Take a moment to reflect upon your past week. Did you experience more doing, or being? For many, the answer is doing. We live in a fast paced, goal driven world, a society of doers. You might find yourself asking what it actually means to “be.” Being can be described as “resting in experience” as...

Here we are in the first full week of January and I have personally read the phrase “new year, new you” at least a dozen times. Whether you are a fan of making new year’s resolutions or not, I think many would agree, making personal change is no easy task. As strongly as you may desire to leave...

While we may all celebrate different December holidays, what we share in 2020 is that this is the first time we will be celebrating during a pandemic. It is true that during any given year you probably have experienced joy as well as loss in some way or another. What is different this year is that...

We complete our journey of the koshas this week by exploring Anandamaya kosha, the bliss body. In Sanskrit, ananda means bliss. This is the most subtle of the layers. The Anandamaya kosha is the natural inner-happiness, which resides in...

The fourth of the five koshas is Vijnanamaya Kosha, the wisdom body. Vi means “inner” and jnana means “knowledge.” In Sanskrit, vijna means “to discern, to know rightly, to understand.” The Vijnanamaya kosha encompasses inner knowledge,...

This week we explore the third layer or sheath, the Manomaya Kosha. Mano means “mind.”  This kosha is the psycho-emotional body, which encompasses our thoughts and feelings. Many would agree that thoughts and feelings can often be challenging to deal with. As the pandemic rages on, national...

Today we turn our attention to Pranamaya kosha, the energy body. This is the second innermost layer, more subtle than the physical body. Prana is translated as “life force energy.” This energy sustains all of creation, and links the body and mind. In the human body, the breath is our source of...

This week, as we begin to explore the five koshas, we focus our attention on Annamaya kosha – the physical body. Anna means “food.” Each of the names of the koshas is followed by the word maya, which means, “consisting of.” As mentioned last week, the word kosha is translated as “sheath” or “layer...

One of the many things I enjoy about my work as a health educator is expanding knowledge about self-care. When teaching, I often joke that my students will get angry with me when they learn that I’m not just going to tell them to go to the spa. While many definitions exist, the self-care I advocate...

This week we unearth the last of the niyamas, Ishvara Pranidhana, otherwise known as surrender. The practice of surrender reminds us to let go of what we can’t change, which in turn opens one up to greater possibility. Many of you are...