So Bad, They're Good!

Yoga Nidra: Accessibility

Yoga Nidra is a fascinating and transformative practice that can help you with sleep, rest better and deeper, and can even help manage or heal emotional, mental, or spiritual problems. In my Yoga Nidra teacher training I encourage people to make this practice accessible and for some that might mean calling it something different. Maybe the name “Yoga Nidra” would turn off someone who could potentially be interested in the practice.

Here, I share an idea of my encounters with this issue and I’ve come up with some alternate names, many are so bad that they’re good.

Australian Cobberdog

I meet a lot of people thanks to my dog. 

Australian Cobberdogs are absurdly social creatures and so when I’m with my dog and we are walking the neighborhood or running trails or throwing the ball at the dog park and my dog finds someone he simply cannot pass by (everyone) without greeting, with loving, without pouring his doggie heart to, when he is literally shaking and crying at the feet of his current victim of affection, the person who he has forcefully pulled into his presence with the tractor beams of his puppy love emanating from his big brown uber-cute eyes, as he is quivering with unfettered delight as his most recent best friend is scratching his ears scratched, of course, the humans gotta start to talk. I mean you can only coo over a dog for so long. 

So as the conversation starts, inevitably, I see it coming. Sooner or later I know I’m going to get hit with the question. 

You know the question. 

It’s the default question we all ask, almost unconsciously, when we are trying to get to know someone. We are trying to understand who this person is. We are trying to politely size them up. When we are trying to somehow mentally wrap them up in a bow and place somewhere on a familiar shelf in our mind. 

The question: What do you do?

We ask because subconsciously we want to know whether we can trust this person. We are curious whether this new person we’ve just met is a doctor, a doorman, a student, a stunt double, a stay-at-home parent or a stay-away-from-me bodyguard. I don’t know, maybe they are an accountant. But regardless, we all are curious to know, right?

We ask what a person does because that kind of implies their financial and social status— and we like to size people up like that. Gross. 

Personally, I feel a far better question is to ask a person what they LIKE to do. This opens the door for a much more interesting conversation. 

Fortunately for me, I can give the same answer whether I’m asked what I do (for a living) or what I like to do. 

But here’s the problem …

It’s kind of hard to tell people what I do. What I REALLY do I fear they don’t get it, won’t understand. 

I tell people, “I’m an author, teacher, and mentor around the subjects of yoga, mindfulness, and wellness.”

“Oh.”

“… Cool ….”

I see the gears whizzing away in their heads as they stand there and try to figure me out. I see them looking for the crystals hanging around my neck. I see them start sniffing for the not-so-faint scent of patchouli. I see them scanning my body to see what a career of practicing yoga has done to my form. 

If they press on with more questions, I’ll get a little more specific. I’ll tell them that while I teach a lot of forms of yoga I’m an expert teacher and trainer in a relaxing form of yoga called Yoga Nidra. 

Yoga Ninja?!

“What? Yoga Ninja?! Like martial arts?”

“Oh.”

“… Cool ….”

“No, it’s Yoga Nidra. Nidra means something like sleep in Sanskrit, or better said, that interesting place between sleeping and consciousness. Yoga Nidra feels like a guided meditation and is the practice of using systematic relaxation and layered awareness to deeply rest the body. It’s super effective at nourishing the body, the nervous system, and can also calibrate a person’s entire personal and global perspective on life. I call my Yoga Nidra program Waking Up with the Yoga of Sleep because through guided rest practices, a person can wake up from the illusions of limitation and wake up to the truth to their true potential as they celebrate the intersection between their human-ness and their being-ness.” 

Then I take a deep breath. 

“Oh.”

“… Cool ….”

Often it’s at about this point, I realize that I’ve gone too far. They start looking at their watch and start addressing my dog, telling him that despite his plaintive whimpers and uber-cute eyes, they MUST get going, that they have a meeting happening soon. 

A Rose Buy Any Other Name

In truth, I think I lose people at the name. 


Yoga Nidra may be what it’s called but when people hear the word yoga, they think stretchy pants and impossible poses and what in the hell is Nidra, anyway?

I think I might be better off calling Yoga Nidra something different. You know, to help people realize that what happens in these sessions is approachable, enjoyable, yet very necessary. 

In my Yoga Nidra teacher training program, I teach the value of making the practice accessible. If the name Yoga Nidra would turn someone off and potentially preclude them from experiencing the benefits of this life-changing practice, then perhaps you’d be better off calling it something different. 

After all, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

So I’ve been brainstorming some names that I could call this practice and I’d love to get your feedback.

Here goes … (not all of these are winners and some of them are so bad that they are good.


Rested Development

Snooze Fest

The Chill Pill

Relax Shack

Rest and Roll 

Restafarian (so bad it’s good)

Relaxed Witnessing

Being Chill

Relax, already.

True Rest

Rest Teacher

Rest Method

Rested Soul

The Rest Guy

Right Rest

Awakened Sleep

Rest Ninja

The Rest Fest

Right Rest

Rest Right

Best Rest

Anyway, those are a few ideas that came off the top of my head. 

What are your ideas? If you’re familiar with Yoga Nidra, how would you describe it? Do you have any killer names that would make someone be just a little curious about this practice? 

Please reach out, I’d love to hear from you. 

