Good for you. the hardest person to take care sometimes is ourselves.

Good for you. We need to cultivate more empathy and understanding.

I agree that practice does make the breath work feel more natural.

I too think the tapping is a nice way to wake up your systems and be relaxed at the same time.

I agree that the strap often lets you comfortable get deeper into a pose. When the brain knows that the limp is passively supported it seems much easier to get range out of the more relaxed muscle.

Thank you. That’s very sweet. I’m excited to spend this 50th year exploring yoga and learning new things with all of you.

Here are a couple of Brené Brown books that I mentioned…. They are not for everyone but she is an incredible researcher and has dabbled in so many current topics. In her podcast she was talking to Amelia and Emily Nagasaki about their book called “Burnout“ when she mentioned the incredible value of breathwork/yoga and managing stress. For me, her work and the time I have spent working through her books has helped me to leave a stressful job and take the chance to open my own business. It was her Gifts of Imperfection about the qualities of wholehearted living that have brought me to this yoga journey. She talks about authenticity, self compassion, a resilient spirit, gratitude and joy, intuition, creativity, play and rest, calm and stillness, meaningful work and laughter….. I want more of all of that and my yoga mat and this training are bringing me these things.

Favorite pose… Warrior II, I love the power of the shape and you know you are doing some yoga when you go here. Lots of other poses I use generically with my patients and call the exercises but with warrior II you know you are doing some yoga. :-) Least favorite pose is a low lunge variation with knee flexion in the back leg. Pressure on the knee always feels awkward and uncomfortable. favorite prop is a blanket as it is so versatile. My go to practice to feel good is to go to a moderate level class that really has a few really challenging poses to really get me out of my head and make me feel like I am really doing something for myself. When the class gets slow and quiet at the end, I am finally ready for the rest. (I really want my feel good go to to be sitting in meditation, because that is something that I can do more often and anywhere.)

I notice a real challenge to my breath with this pose Depending on my foot placement choice.

This is a challenging pose for sure. I explain the difference between hard work and pain with exercise all day. Unfortunately for a lot of people hard work and intensity is viewed as pain and the reason many don't exercise. we have a challenge before us to encourage that intensity and bring people the wellness they need.