One of the things I've enjoyed the most from getting my RYT-500 status (Registered Yoga Teacher, 500 hours of training) and becoming a Certified Personal Trainer is learning about anatomy. Exercises and yoga poses make so much more sense when you have a little knowledge about anatomy. I'm certainly still no expert, but that's why we in the fitness industry can't stop learning and going to trainings. There's always more to learn, study, and test out.

​In this post, we'll talk about the importance of having strong glutes, the muscle group itself, and 3 excellent ways to train them. Read on for more...

This yoga instructor is really, really missing her in-person teaching. The pandemic has made me pause my group gatherings. The thing I miss the most is my people. 

​Another thing I miss a lot about in-person teaching is how I sync my classes very tightly to the seasons and the changing of the seasons. There are so many lessons we can learn from nature. There is a lot of symbolism we can take from the transition of season to season. If we were meeting in person right now (around the fall equinox and the beginning of fall), I'd have a whole month of classes planned around the transition from summer to fall. Since I don't have that outlet right now, I decided to write about it. ​Read on for more...

I recently  posted on Instagram about the lotus flower and I got so much feedback from it I decided to blog about it. All of the feedback relayed that the post had been encouraging. Since encouragement is a very good thing, I want to expound on that post just a little bit. Read on for a couple of my favorite lessons we can all learn from the famous little lotus flower and how it relates to your yoga practice.

Well it snuck up on me: my 100th blog post. Oh, this isn't it. This is actually #103. (It really did sneak up on me.) My actual 100th post was about salsa. Which, in hindsight, is perfect because I do really love salsa. Oh well. Anyway, I do think that passing the 100th post is quite a milestone. It means that I've given time, effort, and haven't quit something that is challenging. 

To celebrate, I wrote about it. This post is for all of you creative souls out there. This post is not merely about blogging. Most of this post is applicable to other adventures as well, and just life in general. It's more about life lessons that I've learned from doing something creative. Read on for more...

​That quote has inspired me many times. This bit of writing is me sincerely trying to give you motivation if you are this person: you know you need to be more active, but always come up with reasons why it's not the right time. I love helping people on their fitness journey but I can't help people who aren't ready to help themselves. Believe me, I have tried. It only wastes their time and frustrates me. At the end of the day, it's your life and it's all up to you what you do with it. You are responsible for you. 

But maybe you're not too far gone... wink, wink. If you keep having that nagging feeling that you shouldn't be putting off exercise and healthy living any longer, read on for inspiration to GET OFF YOUR BUM and start moving, already! NOW is the perfect time to start. Read on for why.

I look forward to this post every year! Here, you'll find gift ideas for a wide variety of interests and in a wide variety of price ranges. These are items that I personally own, enjoy, and recommend. {For more inspiration, here are links to my gift guide from 2018 and also my gift guide from 2017.}

BUT... remember, stuff is just stuff. The best gift you can give someone you love is your TIME and attention. A great gift would be an activity together and putting your phone away for it. A gift doesn't have to cost money. Don't sweat the small stuff this holiday season! Spend time with your loved ones and have a healthy dose of gratitude. 

Xoxo, Merry Christmas, & Happy Everything.  :)

We lost our beloved Labrador Retriever, Layla, over three months ago. It hurts. It hurts so much that I haven't even told a lot of my closest friends that she died. I don't want to talk about it yet. (And that's ok.) It's too painful for me to face the whole reveal of telling my friends and speaking it out loud. Somehow writing about it is healing to me, so here I am, writing about her. This kind of post is out of my normal range of topics, but I know that many of you are also animal lovers, so I think just maybe... it would be nice to talk about her to you. ​

I can't begin to tell you how helpful it is to do a little reflecting on your life at the beginning of fall. Last week, I blogged about the Fall Equinox and some of the symbolism we can take from nature to learn more about ourselves. Each year, the fall equinox not only welcomes the first day of fall, but also is really neat because it's one of only two days in the entire year where day and night are in balance. It brings up two really important questions that I encourage you to ask yourself: 1) day and night are in balance, are you? and 2) since fall is associated with harvest time, what are you harvesting in your life? What seeds did you plant in the spring to give life to over the summer? What did you dream of and work on this year and what do you have to show for it now, at harvest? 

Those are deep questions, but ones worth asking if you're on a journey of self discovery. If you'd like to hear more about diving into those (very personal) questions, read my post from last week Fall Equinox: What's Your Harvest? 

​Life /goals / dreams / resolutions rarely turn out how we think they will, so if you need a little encouragement, keep reading to hear about my own harvest this year.