You’ve probably heard by now that Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2023 is ‘Authentic.’ While much of the talk around authenticity since the announcement has revolved around AI, deep fakes, George Santos, Donald Trump (two names I never thought I’d be putting in a blog post), social media influencers and celebrity culture, I want …
Conscious Lifestyle
My Favorite Books of 2023
If you know me, you know that I read…a lot. My favorite books are non-fiction, because I love learning. (Honestly, I don’t think I’ve read a fiction book in over 20 years.) Yoga philosophy, spiritual growth, the natural world. Those are my topics of choice, and the sorts of books I choose for my Book …
Yoga, Meditation + Neuroscience
The research is in! For ages people have been espousing the benefits of yoga and meditation–but without having any scientific proof that they actually work. Luckily, that has been changing in the past decade. I recently attended an online conference on Yoga + Neuroscience where a number of scientists presented their research on yoga and …
Why You Need to Start A Meditation Practice in the New Year
Feeling stressed out, reactive, and overwhelmed lately? Wouldn’t you like to feel more focused, productive and relaxed instead? Research shows that meditation can help. I know, I know, you’re too busy to meditate. You can’t sit still. It’s boring. You don’t know if you’re doing it right. Let me dispel some myths, give you some …
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The 4 Most Important Things You Can Do To Help Mitigate Climate Change
By now I think we can all agree that climate change is real. We see evidence of it throughout the world on a daily basis: extreme heat waves, wildfires, droughts, floods, unpredictable weather and more. It can be rather depressing to let the gravity of it all sink in, and I think many of us …
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5 Morning Self-Care Suggestions For V-Day and Every Day
“If I am not good to myself, how can I expect anyone else to be good to me?” – Maya Angelou You may recall that a while back I shared a blog post with some fun and insightful Sensitivity and Self-Compassion Quizzes. I have done a lot of my own inner work on these topics …
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In Remembrance: Hanging Out with Thich Nhat Hanh
The beloved Vietnamese Buddhist monk, author and teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, who taught the West about peace, mindfulness and ‘interbeing,’ just recently passed away at 95 years old. While many of us who admired him were saddened to hear of his passing, for me I was reminded of his own comforting words about interbeing and …
A Reverence for All Living Things
I recently read a book by Tara Brach, a well-known meditation teacher, where she shared a story about hearing cows lowing in a distant field while on a meditation retreat near a dairy farm. It reminded me of my own similar experience, so I thought I would share it during this month of ‘Veganuary.’ A …
What If This Is What It’s All About?
Some of you heard this story this past summer right after it occurred. I thought I would take a moment here to share it with everyone else. While on vacation in the Lelanau Peninsula at the end of this summer, I took advantage of a day of nice weather to roll out my yoga mat …
The Bill & Christy Vegan Cooking Show: King Oyster Mushroom ‘Scallops’ with Homemade Pesto
As some of you may recall, last winter my husband (who trained and worked as a professional chef many years ago) and I decided to make a video of ourselves cooking a meal together. We were pleasantly surprised to get some nice feedback from it, so we decided to make another one. We recorded it this …
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