Wise mind takes place at the convergence of the heart and the head, emotion and reason, feelings and facts- yin and yang. Some of us might identify as being more heart-centred, while others of us might identify as being more up in our heads. Have you ever been told you’re too sensitive or emotional? Too rationale, too practical,…

There are very few certainties in life, but amongst the few of them, are pleasure, pain, and our innate drive to pursue the former and avoid the latter. Our attachment to pleasure and aversion to pain are the source of our survival as a human species as well as the source of our suffering. Simply put,…

I originally wrote this list of hard-learned lessons after turning the corner of a messy chapter in my life. Today, these lessons continue to stand true for me, and feel especially relevant to share from the archives in light of this past year- a messy chapter that we’ve experienced collectively, but also uniquely as our…

As therapists, we are trained to listen to each person’s story with beginner’s mind. Similarly, on the yoga mat, we are trained to meet our body anew within each posture and breath. In meditation, we practice meeting our mind with a quality of not knowing, dropping our presumptions about what will reveal itself in each moment. With…

May I see the horizon with my feet mercifully grounded Mercifully grounded in humilityHere, I do not resist the reality of my life I perceive what is, as it is Finally, with a willingness to see a horizon of my own  Mercifully grounded in humility Here, I know the wayI perceive what is, as it is  Finally, by letting my…

Dear Body,  First and foremost, thank you for carrying me through this world. You’ve waited a long time to receive some thanks for all that you do as a home for me. Actually, you’ve never even asked for any thanks at all. I wish I’d thanked you sooner.  Thank you for your loyalty to me…

Freedom exists in the everyday discipline of practice. Practice might be sitting down each morning to spend time witnessing the nature of mind, but formal practice in quiet solitude where we are exempt from our daily triggers is not, on its own, the practice that sets us free. Rather, practice exists in each and every…

Anxiety is an essential element of our human experience, whether we welcome it as that or not. Anxiety readies us for future challenges- real or imagined, protects us from past situations that we learned through pain were harmful- relevant now or not, and tells us to get a move on from present circumstances that are…

I am free when I remember that the sense of falling comes with the relieving truth that there is no ground. Everything is change. Tension arises when the mind resists the reality of our groundlessness and grasps on to the idea that our lives are at the control of our own fingertips. Recognizing that our lives are subject to…

Since as long as I can remember, I have experienced a deep sense of ache as August turns toward September. The feeling unfailingly arrives, landing in my heart each year as surely as the leaves will change. Sadness has never felt like the proper descriptor, as it misses the sweetness in the feeling, yet words that are too…