Thoughts & Writings

A foundational shape in yoga practice is called Tadasana or "Mountain Pose". In every other standing pose at least one leg is always in Tadasana. It can sometimes be overlooked.

It does not matter what level or lineage of yoga you practice, the final pose offered is "savasana". The translation means "corpse pose" which sounds a bit macabre.

I somehow clicked on an account on instagram called Hair2Pearl and found myself quickly down the rabbit hole. It is an account that posts a hair video a day -- how to videos of incredible braids, ponytails, or up-dos. With over a million plus followers, clearly I am not the only one.

"Are you are still going?" is what everyone asked me two weeks ago as I got ready to leave for Italy.

I spent 10 days in Colorado hiking, seeing old friends, and saying goodbye to my daughter who moved to Colorado Springs. The hubs and I tackled 2800 miles in our car 10 days. Whew.

Courage has many faces. The most visible form is the one found in the headlines and piped to us through the news. Remember when Captain Sullenberger safely landed a plane on the Hudson River?

In the New York Times magazine last Sunday, a short piece titled How to Feel Small caught my attention. It encapsulated what I felt hiking along the ocean in Mexico last month...AWE. Nature can provide powerful reminders that we are little people here on this giant planet.

I spent last week in Mexico co-facilitating a yoga retreat at Prana Del Mar. I do not speak Spanish and for as many times I have traveled to Mexico, there is no excuse that I have not learned much beyond “gracias” and “buenos dias”.

Some of the best moments of my life have been around a table in an Italian restaurant, both here and in Italy of course. Italian culture is famous for its passions, food being among them. Italian meals are filled with great food, locally sourced, and prepared with loving care.

I just returned home from Tampa/St. Pete in Florida where to go anywhere you have to cross a bridge or causeway. When we arrived in Tampa last Sunday it was during a torrential downpour. I could not make the windshield wipers of the rental car go any faster.

There is an App called Next Door that was designed to help people connect with the other people in their neighborhood. Folks post things like furniture for sale, a high schooler who will cut your lawn, or information on local government races, etc.

Tonight we spring forward. We arbitrarily get to make the time something different then what it was today. Daylight savings time began so we can enjoy the extra sunshine during the warmer months.

As a brand-new yoga teacher years ago, I was teaching my VERY first class at a health club with 50+ people in the room. As I was circling the room and teaching, I was distracted by these two women who were having a conversation at the back of the studio.

About a month ago I stopped at a little boutique in Andersonville on my way downtown. I was trying to go the thrift store next door, but it was closed. I have not stopped into a little shop to just peak around in so long and was kind of delighted by how beautiful everything in this little store was curated.

Last Monday while watching my guilty pleasure, The Bachelor (I know, I know), there was a scene with one woman accusing another woman of being one type of person off camera and another type of person on camera.

I am always OK. It takes a lot to rattle my cage. In case of an emergency, I am your person. I very rarely tip the scales on either end of the spectrum. I do not like to admit this as I am actually a little embarrassed by it.

I want to paint my kitchen next week but then I realized I have to paint the ceiling. But in the ceiling, we have these old speakers that are no longer hooked up, so if I take those out I would have to fill in the holes.

I vacillate between being a voracious reader and then not reading at all. But that doesn't stop the compulsion to buy many books and stack them in piles next to my bed, on the table next to my bed, and on the floor next to the full bookshelf.

The hubs and I are on a little road trip. I grew up on road trips. Without a map, my mother never gets lost and she never turns around. She taught me the value of the journey.

I have dreams that I am losing all my teeth. Deep in the cavern of sleep, I slide my tongue all around my mouth checking for the loose ones. There is panic and shame when I feel when my tongue lands on a space where a tooth once lived. Then a chain reaction occurs and all the surrounding teeth get wiggly too, by making this little bit of space more space opens up. I try to avoid moving them too much with my tongue, but there is this uncontrollable urge to wiggle them more. Like an itch you cannot stop scratching even though you know it is getting worse. Then I make a dream call to a dentist and I try to explain that I all my teeth are loose, but I am holding my jaw tight, so my teeth don’t fall out of my face. The dentist cannot understand me because the words come out all garbled, I am talking like I have marbles in my mouth.

I was in Whole Foods and was positive I spotted my friend Amy at the other check out. So I am waving my hand and yelling "Hey Amy" to this woman who is just looking to me and not reacting. Of course I can only see her eyes and not her face. I walk closer and realize it is not Amy. She had the same hair and height, I swore it was her. With masks on it is hard to tell.

