite you to join me for a very unique and special listening experience, one that I'm confident JC himself would approve of.
Influencer
Photo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Coltrane
To begin, John Coltrane was a straight-up genius. He was one of, if not THE greatest saxophone players in jazz, as well as a bandleader and composer. He was a thinker, an intellectual, even mystical. Everybody from Bono to Radiohead, to...well, everyone, when asked about their primary inspirations in music, will usually put John Coltrane on their short list.
Why? What makes him such an important and influential musician, one we still talk about today, almost 60 years after his death?
As one of the most iconic and important figures in contemporary music, not just jazz, his music stretches the boundaries of harmonics, improvisation, and composition. But all these years later, his music continues to transcend musical genres and cultural boundaries.
John Coltrane's chops were absolutely mind-blowing, but more than just flaunting his virtuosity on the sax, what makes his music so impactful, even to this day, is the fact that he wrote and played to be deeply felt. His music is nothing if not spiritual and connective. He intended for his music to be heard not only with ears but also with the heart and entire being. I think this is because his spirituality was the center of his life.
Spirit
After all, spirituality was in his blood. Literally, both of his grandfathers were ordained ministers of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. Yet, despite his upbringing in formalized religion, even from a very young age, he was and remained throughout his life constantly curious and searching. He did not adhere to any one religion. Rather, Coltrane openly embraced all religions who, he felt, at their core, shared an essential message of love.
He was constantly reading books about religions and spirituality and was no stranger to yoga and eastern thought. In fact, trombonist Curtis Fuller recalls the time he saw John Coltrane reading the Bhagavad Gita, then JC handed him the book "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramahansa Yogananda and told him to check it out. That was out there for jazz musicians.
The Spirit of Music
For Coltrane, music was not a deviation or distraction from the divine. In fact, he believed that the role of a musician was, at its essence, spiritual, akin to that of a prophet, someone who is given the gift of music for the sacred purpose of touching hearts and sharing a message of divine love through the medium of sound.
In 1957, after hitting rock bottom (read: Fired from Miles Davis' band for being addicted to drugs and alcohol—he even went off heroin cold turkey), John Coltrane had a spiritual awakening, which was the catalyst that drove him to create what is largely known as the most spiritual recording in jazz—what I believe to be his masterpiece—the album, A Love Supreme.
He recorded this album at the height of his famous quartet's powers. John Coltrane and his bandmates had developed such a connection and such harmony between their individual souls that they had created a united soul. This album is truly witnessing that unified soul singing to the divine. It's a musical miracle unfolding in real-time.
For me, listening to this album, it is difficult, if not impossible, not to feel a connection to the divine. I can't listen to this album as background music. It's too engaging. In fact, most of Coltrane's music is like this for me, but especially A Love Supreme. And even if you don't consider yourself very spiritual, at least listening to A Love Supreme, I think all can agree, is the sound of someone communing with the divine.
Mind, Heart, and Horn Blown
Get this: Unlike any of the other 25 albums he created as a bandleader (25 in only 10 years, mind you), John Coltrane insisted on crafting every part of A Love Supreme down to the most minute detail. He even wrote the liner notes, a heartfelt message to the listener—to us.
In complete humility and sincerity, he writes, "During the year 1957, I experienced, by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life. At that time, in gratitude, I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through music. I feel this has been granted through His grace... At this time, I would like to tell you that NO MATTER WHAT... IT IS WITH GOD. HE IS GRACIOUS AND MERCIFUL. HIS WAY IS IN LOVE, THROUGH WHICH WE ALL ARE. IT IS TRULY—A LOVE SUPREME."
I get chills reading this. I mean, here's John Coltrane at his lowest point. He knows he's got gobs of talent and opportunities, but he is blowing it on booze and drugs. And as he's staring into the teeth of withdrawal, he literally sees the face of God and basically says, "Look, I don't want drugs and booze. What I really want in this life is simply to share my gifts to make people happy." And God is like, "Let this moment bring you to the light, John. Go. Blow your horn."
Boom!
For John Coltrane, the effect of this awakening obliterates both any doubt about his purpose for being on the planet as well as the goodness of God, who is, well, A Love Supreme.
