Blog

"Something I'm more and more aware of
is that what you do is your participation
in the world. So watch what your choices
are, watch what you are thinking, watch
what you are learning from your being.
I think especially as artists, you really
have to watch how you want to give
yourself to the world."
-Juliet Binoche

I think this is true even if you're not
a famous movie star. And I ascribe
to the idea that your art is what you do.
So, I think we all can move in the
world as artists - crafting not only
our landscapes but our themes, our
dialogue, our efforts at forming
connection and making meaning.

You have the power to give
yourself to the world on purpose.
And whether you realize it or not,
you are doing exactly this
all the days you're here.
And doing so in a peculiarly
wonderful way that no one
else could quite replicate.
Carry on, yogi.
We need y o u .

Bring your unique self
to your yoga mat this week.

Did you know your yoga practice
has the power to affect gene
expression? Turning down the
chronic inflammation that leads
to much unhappiness in
the body and mind?

A recent paper published in
Frontiers of Immunology found that yoga
(along with mind-body practices such as
breath regulation, Tai Chi, and Qigong)
helps to reduce chronic inflammation
by reversing the inflammatory reactions
suffered in the body through stress.

Less inflammation? Just by chillin'
on my yoga mat? Yes, please.

While the molecular mechanisms are still
a bit of a mystery, 18 analyzed studies
indicated a downregulation of nuclear
factor kappa B pathway. For the
non-scientists among us, this is the
exact opposite action stress enacts
on the body as it ramps up NF-kB,
increasing our vulnerability
to all sorts of illnesses.

We have the genetic makeup we're
born with, but what we do with it
matters enormously. Your behavior
and environment changes how
your body reads that DNA.
Epigenetics rocks!

Feel empowered and
get thee to a yoga mat.

"Undisturbed calmness of mind
is attained by cultivating
friendliness toward the happy,
compassion for the unhappy,
delight in the virtuous, and
indifference toward the wicked."
-Patanjali

Here, Patanjali, the author of classical
yoga text the Yoga Sutras offers us
advice we might attempt ourselves
two millennia hence.

This idea of refraining from harboring
ill feeling towards the wicked
feels counterintuitive just now, no?
I imagine it not as a call for silence
in the face of harm, but rather
a suggestion to disallow the
wicked to take up unjust space
in your consciousness.

How to stay awake, informed
and responsible in the world
by meditating upon what is
of value, what inspires action,
where you can make a difference?
That takes intention.

Curate your mindstream, yogi.
You have the agency.

I'm looking forward
to practicing together
this week!

Yoga trainer Donna Farhi notices
yoga students focusing on, “How far
can I go, how flexible can I become,
what extreme range of motion can
I create in a body?” She believes
that asana's purpose is to find a
centered, calm place to be steadfast,
to be strong, to find that part of
yourself that is unshakeable.

"The room is very quiet when
people who are focused in this way
are practicing. There is a feeling of
real peacefulness because there is
no striving towards somewhere else,
there is no striving to get somewhere,
there’s only coming back
to the moment, and that is a different
focus of practice, and that leads to
a different result."

This is my hope for you when we
practice yoga together. We aim to
meet ourselves anew each time
with equal amounts of curiosity
and compassion for what we find.
Hello, dear self.
Let us see together...

Poor people's star,
fairy godmother
wrapped
in fancy paper,
you rise from the soil,
eternal, intact, as pure
as a celestial seed,
and when the kitchen knife
cuts you
the only painless tear
is shed:
you made us weep without suffering.

Pable Neruda's Ode to the Onion

Only Neruda could make
an onion sound romantic.
And only an onion can
deepen and sweeten the
soups and stews your body
longs for in this wet winter cold.

High in vitamins C, B, and
potassium, onions are also
chock full of antioxidants,
prebiotics, and high in quercetin.
Immunity boosting and good
for building healthy flora,
chop 'em up, yogis.
And feel grateful for their
goodness as you do,
inviting their power into your body.

