Listen up!
Here is someone that I value very much in my life. Someone I want to continue to get to know and to have know me. And how do I show him that I value what he has to say? I talk over him every time he opens his mouth. Gee Wiz girl. I'm pretty embarrassed.
Sound of Silence
Your path to quiet may be meditation. It could be painting. It could be dancing. Your path to quiet could be sitting under a tree, or by a river, or the ocean. It might be cooking or cleaning or folding the laundry. Your path to quiet is your own.
Believing is in the Body
Can I say that I BELIEVE this too? The way that I believe my body steered me into healing old trauma, my body can be a vehicle to transcendent experiences. Can I believe that my body can be an access point into the unseen, to deep layers of knowing, to community with beings my path has not yet crossed? Or was I just visualizing?
I felt a Pop
Exhale, Exhale , deeper and deeper... Then a Pop! Did I hear that or feel it or just imagine it?
Why I teach with a Theme
When I take a well-themed class I get the chance to remember and recollect some forgotten part of myself. I walk away feeling more whole than when I went in. The themes help us to remember.
Please don't let your Ego Strangle your Soul
Your soul is EVERYthing. Your soul holds the key to your ultimate peace and enjoyment of life on this planet. Your soul's work needs to be done and it will be restless and undermining until you get sick --- or get on it.
My Daughter is Watching
In a moment of not even realizing that what I was doing was REVOLUTIONARY for me, I simply slipped the pants off and reached for another pair, one that I knew would fit and feel good.
Friday Morning
This morning I'm blogging from my bed while my 2-year-old is sitting in the next room with my iPhone watching YouTube. I'm having one of those "yeah, I'm an awesome parent" moments.
On Teaching
I've been thinking a lot lately about the craft of teaching yoga. Not the skills or knowledge I'm hoping to impart to the students, but the craft of how I'm sharing what I know. The following thoughts came to me and it is something I'd like to fully live into:
Shining Bright
I spent the last week in New England as an apprentice in the 200-hr Ashaya Yoga Teacher Training run by my longtime teacher, Todd Norian. I want to end at that sentence because it made my heart, mind, body and spirit so incredibly happy and peaceful to be there, that's all I really have to say.
Only, actually there is more.
Begin Again
Every time I walk into my parents' house I have an overwhelming urge to eat any and all chocolate that is there. No matter how clean my diet has been in the last several months, and no matter how much I tell myself that I'm going to act differently and eat well.
A Blast from the Past
I spent the greater part of yesterday afternoon doing a 7-year purge. cleaning out old binders full of information from all of the teacher training programs I have been a part of in the last 7 years. My husband looked at the stack of articles that went into the recycling and said: "Man, good purge!"
Retreat!!!!
Two weeks ago while waiting for the end and still trying to cope with a new beginning I slipped away to West Virginia for a retreat with my teacher, Todd Norian. It had been three years since I'd practiced with him and I was incredibly grateful to be there.
Waves of Transition
I keep thinking that all this changing and shifting in my life will somehow slow down one day. At some point I'll be offered a moment to "settle in" and "catch my breath" and look around and actually build my life as I think it could be, right?
Summer Yoga
Ah Summertime, that time when teaching yoga gets all sorts of weird in the studio because regulars go on vacation and absolute randoms who are on vacation drop-in to classes. That time when class size is in constant flux and nothing seems predictable. Last Sunday the class I prepared was not at all the class I taught due to the people who were in class.
Coming Home
The yoga is like coming home for me. It's like turning a corner after a long road trip and seeing the place most dear. then walking through open doors into the embrace of long loves.. and some days they're baking chocolate chip cookies and serving cocoa too. but sometimes it's like going home when no one is there.
A Spiritual Life
I'm reading Elizabeth Gilbert's new book: The Signature of All Things (it's awesome, of course). It has me thinking, though, back to Eat, Pray, Love - her breakout hit.
Eat, Pray, Love is a little bit of a turning point for me, as it obviously was for her, and for millions of other readers.
No Photos, please!
I've started using Instagram and I really enjoy it. I love scrolling through photos to see inspiring yoga shots, beautiful scenes from around the world, incredible food, and my nieces and nephew, cats, dogs, oddities, randomness. We people live very interesting lives with even more interesting views on what is photo worthy, right?
The Industry
"Are you in the industry?" my husband asks, once he gets in conversation with someone who seems to know more about motion picture production than the average Julie. It's said casually but as if motion picture production were the ONLY Industry that might possibly warrant the title THE Industry.