Giving birth is not just a means to becoming a parent. It is, by its very nature, a transformative experience that not only turns a woman into a mother, but her partner into a parent, their parents into grandparents, their sisters and brothers into aunts and uncles….While there are few sizable studies exploring the lasting impact of a birth experience on a mother, a small research project by Penny Simkin illustrates how mothers remembered details of their births 15 to 20 years later. I certainly remember my first birth experience in vivid detail and today my mom can tell me the story of my birth just as easily as the first time she shared it with me in my childhood. So why is it that…

Halloween is nearly here and I am bursting with excitement! As far as I’m concerned, it’s the best holiday of the year. It starts a few weeks ahead of time with a wonderful trip to the pumpkin patch. The orange pumpkins against the blue sky is just gorgeous and makes for a fantastic family photo op. (If you’re a Halloween purist, like me, you go to the real pumpkin patch on the farm.) Kev and the kids decorate our yard. This year we grew our own pumpkin patch right out front which…

As Hillary and I wrap up our Lotus Blossom Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training and I begin Dharma Path Advanced Studies at Samyama, I am reminded of an important principle in my teaching (Or shall I say my learning?): I reserve the right to change my mind. Said another way, “when you know better, you do better.” A good teacher never stops learning, and it’s a strength, not a weakness to be able to come to class and say, “You know that thing I’ve been telling you every class for the last ten years? We’re not doing that anymore because yesterday I learned something better.”

This week I set aside my usual prenatal yoga ramblings to honor the victims of the California Fires, especially in Sonoma County.  I started my college experience at Sonoma State, and lived in the area for my first few years of college. Watching your old neighborhood be evacuated and getting reports directly from friends who live there is surreal and so very personal.  (The fires in Nevada County were a bit personal, too- my parents lived there part time until recently and I did some of my prenatal yoga training in the area at the Expanding Light, part of the Ananda Community connected with my children's school). My heart is heavy.