Treat yourself to soft, warm,
home cooked soups this week.
It will help you feel sated and
warm from the inside out.

Yoga can work that way too.
Hope to see you
on the mat this week!

Last week, I was practicing with
a particularly sagacious yogi.
We were anticipating the arrival
of Christmas when she remarked,
"And then comes the time of year
when everyone tries to fix themselves."

She's absolutely right. Here's an idea.
We could instead take a long look back
to see what we survived this past year.
Not only where we muddled through
but maybe the places we shone a bit,
or had the courage to try something hard,
or nurtured a particular relationship well,
or fostered a new one, or showed
up for ourselves by saying no to
something, or built some rewarding
habits, or purposefully stepped off
the merry-go-round when needed.
Wisdom and compassion in action.
Well done, yogi.

Give yourself a moment to see
who you've become as a result.
Because none of us are the same
as we were a year ago. I like this.

It seems like a good idea
to know where you've been
before taking off for somewhere else.

Early forms of measurement
were connected to the body:
A cubit is the distance from
elbow to fingertip. A fathom
is the span of one's
outstretched arms.

I love this.
I like to work with my body
in building yoga shapes
as a type of sacred geometry.

Your cubit is not equal to mine.
But my heart opening breath
with arms akimbo? And yours?
We're both taking in as much
light as we can fathom.

Let's do so on the mat
together this week!

Dr. Miyawaki is the renowned Japanese
botanist who spread the practice of
creating pocket forests. He taught
communities around the world to plant
native species tightly in small urban areas
and allow them to grow wild in order to
build and support native ecosystems
both above and below ground.

He offers us this:

"The forest is the root of all life;
it is the womb that revives
our biological instincts, that
deepens our intelligence
and increases our sensitivity
as human beings."

I believe this to be true.
Plant your feet among a stand of trees
and feel your sense of aliveness
spark. You can't help but feel
enriched, fueled, as if you belong.
It doesn't have to be a deep forest.
Your neighborhood park or backyard
can become a sanctuary.
One that deepens your sensitivity.
I know it's cold, but go see.

Then come to the yoga mat
to hone your sensitivity
to such wonders.

my vintage dandelion tea scooped by my husband
on Woodland Street before High Garden Tea House
was swept away in the 2020 East Nashville tornado

Oh, dandelions, how I love you.
To cheer me in the springtime.
To inspire me with your indomitable nature.
To soothe and warm my insides
in the autumn and winter.

Dandelion tea is a staple
at my house. It's so yum.
It aids digestion, supports the
kidneys, and detoxifies the liver.
I also learned that is contains the
compound taraxasterol, a powerful
force to combat inflammation.

You can harvest your own roots
from a pesticide free lawn.
Your own yard qualifies as such
I sincerely hope, yes?
I must bashfully admit I never
do this, though I should.
It's too late now anyway.
I buy mine from High Garden,
now online, who does all
the harvesting & sifting for me.
Or drink it from a tea bag
at my best friend's house.

Try some this winter.
Maybe you will love it too.
Your body definitely will.

Then keep up
the self care
by coming to yoga!

Thanksgiving is actually a lovely word.
I recently read psychiatrist Phil Stutz
teach how to create a "gratitude flow."

He helps people to get unstuck
in their minds by actively building
a bridge into a grateful reality. Take
30 seconds to get still and audibly
name things you are grateful for
in that very moment - no matter how
small or profound. Then, stop.
Feel the energy rising within you.
It's a grateful flow that will arise.
Yogis might call this shakti or prana.
Notice how you feel it in your body.
Allow its potential to linger. . . . . .

Stutz says you are anchoring yourself
in present reality where really, there
is all sorts of goodness raining down
if you can escape the tangle of your
mind to simply see it.

When I'm cross or fed up or
overwhelmed, a dose of grateful
reality whisks me from negative
mind patterns to a new place.