Somatic movement is also known as somatic education or somatic therapy and is a lineage of gentle, mindful movement practices that began with Moshe Feldenkrais's Awareness Through Movement (ATM) lessons. I think of somatic movement as neuromuscular repatterning: through gentle, conscious movements done with full awareness, we can break down old habits of posture and movement and open up the possibility of sitting, standing and moving in new, more efficient ways
Read MorePlenty of people practice yoga despite all kinds of physical limitations. To me, this is the beauty of yoga: the practice adapts to the individual, to a variety of shapes and abilities, to bodies of all ages. It always saddens me to hear of a student who says that they have stopped practicing due to an injury or illness. Yoga offers many benefits beyond the poses! And while our yoga practice might look different than it used to be, we can still find ways to practice.
Read MoreWhen you stand on a yoga block, your foot is no longer resting on a flat surface. The edges of the block ask your foot to wake up, every small muscle, every tiny joint, the arch, the heel, the toes. Your ankles begin to work in a way they simply don’t on flat ground. Once you add eagle arms with arms crossed and lifted, palms pressing together, elbows drawing away from the body, your whole system is engaged
Read MoreI know that I'm not alone. In the last year, I went on retreat with Tuere Sala who is meditation teacher based in Seattle. She shared that she also went several years without meditating at home. To hear this from one of my teachers was life-changing. I want to do for you what she did for me...
Normalize inconsistency in our practice.
The most important thing is that you start again.
There are a few things that I have put in place in my life that help me to be more consistent in the big picture and I thought I would share them with you.
Read MoreOoh the hamstring stretch — the relief and the release that comes from a hamstring stretch.
It’s one of those moments in class when you can feel your whole nervous system exhale. The back of the legs begin to soften. The breath deepens. Something that felt held or restricted starts to let go.
In class we practice with a band. If you are thinking about hamstring exercises at home, it’s great to have a band (I buy mine from ??), or you can use a towel in exactly the same way. The purpose isn’t to force the stretch, but to support the leg so you can soften into the experience rather than brace against it.
Read MoreI have lived in Leavenworth since 2005. Like many, what attracted me to live in this place was its natural beauty and the access to the outdoors. It is also just 2.5 hours from Seattle, where I grew up and where much of my family still lives.
I also moved to Leavenworth because, as a faux Bavarian Village, it is a tourist destination with over 3 million visitors per year. I felt certain that I could move to Leavenworth and readily find work in the hospitality industry — which I did for the first five years I lived here before transitioning to teaching yoga full time.
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