tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15184250131070430252011-10-19T11:08:19.955-07:00Muse on yoga and meditation in the San Francisco Bay Area.Rachelnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1161100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-78738368774419760942011-01-18T23:32:00.000-08:002011-01-18T23:34:22.298-08:00

If you've wondered why I've been so silent lately, it's not because I've been on silent retreat. (Although, happily, that's coming up soon, too!) It's because the blog has moved, to the new website for my yoga teaching practice: Five Rivers Yoga Please visit me there to keep reading!

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-1973158063311911782010-12-21T12:40:00.000-08:002010-12-21T12:40:10.669-08:00

@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } Right now I’m reading The Relaxation Response. Originally published by Harvard cardiologist Herbert Benson in 1975, the book's about the physiology of relaxation— related to practices of meditation and

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-19428691160239444512010-12-01T09:43:00.000-08:002010-12-01T09:43:55.758-08:00

Yoga research is everywhere. How do we know what's solid information, and what's hype? There's a ton of new research emerging about yoga and meditation, and the air is full of tweets about the health effects of mind-body practices: ~ Can yoga improve your mood? ~ Is meditation better than medication? ~ Will mindfulness make us happier? ~ How can yoga help prevent disease? With all this

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-33343552650162351192010-11-29T11:05:00.000-08:002010-11-29T11:05:19.835-08:00

Walking is integral to my personal practice-- as important to me as the time I set aside for asana and formal meditation. The breath and movement of a morning walk will clear out any tangled thoughts and reconnect me to the feeling of my feet on the earth. In a sense, the walk itself is a form of vinyasa and meditation. So I was intrigued when a colleague forwarded me notice of a new study about

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-25473021303837713122010-11-16T19:36:00.000-08:002010-11-16T19:36:38.830-08:00

Being in the moment brings happiness. Now research from Harvard psychologists seems to affirm what we know from experience with meditation and mindfulness practices. The researchers are looking at happiness as "to what extent people feel good or bad in the moment, as they are going about their lives," as explained by researcher Matthew Killingsworth on Science Friday. They find, not

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-36706258271371248882010-11-11T21:22:00.000-08:002010-11-11T21:22:47.047-08:00

I had a store credit over at Red Hill Books and decided to treat myself to the Fall 2010 issue of Tricycle magazine. Seen it? Apparently there's a fresher, Winter 2010 issue out on the shelves now, but I'm still making my way through this one. Articles to check out are Anne Cushman's Yoga of Creativity (more from me on this soon) and Nancy Baker's piece on the 5th Zen Precept: the Non-use of

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-61551917864388301112010-11-08T21:26:00.000-08:002010-11-08T21:27:32.112-08:00

I make a bowl of pumpkin ravioli for dinner, and... eat in front of the computer while searching for dharma talks on mindful eating. Really. I notice exactly what I'm doing as it's happening, and I laugh. But does that pause remind me to turn off the computer and focus on the meal I've prepared? What is it that happens inside when we see ourselves behaving badly? That concept of a "guilty

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-9104777067552020842010-11-03T13:12:00.000-07:002010-11-03T13:12:39.022-07:00

Coverage of the SF Giants 2010 World Series Parade today. One of the announcers says, of the SF fan base, "these fans really embody the team." I'm pretty sure he was talking about the sea of panda hats, costume beards and orange "torture" t-shirts, but this description struck me. I've got an ear out for embodiment, because that's my job. For Giants fans, this can mean wearing the lucky shirt,

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-18531941032383189242010-10-21T20:44:00.000-07:002010-10-21T20:44:55.434-07:00

... What is it that you love? How did you find it? How do you remember it? And have you allowed yourself to love what you love? "Meditation helps you discover what you love that you didn't know you loved because you were so caught up in your mind that you didn't realize there was anything else there. The value of meditation is that it helps you first discover -- and then bring yourself back to

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-77283446101924960462010-10-17T15:35:00.000-07:002010-10-17T15:35:57.472-07:00

I've been considering the question "What are you thinking?" as a mindfulness query. Usually I ask someone this out of curiosity or wanting to connect, so they'll share their internal world. Maybe the question should be: How are you thinking? — to bring awareness to thinking. Notice that you're thinking. Notice the contents of the thoughts, without getting caught up in the story. Feel how

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-33319620937011890582010-10-05T09:06:00.000-07:002010-10-05T09:06:41.541-07:00

Before I started practicing yoga, I woke up a lot. Not awakening in the enlightenment sense, but more like insomnia. I am not a heavy sleeper. The heavy sleeper can and does fall asleep anywhere, anytime, and sleep through major construction, loud music, and freeway noise. In comparison, if someone breathes loudly in the next room, that's it for the light sleeper. Last night was a light sleeper

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-7079136703486796562010-09-20T21:59:00.000-07:002010-09-20T22:00:51.833-07:00

Last night I was late to teach a yoga workshop, for the first time ever. And, let me be clear, for most of my life I have been an early arrival for everything. That annoying person who shows up for dinner at your place 10 to 15 minutes early, when you just want to be upstairs putting on your party clothes? That's me. So last night, I miscalculated (and apparently the SF Giants won the game that

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-71913014800171257592010-09-16T12:39:00.000-07:002010-09-16T12:39:29.376-07:00

