What are you Hungry For? Part # 3

In my workshop Yoga for Transformation, we used the book, "Women, Food and God" the subtitle being; "An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything," to assist us on our path to balance, wholeness, peace, and love.

The premise of the Roth's teachings find residence in yogic philosophies and principles - one being that the issues live in our tissues (discussed in Part #2), and this week's discussion topic, "feel our feelings."

Yoga allows us to travel the longest distance we will ever travel in life: the distance from your head to our hearts. Quieting the chatter in our minds and getting out of our heads allows us to show up on our yoga mats and simply "be." In the sacred space on our mats we can invite the feelings to come to the surface, we can begin to be aware of where feelings live in our bodies. More importantly we can begin to answer the question: "where is my healing, my balance and wholeness being blocked?" Feeling can be scary, even the good feelings, if they are not tempered with the fact that they are just that, "feelings" they are not reality.

Reality is that the Universe brings us exactly what we need to heal, to move past the blocks and traumas in our lives. Feelings are the door that the Universe opens for us to come home. The poet Rumi beautifully offers;

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival,

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture,

still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice.

Meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whatever comes.

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.

In the end when we allow ourselves to really feel our feelings, we might stumble on the unexpected path that leads us to the answer to the question, "What is it I'm really hungry for?"

What Are You Hungry For? Part # 2

Continuing the conversation from my Yoga for Transformation Workshop...

The Issues Live in the Tissues.

What prompted me to use the book, "Women, Food and God," by Geneen Roth was what I refer to as "yoga speak." The concepts in the book correspond with yogic philosophy.

One of the many definitions of yoga includes union and integration. Yoga provides a path for us to come into union with ourselves. Yoga extends to us the invitation to go deep inside. It invites inquiry: What emotional, intellectual, physical and even spiritual baggage, (a.k.a issues)have become obstacles to your being in union with yourself? Most importantly what issues are blocking your communion with The Divinity that dwells within you?

Roth's yoga speak:

"Inquiry is body based; it is not a mental process. You sense what it feels liketo be inside your skin, your arms, your legs. You notice the sensation and younotice the location of the sensation. Sensation, location, sensation, location. If for instance, you are feeling sad, you ask yourself where that feeling is located in your body."
(Women, Food and God., Pg.104)

Every yogi and yogini recognizes that, "location and sensation" coupled with the provocative question of where does that reside in your body, is the fundamental process of yoga. Hence, every yogi and yogini recognizes that the sensation = the issues, live in the tissues = location.

Yoga heightens our awareness (ie. sensation) of what it means to be alive and in a body (ie. location), it speaks to the disconnect. Yoga provides a path to integration.

As you journey on your path to intergration ask yourself:

• What are some of the family, religious and societal myths you "ate" and/or "stuffed" your self with, but never fully digested?


• What are some of the messages you received as a child?


• When you think of these myths and messages, identify the sensation and where does it resides. Where is that sensation living in your body?

What are you hungry for? Part #1.

It is a question that has nothing to do with food.


It was a line of inquiry that I explored in my Yoga For Transformation Workshop. Utilizing the phenomenal book that is flying off the shelves, "Women, Food and God" by Geneen Roth, myself and workshop participants began to celebrate the awareness as women our, relationship with food is reflective of our herstories, religious and cultural experiences and societal messages concerning body image.

The workshop participants created a loving and sacred space for inquiry into the question, "what are we hungry for?" Most importantly, yoga provided and provides the invitation into exploration of this question on a myriad of levels.

Much of Roth's book is what I termed "yoga speak." Yogic philosophy recognizes that "the issues live in our tissues," and transformation being an inside job. Through discussion, sharing and of course "taking it to the mat" with asana, we continued our journey of coming home to ourselves.

Stay tuned more to come.

Urdhva Prasarita Padasana – Reverse Process

Urdhva Prasarita Padasana is one of my favorite gentle yoga postures, mainly because it feels so good. Connecting breath with the gentle movement of extending the legs up towards the sky and extending the arms up and over head mimics the feeling of “skywalking.” The translation of Urdhva Prasarita Padasana is reversing the process – it indicates that the process and effects of gravity are reversed.

Urdhva Prasarita Padasana aids circulation in the legs, arms and hips by reversing the flow of blood that stagnates while sitting and standing up-right. Energetically, it calms and rejuvenates the nervous system.

At the level of the heart (not the blood pump – but the seat of devotion, bliss, intimacy and love) Urdhva Prasarita Padasana invites us to reverse the process of stagnation. Reverse the process of holding on to the stale sentiments that clog the heart from receiving and giving the expansive healing peace and unconditional love of the Divine.

The Benefits of Yoga

If you were to type, "the benefits of yoga" in any search engine, a million and one results would pop-up. Western medicine and science has acknowledge the benefits of yoga, from, stress relief and relaxation to increase in flexibility and balance.

At the top of the list for me is finding "home" in my body. From a very early age, we are bombarded with messages that tells of to loath and hate our bodies and this is equally true for men as it is for women.

Yoga invites us to awaken to what it means to be alive and in a body, which is the last place many of us want to be. We live externally focused, Yoga embrace the fact that transformation is an inside job.

