It’s starting to look a lot like…Winter!
Here we are prepping and getting ready for a Winter wonderland.  A time to hunker down, stay warm, and move into a more inward state.  While many find the excitement of the holidays cheery and uplifting, not everyone shares this same joy.  For some, the holiday season brings up uncomfortable feelings and added challenges that can foster depression and loneliness.  Due to the pandemic, this winter will have an added degree of solitude that contribute to the heaviness and stress we are already carrying.   While solitude can be scary, it can also be a time of healing, creating, and transforming.

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A Guest Post by Lotus Kitty

Pratyahara is a sensory withdrawal. It is the process of freeing your senses from the outer world so you can focus on yourself. What we perceive with our sense can be overwhelming, which is why the Pratyahara effectively bridges the gap between the external disciplines in yoga to the focus of your inner growth. (more…)

October is here and this means that we are in full swing of Pumpkin Spice everything!  Autumn is a season of great energy and a lot of change. The world around us goes through immense transformation, noticeable in the shorter days, cooler temperatures, and falling leaves. Our daily routines return, which after a long-suspended time from it, can make life a tad more complicated. With the energetic and seasonal shift, and the added concern with the pandemic, you may notice yourself feeling a bit overwhelmed, unbalanced, or detached from your true self.  These normal feelings can (more…)

Surrender opens us up to the idea that there is something greater than ourselves, something more intelligent than our thoughts, something that has a greater plan in play and we, as the participants, are simply doing our part. (more…)

Have you ever asked yourself the question “WHO AM I?” When it comes to the 4th Niyama, Study of the Self, one might wonder how does a person study themselves and what is involved with that? To study anything requires a person to be curious, focused, and inquisitive. (more…)

Tapas, the 3rd Niyama of the yoga sutras, translates as self-discipline. Most people, when they hear the word discipline, usually feel the hairs on the back of their neck stand up and resistance pops into their mind with the vision of heels digging into the sand as they were forced to do something they didn’t want to do. What most people don’t realize is the transformation that occurs through persevering a constant control of the self. (more…)

Santosha, the 2nd Niyama of the Yoga Sutras, wants us to have a deep sense of satisfaction and happiness with our life, relationships, and what we have. The first thought that comes to my mind is “I am happy, I am grateful for all that I have.” Santosha is a call to capture your thoughts and/or feelings that don’t match your beliefs in happiness. (more…)

Saucha – Purity

Saucha or purity is the 1st of 5 Niyamas and is really about cleanliness, inside and out. While most of us have good habits in taking care of the outside of our body, yoga also has several tools to help clean the inside of the body to support the removal of toxins and waste. (more…)

Aparigraha – The Art of Letting Go

Aparigraha is the last of the 5 Yamas and can be understood as non-grasping, non-hoarding, or non-greed. Now if you asked my husband how I rated in this he would probably tell you that I have this Yama pretty much down pat – since I seem to always be decluttering and giving things away that he isn’t quite ready to part with. (more…)

Tame Our Overindulgences

Everywhere we look, we see the results of living in excess. In a society that glorifies more and more, it becomes challenging to listen to the voice of intuition urging us towards moderation and balance. This Yama, Brahmacharya, can be particularly difficult to work on, and some may even question its importance. Let’s take the example of eating too much – when we overindulge, we feel sluggish and uncomfortable, lacking the motivation to do anything else, except maybe watching television. The same can be said for overdrinking, oversleeping, overworking, and overexerting in any aspect of life – it drains our vital life force, our prana. (more…)