Warning: Don’t take your thoughts too seriously
It’s a shame we don’t learn this in school: Don’t take your thoughts too seriously. When present and focused, our thinking minds can do and create incredible things. Affirm that with one quick glance around you. But we have to be careful. Our thoughts also have the ability to lead us into fear, pain, regret, […]
4 tips for when you can’t fall asleep
Having trouble falling asleep is the worst. So, when I find strategies that can help with occasional restless nights, I’m eager to share. Here are four tips to keep in your pajamas’ back pocket. 1. Warm your feet. When you catch yourself rubbing your feet together because you can’t kick a chill — stop. Put […]
Mindfulness is great — just don’t fall into this extremely tempting trap
One of the beautiful fruits of mindfulness is choice. When mindful, we aren’t susceptible to unconscious, automatic reactions. Whereas a mindless response to being cut off in traffic may be to slam your horn and reflexively rage about “drivers these days,” a mindful approach sees the event with some remove, notices budding emotions, and selects […]
Somatic therapy channels the benefits of yoga, but you don’t have to work out
“Our issues are in our tissues.” This adage often comes up in somatic therapy, a relatively new field that’s spiked in popularity in recent years. The basic idea is that our bodies hold our traumas. Whereas traditional talk therapy focuses on our stories, emotions and cognitive processing, somatic methods incorporate this physical element as well. […]
Leave. So that you can stay
After texting “I want to run away from my life” to two close friends while sitting on a hospital bench a few weeks ago, I had a poignant breakthrough moment. My daughter had been admitted for an infection. On that particular day, she was supposed to go home. Her IV was out, her toddler-size mini-mouse […]
How to handle political disagreements – and why it matters
It’s good to be committed to ideals. Conviction and devotion to important causes like peace, freedom, justice, etc. is what moves us forward. But how we approach our principals makes all the difference in the world — so I’m discovering. My husband and I don’t see eye to eye in this department. I’m a writer/yoga […]
How to age better, live longer and have fewer aches and pains
If only there were a pill. Imaginary quick fixes aside, there are probably a few ways to approach a topic like this. But as a yoga and meditation instructor, I have seen two factors have tremendously positive effects: mental discipline and a certain kind of fitness. First, habitual negativity, reactivity and compulsivity takes a toll […]
Tips for staying cool in mind and body this summer
Irritable. Short tempered. Red, flushed, fiery. These are classic signs of overheating. You may remember them from the last time you stepped outside. Staying balanced this time of a year — a state that lends itself to higher levels of thinking, creativity and intuition — means finding ways to stay cool. From a big picture […]