By Heather Van Dalfsen, Certified Yoga Therapist, Yoga Teacher & Pilates Teacher in Training Movement. Everyday you have the opportunity to move. • From fingers, toes, limbs and spine • To creating facial expressions • To subtle internal movements through shallow breathing, deep breathing • Through softly singing, humming or • Even imagining these ‘movement’ […]
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By Heather Van Dalfsen, MEd, E-RYT 500, C-IAYT Habits are always of interest to me. Even though they are part of our human experience, many of us move through life and our habits on ‘cruise control,’ a subconscious auto-pilot, where we don’t stop to see, hear and feel what is happening. There are some days […]
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By Heather Van Dalfsen, MEd, E-RYT 500, C-IAYT | Photo Credit: Heather Van Dalfsen I Remember… When my 7th grade English teacher offered this writing prompt, I sat up with my attention. “Short, detailed slices of your life,” he repeated as he moved around the room in his cadenced, heavy-heeled walking pace. He loved his […]
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By Heather Van Dalfsen, MEd. C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, Certified Yoga Therapist and Viniyoga Teacher Your outdoor ‘green space’ yoga practice invites you to reconnect with the earth, stretch to the sky, inhale fresh oxygen and exhale a sense of groundedness – present for even one breath cycle, especially after such a significant year of change, […]
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“Your Mother is in the closet with the kids.” I paused and tried to picture this. My Dad continued, “I’m not sure if she’s teaching the kids something or trying to find a new perspective?” His voice trailed off as I stared at my cell phone. “Send me a picture Dad. I’ve got to see […]
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Tempers, Tools & Pandemic Ponderings, Part 1 What. Are. You. Doing?! A low, loud voice attached to an angry face bellowed to me from an open car window. The honking came next to punctuate the intensity. My emotions rallied and my stress response accelerated. What WAS I doing? The drive north over the Mackinac Bridge […]
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“I rarely laughed at my husband’s jokes.” Recently I spoke at the Alzheimer’s Association Conference to support caregivers. After a short yoga practice of breath guided movements, the caregivers participated in a meditation that invited them to pause in gratitude for themselves, the choice they made to attend the conference and for the sacred work […]
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“Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.” -John Muir Free yourself from winter hibernation + Free yourself from cold weather tension and stagnancy + Free time to be outside, breathe, […]
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Resolve – settle or find a solution; decide firmly on a new course of action Revolution – to overthrow a social order in favor of a new system (Google.com) Could ‘New Year Resolutions’ be overthrown? What if they were erased from our culture? How would we react? What would we talk about? Would we still […]
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“Art washes from the soul the dust of everyday life.” — Pablo Picasso Most of us are aware when we are stressed: the shortness of breath, tension in areas of the body, stomach twinges and mental meltdowns indicate how much stress we are dealing with. It also invites us to slow down, breathe and acknowledge what […]
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