You’re on the verge of a new chapter in your life -- but you feel resistant and awkward. You’re about to kickstart deeper self-care (and prioritize standing in your own truth), but you’re all elbows and self-doubting. The beginnings of things are hard. Especially when they really, really matter to us. This is the archetype of the Maiden in the Heroine’s Journey. When we understand and honor her (and bring not only our Beginner’s Mind… but also our Beginner’s HEART), we can melt resistance, bring ease into the fiery crucible of change, and say YES to our current “spiritual assignment.” Want more support for your Beginner’s Heart? Discover The SHE School 2017, now open for a very brief window here: www.TheSHESchool.comMentioned in this episode:Sorceress CEO Program Dynamic Ad

The beginnings of things -- even wonderful, self-caring things -- can be challenging. You sit down to meditate and your mind won’t shut up. You hop on your yoga mat and feel stiff and awkward the first 15 minutes. Hear what I told women the opening night of my last SHE Retreat about honoring transitions and beginnings. We talk mindfulness, the two kinds of self-care practices (yes, retail therapy counts!), how to work with resistance, and an ultra-simple practice to determine your “growing edge,” in the Sacred Feminine. Enjoy in a cozy bubble bath. Because living true to ourselves is challenging; and the journey needs all the gentleness and sweetness we can muster. Want more? Join my 9-month spiritual practice community for women, now open at: www.TheSHESchool.com.Mentioned in this episode:Sorceress CEO Program Dynamic Ad

Over these past few weeks we’ve turned women’s yoga, meditation, and feminine spirituality inside out and upside down. Today it’s time to look at it from one final angle. Let’s explore the business of teaching yoga to women-- and the host of strings (ahem: challenges!) that come along with this gift. A fitting finale to our Poolside Sutras summertime podcast series! It’s not only for yoga teachers and aspiring yoga teachers; but it’s also for anyone who struggles with making a living from her passion. If you love these Sutras, please consider joining me for my upcoming SHE Yoga & Meditation Teacher Training. At this unconventional gathering, I’ll share the under-the-hood techniques and principles I’ve used in my own yoga & meditation for two decades — and taught to thousands of women, worldwide. Whether you’re aching to support other women or just deepen your own practice, you’ll find the feminine heart of yoga and meditation there. And, yes: we’ll have plenty of pool-time, too. www.SHEYogaTraining.com Mentioned in this episode:Sorceress CEO Program Dynamic Ad

In today’s episode, the second-to-last in our special Poolside Sutras summertime series, I’m sharing how I (literally!) stumbled across an embodiment practice that drastically changed my life. Welcome to a Woman’s Guide to Yin Yoga. These practices soothe and rejuvenate me. They prepare me for whatever life is asking me to meet, and they return me to myself. I wish for every woman to have this, too; because yin yoga is one of the best allies we can have in our embodiment tool kits. In today’s Poolside Sutra, I’ll share the unexpected story of how I found yin yoga (it involves not sleeping for 3 days straight!); ways to use yin yoga to work with adrenal fatigue, anxiety, insomnia, and more; and why this practice is one of the best ways to skillfully align our yoga practice with our hormonal cycles. If you love these Sutras, please consider joining me for my upcoming SHE Yoga & Meditation Teacher Training. At this unconventional gathering, I’ll share the under-the-hood techniques and principles I’ve used in my own yoga & meditation for two decades — and taught to thousands of women, worldwide. Whether you’re aching to support other women or just deepen your own practice, you’ll find the feminine heart of yoga and meditation there. And, yes: we’ll have plenty of pool-time, too. www.SHEYogaTraining.com Mentioned in this episode:Sorceress CEO Program Dynamic Ad

