The Comfort of the Continuum
/What are beginnings and endings? Are there beginnings and endings? What is consciousness? What is its relationship to time? Is time real?
Read MoreBecoming & Unbecoming Through Love
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As we dive deeper into the practice of yoga and start to investigate the philosophies that inform our practice, questions like “Who am I?” emerge. Perhaps who I thought I was isn’t so clear anymore. Perhaps I am letting go of attachments and identifications, and I’m starting to feel differently now. Perhaps as my mind got quieter, I started to see more clearly. Who am I unbecoming?
Read MoreGrief Is No Game. Help Exists.
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When grief comes calling, it rarely arrives alone. Sometimes guilt accompanies it. It’s complicated and many-layered. Sometimes relief does – the innate gratitude that the loved one no longer suffers – and inadvertently triggers more guilt….
Read MoreYou Are Made of Heat (Use It as Your Superpower)
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Tapas remains our spiritual kick in the rear to get it together because our true nature knows we are capable. In fact, our true nature depends on us to break through the pains to grow. Can we handle our own flames? Of course we can….
Read MoreHerbs for Immunity: Elderberry
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Elderberries and garlic have been shown to help to prevent flu viruses from invading the body and replicating themselves. There are many herbs that can help build your immune resilience, and it’s much easier than you may think to incorporate into your day-to-day routine.
Read MoreMindfulness
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In mindfulness, we can observe each moment in any situation with calm abiding, clear seeing, non-judgment, and non-attachment. This is a valuable practice to bring in to our daily lives. As the name implies, it is not something we can just do. It requires practice. It can be practiced during any activity, even something as simple and routine as doing the dishes.
Read MoreSelf-Care Practice: Nature Therapy
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Prior to lock-down, I walked regularly, often with Sally, our Jack Russell/Australian Shepherd mix. I enjoyed our walks (and Sally always enjoys her walks!), often leaving my phone at home, the better to enjoy our time together. Although I was never rushed, and I enjoyed the sights and sounds of nature, there was always “something” to get home to do, a “next thing on the list”, My appreciation and enjoyment were of the “walk-thru” variety, and my mind might often wandered….
Read MoreTwo Ears, One Mouth
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In today’s world, listening is undervalued. We talk over each other, shout each other down, or simply wait until someone is done talking so that we can share a similar experience, thinking we are listening, when we were really just preparing a response…
Read MoreMarcia's Musings: Float Like a Butterfly
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It wasn’t always easy to recognize positive outcomes in the age of the pandemic, given the brain’s preference for negative thinking. Especially in the darkest days our community faced together, all I focused on was absorbing the shock of the “unseen enemy” and its relentless assault…
Read MoreA Slow- Cooker Starter Chicken Recipe for Quick & Easy Meals (And Some Recipes to Use It In!)
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This recipe is one she shared with me that I used often then and still do now. It is a flavorful option to use as a starter to a quick meal and has only three ingredients.
This recipe is just as good reheated as it is the day it is made, maybe even better. Best of all, it is simple and easy, the way life should be. Try it in tacos, enchiladas, burritos, salads, burrito bowls, or try it in one of the recipes from our e-Book.
Read MoreMarcia's Musings: The Conservation of Energy
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My mother’s younger brother died a few weeks ago at age 88. One minute he sat chatting from his chair with his daughter, seeing her on Facetime, and the next he slumped over quietly. He left this world on the long, last exhale in an instant without noticeable stress or pain. In what certainly stands as a sign of these times, my cousin virtually witnessed her father passing, his energy moving from one dimension to the next in full digital view.
Read MoreLate Summer Farmer's Market: Abundance
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Nothing sings of summer more to me than walking the aisles of a farmers’ market. No matter where I am in the world, anyone who knows me knows my not-so-secret passion is to go to the market and check out what’s happening. This year I’m thinking about making a yet untested recipe for a tomato chutney once my plant comes into its own in a couple weeks; for now, though, what’s on my mind is Armenian Stuffed Grape Leaves or Summer Dolma.
Read MoreSound Healing
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Sound Healing is a modality that utilizes frequencies produced by instruments to support participants in altering their state of consciousness for an intended purpose such as reaching deep state of relaxation or working through suppressed emotions or simply the release of stored stress.
Read MoreWhat Is EFT?
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Did you know that there’s a self-help tool that’s quick and easy to learn, that you can use anytime, anywhere, and that you can use with just about anything that is challenging you?
Read MoreInhale, Exhale, Repeat
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I assert that pranayama is the single most accessible, practical, and effective tool available to reduce stress, energize, bring about calm, and improve our overall well-being. Period. We can go without food for weeks, without water for one to two weeks. We start to hallucinate three to four days without sleep, yet the lack of breath becomes fatal after only a few short minutes.
Read MoreThe Torrent of Grief, Its Pain and Its Value
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Grief arrives for many reasons. We often identify the death of a partner, spouse, friend, child, parent, or colleague as the deepest form of grief – and rightfully so. We’ve witnessed the pain of this kind of grief etched on survivors’ faces.
Read MoreThe Power of Uncomfortable
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At the appointed time, I wobbled up to the podium, took a deep breath, and opened my mouth. Gack. Nothing came out. I tried again and emitted a feeble squawk followed closely by an impressive dry-mouthed cluck.
Read MoreMarcia's Musings: When We See Each Other
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In the days when we teachers taught face-to-face in the studios, the bond with students was close, in distance and in energy; the ability to see each other and learn how bodies step into poses, breath, and meditation apparent with immediacy; and feedback written on students’ faces and in teachers’ words. With the emergence of virtual classes, caused for the most-unbelievable of reasons, a pandemic, much has been lost in this bond. Without being able to see each other in person, or at all with so many at-home computers muting the video, both student and teacher reach for each other in a halting way, similar to the childhood game when we blindfolded one player who had to haltingly find the others.
Read MoreWhat Is HaloTherapy & How Does It Help?
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HaloTherapy, also known as Dry Salt Therapy, is a treatment of finely ground, medical-grade salt that is distributed in a room or chamber from a specialized machine – a halogenerator – in small puffs of air.
Read MoreMarcia's Musings: Bone-Tired, Still Moving
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I asked myself this question: What is the truth of this shared generational trauma? What is the role of truth-telling, or satya, as we understand it from the 8-limbed path of yoga? How am I to recognize truth? What am I to do with it?
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