Author Archives: madyoga

About madyoga

Yoga Teacher and Massage Therapist in Sacramento, CA

Abandoning Hope and Beginning Again

Posted on February 6, 2012

Last Wednesday, while preparing to step into the bath, I took a quick glance in the mirror. Then I took a second glance. A vein that I had never noticed before had sprung up dark blue on the left side … Continue reading →

Posted in Death and Dying, Letting Go | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments

How Being Human Can Wreck Your Body

Posted on January 17, 2012

The yoga championships came to town yesterday. I will leave the evaluation of the evolution of these competitions to the yoga historians, although I don’t have to be Georg Feuerstein or Mark Singleton to have some pretty serious doubts that … Continue reading →

Posted in Self Study, Teaching | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Chakras – the Chocolate of Yoga

Posted on January 11, 2012

Chakras have always seemed to me the candy of yoga. In a practice that sometimes seems in danger of becoming chronically virtuous, turning my attention to the chakras always feels like it’s time for dessert. Not to say that the … Continue reading →

Posted in Chakras, Teaching | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

New Year’s Revelations

Posted on January 3, 2012

Massage therapists, we worry about burning out our hands. In school, we are greeted with a barrage of horror stories: tendonitis, carpal tunnel, ganglian cysts. And sure enough, the first six months I was in practice, I had tingling from … Continue reading →

Posted in Kindness, Letting Go | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

Yoga for Holiday Stress

Posted on November 17, 2011

I’m not sure when I fell out of love with the holidays, but if I had to pin it down, I’d say it was the year of the collage magnets. I was in my mid-twenties, living with friends in Seattle, … Continue reading →

Posted in Letting Go, Teaching | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Missing

Posted on November 3, 2011

When I was little, I made sure to sit next to my Uncle Jim at every holiday dinner. That way, we could play “Foot.” I can’t imagine any adult having the patience for such a game, but somehow he did. … Continue reading →

Posted in Mindfulness | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

Happy Accidents in the Twitter Mandala

Posted on October 27, 2011

I’ve been so pleasantly surprised by how much I like Twitter. I’ve met the nicest people, and learned so much. After initial resistance, I got it right away: somehow, the constraints of the form – 140 characters, forcing an almost … Continue reading →

Posted in Mindfulness, Self Study | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

A Stress Free Manifesto

Posted on October 13, 2011

Manifestos like the ones pictured here make me so tired. I feel like they’re yelling at me.  “Hey you!” they cry. “Stop whatever it is you’re doing right now and start LIVING YOUR LIFE, for goodness sake! Carpe Diem! Seize … Continue reading →

Posted in Kindness, Letting Go, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 19 Comments

How to Get Yourself on Your To-Do List

Posted on October 7, 2011

Last weekend, I went to Forever 21 and bought a necklace (never mind that it’s closer to Forever 41 in my case…) It was less than five dollars, and it’s made of shimmery silver leaves that jingle when I walk, … Continue reading →

Posted in Self Study | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

The Other Closet

Posted on September 16, 2011

Having a mental health diagnosis and not talking about it is a lot like being gay and not coming out of the closet. It’s lonely and frightening. You also hear all the conversations and slurs that, otherwise, people would have … Continue reading →

Posted in Kindness, Self Study | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments