Welcome 2024

This year invites in a focus on building and maintaining lifestyle habits that serve us from now until always. I am initiating strength training classes into my teaching schedule and creating a work-life balance that will serve all of my people just as much as it serves me. Having taken the last several weeks largely off of work and working out, I come into 2024 rejuvenated and grounded. I look forward to bringing this into the work I am doing with individuals and groups, as well as starting some new things that excite me.

Did you know I wrote a book? It’s in print and available in e-book format, and in the subtle works as an audiobook as well. Harmonic Integration is the culmination of my years in graduate school for counseling, where I used the research I was doing to point me toward practices and attitudes that would be advantageous to creating mental and emotional health. It is the foundation of the work I am doing with people on all levels nowadays, which is why you will find that my bodywork appointments are now all 90 minute appointments (which allows time to suss out any injuries or areas of potential improvement), and that there are two days a week where I don’t offer bodywork to allow in for the other kinds of ways I can help people.

I ain’t just a massage therapist anymore. I offer integrative services that include counseling, coaching, postural and functional assessments, strength, balance and mobility training, and more. I also have a fantastic network of people that I can refer out to, should you wish to see a specialist of some kind. I got the goods. And I am so excited to be of service to you!

Rebirth

Things continue to unfold, don’t they? When the pandemic descended into my world, I spent several days wrestling with my fears and my beliefs. Ultimately I ended up asking myself, Do you believe what you say you believe? Do you actually believe that all things are energy moving into and out of various forms? Do you believe that the universe is vast consciousness experiencing itself endlessly? Which would make all of this just another facet of energy moving in its infinite way? Neither good, nor bad, not a punishment or a reckoning, not tragic or exquisite, but most definitely ultimately energy in motion.

Or do you believe that all of those beliefs you have been espousing are just a way you spun your wheels for a number of years until reality hit?

It was a profound opportunity for me to see who and how I truly was. After my several day meltdown (during which I watched Frozen 2 about 10 times; I highly recommend it for when you’re in that kind of state), I ultimately decided I did actually believe what I thought I believed, and from there the directive was relatively simple: Then act accordingly.

My beliefs directed me to continue offering the work that I do, even in a time when people were supposed to not be near one another at all, to say nothing of touching, breathing, speaking, and in various states of clothing. I thought to myself “Massage and yoga are both means of putting ourselves into parasympathetic nervous response (relaxation response), which not only is great for managing stress, but also happens to be fantastic for strengthening and replenishing your immune system”. My clients and students were welcome to attend their appointments or opt out, and there are some with whom I still haven’t reconnected, though I hope to along the way.

Each of us has had to sit with ourselves and determine who and how we want to be in all of this. Learning to hold space and respect for that has also been a part of my process.

I decided I wanted to continue to provide a safe and comforting space to heal, to unveil, to trust and to love, even in the face of what could at times feel like the boogeyman from childhood come alive. I started to see the gifts of the closing down, particularly for me, in that I was finishing up my last semester in graduate school earning my degree in clinical mental health counseling.

Prior to things changing, I was doing my internship (still doable via Zoom), working full time and teaching yoga for three organizations at about ten classes as week, and finishing my thesis. My days were anywhere from 10-14 hours of intense focus for six days a week and one day where I would do things like sleep and laundry. It was too much. I had hit the wall a number of times and did not know how I was going to finish.

Then all of a sudden I gained about 20 hours a week that I had not had before. I stalked a coach from my gym and had him do personal training with me so that I didn’t cease my physical activity, which was so vital to my well-being. I was able to sleep in more, and to do my own grocery shopping for the first time in months. Slowly I finished my school work, checked off all of the requirements for graduation, and amazingly, kept my house and my dog and myself well and healthy.

I offered a few online workshops for myself just as much as my students, recommitting to spiritual and non-asana yoga practices, and I learned how to live in a world where so many things I had come to accept as “just the way it is” were tossed up in the air with no knowing how and where they would land. Like us all, I got more comfortable with being uncomfortable most of the time.

