Every year, I look forward to the explosion of blossoming Jasmine that takes over my back porch. When the Jasmine blooms, I move as much of my life as I can to the back patio. I read, meditate, write, eat, do yoga, drink tea – and sometimes I just sit and do nothing at all except bask in the spell of this intoxicating scent. (more…)

I was teaching a stress management workshop for kids the other day at a highly competitive private school. Even writing that sentence makes me connect with how extremely stressed so many kids are today. As a therapist, I specialize in working with teens and am constantly reminded of how much pressure is put on adolescents these days to succeed. It seems as if there is very little room just to be a kid. (more…)

Is all music spiritual? The reason I ask this today is because I love to play all kinds of different music when I am practicing yoga – everything from Deva Premal to Madonna. I let each style inspire me with the musician’s unique energy. I have shared this love of music with others and most people I teach also enjoy it. (more…)

This weekend I started noticing some of the people in my life who embody the spirit of yoga. Although I teach and practice yoga all the time, I am not talking about the people I see at the studio or on the yoga mat. I am talking about those amazing people I run into, who seem to have found the secret of serenity in their lives. (more…)

We have heard many reports of how yoga has made a difference in the lives of people challenged with cancer. In New Hampshire YogaCaps has been an oasis for groups of women who are battling breast cancer. Terry and Ajay Gupta, the founders of YogaCaps provide an eight-week yoga program that includes “Hatha postures, breathing exercises, yoga Nidra and laughter yoga.” (more…)

We recently had the great pleasure of meeting Nischala Joy Devi and experience her compassionate teachings. She  instantly filled the room with her generous spirit and  beaming smile.

Today we wanted to take a moment to let our readers know about her recent announcement of an audio version of one of her most popular books. (more…)

This last week I too became a part of the national statistics on people who contracted the flu. And although I like to think that I keep myself somewhat healthy throughout the year and I rarely ever get sick, I just wasn’t getting out of it so easily.

I spent days and nights with holistic remedies to bring down a fever, relieve head and body aches and to clear up chest congestion. But I was also wanting to approach it with my yoga practice. Fortunately I remembered this article in Yoga Journal called 7 Poses to Relieve Cold & Flu Symptoms. (more…)

“Who am I really, and how do I want to be today?”

How many times have you been asked the question “What do you do?” At parties, during first introductions, at a family gathering, people find it easy to define us by asking what we do and placing that answer in their frame of reference. But what happens when we choose to shift that question slightly and examine within ourselves the deeper question of “How am I a part of my life today?” This simple question has the ability to transform our sense of authenticity and inspire a renewed sense of honesty with others and ourselves. (more…)

So often we begin a yoga practice to release built up tensions, and stresses from our active lives. And then we soon find that what we are actually gaining is a balance of spirit, mind and body. But as one creative non-fiction teacher discovered – the release of a creative self-can also be a result of a consistent yoga practice.

Michael McColly of Columbia College Chicago and Northwestern University was reading story after story of self-abuse, addictions and rape from his students. (more…)

How many of us have successfully healed ourselves after a critical loss in our lives? What approach have we embraced in order to ease our pain? And have we learned all that we were meant to from the experience?

In the article entitled Grief to Gratitude, (Fit Yoga, October)the writer Libuse Bider recounts how she sought out her yoga practice to aid her in dealing with the transition of losing her father. (more…)