Just after sending May's newsletter, I was lucky enough to attend Rod Stryker's Four Desires training here in San Francisco. The 3-day training was rather perfectly intense: an incredibly rich container for deeper self-awareness, a sacred space to dig in to my limiting beliefs, and a fun workshop for seeking the areas ripe for growth in my life... all around the idea of living my dharma (life purpose). I recognized a strong need for more kama (pleasure) and lila (play) in my own daily life, my relationships, and my yoga practice.

I've just returned from a solo mini-retreat in the foothills of the Sierras. My daily meditation could extend as long as I wished to sit, lively birdsong and buzzing of hummingbird wings as my soundtrack. (I'd forgotten how loud hummingbirds can be!) My asana practiced beneath lush, fragrant wisteria, while my sweet, old dog wandered happily in the long grasses. I swung in the hammock for unknown amounts of luxurious time, doing "nothing". The air, the earth, the wind, the coyote howls, the Milky Way: I felt exquisitely altered on a cellular level. The whole day became my practice. This was an intentional space for solitude, a container for peace, a necessity for well-being. I went with the purpose of listening for my heart wisdom, which has felt drowned out lately by the din of my city's cacophony.

March has come and gone without a peep from me in this form of a newsletter. Not because I've had nothing to share, but because the full days and nights of March left me little room to write. Now April has settled upon us, light and fresh, and last night's red lunar eclipse was a sort of ushering in of these new days of Spring. I've been thinking and meditating about renewal lately, specifically after the winter, the fallow period, the dark days. Seasonally, it seems to happen almost on its own, if I'm listening. I notice that I am craving and seeking the warmth of sunshine on my skin, quiet time in nature, and more active physical movement.

One of the most powerful things I've ever done was to begin a gratitude journal. What was originally an assignment from a life coach, has become a small, but mighty, commitment to honoring the good in my life, every single day. (Even the hard ones.) And as neuroscience has evolved, we now know empirically that genuine and conscious gratitude directly results in improved health, goodwill, relationships, and happiness. So this month, as we approach our national holiday honoring gratitude, I invite each of you to acknowledge the beauty and good in your life. Start a gratitude tradition. Make a "thankful tree" for everyone to decorate. Share your "roses" and "thorns" around the dinner table. Write a letter. Simply tell someone in your life something you appreciate about them. Or maybe begin a gratitude journal of your own.