Perspective + Psyche | Michelle Marlahan

These were the words of my 23 year old stepdaughter at lunch last week: "It's not like it is in the movies!" She was talking about love. She continued, "I thought...you meet someone, you move in together and get a dog and everything would be great. But I did all those...

What really matters

Living With Loss, Perspective + Psyche

Last week's post on creating a bigger container seemed to resonate with many people. Grief and loss touch all our lives and remind us of our togetherness. Related... for the past couple of months, a friend and I have been sitting together every morning at 7 am....

When you need a bigger container

Well, last week we wrapped up the filming of Yoga for Grief, which will air in November on Yoga Anytime. (If you want to check out their top-notch content then or before then, use the code MICHELLE for a 30-day free trial.) I will, of course, let you know when it...

When yoga isn’t fun anymore

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing! It's a common scenario: at some point after consistent yoga practice, a student will make the bewildered comment, "I used to feel so much better after yoga but lately I feel worse."...

Let’s do better than right and wrong

Is there a right way to do Warrior I? One of the things we've been exploring in class on Sunday mornings is how tempting it is to buy into the paradigm of Right and Wrong. Even in Teacher Training, students will ask, after an hour of exploring the many dimensions of a...

Bear It or Bare It?

Hard to believe we're into the seventh month of the year. And what a year it's been! As I've been hearing from many of you as well, this year has been a doozy for me. Health issue after health issue, carefully crafted plans getting demolished, a lot of personal...

It’s always something

Do you ever feel like it's just "one thing after another?" Or have you heard yourself say, with some amount of sourness, "it's always something!" Of course you have. You're human and all kinds of things happen in life. (I hope you haven't felt like that recently.) I...

What’s better than a new year intention?

Happy January! How is your year going so far (non-rhetorical question)? Usually I do a word or motto of the year. This year I'm thinking about intentions that are more seasonal. Something that feels right at the beginning of the year when it's cold and dark might not...

The energetic snow globe

The holidays can be particularly challenging for introverts and empaths. If you are exhausted by large groups or tend to pick up other people’s energy easily, parties can be a real drag. Especially in the winter, most gatherings take place inside and it’s harder to...

Compassion Fatigue

You may have heard of compassion fatigue as a condition used to describe the stress associated with working with people who are in crisis, trauma or suffering. Think of people in caregiving or helping professions like nurses, doctors, therapists, veterinarians and...

Recommitting to Quiet

Apparently I have a hard time keeping quiet. Back at the beginning of summer, I said I'd be stepping back to work on my writing project. And while I have been working on that project, I've also been doing a bunch of other stuff -- fun stuff! -- and engaging, busy,...

The importance of feeling safe

Feeling safe isn't just an emotional nicety. When we feel threatened, our biology steps in. Hormones are released that increase the heart rate, blood pressure and blood flow, small airways in the lungs expand, our vision narrows as our other senses sharpen. We can't...

Pitta Project

Summer Solstice Here we are at the peak of summer -- the summer solstice! It's the longest day of the year, and the official first day of Summer. For many people, there's a felt difference in their energy, urges, even physical and mental states in the different...

Unsupportive Resources

If you recognize that your main resources are unhealthy or harmful, like social media, video games, alcohol or other substances, here are a few things to consider. First, know that it's totally normal to self-regulate! You aren't bad because you utilize a way of...

Self-Regulating :: Resources

We all have ways that we self-regulate when we're stressed. Some might be less than ideal -- Facebook scrolling, online shopping or mindless eating -- and we might not even be aware of some of the ways we self-soothe, for example if you unconsciously stroke your thumb...

Wait 30 minutes

While on our honeymoon road trip through the Berkshires, we spent some time in Lenox, Massachusetts. It was the middle of May and still very spring-like with unpredictable weather. It would be sunny and warm, then we'd go outside again and it would be gray and windy....

Social Contagion and a Values-Aligned Life

Social contagion is the well-researched idea that we "catch" emotions and behaviors from other people. Susan David, the author of Emotional Agility, gives a couple of examples: You step into an elevator and the person in the elevator is on their phone. You are likely...

Four Favorite Poetry Books

...and one poem. Yesterday was a day of poetry. I've been sharing a poem at the beginning and/or end of class on Sunday mornings again recently. Poetry used to be as important to me in class development as the asana, but as happens with the cyclical nature of things,...

The practice of perplexity

"Part of the spiritual tradition is to unsettle us." That's a line from a recent On Being podcast with secular Buddhist teacher and writer, Stephen Batchelor. The discussion is about what Batchelor calls the immediacy of the mystery. Many traditions have practices of...

It’s Just Yoga

After selling It's All Yoga last year, I realized that if I were to open a studio now (which I'm not and don't have plans to ever:), I would name it It's Just Yoga. Not that the practice isn't a serious endeavor. Not that our practice doesn't sometimes feel like life...

My sleep test