We spent this weekend cleaning up our garden. We cut back last season’s monkey grass, pruned rosebushes, and trimmed hedges. We were rather ruthless, cutting off a smattering of new growth for the overall health of the plants. Altogether, we had four large bags of garden waste to be composted. My heart felt lighter, and I felt more relaxed as I surveyed our front yard.

Now, we are ready for new things.

The new rosebushes haven’t yet arrived. Our crocuses and tulips are barely peeking out of the ground. Our cherry blossoms won’t bloom for a few more weeks. By clearing out the old things, we set the stage for them to be the stars of the garden, rather than being obscured by last fall’s overgrowth. These new plants will receive the entirety of the nutrients from the soil. They alone will be nourished by the spring rain.

“Spring Cleaning” reflects what is happening in nature, and it feels right to clear out the old as we shrug off the chill of winter. This is a natural time to pause and consider the state of your life right now. Perhaps you’re overextended, with attention divided between too many things. Maybe your home is full of relics of another time or someone else’s taste. Maybe the thing you’ve loved has slipped to the wayside in favor something or someone making louder demands.

Now is a potent time to begin your own reflection. A few questions to consider:

• What is no longer serving you? In your activities, home, or relationships?
• What do you want to cultivate? A talent, relationship, or quality?
• How can you make space and time to grow this new thing?

Yoga can help you in your spring awakening. May your time on the mat inspire you to move towards a life that nourishes you. May your yoga community support you as you transform. I’m excited to see what we grow together this year.

Look what landed in my inbox today! Thank you to whoever nominated me. I have mixed feelings about these types of contests. Too often, it becomes a popularity contest and results are based on whoever promotes themselves the most. Not really my bag, but since you (fabulous, anonymous you!) went to the trouble to nominate me for this, I feel I should share this. And say, “Thank You!”

The last year has been one of dissolution, creation, and wild expansion. My yoga world was seemingly shattered one year ago, and yet I could not be more grateful. Leaving the system of yoga that I was trained in opened my eyes to a whole world of inquiry and evolution. Though it was a rocky ride at times, I have been supported by amazing colleagues and friends, old and new, and always encouraged by you, my incredible students.

No longer bound by a single system, I have enjoyed exploring different systems of yoga, going back to an old love (vinyasa flow) and nourishing myself with a new one (restorative yoga). And always, always focusing on alignment. I have taken my studies in different directions, working closely with a physical therapist and body worker, doing Gyrotonics, and studying fascia through Anatomy Trains. I returned to two other old loves, lifting and spinning at the gym, and even took up actual biking for the first time in 15 years. All of these various forms of movement are now informing my teaching, making it more rich and authentic than ever before. I know I have a great foundation and training, but the freedom to choose to teach what I learned before makes it even more potent. I am so grateful to my many teachers on this path.

My teaching has grown in ways I never knew were possible. I’m so grateful that you’ve stuck with me and keep coming back for more. Thank you for your intelligent questions that keep me on my toes, your unwavering commitment to your own inquiry and growth, and your love of this practice.

As a computer science major with an IT background, I never, ever expected to find myself here. I love teaching yoga. Thank you for making it such a great experience.

Your confidence and trust in me as your teacher means more than any contest. But of course, your vote would be much appreciated.

Most importantly, keep practicing. Practice with anyone who challenges you, keeps you safe, and helps you have a great time on the mat.

With love and respect,
Katie

p.s. if you are the one who nominated me, let me know! I would love to personally thank you!

January 1. Though the new year seems like an ideal time to make a fresh start, the resolution game can be a drag. Too often, we focus on the things we don’t like about ourselves, rather than celebrate what we love. We then set ourselves up for failure by setting the bar too high or making the wrong promises. Studies show only 8% of new years resolutions are kept, which tells me we need a new approach.

Before you make any resolutions this year, pause. Listen to your heart’s true longing for this coming year. What do you want? Is it a reasonable goal? Does it nourish you? Does it help you share your greatest gifts with the world?

Yoga is virtuosity in becoming yourself.” — Douglas Brooks

Our practice is about becoming your most authentic self. Three of my favorite ways to get to know yourself better this year:

1. Breathe. Nothing fancy is required, and whether you call it meditation is irrelevant. Pay attention to your breath, just as we do every time we come to the mat. Observing your breath will connect you more deeply to what is happening in your body. Close your eyes. Notice your breath. See how it changes your body and mind over a series of 5-10 deep, nourishing breaths, soothing your nervous system and quieting your mind.
2. Write. I learned this tip from Julia Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way. Each morning when you wake up, write three pages to clear your head, then put them away and never look at them again. Write without judgment. The exercise is designed to get nagging thoughts out of your brain, so that your mind is more settled. The content is unimportant, as are the length of time or the format. It takes about ten minutes. I write mine at www.750words.com; others prefer writing by hand. What I have found is that things emerge from my brain that I didn’t even realize were there, and I feel more grounded when I’m done.
3. Practice. Time on the mat helps you cultivate awareness—of your breath, of your body, of your thoughts. We practice noticing what is happening in the present moment; that awareness allows you to recognize what’s happening in your body. Often your body knows things before your brain. That “gut feeling” you get and later wished you had listened to? That’s a message you want to train yourself to receive. The more aware you become, the better you will know yourself; more importantly, the more you will trust yourself and make decisions that serve you.

This year, I invite you to be exquisitely kind to yourself when considering resolutions. Instead of doggedly resolving to “do better” this year, pay attention to what feels authentic to you. Examine your past year, celebrating your successes and acknowledging any ways that you contributed to areas of disappointment or underperformance. By owning your own patterns, strengths, and choices, you will feel more powerful, ready to truly create a life you love in 2013.

2012 was a year full of triumphs, disappointments, love, loss, celebration, and so much more. Embrace it all. The light, the dark, and everything in between made you into the fantastic person you are right now, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I can’t wait to see how you choose to evolve, on and off the mat, in the coming year.

“Art slips past our brains straight into our bellies.  It weaves itself into our thoughts and feelings and the open spaces in our souls, and it allows us to live more and say more and feel more.  Great art says the things we wished someone would say out loud, the things we wish we could say out loud….It matters, art does, so deeply.  It’s one of the noblest things, because it can make us better, and one of the scariest things, because it comes from such a deep place inside of us.  There’s nothing scarier than that moment when you sing the song for the very first time, for your roommate or your wife, or when you let someone see the painting and there are a few very long silent moments when they haven’t yet said what they think of it, and in those few moments, time stops and you quit painting and you quit singing forever, in your head, because it’s so fearful and vulnerable, and then someone says, essentially, thank you and keep going, and your breath releases, and you take back everything you said in your head about never painting again, about never singing again, and at least for that moment, you feel like you did what you came to do, in a cosmic, very big sense.

I know that life is busy and hard, and that there’s crushing pressure to just settle down and get a real job and khaki pants and a haircut.  But don’t, please don’t.  Please keep believing that life can be bigger, brighter, broader, because of the art that you make.  Please keep demonstrating the courage that it takes to swim upstream in a world that prefers putting away for retirement to putting pen to paper, that chooses practicality over poetry, that values you more for going to the gym than going to the deepest places in your soul.  Please keep making art for people like me, people who need the magic and imagination and honesty of great art to make the day-to-day world a little more bearable.”

from Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist