The Winter Solstice, commonly known as the longest night of the year, will occur sometime between Dec 20-22nd in the Northern Hemisphere each year and has historically been celebrated by many cultures as a feast day. Many winter holiday celebrations begin on this day, often with a focus on celebrating light in all forms.  Personally I […]
As a yoga teacher trainer I am often asked to be a guest teacher for training programs around BC and to present on the topics of yoga history and philosophy. I believe I get these invitations because I have always taken my own studies of these topics seriously and have invested a lot of time […]
The other day I got an email from a woman who has taken some courses with me, and in it she shared with some challenges she was having in regards to managing her commitments to teaching yoga, keeping up her practices, taking care of her health, working her part time job and being a newer […]
Fall has always been my favourite season. I love the turning leaves, dark mornings, cool days, warm scarves, wool socks, and the smell of wood smoke in the air. But along with all this also comes some of the challenges that occur when Vata Dosha becomes aggravated ( as it often does in this time of […]
Earlier this year I took part in a writing challenge led by  Susannah Harwood Rubin, a writer, artist and yoga teacher. Susannah challenged us to write each day, a minimum of 30 words, inspired by a chosen word related to the topic of Yoga, and one of these words was Rasa, a favourite Sanskrit word of […]
All of my life I have know fear and anxiety, they have been my constant companions. I know that my experience is  by no means uncommon, despite the fact that we may not speak about it. As a yoga teacher for many years I have come to see that I am not alone in living […]
Listen to music, turn it up loud and feel it with your whole body. Read poetry, preferably slowly and out loud, savour each word. Climb a mountain; get some perspective. Move your body, dance, run, make love; revel in your sensuality. Get lost in a forest; remember how small you are in comparison to the […]
I signed up for my first yoga teacher-training program because I wanted to know what my teachers knew. I wanted to know how to practice yoga. Meaning I wanted to be able to do it by myself, without needing to go to a yoga class. This was important to me because getting to a class […]
If I have learned one thing in my forty years of living it is that life moves in cyclical patterns of rhythm and flow. Expansion and contraction are an immutable truth and I feel that the art of living (of which I am a keen student), is about learning how to best align with this pulse […]
I teach at the Vancouver School of Yoga and this week one of the students in the 300 Hour Advanced Program asked if I could be a case study for the business component. I was asked to answer 10 questions related to starting out as a yoga teacher and managing the business side of working for myself. […]
