Kaivalya

I love this posture for how it makes me feel soft as well as strong. For how it makes me feel open and willing, and powerful and courageous. I love how it lifts my heart and grounds my soul simultaneously. And if these are all the things a tiger feels at any given moment, oh how I love that tiger too. Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion. ~ Rumi

I saw this variation on @victoria.arvizu and @robinmartinyoga pages and my first thought was well, I can’t do that. Then I remembered the reason I even decided to do this challenge was to try the things I keep telling myself I can’t do. So excuse me while I sit here and cry with joy for a few moments. I am grateful for all the ways yoga surprises me, every single day. You can start late, look different, be uncertain, and still succeed. ~ Misty Copeland

When your triceps don’t want to take part in any movement conversation you might want to have, but you still have a yoga challenge photo to take, you get a little help from your surroundings. Like this swing I came across on my walk. So this may be the least peacocky peacock pose you’ve ever seen, but it’s where my body is today; and that is good enough for me. Start now. Start where you are. Start with fear. Start with pain. Start with doubt. Start with hands shaking. Start with the voice trembling, but start. Start and don’t stop. Start where you are with what you have. Just, start.

There is no greater threat to the Critics and Cynics and Fear Mongers than those of us who are willing to fall because we have learned how to rise. With skinned knees and bruised hearts; we choose owning our stories of struggle, over hiding, over hustling, over pretending. When we deny out stories, they define us. When we run from struggle, we are never free. So we turn toward truth and look it in the eye. We will not be characters in our stories. Not villains, not victims, not even heroes. We are the authors of our lives. We write out own daring endings. We craft love from heartbreak, compassion from shame, grace from disappointment, courage from failure. Showing up is our power. Story is our way home. Truth is our song. We are the Brave and Brokenhearted. We are Rising Strong. - Brene Brown

Sometimes your postures don’t look the way you’re used to. Our bodies vary from day to day, hour to hour, side to side. And that’s ok. Sit with your body as it is in any given moment, and learn something from the pain, the discomfort, the tightness. Today is my 2nd day of physical activity after almost a week in bed fighting some bug. It turns out not moving can injure you, hurt you. My right hamstring feels like a taught guitar string ready to snap. My right knee appears to have been tweaked by vigorous sleeping (apparently a dangerous activity). So this is my standing split today. And I am proud of it. I am proud that my body still let’s me play, let’s me try. And I am proud of the journey back to health we are on together.

Crow Kisses: I guess I can’t do anything without dog kisses anymore, and I’m perfectly ok with that. Today was my first day back at the gym after 5 days of being too sick to leave the house. It felt amazing to move my body again with strength. I am so grateful for this body of mine, and all it does to keep me healthy and active; all it puts up with, because heaven knows I don’t always treat it as well as I should. But we’ve learned to live with each other, and love each other through the years. Perhaps we should love ourselves so fiercely, that when others see us they know exactly how it should be done. ~ Rudy Francisco

Chapasana with Kisses: Apparently having a dog is much like having a child. I can’t do anything alone, including my yoga challenge. Having Leia around actually has proven to be surprisingly helpful in working on my balance. It’s also, perhaps not so surprisingly, helpful in opening up my heart. Just look at the difference between the two photos (one with doggie kisses, one without), and you can see how much this pup opens me up. May we live every second of every day as if we are getting doggie kisses. Also, Happy Persian New Year! I put on my pinkest dress, and posed in front of my new year alter, in celebration of the first day of Spring. May the year bloom for you like the flowers of spring!

Brace yourselves, long post ahead. Fallen Trees Give Way to Rising Ones. I’ve been fighting off some virus, but I told myself I’d play along with a yoga photo challenge, so here I am. I committed to the challenge because when I saw the list of poses I thought I can’t do half those poses. So I decided to stop telling myself I can’t do things, and what better way to start doing that than with a challenge; what better ti...me to stop doing that than now (a little homage to Rage Against the Machine there). Didn’t have the energy to leave the house for today’s photo; so I ran on my patio before the cold medicine made me groggy, and gave me an excuse to not do this. I kind of feel like The Doctor, in the midst of regeneration in this photo; my head and hands disappearing into a stream of light. So it begins. With everything that goes away, room for something new is made. And so, fallen trees give way to rising ones. See more

Anatomy of a Headstand. I’ve actually never been able to get into a headstand without the wall. So I decided to do this in front of my very fragile, very oversized, very expensive to replace glass door. It gave me the false sense of security of knowing there was something there to catch my feet, but also the understanding that if I used it, I’d probably have to replace it. My pupster added special laughter to the journey, which helped to remind me that it’s in the joy we find in things that we are able to live in full awareness with them. Find ecstasy in life: the mere sense of living is joy enough. ~ Emily Dickinson

Brace yourselves, long post ahead. Fallen Trees Give Way to Rising Ones. I’ve been fighting off some virus, but I told myself I’d play along with a yoga photo challenge, so here I am. I committed to the challenge because when I saw the list of poses I thought I can’t do half those poses. So I decided to stop telling myself I can’t do things, and what better way to start doing that than with a challenge; what better ti...me to stop doing that than now (a little homage to Rage Against the Machine there). Didn’t have the energy to leave the house for today’s photo; so I ran on my patio before the cold medicine made me groggy, and gave me an excuse to not do this. I kind of feel like The Doctor, in the midst of regeneration in this photo; my head and hands disappearing into a stream of light. So it begins. With everything that goes away, room for something new is made. And so, fallen trees give way to rising ones. See more

Every day has the potential to be the best day of your life. If you’ll just let it be. #bestday #bestdayofmylife #letitbe #positive #positivevibes

Grateful for holiday scents! My yearly stock up of Vanilla Bean Noel has come in. I think I may have an addiction. For all of you who ask who’s baking cookies? when I’m around ... that’s me. You’re welcome in advance for the cookie craving. Fragrance makes us dream. - François Nars

Grateful for all the women who fought before me, all the women who raised me, all the women I am fortunate enough to witness rising into themselves, and the woman I am every single day. I raise my coffee milkshake in honor of you. Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim. - Nora Ephron

Grateful for tables in the sun, books as lunch dates, sriracha, and people who, when you order the tofu vermicelli bowl, feel the need to warn you that the egg roll contains eggs, is that ok? The sun is a daily reminder that we too can rise again from the darkness, that we too can shine our own light. - S. Ajna