Coastal Maine

Some parts of a bout with Lyme disease have been obviously not fun. I had to miss a Restorative Yoga training and eat the cost. I had to withdraw from Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training.

Other parts worked out miraculously well. I had been invited to visit a retreat center in coastal Southern Maine a few weeks ago. I accepted the invitation and asked Christie to join me. When the date rolled around I had a week of antibiotics in me and started to feel like fresh Maine air would actually be perfect.

On her birthday, Christie and I drove up to New Haven, Connecticut. I had charted a restaurant midway up where we could get a nice birthday lunch and I could give her a present. Christie was hilarious and as she saw that we were on Yale's campus, she needed to run across the street and purchase a sweatshirt. As one does.

We continued north and hit tons of weekend traffic but also caught up in basically all the details of each other's lives. As we arrived in the small town of Saco, I parked on the side street as instructed. An older man on a porch watched us steadily. I felt like he was either going to strip our car or help us out. I tried to steer towards friendliness by greeting him. Three times, he mumbled back, "All that glitters is not gold." A 12-year-old smoking a cigarette laughed.

Saco!

We walked over to the retreat center and found yoga teachers from throughout New England enjoying dinner on the porch. Gerry, the retreat owner, laid out an ambitious plan to show us what the area had to offer. I had already explained that I wanted to see the center to add to my database, but that I was going to have to take a slower pace than the group. (I was tuned into the weekend as I had visited Gerry's center in Stowe, VT a few years back.) We elected to join that evening's visit to some nearby beaches. Two teachers from Worcester, MA invited us to ride with them and a power yoga teacher from Gloucester, MA jumped in as well.

We got the car on the side street and came back to the retreat center to find everyone gone! We drove around and did find some of the lovely Ferry beaches. Texting and calling were getting us nowhere and it was getting dark so we found our way back to the retreat center. I called it a night and Christie shared wine with our new friends by the pool.

The following morning the group did yoga on the beach in Kennebunkport (of Bush fame) as Christie and I got to know the weekend's chef and enjoy breakfast. We went back to Ferry beach and set up a blanket. The beaches are far less crowded and the water frigid. Our neighbors read Stephen King novels and ate lobster rolls. Perfect.

We drove further down to the town of Old Orchard, much more populated with an amusement park and lots of clam shacks. It was biker weekend so hordes of motorcycles roared through the narrow streets between families and sunbathers. We popped in a little diner for lunch and headed back towards Saco.

We picked up Alya, our friend from Gloucester, and went north to Kennebunkport. This area is truly beautiful and not terribly accessible. It wasn't clear, but we somehow stumbled on the daytripper protocol of purchasing a car pass and then parking on the road. Apparently, if we hadn't, it would have been bad. The beach was even less crowded as most were staying in the few mansions along the dunes. Looking out to the horizon, waves were broken by pine-covered islands.

Based on Alya's wonderful recommendations, on Sunday morning Christie and I drove south to the little town of York. We had a fantastic fresh breakfast at a diner counter before winding our way along the lupine covered cliffs along the coast. York is home to several coves and the nubble lighthouse up on a cliff. We found that we were near Shilo Farm, another retreat center that had come highly recommended. 

We pulled into the parking lot under the tall pines. A huge sheep-looking dog named Shasta almost scared off Christie. Shasta alerted the owner, Jonas, who invited us in for a quick tour. The farm and yoga barn sparkled under the dappled light. There's a tiny house in the trees. There are several areas for gathering and bonfires, some by the elderberry groves. Apparently, Ani DiFranco was resting in one of the buildings as we wandered through.

It was utter magic and we were so grateful to have found it. We hit the road, heading south, back to husbands, animals, and the thick New Jersey heat.

Yoga at the workplace

Yoga at the workplace

I have a weekly yoga class at a work place that’s a ton of fun. Their HR department contacted me to offer a few classes during a wellness day. Today, I lead two chair yoga sessions, one meditation session, and a yoga class. I created a reminder sheet that I’m sharing with you in case it’s helpful!

Tips for feeling great throughout your day:

Set a timer for every half hour or so. Each time you are alerted take a big, slow, mindful breath. (There are reminder apps too!)

Move! However you want to! With frequency!

