Tattooing Yogini

Photo: Erico David. Pexels. ​“Greet each day with a breath of fire.” Maude  With the passing of Bud Cort, who played Harold in the movie, Harold and Maude, one of my most favorite movies of all time, I have had a lot of the quotes from that movie come to mind. Today, I thought of Maude’s quote, “greet each day with a breath of fire,” which she says while making oatstraw tea for Harold in her train car house.  I love Maude, she’s a Sage of Knowledge. When I grow up, I hope to be like Maude. She lived in a train car, stole a Volkswagen Bug from a priest, posed nude for her sculptor friend, and dated a twenty-something who she also taught how to live. She’s Divinity wrapped up in a tiny “eighty-year-old-on-Sunday” body.  She reminds me that each day is a gift, even the hard days. You see, Maude spent time in the German Concentration Camps and yet she lived her life with such voracity and thirst, and FEARLESSNESS - something I lost along the way in my late twenties and throug...

​ In the last few months, I have been offered 3 opportunities to teach yoga at studios outside of Cynthiana and I am planning to accept one in Lexington. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn from other teachers and to share my passion and devotion to Yoga with others.  I have also been asked a few times if I might use my RYT500 certification to train other teachers and while I am open to leading workshops for CE credit to certified teachers, I am not interested in training new teachers at this time.  I have only been teaching for 4 years - that is not enough time to feel I am in any position to train a new teacher. Krishnamacharya says that a Yoga Teacher should have firm knowlege on the Sutras (generally memorized), the Upanishads, the Bhavagad Gita, and the Vedas before teaching other teachers, lest we “bring a bad name to Yoga and the teacher.” While I have read and re-read the Sutras each of the last four years since my YTT, I do not have them memorized. I have read ...

​Recently, I have been thinking about how Yogis say that what most of us (especially in the West) experience when we think we’re experiencing a Kundalini awakening is actually a less intense Prana awakening; still important, but not the same thing. They say that of the few people worldwide, who have experienced a Kundalini awakening, few have survived it. They liken a Prana awakening to a 100volt of electricity and a Kundalini awakening to 220 volts of electricity being channelled into a 110 volt wire…the result is that the wire melts. It’s unable to hold the charge.  The few who have survived the experience needed assistance with every day life: eating, drinking, hygiene, and more. They became dissheveled, neglecting any aspect of self-care.  Most humans are unable to hold the charge and yet all over Facebook, one can find Kundalini experiences, certifications, retreats, and more.  What Is Kundalini?  Kundalini is the dormant feminine energy (Shakti) that lies, coil...

​I am 286 days alcohol-free. It’s wild to be here and I am beyond grateful.  My sobriety has brought up a lot of emotions: loads of anger at first, then a lot of introspection. I’ve contemplated relationships - past and present. I have examined my people-pleasing and self-sabotage tendencies. I have looked at how I treat myself and my body. It’s been an interesting ride, let me tell you.  Having a sober mind is the greatest gift I have given myself.  Today I awoke around 6:00am, as I usually do and have been looking back over my life. It’s wild how many lives I feel like I have lived and how it still bugs me when people try to tell me things I already know, simply because they walked in on this chapter of my life. I have been and done a lot of things. CHILDHOOD:  I remember being a kind child. I watched over my cousin when storms came in, trying to calm her fears of the thunder and lightning. I remember petting bees in my yard and eating clover nectar. I remember the...

​ A quick Google search of lessons and themes for the Wolf Moon presents things like, introspection, community, releasing limiting beliefs and setting intentions…many of the same things you’ll see for any full moon throughout the year. People often message me asking for simple rituals they can do during this time and while I share some ideas with them, I think it is vital that we turn within to listen for what speaks to us.  As I often say in Yoga, the practice is your own. What I present in class is suggestion, not prescription. It’s up to each student to take the reins in their practice, listen to their body and to trust their intuition on the mat. This translates to life off the mat, and especially when it comes to spirituality.  Like Yoga, spirituality is an individual experience.  For me, the Full Moon energy can feel like a lot, probably because I am a predominantly Vata constitution and I have a lot of excessive energy. To balance this, during the full moon, I like...

​ What is pratipaksha bhavana?  Pratipaksha bhavana is referenced in Patajali’s Yoga Sutras, specifically 11.33, which states, “vitarkabadhane pratipakshabhavanam,” which translates to “when disturbed by negative thoughts, cultivate the opposite.”  Before we discuss what this is, I’d like to mention what it isn’t. Pratipaksha bhavana isn’t spiritual bypassing or Pollyanna thinking. We don’t ignore or dismiss our negative thoughts to replace them with positive ones.  We practice Svadyaya (self-study) to acknowledge the negative thoughts, observe where we feel them in the body, and then begin to cultivate the opposite thought. Remember: To cultivate something isn’t usually immediate. Like sowing a seed and cultivating the soil to help the seed grow, Pratipaksha bhavana takes time and practice.  How Do We Practice Pratipaksha Bhavana?  For many, one of the biggest takeaways from a regular Yoga practice is the idea that perspective isn’t truth. What one person exper...