COURTNEY ROHAN YOGA

Stand to your feet. Find Tadasana, Mountain Pose . Turn your head slowly to the right and to the left. Look up at the ceiling or sky. Look down at the floor or ground. What do you see? Use at least three full breaths to fully experience each perspective and your physical responses to it. There are many things to see wherever we are, many perspectives. There are so many that we can not see them all. And, hopefully we enjoy your perspective we see, but maybe we don’t.  Take a deep breath.   There is a solution!   There’s lots of stuff to see.  You have a choice about that which you give your attention to. (I’m not talking about denial here.) See more of the good! Twisting the body allows us to move around the anchor and see what we want to see. This can be the physical anchor of the feet and thighs. Or, this can be the anchor of the truth. Anchoring into the truth of who you are, your brilliance, allows you to see the brilliance that is around you. This is no

I used to be so concerned with what people thought. “Was I doing this or that right.” Sometimes I still am when I consider someone more than me, and that happens. However, I am no longer ashamed of this when I remember, we are one, and I am not twelve anymore. More important than age, I’ve got a pretty decent tool belt now. We are all one, yet we are unique. And, the tools that work for one, do not work for everyone, at least not in the same ways or at the same times. That's for sure. Testing someone else’s tool at the wrong time for us, we quickly learn. Throwing a hula hoop around in the park is just not meditative for us in the way that it is for them. I personally have to work way too hard for the hula hoop and can accept that with a smile. Until one day when the sun shines in just the right way and the breeze flows with our hips and the hula hoop in just the right way and our hoop alights. But on those days when this orchestra does not take place, I enjoy doing

Some people have fetishes, but the foot one was never something I could understand. I am not trying to judge you, if that’s your thing. I have my own issues here: feet stink most of the time. Cooped up in socks and shoes or barefooting it, they stay pretty dirty. The problem with my realism here is that they (feet) are an awesome reflection of the whole. The way we stand on them affects our posture. The points on the bottom of the feet function in relationship to our organs and overall well being. At the beginning of a yoga class, when experienced yogis are moving around on their mats with prowess, what do you? Most beginners sit and wait for class to start. Can I suggest a foot rub? No, not for me or anyone else in the room, unless… well, no, let’s focus. If you have nothing else to do, rub your own feet while you wait for class to start. And this is not just a beginner's advertisement, this is for all. Whenever you can, rub your feet. Just like rolling a tennis ball on th

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