Journal
Here you'll find writing on mindfulness, neuroscience, mental health, physical wellbeing, and yoga.
These topics often overlap: attention, behaviour and embodiment are all part of the same ecosystem of experience, and the aim here is to explore those connections in a thoughtful and practical way. Some posts draw from research, others from lived experience and teaching. The intention is to share ideas that are useful, considered, and occasionally a bit different from what is typically said.
April 15, 2020
Learn the alignment principles of Warrior 1 pose, a powerful posture to strengthen our legs, back muscles, hips and shoulders.
April 15, 2020
Chris guides you through standing movement exercises to free up our joints, then into a rhythmic flow of stretching and strengthening postures for the hips and back. The last part of the class is reclined, working with the pull of gravity to open our bodies while calming our nervous systems.
April 14, 2020
This all levels practice focuses on opening the chest and shoulders, plus creating length throughout the body with movement and longer-held poses.
April 14, 2020
In this fire flow practice, we will stoke the power of our core through strong breathing and warming movement, then expand our limits as we approach arm balances. The fire element, agni, catalyzes transformation, purging what is no longer needed, and creating fertile ground for emerging life. It provides heat to melt away stagnancy in the body and mind. When we get stuck in our habits, it daringly offers a new approach.
April 13, 2020
Settle into gently guided meditation to explore our relationship with contents of consciousness. First we relax our body to the pulse of the breath. Then when our impulses begin to settle, we investigate our perspective on what arises in the thinking mind and feeling body. Does it feel like yours? Or are you simply aware that it is?
April 13, 2020
Preparing for forearm balance cultivates precise focus, a stable foundation, trust in yourself, courage to experience the upside of down, and a willingness to explore the unknown. In this vinyasa class, you will wake up your body to the possibility of standing on your forearms.
April 13, 2020
Are you trying to catch up with your life; responsibilities, creative projects, relationships? It's hard to exist in the present moment when we feel out of step with it. But in meditation, we create space and time to zoom into our life as it is right now, to catch up with what is really going on, effortlessly. When our energy is not bound to task-oriented efforts, we can see with a wider perspective, and re-engage with our lives mindfully.
April 12, 2020
Stretch out your chest muscles, ease stiffness in your neck, and bring strength and stability to your upper back and shoulders in this relaxing, mindful movement practice.
April 11, 2020
In 30 minutes, you will be guided through a gentle and rhythmic movement practice to release tension and open up the major joints of your body: your hips, spine and shoulders.
April 11, 2020
Challenge yourself with this steady and powerful movement practice, complete with heat-building lunges, arm balances and inversions.
April 10, 2020
The field of consciousness contains everything we experience; it is an open realm with no natural boundaries. However, from our typical viewpoint, we compartmentalize it through what we dwell on, cling to, and ignore. In meditation, we often work to quieten the mind by concentrating our attention on a specific thing or process. But in today's meditation, we will open our attention to the wholeness of the field, and expand the boundaries of our attention beyond what is most salient, to the underlying glimmer of undivided experience.
April 9, 2020
Through guided movement and deep breathing, we will melt away tightness held in the most powerful muscles of your body: the quads. This flow class focuses on stretches and stabilizing movements for your thighs, glutes, and back muscles.
April 9, 2020
Make room for your heart! When our breath is shallow, when we hold mental tension and physical stagnancy, we can't express ourselves in our full nature. With a focus on mindful backbends, this multi-level alignment-based yoga class with help you tap into your inner vibrancy and confidence.
April 9, 2020
This short class will play with core and balance, particularly the arm balance, Crow Pose. We'll warm up the wrists and core to prepare and connect to what is innermost and most essential.
April 9, 2020
Whenever a limiting belief arises in our mind (a judgement, a story...) a reflection of it shows up in our body. Limiting beliefs close the window on possibilities and personal or interpersonal growth. Sometimes they cause a stress response (flight, fight, or freeze), and sometimes they arise because we are under stressful conditions already. In today's meditation, we work with a universal mantra so-ham to help us see beyond limiting beliefs. The mantra so-ham translates from Sanskrit s "I am that", which reminds us that it is possible to know ourselves instead in a vaster sense of the greater whole.
April 9, 2020
Heather guides you through a yin yoga practice that's best done at nighttime for a good sleep. The class ends with a restorative pose to calm your nervous system and relax your body.
April 8, 2020
Heather leads you through a multi-level standing and mat pilates class to target the glutes, thighs and core. No props are needed.
April 8, 2020
This class is designed for yogis on-the-go looking for a short and effective practice to put a twist on their daily routine. Through a dynamic flow, you will invigorate your body and get your heart pumping. In a series of mindful spinal twists, you will help to eliminate waste, hydrate your tissues, and release tension from your back muscles.
April 8, 2020
This short video will help you stretch out after gardening or anything that has you hunched over, using your hands, shoulders, back and legs a lot. Open up the areas that have gotten tense from working hard.
April 8, 2020
Especially in difficult times, our mind readily builds walls to keep out what feels unwelcome, and protect what we rely on. These limiting beliefs narrow our viewpoint; they can be judgements, opinions, or even stories that frame our experience in a particular way. In this meditation, we begin to recognize the appearance of these limiting beliefs in our mind and body, and notice how the energy of holding a liming belief draws us away from the present moment.