2020 & the Tyranny of Should

Here, in the thick of resolution season, the "shoulds" and "should nots" arise to constrict habits and behavior. By the end of the month many of those resolutions fail. We adhere to the "should", maybe even more strongly than our original standard, then we feel like we "should" stay there or "do better". Then, if we fail to meet the increasingly unsustainable standards, we punish ourselves with guilt. A build up of guilt often flips to defiance and we abandon the resolution completely. So how do we navigate this?

Physical Exercise beyond Pain/Gain Myth

No Pain, No Gain. You've heard it. Heck, you've probably grown up with it. The steady stream of Nike ads and fashion magazines tells you over and over: "If you don't go hard, go home."  Extremism is built into a capitalist society because it depends on people not ever having or being enough. This is …

The Heart of the Phoenix

There is alchemy in the season, an alchemy we kindle in our hearts, burning away the dross of our own limiting beliefs to let our genuine selves radiate outward.

Not Abiding: Yoga Sutra 1.4

Continuing from the sutra 1.3, in which the writer sums up the whole goal of yoga (to abide in one's true nature), we come to 1.4: Vritti Sarupyam Itaratra "At other times, [the Self seems to] identify with the mind's fluctuations" Vritti = "modifications" (of the chitti, mind-stuff, mentioned in sutra 1.2), sarupyam = "assumes the forms …

Taking it Right Down to the Ground

Over the holidays, I got hit with a nasty ear infection that ended up perforating my eardrum. For two days I was more or less bedridden. When I finally emerged, my muscles ached from the inertia, but what could I do? With the damage to my inner ear, inversions were out; I couldn't even manage a …

Tapping into Gratitude

Since we are pretty much smack-dab between Canada's and America's Thanksgivings, I thought I'd put up a short gentle sequence of poses designed to bring out the gratitude. https://youtu.be/wfrFX6HPCS4   Gratitude gets us out from under the pressure of the ego. The ego is the eternal critic: you’re not good enough, fast enough, you’re not …