Skillful yoga instruction uses clear language and also connects through metaphors based in our embodied experiences of living in this world. When I teach, I often ask students to feel their seat on the earth, to notice the effects of gravity, to stand on the planet. One of my jobs is to shine a small light in the direction of wholeness and belonging, not only toward the home of the breath, the

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-50917184948216108042010-09-09T20:59:00.000-07:002010-09-09T20:59:53.155-07:00

zzzz Sometimes I joke that my tag line, as a teacher of a restorative yoga, should be:  "I put you to sleep." The relaxation cultivated by restorative yoga is physiologically different than sleep. Yet many people have dozed -- and most likely will doze, and doze again -- in my restorative classes, often with snoring and maybe a bit of dreaming. I have mixed feelings about this napping

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-45509523756961332722010-09-01T08:53:00.000-07:002010-09-01T08:53:34.485-07:00

The "Integrative Oncology" column in the August 2010 issue of the journal Oncology gives us a great evidence-based boost, with its summary of reports that yoga helps reduce cancer symptoms and greatly improves quality of life in cancer patients. The summary, by Barrie Cassileth, PhD, highlights two recent studies reported at the 2010 meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, which

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-72614307020329695412010-08-28T14:27:00.000-07:002010-08-28T14:27:48.420-07:00

I just read a great interview in The Sun magazine. Do you know The Sun? Ad-free independent literary journal, still printed on actual paper. Tho you can find it online too. I usually turn immediately to the "readers write" section, and the quotations on a theme at the back of each issue. This month's theme: Silence. The interview, "Quiet, Please" is with Gordon Hempton, an Acoustic Ecologist. (I

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-11426907559803154712010-08-23T22:15:00.000-07:002010-08-23T22:15:43.172-07:00

I'm sitting on the cushion, watching the thoughts. Watching the thoughts. Even so, I'm captivated. An idea catches me up into its undertow, and before I know it I'm far from land. Sometimes the thought is more obvious, such as the sudden conviction... even though the chime hasn't sounded yet... it's time to end the sit and go do something else. Stay here. Sometimes it's sly, quietly sneaking in

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-55685725471597814992010-08-16T21:38:00.000-07:002010-08-16T21:38:18.841-07:00

I remember learning the Spanish idiom: Se me fue el avión. Meaning: I lost my train of thought. I spaced out. Literally: "The plane left without me." I imagine the thoughts zooming up and away, abandoning the body on the tarmac. What happens when we lead with our heads, and our body is dragged behind, underfed, neglected, caffeinated, squished, or just ignored? Where does the mind go when we're

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-28923189552520423642010-07-29T08:41:00.000-07:002010-07-29T08:41:44.025-07:00

I love the public library in summertime. This evening I happily hauled in six books, yes six. These include: three novels (all by the same author, Elif Shafak, whose TED Talk I listened to earlier this week); two books on food and "gut wisdom" recommended by Judith Hanson Lasater at last week's training; and because I frequently reference the "Speaking of Faith" podcasts, Krista Tippett's book

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-25291693256706648112010-07-22T21:16:00.000-07:002010-07-22T21:53:31.569-07:00

"The practice has value when it is shared.... Yoga has value when you give it away," Judith repeated to the roomful of 90 yogis, and I smiled. Judith Hanson Lasater described perfectly my feeling about assisting her Relax & Renew restorative yoga teacher training this week. When was the last time you realized that you were exactly where you were supposed to be? I had that experience today. I

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-74460018249674946892010-07-20T10:35:00.000-07:002010-07-21T08:23:42.489-07:00

"The fundamental nature of the breath is that, like life, it is constantly changing." ~ Donna Farhi, The Breathing Book "Close your eyes and relax into your body. Imagine a light all around you, the light of your soul. Then with your breath, draw that light into your body and bring it with your breath through every area of your body." ~ John O'Donohue, Anam Cara  "As you breathe in, you say

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-14421202565239603162010-07-12T21:05:00.000-07:002010-07-12T21:05:33.132-07:00

This summer I'm sticking close to home. Not a staycation. Not a preference for the summer fog. Actually, I'm on call as a birth doula. I write that with pride and anticipation. Because I know those moments of presence when time slows and the wonder of being is tangible. When we must offer ourselves fully to fear and beauty, darkness and faith. In my experience so far, attending a birth is that

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-19363125094594522222010-07-07T16:41:00.000-07:002010-07-07T16:41:17.924-07:00

Driving home after an evening of teaching, I often listen to the radio. Last night I caught a rebroadcast on KQED of a City Arts and Lectures talk by Anne Lamott, who's got a new novel. I'm not quite sure what it is that makes Anne Lamott such a funny storyteller. Maybe it's that she puts her foibles and humanness right out there for us to see, with her life as a big mirror of compassion.

