Carmen (1884) Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Perhaps our purpose has less to do with becoming someone new, and more to do with inhabiting this life more fully—with an open, sensitive heart, rooted in presence, and willing to meet both beauty and sorrow without turning away.
-Matt Licata
Maybe the "new year-new you!"
fury has already ebbed for you.
Or maybe you never fall for it anyway.
I benefit from being reminded:
there's no need to recreate myself.
What's wise and worthy about myself
has been there all along. Sometimes
it just gets lost under all my incessant,
rather impressive efforting.
Like piles of coats on top of a little gem.
You know, ticking off tasks, aspirations,
and the hard noise of living my best life.
This innate wisdom and worth waits inside
for me to get quiet and open enough
to hear it, learn from it, work with it,
nurture it into bloom.
So I can stand steady, interested, able
to meet what comes, whether I fall or rise,
whether the world around me feels safe or
at the edge of chaos, loose from my influence.
A steady yoga practice helps, yogis.
Heck, this is yoga.
Open, sensitive, and rooted.
We're ready for you, 2026.
Want a morning yoga tribe
to help you start each week
feeling alive, happy, and present?
Join us each Monday morning
at 7CT on Zoom.
Step on the mat a sleepyhead.
Step off the mat 30 min later
energized and grateful to be alive.
It's a monthly subscription of $25.
Some months have 4 Mondays,
some have 5, but we practice each one.
Simply reply to this email to sign up.
We start January 5th for the new year.
I hope you might join us.
Or share this email with someone
who needs a little love each week?
Thankee, yogi.
Wishing you a wide awake 2026!
xo
Taunia
a tiny lunch I made for myself alone
Food prepared with love
becomes love inside the body.
-Dr. Vasant Lad, Ayurvedic wunderkind
This sounds a little touchy feely,
but you know it's true. Remember
when you were ill as a kid
and your mom made you a meal?
You could sense the love in it.
In the Ayurvedic way of thinking,
it's not only what you eat but
how you eat that matters.
Sneha Raichada teaches us that
eating without distraction enhances
digestion and assimilation.
Eating in company helps the breath
to deepen, awakens inner fire,
softens awareness, brightens the
heart, and brings warmth from inside.
When you make food, do it with love.
No matter how simple the meal.
Offer this nourishment to yourself.
And to others when you share it.
Many of us will have opportunity
to practice exactly this in
the holiday season upon us.
When love is shared
its potency multiplies.
Happy Christmas, dears.
As the days become shorter
and darkness deepens,
may I honor the rhythm
of rest and gestation
the earth teaches me.
Mary Rose O’Reilly
Oh, goodness. Yes, please.
Instead of forcing my house
to blaze with lights to defy
the ever earlier sunset.
Instead of succumbing to
the mad swirl of holiday time.
May I internally prepare to
mark the coming winter solstice.
Sunday Dec 21st will mark
the astronomical start of winter
with the shortest day of the year
and the longest, deepest night.
Remembering the slow things
that nourish me. Simmering
soups, long stories, flickering
flames, warm baths, nodding
off in a crumple of newsprint.
You are hereby granted permission
to s l o w down, yogi. You are
part and parcel of the universe.
Take a hint from what is happening
to the natural world around you.
Be at peace.
And also with your yoga practice.
Whether we cancel our plans, or life cancels them for us, being left with the empty space of a day that was supposed to be filled to the brim can be disconcerting at first. The temptation is to fill it yet again, to let other tasks and plans crowd in. But I have learned to relish the out-of-body sensation of reentering my life with a new perspective when some inevitable change takes place, almost as if I’m standing outside of things and looking in on another person’s life.
-James Crews
Just such an opportunity happened
to me recently. A friend was expected
for a visit and some yoga one
rainy morning. Driving conditions
were terrible and she had to turn
back home. We were both disappointed.
I put away the teacups, stared out
the window and thought what next?
Just before I let tasks spill into an
newly opened space of time, I paused.
