• being human,  embodied liturgies,  embodiment,  learning,  musings,  writing

    Embodying the God Within

    I reflect often about life … why I do certain things, why I am drawn to particular actions and repelled by others, and I’ve realized through the years that when I over-question, it stops the flow. Sure, it helps to get at meaning, but excess is just that. In all things. I wonder if our world of excess plays into these tendencies within us … like increases like. These noticings have helped me to lean into embodiment when it happens … letting things be, posturing my body toward ‘just being’ instead of overthinking. And this leads to the journey that God has been taking me on all along … Throwing myself into the practice of yoga at a vulnerable time in my twenties, becoming a yoga teacher in my thirties, pivoting out of a set trajectory involving yoga in my late forties, finding contemplative…

  • being human,  reading

    I Want to Be the Kind of Woman

    I want to be the kind of woman | who milks goats each morning | and drinks straight from the bucket — | who isn’t afraid to reach into the hive. I want to be the kind of woman | who lies down in winter, | in the brown mulch of leaves | and sleeps until spring | who loves the generous folds of her body. I want to be the kind of woman | who has found her sealskin, | who would cross oceans to make | her dead father love her once again. I want to be the kind of woman | who can name hyssop, nettle, lady’s mantle | and knows all their healing uses. I want to be the kind of woman | who goes out under the night sky | to chant with owls and wolves, | who falls…

  • being human,  embodied liturgies,  embodiment,  learning,  musings,  writing

    Keeping Our Eyes on God

    I have tried to read the Bible on so many occasions I’ve lost count. I even listened to the Bible In A Year podcast for most of the year a few years back; it was a helpful resource, doing it that way, but it didn’t stick. Simply ‘sitting down to read the scripture’ is a tough task. Strategy helps. A few years ago, I learned of several methods for studying the Bible as well as a meditative tool called Lectio Divina. I am more drawn to the latter, as I find God speaking to me in silent reflective contemplation, but studying scripture is also helpful when we put it in the context of the life we’re living today. During my time in the Living School, we read many spiritual texts, including very old ones … not as ancient as the writings in the Bible…

  • being human,  breath,  embodiment,  learning

    I Am Teaching Myself …

    Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about my place in the world, what I’m here for. I have many purposes; I believe we all do. Being a mom and wife are my top two and professionally I’ve always been a writer, even when I held other jobs at the same time (teaching yoga for 15+ years!) For the last 10+ years, I’ve found little purpose in my professional writing, growing tired of the business of it … but in the last few months something has shifted. I realized it’s a skill not everyone has so I have a gift that helps others. Words don’t magically appear on a website, in an email, brochure, marketing collateral, etc. Someone writes them, and that someone for thirty years now has been me. I can’t imagine doing anything else, and I’m blessed by the flexibility I have because…