We humans like to compartmentalize our thinking into categories and boxes. One of the most common questions I get asked is: What type of yoga do you teach?

John Trudell was an author, poet, actor, activist, artist, and a Native American of the Santee Dakota people.His words reflect many of the principles of yoga philosophy (particularly Vidya—seeing clearly) and they have been inspiring my thinking all this week.

You know me for my work as an artist and teacher, but I also am passionate about healthy plant based eating!

In order for me to do the work I love, I’ve had to learn how to take care of my body with healthy food.

It’s been a game changer.

But honestly, learning about how to make healthy food that tastes good can involve a steep learning curve…

I am a little over infatuated with learning, accumulating books, and acquiring certificates. New knowledge makes my brain tingle and I feel the need to constantly chase a new idea.

I feel the constant pull of learning new things. Sometimes this works in my favor, and sometimes it just places me in the “too many pursuits” category.

And I have a huge pile of books I haven’t read yet! Does that happen to you too?

I took my first yoga class during my final semester as an undergrad to fulfill a PE requirement. I knew very little about yoga, but somehow it appealed to me more than signing up for a running or random exercise class…

We all know that we can only improve our skills in a subject through regular practice. I believe that we actually embody and become the thing that we practice daily. This is a reason why I am not fond of video games, especially violent video games. If one spends hours a day pretending to shoot people, then that patterning becomes well ingrained into one’s consciousness (and subconsciousness). One’s body and brain connection becomes attuned to whatever it is one practices—whether that is shooting pretend bodies, mastering a new art, or noticing our thought patterns…

“Santosha invites us into contentment by taking refuge in a calm center, opening our hearts in gratitude for what we do have, and practicing the paradox of ‘not seeking’” ~Deborah Adele, Yamas and Niyamas

I believe the niyama of santosha, contentment, to be the most important of all practices. To abide in santosha is to have a deep sense of gratitude for what we do have…

Cleaning is a family tradition on my mothers side. According to my mom, her uncle Johny was the cleanest of the clean. Mom would talk about uncle Johny like he was an idol of some kind, some pinnacle of cleaning that one day she hoped to live up to. When he would visit my mother and her family, he would often point out all the places that they were not cleaning. In his own home, he polished everything daily— all the silverware, the windows, the furniture. The laundry was bleached and pressed to perfection, and nothing was out of place, ever.

New yoga students often tell me: “My doctor told me to try yoga for improved back strength…” or “my physical therapist told me to try yoga to help gain flexibility…”

I think these are valid reasons to begin a yoga class. Yoga as we know it in the West, is a way to build strength and flexibility in the body, while helping to bring a little more calm to the mind. But if we limit our understanding of yoga to just the physical body, we are missing out on the deeper jewels of the practice, and we ignore the rich history and tradition of how yoga came to be in the first place…

One autumn day several years ago, my family and I decided to treat ourselves at Burdicks Cafe in Walpole, NH after a long day of leaf peeping. If you haven’t been to Burdicks, you haven’t really tasted chocolate. We were craving their signature decadent hot chocolate after a full day in the car…

In my 200 hour yoga teacher training, I offer a list of teaching ethics for students to consider as they step into the role of teacher. I reference asteya twice in these ethics. Asteya means non-stealing, to not take from others. Asteya is much more than simply stealing objects or money. I try to tell my students that yoga teachers steal from their students all the time, and they have probably witnessed or experienced such stealing.

Satya is the second Yama, the personal ethics of the yoga practice. Practicing satya means being truthful in our words, our thoughts, our actions, and feelings. It means speaking up as the right thing to do in each moment. It means being honest with ourselves and with others. When we are truly and deeply honest with ourselves and with others, we can live more fearlessly.

You may have come to your first yoga class because you heard that it would improve your flexibility, or that it might help you with your back pain. But there is another, deeper layer of benefit from the yoga practice, and it doesn’t start with moving the body at all…

People often tell me that they come to study yoga with me, either in my yoga classes or my yoga teacher trainings, because I appear to embrace a yogic lifestyle. I am not exactly certain how my external actions give that impression. But what I can say is that it is true that I make it a regular, daily practice to embrace a yogic lifestyle. Of all the philosophies and belief systems that I study, it is yoga that I feel most connected to and has made the most impact on my life. Learn more about the depths of yoga in this new series…

Recently, I put an ad out in a local email list serve for my Soul Purpose Mentoring program that resulted in an unexpected and awfully unfriendly response…

A few years ago, my Dad jumped into a pretty heated Facebook debate with his cousin. She was stating that anyone who practiced yoga was bound to go to hell. Dad took it upon himself to step in and tell her she was out of line and had a lot to learn about understanding yoga. Dad doesn't even really practice yoga…

I am excited to share that I am a contributor to a new zine! You will find some great spring tips inside!

We had a lively conversation about my unique process and thoughts on the importance of the creative practice!