Why is it that animals are such good teachers? Perhaps it’s because they remind us of where we came from… when rest was not optional and before we conflated worth with productivity.

Here we are well into the end-of-year frenzied roll of the holi-daze. Can we take a lesson from the teachings of my cat (pictured above) and find time each day to rest?

Rest doesn’t look the same for everyone. And it benefits us to have many options available to us in terms of time, cost, and energy replenishment needed.

Here are twelve creative rest ideas…

In Restorative yoga, we create a nest, low to the ground, to make our physical human body supremely comfortable… so that we may settle into physiological ease and rest.

Sometimes, the mental and emotional landscape will almost immediately welcome this opportunity to be seen, to relax, to spread out and take up all the space needed.

Other times, however, becoming still in the body can create a space for us to witness the (oftentimes profound) discomfort or dis-ease within our own mind, heart, and/or spirit at a given time. We might judge or feel avoidance and aversion to this occurrence. But, in fact, this is a great opportunity!

Welcome to December!

It is brrrr cold in Seattle, my friends! Is it cold where you are? How are you staying warm? My tea kettle is working over time, and I’ve excavated the winter clothes that have been buried in the closet for the better part of a year!

Come warm up with me this Sunday night at Datza Studio in Eastlake (Seattle)! I’m offering a toasty TWO HOUR practice: Candlelight Restorative Yoga Deep Dive with Hot Stones.

This week, I want to share some thoughts about the first yama: ahimsa – which is stated to be the most important and essential guidance. All others will fall into place when we fully embrace ahimsa.

It is the one I seem to hear about most often in yoga classes and articles. My guess is the most common translation you’ve heard is: non-harming or nonviolence.

I found a deeper dive into this concept expanded my own exploration..

The interstate drive south from Washington into Northern California skirts along and through the Cascade Mountain Range. It’s full of breathtaking views and natural beauty. Notable for me is Mount Shasta. Sitting right along the I-5 corridor, when “the mountain is out”, it’s pretty much “in your face” for many miles. Many of you have probably seen this magnificent mountain on your own road trips.

There is something both utterly simple and awe-inspiring to see an enormous volcano protruding out of the landscape. To behold it puts my life into perspective and humbles me in the way that only Mother Nature can do.

Did you remember to set your clocks back last night? I hope you are able to cherish the “extra” hour of time in your day during this busy time of year.

This month, I will be offering three sweet November Sunday evening Restorative practices. (With the help of my assistant, José, pictured above! :) The first is tonight! These will be held online (via Zoom) and are sliding scale.

These 75-minute classes are focused on deep rest, grounding, and nervous system calming. No yoga experience is necessary, simply come with the willingness to be still and present with yourself. You will be ready for bedtime when we are done.

Yesterday was Seattle Yoga Arts’ closing day. Thank you for being part of this beloved community and for showing up for your own self-care tending – whether it was one time in class or every week! It is my deepest honor and privilege to hold space for your rest and transformation. Many of us will love, miss, and haunt the rooms of SYA – in a good way :) – for years to come… AND, it is time to move on to find our next “yoga home”.

A few recurring questions I’d like to answer for all of you…

I arrived in Seattle in February 2016.

To say my landing was unexpectedly turbulent would be an understatement. I found myself alone and grieving in a city I didn’t know, without a job/place to live/a car, and only a handful of acquaintances.

Those acquaintances joined together to lift me up in my time of need… and I am now blessed to call them dear friends.

And, as the fates would have it, I soon found my way to Seattle Yoga Arts.

In April, I took my first SYA class immediately before interviewing for the Studio Manager position. I was hired! And so began my relationship with that beloved studio that shone its warm light on Capitol Hill for over 30 years (long before I’d ever set foot in the lobby!).

During the fall months, most traditions speaks of “the veil being thin” between the living and the dead. Whether by the influence of my own particular imprint of upbringing and ritual, or by my own sensitivity, I feel this. I feel oh-so-tender as autumn shows us its most necessary teaching – that letting go is as much a sacred part of life as everything else in the cycle. I feel closer to my own dead ancestors; how they once loved and lost and danced and saw with eyes wide open. I feel the preciousness of this moment’s living breath. Gratitude wells up within me regularly, like ocean waves, sometimes with surprisingly wild strength.

The new moon is a monthly invitation to embrace quietude, self-care, and inner wisdom. It is a potent time for both letting go and planting the seeds of intention. This special 90-minute gentle & Restorative yoga practice will be held on the auspicious evening of the New Moon in Scorpio – the perfect time to turn inward.