 

Art Doesn't Happen In A Vacuum: The Context of A Love Supreme

A Love Supreme: What Was Going On In 1964–5?

Art doesn’t happen in a vacuum. 

It’s the product of the events that preceded it. 

And in some cases art can even forecast the future, or at very least guide us into the future with wisdom and hope.

I think with a lot of art that seems so immortal, so timeless, art that can withstand the test of time, it’s easy to think that it just somehow arose out of the ether one day and will forever live untouched by the events surrounding its inception. 

I mean, think about Picasso’s masterpiece Guernica. Though we may think of it now as timeless, it’s rooted as a statement against war after the bombing of the city of Guernica in the Basque country in 1937. 

The inimitable novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo was written in 1862 and inspired by the political and social unrest during the 1832 June Rebellion in Paris, a specific time and place. In its preface Hugo portends its importance: “… so long as ignorance and misery remain on earth, books like this cannot be useless.”

Another example of art holding a cultural context is one of my favorite punk rock albums of all times, London Calling by the Clash, recorded in December of 1979. Do you know this album? LOVE IT! Throughout the album you can hear references to the nuclear age as well as rising unemployment, racial conflict, and drug use, especially in Great Britain.The concepts and lyrics are all completely historical, political, and social.

Though Picasso, Les Misérable, and Punk Rock all seem to have a particular context, their art continues to speak to our souls today. 

Today, I’m thinking about the enduring art of John Coltrane’s album, A Love Supreme which is also rooted with a fascinating cultural context. I’m fascinated by this iconic, spiritual, and deeply moving piece of sonic art and I want to share it with you at a bright, open venue with the space and time to truly experience this immortal album in a way that I believe it was meant to be heard.

Better than at a nightclub, I believe this album is best suited to be absorbed at yoga and meditation studio. After all, this album is more like a meditation than a traditional jazz album. So, let’s meditate together to the spiritual sounds of A Love Supreme. And if you don’t live near Salt Lake City, you can Zoom in and catch it that way.

 

Changing Times


A Love Supreme was recorded in late 1964 and hit the record stores and airwaves in early 1965. And like I said, this album—this musical meditation, this masterpiece—didn’t happen in a vacuum. It’s fascinating to consider the events that were happening in America and around the world at this time because it gives a greater context understanding for the music and message of this album.

Were you around in 1964–1965? What do you remember about the events of that era? 

I recently learned some cool perspectives around what was going down at the time that John Coltrane recorded A Love Supreme. Starting last week, I’ve started conducting in-person and Zoom interviews with clients and students to better learn about what I can do to better serve my students’ needs and so last week I met at a coffee shop with Bob and Cindy, friends and students who were both around 1964–1965, and by chance, not knowing that I was studying this era as it relates to A Love Supreme, they told me about what it was like to be a teenager/young adult at this time. 

Bob, from New Jersey, told me that he graduated high school in 1965 and noticed a massive cultural shift in the summer of 1965. From his perspective, early in the year, when he graduated high school everyone had short hair and nobody smoked weed. People around him seem to live an Ozzie and Harriet lifestyle. But by the end of 65 he said that things changed drastically. What seemed like overnight, all the guys had long hair and smoking weed was suddenly a thing. With rock and roll firmly underway and Vietnam raging, the younger generation were definitely starting to think outside of the box. He also said that the parents of the younger generation had zero context nor preparation to cope with much less understand the massive shift in attitude of their kids.

In the same year that John Coltrane created and recorded A Love Supreme, Bob Dylan released his album named for its title track, “The Times They Are a-Changin’.” And whether it’s Dylan or Coltrane, analyzing the events of the day, it’s obvious that nothing could have been more of an understatement. 

Crossing the Threshold 

1964–65 marks a big threshold for the US and the world socially, artistically, and politically.

A Love Supreme is a compassionate and enduring response to a massive change that was happening both personally in John Coltrane’s soul as well as throughout myriad domains in the world. In moments of huge change like this I think it would be easy for an artist or writer to be cynical, foreboding, or negative about the changes they are noticing. But recognizing the monumental shifts that are happening in the world, shifts that will change the world forever, John Coltrane instead chooses to help usher us over the threshold to a new era by laying bare his heart and exposing his deeply personal spiritual conviction, the result of his spiritual awakening, by reminding us that no matter what, we are all being carried over this threshold by a Love Supreme. Afterall, Coltrane made a deal with God: If he could kick heroin and booze, he would devote his life to sharing love and making people happy by the power of his music. 

In a nutshell, this is what A Love Supreme is all about.

Context

One way to gain a deeper insight, context, and appreciation for this important masterpiece of music is by understanding what was happening at the time that it was born. Have you ever researched the newspaper archives and read the current events on the day you were born? It’s a trip, right? Well how about we explore what was going on around the time that A Love Supreme was born.


To take a snapshot of 1964–5 when this album was recorded and released, I’ve made a list of notable events and lumped them into very general categories, Social/Political, Art And Culture, and Other. They aren’t necessary in either chronological order or in order of importance. 

Check this out …

Social/Political

  • July 2, Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights act, abolishing racial segregation in the United States

  • February 3, Black and Puerto Rican groups in New York City boycott public schools. Protesting against school racial segregation. 

