In the midst of everything unfolding in the world right now, many people are experiencing anxiety, sadness, numbness, or emotional fatigue. There can also be a sense of fear, anger, confusion, alongside feelings of being unsettled and overwhelmed. All of these experiences are a human response to the environment around us. Given the world we are living in, many of us are being impacted by forms of collective trauma, even if it shows up for us differently. From a biological per

A trauma-informed exploration of joy, safety, and the nervous system Understanding why joy can feel difficult, and learning how capacity gently expands, lays important groundwork. But healing doesn’t happen through understanding alone. The body needs experience. This is where yoga and somatic practices become so powerful — not just for processing trauma, but for increasing our capacity to hold both stress and joy. Trauma research has shown us that trauma lives in the body, no

This time of year, often invites reflection. As one year ends and another begins, many of us think about what we want to change. We set intentions. We imagine doing things differently. And often, we notice familiar frustration alongside that hope. Maybe you’ve seen a pattern of setting resolutions and struggling to sustain them. Maybe you’ve wondered why motivation fades or why old habits return — even when you genuinely want something different. This isn’t a lack of willpowe

I was asked a question in a recent Live Free Trainings Q&A about how yoga supports trauma healing, and I wanted to take a moment to expand on that question here. For a long time, healing was approached primarily through the mind. We were taught to talk about what happened, analyze it, understand it, and think our way into feeling better. While insight can be helpful, trauma research has shown us that understanding alone is often not enough. Many people know exactly why they r

I found yoga somewhere in the middle of my healing journey. For years I was trying to understand why my life seemed to circle back to the same painful situations. It seemed like the same unhealthy patterns I seen my family have growing up followed me throughout my life. By the time I was 40 I began a quest to understand why these patterns followed me. I knew something needed to change when I started noticing those same patterns showing up in my children's lives as well. So, t

The Holidays have always brought up a lot of layers for me- layers of stress, emotion, expectation, and pressure. And it comes from so many different directions. Growing up, the holidays weren't magical. They were unpredictable, chaotic at times, and full of dynamics that my nervous system learned to brace itself for. I won't go into all the details here, but those early experiences shaped a lot more in me than I realized. What I didn't understand for a long time was how much

Yoga means to yoke, to unite. From its earliest teachings, yoga has always been a path of integration, bringing together body and mind, movement and stillness, effort and ease. In ancient India, many of the early teachings were recorded and practiced by rishis, the early teachers who explored breath, meditation, and the nature of awareness. Even within those early texts, the philosophy of yoga honored two universal forces present in everyone, Shiva and Shakti. Shiva represent

When life feels overwhelming or disconnected, our bodies often lose their natural rhythm. The pulse that once guided our sense of safety, joy, and belonging begins to fade beneath the noise of survival. As Dr. Bessel van der Kolk reminds us in The Body Keeps the Score, two of the most powerful ways to restore balance to the nervous system are rhythm and relationships. Through rhythmic movement like dancing, walking, yoga, or simply breathing together, the body begins to find

Deconstruction taught me to ask new questions. What do I actually believe? What feels true in my body? What do I value outside of doctrine? What does love look like without control? Can I trust peoples own journeys without trying to save them? I began releasing the belief that I was responsible for other people's transformation. I let go of spiritual superiority and started to see how often codependency hid inside of ministry. I realized that love does not require conversion

Fall is often seen as a season of change and preparation. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), it holds a special place as the natural transition from the active energy of summer to the quiet, restorative energy of winter. This period invites us to slow down, reflect, and nurture ourselves in ways that align with nature’s rhythms. Yet, many of us rush into the new year with ambitious resolutions that demand high energy and rapid change, often clashing with the body's natura

The Church became my community, my identity, my social network, my purpose, my friendships, and my support system. When religious abuse happened, not just in one church but in every church, I experienced, I began to ask myself hard questions. I wanted to understand what real healing looked like. I began to study about trauma, the body, the nervous system, and eventually how to process and regulate my nervous system. This was the moment everything began to change. As I learned

As the holidays approach, certain emotions or patterns may resurface. These familiar reactions are not setbacks, they're signals from your nervous system showing where safety is still learning to settle in. The nervous system loves patterns. It's wired to return to what feels familiar, the thoughts, reactions, and behaviors that once helped you survive. This is sometimes referred to as: A trauma loop, when the mind replays old stories or emotional experiences as if they are s

I am 51 years old, and for the first time in my life, I'm showing up in my relationships as my full, embodied, healing self. Not the survival version of me. Not the "good Christian" version. Not the quiet, people pleasing, managing-everyone version. Just Me. When I enter Relationships now, I don't come with an agenda. I don't try to fix, save, or prove. I let people be who they are, and I show up as me. That is freedom, but its also been one of the hardest things I've ever do

Queen is one of our amazing teachers in our Live Free Trainings Yoga Teacher Training. I'm so grateful she offers her gifts and perspective. I highly recommend this retreat! I'm all registered and hope to see you there! In 2023 , I wrote in my journal:  Need: Rest.  Want: one-year sabbatical from work. At the time, I was stretched thin — managing a full-time job, navigating sickness from fibroids, and pouring every bit of extra energy into building Sacred Spaces Yoga. I was t

I was always the Christian girl that the other friends I worked with loved to be low brow with. They would call me funny because I...

Last week we talked about the Asana practice in the eight limbs. In that Asana practice we use our breath as the number one tool to...

Let's continue our series on the 8 Limbs of Yoga. These Limbs are guidelines for taking care of the inside and outside life of our whole...

We transition this week to self-study, Svadhyaya. This is a key NiYama, or inner observance, of living your beliefs. This is the practice...

I think we've been misled about how our views and our emotions comingle in our lives. Here is what I mean, it can feel (emotions) as if...

Parentification. If you know you know! If you don't, and were raised in the 80's, you probably experienced it. Simply put, the kid has to...