Verbal Flow Archives
Erase and Begin Again
I am working on something a little different these days. I am working on creating the sacred circle and then erasing it to start each day from zero. In this way, I am practicing coming to my mat in the morning as if that is the first grain of sand I am laying for that day. I am working to be so present with that "grain" that I do not miss the way it feels as I put my feet on the mat or how it feels to extend my spine or to work with my breath. Starting my day from this place, I work to make each moment of the day another grain of sand, and so create with slow precision the sacred of that particular day.
Seasons
...in this season, I am strengthening my resolve and slowing down so that I may turn inward, assess what is serving my life and the lives of the people who trust me to be a teacher. I encourage us all to do just a few little things...
An Astonished Messenger
As Academy of American Poets Chancellor, C.D. Wright said, "Poetry is a necessity of life. It is a function of poetry to locate those zones inside us that would be free, and declare them so." It is no coincidence, I think, that yoga can do the same.
Enter the Wilderness
When the weather broke last week and the first signs of warmth and Spring made themselves known, my children took me for a walk to see their new "housing development." They'd found in our woods several trees that had fallen during the winter…
Healthy Hearts
Valentine's Day is special to me. Not because I'm particularly fond of sentimental cards, red roses and conversation hearts. Valentine's Day marks an important, heart health anniversary for me. Fifteen years ago on Valentine's Day I threw away…
Fierce Journey
Getting rooted in my body and learning to stay, to trust that I can breathe and get to know whatever comes up, is teaching me that change comes when I get closer, move in and watch compassionately all that comes at me and up from within me, not when I pinch my eyes shut and run away. This isn’t easy. Every time I think I’ve learned to do this, something happens and I have to learn it again. Sometimes this lesson is easier in the controlled environment I call my yoga practice, but it’s in the fierceness of this practice that clarity begins. And from this clarity I've come to see that this isn't a practice that I do; rather the practice has become a journey that is very much undoing me.
The Body’s Language
This New Year offers itself to you as a promise, where last year’s language really can give way to a new voice. Is it uncomfortable to consider leaving your comfort zone, to explore listening to a new language? Perhaps, but remember comfort zones don't have to be comfortable--they're simply familiar. A comfort zone is where we come to believe we belong. And where we believe we belong is where we often stay. But hope stirs something new, something different.
A Love Letter, 2015
Dear 2015,
I bid you a loving adieu. Thank you for opening my heart to you, even when I did not want to. Thank you for teaching me about my capacities for loving, forgiving, persevering, connecting, and letting go.
You've revealed to…
Our Moment to Exhale
When I first met Carolyn Channel, a lovely and experienced teacher who's come to offer her classes with Jala, she told me about the first time she laid down in Savasana. "I thought, Finally. This is my moment to exhale. Everyone should get to exhale like that." Yes, Carolyn, I agree. Everyone should get to exhale like that.