Images and Transformation
During a Phoenix Rising session that I received in Japan, I had a profound and life-transforming experience. I can’t remember what pose I was in since the significant experience happened as I released from the pose. As I embraced the sensation of the release the practitioner, who is also a yoga teacher that I fully trust, allowed me to simply stay there and explore, with invitational dialogue. There was a vivid visual image as if I’m seeing a pond or lake. First thing I noticed was the coolness and darkness... Read The Rest →
Bloody Valentine’s
No I’m not using the word “bloody” like an Australian adjective because I have mixed feelings about the day. The original Valentine’s holiday, long before it was named after the Saint, was indeed a bloody pagan ritual in ancient Rome. Originally known as Lupercalia, and celebrated on the ides of February (Feb 15th not the 14th), the day was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, along with the honoring Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. You may recall learning that Romulus and Remus as babies... Read The Rest →
Yoga Alliance Registry’s new policy: how does it affect you? by Michael Lee
No single announcement in the last ten years has gotten more yoga professionals talking to each other than Yoga Alliance Registry (YAR)’s announcement in late January about their new policy on the use of yoga therapy terms. It rocked the yoga world, and social media groups came alive in active—and sometimes heated—discussion. Now that the dust has settled, it’s time to reflect and integrate. What does this mean for yoga therapists who are also yoga teachers, and for yoga teachers who call their work therapeutic yoga? THE WHAT Yoga Alliance... Read The Rest →
Yoga Therapy and Healing
As yoga therapy becomes even more mainstream, and the benefits more widely accepted, more people are jumping on the bandwagon and the growth accelerates. As practicing yoga therapists for many years, we have known how yoga therapy can help anything from sciatica to a failed marriage. So it’s great to finally be recognized and become part of the mainstream. But one of the problems associated with the popularization of yoga, is the tendency to apply it as a panacea and imply that all you need to do is “know” how... Read The Rest →
Practicing Authenticity – Embracing Who We Are
Researcher and Author, Brené Brown says, Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are. Two words in this definition stand out for me – “practice” and “embracing”. First up, authenticity is a “practice” it’s not just an attitude or belief – it has to be something we actually do, and to make it stick, we probably need to do it daily for at least 30 days to begin with. This will create a habit. Also we need... Read The Rest →
Winter’s Chemistry And Our Body-Mind
Winter drags on for most of us. I heard last week, the only state that does not have snow is Florida. I meet many people daily in my job. I have been trying to maintain a sunny disposition in the face of this interminably long winter. I keep hearing myself say, “The sun always wins”. I see more light every day and hold my hope of warmer days close. Often I find myself thinking in the middle of winter doldrums, “what’s the matter with me?” as I find myself... Read The Rest →
Neuroscience goes Phoenix Rising
Lately I have been thinking about neuroscience and Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy (PRYT). As a practitioner I have had many iterations of how I explain to potential clients and interested folks, exactly what is PRYT? Sometimes when I try I get what I call the blank stare. How do use words to make the connection to what my body knows and has experienced through the Phoenix Rising Process. In PRYT training, students spend time on this very question. As many times as I have done or watched the exercise of... Read The Rest →
Depression, Brain Waves, and Synergetic Healing Using Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy
Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. It is an illness that results from a complex interaction of social, psychological and biological factors that modern science is still grappling to fully understand. While situational factors, both individual, like the death of a loved one or unemployment, or environmental/social, such as war and income inequality, are often discussed in research studies, social scientist and public health professionals have identified other “macro” causes for depression. For example, there is a correlation between depression and age. People between 16 and 65 tend... Read The Rest →
Mindfulness and Yoga Therapy
Mindfulness is hot right now. So hot that it made the cover of Time Magazine. This is great news for those of us who have believed for decades in the importance of focused mind-body awareness in doing life with balance and equanimity. A peaceful mind is a beautiful thing but it doesn’t create itself. Particularly in the world we have live in. There is so much out there and so many gadgets to create the next moment that living in this moment is not something we readily embrace. But for... Read The Rest →
A Phoenix Rising Perspective
Recently I painted a mural on the wall leading up the stairway, in my house. I am not a painter by any means. So I did what any modern woman would do, and I goggled “perspective”. While not a trained painter, I have enough artistic training to know, in order to have depth in your piece, perspective must be employed. I began to review what I had found concerning perspective and vanishing points. For those of you who are unfamiliar with vanishing points, it is the point in... Read The Rest →