Julie Peters

Julie Peters (MA, E-RYT, YACEP) has been practicing yoga and meditation for 25 years and ran Ocean and Crow Yoga Studio in Vancouver, BC, for more than a decade. She has written two books: Secrets of the Eternal Moon Phase Goddesses: Meditations on Desire, Relationships, and the Art of Being Broken (SkyLight Paths) and the Canada Book Award-winning Want: 8 Steps to Recovering Desire, Passion, and Pleasure After Sexual Assault (Mango Media). She teaches live and recorded online yoga classes over at her website www.juliepeters.ca and offers body-based counseling and tarot readings one-on-one as well. Follow her at @juliepeterswellness.

Julie Peters

5 Types of Rest (That Aren’t Sleep)

Rest doesn’t always have to look like more sleep. When we listen to the body’s n…

The Spiritual Meaning of Your Posture

The way we carry ourselves in the world is powerful and can reflect deeper spiri…

Guided Meditation: The Brightening Power of Air

Call upon the brightening power of air to help uplift you with this short guided…

The Spiritual Meaning of the Tower Tarot Card

The Tower tarot card is one of the least-loved cards in the deck, but it offers …

Guided Meditation for Sleep: Garden of the Goddess

Drift off to sleep peacefully with a 17-minute guided meditation into the garden…

Lessons from Eve, the Goddess of Exile

The biblical tale of Eve, the first woman, can teach us meaningful lessons about…

Lessons from Dhumavati, the Tantric Goddess of Despair

The Tantric goddess Dhumavati is a dark aspect of the Great Goddess and offers g…

The Spiritual Meaning of Panic Attacks

Panic attacks can be scary and require care, but they can also teach us a lot ab…

Guided Meditation: The Cleansing Power of Fire

Utilize the cleansing power of the fire element to motivate you and establish he…

The Spiritual Meaning of Ear Problems

Ringing ears? It may be connected to your intuition. Learn more about the spirit…

Guided Meditation: Finding Good Love

Is finding the right romantic relationship a struggle for you? Consider sitting …

Why It’s Okay to Want Romantic Love

Love is an ongoing, evolving experience, not something that can be won or lost. …

The Spiritual Meaning of Februalia

At winter's halfway point, take time to honor the past year's losses and harness…

Guided Meditation: Inviting Spring Fire at Imbolc

Celebrate the pagan mid-winter holiday of Imbolc with a short but powerful guide…

Guided Meditation: Energy Clearing for Bedtime

Trying to fall asleep but feeling weighed down by the day? Drift off with this p…

Grieving With the Moon: A Cycling Ritual

Grief is a sacred cycle, just like that of the moon. Utilize this powerful but s…

Were You a Witch in a Past Life?

More than ever, the world needs healers. If you feel drawn to the healing arts o…

5 Anti-New Years Resolutions

January is one of the hardest times of year to establish new habits. Instead, us…

Guided Meditation: Spiritual Preparation for Medical Intervention

Keep your nervous system calm when you're trying to heal—use this meditation the…

The Spiritual Meaning of Yule

The ancient pagan celebration of the winter solstice deeply influenced many of o…

Guided Meditation: How to Be Present With Big Emotions

Learn how to be fully in the moment with big emotions with this gentle meditatio…

5 Quick Ways to Manage Big Emotions

Overwhelming emotions are common but often feel insurmountable. Try these five t…

The Spiritual Meaning of the Three of Swords Tarot Card

How are you breaking your own heart? The Three of Swords tarot card asks us to l…

The Limits and Liabilities of Cultivating Your Intuition

Tapping into your intuitive “sixth sense” isn’t always a foolproof process. Lear…

The Spiritual Meaning of Wasp Stings

While wasp stings can certainly be random and unfortunate, they can also teach u…

Sadness Medicine: Discover the Purpose of Your Sadness

Sadness, while deeply uncomfortable, has a purpose and lesson to teach us. What …

Guided Meditation: Inviting Intuition at Samhain

Deepen your intuition and celebrate Samhain, an ancient pagan harvest festival h…

The Spiritual Meaning of the Lovers Tarot Card

The Lovers tarot card doesn’t just indicate a new relationship on the horizon—it…

Does Spirituality Fit Into Therapy?

Spirituality and therapy have been intertwined since before psychotherapy became…

Guided Meditation: Balance on the Autumn Equinox

Cultivate autumnal ease and joy with this short seasonal meditation. What are yo…

The Spiritual Meaning of the Harvest Moon

The Harvest Moon, the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox, brings potent m…

Attraction Is Our Wounds Trying to Heal

When we are attracted to unhealed people, it’s often because of unhealed wounds …

The Spiritual Meaning of Food Allergies

What we react negatively to—even and especially the foods we eat—can offer us de…

The Dangers of the Law of Attraction

The Law of Attraction empowers people to think more positively, but at what cost…

The Spiritual Meaning of a Blue Moon

The Blue Moon offers an opportunity for contemplation, completion, and tapping i…

Empaths and Childhood Trauma (And What to Do About It)

Empaths often have a history of childhood trauma. Explore how empathy is both a …

The Spiritual Meaning of the Devil Tarot Card

What is holding you in chains? The Devil card may appear scary at first, but it …

Lughnasadh Meditation for Gratitude on the First Harvest

Gather gratitude with this guided meditation to celebrate Lughnasadh, an ancient…

A Ritual for Lughnasadh

Celebrate Lughnasadh, a pagan summer harvest festival, with an earth-centered ri…

The Spiritual Meaning of Lughnasadh

At the cross-quarter date between the summer solstice and fall equinox, many mod…

The Spiritual Meaning of Weight Changes

Weight loss or gain can indicate big changes in our lives. Explore the spiritual…

What Is Seed Cycling?

Seed cycling is a practice that encourages us to connect with our menstrual cycl…

The Wisdom of Hesitation

Ever caught yourself waiting before making a decision, but not knowing why? Expl…

Guided Meditation: A Body-Mind-Spirit Bedtime Routine

Trouble sleeping? Enjoy this gentle, relaxing guided meditation to help you slip…

The Spiritual Meaning of the Five of Cups Tarot Card

The Five of Cups instructs us to explore our relationship to trauma and how we p…

Care Tips: 3 Poses for Awakening

These three inverted yoga poses can spark awakening if practiced with attention,…

The Spiritual Meaning of Litha

Litha, a pagan summer holiday, marks the longest day of the year. Explore more a…

A Ritual for Litha

Celebrate Litha, a summer solstice festival, with a simple fire ritual. Delight …

Litha Meditation for Sun and Earth Magic

Get cozy in nature and connect with the power of summer with this meditation for…

The Spiritual Meaning of Eclipses

Eclipses hold strong spiritual energy that you’ve probably sensed yourself. Expl…

Spiritual Betrayal: When Spirit Lets You Down

Ever felt let down by the divine? Spiritual betrayal doesn’t mean we’re not spir…

The Spiritual Meaning of the Hierophant Tarot Card

Who sits between you and God? Learn more about the meaning of this masculine maj…

Guided Meditation: A Check-In for the Body and Spirit

Tap into what's happening in the body and mind in less than 10 minutes with this…

The Spiritual Meaning of Insomnia

Is it an overactive nervous system, or is it unprocessed emotions keeping you aw…

How Feeling Safe Promotes Healing

Even when our circumstances are safe, we may not feel safe within our own bodies…

