This year has been like no other in my memory. A collective experience of pain, suffering and raw emotion, amidst a global pandemic in a fractured nation. That’s one way to look at this year, and maybe the scales are tipped that way. If we leave it this way, and only focus on the negative, we risk disharmony in our own lives. And this disharmony emanates from the individual out to the family, community, country and world.

Talking with my friends recently on Zoom the topic of conversation turned to how tired we all were from video calls. On top of work calls we are all on social video calls with parents, children, grandchildren or friends.

Video chat is beginning to take its toll.

When I started going to yoga classes after my son died, I noticed right away that by practicing various breathing techniques in the class or at home, I felt less anxious and more physically relaxed. 

How are you today?  I don’t know your situation, but I suspect we’ve been feeling very similar emotions.  I realized yesterday that the emotions I’ve been feeling – disjointed, sad, frustrated, a feeling of being in a surreal time, loss of control – I’ve experienced with other loss in my life.   This is a feeling of grief.  Grief from a loss of “normal life”. 

Over the past 5 years I’ve practiced a “morning routine” that grew out of a 30-day sadhana, a requirement for my first teacher training. In Sanskrit, sadhana means “an effort exercised towards the achievement of a purpose.”

Recently I had the opportunity to offer video-based yoga classes to employees of my former employer.  It was a great experience for both the company and for myself.  Although I’ve been teaching yoga for a few years,

In the beginning of each January there is an onslaught of press about making a resolution for the new year - Lose weight? Quit smoking? Be nicer? – you know what I mean.  For me, the problem with a resolution is that it doesn’t stick. 

I think it’s fun to shop locally and there are so many shops and crafts fairs on Cape Cod this time of year. If you are searching for just the right gift for the yogi in your life, check out some of the ideas below.

Or maybe you want to add these to your wish list!

Have you seen those skeleton figures in yoga poses in stores or on Amazon.com?  They seem to be “the” Halloween decoration for yoga aficionados here on Cape Cod.  They are cute and fun, but remember in real life yoga isn’t about rigidity and certainly no grimaces or painful expressions. 

One morning in January, 2018 I awoke with this thought:  I’m going to leave my job a year from now to focus on teaching yoga.  A great thought no doubt, but was I really ready to make that change?

Chair yoga is expanding beyond the traditional senior centers and nursing homes.   A chair is basically just another yoga prop – like a blanket, bolster, strap, block or the wall – making the practice of yoga available to more people in more places.