Today marked the real first day of spring for me, as I was able to meditate and do my practice outside! While meditating, I was enraptured by the sounds of birds around me and the warm breeze, both of which felt so gentle.

In the past few weeks, I've worked with a few new students who have never done yoga before, and the common response they admitted after class was that they were intimidated about starting, as they were under the impression that you had to be flexible to do yoga.

If we focus on what we want to cultivate, that will grow. But if we are consumed by stress, anger, complaining, or any difficult emotion, which is usually unconscious, it will also grow.

The other night, I was talking to a friend who said something that felt harsh and uncalled for. Thank goodness for yoga, or I might have put myself in a situation I would regret by reacting with the same negativity.

It's a powerful time: the start of the Chinese New Year (Fire-Horse), Lent and Mardi Gras from Christianity, Ramadan from Islam, and the start of a new moon cycle. Lots of new beginnings, which always bring hope and excitement.

A dear friend recently came to me after receiving a difficult diagnosis. She shared that she felt overwhelmed with fear, insecurity, and mental restlessness—like she couldn’t quite land in her own body.

I've been listening to a lot of folks complain that this is an intense winter here in the northeast, and we still have a few months to go. In my classes, I have been teaching about the water element of winter according to traditional Chinese medicine, and all that it relates to: physically, emotionally, and spiritually, also known as Jing (physical) Qi (energy) and Shen (spirit).

For many years, my lower back was my quiet teacher. The pain wasn’t dramatic at first—just a dull ache that appeared when I was tired, stressed, or pushing myself too hard.

As winter settles in, the world grows quieter. The light softens, the pace slows, and nature turns inward. In Chinese medicine, winter is the season of the Water element, governed by the Kidneys—the keepers of our deepest vitality, or Jing.

Last winter, one of our students shared something many of us quietly feel this time of year. She had always loved running, but as the days grew colder, she noticed it was leaving her more depleted than energized.

As we get closer to the holidays, I find solace in the teachings that unite all religious and spiritual traditions: the celebration of the return of the light.

The returning of the light is not only from our sun, but the remembering of who we truly are, the spark of divine light that lives in our heart.

The winter water season is upon us! With this fresh snow and cold, long nights, the autumn metal season is now transitioning to the winter water season, according to Chinese medicine.

I've come to realize that there's a reason we have this day of Gratitude this time of year. Yes, for the harvest, but to keep our spirits lifted as the days are getting darker and colder.

A practice I've taken on when feeling stressed is to turn the stress around to what I'm grateful for in this situation. Last weekend, I had company visiting while teaching teacher training, and I could feel stress and overwhelm building. I noticed how taxing it was and quickly shifted the narrative in my mind from "I have to do all of this...." to "I GET to!"

As temperatures drop here in the Northeast, the seasonal transition from the autumn metal element to the winter water element is approaching quickly.

I recently spoke with an old friend I hadn't connected with in a while. I noticed they were caught in a fear loop, spinning lots of stories about 'what could happen if...' regarding all that's happening in the world and politics these days.

On my walk yesterday, I noticed the spirit of this autumn season play out in front of me. Each season, according to Chinese medicine, has a spirit, or consciousness that is alive in the collective. During this autumn, metal season, the spirit is called P'o. P'o is nature's intelligence to survive.

Breath work is one of the quickest ways to release emotions and energy that may be blocking our integrity or discipline. When we regulate our breath, we regulate our emotions. When our emotions are stable, we can feel courageous enough to start a new discipline or return to one that we know benefits us — and stick with it.

As the weather gets cooler and the days shorter, there's a sense of contraction. We witness this in nature as energy draws inward to preserve for the winter ahead. Knowing this intuitively motivates us to increase our level of discipline to keep to the practices that keep us strong, flexible, calm, and centered.

Yesterday, I ended a class with breathwork. Afterwards, a student commented that she feels much more emotionally stable after we do breathwork. "Yes," I responded, "When we regulate our breath, we regulate our emotions."