When asked about conscious living, my thoughts were all over the place.  I have actually delayed writing this because I couldn’t figure out how to put it in words.  Here are my thoughts in simplest terms. I believe conscious living means “being aware of what happens when we live our lives from loving awareness.” When I was a little girl both my parents had the attitude of, “you get up, and live the day by the attitude YOU choose.” My dad would wake us whistling like a bird; mom would…read more

While the phrase “conscious living” can lead to a complex discussion of everything from carbon footprints to how my abdomen feels when I breathe, I prefer to keep things simple. To be clear, I do not claim to be a sage or scholar, or even an accomplished “conscious liver,”  but to me, “conscious living can be reduced to the daily work  of making incremental self-improvements, despite the many forces working against us.” The necessary and difficult first step is to find or create a bit of time each day to…read more

Life is a process of beginnings and endings, with many doors opening and many doors closing. The question is, “How can we approach change with an open mind and actually embrace uncertainty in a world so desperately seeking certainty?” Change is never easy, yet, ironically, it’s one of the few things in life we can count on. Sometimes transition approaches us hard and fast with an unexpected death of a loved one, or an “I didn’t see that coming divorce.” More often, major transitions are planned; like with retirement, getting…read more

Yoga works in myriad ways.   Often it works intangibly in our multi-level capacity as human beings, mentally, physically, and spiritually, growing us into better people over time.   It illuminates, challenges, awakens, calms, invigorates, opens, heals, sustains.  Yoga clarifies and enlightens.  In other ways, yoga works more concretely.  We realize this when we experience immediate, observable effects after practicing specific breathing techniques or relaxation poses which bring us into better balance.  We can even put our hands on the results of yoga practice when we participate in different activities like benefit classes raising support for local charities. Yoga doesn’t always…read more

I was sitting on a toilet in California when I found out my father died. My cell phone rang at 5 a.m. “Oh, Damn, I forgot to call Dad to tell him we arrived safely in California.” I wiped the sleep from my eyes, headed off to the bathroom and dialed my voicemail. It was my mother, something was wrong. The physical sensation of the emotion came immediately; heaviness in my throat, shortness of breath. I closed my eyes, took 5 deep breaths with my hands over my throat, and…read more