Since my husband first proposed that we move to Europe so he could enroll in a doctoral program in France instead of the United States, I have felt the unsteady groundlessness of limbo even more acutely than ever before in my life. It’s odd because I have always made the choice to try something new,…
Category: meditation
Do unto others
I offered a yoga class this week where I spoke about the idea of walking your talk. I live and teach in Belgium, and I am often curious if sayings that are commonly used in the United States are found here in Brussels, so I sometimes bring them up in conversation. At the beginning…
Anything but stasis
I have heard many of my yoga and meditation teachers describe how meditation quiets the mind and how it can be easeful and grounding. My experience with meditation in the past year and a half of daily practice has been anything but soothing, however. I read about people’s initial struggles with meditation. They sit and…
The tie doesn’t have to bind
For many years, Alaska has maintained a remarkable and impressively solid hold on me. I have been physically and financially tethered to the state by virtue of the house I have been renting and attempting to sell since moving from Alaska to Massachusetts in frigid conditions in January 2012. Alaska has held onto my psyche…
Pop goes my sanity
Lately, I kind of feel like my body has been replaced with one of those little Jack-in-the-boxes, with a crank on the side that someone turns to play semi-creepy music. As they turn, the music plays faster and the tension increases. When this combination has become almost unbearable, the top of the box pops open…
Without the dark
Much like my journey toward so many practices that create balance and joy in my life, my path to yoga has been full of stops and starts. Realizing that a practice will lead to a more easeful, sustainable existence does not mean that I am able to instantly and seamlessly weave it into my life….
Ready. Set. Zen.
Every night, my husband and I sit down for a 20-minute sit before bed. I use an app to keep track of the timing. As we prepare to sit, I unlock my phone, open the app, and turn off the light. Before I tap the start button to begin our sit, I say the…
In the shadow of Shiva
I spent this past weekend in a teacher training for Anusara yoga. The training was held in English, which was the common language for everyone in the studio. Before moving to Brussels, my husband told me that when he had gone on a PhD reconnaissance mission the city had felt very international. He had that…
I want to believe in people
“When we infuse one routine activity with mindfulness, then another, we are waking up to the mystery of each moment, unknowable until it arrives. As things come forward, we are ready to receive and respond.” (p. 30) Instead of being fearful of what stressful event might befall me next, I can think of these moments…
Howling Wolf Yoga 