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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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
— Wallace Stevens, Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
—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.
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.
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,
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 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
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.
I’ve made a Yoga Nidra recording that is designed to help you stay grounded during an election year as we practice compassionate inclusion.
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 moreMay 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 moreEverybody’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.
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 moreSt. 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 moreToday 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.
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.
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.
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).
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!
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!
I believe the healing suggested in the title is the moment when one realizes that EVERYTHING is sacred, even those most difficult parts of life, the parts that make all of us some time or other flee for the sake of our small and precious lives.
Read moretoday I thought I’d discuss the optimal lengths for a Yoga Nidra practice: What is too long and what is too short.
Read moreAlmost 9 years ago, I remember standing in front of my yoga class and expressing how utterly nervous I was . I wasn’t nervous about teaching yoga or being in front of people. I was shaking in my boots because at 39 years old, I was about to embark on perhaps the largest endeavor of my life, a massive journey, a challenge I’d never ever done before: becoming a dad.
Read moreYoga is the practice of joining all the different parts of ourselves as we explore what it means to be one. Sure, we are physical beings. We are also spiritual beings. We are mental, emotional, social beings. What fascinates me is the provocative idea of learning to live in a Both/And relationship with things that seem otherwise at odds, different, or opposite. Such a mindset and awareness for life opens us up to the truth of who we are as part of Source.
After all, in the wild road trip of life, aren't we are all balancing paradox while sitting at the corner of Human and Being.
This is going to be your best year yet!
As you begin this new year, I invite you to muster the courage to dream big. Really big.
What is something you’ve always wanted to do, become, or complete?
You have a Universe inside of you. You’re made of Source and as such, have the potential to accomplish and receive all things.
Your spirit is indomitable. Your creativity, limitless. Don’t be afraid to imagine what is possible for you in 2024.
This is the imaginative and spiritual part of growing into the next version of yourself but it doesn’t stop there. Just dreaming, hoping, and scheming won’t get you there.
Next, since we aren’t ONLY spiritual beings, since we are spirit married to physical, practical beings—give your dreams some legs by mapping out in realistic terms how to accomplish those dreams.
Remember to start small knowing it will grow into something big.
If you want to run a marathon but haven’t been running in a while, have enough foresight to start by walking, then running/walking, then running. Commit to being in it for the long-term which means that there will be ups and downs.
Don’t give up when things don’t work out the way you’d hoped. It’s just another chance for calibration and learning.
Because at the end of the day, it’s not about accomplishing your goal.
Not really.
It’s about who you become in the process.
Accomplishing your goal is just the happy byproduct.
Whatever you dream up for 2024, having a regular meditation practice is of the first order. It clarifies, relaxes, and hones your body, mind, and spirit. It’s like the underlying framework for all other work to be done.
At very least, exploring A Christmas Carol through the filter of Yoga Nidra may help us to appreciate this story anew and add a deeper insight and meaning into this well-worn story. It may help us to reflect upon our own awakening that can happen at any time of the year. And I think what I’m really angling at here is that this story illuminates so perfectly how the altered state of sleep can catalyze a massive change in spirit which can lift us from our habitual, broken way of being and help us wake up to the truth that we are all One, that veritably we are each other’s business.
Read moreToday, I want share one of my favorite winter poems, White-Eyes by Mary Oliver.
First of all, if you haven’t already, ‘tis the season to sign up for my 31-Day Meditation Challenge. It starts January 1 and lasts all through the month. The challenge is simply to meditate any way you wish for 15 minutes a day, every day for the entire month. I’ll be supporting you every step of the way with daily emails, live group meditations sessions, and plenty of recordings, poetry, links, and stories to make the experience very rich.
Give the world a gift by practicing drawing inward, getting quiet in heart and mind, so you can present a YOU that is more mindful, less reactive, and rooted in compassion.
It costs only $31 and you can get your tuition back if you complete the challenge. Make a meditation posse and sign up!
Onto the poem!
What I love so much about Mary Oliver's poetry is that so often in her poetry she is speaking to the eternal, the Everything, God, or the Universe by simply reflecting what she sees in nature.
