Balance in life is something we hear about often, and something that we constantly try to find. One day, you feel like you found some balance, then the next day, it’s gone. Where did it go? Why does this “balance” thing seem so elusive and slippery? I have found that one can find balance in a variety of ways. 

For myself, and many others, the easiest way to find balance is in the doing or changing. It is easy to look at our lives and see what needs to be changed, added, or taken away. Last school year I was working 30 hours a week as a Kita teacher, and teaching yoga classes in the afternoons/evenings. As well as trying to find time to be mom, wife, friend. Needless to say, it was too much. I knew something needed to change. The...

New life. There are a few monumental moments where I remember experiencing the miracle of new life, and new growth. The first time I experienced the change of seasons. I am a Southern California girl from Santa Barbara, where there is always growth and flowering vegetation. Then, my husband, Lee, and I moved to his home town of Portland, Oregon. It was in the Pacific Northwest where I experience the complete hibernation of the winter season: the pause of all growth with the shorter, colder, and darker days. When the change to spring began, and I saw the budding of new growth on the trees and plants, I felt a visceral reaction inside of me in celebration of this life! This new growth that is born from the darker days.

The miracl...

A few years ago, when I decided I wanted to teach mindfulness, I struggled with what to call my business. I didn’t want my name to be part of it, but I couldn’t seem to find the right sentiment.

Towards the end of my teacher training we discussed the concept of “common humanity”, and I knew almost instantly that I wanted to convey this message through my work: we are all human.

Upon meeting someone new, we always seem to look for what separates us first. It’s not our fault; our brains are wired to look for threats in any given situation (social or otherwise). Whether it’s our religion, social status, political affiliation, favorite sports team or a preferred clothing brand, we seem to know how to identify our differences and to th...

It occurred to me that my body is an interesting and fairly well-controlled scientific experiment.  What happens if you practise Ashtanga for 30-90 mins daily for 10+ years and then switch suddenly to another very different style? Since training as a Forrest teacher, my daily practice is a similar duration each day.  I haven't moved house or changed job. My lifestyle is otherwise almost exactly the same, except that the new element is my Forrest Yoga practice instead of my vinyasa practice. Obviously I can't prove causation, but I've observed quite a few interesting shifts.

In September 2017, I began my first yoga teacher training course in a style I'd only tried twice before: Forrest Yoga.  Before that I'd practised Ashta...

Every morning of the last decade, as I popped in my thyroid pill, I have looked at the swelling around my wrists and ankles, the dark circles  under my eye with dismay. My body mirrored the fact that I was most ineffective in handling all the anxiety and stress I had been dealing with. Food had become a major stress buster, a solace for the troubled mind. Fatigue, irritability, aches and pains were all signs of health issues settling in. Sudden and drastic increase in weight, edema and dullness were diagnosed as symptoms of Hypothyroidism; neck pain and vertigo were effects of postural spondilosis. Through the years a deep sense of disconnect from the body had set in echoing my restless mind. There was little hope that things co...