The Spiritual Meaning of Fatigue

While fatigue can indicate a physical imbalance in the body, it can also point t…

Heart-Opening Meditation for Beltane

Welcome Beltane, or May Day, with this short heart-opening meditation.…

A Beltane Ritual for Hope, Possibility, and Creativity

Celebrate this springtime holiday with a ritual for inviting in creative energy …

The Spiritual Meaning of Beltane

As we greet the midway point between spring and summer, celebrating the ancient …

5 Care Tips: Dance Into a New Groove

Feeling stuck? Explore five new ways to move your body to revitalize your way of…

5 Protection Rituals for Highly Sensitive People

Highly sensitive people feel everything deeply. If you’re an HSP, learn how to c…

The Spiritual Meaning of April’s Awakening Moon

April’s full moon invites us to delight in the gifts of being human and to enjoy…

The Spiritual Meaning of the Empress Tarot Card

Inanna, Persephone, and Springtime Archetypes

A Spring Equinox Meditation for Fertility, Hope, and Light

Enjoy this gentle meditation to honor Ostara, a spring equinox celebration, and …

The Spiritual Meaning of Sinus Infections

Experiencing sinusitis that just won’t go away? Dive into the spiritual meaning …

The Choice Between Authenticity and Connection

Do you know what it’s like to express yourself authentically? Many of us had to …

A Ritual for Ostara: Welcoming Spring

Ostara is the springtime pagan holiday celebrating equal day and night and the r…

The Spiritual Meaning of Ostara

The spring equinox is a potent time of year for welcoming in new energy and revi…

Guided Meditation: The Restful Path to Sweet Dreams

Enjoy this relaxing visualization through beautiful landscapes as you drift off …

5 Benefits of Virtual Yoga

In an ideal world, practicing yoga among others would always be better. But in r…

How Food and Mood Are Connected

Explore how what we eat and how we feel are connected, and discover new tips for…

Guided Meditation: Connect With Your Inner Child

Follow along with this gentle guided meditation to get to know your inner child …

The Goddess Brigid and the Star Tarot Card

Messages of Hope and Resilience

An Imbolc Fire Ritual

Honor the pagan festival of Imbolc with a simple ritual designed to release the …

The Spiritual Meaning of Imbolc

Imbolc is a holiday of hope, a celebration of the goddess Brigid, and the perfec…

A January Spiritual Survival Guide

Use these tips to get through Blue Monday, the most depressing day of year, and …

How Shame Prevents Empathy

Shame prevents us from feeling and healing on a deeper level. Explore ways to mo…

Guided Meditation: A Shield of Protection, Love, and Healing

Use this meditation to cultivate a sense of protection and ease.

4 Care Tips: Hips

Try these four tips the next time your hips need more love.

A Guide to Menstruating With the Moon

Are you on a white moon cycle, red moon cycle, pink moon cycle, or purple moon c…

The Spiritual Meaning of the Death Tarot Card

Though the Death tarot card may not indicate literal death, it does forebode cha…

The Spiritual Meaning of the January Full Moon

Explore the spiritual meaning of January’s full Wolf Moon as we navigate cold, l…

The Secret to Healing is Allowing

In a society that tells us that rest is unnecessary, allowing illnesses and inju…

How to Understand the Body’s Story

Are you experiencing symptoms or pain that are hard to explain? It may be time t…

The Spiritual Meaning of Knee Pain

If knee pain has you feeling weak, it may be a sign of disconnect or imbalance. …

The Spiritual Meaning of the High Priestess Tarot Card

Did you pull the High Priestess card? Learn the meaning of this major arcana car…

A Chakra Balancing Meditation for Healing and Connection to Spirit

Try this guided meditation to explore the chakras and gain insight.

The Spiritual Meaning of the December Full Moon

Connect with the spiritual meaning of the December full moon and the wisdom it o…

Fall and Winter: The Seasons of Divine Feminine Energy

Learn how to embrace Divine Feminine energy this autumn and winter as the days g…

The Spiritual Meaning of Autoimmune Diseases

Living with an autoimmune disease can be frustrating. Learning about the spiritu…

The Spiritual Meaning of the Hanged Man Tarot Card

Did you draw the Hanged Man tarot card? Discover the spiritual meaning behind th…

How to Practice Conscious Dance for Emotional Healing

Promote healing in your life by using these conscious dance practices, whether i…

A Guided Earth Medicine Sleep Meditation

In this sleep meditation, connect with the energy of the earth element to help y…

The Spiritual Meaning of November’s Beaver Moon

The November full moon is the perfect time to wrap up projects and turn inward f…

Decolonizing Therapy

Traditional therapy invokes authority, judgement, and hierarchy, although new id…

Care Tips: Pelvic Floor

The pelvic floor—which is linked to our nervous system—can be cared for in a num…

The Spiritual Meaning of Clumsiness

Feeling a little too clumsy lately? Discover the spiritual meaning of clumsiness…

Guided Meditation: Access the Wisdom of Your Anger

Feeling angry? Use this guided meditation to learn from that emotion and change …

Does Everything Happen for a Reason?

Because human beings are already divine, we have the capacity to learn from our …

Spiritual Self-Care for Lung Season

Nourish your lungs this fall and winter by keeping warm, processing grief, and r…

The Spiritual Meaning of Respiratory Illnesses, Coughs, and Lung Issues

Explore the potential spiritual significance behind that lingering cough, sneeze…

The Spiritual Meaning of the Full Hunter’s Moon

To align with the spiritual meaning of the full Hunter’s Moon this October, comp…

Guided Meditation: The Healing Elixir Sleep Spell

This guided meditation will help you navigate your own healing journey by giftin…

The Key to Becoming More Patient

When you're having trouble regulating your emotions, patience can seem like a fa…

The Spiritual Meaning of the Autumn Equinox

When it’s too cold to be outside hunting, building, or farming, it’s time to go …

An Autumn Harvest Moon Ritual

Delight in the goodness of autumn and let go of what no longer serves you with a…

Care Tips: the Eyebrows

Your eyebrows are a major source of emotional expression. Even if they are maske…

Practices to Reconnect With Your Body

Want to reconnect with your body but not sure how? Discover practical steps.…

The Spiritual Meaning of the Full Sturgeon Moon

Greet your inner sea monster as you embrace the spiritual meaning of the Sturgeo…

How Meditation Can Be a Source of Pleasure

Want to stick with meditation? Find the pleasure in it.

Settle the Nervous System: A Meditation for Calm and Self-Compassion

Soothe yourself from the inside out with this gentle meditation.

Guided Meditation: A Healing Tea for Your Gut

Rebalance at the gut level. Find yourself on a soft sand beach, with a healing t…

The Spiritual Meaning of Body Acne

A potentially embarrassing affliction may hold spiritual wisdom about what we're…

The Spiritual Meaning of Acne

What’s the spiritual meaning of acne? Start with issues around boundaries.…

The Spiritual Meaning of the Thunder Moon

Feeling wilted in the middle of summer? Channel the spiritual energy of thunders…

The Spiritual Meaning of Bad Dreams

Dropped into a nightmare dreamscape often or even nightly? Explore the spiritual…

5 Care Tips: The Jaw

Open and massage the jaw to relieve stress and release emotion.

