Emily Garrett Yoga

I didn’t teach my son down dog.  He started doing it after watching me.  He says now ” I need to do yoga”, runs to the mat and gets into down dog.  Woof woof.

This image brought up a lot of emotion for me.  I am struck by the dignity of the posture within the confines of the bars.  My sister sent me the link just as I was giving thought to our focus for this schedule, the tenant No One is Free Until We Are All Free.  Although it can take a lot of energy to simply care for myself and my family, I gain more energy when I one, practice and two, remember that my practice is not only for … Continue Reading

The oldest living yoga teacher in the world, in Central Park.  Courtesy of Robert Sturman.

Mark Utter is a man with autism who uses facilitated communication to express his true thoughts.  Misunderstood for years, he and Emily Anderson are using facilitated communication to create a poignant and witty film that reveals Mark’s unique observations of our world which have been trapped in his head for a long time.
Please read the following interview from Seven Days: An Interview With Mark Utter via Facilitated Communication
SEVEN DAYS: Do you remember the first time you realized you wanted to express yourself but couldn’t? 
MARK UTTER: I remember knowing I could … Continue Reading

I appreciate the following teaching from Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel…”We will never find confidence in identity. Identity makes us awkward – it takes away our agility. We can’t be joyful and responsive…there is and will always be something to hold together or to project out into the world: “the maverick”, “the intelligent one”, “the victim.” We don’t have a clear relationship with the world when we cling to identity…it’s like walking in a room full of people and having that anxiety of not knowing where to sit. When we are not clinging … Continue Reading

According to physics 70% of the universe is made up of energy that we cannot observe.  Physicists call it dark energy and determined it’s existence when they realized that the expansion of the universe is accelerating.  According to Nasa scientists, “The rest – everything on Earth, everything ever observed with all of our instruments, all normal matter – adds up to less than 5% of the Universe.”  Read more here.

Could this be prana? How does this relate to the yogis experience of vitalilty, energy, true self, or emptiness?

On … Continue Reading

There is nothing like the first snowfall to remind me of the magic in the air.  Although I have been known to complain about how cold Vermont is, the first snowfall always causes me to pause and relish in it’s beauty.  It’s quiet nature gives me time to reflect.  Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and the new moon, a wonderful time to reflect.  I was taught that gratitude lives in the heart and that through the practice of gratitude, at it’s deepest level, we can experience complete transformation.  To live this seems … Continue Reading

Nurture the seeds of joy within you.

I make a lot of mistakes.  At the moment in which I recognize that I have made a mistake, I can respond in two ways.  The first is to condemn and criticize myself with thoughts like, “You should have known better.  I can’t believe you did that .  What were you thinking?”  This way is deeply attached to the desire to fix the mistake immediately.  The second way is to pause, connect with the feeling in my body, and open to an opportunity for growth.  In this way, rather than … Continue Reading

Do not be afraid of who you are.