Gratitude YOGA

03/19/2025

To live out loud

Babies first sound is a cry - they unknowingly show us how to love the world.

Early on we know enough to cry and sound our way into the world. This is the primary purpose of voicing ourselves.

A vein of expression that we are worthy and a vital part of this life.

I came into this life to live out loud.

Never let your soul be silenced. Live life out loud. Every day tell your truth from your heart.

Living out loud and not letting fear hold you back is the key to the fullest, most rewarding life.

“If you want to sing out, sing out.” 🎶

📸 : 2023 Yoga Photography by .photography

03/19/2025

Get quiet

The practice of listening is a powerful thing. “The quieter you become, the more you can hear.” - RAM DASS

Silence holds incredible transformative power.

In yoga, silence isn’t just the absence of sound - it’s an opening of space within to truly listen to our breath, our bodies, our minds and all of the subtle whispers.

As we calm the inner noise, we create the conditions for keeping connection both with ourselves and the world around us.

The more we embrace quiet the more we hear what’s often overlooked in the rush of daily life.

📸 : 2018 Yoga Photography by

03/19/2025

Visualize

“True harmony is experienced when you think, say and do are all aligned.” - GANDHI

When we meditate with a mantra - we focus on a sound.
When we meditate with breathwork - it brings our attention to our breath.
When we meditate using visualization - the image in our mind becomes the focal point.

Something to try :
At the beginning of your day ask yourself, what do I need to do today to make it a great day?
Near the end of the day ask yourself, what did I do well today that made it a great day?

Bookend your day feeling a sense of accomplishment and a sense of completion.

Visualize the intent and the energy you want to bring into the space for your practice. Visualize being and loving your highest potential.

📸 : 2021 Yoga Photography by Scott Shigley
Yoga pose - utthita hasta padangusthasana

01/17/2025

Open Hands

“The tightest grip is an open hand.” - ALICIA KEYS

An open hand is patient, is warm, is inviting, is comfort, is a safe place, is an offering, is a helping hand.

Yoga tip - when you open your hands, you automatically open your heart. 🙌🏼 🤎

📸 : Residential Yoga at Kingsbury Plaza, River North Chicago

12/13/2024

Within

All the answers are within you.

Go within
Heal within
Grow within
Reflect within
Conquer within
Love within
Bless within
Shine within

Happiness blooms from within.

Your strength doesn’t come from winning - it comes from the struggles and hardship. Everything you go through is preparing you from the inside out. Everything you need is already within you.

Camera : Corporate Yoga with class taught by

11/26/2024

Success

“Success is not final, failure in not fatal - it is the courage to continue that counts.” - WINSTON S. CHURCHILL

Allow your struggles to be the fuel to your success. Discouragement and failure are the surest stepping stones to success.

The only way to find success is through failure. Failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success.

Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do. When you invest in yourself, you invest in your future.

You never lose. Either you win or you learn. A concept I have been trying to teach my daughter. When she doesn’t win at a card or board game, she doesn’t lose - she learns. Play is the key word. Whether we are young children or mature adults may we continue to play, continue to make mistakes, continue to fail, so we can succeed.

WHO - How do you motivate your employees or co-workers to be successful?
WHAT - What does it mean to be successful?
WHEN - When was a time in your life you were successful?
WHERE - Where you are right now, in this moment, you are a success.
WHY - Why are you successful today?
HOW - How do you define success?

📸 : Corporate Yoga with

09/23/2024

✨Be ready for what you seek

Ask for what you want and be prepared to get it.

“What you seek is seeking you.” - RUMI

I’m ready…
I’m ready for more
For adventure
For change
For new experiences
For improvement
For growth…
What are you ready for?

Find your purpose in life by identifying what makes you happy and allowing it to come to you.

Step up to the challenges - if you don’t want to be challenged - don’t wish for more.

Create a life where you can feel the most energized, balanced, and focused.

📸 : Yoga Bachelorette Party ✨ May you always seek out the best part of you.

09/18/2024

Good Inside

I have been listening to quite a few parenting podcasts lately and often find myself circling back to Dr. Becky Kennedy’s, “Good Inside” episodes. She provides tools to parents on how to keep your child safe, how to build boundaries, teach validation & empathy…and so much more.

The root of her podcast is centered around the underlying principle that we are all good inside.

We were all born good inside.
We all want to be good.
We all want to do good.

Although the podcast highlights parent-child relationships, I believe all of her teachings can benefit everyone (whether you are a parent or not).

“Create a life that feels good on the inside, not just one that looks good on the outside.” - AUTHOR UNKNOWN

Beauty has nothing to do with looks. It’s what is on the inside. It’s how you are as a person, and how you make others feel about themselves.

Learn / re-learn / un-learn the definition of true inner beauty, because you are good inside.

📸 : Bachelorette Yoga Party. This group of friends was stunning to watch, view, and observe during their yoga practice. But their kindness, generosity, and support really made them beautiful to shine from within. ✨

08/16/2024

uncomfortable

“To be outstanding - get comfortable with being uncomfortable.” - ALRIK KOUDENBURG

Wheel pose is uncomfortable. When your world turns upside down it makes you feel uncomfortable. However, when you are uncomfortable that is when you learn something new about yourself. You have to feel comfortable being uncomfortable.

Change is uncomfortable.
Leave your comfort zone.
Sit in the uncomfortable.

📸 : 2012 Yoga Photography

05/18/2024

H O M E

“Home is not just a place, it’s a feeling.” - CECILIA AHERN

As a dancer, I have always been a feeler. Feeling the beat, feeling the music, feeling my body, feeling sweat, feeling my heart and breath escalate or slow down.

“Honor how it feels rather than how it looks.” A mantra that has been attached to me within my yoga practice and is a part in all areas of my life. How your home feels is more important than how it looks. How your life feels is much more important than how it looks.

Home is: safe, vulnerable, authentic, true, steady, an oasis, a place to recharge & unplug, a deep sense of rest, a time to reset, a place to gather with those you love.

Deep gratitude for all my homes throughout my life. As I reflect on each home I have lived, I can immediately go back in time and FEEL the home.

My childhood home - following my parent’s rules - learning how to love, respect & compromise with 5 family members.
College - navigating living with complete strangers.
Cruise ship - the people become your home when you are literally living in a box room.
Chicago - moving around the city to different neighborhoods and living with a boy for the first time.
Our family of 4 - our current home - being the one in charge, calling the shots, paving the path, creating the memories.

Find your people, love them tight because they are the ones who create the feeling of home 🏠

📸: .photography 2023 Yoga Photography - Anjali Mudra, namaste, prayer, home.

04/28/2024

Wealth

There is an ancient tradition that says,
“When we are young we would sacrifice our health for wealth. But when we get old & wise we would sacrifice all of our wealth for one good day of good health.” - Robin Sharma

Your life is an investment where time and health are the most priceless currency.

Wealth is so much more than just having a lot of money. Let’s not define our success in life on just one measurement.

There is wealth in your health. Realize how rich and wealthy you truly are.

A great human life has many different seasons and many different elements and there is a time for each.

“Awake my soul.
In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die.
Where you invest your love, you invest your life.” - MUMFORD & SONS

Our bodies are our home, our minds are our home, our spirits are our home. Taking care of your home (your health) is wealth.

📸 : 2011

02/22/2024