A note from Carl, A couple weeks ago, we celebrated Mesa’s 4th birthday. On the several opportunities he had to blow out candles and make a wish, (we like to extend our celebrations over the week) each time, he wished for some variety of a sword. His great love of swords began awhile back, the exact…

Gratitude is such a wonderful healing balm. One of the teachings that’s been working on me for years is this: The world I experience is the world I pay attention to. Wow. Is it really true? With years of personal research under my belt, I can say it seems to be so. And the more…

First, I want to say thank you for all of the loving, empathetic responses that came to us after what Erin wrote last week about her miscarriage. We have been deeply touched and grateful. Several times I have watched this short animation of a Brene Brown talk on empathy that Erin included last week, and…

2 weeks ago I began the process of having a miscarriage. My third. I was 9 weeks along this time, not quite ready to tell the world our news. Having been through miscarriages before, there’s a particular flavor of emotional intensity to this first-trimester time which I’m quite familiar with. In addition to the usual…

If you look around our house, you will find several piles that look like this… It is our current queue of inspiration. Erin just heard last week that kinesthetic learners pile rather than file. We both felt well validated… One book that has been in several piles around the house recently (we have a few…

Here in Salt Lake City, we are enjoying impossibly gorgeous days, replete with the scent of blossoms on the air, and everything seems to be bursting into life in full color. Ahhh. I love spring. I have 2 poems for you this morning. First this one, as the trees have been giving such gifts to…

A couple days ago, while working at the computer, Erin invited me to pause, and listen to Mary Oliver reading her poem: Mornings at Blackwater For years, every morning, I drank from Blackwater Pond. It was flavored with oak leaves and also, no doubt, the feet of ducks. And always it assuaged me from the…

There’s something Russell Delman said when I was at a retreat with him in Seattle a few weeks ago that keeps coming back to me me, and I’m inspired to share it with you. First I’ll share a poem of Rumi’s and then play with the poem a bit to say it differently (kinda like…

A note from Carl:  Happy Equinox to you! Lat weekend, while Erin was in Seattle at a retreat with Russell Delman, Mesa and I got to take a father/son trip down to Boulder, Utah.  I am so grateful to live in a place where you can go and not see another human for two or…

I’ve been thinking about a line I heard Russell say some months ago. It was something like this: “Letting ourselves and each other out of the boxes we’ve created is a great act of love.” What are the boxes? Old self-images. “I’m this kind of a person. I could never do that.” Old images of…

This morning I was reflecting on the notion of “the high road.” I have always loved this line from poet Edwin Markham: “He drew a circle that shut me out- Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle and took him in.” Though I…

There’s something that happens every time we guide people in doing a movement lesson with their feet. People light up. Get giddy. Something awakens, and it’s delightful to witness. There’s often laughter, and always this indescribably look on their faces… The body’s learning switch is flipped on, and feet become something more than “those things…

I recently heard Tara Brach tell a story about a statue of the Buddha in Southeast Asia. It was a large, clay statue that had survived for thousands of years and was beloved by the local community. One day, a group of monks was attempting to fix one of the many cracks that had emerged…

Yesterday I received a text from a dear friend telling me she’d rolled her car twice in a freaky-weather accident. Fortunately she and her fiancé are alive, and while banged up, will heal. I shared this story with my Women Embodied group on Tuesday as my dear friend is one of our circle, and as I…

On the last day before entering this new lunar year of the Wood Horse, I had one of those days where the universe was sending clear messages, through different channels, all centering around the theme of judgment. The first was an email from Russell Delman, where he was describing his time working with Mother Theresa,…

I notice a sense of excitement as I begin to type…. there’s so much I’m delighted to share with you. But first, I’m going to tune in, sense the ground under my feet and the chair under my pelvis, open to hearing sounds around me (mostly the whirr of my space heater and the clicking…

I am enjoying the slow digestion and integration from a week with Russell Delman in Northern California. It feels like perfect timing for reflection as we near the end of this year of the Snake and head into the Green Wood Horse Year on Friday. I always resonate more with the timing of the Chinese…

As you read this, we’re on our way to Northern California for a week of training with Russell Delman – the start of the 3rd year of our 3-year Embodied Life Mentorship with him. We’re so excited for another opportunity to delve into this work with a wonderful group of people, and to learn more…

Beunos dias, As sit at the laptop, overlooking the valley of unimaginable green, I hear the sound of the Rio Talari below me and countless birdsongs from every direction- I’ve seen at least 5 new kinds of birds everyday… We are almost to the end of our our Begin Again retreat at Finca Mia in…

Warmest wishes for a wonderful new year. A new moon, a new year, a new beginning…. I love that die-hard gardeners, in the midst of deep dark winter at this time of year, start poring over seed catalogs and images of colorful, beautiful life… planning and ordering seeds for the next season’s garden. I love…

A note from Erin: Happy New Year! I’m inspired to share a favorite quote from Zen teacher Cheri Huber, in case the well-intentioned but oft-misguided “inner fixer” is having its way with you this New Year’s…. “Self-hatred uses self-improvement as self-maintenance.” Isn’t it true? May whatever life-enhancing changes you are longing for unfold with vast…

Joseph Campbell used to invite people to find some time in each day where you can forget who you are, who your family is, the successes and failures of your personal history… What remains if we give ourselves a few moments to forget all of that? I had the good fortune, (and the great support…

Warm greetings! My beloved Carl is in the midst of a silent week-long meditation retreat with one of our teachers, Reggie Ray, in the still and spacious environment of Crestone, Colorado. Carl and I sometimes joke that we share a brain, and certainly share consciousness, and it’s been so wonderful to have a part of…

Recently Erin and I were reflecting on a line from Rumi: “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” -Rumi Could you take that one in slowly? (that’s Erin’s hand with some of her finds from a walk…

Our newsletter took a little holiday on Thanksgiving last week. If your inbox looked anything like mine, filled to the max with black-Friday and cyber-Monday deals, I bet you didn’t miss us. :) We had a great holiday at my parents’ home in Woodland with family from near and far. Though the nationally sanctioned day…

First, a little Mary Oliver to begin with on a rainy Thursday morning… I Have Decided I have decided to find myself a home in the mountains, somewhere high up where one learns to live peacefully in cold and silence. It’s said that in such a place, certain revelations can be discovered. That what the…

Lots of exciting stuff is brewing around here and I’m excited to share some of it with you. First – I opened registration for my Women Embodied in-person course a few days ago and already it’s more than half full with amazing women. Wahoo! I’m so delighted! Email me if you’d like to join us…

We enjoyed a wonderful celebration of Erin’s 40th birthday yesterday. It was done in a classic, quiet, deeply satisfying Erin style…some good juicy new books to read on the couch, some candle lit time when Erin wrote notes expressing the great gratitude to the people in her life, and just some good old reflecting, celebrating…

While I was away last week I got to dive into a great book, Fate and Destiny by Michael Meade. It’s a fun read for me as I so often read books from the Eastern traditions – and this is full of Western myths and Meade’s colorful and inspiring commentary. I wonder why I’m craving…

Just to the end of a solo dad week here while Erin had the chance to do a week long retreat with one of her mentors, Donna Farhi, in Seattle. The newsletter is a bit late, the dishes are not done, and I have a huge amount of respect for all the single moms and…