QUIET WINDS

What is your underlying hum?

2012-02-24T10:46:00.002-08:00

I think that each belief we hold roots us into rhythmic patterns of behavior. Creating a vibration. A vibration that ripples out with an almost audible hum.

In healing the hums that underlie are particularly important. In my work, specifically with hypnosis, I often speak about the power of our beliefs and there ripple effect on our lives. What is so healing about hypnosis is that it works with the bedrock of the belief. Once the belief is resolved the ripples cease and the vibration dies. I think we can all agree that a person who replaces a hum of worthlessness with one of worth will project a very different energy. They will produce a very different hum.

Jenny making "In Transition Tea" in the sunshine

I find that sometimes with this type of energetic awareness that it is easier to recognize one of a person’s hums when there is discord. For example, if someone’s underlying hum is not rooted in kindness and they behave kindly, you may feel as though they are being fake. Of if someone means to harm you but holds out their hand to help, you may not trust them. Through these examples it may become easier to accept that something intangible is happening. From my perspective you hear their hum.

Today my friend Jenny posted a video of the Kinks singing “have a cuppa tea”. After listening it seemed logical that it would play every time she entered a room. That tea is always the answer is truly one of her underlying hums.

In fact, Jenny’s belief that tea is an elixir was first an interest, then a passion, and she now owns Zensations. An apothecary that is located in the 2^nd story of a hardware store (I just want to be clear that she is not located above Falkenhans she is in it, mason jars and kiddie pools are to the right.). In my estimation it and its location are entirely magic.

Jenny's apothecary is a space specifically carved out of chaos for healing. I go every week. I buy a little something. We chat for a few. Each and every time I leave I feel soothed. Tea really does make it better.

Announcing the Healing House Retreat: November 9th - 11th

2012-02-15T08:36:00.002-08:00

Healing House Retreat (Spruce Head, Maine)

My parents and I invite you to our seaside home for three days of practice, healing, contemplation, and renewal.

The Healing House Retreat is based on the lifestyle that I adopted in order to heal myself from chronic fatigue. During that time of healing I interwove a number of practices together, including: nutrition, yoga, walking, meditation, and singing. Each in their own way helped me to find my way back to myself.

I am excited to share my family's remarkably healing space and these simple practices with you!

Friday Evening (November 9, 2012):

· Meet and Greet / Agreements 7pm

· Fire and candlelight practice 8pm – 10pm

Saturday (November 10, 2012):

· Singing in the Sunrise: 6am

· Fruit and Tea 7am

· Morning Practice: 8am – 10am

· Inn Breakfast/ Private Time: 10am – 2pm

· Afternoon Walk and Practice: 2pm – 5pm
(Brianna will meet you at the Inn)

· Healing House Dinner: 6pm

· Fire and candlelight practice: 8pm – 9pm

Sunday Morning (November, 11 2012):

· Singing in the Sunrise 6am

· Fruit and Tea 7am

· Morning Practice 8am – 10am

· Inn Breakfast/check out 10am – 12pm

Accommodations:

Craignair Inn by the sea (originally owned by my beloved Godmother) is located less then a mile from the Healing House. Each room at the Inn is unique and therefore the pricing for the three-day retreat ranges from: $380 - $480 (Single Occupancy)

The fee includes the following:

2 nights accommodations
All practices and classes
Breakfast Saturday and Sunday
Dinner Saturday night
Taxes

Please contact Craignair Inn to reserve your space!

Payment and Cancellation Policy:

A deposit of $300 is required to reserve your space. The balance of your room is due at check-in. Your deposit is refundable if the cancellation is made 14 days (October 25, 2012) in advance of the check-in Date, less a $25 administrative fee per room. Within 14 days of the scheduled arrival date, we cannot refund any deposits regardless of the reason of cancellation including medical or family emergencies, inclement weather, or missed/cancelled flights. A No-Show on a reservation will result in forfeiture of the deposit.

We accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, Cash and Travelers Checks for payment. We cannot accept personal checks as payment upon arrival.

Payment of the deposit indicates that you understand that Craignair Inn & Restaurant is privately owned and that Management reserves the right to refuse service to anyone and will not be responsible for accidents, injury, theft or loss.

In Transition

2012-01-31T10:31:00.000-08:00

In Transition (a workshop I taught last weekend and offer biannually) has become a touchstone in my teaching. It reminds me to tune into myself. To see where I am at in both my practice and in my life.

Many of you know that I am active in my studies better known as trying to: reduce my own stress, figure out patience, release my fears, accept and love myself and be an active present participant in my own life. Everything I ask my students to do I have explored myself. When I find something that is healing for me I play with it for a while. I explore my edge. Making sure I am ready to hold open a wound before I use it as a parable in my teaching. As I am a type-A personality and a recovering stress addict there really is loads of material to draw from.

In Transition Tea made my Zensations

This weekend right before I ran my workshop I totally got bugged. Workshops are different then typical classes because there is a theme that people are expecting to be adhered to. Because of that I go early, I prepare the room, I light candles, make tea and sing to the space. On Saturday I left my house early to do just that - according to the schedule I had the luxury of time. But the schedule was wrong.

Bath Salt envelopes for In Transition

Another teacher had scheduled a private lesson in the workshop space and while the student was there she was late. According to a work-study the lesson went till the minute my workshop was to start. Wait, what?

A funny thing about me is I easily move cities and start my life over. I love big change. Its little crap like what happened on Saturday that is a big trigger for me. There I stood freaking out about a minor shift and about to teach a workshop on change. I think that fact made it particularly awesome.

Here is what would have happened 15 years ago (back in the day I was fiery):

I would have gone from zero to a full rage. I would have confronted the teacher. I would have forced a meltdown

Here is what happened:

I got frustrated. I started to feel angry and instead of heading down my default path I went for a walk instead. I breathed deep and came back to myself. Then when the teacher left a handful of minutes before my workshop started. I ran around like a crazy person trying to get the following ready as my students were walking in: tea, mirrors, salt baths, music, and candles.

Here is what I hope happens next time:

I remember that all is actually well. I take the extra time and sit in my office and breathe deep. I don’t worry about making tea or lighting candles. I concentrate on settling myself and greet my students instead.

In Transition serves as a reminder to me that we came here to evolve, to go beyond ourselves, to not be so set in patterns, that we neither learn nor change. The goal is growth at its most transformative and meaningful level. The goal is to meet each day wanting to shift, trying to learn, to know more, to always question, to evolve to a higher understanding, being and way. The goal of this lifetime is evolution.

Gingersnap Angel

2012-01-14T17:42:00.000-08:00

This morning I shopped at the new grocery store (if you live in Baltimore you know exactly which one I mean) and because of that coupled by its oddly suburban feel, I wandered every aisle. Typically I shop the perimeter of the store. I find, for the most part, that is where the real unprocessed food is located.

Although I forget for long periods of time that they exist I happen to love Gingersnaps. In fact I have a visceral reaction when I see them. My response to Gingersnaps is not based in my childhood. Instead that feeling evolved from an experience I had living in D.C.

This pictures was taken right before I left New Mexico to move to D.C. at 21

For the record my Mother hated my apartment. At 21 I thought she was being ridiculous but in reflection I understand why she hated it so. The main reason for the loathing was based on the fact that the one exit I had was through a security gate that you had to key in and out of. For security sake all of the windows were also barred. Basically if there had been a fire I very easily could have perished. But boy did I ever have fun times in that place.

There were no flames but one day in a very real way I did get trapped. I was rushing and raced out my door into the building hallway. I pulled it closed and it locked in place.

It was two beats later when I went to key out of the security gate that I realized my keys were inside and that I was both locked out and locked in. There I stood in a two by six space at midmorning on a quiet residential block. My neighbors, all of which I knew, were not due home for hours. As this was pre-cell phone there was no calling to be made.

At first I focused on my breath. I was calm. I was controlled. I was okay. About an hour in the first person walked by and even though I called and ultimately screamed for help he didn’t even pause in his stride. It was then that I panicked.

It was not pretty but it passed. I regained some composure and time continued on. About eight people in all walked by during the six hours I was stuck. Some even spoke to me but none of them got me help.

Finally an older woman came into my view. I said “Lady you have got to help me. I am trapped in here. I am locked out of my apartment and locked in by the gate.” I am pretty sure I was a full-blown train wreck at that point.

She told me without even a moment’s hesitation that she would be back and would bring help. She actually did. She also brought me Gingersnaps and water. Staying with me as we both waited for the locksmith to come. When he arrived she stepped back and before I realized it she was gone.

I never knew her name and that has been a big a regret. The only thing I recollect is that she reminded me of Katherine Hepburn in her later years because her gray hair was caught in a loose bun. Yet, standing in the cookie aisle staring at a bag of Gingersnaps I felt a wave of gratitude towards her. It is with a grateful heart that I send this story out to the universe as a way to energetically send my Gingersnap Angel thanks.

My fingers are crossed that someone, somewhere, somehow forwards this to her!

Warriors of the Rainbow

2012-01-02T11:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was washing dishes while starring out my window when the most beautiful rainbow appeared. At first I stared in awe and then I ran from window to window trying to see the full arc. Its beauty compelled me outside and while I expected it to be fleeting it was present long enough for me to drag my dog around pointing it out to strangers.

I am sure they thought I was utterly crazy but it was important. A rainbow is always special but a rainbow mid-day on New Year’s seemed particularly magic. If I had been outdoors alone I would have danced around and sang a song. If I had been in charge of a group of students we definitely would have had a full blown kumbayah moment. But since I was on a street with strangers I resigned myself to being polite and asking them to please “look up.”

Years ago when I was studying art history I became fascinated with Native American pottery. Many of my professors were also curators at the MFA in Boston and I was lucky enough to hold many objects during my program. Truth be told when I handled the ancient pieces I felt like they were singing to me. When I graduated I moved to New Mexico and fell madly in love with the desert and its peoples. Yesterday, when I stood at the window staring at the colored bow crossing the heavens I whispered the prophecy of the Rainbow Warriors and sent a kiss to the sky.

"….there shall arise a new tribe of all colors and all creeds. This tribe shall be called The Warriors of the Rainbow and it will put its faith in actions not words."

- Prophecy of the Native American Hopi people -

Sardines on saltines - make that comfort zone expand

2011-12-09T09:12:00.000-08:00

Growing up my grandparents ate sardines on saltines and I thought it was the grossest thing ever. It was a hatred founded on sight. Never tried one, was never willing. Sardines were way outside my comfort zone.