Low back pain? Squat whenever possible. If that’s a challenge, work towards it. Do wall sits when you can. Build strength. The strength will create safe mobility over time.

As much as possible, open the front of the throat and chest. Neck rolls as well as the subtle drags on the collarbone can help keep this often tight area open. 

Open the often tight pecs with the stretches at the wall or in door frames.

Try to keep your feet as active as possible. When appropriate, roll your feet with yoga tune up balls or tennis balls.

Meditation doesn’t have to be silence in a cave. Try a simple walking meditation of mindfully and silently repeating to yourself “I am breathing in, I am breathing out” with each step.

Do you have other tips that help you feel embodied and present even while seated in front of a screen? Share ‘em!

Having Faith in Our Own Creations

I'm doing a thing.

I've done a soft launch on Patreon.

If you're asking, "what the what?!" I know. Patreon is a network of creators. The idea is that in this new day of cutting out the middle man in all forms, Patreon is attempting to let those who benefit from art and creation directly support those who create it.

If you hunt around on Patreon you'll find amazing podcasters, musicians, graphic artists, writers, and more. So far, I have not seen yoga teachers.

I'm on there as a writer and as a developer of professional content for yoga teachers. It's a bit of an intimidating gulp to declare myself a writer and to commit to projects that I've quietly undertaken. It's also asking me to take ownership for the value of what I do meaning, I have to believe in my work if I ask you to support it.

My work revolves around voice. I've spent my adult life clarifying my own voice in the spoken word, as a teacher, and as a writer. It's my creation and contribution. As someone who does professional development with other teachers, I work to mirror others voice back to them, so they can hear their own, and teach authentically.

Yesterday, I saw a student's review of my yoga class. She wrote, "A lovely balance of anatomy and philosophy all tied together with a clear and concise voice."

It's beautiful when someone mirrors to you that you've actualized your intention.

If my work is valuable to you, please place value on it. Please support me on Patreon. $1/month is amazing and super helpful. If you know of others who would value this work, please share it with them. I'm looking to grow this network and reach.

I think living creatively is the only way to live. I'm going to keep creating. With your support, we create together. I love you. Thank you.

Make sacred

This past weekend in Yogawood's teacher training, we created ceremony.

Every year as part of training, we investigate Bhakti, or the yoga of love. Usually, this day involves story telling about gods and goddesses and yogic mythology. My co-facilitator, Christie and I inherited a wonderful program to facilitate. We're also making sure that we feel clear on every element so the program gets to grow like all living, breathing entities. We thought through the part of the program on Bhakti and looked to make it more experiential. We created an altar, telling trainees to arrive later so we would have time to really consecrate the space. We instructed trainees to wear all white, so we would all be a bit more aware. We invited trainees to bring a sacred object that they could place on the altar, as they arrived silently and reverently. Lastly, we invited them to share stories and chants about their isvara.

For those of you not immersed in all things yogic, isvara is the aspect of God that you most relate to. For a Christian, it might be Jesus. For a Catholic, it could be Mary. For a Muslim, perhaps Muhammed. Many of various Hindu faiths relate to Krishna or Shiva. Some Buddhists relate to Buddha. Those in certain Caribbean or African faiths might relate to Yemaya or Oshun.

In Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, one of our first and most seminal yogic texts, we're told that the most direct path to the state of yoga, or integration and wholeness, is isvara-pranidhanadva, or surrendering to the Divine as you understand it.

Therefore, noticing the isvara you gravitate to and developing a clear relationship with that isvara is a powerful yogic practice.

Earlier in our teacher training we invite trainees to think through an aspect of the Divine that they relate to. As we'd never dictate another's beliefs, we leave this somewhat broad and for the purposes of familiarizing with the concept open up the possibility of identifying with a force like nature or love.

At this point in training, we asked trainees to circle back, and tell us more about their isvara.

We went around the circle chanting, telling stories, and explaining where we connected. As I listened to these beautiful people talking about what moves them, what connects to their inner life, I witnessed teachers. Yoga teachers know how to make big, amorphous, esoteric ideas connected and alive. They know that the universe lives in the details and let the specificity of their lives wisely be part of illuminating the all. It was beautiful and affecting for all involved. It was vulnerable and tender and fun.

