Taoist philosophy conceptualizes universal balance in terms of yin and yang, complementary forces that govern our universe. Yin characteristics are cool, wet, slow, feminine, and quiet, where yang is the opposite: warm, dry, fast, masculine, extroverted. Winter, the yin season, is a time for storing and conserving energy in the way a bear retains fat …
Are you Savoring the brightness of life and the sheer joy that Summer brings? Our memories of summer are usually vivid because it is a season blessed with a joy and playfulness unsurpassed by any other time of year. Our senses are delighted by bright colors, fresh scents, vibrant flavors, brilliant sunlight, and heat on …
Have you ever thought about Firefighters and just how tough their job is. They rush into burning buildings to save us from fires. They work odd hours and their sleep patterns may be non-existent. One thing is certain: the amount of time and dedication a firefighter devotes to the job does not compare to the …
I did it. I am a proud owner of a car in Italy. A car that is registered to me and fully insured. Now, that may not sound like a big deal , and given the fact I’ve been driving since the age of 16 and have owned several cars in my adult life, I …
Aparigraha is the last of the five yamas of Patanjali’s Eight Limbs of Yoga. It often translates to ‘non-greed’, ‘non-possessiveness’, and ‘non-attachment’. We can’t truly possess anything, so it’s a bit silly how hard we try. We use things and people to prop our insecurities on. It’s like putting chains on things and demanding them …
By now you know I’m very passionate about the retreats that I facilitate in Tuscany. For years I had gone on retreats myself and it is a yoga retreat that inevitably altered the direction of my life and brought me to live in Italy. But really why are retreats important? There are many reasons: they …
A genuine and deep feeling of gratitude emerges as step into our receptive or yin nature and open up to being helped. Most of us pride ourselves on how self-sufficient we are. We like being responsible and being able to take care of ourselves. This is exactly why it can be so very frustrating when …
This summer didn’t exactly turn out the way I thought it would. If you don’t already know, at the end of July I had an accident or what I like to refer to as a wrestling match with a Taxi in Florence. The taxi won, leaving me with a broken wrist and in a cast …
As we begin to understand that the world outside of us is merely a reflection of the world inside of us, we may feel confused about who is to blame for the current problems we face. For example, If we had a difficult upbringing, we may wonder how we can take responsibility for that, and …
Happiness is obviously subjective and each one of us perceives it according to our own capacity. Some people find happiness in money, a new job, a vacation, while others find it in the little things that happen in our daily lives, such as approval, a confession of love, or even an apology. Gratitude is also …