Personal comfort zones serve as a form of self-protection and there are things that will always be outside these lines in the sand for good and relevant reasons. From my perspective, the issues happen if there is no reason for protection and that discomfort or aversion is unfounded. It is then that rather than protect us are zone of comfort begins to hinder us and hem us in.

Through my personal practice I have learned that the only way to expand my zone of comfort is to push through my discomfort and do it anyway. That is how I fell in love with chanting, discovered the power of breath-work, and most recently found a way to teach my joyful song. FYI: Usually, I talk about this right before I make my students super uncomfortable and push them to do the practice anyway.

I have to fess that I am not a Vegetarian. I was for a long time and now I am not. I am however a mindful eater. I try for organic and sustainable. I read about food trends, participate in an international food club and when I cook it is with intention. My longstanding favorite ingredient is love.

Recently, I heard about sardines from several different perspectives. Chefs love them and even the Wall Street Journal had an article about the best way to offer canned versions up. They are super nutrient rich. In addition turns out that they are not only one of the most sustainable fish resources they are also cheap.

So I bought a can of sardines. They sat in my cupboard for two weeks taunting me.

Finally, I simply made myself do it. Discomfort and all, I opened the can and ate a sardine straight out. No mustard, no sauce, no hiding. It was freaking delicious. I now love sardines.

By the way it is best if you sing this really loud and dance around.

2011-12-01T08:54:00.000-08:00

In my roles as a teacher, yogi and healer I draw on my life experiences to create parables so that others may learn, expand, and grow. Sometimes, these offerings fall completely flat. But every once in a while a story becomes part of the rhythm of my classes. A touchstone for me, and possibly, an anchor for my regular students.

Of course there is also the fact that if you are going to make new and unsuspecting people sing and dance, possibly hug strangers, hold hands, or any number of crazy things (really it is limitless) I find it good to explain to them why. What’s wonderful is that there are ample reasons why, I tell them a few, throw in a little scientific fact, and we begin. Maybe they believe me, maybe they don’t but at that point we are all in it and I watch them transform.

Without a doubt there are some things in my life that are too deep and too personal to utilize in this way. Before I can take my life and shift it into a healing story there is a need for pause. The emotion, the raw emotion needs to settle before I can hold the wound for others to observe.

Lately, after rarely speaking of it in my classes, I have started to share the practices I utilized when I had chronic fatigue. To be honest I had wanted to teach several of the techniques for many years but I wasn’t ready. The emotion was still too close to the surface to share it. That time though passed for me this year.

When I had chronic fatigue I held very negative thought patterns. One of which was: “I am so sick.” I said it over and over and over again. When I was in the thick of my illness, the darkest places, friends and family began to point out that the negativity was making it worse. Personal patterns are so hard to see.

They were right. It was. So I began to change it.

During my illness I was lucky enough to live in a lovely house at the edge of the sea. It was there that I really began the practice of chanting and singing to affect healing. I made up little songs and daily I raised my voice to the ocean affirming joy, gratitude and light.

I am Joyful – o – so joyful (video)

I am Happy –o - so happy

Life is Wonderful

Life is Marvelous

I am Joyful….

I am grateful - o - so grateful. I am thankful - o - so thankful.

2011-11-17T08:56:00.000-08:00

Every Thanksgiving of my childhood my family traveled from Maine in order to spend time with my Armenian family. Those gatherings were meaningful to me and through them I forged very close bonds with my cousins and many of my elders. It was mainly through those gatherings that I was able to spend time with my Great-grandmother.

She was a force at 4’9” and to this day she is my personal hero. She lived until I was 7 and I remember that she had orthopedic shoes, black clothes, and a voice thick with her accent. I also remember that she loved me. I think of her often but at this time of year she looms large in my mind. My inheritance from her is her story and a worn-out apron that I wear whenever I make Armenian food for my family.

When the Armenian Genocide started my grandmother was 14. My family at that time was wealthy and my Great-great-grandfather was in the first wave of killings. To help her daughter escape, my Great-great-grandmother lined a dress for her with gold coins. My Great-grandmother, her cousin and a handful of other children, left the next day walking from Armenia.

Two years of walking. Many Armenians were marching to their death and my Great-grandmother was moving foot following foot towards hope.

In China she boarded a boat and landed in California. She was detained for not being married. Luckily the Armenian network was strong and it was strangers that found her an Armenian man to marry. He was 20 years her senior and lived in Massachusetts. She boarded the train and married the man.

My Dad was her first grandson. He was raised with 12 people living in a triple-decker in Worcester, also known as little Armenia. They ate in shifts, men first women second. They laughed and loved and warred a lot. She raised strong, intense, and driven children. They all 4 succeeded, every one.

When my parents went to marry. My father’s parents were against it and never really got over it. This happened over the simplest reason of all: my Mom is not Armenian. I always thought it so interesting that it was my Great-grandmother who stood behind my Dad. To me, it is one of the best examples of her awakened heart and her character.

When I go through difficult times I think about her moving foot behind foot into the distance. When I need strength I draw on that image. I am deeply grateful to have known her.

This holiday when I lift her apron over my head I will think: Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Notes From the Universe

2011-10-06T09:40:00.000-07:00

It's as if before you there are countless doorways, all leading to new and different hallways. So you wonder and think, calculate and stress, over whether or not you'll knock on the "right" one.