I'm reading a beautiful book called Belonging by Toko-pa. She writes about dream work and how the subconscious can illuminate where we feel like we belong and are connected and where that disconnect shows itself. Yoga!

In one passage she writes that the etymology of the word "sacrifice" comes from the Latin word for "holy." In her understanding, sacrifice is giving something up to make it holy again. Giving our labor to a garden to appreciate the food. Giving our patience to a relationship to make it matter.

I thought about this understanding of sacrifice as related to the practice of isvara-pranidhanadva. We give some part of our trust, vulnerability, and inner life to make it sacred again. We create a mindful, meaningful relationship with something bigger than ourselves to make relationships sacred again. To make ourselves sacred again. When we perceive ourselves to be sacred, of course we feel connected to the all.

All photos in this post credited to the beautiful eye of Krista Sassani

I'll be your mirror

I co-facilitate a 200 hour hour yoga teacher training at Yogawood. We're at the point in the course where trainees are teaching segments of group classes. After the class, we sit down and dissect what worked really well, what can be improved, and how to implement growth. It is a beautiful practice, one where we see one another, honor the strength and courage it takes to put yourself out there, and celebrate the practice.

I love it.

Somewhere in the midst of all of this, I realized how to implement a mentorship that had been hovering around in my imagination. I realized it's a Mirrorship.

“We can’t find the truth only listening to our own voice’s echo. We can find ourselves only in someone’s mirror.” —Shams Tabrizi

You are your own best mentor. Let me be a mirror.

If you’re a 200 hour Yoga Alliance certified teacher, teaching public classes, let’s work together. We’ll establish a 3-month window in which we’ll complete our work. During that time, I’ll review* 5 of your public classes and give you specific feedback on what worked as well as what can be improved upon. We’ll get clear on your goals as a yoga teacher and how to reach them. We’ll circle in on your strengths and how they help you effectively share this ancient and wise practice. Your voice will get stronger and more clear. Your ability to communicate about what you do (also known as advertising) will become conscious and more authentic to who you are and how you operate. You’ll conclude the program with a greater awareness of yogic ethics as well as 15+ hours of on-going education to meet annual Yoga Alliance requirements.

We’ll work one-on-one to bring great awareness, care, and precision to your practice of teaching.

You can begin this program at any time. We’ll agree on a mutually convenient schedule.

To begin the program, complete this application. Purchase here. 

Within an agreed-upon 3 month period, the mentorship includes:

• Review of 5 open classes (recorded and discussed over GoogleChat or possibly in person if in the Philadelphia-area and able to schedule)
• Working together to goal set around teaching development
• Creating a solid plan to meet goals, which may include reading, journaling, or other concrete ways to grow teaching skills
• Strengthening teaching voice through specific feedback on word choice, effective direction, volume, and cadence to wisely guide students
• Assessing your strengths as a teacher and amplifying them
• Gaining clarity on how we communicate about teaching; including reviewing bio, social media outreach, website, and/or email lists
• Think through teaching ethics such as how and when to adjust and assist, boundaries, authentic marketing, and more
• Creating on-going experiences to learn
• Aligning with the work that inspires
• Gain 15+ hours of Yoga Alliance Continuing Education credits with a YACEP E-RYT Continuing Education provider

Location:

If you’re in the Philadelphia-area and we can smoothly coordinate schedules, we’ll meet primarily in person! If you’re outside of this area we’ll coordinate GoogleChat sessions to work together.

*If you live outside of the Philadelphia-area you’ll record your classes and email me audio or video files to review. Our meetings will occur over GoogleChat.

A little postscript! When this program came to me in a flash I also saw that the image was a tarot card with a mirror-- an ancient way of finding our own reflection and in it, clarity. It was such a pleasure to collaborate with Maggie Martin for the design! I commissioned the work, she gave me clear timelines, options, and edits to bring this idea into reality. I love giving the work visual clarity and am so grateful to work with artists towards those ends!

Sitting is the devil

I tried my hardest, but whatever bug is going around got me. I've seen this thing hit a few people and observed a trend: those who tried to push through suffered a prolonged bout. Those who just rested and let the thing run it's course recovered more quickly and completely.