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-96940981895279152010-06-30T10:23:00.000-07:002010-06-30T10:23:16.956-07:00

 ... Here's the question I pose to myself: Is it possible to be alive, active in the world, and yet have such calm, such inner openness and presence that one can lead a life, at least in part, that is an expression of that quality of meditative quiescence. That's on the one hand quite alert and on the other hand completely at ease, completely at rest. ~ Physicist Arthur Zajonc, as interviewed on

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-1131350624849249162010-06-28T21:52:00.000-07:002010-06-28T21:52:49.371-07:00

( ) "Two hands together," she wrote, as the closing salutation of her email. I picture my students' hands together at the heart in Namaste, in the anjali mudra, in the prayer position. A lovely way to connect: I bow to you. I feel the clasping of hands upon greeting or parting, holding hands with a loved one, playing patty-cake with my niece. What empties itself falls into the place that is

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-2236846618891379562010-06-23T22:52:00.000-07:002010-06-23T22:52:07.826-07:00

... There is nothing like listening to someone who really knows her yogic stuff. The level of mastery, confidence, and presence elevate the transmission. Today I dropped in on a few hours of Britt Fohrman's nationally-acclaimed Teaching Yoga for Pregnancy, Birth, and Beyond teacher training at The Mindful Body. The two guest speakers: Liz McBride on pelvic floor dysfunction, and Rachel Yellin,

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-74942036455518402992010-06-17T22:53:00.000-07:002010-06-17T22:53:13.352-07:00

In writing yesterday's post on planning your meditation staycation, I left out a crucial bit of information: WHY you would want to spend a day in an at-home retreat. I love going on vipassana retreat, and if you can do that I would absolutely recommend it over and over. As a complement to retreating away, here are a few reasons to retreat at home: 1. Continuity of Practice Mindfulness and

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-16019327212282132702010-06-16T22:28:00.000-07:002010-06-16T22:29:50.189-07:00

After years of sitting meditation retreats, I've brought the practices into my daily life in many different ways. Among the most rejuvenating practices is creating a personal retreat day at home. Here are some DIY instructions for building your own mindfulness retreat at home. Having done this a few times, I can tell you that it's tough to get started.... It helps if you have an established

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-83076344215718248872010-06-10T11:26:00.000-07:002010-06-10T11:26:27.174-07:00

One of my grandfathers worked as a butcher; the other grandfather worked as a doctor. Food and healing are in my family story. Since my grandfathers' time, the predominant food and healing systems in the US have changed dramatically, shutting out the local butcher and the family doc. I finally watched Food Inc. last night. If you, like me, missed this film when it was released last year, now's

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-34116251950745215052010-06-09T10:05:00.000-07:002010-06-09T10:05:29.948-07:00

"Human skin is porous; the world flows through you. Your senses are large pores that let the world in. By being attuned to the wisdom of your senses, you will never become an exile in your own life, an outsider lost in an external spiritual place that your will and intellect, have constructed."  ~ John O'Donohue

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-16140282262736046532010-06-03T14:46:00.000-07:002010-06-03T14:46:56.491-07:00

I sit down to write this blog post, and I notice the note to myself that I've posted above the computer: "Get out of the house!" It's written in garden-green, with a big heart next to it. I glance to the right of the computer screen and see this bit from John O'Donohue: "I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding." I'm not afraid to admit that I've

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-12519952973597888172010-05-28T22:52:00.000-07:002010-05-28T22:52:37.747-07:00

I got up on the wrong side of myself. On a usual day, I would've seen it right away, hit the meditation cushion, and reconvened body, mind, and spirit. This morning, I jumped right up out of bed and somehow found myself immediately in front of the computer. Email, email, email. You know how it goes. The day got all turned around, the urgently unimportant emails kept on coming in, the papers

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-13267575430332492312010-05-27T22:19:00.000-07:002010-05-27T22:19:30.432-07:00

People are basically good. This is kind of an inside joke around our house; we say this whenever we've had a particularly hopeful and heart-opening experience. The other saying we use around here, when that warm-hearted feeling toward people arises: It's Love! Today was definitely an It's Love kind of day. Today was my last day of the MBSR Practicum. It's been a long ten weeks for me, but now

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-64335497841369582622010-05-24T12:03:00.000-07:002010-05-24T12:03:16.417-07:00

On my way to a meeting this morning at the Civic Center, this is what I saw. This is Three Heads Six Arms, a sculpture by Shanghai artist Zhang Huan. The sculpture is visiting San Francisco's Civic Center Plaza, as a celebration of thirty years of friendship between San Francisco and Shanghai. Apparently inspired by the Chinese Buddhist mythological character/diety Nezha and by the artist's

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-22015544896858084302010-05-20T11:09:00.000-07:002010-05-20T11:09:16.900-07:00

This week I sat in on another teacher's restorative class. It's for people who are unhealthy and hoping to become healthier. The class consisted of three poses in one hour, spreading toward the floor and abundantly supported by props. In the final pose, blankets covered each of the students as they rested in stillness. They looked like small mounds of earth. I looked around and thought about

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-80383699330777224132010-05-17T16:08:00.000-07:002010-05-17T16:08:15.850-07:00

With last night's neighborhood sitting group, our discussion focused on a Speaking of Faith interview from 2007 with poet John O'Donohue, "The Inner Landscape of Beauty." I have to tell you -- I could listen to this interview over and over and over. His words are beauty. He speaks directly to what nurtures my own inner life, in nature and silence. He says about landscape: "If you go towards it

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-7320058116990942232010-05-14T16:13:00.000-07:002010-05-14T16:13:59.404-07:00