I sat at the beach on Thursday on a blanket reading my book. For the first hour the sun beat down on my shoulders and I was hot. My right shoulder itches when I get too much sun. Then the breeze picked up, wind actually, and that was it. Summer was gone. By the end of the next hour, I was chilly biking home. Bye summer 2020. I felt the shift.

For as long as I can remember, I have had an inherent sense of balance. Not in the stand on one foot kind of way, but focusing more on the balance of energies. I remember as a little kid coming home from school after a rough day. I would come back to find out that we were going to have my favorite meal for dinner or Highlight magazine came in the mail. Conversely, if I had an amazing day at school, I would expect to walk in the door and find my dad telling me to empty the dishwasher and pot roast for dinner.

We are packing my son up for college. Despite all his classes being online, he is shipping out. The departure is not as raw as this is his third year, but there is still a sense of holding on. We are all facing resistance to the inevitabilities and this fall is filled with many more questions that no one can answer. Whether or not you are holding on to a child, holding on to a relationship, holding on to a career, or holding on to summer...sometimes it is just difficult to let go.

In early June I watched with excitement as a female Cardinal chose the bush right next to our front door to make her nest. We lock eyes with one another as I carefully get the mail. I try not to let the metal lid slam down to disturb her along with her babies she is protecting inside the nest she built. Sometimes she sits on the fence and chirps away at me to hurry up.

You know what stinks? When your dog gets sprayed by a skunk in your own fenced in yard at 6 am on Thursday morning as you are about to get into the shower.

The human brain can process images up to 60,000 times faster than words. If information is presented orally, we remember about 10% three days later. However, if a picture is added in, that figure goes up to 65%. "A picture is worth a thousand words" is an English language adage which essentially means something extremely complex in written word can be conveyed instantly and concisely by one still image.

When we used to be able to take a yoga class in the studio, there would sometimes be this awkward moment when a student would arrive to class and put down their yoga mat a little too close to another student. It would be especially strange if there was a large studio available and they for some reason felt they needed to get right in there next to the only other people in the room. Remember that episode of Seinfeld with "The Close Talker"? Or being in a nearly empty movie theater and someone comes in and sits right in front of you?

I have a love/hate relationship with the Apple Air/Ear Pods. I am certain my inner ear is deformed because I cannot keep those damn things in my ears. I even went Pro because they come with sizes and they still drop out. I was painting my basement and one popped out and right into the paint can (amazingly I wiped it off and it works fine). The amount of minutes I have spent trying to connect those things to various computers, IPads and my phone is time forever lost. This life we have created, being able to do everything (almost) online is exhausting and it is my livelihood right now. I have learned more about bluetooth, IP addresses, Ethernet cables, and WiFi connections that I ever had a desire to know. Personally I am experiencing a large amount of anxiety by creating and sustaining a virtual connection. I have a whole new level of admiration for any IT support person. The 3 hours I spent on the phone with Cody from Zoom this week felt about as intimate as the time I spend with a therapist. I even cried on the phone at one point with him and he talked me through it. Click HERE to learn about Zoom Fatigue. I laughed out loud at #4: "Looking at your own face is stressful."

My mother has long hilarious history with gift giving. Clearly her love language is to give and receive gifts, while my love language is acts of service. What's your love langauage and how can it help you understand your relationships better? Click here.

Did you know . . . The average American adult reports having only one real friend?

Friendship in adulthood can be difficult. I am beyond blessed to say that I feel supported and loved by many dear friends. Friendships can provide great joy and allow us to feel connected to something far beyond ourselves. But I know that loneliness is a very real thing. Loneliness has a wide range of negative effects on both physical and mental health, including higher rates of stress, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and cognitive disabilities. From happiness to health -- deep and meaningful friendships make our lives better. Pure and simple

I haven't put on my Apple watch since March 14th. That was the weekend the shit hit the fan and we all retreated into our homes for the season of Covid. Time suddenly became a complex new character in our shelter in place saga. I have friends who say they cannot tell you what they did all day, time just flew by. Conversely, some so bored they are watching the clock and the days sulk on.

When I have to assemble something, I just dump all the parts on the floor and try to put it together and never read the instructions until it has all gone wrong. It drives my architect husband bananas. I am not a great baker either. Baking is science and you need to follow the directions. I am a pretty good cook though. My specialty is looking in the fridge and the pantry and deducing what I can make into a meal by what we currently have. I do not follow a recipe and rarely measure. My husband? Look up recipe, read recipe in full, go to store, buy exact ingredients, measure, and follow the directions to the T.