  • February 4, the United States authorizes the Twenty-fourth Amendment, outlawing the poll tax. Payment of a poll tax was a prerequisite to the restoration for voting in a number of states and existed as part of the Jim Crow Laws. Until the 24th amendment, the poll tax prohibited people, especially black people and minorities, from voting.

  • April 20, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Moscow, simultaneously announce plans to reduce production of materials for making nuclear weapons.

  • Vietnam:

    • Estimates between 400–1,000 students march through Times Square, New York and another 700 in San Francisco, in the first major student demonstration against the Vietnam War. Other marches also occur in Boston, Seattle, and Madison, Wisconsin.

    • May 12, 12 young men in New York publicly burn their draft cards as an act of resistance to the Vietnam War.[17][18]

    • July 8, U.S. military personnel announce that U.S. casualties in Vietnam have risen to 1,387, including 399 dead and 17 MIA.

  • Six days of race riots begin in Harlem, New York, United States, prompted by the shooting of a teenager.

  • December 11, Che Guevara addresses the United Nations General Assembly; a bazooka attack is launched at the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York City.

  • December 14, Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States (379 US 241 1964): The U.S. Supreme Court rules that, in accordance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, establishments providing public accommodations must refrain from racial discrimination.

  • October 14, Martin Luther King Jr., becomes the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded to him for leading non-violent resistance to end racial prejudice in the United States.

Arts and Culture

Other

Births

  • Michelle Obama

  • Sarah Palin

  • Jeff Bezos

  • Nicolas Cage

  • Tracy Chapman

  • Crispin Glover

  • Stephen Colbert

  • Tom Morello (from Rage Against The Machine)

  • Wynonna Judd

  • Courtney Love (married Curt Cobain, Hole)

  • Chris Cornell (of Soundgarden)

So zooming in to look at the events that occur right as John Coltrane records A Love Supreme, he goes into the studio and records it with his iconic quartet on December 9th. On December 10 Martin Luther King Jr. is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. On December 11th iconic soul singer Sam Cooke is shot and killed. By January of 1965 A Love Supreme is released to the public. In February of 1965, Malcolm X is killed.

John Coltrane dies July 17th 1967.

Were you around in 64-65? What was your experience like during that time?

Understanding the personal, social, and cultural context in which A Love Supreme was created helps us have a deeper connection and understanding to this music yet as a timeless piece of art, it remains as important a voice today, one that continues to shape our individual soul as well as the soul of our world. 

Please come and experience this divine piece of music for yourself at my John Coltrane and A Love Supreme yoga and meditation experience and see what this music says to you today. 

This experience will be perfect for both those who are either new or already familiar with yoga, meditation, and jazz. If you're familiar with yoga, meditation, John Coltrane, A Love Supreme, or jazz in general, come to experience it in a way that you likely never have before. If you’re new to any or all of it and are curious this will be a really cool introduction to all of it. 

At this event, we’ll do some gentle movement then we will meditate while listening to the album. We’ll discuss, process, and integrate its feeling and message. 

Plus, I will play some live music on my sax along with one or two other musicians. 

You don’t want to miss this!

A Love Supreme

Your One Message

john coltrane and yoga

If you could say ONE thing to the entire world, what would it be? 

Well, John Coltrane's big something to the world was clear and direct: "All praise to God, who is a Love Supreme."

Today, I want to explore the relationship between John Coltrane, Eastern thought, yoga and meditation the the lens of A Love Supreme. I want to explore why Coltrane's big something is so important in general, but more personally, why it's so vital to me.

I also want to invite you to join me for a very unique and special listening experience, one that I'm confident JC himself would approve of.

Influencer

Photo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Coltrane

To begin, John Coltrane was a straight-up genius. He was one of, if not THE greatest saxophone players in jazz, as well as a bandleader and composer. He was a thinker, an intellectual, even mystical. Everybody from Bono to Radiohead, to...well, everyone, when asked about their primary inspirations in music, will usually put John Coltrane on their short list.

Why? What makes him such an important and influential musician, one we still talk about today, almost 60 years after his death?

As one of the most iconic and important figures in contemporary music, not just jazz, his music stretches the boundaries of harmonics, improvisation, and composition. But all these years later, his music continues to transcend musical genres and cultural boundaries.

yoga and john coltrane

John Coltrane's chops were absolutely mind-blowing, but more than just flaunting his virtuosity on the sax, what makes his music so impactful, even to this day, is the fact that he wrote and played to be deeply felt. His music is nothing if not spiritual and connective. He intended for his music to be heard not only with ears but also with the heart and entire being. I think this is because his spirituality was the center of his life.

Spirit

After all, spirituality was in his blood. Literally, both of his grandfathers were ordained ministers of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. Yet, despite his upbringing in formalized religion, even from a very young age, he was and remained throughout his life constantly curious and searching. He did not adhere to any one religion. Rather, Coltrane openly embraced all religions who, he felt, at their core, shared an essential message of love.

He was constantly reading books about religions and spirituality and was no stranger to yoga and eastern thought. In fact, trombonist Curtis Fuller recalls the time he saw John Coltrane reading the Bhagavad Gita, then JC handed him the book "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramahansa Yogananda and told him to check it out. That was out there for jazz musicians.

