Journal
Here you'll find writing on mindfulness, neuroscience, mental health, physical wellbeing, and yoga.
These topics often overlap: attention, behaviour and embodiment are all part of the same ecosystem of experience, and the aim here is to explore those connections in a thoughtful and practical way. Some posts draw from research, others from lived experience and teaching. The intention is to share ideas that are useful, considered, and occasionally a bit different from what is typically said.
April 28, 2020
Stretch out and chill out with this gentle relaxing yin experience. This class takes you through all basic movements of the spine, leaving you feeling relaxed and rejuvenated.
April 27, 2020
Take flight a few times with us in this intense and fun power class. With plenty of postures and transitions to make you sweat, laugh and get your feet off the ground.
April 26, 2020
This class releases tension from your glutes and shoulders, with long-held stretches and self-massage with a therapy ball.
April 25, 2020
A candle's flame dances with easeful presence. By resting our attention on the flame, we are inviting the mind to gently focus. Through impartial observation, we notice what is in the visual foreground, and the other layers of experience blending into the periphery.
April 24, 2020
In this short and sweet practice we warm up our hips through deep lunges and mindful stretches, then move into our hamstrings and glutes through a couple grounding postures.
April 24, 2020
In this meditation you will work with gentle guidance to come closer to the edge of presence. The mind translates the present moment through language and images, but we can move closer to the boundary of reality vs perception by quietening the actions of our mind.
April 24, 2020
A deep stretch video targeting shoulders, hips and thighs, great for those who are walking, hiking and or gardening.
April 23, 2020
In this meditation, you are guided through a body scan of the hips, legs and feet. Body scanning increases your ability to be mindfully present with sensation, and hones your focus to help calm and clarify the mind.
April 22, 2020
The air ("vayu") element within us brings about ease in action, lightness in our heart, depth to the breath, and expands our mind's viewpoint so we can see with clarity. It finds its home at the energy vortex known as the heart chakra (anahata chakra). In this class, we will expand our heartspace, invite in deep breathing and develop a sense of confidence in action. We focus on mindful backbends and powerful releases.
April 22, 2020
This sequence of postures, known as a variation of Moon Salutations, mobilizes side bodies, hips and hamstrings.
Following the cycles of life, the New Moon is perfect for a fresh start.
April 22, 2020
Whether from previous injury or wear-and-tear, our knees can get uncomfortable in a typical yoga class. This whole-body gentle yoga practice takes place without putting stress on your knees. You will be guided into mindful, mobilizing yoga exercises to open your joints, pressure-free for the knees.
April 22, 2020
In this meditation, we move through a body scan at our own pace, with a recommended map to follow. Karen gives guidances on how to meet sensation, feelings, and thoughts as they arise from the body, and how to return our attention to the practice when our attention gets diffuse.
April 21, 2020
This quick flow practice builds awareness of a stable foundation to ignite your core, open to deep breathing, and get your energy flowing. We stay close to the ground and work in resistance to gravity, with plank variations, lunges, and backbends.
April 21, 2020
In practicing body awareness, we hone our ability to pay attention to the finer details of experience, and to clear away the imposition of our ideas of what something should be, and let it just be. In this guided practice, we delve deeper into the First Foundation of Mindfulness of the Satipatthana Sutta: Mindfulness of the Body. Karen guides you through a body awareness technique, moving your attention from specific parts of your body from your head downwards.
April 19, 2020
Your spine provides a flexible structure for creative movement when breathing, stretching, leaning, turning, bending. It is the main channel of energetic flow and sensitivity. In this practice, explore the many ways your spine can move. Loosen up tightness, and bring fluidity to your central axis.
April 19, 2020
This practice will focus on mobilizing the feet and rest of the lower body. Your feet are your foundation. Make sure they (and their 33 joints, each) get the attention they deserve.
April 18, 2020
Hungry for a short, simple and sweet yoga snack to balance your energy and awaken your body, so you can meet the day with vigour and calm?
April 18, 2020
Experience your whole body in this steady and strong flow practice, gradually building heat and endurance. By holding postures for several breaths, you will have time to align yourself precisely and focus your attention on the vital forces of your body.
April 17, 2020
When we pay attention to the body, we welcome back what has been forgotten; the most grounded and palpable qualities of existence. In seeing beyond our thinking minds, we naturalize the pulse of our nervous system, and reconnect with our senses in a non-reactive way. In this meditation, we begin to work with body scanning to steady our mental energy, and expand our sense of being.
April 17, 2020
Buddhist teachings tell of a mental maneuvering called dukkha dukkha, which means suffering caused by suffering. It is when we identify personally with a difficult or unpleasant inner experience, and strain to manipulate it through our thoughts, making it last longer and occupy more head/heart/body-space than need be. In this meditation, we will practice dissociating from the added layer of personal identification, and see our inner world to be what it is, an ever-changing space of instances.