The Spiritual Meaning of the Summer Solstice

The spiritual meaning of the summer solstice is tied to warmth, fertility, and h…

Spiritual Meaning of the June Strawberry Moon

Tap into the spiritual meaning of the Strawberry Moon. Enjoy the ripening, birth…

The Spiritual Meaning of Arthritis

Ask yourself questions about stiffness and resentment to get to the spiritual me…

Self-Consent: A Self-Love Practice

Learn to listen to your internal “yes” and “no” signals. Teach your body that wh…

When You Don’t Trust Your Body’s Response to Chronic Pain

Is your body proving to be an untrustworthy narrator of your chronic pain or ill…

Guided Meditation: A Healing Fruit Garden for Your Gut

This gentle meditation takes you to a beautiful garden of fruits created specifi…

The Wisdom of the Wilt: Medicine for a Tired Spirit

It might seem counterintuitive, but wilting can be a great strategy for long-ter…

A Letting-Go/Calling-In Burn Ritual for the Full Flower Moon

Turn what’s holding you back to ash. Drink in the blossoming energy of the full …

Making Moon Water for the Super Blood Moon Eclipse

Discover how to infuse water with the moon’s energy during a super blood moon ec…

When Self-Care Is Not the Answer

When you need to change a behavior or need community assistance, self-care is no…

5 Journaling Prompts for the New Moon

Prompts for the new moon guide you to explore desires, darkness, solitude, and t…

Guided Sleep Meditation for the Middle of the Night

Insomniacs can take solace in this guided meditation.

5 Care Tips: Sacrum

The sacrum is all about balance and symmetry. Protect your sacrum with practical…

Ritual for the Full Pink Moon

Release winter energy and ignite spring fire with a ritual for the full Pink Moo…

Intensifying Your Yoga Practice

A more intense yoga practice can give you a little more sweat, more strengthenin…

Gut Medicine: 7 Quick Ways to Avoid or Soothe Unhappy Digestion

Drinking warm lemon water before meals is just one way to avoid digestion proble…

3 New Moon Yoga Postures

The new moon brings introspection. It’s a great time for restorative or yin yoga…

Guided Meditation: Cleansing Toxic Energy

A spring cleaning can also apply to energy. Clear out toxic energy and feel bett…

Spiritual Meaning of IBS

The spiritual meaning of IBS is about looking at imbalances in how we relate to …

Tarot for Dark Days: Strength and the Wilt

The wisdom of tarot for dark days is about the wilt. It’s a surrender that allow…

A Ritual for the Full Worm Moon

Are you ready to get down and dirty to tap into the energy of the full Worm Moon…

3 Yoga Postures for the Galloping Gibbous Moon

As we gallop toward the full moon, why not try a more energetic yoga practice?…

Spiritual Meaning of Burning Feet

The spiritual meaning of burning feet might be about an imbalanced path, a trial…

5 Care Tips: Pineal Gland

The pineal gland is the size of a grain of rice, but it is responsible for sleep…

Magic Meditation for Sleep: Safety and Protection

Visualize a circle of protection around your body. Sleep safe and sound.

How to Read Process-Oriented Tarot (No Memorizing Required)

Put down the guide book. A process-oriented tarot reading starts with how you fe…

A Blanketing Ritual for the Full Snow Moon

Explore the magical potential of the Snow Moon. Its safety and shelter can assis…

Gentle Self-Loving Sleep Meditation

Allow yourself to drift off with the gentle reminder of all that is good and wor…

7 Simple Practices to Connect With Intuitive Magic

Ever listened to someone with your body? This is the kind of intuitive magic you…

Self-Care Guilt (And Why You Should Let It Go)

Feeling guilty about not practicing enough self-care or like you’re not doing it…

Practices for Loving Yourself Through Sickness

Sick? Love yourself through the illness with cozy comfort, breathwork, restorati…

A Ritual for an Imbolc New Moon

When a new moon coincides with the celebration of Imbolc, perform this ritual fo…

The Meaning of Your Symptoms

What are your symptoms telling you? Knowing the meaning of your symptoms can hel…

The Liminal Joy of Deep Winter: Nestling Into “Not Yet”

Resting, reflecting, conceiving, and gestating are keys to the “not yet” liminal…

The Spiritual Meaning of Menstrual Problems

Discovering the spiritual meaning of your menstrual problems can complement any …

The Spiritual Meaning of Incontinence

How does the flow of energy connect to physical and spiritual leaks?

Go Natural for the New Year

Celebrate the Wheel of the Year Instead

Grief Cycling Over the Holidays

It’s the most wonderful time of the year… right?

Secrets of Softening the Psoas

Stretch all you want—these muscles won’t release until you feel safe enough to l…

5 Care Tips: Liver

The liver is the biggest organ in the human body other than the skin. Follow fiv…

Winter Solstice Magic: A Spell for the Solar New Year

This ritual to invite winter solstice magic is best done sitting in a circle (re…

The Spiritual Meaning of Vaginal Infections

The spiritual meaning of vaginal infections may stem from the metaphorical penet…

Simple, Beginner-Friendly Mindfulness Meditation

This simple meditation can be done in any comfortable position, including lying …

The Spiritual Meaning of Pelvic Floor Pain

Pelvic floor pain can arise from physical dysfunction as well as blocked energy.…

Lessons From the Tarot: The Death Card on a New Moon

Embrace darkness as a source of deep wisdom.

Easing Postpartum Neck and Shoulders

Try these exercises when carrying, cuddling, nursing, picking up, and holding yo…

Guided Meditation: Postpartum Healing

Tap into a white-light energy to cultivate postpartum healing in this short medi…

Intuitive Movement Meditation for Healing, Stress Relief, and Pleasure

Slowly tap into your body’s innate intelligence without “doing” anything in part…

Does Exercise Stress You Out? Try an Intuitive Movement Practice

Just move with this intuitive motion meditation for healing, stress relief, and …

The Spiritual Meaning of Money

Part of our spiritual inquiry into money requires being honest about what it mea…

5 Care Tips: Knees

Knees aren’t really a discrete body part—they’re a zone of intersection, where v…

A Halloween Ritual to Connect With Your Ancestors

Whether they are ghosts or imaginary presences, we can still learn something fro…

Hyaluronic Acid and Yin Yoga

Deep tissue hyaluronic acid is released when practicing yin yoga. That is a good…

Grief Practices: What Do I Do With My Grief?

In a culture that doesn’t help us hold our grief, how do we hold it for ourselve…

4 Yoga Poses for Soft, Strong Hips

Tight hips can also mean an unhappy lower back. Try these four poses to soften a…

The Spiritual Meaning of Sciatica

Sciatica is a classic condition of lopsidedness. What is the spiritual meaning o…

Making a Choice With the Body

Your head might consider a dilemma logically, the belly intuitively or emotional…

Yoga for SIBO

In addition to diet and medicine, yoga can help treat the overgrowth of bacteria…

The Spiritual Meaning of SIBO

Unlike IBS, bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine is linked to a specific …

Guided Meditation: Winding Down for Sleep

When there is so much to think about, winding down to sleep is vital to your wel…

Yoga for Acne

A flush of blood and energy to the face in an inversion pose is just one way yog…

Pelvic Floor Rehabilitation: Caring for a Postpartum Body

Slowly regain strength and power with these practices for pelvic floor rehabilit…

Meditation to Release Stress: Relax the Jaw and Pelvic Floor

Relax your jaw and repattern away from stress with this guided meditation.…

The Spiritual Meaning of Jaw Pain

Questions about stress and anger can help you discover the spiritual meaning of …

Caring for a Postpartum Body

Childbirth necessitates changes to your body, as does caring for your baby after…

Exploring the Spiritual Meaning of Lower Back Pain

To understand the spiritual meaning of lower back pain, head to the source: the …

Napping Now

Sleep Like a Baby, Rest Like a Yogi

Summertime Self-Care for Reentry Anxiety

Some days going to the beach with friends is self-care. Others it may be watchin…

Guided Meditation: Connecting to Spirit

Spirit is always with you in whatever form makes sense to you.