We can have the perfect meditation accoutrements adorning our perfect, meditative environment. But when we sit down, expecting our minds to still, distractions to vanish, and inner turmoil to cease--simply because we’re meditating--we’re setting ourselves up for failure (and usually more tension than we started with!). Meditation isn’t about seeking some tranquil space. Nor is it about overriding sadness, depression, monkey mind, or fatigue. In today’s Poolside Sutra, we’ll explore what meditation really is- and, hopefully, you’ll discover that it’s a lot more accessible than you thought. If you’re struggling to get (or stay) on your cushion, much less making friends with yourself once you do, today’s episode is for you. If you love these Sutras, please consider joining me for my upcoming SHE Yoga & Meditation Teacher Training, now open for registration. At this unconventional gathering, I’ll share the under-the-hood techniques and principles I’ve used in my own yoga & meditation for two decades — and taught to thousands of women, worldwide. Whether you’re aching to support other women or just deepen your own practice, you’ll find the feminine heart of yoga and meditation there. And, yes: we’ll have plenty of pool-time, too. www.SHEYogaTraining.com Mentioned in this episode:Sorceress CEO Program Dynamic Ad

Have you ever woken up too tired, too busy, too distracted to practice yoga or meditate? If so, you’re in the right place. And you’re not alone. In today’s episode, I’ll talk about how I developed a consistent, daily yoga & meditation practice nearly two decades ago, and how I have since helped countless other women do the same; ways to create the space and time for practice (even when you don’t think you have any); practice workarounds for travel, irregular schedules, and for any woman who thinks she’s not a morning person; and how to handle boredom, low energy, and diminishing motivation and inspiration. Starting our days in connection with the Sacred allows us to show up for life as the women we most long to be. Settle in for today’s Poolside Sutra, sisters. This isn’t some idealized, Polyanna advice, it’s down-to-earth, practical, and fiercely loving guidance to help you create a daily practice in the way that is right for you, and your life, right now. If you love these Sutras, please consider joining me for my upcoming SHE Yoga & Meditation Teacher Training, now open for registration. At this unconventional gathering, I’ll share the under-the-hood techniques and principles I’ve used in my own yoga & meditation for two decades — and taught to thousands of women, worldwide. Whether you’re aching to support other women or just deepen your own practice, you’ll find the feminine heart of yoga and meditation there. And, yes: we’ll have plenty of pool time, too. www.SHEYogaTraining.com Mentioned in this episode:Sorceress CEO Program Dynamic Ad

Welcome to our new, seasonal podcast series, Poolside Sutras: my summertime gift to you. Pull up a chaise lounge, soak up the twinkling blue view, and let’s chat about what matters most. I’ll share stories from my own life and practice. Hard-won insights and life-changing lessons from my own mentors, answering the most common struggles you asked about when I inquired: “what’s holding you back in your yoga and meditation practice and teaching?” Today’s episode is all about the mysterious path of women’s yoga. In it, I speak about my humble (unexpected) beginnings, the core differences between masculine and feminine approaches to yoga, and how you can trust the zigs and zags of your own journey, too. If you love these Sutras, please consider joining me for my upcoming SHE Yoga & Meditation Teacher Training, now open for registration. At this unconventional gathering, I’ll share the under-the-hood techniques and principles I’ve used in my own yoga & meditation for two decades — and taught to thousands of women, worldwide. Whether you’re aching to support other women or just deepen your own practice, you’ll find the feminine heart of yoga and meditation there. And, yes: we’ll have plenty of pool-time, too. www.SHEYogaTraining.com Mentioned in this episode:Sorceress CEO Program Dynamic Ad

