This year I found a way to integrate my long-time love for and interest in Jungian Psychology with my skills and experience as a private yoga instructor. After years of wondering whether or not to pursue a counseling license (and basically knowing I likely wouldn’t), I stumbled on “Jungian Life Coaching.” Call it “Jungian Analysis Lite.” I kid, though I …
Awake and Dreaming Again
Three years ago I nearly sliced through the base of my left pinkie finger in a (completely avoidable) kitchen knife accident. The cost of the surgical repair (no health insurance) put us in more debt than we were already carrying. To make matters worse, I was beginning to lose private clients for various reasons, all of which were out of …
Yoga & Trauma
Yoga helps to get this cycle “un-stuck,” clearing the pathway again for a more measured response to stimuli, and a widening of our window of tolerance.
Roots of Yoga: An Inside Story
It’s so easy to forget the roots of yoga; that what we practice today evolved out of a contemplative tradition, one based on an intimate relationship between student and teacher, and an impressive level of discipline and devotion. Postures (what of them there were) and breathing exercises were practiced in the service of — as preparatory to — meditation. And …
Yoga and the Tension of Opposites
A fully embodied yoga practice is an ideal laboratory to observe a variety of psychological responses to internal or external conditions. I was listening recently to Antonio Dimasio, the USC neuroscientist, talking on a podcast about homeostasis, correcting a common misunderstanding that posits it as “balance” when in fact homeostasis is a more “active force regulating life within a range …