High Summer and the Divine Feminine

What kind of summer do you want to have? Explore the divine feminine within your…

Practices for Loving Your Belly

While “six-pack abs” are touted as the ideal, a soft and flexible belly is, by d…

Attachment Styles and Attunement

Tune into how your earliest life lessons can cause you ongoing hardship.

Spiritual Meaning of Pain in the Upper-Middle Back

To uncover the spiritual meaning of pain in the upper-middle back, ask if you’re…

The Spiritual Meaning of Hip Pain

The hips are connected to the energy center that governs creativity. The spiritu…

A Ritual for Summer Solstice and Father’s Day

The summer solstice occuring near Father’s Day is a powerful opportunity for exp…

Guided Summer Solstice Meditation

What do you want to bring more of into your life?

Stomach Pain and the Chakras

Stomach pain is connected to an unbalanced third chakra, located next to the sto…

Meditation for Releasing Sadness

Sometimes the fastest way to feel better is to simply allow ourselves to be with…

The Spiritual Meaning of Stomach Pain

Problems digesting food may indicate tension in our relationships. The spiritual…

Tadasana: The Pose for Standing Witness

Take a moment to stand upright. Do your best to stand as you normally do, withou…

The Spiritual Meaning of the Full Flower Moon

The May full moon marks a turning point, a movement into the bright, sunshiny ha…

Balancing the Throat Chakra for Neck and Shoulder Pain

When there is pain in the neck or restriction in the throat chakra, it’s worth a…

Loving a Postpartum Body

Your one-and-only body has done something transformative. Embrace it.

Holding Difficult Emotions on Mother’s Day: A Ritual

Some have a simple and loving relationship with their mom. For others, Mother’s …

The Spiritual Meaning of Foot Pain

When we confront obstacles, our feet may be the first to know it. The spiritual …

Yoga for Caregivers

Caregivers need care too. Explore the best yoga-based solutions for soothing the…

Yoga Sequence for Sciatica and Lower Back Pain

Try doing this sequence daily, mixing yoga and pilates—especially during pregnan…

Healing Sleep Meditation for Dealing With Illness or Injury

Allow yourself to rest with guided meditation as you recover.

The Spiritual Meaning of Pain in the Left Shoulder

When it comes to the spiritual meaning of left shoulder pain, your heart is at t…

The Spiritual Meaning of Pain in the Right Shoulder

Bearing the weight of your world on one shoulder? Consider the spiritual meaning…

The Spiritual Meaning of the Easter Season

“Regardless of what traditions you follow, the spiritual meaning of Easter is a …

Self-Healing Meditation for Injury or Illness

Meditation can help boost our internal capacity to recover and heal from illness…

Yoga and Mental Health

Yoga and mental health are inextricably intertwined. Yoga helps promote mindfuln…

Energy Meditation for Healing Yourself After Illness, Injury, or Surgery

Wounded in body or spirit? A energy meditation can assist with healing and recov…

Wounds and the Womb

Explore how to heal a relationship with your sacred womb—a place of death, life,…

Yoga for Arthritis

Hurting? Yoga for arthritis can soothe your joints and diminish pain.…

Moments of Sweetness: Nonattachment in Difficult Times

Something joyful, beautiful, pleasurable, or delicious is happening: Notice mome…

Refresh Body and Spirit With a Moon Practice

Does your New Year’s Resolution feel like a distant memory? The moon provides a …

Self-Love Meditation

“Self-love isn’t a given, it’s a practice.” Begin your self-love practice today …

Self-Love Practices for Valentine’s Day

Be your own valentine this year. Recommit to “the most important relationship of…

Reflection and Meditation on Saying No

Protect and honor your boundaries with a simple two-letter word: no.

Yoga for Sore Feet

Sore, achy feet affect your mood, not to mention cause pain to radiate to other …

Practice of Self-Love

The practice of self-love isn't one-size fits all. Your body knows what it needs…

Pandemic Silver Linings: Accounting for Good News

2020 was a year. But maybe there's a silver lining (or two) to this pandemic aft…

Yoga for Better Sleep

You can improve your sleep just by implementing bedtime yoga sequences into your…

Stiff and Stressed? Yoga for Tight Shoulders to the Rescue

It happens: After a long day of sitting, your neck and shoulders feel awful. Yog…

Listen: Heal Your Pain

Your body is sending you a message—in the unfortunate language of pain.

Resolution Solution: Holistic New Year's Resolutions

New Year’s resolutions never seem to stick. Explore a more holistic approach. …

Self-Care This Season

Self-care is vital, especially in the winter months when darkness—quite literall…

Winter Solstice Ritual and Meditation

Celebrate the coming of longer days with a winter solstice ritual.

Meditation for Loneliness

Explore the power of loneliness and isolation through guided meditation.

Matrescence: The Deep Spiritual Transformation of Pregnancy

“This idea has struck me deeply as I have watched my body change in fascinating …

Yoga for Constipation

Feeling stuck? Yoga can help with constipation. Get your digestion moving again …

What to Do With the Winter Blues

Managing the Blue, Bluer, and Bluest Winter Blues

Embracing Loneliness in a Pandemic Winter

Loneliness means your heart wants to open. What do you want to open it to?…

Mindful Weight Gain in Pregnancy

Bringing a mindful approach to pregnancy means listening to both your body and y…

Circles, Not Triangles

Finding Emotional Sustainability

Guided Meditation: The Moonlit Pond

In this guided sleep meditation, we will gently relax the body while we explore …

Celebrating the Spiritual Meanings of Halloween

More than just candy and costumes: Halloween is a holiday that can, with a littl…

Solutions for Tight Psoas Muscles

A simple yoga flow can alleviate your tight psoas, which could be causing you lo…

Following the Moon, Processing Grief

This season is a good time to process the grief you’ve felt this year. Practice …

How to Use Guided Meditations

... And What Are Guided Meditations, Anyway?