But what you can't yet see, Brianna, is that all of the hallways beyond all of the doorways eventually lead to the same great room, in the same great house, with the same great party.

So, may as well pick the one you want? Huh?
The Universe

I met Mike Dooley, the man behind Notes from The Universe this week. Not to dork out but I was pretty excited to thank him. Mike’s work (his message) has impacted my life in many positive ways and for that I am grateful.

Each weekday a personalized note from The Universe arrives (via email) and no matter how busy or rushed I feel, I take that moment and pause to read it. I find that those thirty seconds might gift me with a moment of grace, joy, or even a full mind reset.

Past notes have made me experience a gamut of emotions. I have laughed out loud, felt deep gratitude, come to a compassionate understanding, or (like today) been provided with a broader perspective. Sometimes they simply and maybe most importantly just make me feel the love. I have come to expect when I read my morning note, that I am lighter for it.

Mike, in all sincerity, I really cannot thank you enough.

Oh and by the way it is FREE.

Chakra Yoga: Lam. Vam. Ram. Yam. Ham. Om. Om.

2011-09-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

Over the many years that I have been teaching I have spent the majority of my time instructing beginners. I love the challenge inherent to teaching people new to the practice but even more than that I love their openness. Beginners have yet to define what Yoga means to them so they are flexible. If I say Yoga is chanting, they are in. If I say Yoga is breathing, they are in. If I say Yoga is stillness, they are in.

What has always seemed strange to me is that many students over time become rigid about their practices. They define Yoga for themselves and are no longer open to new ideas or new styles. To be honest that rigidity makes me sad. Yoga is a 5,000 years old tradition and from my experience every time you try to limit it the practice will expand beyond the boundary you set in the sand.

This last week I challenged myself as a teacher and taught Chakra Yoga with the bīja (seed) mantras to beginning students. That basically means that for over an hour my students sang while holding postures. It was a huge risk as a teacher and while I am rarely nervous about teaching on Monday I was. Through that agitation I caused myself to grow, after all the only way to expand a comfort zone is to be uncomfortable. As usual my beginning students were my teachers. From the Root Chakra to the Crown, twenty-two students sang with open minds and hearts and I am proud of every one of them for it.

To me the myriad of Yoga practices are like a Mala (108 beads on a string used for chanting) each bead is unique but they are all part of the whole.

Photo: Edward Winter Photography

Rumi is dreamy.

2011-08-26T11:56:00.000-07:00

Years ago I discovered Rumi during a yoga class and he has been a meaningful part of my practice ever since.

If you have yet to make your way to Rumi’s writings I recommend that you get yourself a book. If you are anything like me it will be worn by your hands.

Today to mark the start of my personal practice, I blindly opened my book and was struck by this beautiful passage:

The spiritual path wrecks the body

and afterwards restores it to health.

It destroys the house to unearth the treasure,

and with that treasure builds it better than before.

Rumi

I remained still for a moment giving his words room to have weight.

After a bit, I turned my focus inward and became aware of my breath rolling in and my breath rolling back out. I added movement for a while playing with my edge.

Moving and breathing, breathing and moving, I made my way back to stillness.

~Namaste

L-O-V-E is the most remarkable ingredient.

2011-08-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

Cooking was my first passion. Even as a little girl I loved it and cooked on my own, oven involved, before I was five. I couldn’t read but I could cook. If you are cringing at the thought of a five year old on a stool creating recipes out of her head just remember it was the early 80’s and things were different then. Plus my parents were trusting hippies who didn’t want to kill my creativity and therefore gave me free range in their kitchen.

Just for the record I never burned anything down. I did however make many inedible and elfin sized things.

When people tell me they don’t enjoy cooking it is really hard for me to understand because from my perspective there is so much to enjoy. Plus there are very few things that are as simple to do as cooking. It doesn’t have to be fancy. In fact, simple is best. Did you know that most chefs are known for their least complex dishes?

My mom’s best friend Pam was the best cook I have ever known. She would give you the recipe. Tell you exactly what she did but it NEVER tasted the same as when she made it. As a little girl I always thought that the ingredient we were missing was Pam and as the years have rolled by I still feel the exact same way.

I wanted to talk today about cooking with intention because I think the intention behind the act is often missed. Whenever I cook, whether it is a simple salad or a complex dish I take a moment and I add some love in there. I did it when I was a chef, which I did professionally for ten years, and I do it now in my own home for friends and family. Truth be told, I love to feed people.

Next time you go to make something, take a moment and put some love into your food. Following are some suggestions of how to do just that:

· Take cut up ingredients like lemons or carrots (or anything) and make letters out of them. Place them in the dish so that they actually spell LOVE.

· Sing to your food as you make it. Something beautiful. Imagine as you are stirring that you are stirring the song into the mix or soup.

· Whisper a prayer over your food as you toss the ingredients.

· Make heart shapes out of your food. For example: heart shaped mashed potatoes will guarantee a smile (all you need is a heart shape cookie cutter and the willingness to take the three seconds to get it done).

If you dust what you cook with the magic of intention I guarantee that you and others will taste the emotion deep on the undersides of your tongues.

Light to you.

2011-07-24T10:43:00.000-07:00

When one massacres so many the ripple, the effect, is felt.

