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 2, 2020
Whether from chronic posture imbalances or injury, our upper back, neck and shoulders can become tight and weak. In this class, you will practice yoga exercises to reset your posture, release tension, and decompress your upper back and neck.
April 2, 2020
In this practice you will be guided through stretches to release compression in the lower back, hips and knees; joints that are impacted by running. You will also explore the range of motion of your joints, to develop mobility and balance out habitual alignment patterns brought on my repetitive movement.
April 1, 2020
An all-body alignment-based practice with precise guidance, giving you time and space to breathe into the subtler levels of experience. Through lunges, twists, and hip openers, you will warm your body, release tightness, and return to mental steadiness.
March 31, 2020
Sun salutations, known as surya namaskar in Sanskrit, are a warm-up sequence of breath-guided movements that increase your circulation, release compression in your joints, stretch out your body, and awaken your mind for the day. In this 10-minute practice, you will be guided through three styles of sun salutations.
March 30, 2020
This practice is inspired by our watery nature, our ability to move fluidly, to show our strength in adaptive intelligence, to carve new paths when we encounter hindrances, and to be relentlessly creative. Prepare to move, to breathe deeply, and to develop flexibility and strength as you expand the borders of flow.
March 28, 2020
When we feel happy and at ease, meditation flows more smoothly. On days where we feel restless, sad, angry, frustrated, apathetic, or any difficult emotion, it is more difficult to sit, to be without our distractions and coping mechanisms for a little while. Whatever is going on in life, such is meditation. Today, we practice some preliminary tools to work with difficult feelings. We recognize that it is courageous to sit with difficult feelings.
March 28, 2020
In this class, we work with our connection to earth through grounding postures, and tap into the earth element in our bodies in a dynamic flow of expansion and release.
March 27, 2020
For the first time in Kushala history... Chris practices the infamous POWER HOUR with you! Expect to move and sweat in this potent yoga workout (he certainly did).
March 27, 2020
Our meditation practice is a simple ritual. It is the intention-in-action to do less and experience more. But within the practice itself, there are small rituals that help us create safety, arrive in our bodies, and remind ourselves of this present experience. In this style of meditation, mindfulness, we keep the rituals simple (in terms of form); but the power of ritual is in the contemplation of these questions, to start: where am I? what am I doing (or not doing)? what does this feel like?
March 26, 2020
In this meditation, we will practice techniques to work with the thinking mind, in a friendly way. "Think" is a funny word. It rhymes with "blink"... which is a good reminder because thinking is even more involuntary than blinking; thinking is an inseparable part of the mind's function. The thinking mind serves consciousness with opinions, ideas, imaginings, concerns, narratives, associations... it's endless. But in meditation, the hard-working mind can feel like it's obscuring the act of meditating, producing feelings of frustration and discouragement. But herein lies the heart of mindfulness practice itself: observing the workings of the thinking mind, and getting intimate with the way the mind naturally is, allows us to step back from the minutia of thought and into more expansive wisdom.
March 26, 2020
This class is about expansion! Open wide through your limbs, release tension in your chest and heart space, create room to breathe and shine. This is a dynamic class, with some playful balance on your feet. We build towards camel pose, an expression of courage and receptivity.
March 25, 2020
Sleepiness can be one of the most difficult obstacles to encounter in meditation, but there are ways to work with it beneficially. In this meditation, you will learn how to help balance the force of sleepiness, and also to work with it mindfully if you encounter it. We will practice a breathing exercise to help prepare the grounds, then learn tools to support awaked-ness.
March 25, 2020
This class is a progression of mindful movement, core strengthening exercises, hip stabilizers, and balances.
March 24, 2020
Through fluid movement and deep hip openers, we create a warm and steady connection to our bodies. This class works towards Half Moon pose and Wild Thing pose.
March 24, 2020
The field of sound is ever-changing, unpredictable, and diverse, rather like our conscious experience at large. In learning to meditate on sound, we practice equanimity (keeping an even and open mind) through the stages of sensation, perception, and association with sound. We learn to direct our attention back to the sonic field, strengthening the muscles of mindfulness, and clarifying our focus towards the unfiltered experience of the present moment.
March 23, 2020
In this practice we bring together three mindfulness techniques with which we have worked so far, to lengthen the transformative space of meditation. Karen will review the practices for 3 minutes, then lead into a 13 minute guided meditation.
March 22, 2020
Meditating with breath awareness is an effective and accessible technique, but it is difficult to learn! In this meditation, you will practice a simple counting technique to help coalesce your attention with the experience of breathing. This will draw your energy away from preoccupations and distractions, and help centre you in a state of greater peace and presence.
March 21, 2020
Your breath is of your body, it is comforting with no unwanted side effects (!), and is the ideal refuge for your heart and mind to find peace. But when the breath is so easily taken for granted, how do you foster a mindful relationship with it? In this guided meditation, we begin to explore the basics of breath awareness meditation.
March 20, 2020
Our experience in the present moment can be likened to a ripply pond. Instead of getting stuck in difficult or distracting feelings (the ripples), we learn to see wider-lens view, and recognize the changing nature of conscious experience. In is the beginning a mindfulness meditation series to help guide you through the basic practices, give you tools to focus your mind, settle your nervous system, and open your heart.
March 19, 2020
A few practices to help you regulate your nervous system and sleep better.