I graduated, slept, slept some more, watched a lot of Netflix, and have finally gotten to a place where I have energy and interest again, in anything other than restorative activities.

And I am bringing two wonderful new things into the world.

The first is a gift. Literally. In my time as a bereavement counselor, I noticed that there are few means through which others are able to feel as though they have actually offered anything of help to someone who is in grief. The Grief Box is a gift for someone who is grieving. In the box there are self care items, ritual items, and a guide to help the person in their grief. It is a long-needed thing, and one that I know will make our world a kinder and better place.

The second is a program. I wrote my thesis as a book, a way to address mental and emotional well-being practically. The process is called Harmonic Integration. Through examining the different aspects of our lives, we can refine and introduce practices that help us improve each of them, accumulating wellness as we go. Bringing each aspect into harmony with each other allows us to live our lives more seamlessly, with less friction between things like our beliefs and our jobs, or our physical well-being and our mental well-being.

I am introducing this program in 2022 at Yoga Oasis in its beta form, and am doing it under the title Practicing Wellness. Each month starting in April there will be a three hour workshop in which we will explore the specific access point to mental and emotional well-being. We begin with Sleep and proceed to Nutrition, Physical Activity, Obstacles, Environment, Relationships, Pleasure, and Money. As we proceed further we will address Purpose, Values & Integrity, Story, Perspective & Attitude, Creativity & Play, and Spirituality. If you would like to participate, you can attend the sessions individually on a drop-in basis or sign up for the whole program. Information is available at Yoga Oasis.

I am so grateful and excited to share these new things with you. Please feel free to contact me with questions. I look forward to bringing all of this into being.

Grief Ritual

January 15, 2021, 5-7pm, Tucson. A 2 hour ritual intended to help you connect to and process grief you may be holding. In a time when many things are changing, grief comes with the loss of that which was. Yours may be concrete, as in the loss of a person, or less specific, such as the loss of certainly of how things were going to be. For more information, please contact me through the Connect option.

Light, Tunnel, Etc.

So I am about the embark upon my last semester as a graduate student in counseling. This road has been arduous and unexpected in a number of ways. When I first began gearing toward this five (?) years ago, my intention was to enter a PhD program. At the moment the thought of that sends my poor overworked soul teetering on the brink of the volcano.

By the time I get my counseling license I will have put in approximately 5-8 years of work, depending on how long licensing takes. Isn’t it great to know that your counselors go through this in order to offer their services to the public? I have so much more confidence now in any counselor that I might go to see. The degree itself is both nothing an everything. It says “I care enough about this to jump through a bunch of hoops” and the broad brief survey of the field is enough to at least get a smattering of what the potential options are in order to practice.

Personally I went into this program knowing what I wanted to do with it and what I wanted my final product to be. So I am at last at the gates to the land of freedom that I have wanted to frolic in for years, and the writing of my thesis will yield me the foundation for counseling practice that I have wanted for many years now:

I want to practice holistic life counseling. I am excited to hang out a shingle that represents my work and my background fully and honestly, with the work (both personal and professional) to back it up. It’s a scary thing to announce myself to the world in this way, and I feel afraid that my inadequacies both in experience and knowledge will show clearly through. But vulnerability and honesty are values of mine, and I intend to put my words and actions into alignment with one another in this new chapter.

I hope you will continue to join me as I continue showing up and digging in, no matter the external circumstance. See you in the field!

Chris Coniaris workshops

Looking at Yoga Oasis’s multitude of offerings, I recommend giving Chris Coniaris a try. He is a well-seasoned and multifaceted teacher with a gift for communicating the practice on multiple levels at once. I have my fingers crossed he will be on the schedule regularly soon, but if not, grab a class with him if you can!

Grit and Gold

This August come join me and other lucky yoga students as we take one of Darren Rhodes’ rare advanced asana workshops. Darren used to teach Expanding asana classes regularly some years ago but has shifted his teaching focus to more doable poses in the last number of years. While I deeply appreciate his commitment to Yogahour and its continued growth, I am also very excited to play on the skinny end of the branches for two days with him this month!