Today, as an offering to those families who are actively undergoing what we can barely think about, I want you take a moment and create a sincere ripple of light.

What do I mean by that? Here is a list of ideas to get you started:

Hug someone with the intention of truly being present (Hug it Out)
Surprise someone with a phone call. Someone who you know will start to speak with a smile the moment they realize it's you (personally I have found that elderly relatives are always good for this).
Make your family a beautiful dinner. Nothing fancy, just a meal with a lot of love in it.
Do a Big favor for someone with no expectation of return.
Play with your children or help out a friend with theirs.
Donate something, anything: time, money, clothing, furniture, etc.
Buy the guy in line behind you his cup of coffee. Even it is a skinny extra hot three shot latte.

Today, take some time to practice living from the space of your authentic awakened heart. Channel an Elephant if you need some more inspiration:

Compassion is not reserved for offspring alone in elephant society. Elephants appear to make allowances for other members of their herd. Observers noted that one African herd always traveled slowly because one of its members had never recovered from a broken leg. And in another case, a park warden reported a herd that traveled slowly because one female was carrying around a dead calf. One perplexing report was of an adult elephant making repeated attempt to help a baby rhinoceros stuck in the mud. She continued to try to save the baby rhino despite the fact that its mother charged her each time. Risking her life for the sake of an animal that is not her own, not related to her, or even her own species is remarkably altruistic in nature.

Read more about the emotion of Elephants

Hug it out

2011-07-05T07:54:00.001-07:00

If it is their karma to suffer, isn’t it your dharma to help them?’ If somebody falls into a deep pit, is it correct to simply walk by, saying, ‘Oh, it is their karma to suffer that way’? No, it is our duty to help them climb out. Amma (Mother) the hugging saint is coming to Reston.

During my most recent training Kim shared the practice of the "Buddhist Hug" with our group. It reminded me of Amma and her teachings. I imagine during the hours upon hours of hugging that she utilizes a practice of this nature to stay present. It is her presence, her willingness to suffer with others that makes her so remarkable.

I use this practice now in many of my workshops and classes. I wont' lie and say students LOVE it. In fact, it can be downright uncomfortable. To say the least getting a group of lycra clad grownups to hug perfect strangers is an interesting experience. However, based on their feedback, I reckon that it is more than worth the effort.

Next time you hug someone take a breath and say to yourself:

I am stopping.
I am here for you.
You are here for me.

Amma will stand for hours and hours, hugging and loving, loving and hugging, again and again and again...

"Efforting"

2011-06-07T07:31:00.000-07:00

First and foremost, I know that “efforting” is not a word. Lately though, I have found myself using it when I teach. At first I used air quotes to acknowledge its made-up status but I even dropped that.

Full disclosure, when I read books and there are typos or grammatical errors I find a pen and circle them.

So why am I using a fake word? I think we can all agree that word choice is powerful. For example the word “try” has a very different meaning and implies a very different energy than the word “effort”. So in all honesty I am hopeful that my students will forgive my bad grammar when I ask them to make sure that they are efforting. I wish instead that they use that cue as a reminder to take a breath, reconnect to themselves, become active participants in their pose and put forth some focused effort.

Once I glow, I enter the room, and offer up my knowledge to those in attendance

2011-05-24T11:38:00.000-07:00

Recently I taught the teacher trainees in Charm City Yoga’s low residency program. My segment had to do with Protecting Yourself Energetically as Teacher. Many of you reading this may find it strange that you would need to be protected as a Yoga Instructor. After all, all Yoga teachers are happy, healthy, perfectly in-balance, they don’t even need coffee (biggest lie going). However, from the energetic perspective when you are holding the space for others to heal and let go (i.e. controlling the place where others are practicing) protective energetic boundaries for the teacher becomes important.

I want to talk for a minute about the idea of boundary – boundary does not mean armor. Boundaries can be breached, they are permeable. I think of a boundary, when I am teaching like a force field, in fact I imagine myself radiating white light numerous times during the classes I instruct. I feel that that radiation makes me a creature of the light to my students – one they can trust and respect – but also protects and keeps my energetic boundaries safe.

Okay, so what is this energy stuff all about? Eastern Philosophy teaches us that we are all interconnected; that we are all in fact one. Science for a long time pushed the idea of individuation but recently (and this is mind-blowing stuff) scientists have discovered a subset of our neurons known as "mirror neurons" , also called “Gandhi neurons”. These neurons hardwire us for empathy. So basically, if you see someone getting punched there is a part of your brain that says “ouch” and another part that hears your skin receptors say: “don’t worry, its not you.” But where are the skin receptors for emotion? How do you know, when your brain begins to mirror someone else’s feelings that they are not in fact yours? Fascinating, right?

Have you ever noticed that when you go to the mall that you feel completely drained? How about being around someone who is angry? Do you find yourself getting angry? Next time you feel a heady emotional shift, take a moment and ask yourself: “Is that really me? Is that really how I feel? Or, am I absorbing the emotion of someone else?” The answers in all seriousness may truly surprise you.

So as a Yoga Teacher when you ask your students to release and as their Teacher you go walking through energy soup it is important to remember where you end and others begin. Not because what they are letting go of is bad, energy is not really good or bad; energy is energy, just as sensation either in pain or pleasure is really just sensation all the same.