Today’s talk is a fitting closing for our “Bubble Bath Wisdom” series, because it’s all about integration. It’s about taking our insights from the yoga mat or the meditation cushion and bringing them into our intimate relationships, our parenting, our leadership, and something as foundational as the inner attitude we move through each day with. In it, I’m sharing a few clips from some of last year’s SHE School mentoring calls. Each clip holds a question from one of the program participants. All are very deep and complex- reflecting the women who ask them. And they all help us to see how we can take all our inner work, and start to shine it out into the world. They lead us to remember that, if we’re not where we want to be in life, maybe it’s time to stop believing our thoughts and following our same old habits. And maybe it’s time for us to source our next steps from a deeper truth about who we are, and what really matters to us in this precious life. Listen in to learn: * The crucial differences between discipline & devotion * A bodily practice to activate devotional, heart-intelligence in even the worst of moments * Ways to live your Heroine’s Journey in marriage or intimate partnership * What to do if your beloved doesn’t have a spiritual practice * How to stop being a victim * The best ways share these teachings with your daughters, or women of younger generations At the end, I share a 10-minute guided practice for full integration. It’s savasana, or the corpse pose, a posture of complete release and receptivity. Be sure not to leave this out, it’s the most important part of any yoga practice (or transformative journey) like the one we’ve been on together these past months. Mentioned in this episode:Sorceress CEO Program Dynamic Ad

Over the past two months, we’ve explored our inner voices, hormonal cycles, the Heroine’s Journey, daily rituals, yin yoga, and meditation. You may be surprised to hear that, when practiced alone, all of these can cause us to harden and insulate. They threaten to deaden us in the never-ending cycle of Drill Sargent self-improvement. But, since this is the second-to-last episode in this podcast series, it’s now time to stitch these all together. Not with any old thread. With racy, red lace. When combined and viewed inside the larger perspective I’m sharing today, these practices return us to the deep sea of feminine devotion. Adorned with fruit, flowers, celebration, and exuberant, heart-bursting love. Today’s talk is an excerpt from our 2014 Red Tent (now The SHE School); and it offers an initiatory glimpse into feminine spiritual practice. In it, I share: * How to reroute your self-sabotaging tendencies into vitality, vibrancy, and unstoppable creativity * Why you must Be the Lover, above all else Ways to stop keeping your sexuality locked up in a little box in the bedroom * Masculine v. Feminine Realization *Daily ecstasy practices to spark healing and creativity Enjoy! Click here for the SHE Yoga Flow video: bit.ly/BBW_5 Mentioned in this episode:Sorceress CEO Program Dynamic Ad

Instead of featuring one of my own talks on today’s podcast episode, I’m sharing an excerpt from a talk that one of my own beloved teachers-- Sarah Powers-- gave to our SHE School community a few years back. We in the SHE School sisterhood love Sarah Powers. She’s an incredibly grounded, wise, globe-trotting yogini, who also happens to be a devoted wife, mother, and author. When I first met Sarah in my early twenties, I felt I had finally found a role model for a woman who’s ambitious and successful, while also having a (very) deep practice and a nourishing home life. Plus, Sarah has a really innovative perspective on a woman’s path to wholeness, one that has helped to create the foundation for my own work in the world. In this clip, Sarah shares: * The key practices she recommends ​for becoming an empowered, female practitioner * How to trust your inner signals, and let go of the need for outer verification *Ways to cultivate earthy confidence *Why you need to have a practice that speaks to all of you, rather than just parts of you *​2 things every woman needs to thrive in life. This conversation really helps to pull together all the “Bubble Bath Wisdom” talks I’ve shared with you so far. Again and again, women in The SHE School say how appreciative they are of Sarah’s wisdom. And, since I first learned yin yoga while assisting Sarah’s teacher training at Kripalu all those years ago (and it has since become a staple in my life and teachings), at the end, I’ll share a guided, 15-minute, yin yoga sequence. It’s one that I taught at last year’s SHE Retreat in Mexico-- great for getting grounded, while opening your hips, shoulders, and the power center in your belly. When these get jammed up, we get lost in our thoughts and estranged from our inner knowing. May this talk spark some inner freedom, by helping you to see things a fresh way. Learn more about Sarah Powers: www.SarahPowers.com See the photos for visual guidance in wide-knee child’s pose here: bit.ly/BBW-_4 Learn more about The SHE School: www.TheSHESchool.com Mentioned in this episode:Sorceress CEO Program Dynamic Ad