Following too many tweets on Twitter is like what the mind does all the time. Fleeting thoughts come and go, there's a lot of inconsequential chatter, and we can't control it. Yet somehow in this cacophony of opinions, judgments, observations, sell-jobs, and bits of humor, we need to be selective and concentrated enough to focus on what is essential! I had a clarifying, direct experience of the

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-43403163695043512782010-05-11T16:55:00.000-07:002010-05-11T16:55:54.316-07:00

At the end of restorative yoga classes, students' faces are golden. I watch for the moment when their mouths open, a sure sign that the body is relaxing. An open mouth, a shining face, and a relieved smile show that the parasympathetic is back online. Three of the past four days, I've done my own restorative practice. On Saturday, I stayed forty-five minutes in supported reclining pose and even

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-6862722028201684092010-05-05T15:03:00.000-07:002010-05-05T15:03:53.212-07:00

It's amazing that we find ways to live in this world all together when we live in so many versions of reality. On a basic level, is my "yellow" the same as yours? Is that color "peach" or "pink"- this has been a matter for debate in our household. Last night I read Matthieu Ricard's words, in The Quantum and the Lotus, "According to Buddhism, time and space are just concepts created by our

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-8880855144419597382010-05-04T17:20:00.000-07:002010-05-04T17:20:31.630-07:00

What does it mean to be a healer and to serve? Rachel Naomi Remen makes a distinction between serving, helping, and fixing. Helping implies weakness in the other. Fixing implies something is broken in the other. Serving is relationship of equality, wholeness and connection. She writes, We don't serve with our strength, we serve with ourselves. We draw from all of our experiences. Our

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-89916944608366445742010-05-02T20:06:00.000-07:002010-05-02T20:06:58.469-07:00

Did you miss me? I was away on silent retreat. I love the silence. I highly recommend unplugging, getting away from blogging and other forms of self-storytelling. I made a conscious decision not to mentally blog, not to squirrel away insights for fantastic future posts, nor even to write down pithy bits for later. So I return to you quite cleared out, much lighter in spirit, grounded in every

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-23366338289041223982010-04-24T08:07:00.000-07:002010-04-24T08:07:50.455-07:00

Peace is all around us -- in the world and in nature -- and within us -- in our bodies and our spirits. Once we learn to touch this peace, we will be healed and transformed. It is not a matter of faith; it is a matter of practice. Thich Nhat Hanh

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-56307367844950478042010-04-23T15:58:00.000-07:002010-04-23T15:58:22.735-07:00

Embodied. What does that mean, anyway? Here's one explanation: Being present in our bodies from the inside out, as well as outside in. This sounds pretty basic. Yet what I've been finding, in my own explorations, is that the conceptual often trumps the experiential. Unless I intentionally, mindfully, and slowly enliven a felt sense of my body. The MBSR-style "body scan" begins with feeling

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-984243490337406282010-04-21T23:06:00.000-07:002010-04-21T23:06:10.089-07:00

This post is for the group of women to whom I offered restorative yoga over the past twelve weeks and from whom I learned as much as I taught. Tonight was our last meeting all together. What I saw: Anywhere and everywhere is sacred. What I heard: Everyone's story is our story. The group has met in a space that is basically two co-joined, industrially-carpeted hospital rooms, with a couple of

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-36805009403061334262010-04-20T22:56:00.000-07:002010-04-20T22:56:24.958-07:00

My newest favorite podcast is Speaking of Faith. This is probably one of those media events that everyone else has known about forever, and better that I found it late than never. (Kind of like blogging.) I've been listening voraciously to Krista Tippett's interviews with John O'Donohue, Matthieu Ricard, Parker Palmer, and others. One of the most wonderful shows I've heard yet is "Whale Songs and

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-7356991331302040272010-04-19T22:01:00.000-07:002010-04-19T22:01:32.366-07:00

Today was the last day on organs in this week's Embodied Anatomy training. The best part: Sounding into the major abdominal organs while breathing through a straw. Ask me about it next time I see you. Next best part: Unexpected insight about how much time I waste plotting my escape from what's happening. Back story: I must have spent at least a month -- hours just during this past week --

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-39167670041857879192010-04-18T22:24:00.000-07:002010-04-18T22:24:56.169-07:00

Today's Grow Yoga shout out goes especially to blog readers in Juneau, Alaska (Alaska's capital city)! To all the yogis there who practice restoratively in the rainforest, at Taproot Yoga in Juneau. The past couple days have been full full full, with the School for Body-Mind Centering Embodied Anatomy training: The Organs. Lungs and heart located on Saturday, and now my breath is wider and

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-3347515387339922972010-04-17T20:41:00.000-07:002010-04-17T20:41:31.761-07:00

These past couple of weeks, I've been in a thicket of resistance. Struggling with what Is. Otherwise known as... suffering. Wanting things to be different than they are. Comparing this with that. Wishing for that and not this. A healthy body. A flawless friend. Convenience. Trying to set things up so that everything is perfectly aligned: It's a losing battle. That feeling of gripping, it's a

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-91291678453013106942010-04-14T08:56:00.000-07:002010-04-14T08:56:51.325-07:00