The Spirit of Music

a love supreme meditation

For Coltrane, music was not a deviation or distraction from the divine. In fact, he believed that the role of a musician was, at its essence, spiritual, akin to that of a prophet, someone who is given the gift of music for the sacred purpose of touching hearts and sharing a message of divine love through the medium of sound.


In 1957, after hitting rock bottom (read: Fired from Miles Davis' band for being addicted to drugs and alcohol—he even went off heroin cold turkey), John Coltrane had a spiritual awakening, which was the catalyst that drove him to create what is largely known as the most spiritual recording in jazz—what I believe to be his masterpiece—the album, A Love Supreme.

He recorded this album at the height of his famous quartet's powers. John Coltrane and his bandmates had developed such a connection and such harmony between their individual souls that they had created a united soul. This album is truly witnessing that unified soul singing to the divine. It's a musical miracle unfolding in real-time.


For me, listening to this album, it is difficult, if not impossible, not to feel a connection to the divine. I can't listen to this album as background music. It's too engaging. In fact, most of Coltrane's music is like this for me, but especially A Love Supreme. And even if you don't consider yourself very spiritual, at least listening to A Love Supreme, I think all can agree, is the sound of someone communing with the divine.

Mind, Heart, and Horn Blown

Get this: Unlike any of the other 25 albums he created as a bandleader (25 in only 10 years, mind you), John Coltrane insisted on crafting every part of A Love Supreme down to the most minute detail. He even wrote the liner notes, a heartfelt message to the listener—to us.

In complete humility and sincerity, he writes, "During the year 1957, I experienced, by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life. At that time, in gratitude, I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through music. I feel this has been granted through His grace... At this time, I would like to tell you that NO MATTER WHAT... IT IS WITH GOD. HE IS GRACIOUS AND MERCIFUL. HIS WAY IS IN LOVE, THROUGH WHICH WE ALL ARE. IT IS TRULY—A LOVE SUPREME."


I get chills reading this. I mean, here's John Coltrane at his lowest point. He knows he's got gobs of talent and opportunities, but he is blowing it on booze and drugs. And as he's staring into the teeth of withdrawal, he literally sees the face of God and basically says, "Look, I don't want drugs and booze. What I really want in this life is simply to share my gifts to make people happy." And God is like, "Let this moment bring you to the light, John. Go. Blow your horn."

Boom!

For John Coltrane, the effect of this awakening obliterates both any doubt about his purpose for being on the planet as well as the goodness of God, who is, well, A Love Supreme.

MEDITATION A LOVE SUPREME

The suite starts with the ringing of a gong, and I translate that as the moment John Coltrane gets his heart and mind blown from this awakening of eternal love.

What also touches me to the core about his message to us in the liner notes is how, in jazz, a world that epitomizes being too-cool-for-school, here he is, the KING of jazz, taking a right turn from hip and steering headlong into raw, vulnerable, and sincere.

It's so John Coltrane.

Venue

While most people associate jazz with smoky nightclubs, booze, and goateed hipsters, it is completely in line with the ethos of John Coltrane to transcend convention and experience his music in alternative settings. An invitation to get out of the nightclub could not be more clear than with A Love Supreme. And while I can attest that a smoky nightclub can be the perfect sanctuary for deeply spiritual experiences, especially when jazz is cutting the air, I would argue that a meditation hall or yoga studio could be an even more conducive venue to absorb the message and spirit of A Love Supreme.

Plus, unlike most other jazz albums, this album is meant to be listened to from start to finish. There's not a wasted or unintentional note on the album. With such pure heart and emotion seeded into this music, it warrants an open and beautiful space with uncluttered time to offer it a deep listen and truly absorb the spirit exuding from it.

My Own Love Supreme

If you'll allow me to be vulnerable for a bit, I've also had an awakened moment where my own Love Supreme blew open my heart and mind. And without going into all the details, what I can tell you is that at that moment, I realized that I really have only one message: Love is EVERYTHING.

I believe it's all of our greatest work on this planet to share love with the world in the form of our gifts. I believe that ANY way in which we love the world benefits the world.


As for me, I love the sax, I love John Coltrane's music, I love, love, love teaching yoga and meditation. So as a way of sharing my love with the world, I want to share all of these things with you at a special listening and meditation experience. This will be an opportunity to have the time and space to do a deep listen and meditate to the most spiritual piece of music in jazz. We'll read John Coltrane's words to us from the liner notes. This experience will also allow us to stretch and move our bodies a bit, as well as integrate, discuss, and journal about our experience.

Photo of Yours Truly by Josh Terry


Plus, you may have heard me play the clarinet in class, but not this time. This time, I'll be blowing spirit through my sax.

This will be better than any sermon in church!

So please mark your calendar for the following:

A Love Supreme: A Listening, Meditation, and Yoga Experience Set to the Most Spiritual Recording in Jazz.

When: Sunday, April 7th, from 2–4 pm MDT

Where: Live, in person at Mosaic Yoga, 1991 South 1100 East, SLC, UT 84106. Available via Zoom as well. 

How much: Suggested donation is $25–$50... or jazz vinyls.

How to register: Space is limited, so you'll need to register in advance, which you can do here.


So yeah, this listening experience is going to be quite different from how most people might listen to A Love Supreme, but it'll be so John Coltrane. I'm confident that he'd dig it.


