When I think back to the biggest times of growth and transformation in my life, travel has always been the catalyst.

I’ll venture to say many of us feel short on time, rushed off our feet, with a to-do list perpetually a mile long. Finding time for a yoga class once a week might be a challenge sometimes. But time to rest everyday might feel impossible. 

Here we are already. A new month and a new season. Winter. Colder and darker mornings and evenings. As nature around us changes, this can be a good reminder that we are of the Earth and we change with the seasons too.

Can you take the pressure off yourself in class? To pressure to do, the pressure to force, the pressure to perform. Feel it roll off your shoulders and drop onto your mat like a weight you no longer have to carry.

When the world is loud and chaotic and confusing, what can we do? Sometimes what we need is nothing- as in the absence of things. We need silence, we need stillness. 

When is the last time you were really alone with just your thoughts? With no distractions, nothing else to listen to or focus your attention on?

A few weeks ago Andrew and I attended a ‘Taste of the Wheel’ pottery class. I had been wanting to try pottery for a long time now, so we were both really excited about this class and giving it a go.

And it was a really good class. But at the time I was surprised at how frustrated it made me.

“Slowing down asks something of us. It invites us to sit with what we usually rush past. To choose rest when hustle would be easier. To move more slowly, more honestly, even when everyone around us is living a hurried life.” -Abby Rawlinson

The best time to start was yesterday. The next best time to start is NOW.

Has your movement routine been on the back burner this year? Sometimes in the busyness of life that can happen and our routines ebb and flow.

“Water is the softest thing, yet it can penetrate mountains and Earth. This shows clearly the principle of softness overcoming hardness.”- Lao Tzu

There is more to life than your to-do list or constantly doing, producing, and achieving. And yet sometimes that is all our days, weeks, months are full of.

Movement is always about more than just moving your body. Doing challenging things in class helps you to build more inner strength, self-confidence, and trust in yourself. And that is a pretty incredible thing!

Being a beginner can be hard, I am not going to lie to you. The trick is to stick with it and keep showing up for yourself. Classes don’t get easier, but you get stronger, more capable, more confident. And you are worth it!

To be honest, yin isn’t a practice I was initially drawn to. In fact, it was quite the opposite. I love to move, sweat, do. I love the feeling of accomplishment that comes from an intense yoga class or session at the gym. I love the feeling of accomplishment from being productive and ticking things off of a to-do list. I am a planner, an organizer, a goal-setting. Which is all quite literally the opposite of yin.

There is a lot of messaging at the beginning of the year to completely overhaul your health and fitness routines, or you know, your whole life. Instead of thinking of January or the start of the year in all or nothing terms (a complete write off or the total reinvention of yourself), why not think of it as a practice run?

It’s almost the start of a new month and new season. Spring is almost here! Sometimes it can feel like winter is never-ending. The cold nights, the dark mornings, it can be so tempting to wish time away, to skip forward to sunshine.

What if instead of working out to look good, we worked out to feel good in our body and our mind?

The winter season is here, and with it a reminder that it is okay to slow down, rest, and be gentle with yourself. The days are shorter, the mornings and evenings colder, and we might not have the same energy as we do at different times of the year. Which is perfectly okay.

Recently I was thinking about what brings people to yoga class? Why do we make time for this practice each week or several times a week?

I read something a few weeks ago that was a much needed reminder for me, so I’ll share it with you in case you need to hear it as well.

Do you ever think to yourself “I wish I was more motivated to _______.” Fill in the blank. We often think we lack motivation to accomplish the task, attend the workout class, complete the chore.