Create a Retreat for Yourself

Create a Retreat for Yourself

Going on a retreat can do wonders for your spirit. There is something powerful about all that space and time dedicated to one’s practice that creates a depth to the work. When I think of retreating, I think of turning inwards, time for silence, simple food, flowing through postures, my breath moving in and out, sunlight, salt water, and lavender scented sheets. Retreat isn’t just one thing – it is a layering of many small things to create an environment infused with healing. Sadly, retreats are not cheap and while I understand the reason for it, it makes it awfully cost prohibitive for the typical yogi to experience. Although I have been lucky enough to go on several extended retreats – they are far and few between. About ten years ago I started creating retreat days for myself and now I do them monthly, usually over a weekend. On those days, I retreat from my typical activities of hustle and bustle and choose to immerse myself in my practice. I eat simply, I rest and I create an environment of healing in my own home. These days have become a touchstone and an important anchor to my practice. To prepare: Clear your calendar for the day/weekend/week that you choose to retreat. Clean Your House. Clean sheets. Clean Tub. Dishes done. Groceries (stock-up on simple and nutritious food) Create a schedule of several classes or workshops – building yourself a full day immersion (sometimes all at one studio, sometimes at several studios) Arrange flowers and create a space of healing for your beautiful self – even if it is just...
The practice of Restorative Yoga and its power to restore you

The practice of Restorative Yoga and its power to restore you

I found my way to Restorative Yoga several months into my battle with chronic fatigue. Up till then, I loved power yoga and had a type-A grip on my daily practice.  As my illness progressed, I began to recognize that my practice was depleting me rather than supporting me. At the time I held the notion that Yoga had to be taxing to truly constitute a practice.  Rest at the end, work-it the rest of the time. In order to shift to a truly Restorative Practice the first thing I had to do was broaden my definition of Yoga.  Not the easiest of shifts for me. But one that as I transitioned through it began to inform my current beliefs around Yoga, its practice, and its teaching. Interweaving a Restorative Pose into your daily life is a powerful form of self-care. Although the object is always a supported rest the poses can require as little as a blanket to as many as twenty props per student. Like other forms of Yoga there is a vast array of postures that may be practiced.  The trick is having enough props and enough help to ensure each student’s comfort.  The more elaborate the pose the more time required by the teacher to assist the student. This is a labor intensive style of teaching and one where the devil rests squarely in the details. Recently I was honored to teach a segment on Restorative Yoga for the University of Maryland Medical Center’s 500-hr Teacher Training (TTY). I focused my portion of the TTY on postures that required a minimum of six props to...
My Harmonium and Me

My Harmonium and Me

When love first tasted the lips of being human it started singing. ~ Rumi If you have come in contact with me in the last three months chances are I have talked to you about my Harmonium.  I have a knack for working it into most conversations. It is entirely plausible that  I have even bored you with a picture or two. Last fall, I was feeling very uninspired by my practice. For several months it was as though my practice was completely void of joy. I was literally slogging through it. Forcing myself daily to make it to my mat. In November, when I taught my annual retreat I decided to shift its normal curriculum to include a workshop at a local studio. I really enjoy Rachel Nixon’s classes and I knew her focus on Bhakti (the yoga of devotion) would be right up my students alley –  especially as they all love to chant. At the workshop, Rachel played a harmonium that she had recently purchased.  She was a novice but she accompanied us during multiple chanting practices and she did it well.  I left that workshop so inspired. I left WANTING A HARMONIUM. I can now play the scales. Chords are coming. Songs will soon follow.  Adding the harmonium into my practice – and broadening my practice to accommodate it – has been so rewarding. I now undertake to do my practice joyfully!  How are you feeling about your practice? Are you inspired? Or are you in a rut?...

Simple Ginger Tea

I love tea. All kinds – even the medicinal ones that taste like dirt. There is something so comforting to me about holding a warm cuppa.  Although I drink hot tea in the summer it becomes my default beverage in the winter months. Over the past few years I have become more and more interested in making and blending medicinal teas syrups and tinctures. One of my dear friends, Jenny Erhardt of Zensations by Jen, demystified making herbal blends for me several years back.  That brief – 2 minute conversation (she did cuss a few times) – freed me to practice through play. Now, when I start to feel blue or rundown I do a little research of what herb, root, or berry would be helpful and then concoct something in my kitchen to make myself feel better. Fill your cup with something kind. ~Carrie Newcomer from Betty’s Diner Recently I hung out with two children under the age of six  – three days later my belly decided to revolt. Instead of reaching for ginger ale I started making myself the most delicious ginger tea.   Simple Ginger Tea: 1 inch ginger sliced (this can be imperfect – you don’t even have to peel it – your choice) 12 ounces of filtered water Black pepper Local Honey Lime Bring the ginger and water to a boil,  reduce heat and allow it to gently simmer for 10 minutes. In a mug: add a teaspoon of honey (more to taste) the juice of half a lime a crack or two of black pepper Pour the hot ginger tea over this mixture....

Resolution versus Intention

Miracles do happen. Grace does occur. But more often than not, change, transformation and growth require baby steps – many, many, baby steps. I love the turning of the New Year. It always seems that there has been a reset on a grand scale. The coming months somehow spread out and seem fresh. Time seems abundant and hope is high. New Years resolutions stream through the world, and the people run forth to the new dawn resolved to: read more books, exercise, eat better, loose weight, volunteer more, etc. For a while gyms become packed, yoga classes cram mat to mat, volunteer organizations field numerous requests, 52 new books are bought and then mid-February hits. The newness begins to wane, and for the majority, there is complete fallout. Over the years I have had a lot of resolutions blow-up, how about you? Rather than setting resolutions, I now think more about setting an intention. These words are often used interchangeably, they seem so similar, but there meanings are meaningfully different. After so many years of failed resolutions I now choose to start my New Year not by what I am resolved to do but what I intend to do. To feel the energetic difference between resolution versus intention, say the following two statements out loud with your eyes closed: I resolve to practice yoga regularly. I intend to practice yoga regularly. They create a different feeling, right? Just like wanting change and choosing change: I want to change. I choose to change. Here are my intentions for the coming year: Be better in all areas of my life and...

How do you behave after you become afraid?

I think we can all agree that what is happening in the world is scary. There is violence, strife, poverty, and heartbreak pretty much in every direction. So much suffering is being actively created by the hands of FEARFUL man. Title it what you like but it is fear that is breeding the violence, greed, racism, extremism, the endless arguments about borders, and creating the absolute hell of war. That is fear – often labeled as something else – operating behind the scenes.  Which begs the question: “How do you behave after you become afraid?” Not the very instant the fear strikes. But after it settles itself. After it becomes normal rather than abnormal to feel afraid. When the fear has become your bedrock. How then do you behave? Anxiety has always been an issue for me. My practice over time has become my medicine. If I don’t practice enough I notice my anxiety begin to spark and fire. I notice the heat beginning to build and I know I need to get back on my mat for longer practices. And I do. I hate anxiety! So I practice. She noticed her anxiety sneaking around, its darkness at her edges. It appeared as a crawling thing in the corner, a demon in the shadows. It took up space and sang its siren song of misery. Excerpt from Healing Footstep to Footstep   For a long time I though my anxiety happened in a vaccum. I was anxious because I was anxious. OKAY?!?!?!?! But through the awareness that practicing yoga and meditation ultimately brings I now recognize that what I...