Every time I teach, I enter after my students. I give myself a moment, I ground myself, take a few full and complete breaths and then I imagine a beautiful glass of white light in front me. I then imagine drinking the glass of white light and allow it to heal and clear me from the inside out. Once I glow, I enter the room, and offer up my knowledge to those in attendance.

In October I will be teaching a three day workshop on the Energetic Aspects of Teaching. I would love it if you could attend.

There are thousands of different doorways to healing you just need to find the tools that work best for you

2011-05-02T09:46:00.000-07:00

Yoga, Reiki and Hypnosis are each at their basis self-healing in nature. They certainly healed me and I am ever so grateful for the changes that my practice and effort have brought. I also love that through each of these tools I continue to learn and grow, that after more than a decades worth of practice, I am still both challenged and comforted by them.

In December I resigned my full time position as a librarian for a local museum with international stature. As I had studied art history in college having a museum job was hugely meaningful to me – I got to hold works by Picasso actually in my hands. I worked there for four years and chafed at my role every step; it was during that time that I accepted that my dreams really had nothing to do with library science or art history. Instead, mine have everything to do with teaching others that they are in fact empowered and have the ability to heal their very own self.

These past few months have been tremendously challenging and utterly rewarding. Holding the space for others to heal and transform is a remarkable day at the office. Quite frankly it is an honor.

So to each of you out there who are struggling or unwell, I wish that you continue to try as many different pathways as possible. After all, there are thousands of different doorways to healing you just need to find the tools that work best for you. Because, and this is the truth, healing yourself and coming to a place of peace, is worth everything you have gone through. For me it was the combining of my three part yoga practice, with the healing touch of Reiki and the meditative aspects of hypnosis that created my pathway back to myself; I would love to share them with you.

Emoting: The good, the bad and the ugly

2011-04-06T07:24:00.000-07:00

Allowing yourself to actually experience your emotions can be very intense. Because of that many times we begin to live on the surfaces of our being. We turn to one form of escapism or another; choose your “poison” for the list and style of escape in all actuality is endless.

When we behave in this way, metaphorically we become a “neat” house with everything shoved in the closets. Without thinking we swallow our painful emotions. Tamping them down, not realizing that all we are doing is saving the emotion for later. We take an active hand in creating our personal field of Yuck.

Emoting and how it can be appropriate has been a hot topic in my life lately. I have been known to do it exactly wrong. When you are releasing old stored emotions, patterns of pain, you don’t need to direct it at anyone. In fact, the “emotional vomiting” for lack of a better term should merely be for the purpose of release. Sometimes, I totally mess that up and direct my emotion at someone undeserving. After I apologize I try to recognize that it is okay to make mistakes in practice, just as it is okay to make mistakes in life. I have found personally that often those recognized and admitted mistakes unfurl into the most beautiful growth point.

Anyway, lately I have been thinking about emoting so much because of my beautiful niece Alexandra finding her voice. Like all babies Alexandra makes no bones about showing you exactly how she feels. It’s pretty beautiful. When she is angry she is angry, when sad she is sad, when joyful she actually glows. Because she experiences her emotions her closets remain clean. She holds no grudges, she harbors no ill will; her identity has not become merged with her fear. Instead her authentic laughter can shift to tears to laughter to tears all before her morning “coffee”.

Over the years, I have done inquiry into what happens when I let my litany of painful emotions out. Allowing myself to feel my feelings, has become a part of my ritual of practice. What happens if I stomp around? Or bellow? Or simply cry? What happens if I let myself experience that anger?

Next time you are alone and have a good amount of time. Take a moment, maybe do some yoga, begin to quiet yourself, then ask: “What am I holding onto?” and “What am I ready to release?”

Once you identify what you are ready to let go of begin to experience that emotion. Then give yourself permission to be dramatic, be ridiculous, mirror a baby, and throw an all out tantrum. Let yourself be uncensored, let yourself just roar.

Remember with these styles of practice things can become intense. Be gentle with yourself and certainly don’t expect it to be pretty. Healing hardly ever is. Sometimes it is easier to do this type of work with someone and I would be happy to hold the space for you. Over the years I have helped many people find their voice.

After the wave of emotion passes, take time to sit silently. Then make your way to a salt bath to finalize that energetic release.

We are all one. It is we who are the universe.

2011-03-24T10:30:00.000-07:00

Almost twenty years ago, when I was a teenager I became interested in psychic phenomenon. Because of that fascination my Mom arranged an appointment for me with an acclaimed medium. During my session, she said to me, “I don’t understand this but they say you will. They want you to know that: ‘We are all one. It is we who are the universe.’”

At that time I really didn’t understand it either but I never forgot it. Although I had been raised Christian, and deeply respected my Reverend, I spent most of my late teens and very early twenties trying on other peoples beliefs like clothing. It is not all that rare after all, I was young and I was seeking. At different times I practiced being: Agnostic, Buddhist, Jewish, Sufi, and Wiccan – to name just a few.

Where I landed is a very personal place as all belief is. From my experience if you put two people of any tradition together and ask them to define their belief, you best step back and simply watch those sparks fly. Debating faith, which is literally man’s ability to believe that which he knows not to be true, is fascinating.

As years have passed, and my understandings have shifted through both trial and joy, I can summarize my belief like this: “We are all one. It is we who are the universe.”

The Lamps are different,

But the Light is the same

One matter, one energy, one Light, one

Light-Mind.

~Rumi

This weekend at Charm City Yoga (www.charmcityyoga.com), I am teaching a Yoga Benefit for Japan with Kim Manfredi. Our intention is to cultivate an energetic offering of healing and light to those that are suffering.

100% of the monies generated from this workshop will be donated to the International Rescue Committee. The International Rescue Committee responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. The American Institute of Philanthropy gives the IRC an A+ rating.

May they be well. May they be free from suffering.

2011-03-17T11:34:00.000-07:00

Since my post last week the earth has literally shifted beyond comprehension. What has unfolded and continues to unfurl in Japan is simply overwhelming. My heart goes out to those who are actively undergoing these experiences and I wish them healing and light with every exhalation of my breath.

Years ago on September 11^th, when I was alone in a brand new city, I turned to Yoga as a way to have an immediate community. During times like these, when the world is more out of control then normal, I actively try to draw my students together – chanting as one voice palm to interconnected palm.

It makes me uncomfortable, in fact it scares me to do it but at these moments I teach prayer anyway. I think at times like these, it is too important not to – basically it is worth being uncomfortable for.

Last night, my beginning students stood in a circle. One palm to the next chanting with the intention of generating healing for those with them and those in Japan. We imagined filling the circle with light, filling ourselves with light, and then sending that energy we created over the water to Japan. After all, energy moves with intention: “May they be well, may they be free from suffering.”

There is a feeling that comes over a room when it shifts into “like mind.” It is a beautiful and distinct energy and one that I recognize immediately in a group that I am leading. It happened last night, like I said – leading prayer, it is worth being uncomfortable for.

Compassion means to suffer with but suffering in its original sense merely meant to undergo.

2011-03-08T06:05:00.000-08:00

I know through my own personal journey that we are all connected. That the energy of each of us reaches out and connects to the rest. No matter how hippie dippy it may sound, I believe that we are all one. Recently, scientists have been studying a subset of neurons known as mirror neurons. These neurons show that we do experience in our minds what is happening to those around us. Turns out, we are programmed for compassion: http://www.ted.com/talks/vs_ramachandran_the_neurons_that_shaped_civilization.html

In Yoga there is really no beginner class or advanced class there is only practice and the willingness to work your own edge.

2011-02-25T13:05:00.000-08:00

Sustaining stillness in postures requires strength, concentration, and will. During an extended period of holding, proper alignment becomes a necessity. After all, stacking your bones correctly affords a lot of extra strength. It also safeguards you from injury, trains the muscles, and teaches you how to breathe through uncomfortable and difficult positions. I have found that stillness and strength, just like balance and focus, reside in the same space.

Vinyasa or flow is the fluid elongation of the breath to generate movement. Inhale up dog; exhale down dog; inhale right for forward; exhale left foot forward, each wave of the breath generating a distinctive motion in the body. It is fast, it is powerful and if allowed the sustained focus can become so deep that it shifts to moving meditation.

Flowing is liberating and makes you feel empowered; even brand new practitioners can whip there way through poses and feel like yogic rock-stars. But herein lies the rub; they will not be in alignment and they will struggle with the most basic aspect of Vinyasa, which is linking of the conscious breath to movement. In all actuality appropriate flow only grows from exploring stillness.

In Yoga there is really no beginner class or advanced class there is only practice and the willingness to work your own edge. Often what we perceive to be easy is the most difficult. Next time you go to class, put your ego down and give yourself the opportunity to learn alignment and explore your breath. Then from that place of awareness, take on the challenge of hurtling yourself through the poses while riding the wave of your conscious breath.

Chanting and other things that make you go: “why did I come to this class?”

2011-02-16T11:08:00.000-08:00

When I first started teaching I basically taught Yummy Yoga. I did anything I could to keep my classes and students inside the comfort zone. I didn’t make them chant, I didn’t focus on the breath, I didn’t offer extended relaxations. Basically I taught stretching with a little strength thrown in. People liked it. I liked it. But truth be told – none of us grew. I didn’t grow as a teacher and while my students were safe and secure they didn’t really transform either.

My students now would be hard pressed to find the “me” they know in my first years teaching. Now I push myself to teach what is difficult for me.

Make people hug each other? Let that love OUT.

Chant for a fifteen minutes with arms in the air? Watch those limiting thoughts just melt away.

Ten minute guided relaxation at the beginning? The type A’s hate that until one day they LOVE it.

So what changed? Why the shift? The reason is simple, I just realized through my own practice that it was when I made myself uncomfortable, when I pushed the edges of not just my practice but my beliefs that I really and truly started to transform. As with all my work, I base my interactions with my students, on my own experiential understandings. If being uncomfortable and doing it anyway transformed me – chances are it would transform them.

With that said, I must admit: I still turn to my comfort zone when I am over stressed and under-slept. During those times I melt myself back into the safety of a Yummy Yoga practice and if I happen to be teaching that day, my students get one too.

It’s the nature of the mind to wander. It is the practice to draw it back to the breath.

2011-02-11T09:45:00.000-08:00

Learning to draw our mind to focus is a powerful tool both on and off the mat. But just like every other part of yoga, meditation, is a practice and imperfection is inherently implied. When we have spent years multitasking and treating life like it is a sprint, is it really any wonder that focusing is a challenge?

