Author Archives: Michelle

  Have you been curious about retreats – what they’re like, how you’d benefit? Why not just go on a vacation instead? While vacations can certainly be inspiring and rejuvenating, retreats can be an important time for self-care, for realigning with the vision for your life or for evaluating what is really important for you.Continue reading “The Importance of Retreats”

I just returned from a short vacation. Before going, I created a mantra – “THIS is the best part!” What’s that about? Let me explain… A mantra can be a word or phrase used for concentration in meditation or, in my case, this mantra was a statement repeated frequently to remind me of an intention.Continue reading “THIS is the Best Part!”

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. Melody Beattie I often recommend cultivating a gratitude practice to the cancer survivors I work with. Why? Because it is easy to become consumed by anxiety and fear and to get overwhelmed by everything you need to do to takeContinue reading “Practicing Gratitude”

I recently returned from a teacher training on yoga nidra. Yoga nidra translates as yogic sleep and it’s a practice that guides participants into that realm between wakefulness and sleep. It’s much like hypnosis however the nidra practitioner is encouraged to stay awake and alert. What I found most phenomenal was the state of deepContinue reading “Yoga Nidra and the Parasympathetic Nervous System”

This article was written for the Shuttle, a local newspaper in Philadelphia’s Mt. Airy Neighborhood. “Inhale, raise the arms. Exhale, lower them.” Perhaps you’ve experienced these yoga moves. Perhaps you’ve enjoyed moving and stretching in yoga class, feeling the heart rate gently increase as the body becomes warm and supple; feeling the body’s strength and powerContinue reading “How Yoga Heals”

My job in teaching yoga to cancer patients is to facilitate a healing process. One of the first things we look at in this process is internal awareness. In turning inward, participants begin to tease apart the different internal phenomenon, all of which will, in general, fall into one of three categories: physical sensations, emotionsContinue reading “Developing Internal Awareness”

I can’t recommend this book enough, The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer. Singer describes the process of moving into calm awareness and quieting the mind as if it were a ‘how to’ on washing dishes. His language is simple, direct and accessible. What I especially liked is that he barely used citations and referencesContinue reading “The Untethered Soul”

I just started reading Dr. Herbert Benson’s book, Relaxation Revolution. I’ve been excited about Benson’s work for a while now and first wrote about him in an earlier post, Meditation and the Relaxation Response. In the 1970s, Benson started researching the physiological changes that happen during meditation and these changes are collectively known as theContinue reading “A Relaxation Revolution”

Just as I was considering taking some of my yoga students outside to do standing poses barefoot in the grass, my friend Kevin Starbard, a Qigong teacher, sent out a blast about “Earthing.” Earthing is the practice of grounding yourself by walking or standing barefoot on the earth and Earthing enthusiasts purport that it has numerousContinue reading “Earthing”

You’ve heard me go on and on about diaphragmatic breathing or belly breathing especially in regards to anxiety. In this video below, Elmo and friends show us how to use it for anger or your “Inner Monster!” Just to clarify, the belly goes OUT when you inhale. Enjoy!