There's so much about A Love Supreme that I want to share with you, about its message, history, and impact, that I'll be sending some other messages about this soon, so stay tuned.

Tobar Phádraig: St. Patrick's Well

St. Patrick’s Holy Well or Tobar Phádraig is a sacred site tucked away in the Maumturk mountains in the Connemara region of Galway, Ireland. Tobar Phádraig is an active pilgrimage site to this day and dates back to the fifth century and beyond. 

Read more

Lament Over Daylight Saving Time

Today I want to discuss some of the benefits of Yoga Nidra, how rest and napping help rejuvenate you, and how crazy Daylight Saving Time is.

It’s Daylight Saving Time.


You know what’s weird? Time. 

Yes, time. 

What’s also weird is that a helpful student chimed in to let me know that it’s not “Daylight Savings Time” but rather Daylight Saving (no s) Time. Good to know. Thanks!

Today is one of the worst “time events” that happens twice a year. 

That’s right. Today the U.S. switches to Daylight Saving Time. Well, everyone but Arizona and Hawaii. It’s nice to know that some states have kept their sanity. 

Why Daylight Saving Time?! 

best yoga nidra teacher
best yoga nidra training

Every organism on this planet has some sort of a rhythm and sleep cycle that is dependent upon the circadian rhythm, the natural rhythm of the daylight hours as dictated by the seasons. This rhythm directs cycles from when to sleep, when to eat, when to migrate, etc. It makes sense. 

What doesn’t make sense to me is the fact that as humans we are advanced enough to send Gobots to Mars 203 MILLION miles away and have them send pics back to us in real time as it rolls around collecting specimens and amusing itself yet we don’t have the smarts to keep to the natural rhythm that all organisms on this planet have been following since, oh, the beginning of life on this planet. Instead humans create a rhythm of life based not on the seasons or the natural impulses of our bodies, impulses that have been ingrained into our very DNA, but rather an artificial rhythm set to a clock that is designed to make us more productive and earn more money. 

If that were not bad enough, then every 6 months we have to mess it up with adding or taking away Daylight Saving Time. 

I don’t need to have an opinion about it … but apparently I do. 

Putting Daylight Saving To Rest

Luckily I’m not alone here. Thankfully some really smart people like Kenneth P. Wright Jr. Ph.D at the Sleep and Chronobiology lab at the University of Colorado Boulder thinks that for optimal physical, mental, and emotional health we should do away with Daylight Saving Time and stick with one standard time, for crying out loud. (If you care about a reference for Write’s work, whether or not I’m not making this up, you can click here.)

But until we all come to our senses and ditch Daylight Saving, those of us who are in the US are waking up an hour earlier today (except Arizona and Hawaii—starkly different places but who at least share a modicum of sanity). 

Solutions For Fatigue

So, here’s what I propose. 

More napping. 

Yes, more napping. I mean, I’m about a third the way into Scott Carney’s book about Dreams and I love how he is exploring the fact that throughout history and cultures, before the industrial revolution and electricity (light bulbs meant people could work longer), people would follow a more natural pattern of sleeping and sleep about 9 hours a night and would also take a siesta in the afternoon which follows the natural rhythms of a person’s body. 

This is both sane and healthy. 

You know, sleeping a solid 7–9 hours is normal and healthy. Then, it’s natural to start to wane mentally and energetically after about 8 hours of being awake, after lunch time, usually. This is the PERFECT time to take a bit of a nap. It’s not being lazy. It’s being healthy. 

You don’t need to nap for long. In fact, 20–30 minutes will do absolute wonders for your overall wellness. Plus, you don’t even have to fall all the way asleep. You can just rest. It’s a revolution!

More Productive with Yoga Nidra

But what about being productive and all that? 

Well, turns out that when you follow this more natural cycle of sleep and allow yourself a sanctioned nap in the middle of the day, your brain functions even better, your emotions are more regulated and for those who care … YOU’RE EVEN MORE PRODUCTIVE.  

To boot, you have better ideas, tend to think out of the box more often, and are generally more creative and able to learn. In fact, many of the outliers of art and industry— math and science geniuses, tech gurus, writers and artists—are ardent nappers. 

Yep.

benefits of yoga nidra

And guess what? Listening to a Yoga Nidra recording serves this need for a mid-day nap PERFECTLY. 

So as a way of compassionately responding to this insane biannual change to/from Daylight Savings, I’m offering you a free Yoga Nidra for deep relaxation. 

You’re welcome. 

And if you’d like to make this resting and napping a regular part of your life, please join me for my weekly live, online Yoga Nidra class, happening at 9 am MDT. You can participate from the comfort of your own home (hell, your own bed). We’ll breath, move, talk a little, but then the main event will be me leading you through a luxurious Yoga Nidra practice where you get practice waking up to your True Being through the process of engineering that liminal state between waking and sleeping. That’s the Nidra state. 

Truly we are waking up with the yoga of sleep. 

Even if you can’t make it live, by registering, you’ll get the replay so you can do this Yoga Nidra practice any time you want, as often as you want. 

So next week, as your dragging your butt around the office, sluggish and tired from the time change, tell your boss that at about 2 pm every day, you’ll have to excuse yourself, that you have an urgent 30 minute appointment which involves you lying down, closing your eyes, and napping your way to enlightenment. 

Your boss will thank you later. 

If you need a note from your yoga teacher for permission, let me know.  

I’ll send one. Or better yet, just print this one =>

Hope to see you at the Live Online Yoga Nidra class and enjoy this free Yoga Nidra recording for Deep Relaxation. 

Together, we can get through this nightmare that is Daylight Saving!

How Long Should A Yoga Nidra Practice Be, Anyway?

 today I thought I’d discuss the optimal lengths for a Yoga Nidra practice: What is too long and what is too short. 

Read more

Perfect Not Perfect

Almost 9 years ago, I remember standing in front of my yoga class and expressing how utterly nervous I was . I wasn’t nervous about teaching yoga or being in front of people. I was shaking in my boots because at 39 years old, I was about to embark on perhaps the largest endeavor of my life, a massive journey, a challenge I’d never ever done before: becoming a dad.

Read more

Change Rooms In Your Mind For A Day

Yoga is the practice of joining all the different parts of ourselves as we explore what it means to be one. Sure, we are physical beings. We are also spiritual beings. We are mental, emotional, social beings. What fascinates me is the provocative idea of learning to live in a Both/And relationship with things that seem otherwise at odds, different, or opposite. Such a mindset and awareness for life opens us up to the truth of who we are as part of Source.

After all, in the wild road trip of life, aren't we are all balancing paradox while sitting at the corner of Human and Being. 

Read more

The Yoga of The New Year

new year yoga

This is going to be your best year yet!

As you begin this new year, I invite you to muster the courage to dream big. Really big. 

What is something you’ve always wanted to do, become, or complete? 

You have a Universe inside of you. You’re made of Source and as such, have the potential to accomplish and receive all things. 

Your spirit is indomitable. Your creativity, limitless. Don’t be afraid to imagine what is possible for you in 2024. 

This is the imaginative and spiritual part of growing into the next version of yourself but it doesn’t stop there. Just dreaming, hoping, and scheming won’t get you there. 

Next, since we aren’t ONLY spiritual beings, since we are spirit married to physical, practical beings—give your dreams some legs by mapping out in realistic terms how to accomplish those dreams. 

Remember to start small knowing it will grow into something big. 

If you want to run a marathon but haven’t been running in a while, have enough foresight to start by walking, then running/walking, then running. Commit to being in it for the long-term which means that there will be ups and downs. 

Don’t give up when things don’t work out the way you’d hoped. It’s just another chance for calibration and learning. 

Because at the end of the day, it’s not about accomplishing your goal. 

Not really. 

It’s about who you become in the process. 

Accomplishing your goal is just the happy byproduct. 

Whatever you dream up for 2024, having a regular meditation practice is of the first order. It clarifies, relaxes, and hones your body, mind, and spirit. It’s like the underlying framework for all other work to be done. 

Why New Year's Resolutions Go Nowhere

I’ve always hated New Year’s. 

Associations: 

  • Drunk people

  • The cold 

  • Feeling tired

What if there were a different way?


New Year’s resolutions too often devolve into premeditated disappointments and we go back to business as usual.  Why is that? It’s because in order to make lasting change, we have to change our fundamental state of mind and stage of consciousness? Like Einstein said: “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” 

Read more

Meditation: One of the Most Important Little Big Things

It’s time to recommit to doing a little bit of essential self-care, the kind that helps you be at your best. Cuz we all know that it’s those little things that we do regularly for ourselves that eventually turn into the big things, the things that help us live the kind of lives we want to live and be the kind of people we need to be.

Read more

Each Other's Business: Scrooge and Yoga Nidra

At very least, exploring A Christmas Carol through the filter of Yoga Nidra may help us to appreciate this story anew and add a deeper insight and meaning into this well-worn story. It may help us to reflect upon our own awakening that can happen at any time of the year. And I think what I’m really angling at here is that this story illuminates so perfectly how the altered state of sleep can catalyze a massive change in spirit which can lift us from our habitual, broken way of being and help us wake up to the truth that we are all One, that veritably we are each other’s business.

Read more

White-Eyes—Seeing The Divine In Everything

Today, I want share one of my favorite winter poems, White-Eyes by Mary Oliver. 

First of all, if you haven’t already, ‘tis the season to sign up for my 31-Day Meditation Challenge. It starts January 1 and lasts all through the month. The challenge is simply to meditate any way you wish for 15 minutes a day, every day for the entire month. I’ll be supporting you every step of the way with daily emails, live group meditations sessions, and plenty of recordings, poetry, links, and stories to make the experience very rich. 

Give the world a gift by practicing drawing inward, getting quiet in heart and mind, so you can present a YOU that is more mindful, less reactive, and rooted in compassion. 

It costs only $31 and you can get your tuition back if you complete the challenge. Make a meditation posse and sign up!

Onto the poem!

Mary Oliver


What I love so much about Mary Oliver's poetry is that so often in her poetry she is speaking to the eternal, the Everything, God, or the Universe by simply reflecting what she sees in nature.

And like in her poem “Bone” I love how she willingly admits that she doesn't fully know what God is but is "playing at the edges of knowing" and that perhaps it’s not about knowing at all, but rather it’s about “seeing, touching, and loving.”

