Your yoga teacher says, “Take a deep breath in,” and you do. Your diaphragm contracts and your belly expands; you feel the delicious sensation of oxygen rushing in, and Prana flowing through you. You feel connected, grounded, and present. Continue reading
Filmed at Vista del Valle in Costa Rica, this joycast brings three wise messages from the flora of the jungle. A playful way of connecting with your intuition!
I remember the first time I saw the truth embedded in being.
Whoa, that’s a crazy sentence. To lighten that up, what I am emphasizing is the fact that the essence of just being is written in the label of our species. I came across this connection and it has truly resonated with me. Continue reading
A Mid-Month Astrology Update from Ashley Laux, Friend of DevaTree
A Breakdown Could be your Breakthrough!
Continue reading
Upon giving birth to my children I had the same feelings each time. I felt amazingly powerful, strong, emotionally ready for anything, and truly “in” my body. While loving the life-creating miracle of my body, I also felt fat. My beautifully big round belly that I so adored had given way to a gorgeous child and left me with a deflated pancake around my middle, a larger than normal lower half and some cute (if I was 3) chipmunk cheeks. Obviously, the initial giant pancake belly got smaller with time and work – when I had the opportunity – which wasn’t often! While I appreciated my body’s strength and it’s ability to grow two babies and carry me around in life, I was always slightly unhappy with how my body looked after my children. Continue reading
While teaching in our Yoga Teacher Training last month, we told the story of Arjuna from the Bhagavad Gita. As Arjuna came to face the battlefield of his life, I moved through a series of strengthening postures including Virabhadrasana I and II, the Warrior poses. Through the telling of this powerful story, I dove into the valley of confusion of my own life’s battles and came face to face with my inner warrior. Continue reading
“Loafe with me on the grass, loose the stop from your throat,
Not words, not music or rhyme I want, not custom or lecture, not even the best,
Only the lull I like, the hum of your valved voice.” –Walt Whitman, Song of Myself
For a long time I couldn’t stand hearing my own voice. I would cringe if I heard myself in a recording, a voicemail message, even an echo. I was a quiet child. My voice never came out easily.
Tamika was the first yoga teacher I had who brought sound into the space in a way that challenged me: “Kick your leg out and say HA!” My mouth would open but nothing would come out, and I would just pretend that my voice had joined the others in the class. Eventually though, a tiny “ha” started to emerge. The more I practiced, the louder it got. I could finally hear my own “HA!” loud and clear in the room. But that was just the beginning. Continue reading
When my father died many years ago I was in tune with the meaning of breath. He took his last breath sitting at the kitchen table in the house where I grew up as if it was his first, quietly exhaling as he let go. A few days later grief stricken and lost I awoke from a restless sleep to the sound of a breath, loud and clear, comforting and loving, reminding me that I would always be connected in the realm of spirit to this dear teacher, my father. Continue reading
In your mind’s eye, visualize a rubber band. Now see yourself taking hold of it, and giving it one good, swift stretch. Now let go. Did you see what that rubber band did? It snapped right back. Maybe it stung your hand; maybe it flew across the room. That rubber band was exercising its true nature, that of always snapping back to its original form. Continue reading
Like all of us, at times I have taken my breath for granted. Of course the breath has been with me since the moment I entered the world, but it has truly been through my yoga training that I have learned to use the breath to support and sustain me in my life. At moments when it seemed I was alone, it was there as a trusted soulmate. I can’t think of the number of times that I have called on the deep sounds of the Ocean Sounding Breath to calm my nerves before an interview, a personal conflict in my life, or a sleepless night. Continue reading
