We're seven! The number seven is associated with luck and magic in a lot of different traditions. I've never really marked our anniversary before but this year, I'm full of nostalgia and gratitude for the many, many people who have built our sweet community. At Yoga Garden our secret sauce is love. And maybe some luck and magic, too.

I had spent years of hard work to get to this point - schooling, certifications, a successful business, money, a comfortable life. My situation represented the American Dream - what I had been working for my whole life. In a few minutes, it was gone.

At Yoga Garden we don't view instructors as replaceable cogs in a machine. We see them as individuals, each bringing their unique styles and perspectives to the practice of yoga. While I totally grasp the allure of predictability, a hallmark of many corporate chains peddling everything from burgers to clothing to homes, our approach celebrates the diversity and authenticity of our teachers and the many wonderful ways that Yoga can look and feel.

I want to encourage everyone, everywhere to meditate. It seems like such a big commitment AND it truly can change your life.

What a thrill to be rolling out a fresh new logo and website! After nearly seven years, I felt it was time to update our look to better communicate who we are and what we stand for.

I’m trying to reframe my relationship with aging in general, and with my body as it undergoes this process. The water in a river is constantly changing, but the river itself stays recognizable as the river.

I started my yoga journey with the intention of integrating the poses into my psychotherapy work, helping clients connect with themselves and helping my couples reconnect with each other in a new way. Little did I know, that intention would shift inward and I would meet a new version of myself.

This is a post for folks newly entering the world of “Yoga.” Yoga classes can be confusing for newbies since it’s not clear if one is at boot camp, gymnastics, a church, a spa, or a photo shoot.

Seek out your yoga - your truth, your way of being - rather than clinging to someone else’s ideals or attaching to one particular way of thought.

On the yoga mat we train a lens on our bodies and this can be uncomfortable. In my years as a yoga studio owner and teacher, and simply a person in the world, I have come to understand how fraught our relationships with our bodies can be.

Here are 3 common asanas (poses) that encourage both strength and flexibility, depending on how they are approached.

Yoga is an integral component of my life. It helps me to connect to unconditional contentment. I hope that I can share my love and knowledge of yoga.

Stories help weave a society together by providing a moral compass through teachings that reach a wide audience. They are magical in their ability to not be restrained in dogma, rules, and laws. Instead, they are creative, entertaining, relatable, and are a reminder to avoid polarity of thinking.

How we can elevate diversity and inclusion in yoga? What does that look like for you? Does that mean venturing out and exploring new class styles or teachers? Does that mean holding spaces that elevate Black yogis, such as this one? How can we make room for everyone on the mat to be their most authentic self?

Mindfulness is a practice, a way of living your life through awareness. The act of noticing and letting that noticing thoughts, emotion, images or sensation taking place in your mindbody complex. It’s the act of tuning into each moment with openness; without judgement.

‘Yoga’ is everywhere now, but independent studios have become more of a rarity, having been replaced by corporatized yoga business models. The major difference between a yoga company and a yoga studio is simple: one operates under a model of high volume and profit and the other operates under guiding principles of depth, connection, and self-exploration.

Gentle yoga (and approaching yoga gently) requires deep listening to our minds and bodies which is not an easy process. If we approach this process kindly, with self-compassion, we begin to strengthen and stretch mind, body, and spirit.

I strive to share with all of the students who attend my classes that contentment is a practice; it doesn’t just happen to you. In yoga, this concept is called santosha. Santosha is choosing peace over anger, contentment instead of frustration, and love in the presence of judgement.

Meditation occurs in an entirely different domain than the activities of our daily life. Meditation is being, not doing.

I believe that through deep inward exploration everyone can experience their own insights and awakenings, discover the practices that speak to them, and experience creative bursts that feed the soul… that ever-present and über powerful bliss within.