The act of slowing down gives us access to profound insights and leads to clarity and inner peace and even better physical health.

In our hectic, modern world it can feel like everything is spinning all the time. Our minds racing from one thought to the next. We jump and run from one task to the next and even when we sit down we are scrolling and clicking and being stimulated by a constant feed of information.

We don’t rest. We don’t have time to contemplate. Mindfulness is not a part of our culture.

I feel lucky I stumbled across these practices, and it is my honour to share them with others.

What does it mean to slow down?

Slowing down means ‘doing’ less. Dropping into ‘being’. Less ambition. No hurry.

Whether your eyes stay open or you close them, slowing down means you are connecting consciously to the moment. Slowing down allows us to observe what is happening both around us, and inside of us.

Why is this hard to do?

When we slow down, we begin to...

Do you ever look around at your life and wonder to yourself, ”there must be more to life than this?”

Maybe you are getting up each day, grateful to have a job, but on the other hand feeling unfulfilled about the work you are doing?

We only have so much time in the day. Time is our most precious resource.

We do have to work. But we know there is more to life than just paying the bills.
So how does one start to bring more Spirit into living?

First off, take time to slow down everyday.

Even if it's five or ten minutes. But stop. Pause.

Sit, or walk mindfully, or do a short Yoga practice.

Give yourself time to listen. Go out in nature.

Sit by a stream or river and listen to the flow.

Lean up against a tree and peer up at the sky through all it’s magical branches.

At the end of the day step outside and look up at the stars. Or treat yourself to a Savasana.

Our inner voice can best be heard when we pause.

People like to think of all kinds of excuses why we don’t...

Have you been triggered lately by all this talk of climate change? I have talked to several people lately who are consumed with what seems to be the end of times. These messages we hear on the news and in other forms of media can weigh heavy on our shoulders and cause agitation in our minds.

The news seems to be a constant stream of fear propaganda. A lot of doom and gloom.

I remember when I was traveling in Nepal it was the Maoist uprisings and violence and road blocks that was all over the news. My family and friends were worried sick because it sounded so bad in the news they were watching.

We saw nothing. Noticed nothing in our daily life as we travelled around the country. The reality is life goes on. No matter what is happening, life is going on.

When I was living in Mexico, the swine flu ordeal happened. Same thing. On the news all this fear and propaganda of a big outbreak. No one, and I mean NO ONE I knew was sick. The Western world was imposing travel bans and tourism...

In today’s world, I think most people are struggling to feel at peace. Our lives seem to be filled with never ending to-do-lists. We chronically rush around, rarely feeling present anywhere we go. We often feel stressed, or overwhelmed.

It has become normal to be busy all day long and barely be able to catch a wink of sleep. Our brains are firing 24/7 and we get very little rest from the constant movement.  

Is there anything we can do to bring calm to our minds and a sense of inner peace to our hearts?

YES!

Let me share with you FOUR things you can do to help youself ease stress and increase the feeling of calm and peace in your life.

1- Reduce the amount of stimulation and information you let in.

I am putting this one first because I think it gives us more time for the other three suggestions to follow. We spend so much time looking at screens we never have time for the things that really help. What I am suggesting is you turn off the news. Quit watching so much TV. Stop...

A little over a year ago, I started cold dips in the ocean with a dear friend once a week. It wasn’t easy for me to jump into the frigid water here in the Pacific Northwest in early spring. She was my pillar of strength and inspiration. I remember screaming and yelling the first few times I got in. But even from the first time I felt AMAZING afterwards!

It’s been a  profound process to watch myself fall in love with this practice. I can feel the benefits and want to share a bit more about it with you.

Cold water dipping is much more than a modern trend. Where I live it has become notably more common for people to be jumping in the cold ocean, rivers and lakes. We are catching on to something many cultures have known for a long time.

Traditional Chinese Medicine has long supported the practice of cold water immersion. Ancient Greeks, Hippocrates and Plato all spoke to the benefits of cold water bathing. This is not a new trend, and there is actually a lot of science to...