It’s about being present with senses and heart.

Through her poetry, Mary Oliver helps us all to create a touchpoint to the Divine that is present both in our outer and inner worlds and opens us to seeing, touching, and loving as she steers us away from trying to make it all make sense. 

Her poem White-Eyes is about seeing the Divine in something as simple yet complex as the wind dancing through the tree tops and the snow silently drifting down from the heavens. It’s an exposé about how with the “right eyes” or with attuned sight, we might be able to see the loving Divine present in all things.

I hope you enjoy it. 

White-Eyes

white-eyes mary oliver

BY MARY OLIVER


In winter

all the singing is in

         the tops of the trees

          where the wind-bird


with its white eyes

shoves and pushes

         among the branches.

          Like any of us

he wants to go to sleep,

but he's restless—

         he has an idea,

          and slowly it unfolds

best yoga nidra teacher training

from under his beating wings

as long as he stays awake.

         But his big, round music, after all,

          is too breathy to last.


So, it's over.

In the pine-crown

         he makes his nest,

          he's done all he can.

I don't know the name of this bird,

I only imagine his glittering beak

         tucked in a white wing

          while the clouds—


which he has summoned

from the north—

         which he has taught

          to be mild, and silent—


thicken, and begin to fall

into the world below

         like stars, or the feathers

               of some unimaginable bird


that loves us,

that is asleep now, and silent—

         that has turned itself

          into snow.


I’d love to hear your thoughts on what this poem says to you.

Drop me a line, I read every email I get. 

May we all be our best by remember those essential phrases:

  • I love you.

  • I’m sorry.

  • How can I help?

Live Classes, In-person and Online:

best yoga salt lake city
new years yoga salt lake city

Yoga Retreats 2024

The Beauty of Gutter Gunk

Though the analogy is perhaps over obvious, I’m nonetheless going to offer it: What dies and drifts away this year becomes the compost to usher in next year’s spring blossoms, next year’s harvest. 

Read more

Gratitude, Gators, and Galavasana

It’s getting cold in Salt Lake City. 

It’s nice to come back to a place. 

It’s made me notice things I perhaps never did before or perhaps took for granted. 

I’m very aware of the quiet streets of our neighborhood. The closeness of the mountains. I’m aware of how much … space there is here. 

Being the week of Thanksgiving, I’d be remiss if I didn’t offer my cornucopia of gratitudes. Gratitude is perhaps one of the greatest practices we may ever do, one that I believe will enrich our lives immeasurably. 

Before I get to my gratitudes, if you’re near Salt Lake City, I’d be over the moon to see you in a live class. 

My in-person teaching schedule THIS week:


I’ll be teaching 3 classes on November 24th, the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Mosaic Yoga 1991 South 1100 East, Salt Lake City, Utah.
By donation

  • 6:00 am Power Hour

  • 7:15 am Mindfulness

  • 8:45 am Power 1

My new regularly scheduled classes.

7:30–8:30 am Yoga For Stiffer Bodies
Saturdays beginning November 25th
Mosaic Yoga 1991 South 1100 East, Salt Lake City, Utah.
By donation

12–1 pm Vinyasa Flow
Mondays beginning December 4th
Mosaic Yoga 1991 South 1100 East, Salt Lake City, Utah.
By donation


Also, I’ll be offering a monthly Restore Yoga and Yoga Nidra Workshop on the first Sunday of each month. The next workshop will be December 3rd. 

12–2 pm Mosaic Yoga 1991 South 1100 East, Salt Lake City, Utah.

I teach a weekly, live, online Yoga Nidra class each Sunday at 9 am MT

Gratitudes

I’m grateful for many things, but in particular, I’m poignantly aware of my gratitude for family. 

Last Saturday, my step-dad passed away. He was a kind man—smart, reserved. He loved WWII airplanes and John Wayne movies. He had suffered with poor health for many years so his passing was both difficult and a relief. He adored my mom and sorely grieved her passing almost exactly 3 years prior to his death. 

It’s a beautiful thing for families to come together during the passing of a loved one. Our family was able to come together, siblings and step-siblings, to mourn together, to laugh together, and to eat fabuloso tacos. 

One memory of my step-dad …

When my mom and step-dad got married, my twin brother and I needed a car and my step-dad ponied up and GAVE us his sweet, sweet, cherry 1978 Ford Ranchero (V-8). 

We called it the Gator. 

Don’t ask me how but somehow my buddy, Al, figured out how to record ONTO 8-track tapes.

We were the only kids rolling around town like bosses in a vintage, 30-ft. long car-truck rocking out to The Cranberries recorded over a BTO 8-track. 

No joke. 

Eventually, the Gator took its last breath and when it expired (no more Cranberries on 8-track!), my grandparents gave us a little 400 cc Yamaha motorcycle to scoot around on. 

On my maiden voyage of that iron pony, having never ridden a motorcycle previously, I straddled the bike, flanked by my grandpa and step-dad. They instructed me about how to let out on the clutch while turning the throttle to make it go. 

Understanding nothing of the essential finesse required for a soft start in first gear on a motorcycle, I fully released the clutch which jolted the bike forward causing me to hammer down on the throttle. 

Suddenly I was speeding down the driveway and blasting across the street. 

It was happening too fast. I didn’t have time to think. 

