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.
You know how it is: once the holiday decor gets taken down, once you put the tree back in the box—or take once-live now sadly desiccated tree out behind the barn to euthanize then abandon it unceremoniously at the arbor abattoir on the corner of your block, you know, the one near all the garbage cans—once all the stockings and all the holidays stuff goes back into the cardboard box and shoved deep into closet hibernation for the next 11 months, winter suddenly gets pretty dark.
Bleak.
And if you live in the Southern Hemisphere, if you live down under in Australia, we love you but you can go back to your suntans and waxing your surfboards. Please send prayers.
Really, cuz in January we need to figure out how we are going to get on with our lives. We need something to hope for, something to warm our hearts cuz it’s cold and frozen outside and we gained 10 pounds during the holidays and we are also carrying the weight of a litany of unrealistic New Year’s resolutions hanging like an albatross around our neck. It’s only January 2nd and already we feel guilty because we caved and sampled some of the leftover holiday treats—doesn’t matter that they were two weeks old, doesn’t matter that they didn’t even look good, they were still somehow irresistible.
Or, maybe we could think about January a little differently …
Some say that hibernation doesn’t start until the springtime but what if we could crawl out of our own personal January darkness, open our eyes, turn our faces and find the sun—weak and thin as it may be—and start to let our soul shine?
What if we beat back the creeping winter darkness in our hearts with our own inner light, our own Namaste, and share it with the world. In Sanskrit Namaste translates roughly as “The light in me recognizes the light in you so let’s BBQ.” Translations vary but I think this is the basic idea.
What if we use this frozen and forsaken month as a foundation for our best. Year. Yet?
Don’t worry, I have a plan … several of them, in fact.
Join me January 1 for a special yoga class (in person or via Zoom) where we will ring in the new year with intentional movement, breath, Yoga Nidra, and ceremony. Join me from 9–10:30 am MST and together we will plant the powerful seeds of intention and set the conditions for an incredible 2025.
31-Day Meditation Challenge
Join my 31-Day Meditation Challenge 2025. Registration is up! It’s easy and awesome. Sign up today and don’t wait until January 1 to start your simple, daily meditation practice. The challenge is easy: meditate every day for 15 minutes a day in any way you’d like. We’ll meditate together once a week. Plus, during the entire month of January, I’ll support you with a daily email, a boatload of resources like guided meditations, blogs, poems, videos, and articles. It costs only a dollar a day and get this: if you complete the challenge, you can opt to get your tuition back. Seriously! Get an accountability buddy and have them sign up too and together we’ll do this!
Live and Online Yoga Nidra Teacher Trainings
It’s time.
You’ve been looking at either my live or my online Yoga Nidra teacher training for years and thinking to yourself, “One day I want to do that. One day I want to learn how to facilitate people napping their way to enlightenment.”
Now’s the time. See, I’m convinced that you have a way about you and a particular voice to a particular audience that makes you an expert at sharing this much-needed and uber-relaxing practice with the world.
So either join me live in Tucson or live via zoom in January for my next live 30-hour Yoga Nidra teacher training. It will only change your life—and the lives of countless others. Alternatively, cuz you can’t wait until January, you can download my pre-recorded online Yoga Nidra teacher training program and start your life-changing journey today.
Yoga Retreat French Riviera
Now, if what you’re looking for sounds more like Mediterranean than meditation, if it’s a vacation you need, if you need to get to a beach somewhere—I don’t know, maybe on the sandy beaches of the French Riviera with something spritzy in your hand as the sun warms your skin while dipping into the azure ocean, yeah THAT—please put your deposit down for my Riviera yoga retreat happening in June, 2025.
Sure it’s just over 6 months away, but you can print off the pics from my website and post them all over your cubicle to simultaneously make your coworkers jealous as well as warm your soul until you can get your butt in the sand, cool drink in hand.
I’ve taken care of ALL of the details to make this an unforgettable experience. Again, grab your bestie, the same one you wrangled into doing the meditation challenge with (now, it’s the Mediterranean challenge) and invite them along. This retreat is already more than halfway full and I want you there so please make it happen. If you need me to, send me your boss’ email and I’ll explain kindly but firmly why you won’t be in the office during the first few weeks of June.
Why Wait?
Why wait until January or June? Remember that regular bouts of yoga and mindfulness—making a habit of it—is surely the best way of staying at your best. I teach a few public classes each week—a variety of flowing, gentle, and Yoga Nidra classes.
In all seriousness, I know that winter can be tough and that many of us are very sensitive to the seasonal changes and lack of sunlight. So, if you need someone to talk to, I’m always here for a virtual or in-person coffee date. You’re a beautiful soul and the world needs your light.
Either way, I hope you’ll join me for either or all this that I’ve got going on: weekly classes, New Year’s class, The 2025 31-day Meditation Challenge, one of my Yoga Nira training, or my French Riviera retreat.
As we step into the darkest and coldest season of the year, may we all remember that we are each other’s warmth and light.
Namaste … let’s BBQ.