This morning's practice: msbr-style body scan, upon waking (left foot: very chatty) walk around the hill (hello, hummingbirds!) seated mediation & a blessing... May all that is unforgiven in you Be released. May your fears yield Their deepest tranquilities. May all that is unlived in you Blossom into a future Graced with love. ~ John O'Donohue "To Come Home to Yourself," in To Bless the

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-51297936421337760062010-04-10T07:39:00.000-07:002010-04-10T07:39:18.432-07:00

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I'll meet you there. (Jelaluddin Rumi) For me, a baseball game is a great place to practice working with opposites. There's the chaos of the crowd as we hurry into the stadium. Then, especially from the tip-top "view" section, a surprising spaciousness that melds us all into one organism, a container filled with movement, sky, and

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-38264402884642030672010-04-06T21:08:00.000-07:002010-04-06T21:08:16.117-07:00

A huge omission, the key element that I left out of my last couple posts: The importance of being willing to ask for help. All those mighty back bends I wrote about? My victorious blog post jumps right past a crucial moment, toward the end of class, when we were kicking up into a preparation for Vrschikasana. (Scorpion Pose. You know how I often link to Yoga Journal for photos and how-to's? This

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-86462491207947842792010-04-05T22:04:00.000-07:002010-04-05T22:04:02.997-07:00

"If you could do this, you wouldn't be doing this," Tony said to us in class today. That's what practice is for. We were calming things down in Sarvangasana (shoulderstand), after doing about 20 back bends. It was not long after I had a spontaneous, celebratory verbal outburst -- a loud, exclamatory "Tah dah!" after getting into a particularly challenging variation of Urdhva Danurasana (wheel

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-14578725243232112162010-04-04T16:49:00.000-07:002010-04-05T12:58:47.223-07:00

In the Wednesday evening sitting group, dharma teacher Pamela Weiss has been teaching bits and pieces about the archetypal hero's journey. A few weeks ago, she talked about how the journey requires three things from the head, heart, and guts: curiosity, courage, and commitment. I keep seeing signs of this everywhere, and I'm especially contemplating the meaning of the need for commitment. My

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-45198251430820032722010-04-02T22:30:00.000-07:002010-04-02T22:34:34.587-07:00

"What would it be like to approach our lives, and to engage in the lives of others, knowing we are all inherently whole, intrinsically well, in need of being drawn forth into the discovery of unabashed completeness?" ~ Saki Santorelli

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-47416552397888361872010-03-30T17:48:00.000-07:002010-03-30T17:48:08.383-07:00

I woke up this morning feeling really great, for the first time in about a week. And I think it's related to getting back into the swing of my regular yoga schedule. Accumulated yoga merits from dedicated practice. Tony's class yesterday: After a couple of hours, focusing on the head of the humerus in downward dog and headstand, I felt engaged. My emotional energy had shifted, my attention was

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-91137743972375851272010-03-29T15:06:00.000-07:002010-03-29T15:06:42.258-07:00

"In any case, the point is not to try to get rid of thoughts, but rather to see their true nature. Thoughts will run us around in circles if we buy into them, but really they are like dream images. They are like an illusion--not really all that solid. They are, as we say, just thinking." - Pema Chodron

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-67585389067731227752010-03-28T22:15:00.000-07:002010-03-28T22:15:12.661-07:00

My yoga buddy is about to go on her first silent retreat. I thought about what to tell her, and also what not to say. It is a rite of passage, and I know that she'll find her own difficulties and joys in the doing, or rather, in the not doing. I went on a vipassana retreat for the first time seven years ago, and I've continued that practice once or twice a year since then. The silence is where I

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-32429728374905336332010-03-26T13:10:00.000-07:002010-03-26T13:10:01.117-07:00

How to see the mind in the body: "The mind is like the wind and the body like the sand: if you want to know how the wind is blowing, you can look at the sand." ~ Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, Sensing Feeling and Action

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-53254341543841604032010-03-25T08:41:00.000-07:002010-03-25T08:42:10.447-07:00

I've been feeling a little self-conscious about my previous post. Because I wouldn't want you to think that we should white-knuckle it through unpleasant experiences, including yoga poses. Especially the poses that we find most difficult. We spend a lot of time and energy fleeing the unpleasant, arranging things to be as pleasant and easy as possible. We have our preferences, and we want to set

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-87190010595109852632010-03-24T22:06:00.000-07:002010-03-24T22:06:13.360-07:00

This week's asana: Eka Pada Rajakapotasana II. Otherwise known as: One-Legged King Pigeon Pose Two. There are any number of yoga poses that my body simply can't do, but there are very few poses I can do in which I notice myself thinking, "I don't think I can bear this!" or, "When will this be over?" (This may be familiar to some of you as the "I'm going to move... I'm going to open my eyes..."

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-28371370371317637792010-03-23T15:02:00.000-07:002010-03-23T15:02:55.533-07:00

The biggest orange chair ever -- is the earth. There's nothing like lying face down flat out on the grass. One side of the body is cool and dark, and the other side warm and sunshine bright. Let the thinking and grasping and doing seep out. Let the huge embrace sink in. Happy spring!

