Musings

Blog Articles

May theme: Samskaras and Habitual Behaviors

Sometimes the strangest memories stick with you through the years. This month, as I sit here trying to start writing about samskaras and patterns and, y’know, the topics I believe are relevant and important, I find myself instead back in college, in my French...

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April theme: Vairagya – Detaching and Allowing What Is

“Welcome to the Apocalypse!” My hyperbolic husband has been jokingly throwing that phrase around during this global pandemic, especially since our home city of Seattle has been practicing social distancing for about a month. He’s been reacting well to isolation –...

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March theme: Kriya Yoga and Tapas

This post is intricately connected to last month’s post, Kriya Yoga and Svadhyaya. That has a fuller explanation of Kriya Yoga, and is an excellent place to start if you haven't read it yet. Let’s start with a question: do you have a regular yoga practice? First off,...

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February theme: Kriya Yoga and Svadhyaya

One thing I love about the Yoga Sutras is the emphasis it places on personal experience and discovery. While Patanjali covers very lofty concepts and mind-altering perspectives, he also lays out these ideas in a very accessible way, inviting the student to put these...

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December theme: isvara

Let’s talk about God. Or rather, let’s talk about the Not-God in Raja Yoga. During this winter season, where a great many number of religious and/or spiritual holidays are celebrated, I want to discuss a concept from The Yoga Sutras that I feel is often...

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November theme: Pratyahara

When I first showed up in a yoga class, I had very simple motivations: get out of the house, move my body so I might become more flexible, and make my mother happy (*shrug*). She and I drove to a nearby multigenerational center – where the yoga students’ average age...

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October theme: Obstacles

At some point during your yoga journey (maybe when you’re trying for the umpteenth time to just get...into...headstand…!), odds are good that you’ll run into some discomfort and challenges. These might be physical (arm balances, anyone?), mental (I thought I was...

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September Theme: Prana and Kundalini

As a primarily hatha yoga teacher, I'm often asked what makes my classes different. While people are usually referring to the physical or marketing aspect – how will my body move differently here than a vinyasa, gentle, or power class? – I'm always tempted to respond...

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August theme: Purusha and Prakriti

This month in my public classes, I've been talking about two fundamental concepts of Yoga. Much of the Yoga Sutras discuss the 'how' of your practice – and that's often what we focus on – but it also describes the Yogic lens of what we're dealing with in the world,...

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