I made myself a cup of tea,
placed my yoga mat in front of
the rainy window, and gave myself
a lazy, indulgent yoga practice.
It was heaven. The day picked
back up with work and tasks,
but you know, I remember that
morning still. A gift to myself.
Keep some open space for yourself.
Won't you?
Hope to see you on
the yoga mat this week.
I read this recent story in the NYT
with great interest. I love paper money.
And coins. And little change purses.
I am vexed when I visit a store and
they won't take you know, money.
I love that my local art store
will exchange my wrinkled lucre
for all the paint and paper I desire.
It's delightful to hand young cashiers
exact change for purchases.
They often act impressed. Or maybe
they're just mystified by this small
woman of a certain age who likes
to count out nickels. Indulge the ol' girl.
The anthropologist who speaks of
exchanging paper money as a point of
human connection hits on what I feel.
That moment of exchange is when
people comment on my FREE HUGS
change purse or gaze into the middle
distance for a moment of stillness
while waiting for me.
A few weeks ago at my farmer's market,
I gave a busker a couple dollars.
He lit up, put his pick in my hand,
and together we played some jazz
chords on his electric guitar.
I smiled all the way to my car where
two other guys passing me caught
my infectious grin and made their own.
Mmm hmm, connection!
Practicing yoga together
is another type of connection.
See you this week, friend.
You know when you go round the table
and share what you're thankful for?
Sometimes it can seem like playacting,
especially if life doesn't feel awesome
at the moment. But there's something
to it, a scientific something in fact.
FMRI studies have uncovered a neural
consequence of thanksgiving.
Generating gratitude stimulates
the stress regulating hypothalamus and
activates the pleasure producing reward
circuitry in our brains.
It's also been proven that expressing
gratitude brings out the best in others.
It's hard to stay cranky when fully
experiencing, sharing, or receiving
the gratitude of another.
You know what I'm thankful for?
You.
Thank you for trusting me with your
sweet self on the mat each week.
My life would definitely be
less awesome without you.
xo Taunia
I recently heard Bessel van der Kolk
talk about his reading of Darwin
from whom he learned this:
The function of emotions is to move.
Movements are necessary to open up
and learn what's happening inside,
to grow, explore, adapt, and evolve.
Yoga is a wonderful container
for this sort of exploration.
See what comes up when
you're practicing.
Sensitize yourself to
messages from your body.
Our yoga practice has more
dimensions that we could
discover in a lifetime.
Let's practice this
together this week.
Authentic love is to understand
both strengths and weaknesses,
of yourself and others, and
accept them all. It is a dynamic
dance of give and take without
conditions, of letting go into
uncertainty and vulnerability,
and being willing to help that
person when needed.
-Anam Thubten
Oh, my goodness.
Talk about yoga off the mat.
Our personal relationships
provide steady ground
for good work.
What good is all this effort
to balance on one foot,
breathe skillfully, notice
reactivity to physical challenges,
and work for equanimity
if not for how to live
well in the world?
We'll meet our own strengths
and weaknesses in asana
practice this week.
Practicing how to be dynamic
and helpful to ourselves.
A good place to start.
One of the common areas of complaint
I hear from yogis is dissatisfaction with
their hamstrings. They're so recalcitrant!
Here's why you always hear me instruct
to bend the knees when heading into a
forward fold (uttanasana). We want to
keep the lower back safe and work with
the hamstrings intelligently. Rather than
goofing around simply hanging forward
and wondering why we feel so tight.
Refer to Dr. Long's illustrations above.
1- Bend knees to release hamstrings
where they connect to the lower legs.
2- TIlt the pelvis forward to stabilize
hamstrings at their origin point.
Remember how I often cue "tailbone
to sky - belly towards thighs?"
Note the psoas muscle contracting.
3- Only then might you consider
lengthening the legs if you like.
This involves contracting your quads.
That pelvic tilt is essential, so you
can be forward folding your life long.
We'll work on this together this week!