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-82273989421128806642010-03-22T21:59:00.000-07:002010-03-22T21:59:28.275-07:00

This struck me today about lineages of practice. It's not personal: Many generations of teachers and students have come before, and many will follow. At the same time, the unbroken line depends on individuals, in the particular details of living and practicing their daily lives. Branching yet interconnected from roots to leaves.

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-33538811942895108792010-03-19T15:55:00.000-07:002010-03-19T15:58:12.509-07:00

Everyone needs a spot where we can just STOP. I was talking with a friend about practicing with agitation, anxiety, restlessness, loneliness... what we do when we start spinning out. When things start to rattle around with uncertainty or boredom, and we're seeking distraction. He sits in the Orange Chair. Though I've never seen it, I've heard about the orange chair. I picture it as a comfy and

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-31760733774588326152010-03-18T18:50:00.000-07:002010-03-18T18:50:01.988-07:00

Last night, I received this challenge: Teach a movement practice on the theme of "boundaries." How would you construct a "boundaries" practice, for a group of women who are new to yoga and learning body awareness? What I found, in prepping, is that it's very hard to know our boundaries, edges, outer limits, periphery -- without first finding our center. I can't feel it when I'm extending myself

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-9290469826938906872010-03-16T21:10:00.000-07:002010-03-16T21:10:08.274-07:00

We were walking down the Bear Valley Trail, on the way to Arch Rock, and we were talking about what brings each of us joy. What's on the joy list? Whatever unfailingly open us up, wake us up, and airs us out. Simply what makes us happy. Already we were happy, because we were moving our bodies. That was on everyone's list. Even better, we were outside, among trees and lots of green and blue. Also

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-9721656689222381562010-03-15T09:37:00.000-07:002010-03-15T09:37:44.522-07:00

A few of you have asked me if (and how) you can comment on these blog posts. I've changed the settings, and Comments are now active! We'll see how it grows.... Click on the "0 comments" text below each post to leave your comments. Please write, as we'd love to hear from you!

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-18056047244755276022010-03-15T09:31:00.000-07:002010-03-15T09:31:19.930-07:00

I've been away for a few days, up in Point Reyes, one of my favorite places on earth. We spent hours watching the tides of Tomales Bay and hiking damp, green trails all the way out to the Pacific Ocean. You know that quiet restfulness of being away from the city, the computer, the phone, the to-do lists. Moving into slower time, laughing a lot with good friends. Filling up with fresh air. Star

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-72050206187517847742010-03-11T09:20:00.000-08:002010-03-11T09:20:45.747-08:00

Just as we're twisting into what seems like the tenth round of Parivrtta Trikonasana (revolved triangle), Tony says, "Now there's nowhere to hide!" It's true. Everything about me shows. Physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It's not perfect. Embodying the pose, there's no posing. It's all there, spiraling together -- and I relax. Then I suddenly realize we're still having the conversation

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-43256674430958702172010-03-09T08:29:00.000-08:002010-03-09T08:29:37.137-08:00

TEACHER: So, how's it going? RACHEL: Oh, you know, making a mess of my life. TEACHER: (Smiling) Good! I always thought you were a little too tidy. RACHEL: I know, that's something I'm working on....

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-47810285666476914812010-03-08T21:22:00.000-08:002010-03-08T21:22:18.711-08:00

Chatting with other yoga teachers over lunch today, I asked: What is your learning edge? The question just popped out, and then I heard the echo. Playing the learning edge may be one of the organizing principles of my yoga teaching and practice, if not my life in general! For me, the learning edge is where I find an open question in my teaching or personal practice, or even in a single pose.

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-6717300199352255412010-03-06T20:02:00.000-08:002010-03-06T20:02:17.802-08:00

I'm pretty sure that I first learned to take refuge about seven years ago, on retreat with Sarah Powers. It's been part of my daily practice ever since, with some personal touches over the years -- drawing from a little zen, and a lot more vipassana. When I first sit down to meditate, this usually is the form: I take refuge in awareness, my true home (Buddha) I take refuge in the path, and the

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-55061744324834997272010-03-04T09:16:00.000-08:002010-03-04T09:17:41.255-08:00

This morning's Grow Yoga shout out is to LA Yogis! Much appreciation to Chloe, in Los Angeles, who's been sending me lovely messages with her thoughts about life and work as a yoga teacher/therapist. I find her words particularly insightful and want to tell you what she said to me, too:      you know rachel, everything you have done has led you to this moment. it will blend no matter what; it

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-81258079330282931552010-03-04T08:30:00.000-08:002010-03-04T08:30:19.469-08:00

Is it possible to spend too much time on the backbender?!

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-13741741438465402932010-03-02T21:49:00.000-08:002010-03-02T21:49:17.414-08:00

I want to start this blog with a special shout out to Saigon yogis! One of my readers, a yoga teacher in Saigon, emailed me this morning to say: "2 days ago i quoted you in class, i quoted the heading to the penultimate entry the one about how the extent to which we have compassion and acceptance for all parts of ourselves reflects the extent of our kindness to others. your name is being spread

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-18921378432353769572010-03-01T09:17:00.000-08:002010-03-01T09:17:04.398-08:00

While grudgingly folding laundry this morning, I had a sudden insight! I don't need all that drawer space for the business socks any longer! The more subdued hues and chilly fabrics that will fit a dress shoe, they've been taking up a lot of room... and my life has changed. All the newer, colorful, comfy wool socks and funky legwarmers (yes, my secret identity as the Flashdance Yogini) have

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-20561861461108307032010-02-24T22:21:00.000-08:002010-02-24T22:21:20.235-08:00

The degree to which I can welcome all parts of myself mirrors the degree to which I can extend true welcome and kindness to others. With gratitude, gratitude, and more gratitude for what sees me through the many times when I forget to go gently. When I get irritated with imperfection, tense everything up, and race against myself. Like a cat rubbing its own fur the wrong way.... And then after so

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-44266106177049736852010-02-23T17:20:00.000-08:002010-02-23T17:20:26.996-08:00

Thanks for the photo, J & K!

