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Two days ago the Cavs won the NBA championship against so many odds: starting the finals down 3 games, playing out of town, and Cleveland’s seemingly indomitable will to always come up short.  But not any more; the so-called curse is broken.  What made me want to write about this in the Yoga Roots blog…

“Let go of the fruits” is a significant theme in the Bhagavad Gita, one of the great yoga texts of all time and the current subject of the YR Book Club (via the secondary source The Great Work of Your Life by Stephen Cope).  The reader is told “you have the right to work, but…

There’s a well-known story about a Japanese Zen master.  A university professor interested in learning more about Zen comes to see him.  The master offers the professor tea, and as he pours tea into the professor’s cup, the professor talks on and on about his background, his current knowledge about Zen, and why he wants…

For some of us, sitting in stillness can be the most challenging part of practicing yoga.  Or of daily life.  I know it’s hard for me.  I often get stuck in a cycle of believing I must be constantly doing to feel valuable and productive.  Then, because I am doing so much, I feel stressed…

My new years resolution for 2016 is 365 days of meditation.  I passed the 50 day mark this past weekend and thought it a good time to reflect.  I’ve been half-assedly (new word alert) committed to meditation for years.  I know the benefits, mental and physical, are proven.  I know from experience I feel really…

An unknown author said “You can’t punish yourself into change.  You can’t whip yourself into shape.  But you can love yourself into well-being.” Think about this idea applied to the asana practice.  You can’t punish yourself into a handstand.  Or whip yourself into a wheel pose (at least not without a serious risk of hurting…

Do you talk to yourself?  If you said no, you’re wrong.  We all do.  Maybe not out loud, but we all have an inner voice.  Sometimes it recounts our to-do list, sometimes it complains about the weather, sometimes it criticizes us, others and the world around us.  Sit in silence for 60 seconds.  Do you…

This morning I took Cynthia Chylik’s power vinyasa class (and it rocked – thank you Cynthia!).  As we settled into child’s pose after a challenging standing sequence, she spoke to us about going deep, beneath the surface.  Hearing the silence that lies beneath the chatter of our minds.  She likened this to either riding a…