Yoga Oasis Central

August 31-Sept 1, 2019

Saturday and Sunday

2:00-6:00

Grit Outweighs Gold

Average August Redux

Hello everyone! Long time, no blog. I have had “update website” on my reminders list for months now, looking not only for a time spacious enough to update, but also one during which I had blog-writing energy. This means a time where I am well-rested, not distracted, and don’t have anything else more immediately pressing to do; in short, a rare occurrence in my life as it currently stands.

I am more than halfway through my master’s program in counseling, an endeavor that I knew would take a lot of energy and time on my part, and one where I also knew I would encounter a lot of change, growth, and obstacles. Knowing that has, unsurprisingly, not helped any with the difficulty, though it has at times soothed its sharp sting, if only briefly.

Thus it was with welcoming arms that I invited Average August in again, this year with its preparatory companion, Just Enough July. This all falls under the category of modulating energetic output, which has been my catchphrase of the last several weeks.

As I move through my days putting on my many hats (student, intern, research assistant, yoga instructor, massage therapist, and of course friend, daughter, cousin, neighbor, dog mom, etc.) I periodically notice my fatigue or desire to be doing something other that what I am doing. When this happens I hear this soft voice in my head saying “Modulate your energy. Seventy percent.” I dial back the degree to which I am giving my attention and effort to about 70% and not only does it help me feel better in the moment, it also helps me be less empty at the end of the day.

To me this belongs squarely under the yoga umbrella, where the primary goal is to be immersed in the present moment, aware of our existence and our participation in it. As I reminded my Yoga Oasis Surya yoga challengers recently, the Bhagavad Gita emphasizes that we bring ourselves to our work without attachment to its outcome. As I attend to my output in the moment of the work, I bring to that moment the type of balance that allows me to utilize more of myself in it, not just the balls-to-the-wall YOLO carpe diem parts. As I attend with 70% effort using the parts of me I am accustomed to – my eyes, my ears, my posture – I allow space for the less-used aspects of myself to come forward. These parts are more subtle and yet wise, quieter and yet brimming with slow power, the sort that grows trees to fullness and allows a mountain to soften its hard edges over time.

So in case you don’t hear from me, whether on here or anywhere else out in the world, know that I am cultivating this thoughtful strength that comes only when the space is available for it to grow. I hope you can do the same. See you in Rumi’s field!

Tadasana

Mountain Pose is my favorite pose this month. One of my favorite Instagram inspirations, @yogamand, regularly does poses that defy my eyes, and she happily explains how to do them. This month however, she posted a lovely Tadasana partner assist that illustrated beautifully how to set the tops of the thighs back. In doing so, the pelvis moves into a slight anterior tilt. This is the position the pelvis falls in while the body is held in what is called “anatomical neutral”. When then torso is stacked over the pelvis and thigh bones, as one of my students put it, “I feel weightless!”

If you want to achieve this feeling for yourself I recommend standing with a slight anterior tilt to the pelvis and taking a slow big inhale, lifting the ribcage away from the hips. A feeling of gentle stretch may happen in the belly and lower spine. Keep the body in this uplifted position even with the exhale and maintain.

Average August

Much emphasis can be put on achievement and progress in our day-to-day lives. Let this month be one in which you bring consistent effort and presence into your practice, but not so much that it takes from you or from the other things in your life that matter to you. Shoot for “perfectly fine”. Abhyasa in Sanskrit refers to dedicated studentship over time. If we blow ourselves out by putting too much effort into something, often we cannot sustain the effort and our strong beginning winnows away.

Consistency. Dedication. Effort. Not too much. Average August. 🧘‍♀️😁✌️

New Year’s Yoga

Please come join Jaimie Perkunas and me for New Year’s Eve Yoga at Yoga Oasis Central. This year the practice will go from 10:30pm to 12:30am on December 31st. The practice will involve some movement, some journaling and contemplation, mantra and meditation. If you haven’t joined us for this event in the past, come! It will be a New Year’s experience like none you have had before. Start your 2018 with conscious connection to yourself. 🙏