I know when I first started meditating I thought it meant emptying. Achieving a space of no thought, no awareness – a completely altered state of being. But as humans we are thinking machines, many of you like me have monkey minds that are constantly whirring; no matter how much I tried to just “let go” thought was somehow always there. Over years of practice and many good teachers I finally accepted that meditation is not the absence of thought. Meditation is focused thought without attachment.

Very nice right, but now: "what on earth does that mean?"

Simply put, meditation is an exercise in focus where what you are focusing on is arbitrary. That is why the breath is such a powerful meditative tool – it is completely unconscious yet it can be made into a conscious act. When the breath is used, you can focus on it but if you stop focusing nothing will happen. It will continue to roll. You will continue to live and all will be well. It then becomes your responsibility to remember that it is the nature of the mind to wander. It is the practice to draw it back to your breath.

I think it is also important to realize that meditation, while it has deep spiritual components, is a brain wave and a natural state of being. Every one of us moves in and out of the meditative mind numerous times a day – we just don’t identify those moments as meditation. The Alpha and Theta brain waves while not entirely understood (as much of our brain is not) have been mapped again and again when subjects were studied in meditation. These two brainwaves precede those of the sleep cycle, you move through them to go to sleep and back through them to wake up. You can meditate – in all reality you have meditated everyday for your entire life.

Next time you want to try the practice of Meditation, set an alarm clock for three minutes. Stay focused that entire time noticing the wave of the breath moving in and the wave of the breath moving out. Remember if the mind wanders – be gentle with yourself – and draw it back to the breath.

If you would like to follow my voice, there is a breathing lesson that uses meditative focus, here:

http://www.quietwindsofchange.com/about.html

It is not about perfection that is why it is called practice.

2011-02-04T09:01:00.000-08:00

Not to be snotty but I have maintained a daily practice for over a decade. It became my touchstone during a very difficult time and has remained so ever since. Through my practice, I breathe myself into a place of action rather than reaction. Allowing my postures and meditative practices to become a reflection of where I am currently.

When you practice something daily, in whatever discipline you choose, that practice will grow and change and shift with time. Although now my practice is a mirror for my current state of being it took a very long time for it to become so. When I first started with Yoga, my type A-personality was desperate for perfection in my practice (and life in general). I forced myself to bend and shift, stretch and strain, even in my meditations. To be honest, there was an unhealthy forcefulness with how I came to the mat and manipulated myself through my practice.

After many years of pushing myself in every direction, I went down for the count with chronic fatigue. That time in my life, although it at first appeared like a curse, was really a blessing. Over several years I used Yoga, Reiki, and Hypnosis to heal myself. It was during that time of healing that I realized yoga is not about perfection. Quite simply, that is why it is called: practice. As my perception shifted, how I engaged in practice shifted as well. Instead of force, I began to move to my mat with compassion and make inquiries into the nature of my mind, body, and spirit.

Those first few breaths on the mat, direct my entire practice now: maybe it will be gentle, maybe it will be Kundalini, or maybe it will be Vinyasa with too many sun salutations to count. Without the need for perfection, my focus is instead on making the effort, being open, and going for it. I believe now that practice is simply an open palm of welcome, inviting you to try.

Yoga at The Baltimore Museum of Art

2011-02-02T10:31:00.000-08:00

During college, I took yoga as my gym credit. The practice transformed me, as it does, deepening my ability to be present. Ultimately, that awareness rippled off the mat, making me better at ferreting out the subtler aspects of composition, technique, and story in my art historical studies. Back then, I spent a lot of time meditating in galleries at the local museum, using objects as my point of focus.

Both Yoga and art, as practices, require: discipline, introspection, contemplation, and focus so deep that it becomes a meditation. In Yoga, each breath builds on the next; in art, each artist builds on the ones who came before them. There is a flow to both; an unfolding is intrinsic to each.

I wonder, the last time you went to a museum, did you actually see the art? Are you sure? Seems strange but most museum visitors will spend less than three seconds looking at an object. Which begs the actual question: “were you even present for that bit of time?”

Recently I shared with my yoga students at The Baltimore Museum of Art how I came to design a public program where art history and yoga are interwoven. Although there are many reasons (including that it is the coolest thing ever to do yoga next to a Rembrandt), I realized as I said it: “my true goal with this class is to teach you to not just look, I want you to actually see.”

Practice is not defined by time; practice simply means practice

2011-01-26T06:45:00.000-08:00

For years I had tried to create space for a daily yoga practice in my life. I marked out hours on my schedule, kept a mat on the floor, talked myself into poses, and sometimes even managed to practice several days running. Still even those on some level fell short. It wasn’t until I had worked a fourteen hour day and was berating myself for not immediately moving to my mat that I finally understood that my thought patterns were holding me back. At some point I had conditioned myself to believe that a daily practice was only if an hour or more had passed.

That night my perspective on what a daily practice was shifted drastically and I took in with a little more than a breath that practice is not defined by time; practice simply means practice. Through that shift in my mindset finding space in my life to practice came easy and at some point, although I always move to my mat with a particular intention, fitting it in is now merely a habit.

In hindsight it seems so simple. Yet it took me years to find my way to that understanding. More than ten have passed since that moment, and I am grateful each day as I take time to find my breath and connect to my deeper self.