I surrendered.

Through a host of weird circumstances, I actually found myself with a few days to just rest. It hasn't been great because I haven't felt great but I am grateful that I'm able to take time and heal when needed. As I've recovered my body felt weird. Not, sick and sore weird but like, immobile sore. While sick I primarily laid down or sat. My body isn't so accustomed to this. Teaching yoga means a lot of moving around. I'm literally walking to and from teaching appointments in addition to moving when teaching. I purposefully don't practice alongside my students because I see teaching and practicing as two fundamentally distinct activities. I prioritize my own practice and make sure to be a student at a yoga class several times a week. When I teach, I teach. I observe the students in my class, if something I'm verbally instructing is unclear, I demonstrate it or demonstrate a piece of the pose, and I'm continuously assisting. I've found that the posture I'm in most often when teaching is a squat. Which is great. Super healthy. And my squat is improving in time. I'm finding more hip mobility, ankle mobility, and length in my spine.

After being sick, my low back hurts. My low back very rarely hurts. I realized it's from sitting too much!

Sitting is the devil!

Thankfully, as a yoga teacher, I have some tricks up my sleeve. I'm still home due to a similar host of circumstances, still staying pretty quiet and preserving my energy, but I am doing prep work for upcoming facilitations. I laid out my yoga mat, a nice thick blanket over top, and did yin. I added my yoga tune up balls (a lovely gift from dear Rachel Cope!). I rolled out my feet while I stood reading. I laid on heart bench and put the balls under my glutes. I rolled out the front, sides, and backs of my hips. I laid down and placed the balls under my upper back and shoulders where I could roll those tight areas as well.

After about an hour or more rolling and reading, I got up to fix myself an espresso. I feel so much better.

And simultaneously so sad for those who don't know how to care for themselves.

I hear complaints of lower back pain continuously. It's not one of my personal afflictions so I can't commiserate, but I can offer suggestions towards alleviation.

I'm increasingly grateful for the work that I've chosen and how it allows me to structure my life. Convenience is the devil! I've noticed it these past few days as I've still had to trudge outside to retrieve clothes that were drying on the line. I didn't want to. I grumbled as I didn't feel well. And then, getting outside for a bit made me feel much, much better. The fresh air was incredibly restoring.

I'm trying to remind myself of this continuously because I want convenience. I want a remote starter for my car. I want to sit and relax.

And yet, when I do just sit, it hurts.

Humans aren't meant for that. We're meant to move. Even when we're under the weather. Movement relieves us.

Seen on a run through Philly. I took this run super reluctantly just prior to getting sick. I didn't regret the movement. It showed me this frame of sweetness.

Story Telling for Yoga Teachers!

I LOVE STORY TELLING.

I lulled myself to sleep as a child by telling myself chapter after chapter of self-created epic tales. As a teenager, I went with my high school to a story telling festival in Johnson City, TN. We sat on hay bales and heard tall tales. I found out my grandmother had gone to college in the same town where I was currently flirting with a boy who had recently left stints with both Shakers and Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn.

I love stories.

Yoga classes become alive for me when I feel mythology, archetype, and story in my body. I've loved yoga classes where teachers taught me through movement as well inspiration. This is one of my favorite aspects of teaching. A yoga class can be exercise-- there's nothing wrong with that. It can also be an event, a happening, an atmosphere co-created.

Last year, I took a workshop on story telling to test run some of my own ideas on the art form. Feeling solid in my approach, I offered a workshop at Yogawood on the topic. It was really fun! The topic lends itself well to an online approach so I have now adapted this to an online course! It's on sale until Christmas Day. I've created supplemental material available on my podcast!

You can take this course whenever. The content will meet you independently! You can find the support material clearly linked. Buy here!

Artist Katie Chappell had begun creating some images for me for another project. They became perfect fodder and accompaniment for this online course! Enjoy the whimsy and imaginative illustrations while you clear your creative voice.

This course is specifically designed for yoga teachers but accessible for anyone who wants to limber up their own imagination, access their own inspiration, and get more comfortable creating. 

This course is a great gift for the yoga teacher in your life! Please spread the word, get out there and inspire!

Want to take class with me? Download my podcast!

