Category Archives: Uncategorized

Uncategorized

A Simple 10–15 Minute Yoga Flow You Can Practice at Home

This week we held our first Community Yoga Class, which we plan to offer monthly.

The class has two clear goals:

  1. Create a comfortable space where beginners can learn the foundations of yoga and regular practitioners can move in a low-pressure environment.
  2. Highlight five key poses participants can take home and use in their own personal practice.

Each month I’ll share the featured poses here on the blog. Newsletter subscribers receive the complete class flow.

Below is this month’s 10–15 minute personal practice sequence.

1️⃣ Arrive & Ground

Mountain Pose (Tadasana)

Builds stability, alignment, and balance.

Stand tall with feet hip-width apart. Arms rest at your sides or hands at heart center.

Try:

  • Inhale: sweep arms overhead
  • Exhale: bring hands to heart
  • Repeat for 3–5 slow breaths

Focus on:

  • Even weight through both feet
  • Soft knees
  • Steady, relaxed breathing

Pause and ask: What do I notice in my body right now?

2️⃣ Warm Up

Cat–Cow (Chakravakasana)

Improves spinal mobility and connects movement with breath.

Come to hands and knees.

  • Inhale (Cow): lift chest and tailbone
  • Exhale (Cat): round spine, chin toward chest
  • Repeat slowly for 5 breaths

Optional: Rest briefly in Child’s Pose between rounds.

Focus on gentle movement — no forcing or pushing.

3️⃣ Build Strength & Stability

Warrior II (Virabhadrasana II)

Strengthens legs, opens hips and chest, improves focus.

From standing:

  • Step one foot back
  • Bend front knee
  • Extend arms wide

Hold 3–5 breaths.
Straighten the front leg → re-bend → hold again.
Repeat on the other side.

Focus on:

  • Strong legs
  • Steady gaze
  • Relaxed shoulders and jaw

Strong body. Steady breath.

4️⃣ Integrate & Release

Supine Twist (Supta Matsyendrasana)

Encourages spinal mobility and gentle release.

Lie on your back.

  • Hug knees in
  • Drop both knees to one side
  • Stay for 5 slow breaths
  • Switch sides

Focus on:

  • Letting gravity assist
  • Longer, slower exhales
  • Softening through ribs and belly

5️⃣ Rest & Reset

Corpse Pose (Savasana)

Integrates the benefits of your practice and calms the nervous system.

Lie comfortably on your back.
Support under knees if needed.

Stay 3–5 minutes.

Optional breath:

  • Inhale for 3
  • Exhale for 4

Allow your body to fully rest.

Optional Breath Practice: 3-Part Breath (Dirga Pranayama)

This breath practice can calm the mind, reduce stress, and support nervous system regulation.

Step 1: Get Comfortable

Sit upright or lie down.
Relax shoulders and jaw.
Place one hand on your belly and one on your chest.

Step 2: Belly

Inhale slowly through your nose.
Let the belly gently expand.
Exhale and soften.
Repeat 3–4 breaths.

Step 3: Ribs

Inhale into belly, then expand ribs.
Exhale ribs, then belly.
Repeat 3–4 breaths.

Step 4: Chest

Inhale belly → ribs → upper chest.
Exhale chest → ribs → belly.
Practice 5–10 slow breaths.

Move slowly. Never strain.

If you’d like the full class flow, including transitions and timing cues, be sure to subscribe to the newsletter.

And if you’re ready to deepen your practice, the Members Library includes:

  • Extended guided flows
  • Nervous system reset practices
  • Pain-informed yoga sequences
  • Breathwork audio recordings

Uncategorized

Finding Our Voice: Balancing the Throat Chakra

This past week in our Chakra Balancing Group, we focused on the throat chakra — the center of communication, self-expression, and truth.

One meaningful shift in this session was the intentional use of voice as a core part of the practice. I’ll admit, chanting in front of others doesn’t come naturally to me. Still, I knew that working with the throat chakra called for sound. Instead of traditional chanting, we explored audible exhales, filling the room with long, open “haaa” sounds.

This simple practice brought awareness directly to the throat and helped anchor our intention throughout the session. There was something powerful about letting the breath be heard — no words required — just presence, vibration, and release.

Our journaling prompt continued this theme of expression. We reflected on:

  • What we want to say
  • What holds us back from saying it
  • And what we hope might happen if we allow ourselves to speak our truth

Balancing the throat chakra isn’t about saying everything perfectly. It’s about building confidence, courage, and trust in our own voice — qualities many of us are quietly longing to strengthen.

I’ve truly enjoyed these sessions, and this week’s focus was a reminder that sometimes the most healing practice is simply giving ourselves permission to be heard.

For the specific throat chakra balancing sequence, sign up for our bonus content here:

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Uncategorized

Let There Be Light: Easing the Winter Blues with Light Therapy

It’s that time of year when many people start to feel a subtle shift in mood. Energy dips, irritability creeps in, and motivation seems to disappear. For some, these changes are mild; for others, they mark the start of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).

Some of my clients who are particularly sensitive to the darker months start “winter therapy” as soon as the days shorten. Others wait until after the holidays—when stress, exhaustion, and post-holiday recovery collide—to reach out for help. Either way, this is the perfect season to talk about light therapy boxes.

What a Light Therapy Box Can Do

Whether or not you’ve been formally diagnosed with SAD, a light therapy box can help offset those winter “blahs.” If someone can get out side for atleast 20 minutes a day consistently, even on cloudy or rainy days, then they probably don’t need a light therapy box. But for those who cannot be as consistent due to their schedule or motivation then a light therapy box is an excellent wellness tool.

I typically suggest sitting about 14 inches away from the light box for 20 minutes in the morning while you have breakfast or start your day. You don’t need to stare directly into it—just let the light reach your eyes as you go about your routine. Think of it as giving your body a gentle sunrise indoors.