The Antidote to Toxic Positivity

Difficult emotions are there for a reason. There is one cure for toxic positivit…

Fall Is So Yin: Embracing Autumn Energy

“The fall/winter ... is full of yin energy, a darker, softer, slower energy. Now…

11-Minute Prenatal Meditation

Breathe deep with this guided prenatal meditation by renowned yoga teacher Julie…

Pregnant During a Pandemic

Pregnancy naturally causes anxiety—then tack on a pandemic. Writer Julie Peters …

Guided Meditation: Pelvic Floor Wellness

This meditation involves gentle, relaxed breathing and some light muscular engag…

Lunar Reflections

Julie Peters, the author of Secrets of the Eternal Moon Phase Goddesses, shares …

A Journey Through Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth

Julie Peters describes her experience with SIBO and her long journey back to hea…

Lovingly Managing Weight Fluctuations

Writer Julie Peters talks about a past eating disorder, how she overcomes feelin…

Guided Meditation: Deeply Relax (Or Sleep) With Breathwork

This gentle, progressive breathwork will help your body return to the rest-and-d…

Flex Your Butt Core: Build Hip Strength With These Yoga Poses

Tight hips? Tight muscles are usually weak muscles. A stronger butt creates loos…

5 Yoga Poses for Stress Relief

A Yoga Sequence to Help Calm Your Nervous System

Earth Meditation for Safety and Calm

Feeling stressed or overwhelmed? Slow down and connect to Earth energy, which is…

Guided Meditation for Sweet Dreams: The Starry Night

Walk into an evening field and settle by a warm fire to enjoy the stars. Settle …

Why You Should Feel Your Feelings

The world is a wild, wild place right now. The problem is, when we don’t pause t…

Radically Choosing Your Wild and Precious Life

We tend to put others first—and it's time to break that contract and start livin…

Lessons From Yin Yoga for Managing Chronic Pain

Yin yoga works the connective tissue that wraps around our muscles and carries m…

Summer Solstice Meditation: Celebrating the Harvest

The longest day of the year is the perfect time to celebrate the fruits of your …

Women’s Meditation

(Is There Such a Thing?)

Guided Meditation: Listening for the Wisdom of Chronic Pain

Chronic pain isn’t always telling us that something is wrong necessarily, but it…

Chronic Pain, Trauma, and the Nervous System

Chronic pain can be caused by lingering trauma, creating stress that is unresolv…

Removing the Veils: Seeing Ourselves in the New Light of Forced Change

“I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way to feel about being in isolation or …

Four Ways to Social Distance Without Screens

When we are on screens so much, it is important to find ways to relax and rechar…

5 Questions to Help Decode Your Chronic Back Pain

That chronic back pain is a message from your body. Are you listening? These 5 q…

Intimacy and Sex in Isolation

Sure. Pandemic doesn’t scream sexy—but you can still ignite the spark.

Managing Anger in Isolation

Your quarantine partner just aggravated you again. You’re angry—or are you? Refl…

Meditation for Deep Sleep: A Delicious Fantasyland

Wander through a delicious fantasyland filled with benevolent flowers with nouri…

In Self-Isolation? Lessons From the Hermit Tarot Card

Whether you’re surviving or thriving through solo lockdown, the Hermit Tarot car…

Love on Lockdown: Your Relationship Can Survive

Pandemic wasn’t one of the vows. How to hunker down with someone and love them s…

Surrender: A Practice of Uncertainty

COVID-19 has anxiety on high. To cope: It’s time to surrender.

Dancing, Healing

Julie Peters talks with Indigenous dance artist Olivia C. Davies about dance as …

Self-Regulation Skills in a Crisis: Four Tools to Calm Down Now

Self-care staples include eating well, sleeping well, and connecting with friend…

New Moon Meditation for Calling in What You Desire

New moons are traditionally about planting seeds, setting intentions for what yo…

3 Yoga Exercises to Build Your Immunity Now

"Your system thinks you are in survival/panic mode, and you need to help yoursel…

Moon Rituals: Tending Your Internal Garden

“New moons are related to water and fertility. Metaphorically, in the dark of th…

An Alternative Spiritual Guide to Disaster

“There’s always some new world on the other side of that destruction, even if we…

Full Moon Meditation for Clearing and Letting Go

"Take a pause around the full moon (ideally within three days of it) to reflect …

The Spiritual Flame of Rage

A journey toward accepting—and even embracing—anger.

The One Question You Should Ask in Your Relationship

Most of us want to be in love. We see committed partnership as a good in and of …

Love Is Blind: A Romance About (Not Having) Choice

Love Is Blind is a strange hit, a romance about having all of our choices made f…

How to Protect Yourself From Other People (and the News)

“If you are a sensitive person, you might notice that you are highly affected by…

A Love Spell and Ritual for Valentine’s Day

“On Valentine’s Day, I want to focus on true love: the energy of power, desire, …

Guided Meditation: Love Ritual for Valentine’s Day

This guided meditation helps you to remove any obstacles that are blocking your …

Desire: Are You Content or Simply Settling?

“Desire is the feeling that there is something more out there for us, something …

Using the Pelvic Floor as an Energetic Gateway

“For years, consciously contracting my pelvic floor when I felt unsafe or when I…

Self-Trust: Two Secrets to Try

We can’t second-guess every choice we make. So how do we know what it means for …

Befriending Nightmares

How to Keep Bad Dreams From Bothering You

Guided Meditation for Self-Protection: The Shield

Imagine a protective sphere that keeps in positive energy, releasing what we do …

Mindful Money Management

“There are plenty of good tips out there for how to manage our money, but if we’…

I've Seen the End of You

Getting to Know W. Lee Warren

When Friends Break Up

“Those moments can be very painful, but sometimes we should let certain friends …

3 Super Relaxing Yoga Poses for Detoxification

Have a holiday hangover? Try these yoga poses to help detox and rebalance your b…

An Alternative Ritual for the New Year

Whether or not you are going to a blow-out party on New Year’s Eve this year, he…

Secrets of the Pelvic Floor

This often-neglected part of the body has a lot to say if you know how to listen…

Meditation for Calm Even in a Loud Place: Pratyahara

This guided meditation connects with sounds and distractions to help us get cent…

How to Care for Your Body in a Cold, Dark Season

In winter, our digestive fire is low, so we should be eating warm, cooked foods.…

The Way of the Rose

Getting to Know Clark Strand and Perdita Finn

8 Tricks for Controlling Holiday Binge Eating and Drinking

Avoid overeating and drinking too much this holiday season by mindfully focusing…

Habits for Success

Getting to Know G. Brian Benson

5 Eco-Friendly and Zero-Waste Gift Ideas

Honor loved ones with mindful and ethical green gifts that won’t break the bank …

It’s Never Too Late to Be Yourself

Getting to Know Davina Kotulski

5 Stretches for a Long Plane Ride

Contorted into a plane seat? Here are a few (discreet) stretches you can do to k…

Breathing into Balance: Explore Alternate Nostril Breathing

Though you can do this guided meditation anytime, it especially helps you fall a…

Love Earth Now

Getting to Know Cheryl Leutjen

The Warrior Goddess Way

Getting to Know HeatherAsh Amara

5 Stretches for a Long Car Ride

Long car trips can leave us feeling sore and exhausted. These five stretches can…

What Should We Do With Our Judgment of Others?

“The impulse with judgment is usually to shame the person we are judging, to mak…

Against Intuition

Does your gut tell you not to trust your gut? Maybe you should listen.