I'm a big believer in trusting your own inspiration. It often takes you down unexpected paths.

When I developed my online course I tested it with some trusted friends. One piece of feedback I received was to create supplementary material like examples of myself doing what I'm teaching in the course. I tried to figure out how I could do that best. Would I film myself and upload it on YouTube? There's definitely a lot of yoga teaching on YouTube, which can be great. Filming, getting a good, quiet location, appropriate lighting, and quality is an undertaking. I knew that I wanted to create and refine as I go. Filming seemed like a bigger task than I was up to for now.

I love podcasts and love learning through audio. I already had the equipment needed to create audio content. I began researching how to create a podcast... and it's an undertaking. But one that felt more accessible than creating content that's both audio and visual. Podcasts also seemed to open up more interesting pathways.

After massive research, I have now created a podcast on iTunes! Podcasts need a web home to create an RSS so after more research and friend feedback, I've created my podcast home on SquareSpace. I am feeling SO tech-savvy for once! I'm SEO-optimizing, creating RSS feeds, and all sorts of other stuff that I only vaguely understand!

The plan is to post a podcast of a class monthly. I may also post little teaching samples mainly geared towards other yoga teachers who are taking my online courses and looking for supplemental material. I'm toying with broadening this-- interviews and conversation may come.

I think the classes will really serve those of you who don't live near a yoga studio or when you're traveling and busy. I hope they help you keep your practice near and dear. These podcast classes are not designed for new students learning yoga. Those of you: please come to class! I'll teach you! The podcasts are for people with yoga experience who want to practice. I hope it serves.

Do you have other ideas of other ways you'd like me to use the podcast? Requests for the classes? People you want me to talk with? Email me! I'm about the collaborative life!

In the meantime, please subscribe to my podcast on iTunes and if you're so inclined, please give it a good rating and review on iTunes so it becomes more easily searchable to other listeners! Thank you and Jai!

Refresh

I've been so grateful to work with some awesome folks to make my services visible! Lauren Lopez crafted my first logo and website a few years ago. She's amazing. She and I have worked together in many capacities and I highly recommend her!

The logo she created and that I've used is:

As a lot of time has passed and my work vision is shifting and clarifying, it was time for an update! I really didn't know what I was after... I had a feeling but not a concept. A friend suggested I try 99designs so I could get an array of ideas to chose from. I started a contest on the website. At first, I got a LOT of lotus flowers and gentle women sitting cross-legged.

Nope.

As I responded, the designs changed. I logged in one evening and caught my breath. A designer had submitted a venn diagram, the right sphere lifting slightly like it was launching out to space. In the overlap space there was a silhouette.

THAT.

That concept. I teach venn diagrams ALL THE TIME. What does this yogic myth teach us about our own lives? What does Fado music teach us about bhakti? What is the space between? How do we see ourselves when we're thrown into shadow, against light?

The design felt like it actually communicated my work.

And it didn't feel like anything else-- meaning, it didn't feel trendy, or like a fad, or predictable. It actually felt connected to what I do.

I started working with the designer on refining. I began googling cameos and getting excited about their history, about the subjects sitting against light for their profile to emerge. Seeing oneself in the contrast. I offered suggestions and the profile shifted slightly. We added gradiant color. The type was edited.

Slowly, it came to life.

I eagerly awarded this design and the designer the contest award. And here it is. My new logo!

Once the logo was in place my new website came together effortlessly. I've tried to take on more of this upkeep myself so I did my website design on wix! It's been really fun to figure out how to effectively organize the information. I'll be able to maintain this myself easily.

As I've pulled all of this together I feel fresh life being breathed into my work. I have a lot of ideas about what's to come: more writing, more online classes, a podcast, more teaching, and collaboration. I'm glad to have a home to share what I'm up to!

In the spirit of breathing life into life, I'm offering my first online course at a discount. I built this course over the span of many months, tested it with trusted sources, commissioned fantastic art work from Katie Chappell and am so glad to share it with you! This is a $60 class that I'm offering at a discount until Christmas! Please purchase NOW at the $40 rate and tell me where the inspiration takes you!

To creating!

