COURTNEY ROHAN YOGA

Apps are so much fun. They help us discover things we did not know existed, and they put us in touch with other people’s ideas. I can listen to music, meditate, pay my bills, order a car or anything else that my heart desires just by having access to a couple of apps. Go to any app store and search anything, and I bet you will find something close to, if not exactly, what you are looking for. In the morning, one of the first things I do is reach for my phone. I do not reach for news or Facebook; I reach for my Bible app. The daily verses, the plans on specific topics and the scriptured pictures and notes that I can create make this app perfect for me. It was on this app during a plan that I discovered the Abide app, an app built on scripturally based prayers. For months I used the Abide app, talked about it with friends, and always enjoyed the prayers, especially ones by Joanna Quintrell. Her voice and ideas were so soothing and inspiring. As an intuit, I never know what I

I keep hearing people speak about the classes at the gym where I teach. “They’re too full,” as if these “extra” new year’s resolutions should not be here. If you’re that extra person, let me put on my coaching hat right now and say: “DO NOT GIVE UP!” It will get easier, just give it a chance. Slow your fight/flight response down by closing your eyes, slowing and deepening your breath. Breathe and give it a chance.   I know, the reality is that new year’s resolutions do die hard, and they take many of us along for the ride. Research shows that by the third week of the new year, most of us are headed for the door, and throwing that resolution in the garbage on our way out. The trick is that as we set these high standards for change, we must focus not on the big picture, but the little steps along the way. We must focus on the things that are going to help us stay consistent, not remind us of how far we have to go. Remember, we have to firm our intention with the little steps a

“Everyday, It’s getting closer, going faster than a roller coaster. A love like yours would surely come my way… .” -James Taylor  Today, December 31st, is my 15 year wedding anniversary. It feels great to reflect back through the years' ins and outs, the joys and hurts and the lessons. They show me that every day, we have an opportunity to move towards something, either consciously or unconsciously.  We choose, either way. We may go to work, but while our bodies go about daily tasks, our energy has a choice. We can be happy about this, or we can be somber wishing we were somewhere else. We can be cleaning the bathroom or making dinner and be content that we are able to do such things or resent the fact that someone else is not there to do it for us. The key to conscious, forward movement is looking towards where we are going, not forgetting what we have learned as we have come, but yet speaking now, aloud, the intention and thanking it for being, for soon

I’ve never been a morning person until now. Never scheduled classes or anything before 9, if I could help it. But there is something special about the morning, before sunrises, which can not be overlooked. In the darkness of this part of the day, what is seen is bright and available. Before our bunch of thoughts start merging and converging and feet get to stepping, the world and the energies of peace do their thing. On Monday, I started my first ever donation class at 6:30am in California at the Windsor Yoga Haus . Everything about that statement is new for me. I am binding the habit of telling myself that I am not able to function in the early morning. The easiest way for me to do this is to get up and into the day, in seva, selfless service. Rising to create and harvest unity of body, mind and spirit  instills a purpose. To be able to present an offering at this hour is precious. With the sun rising as class begins, the sky and hearts alight and align; I am moved. We are all m

I love Thanksgiving! It is hands down one of my favorite holidays. I love the idea of gatherings happening across country and a time of eating. Though we could work out that aspect of things in a healthier way, collectively, since there really are many things to eat that are healthy! ( Be sure to check out how to curve this pattern of overeating below. ) If you know me, you know I love to eat! And it excites me that giving thanks is more than gathering and eating. This holiday happens to fall strategically in the middle of a season of contemplation, when many things that once were transform. It is a sacred time of becoming something else to give The One glory.  We all know this transformation. We have done it before in various ways, big and small, seasonally, cellularly, egotistically, spiritually. The beauty of the outdoors during this time of year pricelessly shows us how wonderful and beautiful the process of transformation can be.  And with these big brains of ours, we of

Relationships can feel like delicious treats or deplorable tricks, and the song that we hear each Halloween begs us to make a choice: “Trick or Treat?” Relationships and Halloween both full of choice. And, it has always been this way.  The origins of Halloween being about the dead and our relationship to them long before there was a song to wield in which to gross candy. Beginning in the seventh century with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts the day before the Celtic New Year. This was a very superstitious time, “when the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely depe

Firsts are profound. A first kiss or a first love as horrendous or blissful as the breeze on a Spring day that lifts your skirt to the crowd or gently caresses your face.  The momentum that a first brings if we are paying attention could be the difference between something taking a year, a month, or a minute to experience. The difference between deciding that's not it, let's try again, or knowing what you want so clearly that there is nothing that could prevent its happening. That's the power of the firsts.  Asha and Sael at the Eats Festival in Oakland Since being in California, there have been a lot of firsts for me. I've been trying for the purposes of this blog to recall them all. I have been blessed with so many. We all are, everyday. And, if we really take stock, so many could be categorized as great!! Boston's first city bus ride (that he can remember) and father-led driving lesson, my first dip in the cold Pacific Ocean, my nieces Sael and Asha mee