The Happy Heart Project: Days 1-31

I’ve read that we replace 1% of our cells daily. Every 100 days we have a new body. What that new body consists of is the food we eat, air we breathe, water we drink, exercise we take and thoughts we think.  – A friend Three-plus boxes of incense and 31 days ago, I launched…

Be A Yogi

When I graduated from my Yoga Teacher Training at the Integral Yoga Academy, I heard a lot of advice. Make a list of all the potential places you could teach – not just studios, but other spaces. Market your classes in this way or that way. Remember that not all yoga instructors can make a…

Falling Off The Yoga Wagon

Why does it take a sick day for me to realize I have totally abandoned my yoga practice? For the past two days, I’ve been battling a sinus infection.  This morning, after sleeping 11 hours, I woke up, chanted mantras, said prayers, wrote in my journal, practiced breathing exercises and sat to meditate.  All of…

Focus Wrap Up: The Eight Limbs – Yama

It was 10:38am on Sunday, April 3rd when I started writing this wrap up, and the New Moon hung invisibly above. In that Sunday’s classes we wrapped up our March focus on the 1st of the Eight Limbs of Yoga – Yama, or, abstinence. I extended the March focus through April 3rd so the New…

Focus: The Yoga Sutras – Love & Murder

Each morning when I rise, I try to spend about 30 minutes praying, meditating and doing some Pranayama.  When I do, my soul feels infinitely more peaceful throughout whatever the day tosses my way. For me, this is the point of yoga. From what I’ve learned, this was also the point of yoga for the…

February Focus: The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

From the title of this blog, one might think: “Wow, Holly’s really going for it this time.” “She’s taking on the ancient text of Yoga (with a capital “Y”)!” “How in the world will we cover four books of aphorisms in one month?” “Who does Holly think she is, teaching the Sutras?” Hahahahaha!  Believe me,…

In the OM Zone

You can hear the OM sound everywhere. It vibrates every cell in your body. It brings such a nice feeling of peace.  – Swami Satchidananda There are times, at the end of a yoga class, when the closing OM is so sweet I have cried.  And there are times when it is so cacophonous that…

Focus Wrap Up: March/April – Transition & Balance

Yikes!  It’s May 19th and I’m just now writing the wrap up for our March/April Bi-Monthly Focus of Transition & Balance.  However, our 2nd month concentration on the Yoga Sutras will segue beautifully into our May/June class focus on yoga’s Eight Limbs (intro coming soon!). At the end of April we rounded out our Transition…

This Too Shall Pass

I just floated home after Ximena Gutierrez’s Jivamukti class at Past Tense Studio (one of the places where I teach yoga).  Today’s theme was “This Too Shall Pass” – a phrase with which I am very familiar from a variety of spiritual paths and programs.  The premise is to remain detached from and have faith…

God Rest Ye

…Merry Yogis and Yoginis! So, we’re winding down our November and December class focus of “Rest.”  We’ve spent two months exploring yoga’s balance of effort and ease.  We fine-tuned our Asanam to the “nth” degree, soothed our nervous systems with Pranayama and rested flat on our backs to some pretty Yoga Nidra songs. In addition,…