When I was a freshly-minted new yoga teacher, I had one goal with my students: to help them to recognize that they were enough, perfect, just as they were. I proclaimed radical self-love to anyone who would listen– convinced that if they could just throw out their scale and embrace their own imperfections, they wouldContinue reading “body positivity isn’t always the (best) answer”
Category Archives: self-love
has perfectionism been your protection?
“I don’t understand why I’m so bad at this,” my client said. “Why can’t I do it?” “Have you ever done this before?” I asked her. “Why do you think you would be an expert at something you’ve never done before?” Perfectionism shows up in our movement practice much as it does in the restContinue reading “has perfectionism been your protection?”
different bodies look different in yoga poses: a case study in upward-facing dog
Have you been told that there is a right way and a wrong way to do a pose? Maybe you were taught one “proper alignment” or principles that should apply to all bodies. Like so many yoga folks, I used to think that there were rules about how yoga should look– but I couldn’t makeContinue reading “different bodies look different in yoga poses: a case study in upward-facing dog”
“I’m Here, But…”: thoughts on making your practice your own
Often, my newer students come into class with disclaimers:Â “‘I’m here, but…” or, “I don’t know how much I’ll be able to do tonight…” they start, sometimes with a shamefaced look, “because I’m just really tired,” or, “Something’s going on with my left wrist,” or “I tweaked something in my back,” or “I’m still recovering fromContinue reading ““I’m Here, But…”: thoughts on making your practice your own”
My Big Brother: On the Gift of Compassion and Love
In the back of my closet, under a mountain of dust bunnies, there’s a packet of letters. Not, as you might imagine, letters from an old lover, or anything so romantic. These are letters that I wrote over 20 years ago to my older brother. I was in middle school, or high school, and he wasContinue reading “My Big Brother: On the Gift of Compassion and Love”
Laura’s Magic Kitchen, Now with Expanded Menu Options
A few months ago, I started reading The Mastery of Love by Don Miguel Ruiz, and it’s had a serious effect on the relationships in my life- including that most treacherous of relationships, the one with myself. I could say a lot about this book- but today I just want to share with you one ofContinue reading “Laura’s Magic Kitchen, Now with Expanded Menu Options”
“Perhaps this very holding back is the one suffering you could have avoided.”
You can hold back from suffering of this world and you have permission to do so, and it is in accordance with your nature, but perhaps this very holding back is the one suffering you could have avoided. -Franz Kafka The biggest challenge in my own asana practice is backbends. I am not a naturallyContinue reading ““Perhaps this very holding back is the one suffering you could have avoided.””
Size Banana: Can I Stop Measuring Myself?
Recently, Geneen Roth posted this on Facebook: Almost every woman I know has three sizes of clothes in her closet. Thin clothes, fat clothes and in-between. The fat clothes–what I call the “just-in-case clothes”–keep you frightened of gaining weight, and the thin clothes keep you waiting for your life to begin. Your thin clothes, theContinue reading “Size Banana: Can I Stop Measuring Myself?”
A Self-Love Valentine
It’s Valentine’s Day. Some of us are happy- we have someone who loves us, someone we love, maybe children or family that we like to put at the center of our emotions on this day. If that’s you, I am very happy for you! You might want to read this post anyway, just in case.Continue reading “A Self-Love Valentine”
Getting What You Need
You can’t always get what you want but if you try sometimes you just might find you get what you need. -Rolling Stones Mick Jagger in Shoulder Stand. Info & other photos from 1972 tour. I was probably 15 years old the first time I heard this Rolling Stones song. I remember it pretty clearly,Continue reading “Getting What You Need”