A Ritual for the Deeper Meaning of Halloween

Connect with the wisdom of this holiday, which comes between the fall equinox an…

Guided Meditation: Progressive Relaxation for Deep Sleep

Move through a guided relaxation process for your mind, your nervous system, you…

Mindful Scrolling

Four Strategies to Stress Less with Social Media

Body as Compass: A Meditation for Decision Making

Tap into what you truly desire with this meditation that honors the mind, the he…

A Ritual For Welcoming Moon Season

Fall is the perfect season to release that which no longer serves us. Try this m…

3 Sensual Practices to Do With Your Partner Tonight (That Aren’t About Sex)

“These three practices all have the key quality of inviting pleasure while reduc…

Feel: Healing the Spiritual Wound of Sexual Trauma

At the beginning of my recovery from sexual assault, I needed to re-learn how to…

Honoring Sacred Sexual Energy

Connect to the sacred sexual and erotic energy living in your low belly, pelvis,…

Gift of Crisis

Getting to Know Bridgitte Jackson-Buckley

Not My Problem: A Compassionate Mantra

“Becoming clear on what is our problem and what is someone else’s is revolutiona…

The Thirst for Spirituality and the Rise of Witches

Julie Peters explains why witchcraft appeals to so many people—and how witches c…

Breath-Focused Meditation for Deep Sleep

Follow your natural breath to help relax your mind and your body. Gently switch …

How (and Why) to Feel a Feeling

“The problem isn’t the depth of sadness or anger that we feel. The problem is ou…

Cooling Sleep Meditation for Hot Summer Nights

Use this guided meditation to cool off the body and mind and prepare for rest. …

Teaching a Stressed System to Relax: Living in the Gaps

“The more I practice cultivating the gaps and being really present for them, the…

Guided Meditation: Body as Home

A simple guided meditation to help you connect to your breath and your body. …

The Healing Power of Celebration

Nudge your nervous system out of the stress habit through the act of celebratio…

Healing Meditation for Injury, Surgery, or Illness

This guided meditation will lead you through a visualization of healing white li…

The Alchemy of the Heart: Witnessing Grief

When we allow pain in fully (and then release it fully), the heart can transform…

What’s Your Desire Pattern?

“If you are someone who doesn’t feel randomly and spontaneously turned on all t…

What Helps and What Hurts

Yoga and Meditation for Healing Trauma

Recovering Your Sexuality After Trauma

"Our sexuality is one of the tenderest, most vulnerable aspects of who we are. I…

Meditation for Sweet Dreams: The Gemstone Staircase

This guided meditation will lull you to sleep as you walk down a beautiful stair…

The 2 Reasons Women Have Low Sexual Desire

Spirituality and Sexual Desire

The Anxiety of Intuition

Is intuition a useful tool or will it lead you astray? Julie Peters weighs the a…

3 Rules for Mindful Sex

Want to be more mindful when it comes to sex? Try following these three rules.…

Mindful Sexuality, Divine Sexuality

Sexual energy may be an expression of the divine within each of us. That's one r…

Guided Meditation: Floating Above the Clouds (For Playfulness and Creativity)

In this meditation, imagine yourself playing and dancing with the wind high abov…

Meditation for Emotional Healing: Transformative Fire

This guided meditation allows the listener to release unwanted emotions. …

When Your Calling Doesn’t Call: What Do You Do Without a Life Passion?

“If we don’t know what we want to be when we grow up, is there something fundame…

Toxic Anger vs. Healing Anger

When we avoid feeling what we feel, it tends to dampen all emotions.

Guided Meditation: The Healing Waters

This gently hypnotic meditation will take you along a dirt path into a candlelit…

Snuggling Up to Our Obstacles

"We need to understand our fears and vulnerabilities, not so we can blast throug…

Moon Practice: Ritual for a Spring New Moon

Julie Peters shares her personal ritual for the new moon.

Guided Morning Meditation

Start your day with intention and mindfulness with this guided meditation.…

Moon Practice: Ritual for a Spring Full Moon

On the full moon, create a ritual that has meaning for you.

Guided Relaxation for Deep Sleep

This simple guided meditation is inspired by the Yoga Nidra meditation practice,…

How to Tell if You Are Following Your Bliss or Chasing a Craving

The work of pleasure and desire is to be honest with ourselves.

Meditation for Heartache or Emotional Pain

An audio meditation for times of emotional pain.

The Humble Power of Habit

The most important habit to start with is the one that will help us listen to ou…

A Meditation for Sweet Dreams: The Country Road

A guided visualization to help guide you to a deeper sleep.

3 Poses for Releasing Neck Tension

The key to letting go of neck tension.

A Love Commitment for Valentine’s Day (With or Without a Partner)

One of the most powerful ways we can support our lovers is by taking care of our…

Guided Meditation for Self Love

In this Valentine’s month, it’s very important to spend some time loving ourselv…

Nonviolence: Self-Care vs. Soft Care

We often think of self care as something we do only when we’re stressed, in grie…

Meditation for Sweet Dreams: The Cozy Fireplace

A guided visualization to help you drift off to sleep.

Detoxify Your Gut: Relax Into a Healthy Rhythm

The secret to a happy, health gut is knowing it’s not what you eat, it’s how.…

Mindfulness Meditation for Chronic Pain

Mindfulness meditation can help us befriend the pain sensations and teach the br…

Instant Calm Breathing Meditation

A guided meditation to calm yourself.

Reset and Recharge: New Year Yoga Sequence

This gentle yoga practice supports digestive health and immune function to help …

Meaningful Rituals for Winter Solstice

How you can create some new traditions to celebrate the winter solstice.

Winter Solstice Meditation

A winter solstice meditation can be a time for grieving, acknowledging what’s be…

5 Tips for Holiday Stress Management

Here are a few tips for keeping calm and taking care during the holiday season.…

Meditation for Sweet Dreams: The Warm Sunset Beach

A guided visualization to lull you to sleep.

Why We Need to Stop

Find ways to pause, rest, and be mindful.

Meditation for Sweet Dreams: The Colorful City of Your Mind

Immerse yourself in a colorful city in your mind to rock you to sleep.

Practices for Death and Rebirth for Scorpio Season

Honor your grief as we enter into the season of generative death and prepare for…

Guided Meditation for Befriending Loneliness

Tolerate the discomfort of loneliness.

Desk Yoga for Your Hands and Wrists

Use hand mudras to save your hands and wrists from overuse.

Simple Anytime, Anywhere Mindfulness Meditation

An audio meditation you can use anytime to reduce stress and lift your mood.…

Letting Go When You’re Holding On

How can you support yourself to let go?

Meditation for Deepest Desires: The Lush Garden

Invite your desire to speak to you in your dreams.

5 Signs You’re Suffering from Toxic Stress

If these signs feel familiar, here's what you can do about it.

Guided Meditation for Sweet Dreams: The Flowing River

Get to sleep using this guided visualization.

Routines of Pleasure

Consider one way you could bring a little bit more pleasure into your day.…

The Naked Truth About Mistakes

Why we shouldn't be afraid to make mistakes.

Guided Meditation for Sweet Dreams: The Forest Grove

A guided visualization for better sleep.

The Power of Fierce Gentleness

Gentleness with ourselves and our others sometimes means pushing back.

Meditation for Sweet Dreams: The Wildflower Field

Fall asleep while visualizing yourself in a field of flowers.

Meditation for Sweet Dreams: The Private Beach

An audio meditation for sweet dreams.

3 Poses for Happy, Healthy Hips

Strengthen, support, and stretch out your hips.

Connect to Your Sexual Energy as a Life Force

When we're connected to our sexual energy and spirituality, we’re connected to o…

Meditation for Connecting to Sexual Energy as Life Force

A guided meditation to harness your sexual energy.

Relaxing Guided Meditation for Rest or Sleep

A useful tool to get to sleep.

Breaking the Bad Love Spell

What can your anger teach you about yourself for better relationships?

Guided Meditation and Breath Practice for Balancing Your Energy

Start or end your day with this breath practice.

3 Poses for Neck and Shoulder Tension

Learn how to release tension in the neck and shoulders with these exercises.…

Medication Meditation Part 3: Energizing for Lethargy, Sluggishness, or Emotional Blockage

Get a boost of energy with this Ayurveda inspired audio meditation.