Interestingly, many people find benefit from using their light box even outside of winter. I’ve had clients use them during hot summer months when they spend most of their time indoors avoiding the heat. The goal is the same: supporting your body’s rhythm and mood when you’re not getting natural sunlight.

Why Light Matters So Much

Daily exposure to full-spectrum light helps synchronize your body’s internal clock to a natural 24-hour day. Without it, your biological rhythm can drift to longer cycles—sometimes 36 or even 72 hours—which throws off your sleep, mood, and energy.

When your body is aligned with daylight, neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and melatonin regulate properly. You get clearer signals to fall asleep, wake up, feel motivated, and manage stress hormones like cortisol.

Simply put:

Regular exposure to light doesn’t just lift your mood—it helps your entire body function more efficiently.

Sunshine for Mind, Body, and Spirit

Our bodies are wired for sunlight. When we receive enough bright, full-spectrum light, we thrive mentally, physically, and emotionally. Light therapy can be a powerful way to bring a bit of that sunshine indoors during darker seasons—or any time you feel your spark fading.

Want to learn more?
Click here to access our subscription page

which includes our weekly bonus content and our growing library of wellness information, tools, and practices. Resources added this week include:

  • A PDF guide on choosing the right light therapy box
  • A brief history of light therapy and how it became a trusted wellness tool
Stress Management, Uncategorized, Wellness topic, Yoga

September Focus – Anxiety Relief

“Pose” of the Week – Cat/Cow Flow

How to Do It:

  • Come to hands and knees with shoulders over wrists and hips over knees.
  • Inhale: arch your back, lifting your chest and tailbone (Cow).
  • Exhale: round your spine, tucking chin and tailbone (Cat).
  • Continue flowing with your breath.

Why It Helps:
This gentle movement synchronizes breath and body, helping to release physical tension while calming the nervous system.

Time: 1–2 minutes

Want to go deeper? Subscribe to my Grounded Path Membership for bonus content, including exclusive guides and practices.

Uncategorized

Anatomy – The Skeletal System

Review of Chapter 2 of “Yoga Anatomy” by Leslie Kaminoff and Amy Matthews

hand x ray result
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Since reading this chapter I have thought a lot about my bones and ligaments. I am amazed how last week I was so worried about pain in my hand and now it is healed. I had what I now realized was a repetitive stress injury in between the first 2 metacarpal bones on my right hand. I moved using my computer mouse to my left hand and used a stylus instead of my finger for my screen on my phone and in a week the pain is gone. This pain had been building for awhile, really about 2 months. Now it is fine. Our bones, ligaments, and muscles all have the ability to repair themselves if we seek to be more balance avoiding overuse and under use. I think that is what this chapter tries to emphasize.

The first part of chapter two begins as it should with an overview of the skeletal system, reviewing bones, ligaments, and joints. Much of the chapter is dedicated to discussing synovial joints. Synovial joints are made up of bones that move with each other, the synovial fluid that is between them, and the connective tissue that surrounds and protects the whole structure. The surfaces of the bones in a joint are covered with a layer of “hyaline cartilage”. It cushions and protects. Between the layers of hyaline cartilage, synovial fluid serves as a lubricant and facilitates the sliding between the surfaces of this cartilage. It also seals these surfaces and helps to distribute force.

In describing the joints, the concept of “balanced joint spaces” is introduced. The idea that the whole body system is at place to create this balance is logical but not how we think usually when we try to heal a joint. I’m thinking of my crunchy knee and when it is sore. I use to think of just easing off of it, icing it, and not using it. It was not logical to think of where “blockages” are in movement in the rest of my body in relation to my knee.

The last half of the chapter is dedicated to joint action – flexion (bring body parts toward each other), extension (moving away from each other), lateral flexion (bending spine to one or the other side), and rotation (moving around an axis). Then the chapter goes into detail with what type of movements each limb (hand, wrist, clavicle, shoulder, scapula, foot, ankle, and pelvis) of the body makes. This part along with the next section on movement pathways I feel could be a useful exercise of trying out each movement and then following the pathway listed in the book. The pathways include: head to tail, fingers to spine, toes to spine, and toes to spine.

The final page of the chapter brings home principles to “balanced joint spaces and pathways of weight”. There are 3 principles: 1)Cultivating clear pathways of weight and force can help support balanced joint space and cultivating balanced joint space can help support clear pathways of weight. For me I feel like if my knee is crunchy then hip will start feeling sore . However it begins in my feet with using orthotics to balance the fact that one leg is shorter than the other. When I use my orthotics my whole right side feels better. Alternately, if I do hip releasing poses to reduce some of the muscle tension that builds in that joint, my knee feels less tension and the muscles are less likely to pull on the knee painfully.

The 2nd principle is “Stability in a joint is derived from connectivity, not fixation”. If a joint is overused , there is a need to explore and adjust how movement is being distributed through the whole pathway of weight. Inhibiting movement (fixing it) though is not the same as creating stability in a joint. Healthy tension helps stabilize the joint and to do that you need some movement.

The last principle discussed is “A little movement in a lot of places can help us find balanced joint space.” When all the body is moving and no one part is immobilized or being over used, we get lubrication to all our joints and there is balance and everything learns to move in harmony with each part. Also not discussed in this book but you will find this out if you research more on synovial fluid is that synovial fluid is used to exchange nutrients to the cells in the cartilage and to remove waste. It only does this when it is allowed to move and circulate. It can only do this if you move the joint. It’s not like blood that has a heart to pump it around. You actually have to move a joint for it to heal. You also have to work on balance and finding the sweet spot between under use and over use. I think this is what makes yoga flow exercise so helpful in that you get balanced whole body movement within the postures.