Many Westerners think of yoga as doing postures either in a class or on their own. We know it’s hard, we know it’s good for us and we know we feel great afterwards. But oftentimes we leave the conscious practice of yoga right there. In simple terms, the word yoga means union; union in every…
Breath is life. If you don’t breathe, you don’t live. It’s that important and that simple. And while it can happen normally without our awareness, there are other times when the breath is shallow or irregular. The breath connects the body with the mind. When the mind is out of sorts (alignment), the breath goes…
Along with many others from all over Texas, I attended the 7th Annual Texas Yoga Asana Championship on November 8th in The Woodlands. The venue and format had been expanded greatly from past years to include the first ever Texas Fitness and Wellness Fair. But even knowing that, I can’t tell you how surprised I…
What is your favorite thing to celebrate? Your birthday? A long and hard fought victory by your favorite athlete or team? Holidays? A graduation? I like this last one, a graduation. It implies growth, a change, a moving forward or up a level. For some people just being able to breathe easily or move about…
Change is good! As they say, the only constant in life is change. But just because it’s good doesn’t always mean it’s easy. The times in which we struggle and suffer the most are the times in which we resist change. In fact, all suffering is the result of resistance. We lack the faith that…
Appreciation is such a huge topic I hardly know where to start! I personally have so many things that I am full of appreciation for; things I get to look at and experience right now in my everyday life and things from my past and times long ago that still have an impact on my…
Retreat! Retreat! My psyche screamed at me as I saw the latest emails waiting to be opened. These were from a new source demanding my attention and time, something that was already in short supply. Just days before I’d realized that my life was out of balance. The daily routine of work and life had…
Growth is the natural evolution of life, all life, all aspects of life. Sometimes it shows up in the guise of death, but as the saying goes, “As one door closes another one opens.” Death is really just a new beginning. In order to grow, things must change. We know this, and we may consciously…
Bikram Choudhury. What an amazing man. I met him for the first time eight years ago on September 30th, 2001. It was the first day of Bikram Yoga Teacher Training, the shock and tragedy of 9/11 was fresh and raw and I was about to immerse myself in his world for 9 weeks straight. I…
I grew up in a little beach town in San Diego and boy did I love summertime. I would be at the beach from 9:00 a.m. until sunset everyday with my brothers and friends. When we weren’t out in the surf or playing volleyball, we’d slather our bodies in baby oil and soak up the…