But soon I realized something essential: we hadn't yet covered the lesson on how to stop. 

I had to improvise. 

I soon learned that at least one way to stop a motorcycle was to jump the curb of the neighbors yard, drive over their lawn, straight through a flower bed and blue spruce, and then crash the bike into a fence. 

That did the job. That stopped the bike. 

Fearing I’d just broken my neck, my grandpa and step-dad ran but luckily all that broke was the neighbors fence. After a few pounds with a hammer and some light gardening, everything was returned to normal and I could resume my lessons on my motorcycle. 

But this time, I understood to aim myself down the street. This time, I understood how sensitive the clutch was. This time, I understood the other lever opposite of the clutch was in fact a brake.

More Gratitudes

I’m grateful for my step-dad, especially for how he loved my mom. 

I’m grateful for my biological dad who is still alive and with whom I’m very close. 

I’m grateful for all of my family and for the chance to be close to them again after living far away for a few years. 

I’m grateful to be married to such a fantastic woman. She and I grow together in the best ways and it’s an honor to partner with her.

I’m grateful for my son Elio who explodes my heart with love and teaches me gentleness, wonder, and patience. 

I’m grateful for my other son, my step-son, Liam whom I’m very proud of, who is kind, wicked-smart, and sensitive.

I’m grateful for my siblings, Chris and Lucy and my step-siblings.

I’m grateful to be a teacher. I really love it. 

I’m grateful for you reading this. It truly means the world to me. 


What are YOUR gratitudes? Drop me a line or leave a few in the comments on my blog. 

If you celebrate Thanksgiving, have a wonderful holiday. If you don’t, I hope you find an opportunity to make every day special. 

Thanks for being on my team. I’m glad to be on yours. 

Let’s all make this world a more loving, peaceful place. 

Let’s start with gratitude. 



PS

If you haven’t already, you can join my free Gratitude Challenge here. 

Yoga for Runners

I recently wrote a blog for Hugger Mugger about yoga and running. It was fun to write and I wanted to give you a snippet here with the option to check out the full article on their blog.

Yoga and Running

Forever, I’ve heard that yoga and running just don’t mix but I don’t believe that to be true. I’ve had runners tell me that doing yoga hurts their running and yogis tell me that running hurts their yoga.

Personally, I’ve been running and doing yoga most of my life and I understand how both practices complement each other. This article focuses on how yoga can help your running practice and perhaps I’ll write another article about how running helps your yoga practice.

Do you run and practice yoga? I’d love to hear from you about your experiences with both. Leave a comment below or reach out here.

Here is the article.

yoga and running

INTRODUCTION

Growing up, I was never very athletic. I never really enjoyed team sports. I was average at baseball, soccer, and basketball—scrawny and uncoordinated. I didn’t even bother to try out for football. 

But early on, I discovered a love for running and have been running most of my life. I found joy in running, not in running the fastest or the longest but rather just in the running itself. For me, the joy comes from the solitude of a long run and from the full-body movement of running, especially when I manage a comfortable and sustainable pace. Running also clears my mind and often even feels spiritual to me. Growing up, I never felt better than during and after a long run, especially a trail run.

That is, until I discovered yoga. 

When I started practicing yoga in my early 20s I was excited to discover another activity that wasn’t a competitive sport and also left me feeling as good in body, mind, and spirit the way running did. But when I told my yoga friends that in addition to practicing yoga I also enjoyed running, they’d often raise their eyebrows above their bindi and matter-of-factly inform me that yoga and running just don’t mix. Yet as someone who does both I beg to differ. On the contrary, yoga has improved my running and has kept me running well and largely injury-free for decades. 

In many ways running has improved my yoga practice by giving me more stamina, focus, and breath capacity. However, in this article I want to explore some of the many ways that yoga can benefit runners and how incorporating yoga into your training routine can make a significant difference in your enjoyment, performance, and longevity of your running.

THE PHYSICAL BENEFITS OF YOGA FOR RUNNERS

1. BETTER FLEXIBILITY

One of the biggest benefits of yoga for runners is better flexibility. Running primarily involves repetitive movements in a forward direction which almost always leads to tight muscles. Tight muscles contribute to reduced range of motion which means that the tighter a runner’s muscles get, the more effort they have to use to make their body move. Yoga postures stretch and lengthen muscles and help runners enjoy greater flexibility and mobility, a benefit that feels like  finally, someone has released the parking brake on your running. 

Love What You Love

Previously I thought that to be liked, to be appreciated, or to be successful in this life (read career) I was supposed to demonstrate some superhuman skills or talent and be like Michael Jackson or Prince or Beyonce, or something. 

I thought I was supposed to be some sort of yoga Rockstar to be liked, appreciated, and successful.

Instead, what I’ve learned over the course of my career is that success is 100% reliant on my ability to connect with my heart and to learn how to share that with the world. 

That’s it. 

Read more

Writing To Discover

One day many years ago, I began my work day with my journal and favorite pen. I set the timer for 11 minutes and committed to keep my pen writing no matter what, even, and especially, if I didn’t know what to write. This is a trusted practice I’d learned from my good friend and collaborator Nan Seymour. What’s so magical about this writing method is that you never quite know what’s going to come rolling out of your pen onto the page.

Read more