And like in her poem “Bone” I love how she willingly admits that she doesn't fully know what God is but is "playing at the edges of knowing" and that perhaps it’s not about knowing at all, but rather it’s about “seeing, touching, and loving.”
It’s about being present with senses and heart.
Through her poetry, Mary Oliver helps us all to create a touchpoint to the Divine that is present both in our outer and inner worlds and opens us to seeing, touching, and loving as she steers us away from trying to make it all make sense.
Her poem White-Eyes is about seeing the Divine in something as simple yet complex as the wind dancing through the tree tops and the snow silently drifting down from the heavens. It’s an exposé about how with the “right eyes” or with attuned sight, we might be able to see the loving Divine present in all things.
I hope you enjoy it.
BY MARY OLIVER
In winter
all the singing is in
the tops of the trees
where the wind-bird
with its white eyes
shoves and pushes
among the branches.
Like any of us
he wants to go to sleep,
but he's restless—
he has an idea,
and slowly it unfolds
from under his beating wings
as long as he stays awake.
But his big, round music, after all,
is too breathy to last.
So, it's over.
In the pine-crown
he makes his nest,
he's done all he can.
I don't know the name of this bird,
I only imagine his glittering beak
tucked in a white wing
while the clouds—
which he has summoned
from the north—
which he has taught
to be mild, and silent—
thicken, and begin to fall
into the world below
like stars, or the feathers
of some unimaginable bird
that loves us,
that is asleep now, and silent—
that has turned itself
into snow.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on what this poem says to you.
Drop me a line, I read every email I get.
May we all be our best by remember those essential phrases:
I love you.
I’m sorry.
How can I help?
Yoga For Stiffer Bodies on Saturdays at 7:30–8:30 am at Mosaic Yoga
Vinyasa Mondays at 12 pm at Mosaic Yoga
I teach a Restore Yoga and Yoga Nidra workshop on the first Sunday of every month at Mosaic Yoga
Plus, mark your calendar for January 1 because I’m hosting an in-person yoga class to begin the new year. Together we’ll plant our Sankalpa, the seed of our intentions, through ritual, movement, meditation, and breath. Mosaic Yoga.
I recently wrote a blog for Hugger Mugger about yoga and running. It was fun to write and I wanted to give you a snippet here with the option to check out the full article on their blog.
Forever, I’ve heard that yoga and running just don’t mix but I don’t believe that to be true. I’ve had runners tell me that doing yoga hurts their running and yogis tell me that running hurts their yoga.
Personally, I’ve been running and doing yoga most of my life and I understand how both practices complement each other. This article focuses on how yoga can help your running practice and perhaps I’ll write another article about how running helps your yoga practice.
Do you run and practice yoga? I’d love to hear from you about your experiences with both. Leave a comment below or reach out here.
Here is the article.
Growing up, I was never very athletic. I never really enjoyed team sports. I was average at baseball, soccer, and basketball—scrawny and uncoordinated. I didn’t even bother to try out for football.
But early on, I discovered a love for running and have been running most of my life. I found joy in running, not in running the fastest or the longest but rather just in the running itself. For me, the joy comes from the solitude of a long run and from the full-body movement of running, especially when I manage a comfortable and sustainable pace. Running also clears my mind and often even feels spiritual to me. Growing up, I never felt better than during and after a long run, especially a trail run.
That is, until I discovered yoga.
When I started practicing yoga in my early 20s I was excited to discover another activity that wasn’t a competitive sport and also left me feeling as good in body, mind, and spirit the way running did. But when I told my yoga friends that in addition to practicing yoga I also enjoyed running, they’d often raise their eyebrows above their bindi and matter-of-factly inform me that yoga and running just don’t mix. Yet as someone who does both I beg to differ. On the contrary, yoga has improved my running and has kept me running well and largely injury-free for decades.
In many ways running has improved my yoga practice by giving me more stamina, focus, and breath capacity. However, in this article I want to explore some of the many ways that yoga can benefit runners and how incorporating yoga into your training routine can make a significant difference in your enjoyment, performance, and longevity of your running.
