Hi loves,

How's your practice and what is supporting your practice? I haven't had a car all week so I got dropped off at Tahoe Yoga a couple hours early this morning and it was so sweet to have that time to myself in the studio where my teaching began almost 16 years ago. Thank you Walter. I got time to reflect on how my practice has changed and evolved over the years. What has been important at the different stages of my life. All the teachers I have learned from. All the relationships I have made. All the communities that have been formed. All the studios and spaces that have so graciously held. And it's all been the practice. I really can't imagine what my life would be like without one and I know that a lot of you feel the same way. But I really want to speak to those that need/want to boost their practice. There are so many resources out there, but what I find the most helpful for people is community. When we have a strong yoga community, it holds us accountable to the practice because of the connection. Those are the three biggies for me, community, accountability and connection. I am so grateful for all the wonderful studios we have in the area, providing just that. I bow to these studio owners because it is not an easy business.

Hi loves,

I hope 2019 is off to a great start for you! I know it has for me. Day 5 and I have already been with Anger, Sadness, Frustration, Hurt, Confusion and Disappointment. I have also experienced great joy, intimacy, contentment and connection. So I guess I have said yes to the full ride. I went for a walk with a dear friend this morning that reminded me it has been 7 years since we had gathered at her house around the book, The Four Desires by Rod Stryker. I had put it out there back then to The Pact, which was a group of students I gathered that were holding each other accountable to a daily meditation practice. Once I got into the book, I was balking at the exercises thinking dear god we don't have a psychologist in the group, will we be okay? And I was just embracing meditation. So it was at this time that my life started changing dramatically. Doing the exercises in The Four Desires each year for the last 7 years has been profound, thank you Rod, but truly I believe the transformation has come from daily meditation because that is the ground where it all stems from.

Dear loved ones, 

I love this night in that it reminds me of the sacredness of all things. When we see something as sacred, we take better care, we direct our consciousness to whatever it is, the something....matters. Lots of us whether we are religious or not see the sacredness of a church or temple and we can feel it and want to follow any of the rules or guidelines to show that it matters. When we see our homes as sacred, we take care of it. When we see our bodies as sacred, we take care of it. When we see our relationships as sacred, we take care of them. But can we see all of it as sacred? Whatever it is right now that you have a hard time seeing as sacred, put it on the alter of your heart. It's what is triggering us that we usually have a hard time seeing as sacred and boy are the holidays full of them. So right now something that you find hard seeing as sacred, bring it to mind on this holy night and then close your eyes and invite it in to your heart. Can you see it shows you what matters and doesn't that move you to take better care? Often I find when I do this practice with my triggers, it comes back to the taking care of my own heart and in turn that takes care of others.

Hi Lovers,

Today I write from bed and it is probably the most beautiful blue bird epic powder day out there. I so hope you all are out there playing and enjoying the magic. I am getting to experience the magic of listening. I have been going thru quite a process with personal stuff and while it is actually working out beautifully and supported, I also haven't been listening to my body as well, I haven't been listening to that inner voice and I have been more indulging in the ego desires because the ego says I deserve it. I have been going thru hard stuff. Welllllll...that has landed me in bed today. Ok at least I am listening now which in the past I would have pushed thru until I got really sick.

Dear Loves,

On this day of gratitude I found myself trotting on the beach in the footsteps of this new lover in my life. Running on the beach is wonderful and often not easy for this one here writing when you are sinking in the soft sand. Ugh! Maybe it's my lack of mula bandha (insert smiley face here), but I start to feel so incredibly heavy and every excuse to not run comes up. Yesterday I found it easier when I eventually ran right on top of the seaweed and today it was Ben's footsteps. It was like having someone break trail out in the backcountry. So grateful. As long as I was able to hit his footsteps it all seemed possible, there was something to spring off of. Sometimes his steps were washed away and I would start sinking again, but then I would find them again and as more and more people appeared on the beach I would lose his steps, but then I would start to use others steps to spring off of. I was just reminded how incredibly supported I am and how we ALL are. Just tune into it for a moment how incredibly supported you are, even if it's just your next breath....It puts you automatically in a state of gratitude and then you start to remember this is who you are. You have been supported all along. That is why you are here having this experience of life.

Dear Lovers,

I hope you are letting the soft edges of the fall sun bring a tenderness to your heart. I just adore fall. I close my eyes at night and see a sea of yellow and orange; so much warmth, so much love. I am reminded of this love every time I show up to teach a class, how very lucky I am to do the work I do in our community. I can't tell you how my heart leaps each time a heart I have connected with walks into the studio and then I can't wait for the people I don't know in the room to feel that love too. I adore all of you...

Even after 15 years of teaching yoga and feeling the love, I still have doubt come up. Doubt has had a great way of keeping me stuck, not letting my Self be seen, questioning my intelligence, and resisting the life that wants to move through me. I now see that Doubt is just here trying to keep me safe and I am learning to work with Her, bless Her heart she can stay as long as she needs to.

Hi lovers,

Yoga and Meditation for Dudes Series is off and running.  I feel called to share what I experienced in our first session Thursday night and the clarity that has come from why my soul wanted to embark on this journey.  The intention Ben and I set for the first class was armouring, how we protect ourselves in the many ways we do that keep us from connecting with others, also the images we hold up so others don't see the truth of who we are.  To make the point I showed up in a huge Alaskan downsuit and to tell the truth as I circled up with the men, other than it being hot I kind of wanted to keep it on.  I saw doubt coming up saying "who the hell are you to think you can do this for the men.  You are a woman!".  But as I took off the suit and allowed myself to open up to these men, listening to them as they went around the circle sharing, I could feel in the cells of my being the beliefs and the projections around men sliding away.  

Hi lovers,

It is great to be home and back to teaching this morning. I always find one of the best parts of travel is the coming home, a reminder of the what it's like when we leave presence and our own heart, and then find our way back. This happens over and over again. It is not a problem, but recognizing when we have left, we can, in a breath, be back home.

When Tessa and I got invited on this trip, I have to say, France was not top on my list of places to visit, but having an opportunity to travel with loved ones, living on a boat for a week, and touring the hillside villages of Southern France seemed way too cool of an opportunity to miss. But, I have to say, I have always had this belief that the French are snooty and aloof.  I know this is not true, but the belief is still there and I wanted to experience something different. Before I left Tahoe, when people asked me what I was most excited about before leaving, this paradigm shift is what I hoped to find.