The suite starts with the ringing of a gong, and I translate that as the moment John Coltrane gets his heart and mind blown from this awakening of eternal love.
What also touches me to the core about his message to us in the liner notes is how, in jazz, a world that epitomizes being too-cool-for-school, here he is, the KING of jazz, taking a right turn from hip and steering headlong into raw, vulnerable, and sincere.
It's so John Coltrane.
Venue
While most people associate jazz with smoky nightclubs, booze, and goateed hipsters, it is completely in line with the ethos of John Coltrane to transcend convention and experience his music in alternative settings. An invitation to get out of the nightclub could not be more clear than with A Love Supreme. And while I can attest that a smoky nightclub can be the perfect sanctuary for deeply spiritual experiences, especially when jazz is cutting the air, I would argue that a meditation hall or yoga studio could be an even more conducive venue to absorb the message and spirit of A Love Supreme.
Plus, unlike most other jazz albums, this album is meant to be listened to from start to finish. There's not a wasted or unintentional note on the album. With such pure heart and emotion seeded into this music, it warrants an open and beautiful space with uncluttered time to offer it a deep listen and truly absorb the spirit exuding from it.
My Own Love Supreme
If you'll allow me to be vulnerable for a bit, I've also had an awakened moment where my own Love Supreme blew open my heart and mind. And without going into all the details, what I can tell you is that at that moment, I realized that I really have only one message: Love is EVERYTHING.
I believe it's all of our greatest work on this planet to share love with the world in the form of our gifts. I believe that ANY way in which we love the world benefits the world.
As for me, I love the sax, I love John Coltrane's music, I love, love, love teaching yoga and meditation. So as a way of sharing my love with the world, I want to share all of these things with you at a special listening and meditation experience. This will be an opportunity to have the time and space to do a deep listen and meditate to the most spiritual piece of music in jazz. We'll read John Coltrane's words to us from the liner notes. This experience will also allow us to stretch and move our bodies a bit, as well as integrate, discuss, and journal about our experience.
Photo of Yours Truly by Josh Terry
Plus, you may have heard me play the clarinet in class, but not this time. This time, I'll be blowing spirit through my sax.
This will be better than any sermon in church!
So please mark your calendar for the following:
A Love Supreme: A Listening, Meditation, and Yoga Experience Set to the Most Spiritual Recording in Jazz.
When: Sunday, April 7th, from 2–4 pm MDT
Where: Live, in person at Mosaic Yoga, 1991 South 1100 East, SLC, UT 84106. Available via Zoom as well.
How much: Suggested donation is $25–$50... or jazz vinyls.
How to register: Space is limited, so you'll need to register in advance, which you can do here.
So yeah, this listening experience is going to be quite different from how most people might listen to A Love Supreme, but it'll be so John Coltrane. I'm confident that he'd dig it.
There's so much about A Love Supreme that I want to share with you, about its message, history, and impact, that I'll be sending some other messages about this soon, so stay tuned.
Tobar Phádraig: St. Patrick's Well
St. Patrick’s Holy Well or Tobar Phádraig is a sacred site tucked away in the Maumturk mountains in the Connemara region of Galway, Ireland. Tobar Phádraig is an active pilgrimage site to this day and dates back to the fifth century and beyond.
Read moreLament Over Daylight Saving Time
Today I want to discuss some of the benefits of Yoga Nidra, how rest and napping help rejuvenate you, and how crazy Daylight Saving Time is.
It’s Daylight Saving Time.
You know what’s weird? Time.
Yes, time.
What’s also weird is that a helpful student chimed in to let me know that it’s not “Daylight Savings Time” but rather Daylight Saving (no s) Time. Good to know. Thanks!
Today is one of the worst “time events” that happens twice a year.
That’s right. Today the U.S. switches to Daylight Saving Time. Well, everyone but Arizona and Hawaii. It’s nice to know that some states have kept their sanity.
Why Daylight Saving Time?!
Every organism on this planet has some sort of a rhythm and sleep cycle that is dependent upon the circadian rhythm, the natural rhythm of the daylight hours as dictated by the seasons. This rhythm directs cycles from when to sleep, when to eat, when to migrate, etc. It makes sense.
