Karen's Blog
September 2016
- So I Climbed Bald Mountain: What’s the Big Deal?
For the fun of it, I have climbed Bald Mountain at least once each of my thirteen summers in Maine…….Until late this summer, climbing Bald seemed optional—a nice thing to do, but not something I HAD to do. Continue reading
January 2016
- Yoga Toscana: Not Doing My Best and Loving It
……with no official responsibilities, this week I would let go of ‘doing’ and shift into ‘being’, into noticing, experiencing, discovering and being open to learning. This challenging shift yielded deep and unexpected results. Continue reading
March 2014
- Living Well with Yoga: three versions
Now, still a student of yoga and in my tenth year as a yoga teacher, I recognize that yoga has been transformative. Continue reading
February 2014
- DIG!
I enjoy shoveling snow. It gets me outside during the winter, it’s aerobic and it’s practical. The shoveling keeps the long walk from my driveway to my front door clear and safe for my yoga students. And the activity is … Continue reading
September 2013
- In Search of a Yoga Teacher
When I first set out to find a yoga teacher…I didn’t know what I was looking for…, and there was no internet to provide me with more information than I could possibly absorb. Continue reading
July 2013
- Let’s Not Make a Deal
Having decided to celebrate my nine-year-old grandson’s birthday by going to an adventure park of rope courses and ziplines together, I proposed to him that I would do—or try to do–whatever he could do if he would do—or try to do—whatever I could do. Deal? Deal! Continue reading
May 2013
- Saraswati Comes to Mooselook
On this, the first trip I had ever made to Maine before Memorial Day, I saw ice on the lake for the very first time. Something intriguing was happening. Continue reading
March 2013
- Packing Light
As I fold my slender pink yoga mat into the bottom of my suitcase, I think ‘it’s taking up so much space.’ Without it, I could pack another pair of shoes, that extra jacket, or even use a smaller suitcase. True, but who am I kidding? For years I have taken a mat with me wherever I go. Continue reading
February 2013
- Level, shmevel!
Why does a yoga workshop that invites me to “ take your practice to the next level” make me cringe? Continue reading
January 2013
- Amazed!
2012 was a year of transformation and affirmation for me. Continue reading
November 2012
- Ancestral Guidance
As I watched my Aunt Pauline gear up for her sky dive at her 90th birthday, I looked at her thin, frail body and wondered whether she would make it back in one piece, or at all. Continue reading
- Time for Simhasana
On this crisp, clear morning, I walk into a nearby elementary school to vote. The long line of voters surprises me Continue reading
October 2012
- The Real Table Pose
As I cleaned an old pine table a few days before my 70th birthday, I began to understand something about yoga and growing older. Continue reading
September 2012
- Beginnings
This is a week of beginnings–the autumnal equinox, the Jewish New Year, and, only slightly less momentous, the opening of the new studio space in my home. Continue reading
June 2012
- Into the Unknown
Throughout my life I have been cautious about making commitments, but once I make them I do not let go with ease. So resigning my Anusara-inspired status has come neither quickly nor easily. Continue reading
March 2012
- Anusara Amaryllis
When my friend suggested that I name my amaryllis, I laughed, but strange coincidences caused me to reconsider. Continue reading
February 2012
- Second Grade Yoga Teachers
Little did I know how much yoga I could learn from second graders, but as I thought about my day with my friend Gary Proulx’s class at PS 321 in Brooklyn, an enduring yoga theme–stability and freedom—was clarified. In yoga, we create a strong and stable Continue reading
January 2012
- Time Found
Time expanded for me one morning last week while waiting for a friend whose arrival time was uncertain. Continue reading
- The Road to Powerful Intentions is Paved with Awareness
In January of 2011, I thought of resolving to practice yoga for two hours each day, beginning at 5 am. Great idea! It would feel virtuous to awaken before dawn, a daily practice would be ensured, and each day would … Continue reading
November 2011
- A Thanksgiving Story
The universe offers us gifts at surprising times and places. Only if we notice and appreciate them can we receive them. They change the fabric of our lives.
Continue reading - Without Power?
A winter storm at Halloween? It seems that the universe tricked us. Continue reading
September 2011
- Mooselook and the First Principle of Anusara Yoga
Here they come! The merganser ducks, dashing around playfully, their energy creating random patterns in the water. They race across the water and, skimming around in circles, make their way south. In a few hours, they will speed back north. They make me smile each time. Continue reading
June 2011
- Practicing with Owl
On a Sunday afternoon in February, when there were still several feet of snow, I had just begun my yoga practice, facing the woods. As I moved from my first dog pose into uttanasana (forward fold), I looked up and saw a large human-like creature standing in a round crater on the incline in the snow facing me. Continue reading
May 2011
- Yoga Becomes Me
At some point in my life yoga stopped being something I did and became part of who I am. As I look back on more than two decades of yoga practice, with one exception, there was no magical moment of transformation or realization. Quite the opposite. Continue reading