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-83968672183859602892010-02-23T17:18:00.000-08:002010-02-23T17:18:28.913-08:00

Previous post: entirely too wordy, still thinking into it. Instead, find simplicity, wonder. Simple movement explorations, like a belly-lying baby learning to lift her head and then crawl. Divinity and humanity in the newborn spine.

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-7746295869305902602010-02-22T22:34:00.000-08:002010-02-22T22:34:31.883-08:00

There's a sign at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, as you first wind onto the land, that invites us to "Yield to the Present." For me, the sign always brings a chuckle, along with a sigh of relief and a feeling of coming home. At the same time, I remember that yielding can be difficult -- to land in the present moment can require a surprising amount of practice, time, and kindness. Today, I

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-65244293725043568152010-02-21T21:02:00.000-08:002010-02-21T21:02:33.202-08:00

I love Ursula K. Le Guin's sci fi novel, The Telling. It's about a culture that has been forced into hiding, with its social, spiritual, and cultural survival based in preservation of its oral history. Elders hold fragments, pieces of knowledge of this culture--a story, perhaps a piece of art, or a star map, or a drawing--that they transmit by "telling" them, sharing them over and over, ritually

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-54931187958240606102010-02-18T10:35:00.000-08:002010-02-18T10:55:53.263-08:00

Last night I took the most backbending, inverted, arm balancing class I've EVER experienced. Except, I didn't do any of the poses. As everyone else bent backwards and turned upside-down and surged with energy around me, I forward folded. Over a bolster. With a head wrap covering my eyes. I felt like the still point at the center of a turning wheel... the peace of my forward folds gave stability

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-6538220902063140612010-02-15T19:05:00.000-08:002010-02-15T19:05:51.794-08:00

Set the timer; sit on the cushion. Feel the body. Find the breath. Breathe in, know breathing in; breathe out, know breathing out. Such space, such a relief.... Breathing is so great. It's so good to just sit here with nothing else that needs to happen. And what about writing a blog post about breathing? The simplicity of meditation on the breath-body. It needs a great title, hmm, a great title.

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-11343576732130870402010-02-09T19:29:00.000-08:002010-02-09T19:31:36.669-08:00

In the playful spirit of inclusion, I thought to add these photos to my previous post. These are the two monster finger puppets that I bought to play with, in a Gestalt-ish way, when actively working on resolving a personal duality: dialoguing aspects of myself that I liked and didn't like. Please give a very warm welcome to... the Entrepreneur and the Soupmaker! (I'll let you guess which is

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-60486516583249020682010-02-09T19:14:00.000-08:002010-02-09T19:14:54.285-08:00

So over the last couple days, I've been pondering my previous two posts: What is the resonance between the quotations from H.H. The Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh? I realized, both of them point to the same practice: include everything. Include the pleasant, the unpleasant, and the neutral in this constantly flowing river of feelings we experience. Include the fundamental rights of all, friend

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-11682906852158487042010-02-08T09:21:00.000-08:002010-02-08T09:21:30.156-08:00

"...genuine compassion is based on the rationale that all human beings have an innate desire to be happy and overcome suffering, just like myself. And, just like myself, they have the natural right to fulfill this fundamental aspiration. On the basis of the recognition of this equality and commonality, you develop a sense of affinity and closeness with others. With this as a foundation, you can

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-87987656107727720552010-02-03T14:23:00.000-08:002010-02-03T14:23:57.820-08:00

Someone asked me yesterday how frequently people are injured doing yoga. It reminded me of these words from Thich Nhat Hanh: If we call a pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral feeling by its name, we identify it clearly and recognize it more deeply.... Our body is river in which every cell is a drop of water, and all of them are in constant transformation and movement. There is also a river of

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-55740890879689358442010-02-01T11:00:00.000-08:002010-02-01T11:00:37.786-08:00

I love the somewhat humorous stump altar on Bernal Hill. Note the carefully arranged collection of lost scarves, sunglasses and baby binkys (as well as the close proximity of those ubiquitous yellow flowers, my nemesis-teacher plant: Oxalis. Aka "sour grass.") Nobody disturbs these ordinary objects lost, now revered. What makes the ordinary sacred? When does humor and helpfulness become art?

