Recently one of my clients came to see me for help with something she thought she could figure out on her own but decided some help was in order. She told me she was struggling with making herself do something hard, something she had been "dreading," something she thought she should do, but couldn't get herself to do it. I said, "Well, good job, you already have taken the first step by giving yourself permission to ask for help! We are not meant to do hard things alone." "We

As a yoga teacher, I encourage my students to work on their physical flexibility. Our bodies work better when our muscles and ligaments are flexible. While it can be challenging to hold that hamstring stretch for five more breaths, the patience to tolerate discomfort in the body is worth the reward. We feel less stiff, looser, and have more freedom in the body. More freedom allows us to be nimble, to regain our balance when we wobble, and even to try a hard pose we maybe thou

I love paths--walking on them, taking photos of them, creating them in my garden. I can't resist a path, and often walk farther than I planned to or had energy for, because I am seduced by the path stretching out before me. We typically think of paths as being lines with a starting point and an endpoint, a finish line if you will. We tend to think of our life this way, too. When it comes to the path of our life, however, this construct often does not serve us well. We tend

I love reading. Reading nourishes, comforts, teaches, and connects me to people and places I wouldn't otherwise ever know or see. By sharing with you my year in books, my hope is this list guides you to choose some places and people you want to explore in the coming year. Here are 59 books to choose from. Take your time, you have all year. Fiction to engage and delight you : The Grey Wolf , Louise Penny, 2024. What a riveting mystery! This was a recommendation from "Book Page

Recently a dear friend asked me how I was doing as the anniversary date of our son Ethan's passing due to an overdose on December 27 is approaching. I took a breath, and started to reply, and then I stopped. "It's always terrible as this date approaches, I'm so grief stricken" was what I was about to say---it's what I typically feel at this time---but I realized suddenly this wasn't all I feel now. I closed my mouth and sat still, experiencing this awareness as a surprise, ev

During this season we are reminded to be grateful. What we often miss is that the benefit of being in a state of gratitude is that it doesn't have to end there. Yoga wisdom shows us how gratitude can leads us on a path to beautiful places of happiness, abundance, and peace. It is a short walk from gratitude to happiness . The step in between is santosha , a yoga practice that means contentment. When we are grateful for what we have, rather than upset about what we don't have,

Recently I had the privilege of attending a training for mental health providers who provide mental health services to firefighters. This was no ordinary training! The first half of the day involved experiencing BEING a firefighter, as you can see below--that's me wielding a very heavy and uncooperative fire hose turned on full blast. My partner and I really struggled to manage it. Wearing hot and heavy gear that weighed almost seventy pounds didn't help. In addition to learn

We all have problems, right? Consider being open to the possibility that learning can occur from our difficulties. Most problems can...

Aspen trees are beautiful--golden fluttery leaves and graceful white bark. But they are more than a pretty face. Did you know that a...

Join us for a Garden Walk Saturday July 12 from 10am--2pm of two gardens! Purchase your $15 admission ticket and start your walk at the...

I recently reread Anna Quindlen’s How Reading Changed My Life . I devoured this book some twenty years ago, and felt like Quindlen was a...

I just finished reading Time of the Child by Niall Williams, 2024. Such a tender, lyrical, beautiful story set in a country parish in...

Saturday morning as my husband and I walked down the driveway with my dog for our morning walk, the letter carrier pulled up to our...

Finding a person who has done something you admire goes beyond admiration--they can be a guide, an inspiration, a model, and even a road...

I picked up an inquiry off of my website from a young woman looking for a therapist. I set up a phone consultation with her to discuss...

I love reading. I want to share what I read this past year with you. For me, reading is a way to journey to other places without leaving...

I returned to Wisconsin and got accepted into UW-Milwaukee's Master in Social Work program in the first cohort of nine students...

Recently a client of mine dropped onto my couch in my office and said with a sigh from deep inside of her, "I'm exhausted from trying to...

Sixteen years ago a woman who I professionally knew--but only barely-- called me up and told me she was forming a women's group and would...

Last month our son Ethan (through me) gave my husband a book for Father's Day called Kobe: Life Lessons From a Legend, 2021, Nelson Pena....