Yoga with Julie

"Unconditional Human Worth means you are important and valuable as a person because your essential core self is unique, precious of infinite, eternal, unchanging value, and good.  Unconditional human worth implies that you are as precious as any other person.   ~ Glenn Shiraldi This quote is from the Self-Esteem Workbook, which is a book I dove into a few weeks ago. Growing up as a dancer and working in the entertainment industry can be an extremely self-critical environment to surround oneself in.  It causes you to look at yourself from all angles and even from the eyes of others around you.  Inspirational quotes sure do help and yoga certainly does create a space of acceptance, however I wanted to learn a little more about self-esteem, how it gets drained and how it can be replenished.  I would like to share with you a bit of wisdom I have encountered in this workbook so far starting with your core worth.   The core of something is the center, the fou...

Hi everyone!  I created this sequence via the help of yogajournal.com.  Being that my computer is being a bit stubborn with videos, please enjoy these picture illustrated sequences in the mean time.   You will see the pictures of the poses, even print out the sequence and put it in front of your mat.  Put on your favorite music (yogic or non yogic).  And flow away.  If you need any instruction on the pose than feel free to use the yogajournal.com website for a description or email me with a question.  This sequence starts in mountain pose.  First set an intention for you practice.  Please do all standing poses on the right side and then on the left side before continuing to plank, locust, and cobra.  Once you do all the standing poses slowly, then increase the speed and allow the poses to flow one into the next.  You can do this several times for a nice dancing warrior flow.  Then follow up with the backbends, forward bends...

Did you ever notice how frequently the mind compares itself to those around you?  It is so easy to look the person to your right and left and think, "Oh they have a flatter stomach than I do," or "If only I had pin straight hair," "My skin looks so much clearer than that person over there." And the comparison list goes on and on and on... We are constantly bombarded by images, advertisements, other people's conversations, facebook posts, that tell us the ideal of what we should look like and how we should define ourselves as human beings. Even taking a yoga class, where one seeks their sanctuary and acceptance, the mind is tempted to compare to practitioners that may seem more advanced than you, or the way their lululemon pants shape their legs and butt.  The best way to overcome this is to practice non -attachment to your thoughts and to find gratitude for yourself, however this is easier said than done.    Ladies and gentlemen, I invite you to ta...

I am happy to write this blog after returning from about 10 days of having an angry sinus infection, which seemed like a battle that was never going to be won throughout those 10 days.   When we are sick the body gives us tell tale messages of slowing down, resting, and disengaging from the normal daily routine.  This is common sense yes, but when our mind is usually on multi-task mode and our body is used to being physically active, this can cause caught a challenge.  I admit that even though I teach yoga I am not the best at slowing down and taking it easy.  This is my "pitta" dosha (if you are familiar with the ayurvedic term...if not click here..  http://www.yogajournal.com/health/ayurveda/ After a few days of feeling like my sinuses were pounding across my face and trying to stick to my daily yoga/workout/teaching routine, my ego had to surrender because I was not feeling any better.  There is no way the body can heal itself when you are continu...