Aparigraha and presence

I thoroughly enjoy nerding on yoga philosophy— which is some of why I’ve prioritized my own practice of physical yoga asana to balance out my own tendencies to only live in my thoughts and never in my own body.

In training other yoga teachers, I get to indulge much of my nerdery. This year’s class of Yogawood 200 hour vinyasa teacher trainees are approaching yogic ethics in the yamas and niyamas. These are codes of behaviors with others and oneself written down in the earliest yogic text, The Sutras. The distinction between behaviors with others and oneself is often emphasized— for example, the first Yama is ahimsa or non-harming. It’s pretty common to hear modern day yogis write or say, “I’m practicing ahimsa by not pushing myself too hard and doing every chaturanga. I’m not harming myself.”

The yamas aren’t really about you with you. Being nice to yourself is important, but it’s not ahimsa. Ahimsa is very clearly not harming others. From there, the yamas instruct us to be honest (satya), not to steal (asteya), to be respectful and careful with our sexual energy and behavior (brahmacarya), and to not grasp (aparigraha).

The last one, aparigraha, non-grasping fascinates me. I think it’s so illuminating in this current age. I read about it lots. I write about it too. It’s so comforting that for thousands of years millions of people have struggled with grasping after too many experiences, too many things, too many titles, jobs, relationships, trainings, accreditations, achievements, and more. I remember reading a Buddhist article on aparigraha (the idea shows up there too) reminding the reader that we grasp when we feel insufficient. The author’s antidote was to focus on feeling enough, to see where we have enough, and are enough. Then the grasping tendency abates.

As I revisited aparigraha recently I was struck that this is a yama, not a niyama, meaning aparigraha is very explicitly an instruction of our behavior in the context of others. I feel pretty clear on ahimsa, or brahmacarya for that matter (the sexual responsibility one!), but this felt different... grasping feels so detrimental to ourselves. If, like the Buddhist article suggested, it stems from a feeling of lacking the behavior is a bandaid or a distraction. How does it impact others?

I started looking out for it. My husband and I have amazing conversations and very different conversational styles. Conversations are combat sports for me. I want to parry the words and defeat my opponent. Kevin wants to learn something. Novel. We’re learned a lot from one another both in the content of our discussions as well as from our styles. I’ve urged Kevin to be more passionate and assertive. He’s shown me that listening is, perhaps, worthwhile.

My trained habit in conversations is grasping— I like to grasp after my response (“I will dazzle you!”) or find the perfect anecdote (“you will be charmed!”) so I’m usually hunting in my own brain rather than actually hearing the other person. Aparigraha. Grasping.

I realized that this causes me to not be present to the person I’m with. By practicing ahimsa, I no longer harm another. By practicing aparigraha, I’m actually present to them.

Aparigraha is absolutely a yama. It has everything to do with how we engage with those we perceive as other to us. It is inviting us to actually be with one another.

Feel your feet.

My feet are often purple. Poor circulation runs in my family. One particularly bad winter I got chilblains! I didn’t even know what they were. Kevin googled “swollen, itchy toes” and we discovered that I had more in common with those living at the turn of the century than originally suspected.

Recently, Kevin listened to a Gurdjieff lecture. An audience member posed a particularly combative question to Gurdjieff. Gurdjieff roared back, “where are your feet?” The audience member continued contesting. Gurdjieff asked again, “where are your feet?” The audience member heard, slowed, felt. The tenor of their exchange shifted radically to one of more mutual understanding.

Kevin relayed the exchange to me. I tried to feel my feet. I’ve taught yoga for more than 7 years and I’m not sure that I’ve felt them even in that time. Even teaching body awareness most days of the week.

And I am comparatively in my body. And my practice has landed me more deeply in my body than I lived prior.

And I rarely feel my feet.

So I now continuously ask myself, “where are your feet?” And the funny thing is that I start to feel sensation almost like pins and needles after the limb having fallen asleep. My attention is acting shifting circulation.

