Perspectives

Learning to Pause is often the hardest part of self-care. We can be surprisingly willing to override our own discomfort because we think we should stretch farther, hold longer, or keep forcing our way through tension. Pushing ourselves into pain can become a form of violence toward our own bodies. By practicing learning to pause, we step off the accelerator, align with the yogic principle of ahimsa (non-harming), and finally begin responding to our physical cues with genuine

What do an overcrowded refrigerator, leaking teriyaki marinade, and two uncooperative crisper drawers have to do with emotional regulation? More than you might think. A funny, painfully relatable look at what happens when life's little frustrations send our nervous systems into overdrive, and how paying attention to our bodies might help us recognize when we're about to lose it.

The coffee spill was cleaned up, and I’d made it to work. My body was apparently still on the staircase. A story about the stress we carry—and a small practice for noticing it.

For years, I thought of myself as a brain dragging around an inconvenient meat suit. Yoga helped me notice what my body had been trying to tell me all along. This is the first article in a series about embodiment, stress, and finding tools that actually help.

Shiva and Shakti I live with two Siamese cats who have established a highly functional system of household management. Shakti is in charge. Shiva is large. These are not the same thing. Shakti was the runt of the litter and still looks like a forever kitten: tiny, delicate, quick, and entirely convinced that size is a vulgar substitute for intelligence. Shiva is much taller, substantially broader, and about five pounds heavier. He is a handsome, long-limbed, blue-eyed gentle

by Janet Nash, MSW, LISW-S, Certified Yoga Therapist, CCTP Generational trauma is not always dramatic from the outside. Sometimes it does not look like police at the door, an explosive family rupture, or one clearly identifiable event everyone can point to and say, “That was when everything changed.” It may look like a family that functions, works hard, keeps going, pays the bills, celebrates holidays, and appears “fine” to everyone around them. But behind the façade of ordin

Anxiety often comes with a very busy mind. It may sound like planning. Or problem-solving. Or preparing. Or reviewing every possible thing that could go wrong and then reviewing the review, just in case the first review missed something important. Anxious thoughts can be incredibly convincing. They tend to arrive with urgency, as if the mind has just discovered an emergency meeting and everyone is required to attend immediately. Preferably at 2:00 a.m. The trouble is that anx

Anxiety often arrives as if it has taken over the whole room. One minute you may be going through your day, answering emails, driving to an appointment, making dinner, or trying to fall asleep. The next minute your body is tense, your chest feels tight, your thoughts are racing, and everything feels urgent. Even when part of you knows, “I am not actually in danger right now,” your nervous system may be sending a very different message. This is one of the hardest parts of an

by Janet K. Nash, MSW, LISW-S, CCTP, C-IAYT, RYT500 Fifty years ago, Roe v. Wade solidified a woman’s Constitutional right to obtain a legal abortion. This week the Supreme Court completely shattered the principle of stare decisis—the legal doctrine that courts will adhere to precedent in making their decisions. In Latin, stare decisis means “to stand by things decided.” My question now becomes, “What other legal precedents will the Supreme Court overturn? And how can precede

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