Yoga offers the challenge of connecting body with spirit and connecting body with heart. It allows us to journey towards acceptance, grace and love - finding home in our bodies. Our yoga mat's are our own private labortory to explore what it truly means to be alive, and have breath in a body. Yoga extends to us the invitation come home.

Home is where the heart is.

Yoga 4 Every Body - No Pretzels Required.

As a yoga instructor I get a lot of questions about being "pretzel bendy." When teaching my focus is on stability first then allowing flexibility to come in a gradual process. My passion is introducing yoga to every body type. Fortunately, my introduction to yoga was in a $5.00 dollar community class, especially for beginners. It was just a class of regular folks with varied reasons as to why they showed up to a yoga class. One man was there recovering from injury, another woman was there because she wanted to increase her flexibility. The majority of us fell in the category of just plain curious. Most importantly we were all shapes and sizes and we were doing yoga!



The stories we often tell ourselves about yoga are; I am not size 4 or I am out of shape or that "I am not pretzel bendy!"

The very essence of yoga teaches, we don't have to be certain shape, size, or fitness level. Nor do we hve to be "pretzel bendy." The ancient art and science of yoga requires one thing: that you come to your mat with an open heart and mind. The wonderful thing about yoga is your mat is your own private laboratory to experiment and play.

It is in teaching classes like my first class, I am blessed with the opportunity to witness and share in the transformation of each student. I am humbled by the opportunity.

*Picture provided by Danielle

The Difference Between Surrender and Resignation.

This week I learned a valuable lesson about the difference between surrender and resignation. I learned that resignation is negative and implies hopelessness. Being resigned to a thought, a situation, or a behavior implies that change is not possible and that "That's just the way it is."

On the other hand, there is often a very positive feeling in the body, mind, and spirit that accompanies surrender. Surrender has the ability to become expansive and it can actually open up our thoughts, our daily situations and our unwanted behaviors to the possibility of change. It is full of possibilities and most importantly --hope.

In life it is difficult to seperate surrender from resignation. The movies offer the image of sending up the white flag, which means, "I give up." It's seems to be always negative and after a long fought battle. That is what surrender is. It is saying to the universe, "I give up" but with the cavet, "I put it in your hands."

After a long hard battle of us trying to manupulate and control; person and situations we get battle fatigue. All we need to do is to say, "I give up, here, God - you do this." Real surrender means we have to relinquish the illusion of control.

For the 12 step community, surrender is the first step toward recovery. It is a spiritual principle that is truly universal, because we are all addicted to something, whether it be work, food, attention, or perhaps shopping. Whatever our "it" might be, we use it to fill the void and self-medicate.

Surrendering is a powerful statement of saying and being "Yes!"

In life, just like on our yoga mats, we don't need to force our bodies into a posture. Instead we can simply say "yes" to the possibility of our bodies taking us where we have never explored before.

Gentle loving, sweet surrender!

How to Be Happy Always

Swami Satchidananda is my yogi Marsha's teacher. He is funny, insightful, and wise beyond measure.

I invite you to hear and listen, reflect and relate, and finally relax and enjoy !

Love as a nothing in return concept is foreign to many of us. We often look upon that kind of love with much suspicion. we ask, what's the catch what are the strings attached?

What are the expectations we sometimes attach to our love or our acts of kindness and service. Do we expect recognition and/or acknowledgement. Swami even makes us re-think the whole notions of sending a thank you card, which is thought to be good etiquette in our society. Is the notion of thank you note, indication that we operate in this society with expectations - we get something in return for our giving. I don't know about you but I will never look at a "Thank You" note the same again.

Can love ever be given freely? I think it can. It is in those acts of self-lessness that we get in touch with the true essence of who we really are , the embodiment of the Divine. The natural outcome of that awareness is happiness.

Thoughts on Motherhood.

It's official. All my children are "30-somethings". My oldest is 35, my middle son is 31, and the youngest turned the big 3-0 just last month. My kids are adults? When did that happen?

At anyrate, I woke up this morning feeling blessed and younger than I have ever felt. I am younger now then I was when I was young (er).

Happy Mothers Day!

*photo of myself and my daughter at age 3.

I am Highly Favored...and So Are You.

As a Yogi and an admittedly sometimes reluctant Christian theologian, I must confess that I cringe every time I hear a preacher/minister or "saint" casually say, I am the "favored" of God. As if being favored by God means belonging to an exclusive club with a secret hand shake. It's also assumed that this "membership" keeps you from heartache, catastrophe, and everyday stuff happening.

Good luck with that.

So..Theologically speaking, how do we explain those in the "unfavored" camp? Too often, the three letter word S-I-N is the explanation that is used. And of course that is way too simplistic an excuse, otherwise Harold Kushner wouldn't have needed to write his book, "When Bad Things Happen To Good People." It's complicated and I don't even intend to delve into those complexities here, except to say that on my mat, moving and breathing, I know that I am "favored" by God, but not in an exclusive "them" against "us" dynamic. Instead, I feel expansive and open, just as the favor of God is expansive and open.

There is not a living creature on earth that does not enjoy that favor.

For me, being "highly favored" means that I know and consciously try to experience the favor of God with every breath.