I was 17 when I did my first yoga class, and it was on a Wii Fit. I was 18 when I started going to Hot Yoga classes off the U.C. campus. Looking back now, I hardly recognize that girl on that mat. I was ego-fueled and A-Type competitive. I was an insomniac with depression, anxiety, ADD and OCD. I would go to the gym for hours on end during the day and stay up all night studying. I laughed…
I found out the hard way that form is important. You would have thought I would have known this at that point- I had already done my 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training and been in sports for as long as I could remember. Yet, I messed up. When I was 22 I was living in upstate New York with my then partner. We were both avid fitness people, and challenged each other to see who could do the most burpees in…
𝗟𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 $𝟭,𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲. 𝗜 𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗶𝘁. I had some down time so I thought that I would go for a leisurely paddle session around the pond. As I sat my paddle board in the water off of the dock, I thought 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺 of a time this would be. I usually never take my phone with me, but this trip was going to be so chill, I thought 𝗶𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿….
It was a beautiful day (a rarity right now) by the pool. Ocoee (pronounced: ah-co-ee. Aka my dog) came running to join me, taking a shortcut through the freshly mulched flower patch. We laid together there, Ocoee wandering around every now and then to see my mom, sister, and the kids. I swear she thought she was the lifeguard. After about 10 minutes, my mom declares she is putting Ocoee on the line (the leash up on the porch, which…
𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲?Personally, I have lost count.Are you a mom?𝘚𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳.𝘈𝘶𝘯𝘵.𝘍𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥.𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳.𝘞𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳.𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘳.There are so many ways to live, & opportunities to change every day. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲.Has that sunk in?You can change, at any moment towards the life you want. Yes, we may have all these different labels, but that is not 𝘸𝘩𝘰 you are. It is a small part of your identity. At the end of college I was…
“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦.” What is home? Is it a place? A person?To me, it is your body. The only place you are always at. The only place you can always be. It goes everywhere with you, it takes care of you. Yet, we often do not treat it this way. We often think of our body and health second, or third, or even as a…
𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗢𝗳 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝘀. I love using props. Blocks, straps, blankets, and bolsters can be wonderfully helpful to any level of practice. They can help you find a deeper area of the pose, or even create more ease as you are entering a pose/practice. So, with such versatile use, why do people shy away from them?Why do instructors have to spoon-feed students into using them, often with resistance? I believe it largely due to two things:𝙀𝙜𝙤 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙀𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣When our…
Part 2“𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵?” She asked me while I took my storm trooper mask to the studio. Because I want to. So many people will judge us for who we are, what we do, what we look like. Let them. That is their own issue. She does not like Star Wars (she has never watched it), so she does not appreciate the Storm Trooper mask. I know a few of you will smile at it, like I did….
Part 1 This might shock a few of you, including my family.Someone recently asked me how I got into health/holistic health. When I was in high school I was insecure. So much so that I became bulimic and anorexic. On top of that I was working out 3+ hours a day, taking diet pills, AP classes, working multiple jobs…I was not in a healthy place. I thought that if I lost weight, I would be healthy. I passed out in…
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