I grew up in a household where you use and reuse everything. You eat what is on your plate, and what won’t kill you will make you stronger.

I am thankful for this very conservative perspective on material but I have also seen when this need to conserve can be a disadvantage to my health.

Let me explain. While eating your brussel sprouts as a child is a good thing, accepting dozens of Christmas cookies, cakes, chocolates, and other sweet treats and cleaning your plate is not. I work at an office where we get so many wonderful items around Christmas. So many thoughtful people bring us goodies but I have had to fight my instinct and throw things away because it is impossible to eat it all before it goes bad. And if I did, I would make myself sick.

The same thing seems to be at this time of the year, when we travel from party to party and house to house, that it is expected to eat pie and Christmas cookies. It may be our instinct to try something everywhere we go, from every person. But I challenge you, like myself, to take a look at that expectation. Can we break that expectation for health? I would like to try.

What are your feelings about waste in general and in relation to not so healthy treats? Are you one to try a little bit of everything?

Stress teaches us a lot about ourselves. We become aware of our natural coping mechanisms. We learn how to motivate ourselves and how to find comfort. These are important things to know about ourselves in order to survive. For me, I have learned I do not always work well under pressure. In fact, if I feel forced to do more than my mental capacities can absorb, I will just shut down, burn out, and give up.

Yet there are others who need rigid structure to succeed. They work best under pressure and relish in endless goals. Learning how best to channel our inner creativities and talents in order to succeed is largely rooted in learning to understand ourselves.

These thoughts, for me, came to mind as I was examining myself as a yoga teacher. The way I run classes is similar to the way I do many things in life. I do not always structure my routines. Instead, I fill my head with endless poses and combinations, preparing just enough to keep me on schedule. I read books and gain knowledge and then I flow as my spirit leads. I have done so many routines on my own, that yoga becomes freedom to move and bend as the body and spirit allow. That is how I engage my inner creativity, through the freedom of flow.

What kind of person are you? Do you work best through structure or go with the flow? How does this relate to your yoga practice?

It’s easy to sit all day when you are stuck in your house. Lying on the couch, curled up with a blanket, and eating for entertainment are the norm when you are confined to the walls of your home. But on days like we have had recently, it is good to keep moving.

Now do not be mislead. I am wholeheartedly for enjoying a cozy afternoon with a book or a nap. We all need to rest. But if you find yourself sitting in one spot for nine, ten, maybe even twelve hours of the day, watching television, here are some better options. Continue Reading…

We can learn a lot about how to motivate ourselves by learning more about our own personalities. A simple understanding of extrovert and introvert helps us to understand ourselves a lot better.

We all have ambitions. Whether big or small, we have desires to be good at something. Maybe it is something you get paid for or just a hobby but we all strive to meet our personal goals. We all desire to create something worthy of praise, something intelligent and original. The problem comes when we call on motivation to push us forward. Continue Reading…

How many of us would agree that the many opinions on dieting and nutrition are enough to make us want to spit? Like many things in the world, there is a different expert with a different opinion, a different book, and a different fan club with a different slew of testimonials. It is frustrating! What do we do? Who is right? What is healthy? Continue Reading…

Yesterday we began a journey toward weight loss at the doctor’s office where I work during the day. Thirty-five people dared the doorway of our office to step onto our biggest loser scale. Young and old. Men and women. They all signed their names to a new community. A community of people seeking the same thing: weight loss. We had lots of resources to give them, that would help them reach their goals. And a money incentive was a big part of it too. Continue Reading…

Right now, I am devouring a bag of potato chips. I am alone. My husband is outside, so I can gorge myself in silence, free from judgement. Mmmmm

This is something I do not allow often, in fact I never buy potato chips but it ended up in my house, leftovers from a party. And I am discovering an addiction. Oh. The crunch. The salt. The texture of sweet oil along with the flavors of potato and sour cream. It is a love affair. Addictions can attach themselves to anything. Whether we consider them large or small, whether we consider them at all, they worm their way into our hearts and control our will. Continue Reading…

The endless benefits of yoga never cease to amaze me. Recently I was able to further my education in the area of pre-natal and post-partum. It was a great weekend. It made me realize the dilemma that has played out in the minds of many moms throughout the years when it comes to exercise. Some women have assumed exercise is unnecessary and dangerous when pregnant. Others have changed nothing, continuing their exercise routines like normal. Continue Reading…

How can yoga affect fertility? Of all of the systems that benefit from yoga, the endocrine is the one we hear least about. Yet the benefits are still there.

I found my answers in the bandhas.

There are six bandhas in the body. A bandha is a lock you engage during postures. The Great Lock is what is known as the Maha Bandha.  The Maha Bandha is a combination of three locks: the pelvis, the abdomen, and the thyroid. When Maha Bandha is engaged, you are stimulating the endocrine system. Here is how it works. Continue Reading…

What is it about January that gets us motivated? When that new year rolls around, we make big promises to ourselves. We say, this year will be different. But what does it take to finally succeed? Redemption.

We have to believe that it is never too late to renew our promises to ourselves.

To get back up, forgive ourselves, and try again. Continue Reading…