The Power of a Moment, or Saving the World Through the Transcendent Bliss of the Whoopee Cushion

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The Power of a Moment, or Saving the World Through the Transcendent Bliss of the Whoopee Cushion

January 24, 2014 in Blog

The Power of a Moment, or Saving the World Through the Transcendent Bliss of the Whoopee Cushion

by Kathleen Yount

It was one of those moments. Somehow, my eight-year-old niece got her hands on a whoopee cushion. (Yes, they do still make those things.) After a variety of attempts, she successfully slid it under her uncle as he sat down in his chair, and she lit up laughing as he landed.

Well, we were all laughing, but my niece’s face was completely transformed by delight. I’ve seen her in this state before, other too-rare moments where she’s in full-on joy mode (and to be clear, it’s not always related to passing gas).… Read the rest

This is your life. Right now.

January 2, 2014 in Blog

This is your life. Right now.

by Jill Sockman

I love to cook, and over the years have gotten pretty good at it.  No one ever “taught” me how to cook, I absolutely cannot be bound to using a recipe, and the big life is a sequence of momentsdownside, according to friends and family, is that you’ll never enjoy the same meal twice.  But believe me when I tell you, I got it wrong pretty regularly before I started getting it right.  As we start a new year and I begin another journey around the sun, I’m struck by how what happens in my kitchen is some kind of metaphor for my journey in life.… Read the rest

Every second counts

December 1, 2013 in Blog

Every second counts

by Jill Sockman

I spent the entire day yesterday watching college football.  It’s an occasional indulgence, mostly at the holidays and generally always with family. I was indoctrinated at an early age (or perhaps am genetically predisposed), and it’s more of an addiction than just a family tradition.  Anyway, it was fun to be a part of game day, Sockmans across the country screaming at the television.

After the Big Game (go Bucks!!) I morphed into my chair and watched another rivalry:  Alabama vs. Auburn. If you missed it, you missed something really incredible – and I don’t think you need to know about football or care about college sports at all to appreciate it.… Read the rest

Put the Phone Down

November 1, 2013 in Blog

Put the Phone Down

by Jill Sockman

I grew up in a home where the phone was considered a tool – or an appliance maybe. Not unlike an oven or a drill, it had a purpose, generally work-related, and otherwise one should leave it alone. Time chatting on the phone was limited, and even as a teenager I was not permitted to have a phone in my bedroom.  In fact, I clearly remember my disciplinarian father telling me (in no uncertain terms) that the phone was NOT a toy.  My, how times have changed.

Fast forward to the present. During training last week, I was staying in a cabin, on a ranch about halfway up the mountain from Carbondale to Redstone, Colo.  … Read the rest

Judgement of That Which is Non-Yogic

October 3, 2013 in Blog

Judgement of That Which is Non-Yogic

by Jill Sockman

It can be all too easy to fall into that dualistic mind of partitioning the world into things/people that are yogic and those that are not. Ultimately unhelpful, but this is what we do. The recent effort across the broader yoga community to block YogaGlo from patenting the recording of yoga instruction during a live class (what?!?!?!?!) is one example which has ruffled a lot of feathers.  And don’t get me wrong:  I think it’s even crazier than trying to patent a sequence of asana which have been performed by millions of people over thousands of years.  … Read the rest

Step outside the Kingdom of Comfort

September 1, 2013 in Blog

Step outside the Kingdom of Comfort

by Jill Sockman

So, here’s a little question for you. How much are you missing out on in order to stay warm, stay dry, stay safe or stay comfortable? I’m beginning to realize that the older I get, the more I just might be missing.

There was a time in my life when adventure was de rigueur. I was pretty uninterested in comfortable, as it generally meant *boring*! While I suppose there are elements of maturity and practicality at play here, there are also elements of complacency, fear, laziness and wayyy too much time spent in my comfort zone.… Read the rest

Deciding for your highest and best interest

August 3, 2013 in Blog

Deciding for your highest and best interest

by Jill Sockman

So, I was giving some thought to how we make decisions. In personality tests, this process is often broken down into two categories: intellectual/factual or emotional/intuitive. As I understand it, most of us have a primary method (one or the other) as the place from which we decide.

I’d like to add another element, continuing on from my ramblings last month. How many of our decisions are truly decisions and not just default reactions? How many things do we do without much mindfulness or introspection? And even more, how many of our choices are based on erroneous beliefs and patterns of behavior (samskara!)… Read the rest

Get out of your groove

July 2, 2013 in Blog

Get out of your groove

by Jill Sockman

Yoga classes, magazine articles, songs on Spotify…everyone’s talking about letting go. What the heck does that mean? And how are you supposed to do it?

Whatever it is that you are holding on to — and the list of possibilities is long: childhood baggage, unforgiven hurts, unhealthy habits, toxic relationships, I could go on and on — chances are good that you didn’t pick it up last week. Part of the holding on is, itself, a habit. And a habit takes time to really cement into your way of being.

So you recognize that you’ve got something tight in your fist (or your mind or your heart) that is holding you back.… Read the rest

Seeing with new eyes

June 2, 2013 in Blog

Seeing with new eyes

by Jill Sockman

I took last week off to get in a 5-day Tantra intensive with my teacher. There was a very small group of us for this training — only 22 — and the training was held in a retreat center on the Baja peninsula — about halfway between Cabo and Todos Santos. For those of you who don’t know the terrain, it’s beautiful desert land along the rugged Pacific coast. There’s a striking beauty to the contrast between the dry scrub and cactus and the wild sea that feels so powerful, so raw.

The center where we stayed (we’ll be taking a retreat/continuing education trip there next year!)… Read the rest

In the habit of busy?

May 2, 2013 in Blog

In the habit of busy?

by Jill Sockman

I’m a list maker and I always have been. I think the source of the habit is two-fold: part because of the inexplicable glee I get from crossing items off said list and part because my brain is incapable of remembering more than three things at any given time. And so I have lists: things to do, groceries/supplies to buy, books to read, projects to begin/complete — even the list of lists is endless. They live in multiple notebooks, on my computer, in my phone, on the back of receipts in my wallet and in general, I am not sure if I’m bound by or held together by these endless notes.… Read the rest