If I allow myself to move with grace, does that mean that I slow myself down?   Do I sacrifice strength?  If I feel filled with ease does it mean that I am not being effective?   Or efficient? The dictionary states that grace is "simple elegance or refinement of movement."   But what if I feel clumsy?  What if I AM clumsy? I think that the secret to moving with grace has a great deal to do with our sense of ease.  Of course, dancers and athletes express grace in movement because they've practiced to build strength, capacity, flexibility, and muscle memory.   What about the rest of us? When we move with ease we can begin to tap into grace.  We can start small.  Grace resides within each of us. Sit comfortably and softly close your eyes.   Notice your breathing - the inhale, the exhale.   Notice the gentle rise and fall of the belly - the lift and release of the chest.  As thoughts arise, noti...

  Whether you are a home yoga practitioner or a yoga teacher, you are likely to find ways to put together the yoga asana into a flow or a sequence that begins with centering and grounding, builds in intensity or challenge (or progresses in some way) before slowing down at the end.   As a home practitioner, that was never a problem for me, because I simply put together movements that felt good to me at the moment.   Sometimes I'd forget what I did on one side by the time I got to the other side, but what did that matter?   I was moving (or being still) with my breath, and that was my practice.   That is yoga. In 2019, I completed the 200-hour yoga teacher training, and began teaching.  There began my challenge.   Now I was not only putting together a sequence of movements to share with and teach to others, I was expected to offer some kind of intelligent design.   Foundational poses should build up to more challenging ...

  I’m intrigued by paradox - seemingly contradictory propositions which also carry truth.    I started paying more attention to paradox during my 200-hour yoga teacher training in 2019.   The fellow prospective yoga teachers and I were studying, in some depth, the yoga poses (asana) and learning about the appropriate verbal cues to use while teaching.    This was interesting…    we wanted to offer cues that would support the less experienced yoga practitioner, yet touch the subtlety and the nuance of the pose. Here’s one that proved to be absolutely eye-opening for me: “Root down to rise up” (and all variations on that theme).     I never thought much about the process of “rising up.”   Quite frankly, I never much paid any attention to how my feet (or other bodily part) was/were using the ground, either.     And to think that these two apparently opposite directions of energy were related! "Flying starts from th...

This week of May 24, 2021 will enjoy a beautiful full moon - a supermoon.  The moon is at or near its closest location to earth, and thus appears larger in the night sky.    One thing that I find precious about yoga is that the practice is all about connection.   The word yoga means yoke or union.   The union of body, mind, and spirit.  The link between the inhale and the exhale. The connectedness between ourselves and the wonders of nature all around us.  The relationship of the individual to all living things. Many yoga practitioners are familiar with the Surya Namaskar - the Sun Salutation.   Just thinking about the meaning of those words can fill the heart.   We salute the sun with our breath, our focus, and our movements.    Less familiar to many, perhaps, is the Chandra Namaskar, or the Moon Salutation.   The Chandra Namaskar itself is a relatively recent practice - late 20th century - but the pra...

 I am feeling my age.   Interestingly, through my 40's and even a bit into my 50's, I felt as if I were aging mentally and spiritually, but not so much physically.    But then I hit 60.   BAM!   The Zumba and similar cardio-dance classes that I enjoyed at the local gym caused pain in the ankles, knees, and hips.  Reluctantly, I gave up the "great-fun-but-more-impact-than-my-body-tolerated" classes.   I continued my yoga practice, and turned my attention to walking.   I thought of walking as my meditation-in-motion time.   I could walk for 2, 3, and sometimes even 5 miles with no problems other than, occasionally, needing a place to pee when there wasn't one to be found.   But then walking became a problem.   My left hip became more painful with each passing month.   I felt betrayed by my body.   I had thought that if I just stayed active and took care of myself my body...