Author Archives: kristinshepherd
Time In, Not Anaesthetized Time Out
A woman came into my clinic this week and shook me up. She’d just returned from a two week retreat/course/mini-sabbatical. It was two weeks of being fed well and looked after while going through some self-discovery process. The kind of … Continue reading
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Tagged health, health care, kristin shepherd, life purpose, medicine, meditation, purpose, self discovery
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Everything I Need To Learn, I Learn From Actors
I was at a theatre workshop over the weekend during which we presented audition monologues. Scary as hell, incredible learning. Wish you’d been there. Here are some lessons for life, health, and business from that event: 1. Get in or … Continue reading
This is Your Spirit at Work
Here’s something that excites me this week, in terms of choice and human talent. I have a friend who works at Value Village. In theatre we love VV , where you can get clothes and furniture for an entire cast … Continue reading
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Tagged business, health, kristin shepherd, relationships, wellness., workplace happiness
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Be Bwave
My kids have finally driven me crazy. It wasn’t the baby thing or the teenage thing. They’ll be 23 and 21 this summer. It was them becoming shockingly, mouth-droppingly inspiring human beings that did me in. My daughter is in China … Continue reading
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Tagged bravery, children, courage, humor, kids, kristin shepherd, life humor, life purpose, parents, wisdom
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PopTart Yoga
For the rest of my life, when the subject of PopTarts comes up, I’ll either have to tell shifty-eyed lies or I’ll have to tell the truth. I’ll start with the truth right now. I’ve been away all week at … Continue reading
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Tagged humour, junk food, kristin shepherd, Yoga, yoga humor, yoga humour
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Turning me Around
I’ve had a really busy week. It involved cramming four days of work into one day–today. I ran around this morning not very like a Buddhist monk with her head cut off. By the time I got to yoga class … Continue reading
Yoga Zombies
I was at a meditation retreat last week. Do you know what they’re like? Grainy, leafy food in portions your pet fish couldn’t survive on, no talking, no reading, no car keys, no wallet, no calling home. It isn’t Club Med.
Just meditating, dawn ’till after dusk. It can be lonely. But some fantastic things happen.
Here is one very cool thing. Picture this: 5am, maybe. (No watches.) Still dark out, anyway. I come out of my room each morning, slowly and silently, and head toward the meditation hall, dressed in pajamas.
As I walk down the hall, every third or fourth door opens, and another person in pajamas comes out, quietly closing a door behind her. We look like something from a zombie movie, except that some of the zombies have mats under their arms.
We walk in bare feet to the hall where we each pick a spot on the floor. We begin our practice. All you can hear is breathing and the soft thuds of feet jumping forward and back. It’s impromptu Mysore. No one organized or announced it.
It goes on for perhaps forty minutes, people drifting in and out of the hall. All of this happens before we begin meditating for the day.
And, holy mackerel, even though we don’t speak, don’t even look at each other for the most part, even though we’re about to begin another grueling day of seated meditation, I am deliriously happy.
I don’t want to leave the impression that meditating is awful from start to finish. Other very cool things that happen on these retreats are an empty, quiet head and a sense of peace that will knock you over if you let it. I love it. Days later I can still feel it.
I feel a need to express some thanks to these zombie yogis. They were my family away from home. We showed up for each other first thing in the morning on days when it mattered.
So to these men and women I don’t know, and to the ones I do know but didn’t say a word to: thank you, thank you, thank you.You made meditating a little easier, and you made me fall in love with yoga all over again.
Thanks to yoga zombies for making me fall in love with yoga, and thanks to you for the conversation. Continue reading
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Tagged kristin shepherd, meditation, Yoga, yoga humor, yoga humour
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Thanks to The Naked Guy
I keep thinking of this naked guy I had a thing with last week. I wish I could see him again. I was at a theatre festival, and I was strung out. By strung out, I mean that I was … Continue reading
Following Delicious: Build Your Home Practice One Bite at a Time
I’d love to thank a couple of Yoga Journal readers who commented on a blog I posted about morning practice. Both Ty and Kelly said things about wishing they could summon the discipline or the inspiration to do morning practice.
I found myself shouting back to them when I read their lovely comments. Turns out they can’t hear me when I’m shouting. So I’ll say this in writing.
First, there are experts to listen to. So don’t listen to me unless it inspires you. I’m a yoga weenie. So new I squeak. But here’s one weenie’s thought on the subject of building a home practice.
I started my home practice in three minutes one night on my living room carpet. I did it because I found Friday tough. I loved my Tuesday class but I was doing drive-bys on Fridays. Do you know about those? You drive to class and your car goes right by. You drive by again and you end up at home, eating S&V chips and wishing you had some willpower. I was up to it on Tuesday but not at the end of the week.
So I did two Sun Salutations one night. I liked it. It grew slowly, slowly from there. Three Sun Salutations. Four Sun Salutations and a quickie Warrior II. Five Sun Salutations, Warrior II, and Savasana. And so it went.
One of the huge reasons I’m so into yoga is that it is DELICIOUS. In my home practice, I follow delicious as it gets bigger and longer. It’s like following a trail of chocolate brownies, but better.
To Ty and Kelly, I hope this is helpful in some way. If not, keep looking and you’ll find the answer that inspires you.
In the meantime: thanks to all who comment for your thoughts, and thanks to you for continuing the conversation. Continue reading
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Tagged kristin shepherd, Yoga, yoga humor, yoga humour
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Yoga Junkie
It’s 7:30 in the morning, and my phone rings. It’s my sister sounding like an undercover cop on surveillance: whispery voice, hand cupped over the phone, shifty eyes.
“I really love yoga,” she says. “You have no idea how much I love yoga right now.”
She’s a new yoga junkie. It happens. We arrive here from other sports, other pastimes, other loves, and we fall into yoga like matter into black holes.
I’ll bet you’ve had these hushed conversations.
“What about running?” I asked a yoga friend when he first fell. “I dunno,” he said. “I don’t want to run as much. It doesn’t help my yoga.” This, from marathon runner to marathon runner.
“I’m supposed to ride tomorrow, and all I want to do is go to yoga,” my sister continues. “I know,” I say. “I know the feeling.”
“I can jump through to a seated position,” she says. “Learned that last night.”
“Oh yeah,” I say, knowingly. “That’s good.”
“And I’m starting to get that thing about lifting my heart without sticking my front ribs out. You have no idea how good that is.”
“Oh yeah?” I say.
“Oh yeah,” she confirms. “And another thing: did I mention that my knees don’t hurt when I’m walking to work, now? Did I mention that?”
Yeah, you did, but that’s okay.
“You have no idea how good that is,” she persists.
I don’t want to scare anybody, but this is the way you begin to talk to the people you love. You can go on running, cycling, and all the rest of it. No one’s going to stop you, but you might love this yoga thing more than you thought.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Thanks to yoga for the inspiration, and thanks to you for the conversation.
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Tagged kristin shepherd, new yoga, Yoga, yoga blog, yoga humor, yoga humour
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