One of the biggest benefits of yoga for runners is better flexibility. Running primarily involves repetitive movements in a forward direction which almost always leads to tight muscles. Tight muscles contribute to reduced range of motion which means that the tighter a runner’s muscles get, the more effort they have to use to make their body move. Yoga postures stretch and lengthen muscles and help runners enjoy greater flexibility and mobility, a benefit that feels like finally, someone has released the parking brake on your running.
One day many years ago, I began my work day with my journal and favorite pen. I set the timer for 11 minutes and committed to keep my pen writing no matter what, even, and especially, if I didn’t know what to write. This is a trusted practice I’d learned from my good friend and collaborator Nan Seymour. What’s so magical about this writing method is that you never quite know what’s going to come rolling out of your pen onto the page.
Read moreIn Nice, we have a broccoli guy.
We have a shoe guy.
We have an apple lady.
We have our favorite croissant guy, our patisserie lady, and a full suite of cafes we frequent where we know the owner and all of the servers.
We have a lady who cuts our dog’s hair and who loves our dog so much that when we take him in for a trim, instead of cringing, his little doggy heart practically bursts his harness from the unfettered glee of being under her spell for the duration of his grooming.
Read moreToday, just a quick note and fun read.
I hope you’re having an amazing week. I hope you’re opening your eyes to majesty which is around us all the time, the miraculous in the mundane, the beauty in the boring.
I have been nursing an achilles heel injury for many months but finally was able to get out onto the trails above Salt Lake City today for an incredible run. It was like heaven!
When: 6–7:15 pm MDT
Where: Integrative Health, 1174 East Graystone Way #15.
No need to pre-register, just grab your bestie and head on over.
Suggested donation is $15. I take cash or Venmo or original, signed, and authenticated copies of John Coltrane’s 1957 album, Blue Train.
Bring a yoga mat, a blanket, and an eye mask. We’ll move a little, breath, talk a bit, but mostly get into our very relaxing Yoga Nidra practice.
When: Friday September 1st
Where: Mosaic Yoga 1991 South 1100 East, Salt Lake City (map).
All Mosaic classes are by donation. I accept cash, Venmo, (or John Coltrane records)
Power Hour 6–7 am MDT:
An all-levels hour of wake-up yoga with an easy warm-up including Sun Salutations and full-body mobilizations, followed by standing, balance, and grounding poses.
Mindfulness 7:15–8:15 am MDT:
This is an opportunity to sit and meditate with a group of other mindfulness practitioners in a welcoming environment. It’s perfect whether you are a new or experienced meditator.
Power 1 8:45–10 am MDT:
This 75-minute class weaves a spiritual or conscious theme into a Wanderlust format of poses which alternate between short flowing and static sequences to arrive at a therapeutic, cohesive, and well-rounded yoga experience. This class will feature warmups, sun salutations, standing poses, approachable standing and arm balances, core work, hips, and a solid cool down and savasana. I’ll be bringing the clarinet!
Finally, the other day we were walking through the mall and as any self-respecting father would, I bought my 8-year-old a copy of The Worst-Case Scenario Survival handbook, cuz you know… you never know, and I was pleased to see him so enthralled by it. Here he is walking through the mall glued to the entry about how to deliver a baby in the back seat of a car. #proudparent.
Well, come to find out that this book was actually written by our pediatrician’s son. Small world. Brilliant world, but small world.
I was originally introduced to this book many years ago (so I’m happy that the family has an updated version) and as a throwback, today, I wanted to share with you a piece I wrote called The Yoga Worst-Case Scenario Survivors Handbook. Just like yoga, though it’s a little dated it’s still relevant. Also, I originally wrote it about surviving yoga in the arid climate of the Utah deserts so if you don’t understand the arid air reference, now you will.
I hope you’ll enjoy the article and I hope to see you in class. I’ll be leaving back for France early next week.
One of my favorite and most useful books in my library is one called The Complete Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook.
Its bright yellow hard-backed cover makes it durable so I can take it with me everywhere, and easy to find when I’m in a pinch. This Survival Handbook contains a lot of information; you know, practical and essential know-how for things like giving your cat the Heimlich Maneuver, how to escape your car when it has been completely submerged in water, and how to escape from killer bees.
