Yoga, Health, and Wellness Articles + Recipes

I picked this topic because honestly I stood in awe after the event we did on Mother’s Day for my non-profit, Girls Elevate. It came to me before the event … for days leading up to it actually. But I was preparing a thank you note to all the people who were there after the event, and I was in awe of the support that came so easily. And then when I looked at that list, I realized that all those people were there in service with their gift, their passion, their purpose, their love of …whatever it was they were offering up.

I haven’t even begun to try and process Prince’s death. I can’t seem to find the middle ground between dancing and crying. The day he passed, I listened to his music until I fell asleep. Before sleep came, I scrolled video after video, article after article … I couldn’t get enough. My eyes were bloodshot I was so tired.

I started thinking about this theme and remembered a quote from the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali Swami Satchidananda: You have all these things to equip yourself to serve others. You must have a bed to rest in to feel refreshed in the morning, to go out to serve others. You must eat to have enough energy to serve others. So you do everything with the idea that you are preparing yourself to serve others. So, even your Yogic meditation becomes a selfless action. That is what is meant by “Even with God do not have attachment”. This non-attachment alone is enough to change your entire life into a joyful one.

I love love... I mean I really love LOVE! I’ve been accused of overusing the word in some of my circles. Regardless of that, I continue to use it because it rolls off my tongue and feels good when I say it.

This week I looked up the word transmute again – just to see if that theme actually vibrated with what I have been feeling into. Because you see, when I “pick” a theme, I actually allow it to come to me. I look to see what’s happening in the planets and I feel into what’s “hot” out there. And then I see how and if it relates, so things make sense.

A grasshopper leaps only forward…it never leaps backward! When you think about it, that really makes so much sense.

All week I have been playing in the realm of intuitive guidance. In fact, one of my phrases for the year is intuitive guidance. Being open to it, as always, but more than that, actually following it. Really dropping in and listening … intently. Not questioning, not wondering, but actually following through.

How can we possibly discern what is true for us and beneficial for the evolution of our soul when we are bombarded by life? And by bombarded I don’t mean that we’ve lost control some how. I just mean, sometimes life moves at the speed of light and honestly, we start to move at that speed without knowing it and that’s not always the best thing.

Discipline is defined as a branch of knowledge or the practice of training people. I find this interesting as a yoga “teacher,” for a few reasons. One is that that while I am a teacher, I am also only a student. And honestly, the only person I am ever really training is myself.

This past year has provided big shifts for me, and I know (from personal connection) for a lot of you as well. I have witnessed shakedowns, breakdowns, breakthroughs, breakups, epiphanies, and big page-turners. But really, it’s not any different than any other year, now is it?

Winter Solstice I love this time of the year. Which seems off because I am, by nature, a very fiery, sand-loving, ocean-adoring, sun-bathing type of woman. I enjoy wearing flip-flops, bathing suits, and barely enough clothes to cover my body. Truth be told, in the midst of the cold weather months, I have yearned for the Southern Hemisphere.

The idea of listening came to me when I spent the last four weeks nurturing a very sore throat. It wasn’t a cold or anything like that. I guess it could have been the fact that I was using my voice for work more than normal. But honestly I believe the issue came from something that was energetically linked to me needing to shut my mouth and listen.

I was having a discussion with some epic yogis the other day and we were talking about karma .. and what karma yoga “is”. And we were talking about how karma yoga can be something as simple as being nice to people you don’t know. Picking up trash that’s not yours. Buying coffee for the person in line behind you without them knowing. That sort of “pay it forward” attitude. And while I love this idea, I mean who wouldn’t? This world needs more of that for sure!

I have always been one to follow my intuition. Not a strategic plan … an intuitive knowing. And to be honest, it’s drove a lot of people close to me crazy and in some cases, away from me. And that’s fine by me because honestly, I can’t live any other way. I’ve tried and it hurts, it physically hurts to live outside of my intuition.

Thank Goddess for this theme! After all the astrological upheaval that began all the way back with Venus Retrograde, followed by a deep dive into the Sun by Venus, followed by a Solar Eclipse, then Mercury in Retrograde, then a Lunar Eclipse, finishing with the finale of Mercury stationing direct, where else can we go but into balance?

I’m having a really hard time adjusting to this “default-world” that you hear Burners talk about. What a flipping default world it is. That phrase holds so much meaning and makes me laugh out loud now. And as I transition myself from an existence where people hug, connect, love, kiss, share infinite time, help each other, share truths, and fly by their intuition, into this “default reality” of schedules and work and kids and sports and “to-do’s” really has this recovering Type-A annoyed.

I wrote this blog last night and then completely changed it this morning as the ultimate test of my own integrity came into play … as the themes always do.

This word, oh this word. Since it came into my awareness over 10 days ago, I feel like I have been rung through the ringer. And I’m not alone either! I’ve been holding space for emails, Facebook messages, texts and phone calls from people going through the same thing … Relationship issues.

The other day, I’m in the car with my youngest daughter and she asks me, “Mom, is there an end to the sky?” And I said … “Um no honey. It’s infinite.” And she says … “Infinite… like energy?” And I say, “Yup, just like that.” And she sat there for quite awhile looking up and out of the sunroof. As if she was trying to figure it all out.

“You don’t have to see the entire staircase, just take the first step” – said a very wise man named Martin Luther King Jr. So very, very true.

I love this word, power. Powerful, powerless, powering through, empowered … it’s so versatile and strong and well, powerful.

You know, my life has always followed this crazy rhythm. And it hasn’t always been in time with everyone else’s. However, what I’m learning is that it’s been in Divine time and very often, in time with the Moon.

Wow … wanna know the truth? This Mercury Retrograde and Full Moon in Sagittarius is kicking my ass! I’ve been tossed into amazing opportunities and yanked back into the past all in one week. I had to face my immobilizing fear of technology and fix every i-apparatus in my home, by myself. I have to buy a new computer, and I lost all my photos of my children from 2002. (yes, I heard that gasp)

We are offered countless opportunities to up level our vibration on any given day. And this doesn’t mean:

I really liked this theme … sovereignty: having supreme authority over oneself. It was an interesting one to follow “connection” but yet, so timely and complimentary.