I forgot how much I enjoy shushing down tree lined hills with fresh snow flakes sprinkling the air. A little bit of chatting on the chair lift, finding your own path down the mountain, gorgeous views and hours outside in nature. 

I also forgot how much I don’t enjoy skiing in pouring rain, chopping through sloshy snow and dodging sheets of ice along with out of control skiers. My wet noodle of a three year old also lacked in the desirability category despite her best efforts. 

I’ve seen bumper stickers in our area that read, “Ski The East”. The subtitle, IMHO, should be, “we brave every element”. It’s the equivalent to those 26.3 bumpers stickers. You ran a marathon? I did .1 more. You skied in Colorado? I skied in rain, sleet and snow. 

The biggest issue for me was the huge sheets of ice. Once you hit one, you’re better off riding it out than trying to turn or you’ll inevitability yard sale and pray that someone...

As I exhale deeply in downward dog, I hear the bedroom door creak open and close. 

Ugh, don’t they (meaning any of the other 6 people in our house since one daughter is doing yoga with me) know that I’m in the middle of teaching my class?

Two minutes later I’m holding plank and hear the door creak open and softly close.

At least the intruder is trying to be silent.

Four minutes later I’m balancing on one hand and one foot. “Creeeaaaak”, close.

Seriously, this is annoying. The one hour a week I look forward to EVERY other day of the week is getting interrupted. Deep breath, back to the present. FOCUS.

Five minutes later I’m looking right at the door when it opens two inches. With my best zen whisper, I mouth to my daughter doing yoga with me in to kindly find the perpetrator and beg them to stop.

Three minutes later, a note slips under the door with an SOS!! notice at the top.

This made me think of how many times our body comes...

Without going into details, this week I'm coming to you grieving the loss of a loved one. 

Through my tears, I'm reflecting on a life lived well and death. 

I'm reminded that none of us knows how much time we have on this planet. 

No amount of kale or green smoothies or a certain size will guarantee you to make it to 100 years old. 

No magic code exists. 

"I wish I had eaten more lettuce and dieted more" said no one EVER in their final days.

The wish is usually that there had been more things that brought joy, more connection, more adventure and more love. 

This week I hope that you'll hug the people in your home (and through your zoom screen) a little bit tighter.

Inhabit your body with aliveness and passion. 

Trust yourself. 

Surrender and let go of trying to control things outside of your control (yes, this means your body size).

Let your food and body be what they want to be. 

Cultivate fierce self love. 

Connect with your...

"Ding, dong, the Dows are dead!" my daughter chanted in a sinister voice. 

She was singing this made up ditty in response to my husband flying late last week to see his ailing dad and the possibility that he might get COVID while traveling. 

"Dad's going on the airplane, and then he'll get COVID and then he'll give COVID to us and then we'll all go to the hospital and then we'll all die".

Have you done this before? It's called catastrophizing (going from best case to worst case scenario or imagining the worst possible result).

I'm guilty of this, too.

While doing the dishes after dinner this week I was simultaneously figuring out how I would manage the kids because I was sure that my husband was in a car crash since he was 30 minutes late from dropping off my daughter. 

He was actually just in the garage on a business call. 

We imagine the worst case outcomes when it comes to our partners, our kids and our bodies. You fear...