Making Everyday Spaces Sacred Through Intuitive Ritual

Draw sacredness into your life whenever you need it with simple intentional ritu…

Meditation Medication Part 2: Cooling Meditation for Anger, Irritation, or Inflammation

An audio meditation to calm emotional and physical inflammation.

Biological Time: Slowing Down the Aging Process

Find little ways every day to slow down, even if it’s just for ten minutes a day…

Meditation Medication: Grounding for Anxiety or Overwhelm

The first in three-part meditation series inspired by Ayurveda.

3 Simple Rules to Maintain a Healthy Weight, Digest Better, and Heal Your Relationship with Food

Follow these simple rules (and a secret fourth) and change how you eat.

Learning from Our Worst Selves: Feeding the Shadow Wolf

Sometimes fear, anger, or sadness are appropriate responses to the complexities …

Meditation for Listening to Your Many Selves

An audio meditation to open our understanding of our different voices.

Making (Good) Gut Decisions

Your gut can be a really important source of wisdom in your life.

Guided Meditation for (Good) Gut Decisions

An audio meditation to tune into how you feel.

3 Exercises to Strengthen (and Relax) Your Pelvic Floor

Simple exercises that anyone can do to increase pelvic floor awareness and tone …

Moment Medicine: An Everyday Healing Practice

We need to feel safe in order to heal.

Meditation for Letting Go With the Waning Moon

An audio meditation for letting go and moving on.

A Goddess of Post Traumatic Growth: Nilapataka Nitya

This goddess encourages us to courageously churn the oceans of our inner selves,…

Being in the Flow of Heartache and Pain

Yoga and mindfulness can help us recognize that our discomfort has a flow.…

Audio Meditation: In the Flow of Discomfort

This audio meditation is for those times when there’s discomfort in the body, wh…

New Moon Meditation: The Goddess of Loneliness

A preview of Moon Meditations: 16 Nights for Desire, Heartache, and Connection…

Creative Moon: Writing Prompts for the Moon Cycles

Try this free writing journaling practice coinciding with the moon phases.…

The One Relationship You Can Never Leave

Do the work of being in a loving, healthy, committed relationship with ourselves…

Guided Meditation for Loving Your Belly

This meditation will help you to explore your own belly, offering it thanks, app…

In the Fullness of Emptiness

Calm down using the breath and slow down your exhale.

The Fullness of Emptiness: A Guided Breath Meditation

This guided meditation explores the bottom of the breath.

Releasing Your Stress Muscle: 3 Poses for the Psoas

Try these three helpful poses to bring stress relief to your muscles.…

Guided Meditation for the End of the Year

Say goodbye to the old year and welcome in the new.

End of Year Ritual: 7 Questions to Ask Yourself

A simple and effective end of year ritual is to carve out a little time for your…

Meditation for Feeling your Feelings

For this meditation, you choose an emotion—something that’s present for you and …

Meditating With Your Anger

An audio meditation to engage with our anger and compassion without shame.…

Audio Meditation: A Pleasure Practice

A guided meditation for tasting a little sweetness.

The Surprisingly Simple Secrets of Tantric Sex Part 3: Listening with the Body

When it comes to sex, listening goes a lot deeper than hearing.

Rage and Relationships: How Anger Can Help Intimacy

When we can channel our anger into compassionate communication, it can help us c…

Full Moon Meditation for Letting Go and Letting In

An audio meditation for the full moon.

Mindful Sex Part Two: Forget Goals

When the only goal of sex is pleasure through play for the sake of itself, we ca…

New Moon Meditation: Pause the Breath, Pause the Mind

Try this audio meditation for slowing down the mind.

Using Technology So It Doesn’t Use You

Take these two actions to set boundaries around your phone and social media.…

Audio Meditation for Connecting to the Heart

The heart holds our love, connection, joy, and forgiveness. It can also hold gri…

Feeling Bad About Feeling Bad: Shame and the Primal Brain

Rather than piling shame on top of shame, we need to slow down and honestly feel…

Hello Sensation: An Audio Meditation for Befriending Your Body

This meditation is a practice of honoring and acknowledging the range of complex…

Chinnamasta: The Self-Beheading Goddess

Chinnamasta shows us the simple, playful, and fierce truth that much of what we …

5-Minute Pratyahara Meditation to Focus the Mind and Calm Anxiety

Use this guided meditation to draw the senses closer to connect with the body in…

Bagalamukhi the Paralyzer and How Stillness Moves Us Forward

Stillness and movement work together and can help us sense what we deeply desire…

Audio Meditation: Relax into Your Breath

This meditation is ideal if you need a pause from your day to slow down and calm…

On the Passing of Michael Stone and Mental Health in the Yoga Community

Yoga, self-care, and alternative forms of medicine cannot always fix everything.

The Goddess Matangi and the Joy of Being an Outcast

Matangi tells a secret—that there’s a hidden joy, even power, in being an outcas…

Dhumavati: Goddess of Empowering Ugliness

So how can we, with Dhumavati, embrace the ways in which we are, powerfully, ugl…

The Dark Side of Forgiveness: The Goddess Tara

Tara is one of the most famous and widely beloved goddesses in Buddhism. She was…

Kali, Goddess of Rage and Resistance

Once upon a time, the god Shiva, the Lord of Destruction, was so busy meditating…

Breaking Your Addiction to Thinking

Thinking is obviously an important tool. Humans have the powerful ability to thi…

Why Commit? And How?

Once upon a time, people spent their whole lives in one career until they retire…

Understanding Your Cravings

Dieting mythologies have taught us that cravings are our enemies. We are told to…

Your Self-Esteem is Not the Problem

Like everyone else, I’ve had difficult times in my life. I’ve had bad breakups, …

Weight, Worth, and the Radical Act of Having a Body

Photograph from Every Body Yoga by Jessamyn Stanley (Workman Publishing). Copyri…

Secrets of Yogic Breathing (Ujjayi Pranayam)

Ujjayi Pranayam means Breath of the Warrior. When we do this breath, it can make…

A New Definition of Love in Divisive Times

The other day, I had one of those moments which must be unique to this particula…

The Art of Receiving What You Are Getting

We don’t always get what we want. But we always get what we receive. In Sanskri…

The Key to Creativity: Constraints

We do yoga to set ourselves free, right? That’s the message we get, anyway: the …

Celebrating Black Yogis for Black History Month

Yoga has its roots in India, but it has changed and evolved hugely since it came…

Showing Up Matters: Stories of the Goddess

We are in a moment of change. Some of us are hopeful, others rageful, and others…

Tips for Insomniacs With Busy Minds

Here are some tips that have helped me negotiate with my head when it’s on a pil…

Celebrating My Inner Masculinity

This week, I skipped out on yoga. Instead, I tried kickboxing for the first time…

One Simple Trick to Make Life Easier

I don’t always make New Year’s resolutions—I find the darkest coldest months a p…

Self-Love as a Practice

We all know there’s great value in loving ourselves. Self-acceptance, self-estee…

The Truth about Going Retrograde With Mercury

September is a bit of a wild month, astrologically speaking. There is a solar ec…

Befriending Pain

Over the last several years, I’ve come to believe that the greatest, most powerf…

Why Your Anger Could Be Good for Your Relationship

Many of us fear and avoid anger, especially in the realm of intimate relationshi…

On Meditating Badly

Every morning, I meditate. Badly. I know meditation is good for me. Meditation …

The Goddess of Intoxication

Vajresvari wants us to find power in being present with our joy, imbibing in del…

The Complications of Living in the Now

We all know living in the moment is a key aspect of happiness. We know we need t…

Support in Service of Sweetness

One of the most famous yoga sutras—the short aphorisms in yoga attributed …

Loving Through Change

Non-attachment is a pretty familiar concept within the worlds of yoga and medita…

Celebrating the Darkness

In many spiritual traditions, God is seen as the source of light, banishing the …

The Goddess of Escaping from Your Daily Life (If Just for a Moment)

In the Tantric tradition, the goddess of the 13th night from the new moon is cal…

The Yoga of Being Sick

The day after I finished a major project (my new book, Secrets of the Eternal Mo…

How Do I Find The One?