In one of my classes this week, someone asked a question about the abdomen.

Often when I teach, it is the students that are guiding the inquiry and together we discover something really insightful. During this particular class, we spent a lot of the class paying attention to the area around the navel.

As I tune people into their body, I also pay attention to myself. When I tuned into this area, it was abundantly clear to me how powerful and important this place in our body is. I was looking for words to articulate this place we were focusing on, and 'solar plexus' came to mind.

Despite knowing the body well, I don’t have an overly educated knowledge of the technical terms of our anatomy. After class, I wanted to understand better what exactly is the ‘solar plexus' so I sat down to do a little research.

And wow! What I read was fascinating and worth sharing.

 Here is a formal definition:

"The solar plexus, or celiac plexus, is a complex network of nerves located in the...

One of my students made a comment last week that really stood out for me.

She asked me: ‘How do I manage to do all the things I do, and STILL find time for myself?’

I thought sharing my tricks might help others. I know a lot of people who struggle to fit everything in, including Self Care and especially the things that bring them Joy.

I will admit, it has taken me a long while to figure this stuff out. I used to put myself last EVERY time and feel like I could NEVER fit in all the things I had to do in the day.

HOW DID I MAKE THIS SHIFT AND FIND MORE TIME?

There are four main ways I have enough time to do everything I want, including rest and having fun!

The first idea might sound impossible at first but I can reassure you it is.  I don’t watch TV.

Like at all.

Okay, I might watch a comedy special if my husband asks me to, but that is usually on his computer, and I literally don’t know how to use/work my TV in the family room.

I do let some of my time slip...

A group of us are moving through the book The Artist’s Way.  This week Julia Cameron introduced the idea of recognizing and acknowledging our BLURTS and then using affirmations as an antidote.

What are blurts?

They are things we say to ourselves that cause us to contract, hesitate and quit. They are statements of self doubt and criticism. They are all the things we say to ourselves that stop us from pursuing our dreams.

Do we all have blurts going on inside our heads?

Yes, I think so.

One of the gifts Julia Cameron gives us in this book is the task of writing morning pages. This is a process of writing three pages of stream of consciousness. This means we let ourselves pour out onto the page EXACTLY what we are thinking. No stopping. No filter. No editing.  If we do this honestly, what we notice is all the cruel things we say to ourselves.

It can be kind of rough to realize how mean we are to ourselves. It can feel like a shock to the system to see the ways we talk to...

This question came up during a class and I thought it was worth exploring. It is common belief here in the West that we must do cardio exercise in order to strengthen and keep the heart healthy.

I think we have all heard it is best to get our heart rate up at least a few times a week with some form of vigorous exercise. To learn more, I have been reading up on why we want to do this. What I found was very interesting.

Most of the research points to weight loss and lowering cholesterol levels as the main benefits of participating in exercise that raises your heart rate.  Many articles I read also talked about the benefits of improving the immune system, mental health and regulating blood sugar. 

There is no dispute: moving our bodies is good for us for more than one reason.

But through all the reading I did it seems to be basic common sense that keeps us healthy. We may be overthinking all this cardio and making health seem like something we have to train for and something...

Yoga helps us to become more aware of ourselves. Not just our physical body, but also the more subtle aspects of who we are.  

You may have heard Yoga defined as 'union' or 'yoking' of mind, body and soul. The goal of Yoga being to bring all the different aspects of Self into harmony and alignment.

In Yogic Philosophy it is said we have five different bodies or sheaths (Koshas).  

The most obvious being the food sheath, or Annamaya Kosha. This is the physical body made up of what we eat. It is the expression of energy in it’s most condensed form. It is built from the elements: earth, water, fire, air and space. It is the most tangible, dense and least easy to change.

The next sheath is called Pranamaya Kosha, or energy body. There are of five vital energies which flow through the physical body via the astral plane; prana, apana, samana, udana and vyana.  Within this energy body we experience hot, cold, hunger and thirst. It is said that the organs of action are...