The winds of change are here once again. And I don’t just mean the blustery fall weather. (Although autumn remains one of the most brilliant teachers for how to let go gracefully, doesn’t it?!) My Seattle yoga home for these past 6 years lost their lease in August, and has now announced they are closing the business on October 31.

Almost without fail, when asked what helps to center and ground them, people will list “Nature” (or the equivalent) in their top 3.

I am no exception.

So, it was fortuitous timing that my partner and I had planned a week-long backpacking trip just after my beloved yoga studio, Seattle Yoga Arts, closed its doors for the last time. That news was sudden, unexpected, somewhat surreal, and definitely discombobulating. I was ripe for some Nature medicine. Packs on, we headed up those rugged mountains, into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, toward Spectacle Lake (pictured above).

And here’s what the great outdoors reminded me…

Some thoughts on the last day at Seattle Yoga Arts’ current location, which I’ve identified as my yoga home and served in many capacities since arriving in Seattle 6+ years ago. Many of you on this list have never set foot in the studio, but all of us can relate to leaving a space or a place that has held so much…

Dear friends,

Some words of wisdom to contemplate on this day.

“Did you ever stop to think that you can’t leave for your job in the morning without being dependent upon most of the world?… Before you finish eating breakfast in the morning, you’ve depended on more than half the world. This is the way our universe is structured. It is its interrelated quality. We aren’t going to have peace on earth until we recognize this basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., Christmas Sermon on Peace, 1967

I’m witnessing a boomerang effect on this side of the covid wave. Most of us spent so much time not doing the things we wanted to do for 2+ years that we’ve overcorrected and swerved back to the hectic, over-busy lifestyle we thought we were missing. Only to find ourselves exhausted or sometimes overwhelmed by it.

Many of us talk about our schedules as if we are captive to them. Yet most of us create our own schedules. So, if we are honest with ourselves, this busy-ness is actually of our own making. The good news is that means it’s within our ability to change this if we so desire.

Welcome to Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, longest day of the year. The sun has sun reaches its highest and northernmost points in the sky. In Seattle, this feels so expansive with our very long daylight hours.

Today, we are blessed with bright sun and thin, wispy clouds, and it does indeed feel like the kickoff to summer. On our morning walk, I took the dog through UpGarden, my neighborhood urban oasis where the explosion of color and vibrancy of the flowers is positively breathtaking. And wow, the bees!! The happy, busy bees got me thinking about cycles and seasons of productivity – in Nature, and therefore, all living beings.

Meet Dodge, our adoption-hopeful foster dog. This spry, wiry gentleman came into our lives precisely one week ago.

I’m in a group that sends each other images that have inspired and brought joy during the week… and so far, every single one is a photo of the natural world. Trees, mountains, flowers, water, stunning sunsets, and so on. It is any wonder that when we spend time in nature, we are rejuvenated on the deepest possible level of aliveness?

Dear friends,

When this email lands in your inbox, I’ll be on a long international flight. Nothing makes me want to stand up, stretch out freely, and take up all the space I want and need than being limited to an upright airplane seat for an extended period of time. Do you know this feeling, too?!

It’s one of those moments when I recognize how I take my daily unabated freedom of movement (or stillness) for granted. And that recognition, in turn, leads me to realize how many other freedoms I have come to take for granted in my lifetime – thanks to my ancestors and the mavericks of feminism / civil rights / labor rights / science.

This past week+, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to possess choice and autonomy over my body (or bodies) and its movements in the world… about who actually has such freedoms, who does not, and how often these freedoms may have an asterisk associated with them.

I've been on the road for just over a week. Celebrating a wedding, enjoying beloved family and friends, basking in the warmth sunshine, eating good food, forest bathing, and coastal sightseeing complete with harbor seal pups and Gray whales. It has been joy-filled and breathtaking.

When I'm in motion for a sustained amount of time like this, I notice that when I lie down at night, I feel as if I am still in trajectory down the highway: a persistent hum in my ears, vibration in my cells, an alert agitation.

One particularly long driving day, despite my exhaustion, I couldn't sleep initially because of this agitated energy. So I put on a yoga nidra recording and feel asleep before the recording ended.

The yoga nidra practice (often called "yogic sleep") allowed me to pause... return my body to a blessed state of inertia and reset my thoughts into a quieter, rest-inducing pattern. There are many ways to access a peaceful mind-body, of course. Yoga nidra is just one.