COURTNEY ROHAN YOGA

It is easy to lose sight of the truth of the holidays. It is fun to spend time with family and celebrate all that has been and will be. Though fun is apart of the experience of living, the beauty of the sense experience. With the Winter Solstice, the beauty in this time of year is naturally more sedentary. It is a time of introspection. Somehow, though, we find ourselves doing more. How do we become still when everyone around us is moving and shaking their bells and mistletoes? Maybe just a little reminder will help.  Try this: Wake up. Sit. Even if just for a moment. Take a deep breath in and out. Acknowledge your breath. Inhale and tell yourself: Let . Exhale, and tell yourself: Go. After you get ready and before you leave your house, sit. Take a deep breath in and out. Acknowledge your breath. Inhale and tell yourself: Let . Exhale, and tell yourself: Go . Before you start a new project, after you finish a project, when you return home, before dinner, after…. At varying segments

Relationships are not easy. Because it can be hard to see ourselves and see others clearly, we lose the boundary between what belongs to us or is someone else's stuff. I have had multiple conversations about this in the past week or so. So I would like to share some insight that I have discovered in my search.  Have you ever walked into a room and immediately your energy changed? You were feeling calm before, but now you are feeling uneasy, listless, or anxious? Though there are a lot of reasons why this might be the case based on the other things happening in the room, something is for sure: What you feel now is not what you felt before you went there. What is happening now, affecting your energy now, is about the place and people within that space now. Good thing you can leave the room! When in relationship, it may not be so easy. Especially in a long term relationship with a lover or with a friend you've known "forever," it can be hard to see past the comfort t

Dr. El Geneidy and I, July 2019 Six months ago after starting chemo for the second time, my end game was to cure CLL once and for all. It is still to do so. I currently have .998% (Less than one percent!!) leukemia cells in my blood. Though doctors will not call this remission. Everyone can agree that this is progress. So now that I have had five rounds of chemo and my doctor has given me a very clean bill of health, my goal is to use my current leg up to identify all of the ways that I can create an environment of highest health and wellbeing: the cure! Last week my cure journey took me to my original oncologist in South Carolina. After directly stating my intentions to cure CLL a whole year ago, August 2nd, I come to a pivotal point in the road, a revisit to where my awareness of this journey began. When I was diagnosed with CLL, it had been months of questions which just lead to more questions. My discovery was clear within the experience though. After my first chemo treatm

To be diagnosed with cancer changed a lot for me and my family. The hardest part being all the unexpected experiences that emerge from it, all the things you feel that you can not control, and how much you want to protect the people you love, them for me and me for them, from hurting. Having cancer has been a constant reminder that what I think I know, I probably do not. As healthy as I was, it was not enough. I have other karmic dates to resolve. When I am OK with this, it becomes easier to deal with the present moment. I suppose it becomes more clear that this is the way of life when dealing with any life-threatening disease. It's not easy for anyone all the time. No matter how much we may appear OK, we will all meet challenges. So, I try to remember this with regard to my family. Though they are not receiving treatment personally, they have to sit on the sidelines and watch as someone they love does. On some levels, this is probably harder than going through the treatment itse

Do you want to let something go from your life? For me, I could no longer deny specific foods were not doing my body good. I decided that the best thing for me was to do an ill-imination diet, also known as, an elimination diet. I needed to eliminate the ill, the disease. Our diet is anything that we take in, so if food is not what you need to release at this time, you can still use the below hacks to help you. I have to be honest, at the end of the school year when things were most stressful for me, cutting things out of my diet challenged me greatly. It takes great will power (that I obviously lacked as my energy was seeping out in other ways) to change to my eating plan, and it took intention that I had not thought to set. When my body started to scream at me in pain, I could no longer walk the path that I was on. Changing my thinking was a must. I had to remind myself that I was not being denied anything that was helping me. I had to gather my will power and set the intention t

It started with Spicy Doritos..... Well, not exactly. It started years ago when I learned that I could not eat everything, but continued to eat as I felt. It is not always about someone's weight, which reminds them of this. I've always been thin. But my gut has not been healthy. This weekend after some strong core work, over the course of three days teaching and taking classes, I woke with intense cramps, and soreness. I was also gassy. This is not abnormal for me-- the gassy part. Often I hear my stomach after I eat. Sometimes taking a deep breath in to my belly will bring intestinal noise. But the cramps and soreness, I could not figure out. Typically core work feels good, yes, sore, but only as if I'd done something good. This was more. I used a heating pad and tried to think back to my last bowel movement. Hum, I won't share too much about that here. But, it was not a good solid one. During one of the yoga classes I'd been in before this episode, I'

When my husband first mentioned fasting for my health, it was not the first time I'd heard of it. But it was the first time someone so close to me had suggested that I do it. Here, I'm on a fast at the end of this last cycle of chemo, the 12th day When I'd first heard of intermittent fasting, I was at the Airport Health Club, where I offer yoga, enjoying the jacuzzi. I met a nice couple whose brother/ brother-in-law had just passed from cancer. The women was struggling with some health concerns of her own, and they'd mentioned fasting with their brother in solidarity. The story concluded again with him passing away, so I thought "Well, that might explain some things." Why would anyone deny themselves nutrients that could help their body, especially when the body was already depleted? The intuitive nudge did not stop there, and neither did my skepticism. A new homeopathic doctor's office opened in front of the Airport Club, and they offered a Keto D