In yoga there’s a saying that “prana flows where citta goes” meaning energy flows in the direction of your attention. I’ve seen this again and again. When Kevin and I pay attention to each other, there is a flourishing in our marriage. When we first adopted our rescue cats they were a bit haggard— they’d been through a lot! As we attended to their safety, comfort, and fun they blossomed. Their eyes grew brighter, their fur shiny, and their sweet, authentic selves emerged. When I attend to my aloe plants the stems plump up and the green skin shines. I neglected my house for awhile and it showed. Now that I’m putting more care in painting a wall here, or replacing this appliance, or adding or removing a decoration there’s a different buzz in the walls and feeling in the air. Energy flows.

Feet are an interesting place to numb. It means that it’s also hard to feel where you are on the earth. I’m paying attention to all of my shoes— which shoes more contain me and which shoes offer a bit more breath.

Not feeling feet means less balance. Less ability to spread toes and nuance ones stance.

This energy flow is an overall inhabitation. Where I am that I am not? How often am I at home but mentally at work? How often am I in a conversation but actually talking to my high school teacher? How often for any of us?

We know presence is a practice. That understanding unfolds.

I wonder, too, at the fictions that convince us that presence is taxing. What feels simpler about checking out than staying in? What fear underpins numbness?

My body is proving a very trustworthy gauge. It’s a compass. It’s a locator. It’s a vessel. It’s a world unto itself.

I heard an interview recently where a young writer shared her frustration at working in a cubicle. She wanted to be “free” to write and her pragmatic 9-5 was other than her passion. In the course of the conversation her mantra emerged: “this is where the action is.”

I remembered all the times my life seemed other than where it was. The bored hours waiting tables, itching to get on the road. High school droning endlessly on until my life could begin. All the moments when I felt on the outside of my own life.

When I didn’t feel my feet.

Prana flows where citta goes.

I’m very invested in my life.

It’s amazing.

I am feeding it. I am paying attention to it. I am feeling it. I am grateful for it. It is where the action is.

I am in my feet.

Allow Play

On the Portugal retreat, we woke up to horses neighing (or one allergic horse coughing) and the breeze whispering the pines. We got coffee or tea and wandered up to the studio for breath practice and meditation sits. Returning to the common area, we found breakfast displays full of home made seed breads, fresh juices and smoothies, more coffee and teas, herbal infused waters, fruits, local European cheeses, and protein and fiber rich bowls like the one below.

Our retreat site was a 45 minute hike, or shorter run, down to Praia Amado and Praia da Bodera. These are two of the best surf beaches in Europe. They're also on something like a Portuguese Appalachian trail, a beautiful coastal hike through Portugal's south.

If you didn't want to hike, the drive took about 10 minutes.

Surf schools had lessons on the sand. Rented campers parked in the lots while road trippers read novels in the open backs. Snack stands sold cappuccinos in addition to beer.

The cliffs created coves of natural shade. Additionally, one of our retreat participants had been gifted an umbrella. Portugal's west coast hit a COLD current of Atlantic. The little river tributary provided a warmer swim and shallow waters for kids.

After mornings spent in practice we spent afternoons hiking, swimming, sunning, watching.

From our retreat vantage in the hills, the beaches looked inches away. From our height we could watch the sun drop into the water each night. The ocean stayed with us.

As we hiked near, all the hills and valleys clarified perspective. Praia Amado and Praia da Bodeira, so near as the crow flies, were not so near!

Long hikes called for cold beers. And taxis back so we could make it to the retreat in time for evening Yin and meditation practice!

Our group was pretty adventurous, so we had a few days of piling into cars together and trekking to major points throughout the Algarve. South of our home in Carrapateira, we visited the famous beaches of Lagos. Praia Dona Ana is the stuff of post cards.

Little beach side restaurants sold grilled sardines and Portuguese baguettes in the shade.

Some of the beautiful women of our retreat.

Among many many topless women. Some of us joined them. 

Still in Lagos, the Benagil caves are accessible by boat or swimming from some beaches. We decided to get on a little boat tour to visit some of the beautiful grottoes.

We had SUPER fun captains who did wheelies in the water and took us to private coves to swim.

The hidden treasures of the Algarve, the southwestern-most cape of Sao Vicente, the grottoes and smiles...

Lauren was the CAPTAIN'S FAVORITE! This chick knows how to play along and have fun!

My favorite part of a yoga retreat is remembering that yoga is not so serious. Meditation and practice don't have to be austere. Let your well-being swell with joy.