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-66690281043857864302010-01-31T19:51:00.000-08:002010-01-31T19:51:37.081-08:00

I've been sort of avoiding my asana practice these last couple of days. Okay, maybe for the last couple of weeks. I mean I've been avoiding my regular home practice of yoga, which usually is a pleasing and daily occurrence. I'm not exactly sure why, although I've started to wonder. I'm still sitting in meditation in the mornings, but I haven't felt like moving much. Maybe it's one of those

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-44976807959625707962010-01-29T11:21:00.000-08:002010-01-29T11:21:48.696-08:00

The edge between presence and absence, what is that like? Sitting in meditation this morning, observing closely the moments when I drift off into fuzziness, stories, planning, restlessness. Balancing lightly the flow of awareness, the body and breath as roots, the earth beneath me. Vernal Fall, Yosemite 2009

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-38003732890872836572010-01-28T21:26:00.000-08:002010-01-28T21:26:52.728-08:00

I subbed tonight at The Mindful Body, Yin and Yang Flow. Sixteen students, varying levels. 5 minutes savasana; 20 minutes long-held yin poses; 30 minutes slow flow; 15 minutes yin; and 20 minutes restorative. Yummy. Sarah Powers, who has in my opinion led the process of branding and popularizing yin yoga, along with Paul and Suzee Grilley, describes Yin/Yang Yoga on her website as "long held

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-88857720367490145142010-01-25T21:05:00.000-08:002010-01-25T21:05:27.540-08:00

I've had two yoga teaching and practice events in the last 24 hours that gave me good reality checks, following up on last week's training.... First one: Teaching the "ankle foot" and the "heel foot" last night to one of my students. You know, teaching something is one of the best ways to figure out how much you actually understand about it. When my student asked, "Why does this matter?" Well...

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-22643191764227433172010-01-22T16:19:00.000-08:002010-01-22T16:19:53.970-08:00

I just took a walk around Bernal Hill, and to my surprise my body feels... so new. It's a little strange, and pretty cool... I'm moving much more slowly than usual, noting the moving spiral of my femurs, the lift of my manubrium.... And my ribs tell me about the possibility of an even bigger world. You know those moments when something shifts and you didn't even really know that it had changed?

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-50006443580111894542010-01-18T22:21:00.000-08:002010-01-18T22:21:29.762-08:00

Who made this pelvis? YOU did! Here's an insight from today's Embodied Anatomy training session focused on the pelvis, transmitted directly from Bonnie, which she gave almost off-hand, and which totally blew my hair back: We grew (and grow) our own bones. We "know" how to do that! I know! Give it a moment.... And then maybe another moment..... I took from this that, in addition to the

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-63450646034575439142010-01-17T22:18:00.000-08:002010-01-17T22:20:49.147-08:00

This week, I'm in the body. In training with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen and the School for Body-Mind Centering: Embodied Anatomy for Yoga. This week is focused on the skeletal system, lower limbs and upper limbs. More on the lower limbs in a moment. First, I want to say that it is stunning how yogis, body workers, physical and occupational therapists and dancers come from all over the US, and all

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-39106313436294390492010-01-16T20:35:00.000-08:002010-01-16T20:35:16.725-08:00

Photo by BF

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-25704650977506342732010-01-11T18:32:00.000-08:002010-01-11T18:32:20.615-08:00

Lateral longitudinal arch. Transverse arch. Medial longitudinal arch. No, these are not parts of buildings, bridges, or buttresses. These are structures of your feet! When you press into the "ball" of the big toe (or the "big toe mound," the head of the first metatarsal) and into the inner bottom heel, you'll find the inner (medial) arch of the foot. When we talk about "arch support," we usually

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-60775576224703269712010-01-05T16:39:00.000-08:002010-01-05T16:39:18.691-08:00

For all my loyal readers, my apologies for not posting these past few weeks. (Anyone out there? Anyone else see the movie Julie and Julia where Julie asks that in her blog posting, and the only person who responds is her mom?) So, here we are in 2010, and Happy New Year to you! At the end of the year, I went on silent retreat at Spirit Rock, sitting the "Contemplating Peace: Holy Days"

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-76142361596696007182009-12-14T20:09:00.000-08:002009-12-14T20:12:32.490-08:00

Walking on Bernal Hill this morning... really BIG bubbles! The early dog walkers and dog-less walkers like me all pause in wonder, sharing smiles. A moment of gorgeous impermanence noticed; a feeling of being kids at play in a big weird world. Bubbles forming. Bubbles floating. Bubbles bursting. Here's a link to the blog of the guy that created the magic http://bubbletravels.blogspot.com/

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-13339712890140104762009-12-11T15:33:00.000-08:002009-12-11T15:33:52.591-08:00

By virtue of my own resentment (if that phrase isn't a paradox in itself), I've changed in ways I could never have imagined. And, happily, I think the changes are for the good. Think about a time when you really wanted to do or be something, and you were told NO. And then you took some steps to get closer to that goal: went back to school, retooled for the new Millennium, learned new tricks, did

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518425013107043025.post-14352336761276851962009-12-05T14:56:00.000-08:002009-12-05T14:57:23.905-08:00

I've got a lazy leg. It needs active encouragement. I notice this most when kicking up to go upside down, as in handstand or forearm balance. There's always that leg that just doesn't want to go the distance. I have to remember to take notice of that leg, turn my inward gaze on it, and visualize it lifting all the way up. C'mon, lift! Amazing this actually works. This is one of those odd things

Rachelnoreply@blogger.com0