The most profound and healing moments are usually on my yoga mat in a class. On this particular day, it is a wet, miserable, and depressing day. However, the students set their intentions to attend class knowing that this is what will help them feel better. Ninety-nine percent of the time, you will shift the energy in your being after a yoga class. You will learn to let go and be more present in your life. Whatever you do on the mat, reflects outward in your life. And we truly do great things

Sunday is a day of rest, relaxation and renewal in my house. It is a day I try not to work, except if you call writing this column work.  I am grateful for this column because it encourages me to reflect on what helps someone become happy and content. When speaking to my daughter, who is a very positive and grateful person, she said, “gratitude is attitude.” With this statement, I became inspired to write once again about how important it is to have gratitude in your life. It improves the

As I write my column this week, I am grateful for the moments I get to spend traveling. I have always been someone who yearns to see the world and how other cultures live. We are not that different but we seem to live much differently. For one thing, we are so fast-paced here in New York and other cultures seem to move much slower with dinner time starting at 9 p.m.! My favorite places to visit are places of worship. The churches in Europe are ancient and magnificent. Recently, we traveled to

Practicing awareness, presence, self-study, being busy, moving through tasks, taking care of others, not slowing down and really resting can bring us to a feeling of being brain tired.  Always thinking, reading, planning, doing, being in the moment, at some point can come to a head. It can be a feeling of pressure or mental fatigue or just feeling blah, not energized. There are some rebound tools I use which I would like to share with you.  

1. Five-minute meditations or rests: put your phone’s

One of our yoga teachers settled us in on our mats with a reading about impermanence from a pocket book by Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk and peace activist.  The concept of impermanence is one of the most difficult to live by.  We spend our lives making connections with people on different levels—getting close, sharing experiences, being attached, reliant, familiar—and then one day a huge change: separation, change of heart, or death.  It floors us. 

When I was doing my yoga teacher

After eliminating a habit of mine about two months ago, my friend lent me the book, “The Power of Habit, Why We Do What We Do In Life and Business,” by Charles Duhigg. What an eye opener! So many things we do every day are habits. We don’t even think about them.  Some are ok, good, harmless; others are not ok, not good and harmful to our health and well-being. We usually have a good idea of what may not be good for us, but the days go by and we may give some thought to making a change and maybe