Thank you Cavs! The epitome of yoga.

By YR Team | June 21, 2016

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”

By YR Team | April 7, 2016

“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…

Don’t worry be happy

By YR Team | March 30, 2016

The 1988 Bobby McFerrin song might as well have been about the niyama of santosha.  Review: the niyamas are one of the eight limbs of yoga laid out in the yoga sutras.  They are considered personal observances that relate to our inner world.  In other words, they are things for us to do.  Santosha, or…

Emptying Your Cup

By YR Team | March 23, 2016

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…

Don’t just do something, sit there.

By YR Team | March 14, 2016

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…

A Monday morning act of kindness

By YR Team | March 7, 2016

Monday is a long work day for me this week.  So I was jonesing for some caffeine when I pulled up to the Starbucks drive through.  I ordered my venti green matcha tea soy latte (new obsession) and drove up to the window.  The barrister explained the car in front of me had already paid…

Spirituality in South Beach?

By YR Team | February 29, 2016

For the past twelve years or so my husband and I have gone to South Beach in Miami at least a couple of times a year.  It’s our place to recharge and reconnect.  South Beach is probably best known for its night life and party scene.  Also for its great food and drink.  And beaches.…

50 days of meditation

By YR Team | February 22, 2016

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…

Loving yourself into well-being

By YR Team | February 12, 2016

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…

On Being A Tree

By YR Team | January 31, 2016

Many years ago my then-boyfriend (now husband) asked me to do something one evening, to which I replied “I’ll try.” “Don’t try,” he said. “Be a tree.” Huh? I looked at him questioningly and he instructed me to stand up straight. “Now, try to be a tree.” I stood there and stared back at him.…