Heart and Soul Healing Reflections

Reflections on research-based healing benefits of yoga, neurofeedback & talk therapy

Increasing stress and anxiety in children – can yoga help?

Although my adolescent days are several decades behind me, I still clearly remember the stress I experienced during those years, not only from the academic pressures but from the social pressure to “fit in”, while trying to manage potentially conflicting expectations from family and friends.  Unfortunately, I was not taught ways to manage that stress, […]

5 Intention-setting Ideas to Support Our Sense of Smell

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”― William Shakespeare I found myself noticing the scent of the orange blossoms in the air this week.  It is one of my most favorite scents and I make sure to stop and smell the small, delicate white flowers […]

What is my purpose and why does seeking it matter?

As a young woman working in the predominately male corporate culture, I struggled to find purpose, or meaning, in the work that I did to reduce the frustration, among many other mixed emotions, that I felt on a daily basis.  In fact, I still have a framed print hanging on a wall in my home […]

5 Intention-setting Ideas to Make Yoga a Daily Home Practice

“Tension is who you think you should be.  Relaxation is who you are.”― Ancient Chinese Proverb As Chinese Astrology follows the lunar calendar, we recently celebrated the Chinese New Year and entered into the year of the Yang (Brown) Earth Dog at the time of the second new moon of the calendar year.  As an expression of […]

How much yoga would I recommend?

As a yoga teacher, I get a lot of questions about how much yoga I recommend.  The question might be posed as “How many times a week should I take a class?” or “If I practice 3 times a week, how long will it take for me to see results?” or “The length of classes […]

5 Intention-setting Ideas to Increase Your Sense of Lightness of Being

“Our sorrows and wounds are healed only when we touch them with compassion. – Buddha Last week, on a day when southern California experienced a rare, heavy winter rainfall, a dear friend and colleague and I were scheduled to gather to collaborate on our co-creations for the new year when she came across a beautiful butterfly in her path that was […]

My New Year’s Intention – The Time’s Up for Shame!

As I have written about in the past, I am not a big fan of making resolutions for the New Year.  I find that such resolutions often bring with them failure, self-judgment and self-criticism, and ultimately shame when I might step away from such rigid demands on myself.  Sounds more like a recipe for depression […]

5 Intention-setting Ideas for finding Comfort and Peace during the Holiday Season

“Grief never ends . . . but it changes.  It’s a passage, not a place to stay.  Grief is not a sign of weakness, nor a lack of faith . . .It is the price of love.” – Elizabeth I With the holiday season upon us, many of us might not be feeling the joy of […]

Has the fountain of youth been found?

I think many people might agree with me when I say that the best holiday gift we could receive would be a way to slow down time and the aging process.  Well, what if I were to tell you that researchers may have identified a way to slow down one of these – would you […]

5 Intention-setting Ideas for Supporting the Immune System Through this Holiday Season and Beyond!

“Compassion, bringing inner strength, is good for our health.” – The Dalai Lama While we may do our best to eat well, get enough sleep, and continue our exercise routine through the holidays, sometimes that is just not enough to avoid catching a cold or flu, especially because we find ourselves spending more time with […]

Thanksgiving Day Football – Why I will NOT be watching!

I can remember watching football as young as 7 or 8 years of age because it was where we could find our father on Sundays.  My dad would be so engrossed in the games that we could stand behind him and say “Dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad” and not get a response.  However, if […]

5 Intention-setting Ideas to Support the Development of Santosha

“Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, but the realization of how much you already have.”― Anonymous With the holidays fast approaching, it is likely that our minds are kicking into high gear, with thoughts beginning to focus on what needs to get done before they arrive!  These types of thoughts tend to encourage us to […]

Do essential oils truly calm stress and boost the immune system?

I remember my first exposure to essential oils through my yoga teacher training and was fascinated by the claims made that certain aromatic scents had differing impacts on the mind and body.  Now, I’m not the type of person that believes everything I hear, so I figured I would try it out for myself.  What […]

5 Intention-setting Ideas to Support Our Connection to Nature

“The trees are about to show us how lovely it is to let the dead things go.” — Anonymous My sense is that Mother Earth is trying to get our attention.  With the floods in South Asia, earthquake in Mexico, and Hurricane Harvey and Irma, she is shouting at the top of her lungs! And I, […]

Loneliness – when acceptance and connection are elusive

Why is it that we can be surrounded by people – even our friends and family – and yet still feel alone?  Research has suggested that loneliness is more common than we might think, with 80% of children and 40% of seniors experiencing it.  Loneliness results when we believe if we reveal our true self […]

5 Intention-setting Ideas to Tap Into the Energy of the Total Solar Eclipse

“All the variety, all the charm, all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow.” ― Leo Tolstoy Total solar eclipses are not as rare as we might think, happening somewhere in the world every 18 months or so. However, the next one to cross the United States from coast to coast, like […]

Does Yoga Change Our Brain and Improve Memory as We Age?

At any age, in today’s fast-paced world, we may be challenged by our ability to maintain our focus long enough to actually create a memory worth remembering!  I hear myself saying almost daily “Thank God for Google” or I wouldn’t be able to remember the name of the new restaurant in town I saw on […]

5 Intention-setting Ideas for Raising Happy and Healthy Kids

“It takes a village to raise a child.” ― African Proverb Many of us may not have children or our children may already be grown, yet it doesn’t mean that we can forget about our parenting skills, because we never know when our “parent part” may be called upon to assist in raising happy and healthy […]

Perfectionism – is self-compassion the antidote?

Growing up in a dysfunctional, toxic family environment left deep, ingrained patterns of thinking and acting to avoid the uncomfortable, powerful emotions that boiled just beneath the surface, until my ability to stuff them down and sit on them didn’t work.  It was at those times that the emotions would come out – and come […]

5 Intention-setting Ideas for Supporting the Parasympathetic Nervous System

“PTSD isn’t about what’s wrong with you, it’s about what happened to you.” ― Author Unknown Much of our time is spent crossing items off of our “To Do” lists and attempting to juggle multiple demands and commitments.  This fast paced lifestyle over time can wreck havoc on our nervous systems, literally leading the body toward […]