What doesn’t make sense to me is the fact that as humans we are advanced enough to send Gobots to Mars 203 MILLION miles away and have them send pics back to us in real time as it rolls around collecting specimens and amusing itself yet we don’t have the smarts to keep to the natural rhythm that all organisms on this planet have been following since, oh, the beginning of life on this planet. Instead humans create a rhythm of life based not on the seasons or the natural impulses of our bodies, impulses that have been ingrained into our very DNA, but rather an artificial rhythm set to a clock that is designed to make us more productive and earn more money.
If that were not bad enough, then every 6 months we have to mess it up with adding or taking away Daylight Saving Time.
I don’t need to have an opinion about it … but apparently I do.
Putting Daylight Saving To Rest
Luckily I’m not alone here. Thankfully some really smart people like Kenneth P. Wright Jr. Ph.D at the Sleep and Chronobiology lab at the University of Colorado Boulder thinks that for optimal physical, mental, and emotional health we should do away with Daylight Saving Time and stick with one standard time, for crying out loud. (If you care about a reference for Write’s work, whether or not I’m not making this up, you can click here.)
But until we all come to our senses and ditch Daylight Saving, those of us who are in the US are waking up an hour earlier today (except Arizona and Hawaii—starkly different places but who at least share a modicum of sanity).
Solutions For Fatigue
So, here’s what I propose.
More napping.
Yes, more napping. I mean, I’m about a third the way into Scott Carney’s book about Dreams and I love how he is exploring the fact that throughout history and cultures, before the industrial revolution and electricity (light bulbs meant people could work longer), people would follow a more natural pattern of sleeping and sleep about 9 hours a night and would also take a siesta in the afternoon which follows the natural rhythms of a person’s body.
This is both sane and healthy.
You know, sleeping a solid 7–9 hours is normal and healthy. Then, it’s natural to start to wane mentally and energetically after about 8 hours of being awake, after lunch time, usually. This is the PERFECT time to take a bit of a nap. It’s not being lazy. It’s being healthy.
You don’t need to nap for long. In fact, 20–30 minutes will do absolute wonders for your overall wellness. Plus, you don’t even have to fall all the way asleep. You can just rest. It’s a revolution!
More Productive with Yoga Nidra
But what about being productive and all that?
Well, turns out that when you follow this more natural cycle of sleep and allow yourself a sanctioned nap in the middle of the day, your brain functions even better, your emotions are more regulated and for those who care … YOU’RE EVEN MORE PRODUCTIVE.
To boot, you have better ideas, tend to think out of the box more often, and are generally more creative and able to learn. In fact, many of the outliers of art and industry— math and science geniuses, tech gurus, writers and artists—are ardent nappers.
Yep.
And guess what? Listening to a Yoga Nidra recording serves this need for a mid-day nap PERFECTLY.
So as a way of compassionately responding to this insane biannual change to/from Daylight Savings, I’m offering you a free Yoga Nidra for deep relaxation.
You’re welcome.
And if you’d like to make this resting and napping a regular part of your life, please join me for my weekly live, online Yoga Nidra class, happening at 9 am MDT. You can participate from the comfort of your own home (hell, your own bed). We’ll breath, move, talk a little, but then the main event will be me leading you through a luxurious Yoga Nidra practice where you get practice waking up to your True Being through the process of engineering that liminal state between waking and sleeping. That’s the Nidra state.
Truly we are waking up with the yoga of sleep.
Even if you can’t make it live, by registering, you’ll get the replay so you can do this Yoga Nidra practice any time you want, as often as you want.
So next week, as your dragging your butt around the office, sluggish and tired from the time change, tell your boss that at about 2 pm every day, you’ll have to excuse yourself, that you have an urgent 30 minute appointment which involves you lying down, closing your eyes, and napping your way to enlightenment.
Your boss will thank you later.
If you need a note from your yoga teacher for permission, let me know.
I’ll send one. Or better yet, just print this one =>
Hope to see you at the Live Online Yoga Nidra class and enjoy this free Yoga Nidra recording for Deep Relaxation.
Together, we can get through this nightmare that is Daylight Saving!