Around Valentine’s Day, a lot of people are thinking about love—whether they wan…

New Moon, New Year: Wisdom from the Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year, celebrated on the second new moon after the winter solstice re…

Lessons in a Bad Yoga Class

The other day, I took a bad yoga class. I went to see one of my favorite teacher…

A Goddess Guide for the New Year

Traditionally, the dark times—winter solstice or new moons—are times to reflect,…

The Spiritual Meaning of Anger

Understanding the spiritual meaning of anger and accepting its message can be li…

Writing to Connect to your Body

A major aspect of my practice has always been about coming home to my body. We l…

Is Downward Dog an Invention of the 20th Century?

When I first started practicing yoga, I thought it was a 5000-year-old practice.…

How Your Search for Happiness is Making You Miserable

Happiness: we all want it, and we want to know how to get it. We read books abou…

The Power of Your Mistakes

We are living in a time of more choice than ever before. Not only can we order p…

The Real Secret of Yoga (Isn’t the Yoga)

Often when we hear the word “yoga,” we think of static physical postures like Do…

Stop Opening Your Hips: Yoga for SI Joint Pain

I’ve been dealing with pain right between my sacrum and my pelvis at the joint w…

The Wisdom of Uncertainty

One of the best things about yoga, for me, has been learning to tap into the wis…

Foreboding Joy

“The best thing about yoga,” a teacher of mine used to say, “is that it makes yo…

In Defense of Hands-On Adjustments

Hands on adjustments are a relatively common but also quite controversial aspect…

The Goddess of Vulnerability: Bherunda Nitya

If you look up at the moon on the fourth night from now, you’ll see a beautiful …

The Spirituality of Desire

Sexual desire is intoxicating. Sex also connects us deeply to one another and to…

The Special Place: The Meaning of Vinyasa

My dad has a special way he likes to order when we are out at a restaurant. Firs…

How to Be a Yogi and Still Read the News

It was a bad week for news. This week’s news made me feel angry, helpless, and s…

Reclaiming Your Most Valuable Resource: Your Attention

Do you know where your phone is right now? If it beeps or vibrates, will you kee…

Yoga for Allergies Part 2: The Nervous System

A few years ago, I had a very annoying skin allergy. Wherever I scratched, my sk…

Yoga for Allergies or Seasonal Colds

Here are four yoga postures that can really help your body deal with coughs, col…

The Truth About Changing Your Habits

At the studio I run in Vancouver, we used to participate in 30-day challenges wh…

Three Tools for Managing Social Anxiety

When you are feeling stressed and anxious, what’s your strategy? If you’re like …

The Blood Moon and Your Fierce Face

Once upon a time, the great god Shiva and his beautiful consort Sati were having…

The Wisdom of Disconnection

Every now and then, I help facilitate a group of men who meets weekly to have co…

Cultivating Intimacy Through Meditation

Intimacy is, at its essence, a practice of presence: showing up and paying atten…

What Non-Attachment Can Teach Us about Intimacy

“Live in the now!” Garth exhorts Wayne as he fawns over a beautiful guitar he ca…

Find Your Voice with the Deep Core Line

“Just remember,” I told my friend right before she got onstage to perform a poem…

The Power of the “And Principle”: A Lesson in Tantra

This year, I’ve been deepening my research into Tantric yoga philosophy while al…

Quick and Dirty Yoga Detox and Cleanse Yoga Sequence

It’s a New Year, and we could all use a little help to cleanse, detoxify, and bo…

Feeding the New Year

‘Tis the season for drinking too much eggnog, eating too much, and pulling out o…

Reclaim Your Body

The yoga that we practice here in North America has a fascinating and complex hi…

How to Catch a Thought: 3 Tools for Mindfulness

“Your task is not to seek for love, but to seek and find the barriers within you…

Affirmations for Negative Self-Talk

Have you ever pasted up a big sign on your bathroom mirror that says something l…

Yoga for Menstruation

I love getting my period. I know that’s a weird thing to say, and many women gro…

When Anxiety Spirals and Mindfulness Isn’t Enough

The world doesn’t stop being confusing and cruel just because we decide to think…

Endings and Beginnings

During the time of the Fall Equinox, which fell this year on the same week as a …

Strengthen Your Relationships Through the Chakras

Getting grounded in relationships requires some talking.

The Chakras for Emotional Clarity

In emotionally confusing situations, our first urge is to try to understand. We …

Summer System Overload

It’s been a hot summer. I showed up to my yoga studio the other day, and noticed…

Tapping Into your Gut: Learning from a Source of Deep Intelligence

One way of thinking about yoga is as a form of education into your own body. The…

Boost Your Confidence with a Power Pose

One day, I showed up to my yoga mat with a broken heart. I’d just gone through a…

A Beat You Can Breathe To: Yoga and Music

Have you ever noticed the music yoga teachers play in class?We know intuitively …

The Secret Sacredness of the Yoga Body

Many yoga practitioners get curious about the deeper practices behind what we ar…

Yoga for the Moon Cycles

Discover a yoga pose to represent each quarter of the moon corresponding to its …

4 Yoga Poses Inspired by the Moon

JC Peter's offers a yoga pose to represent each quarter of the moon correspondin…

Yoga for Chronic Pain: Part 2

A rounded yoga practice includes both stimulating and calming postures to tone a…

Yoga for Chronic Pain: Part 1

Pain is incredibly useful. A calming yoga practice encourages the brain to creat…

Minding Your Moods

Sometimes, in the yoga community, it seems that what we are always trying to do …

Engage My What?! Decoding the Core

The most important instruction you’ll get in a yoga class may also sound like th…

The Legend of Ashtavakra

Two years ago, I was hit by a car on my bike. I doubled over, twisted and rolled…

The Stickiness of Stillness: The Challenges of Corpse Pose

When I was a kid, I hated naptime. I would lie down in the cot like everyone els…

The Fallow Field: The Virtue of Doing Nothing

I’ve been spending a lot of my evenings lately sitting at home watching Netflix.…

Conscious Rest: Yoga for Insomnia

Check out this simple, restorative yoga practice you can do under the covers wit…

Heart-Opening Yoga

We learn so many great lessons in yoga that totally fall apart in relationships.…

Yoga on the Go: A Sequence for Cycling

My friend Carol has been cycling—by herself—across America. She calls me from th…

Rewire Your Brain: Practice Happiness

In the wake of New Year’s Resolution season, some of us are taking a good hard l…

5 Reasons Not to Meditate

I’ll be honest: I’ve never liked meditating. I’ve dabbled in it, and forced myse…

Stressed Out? Lean into It

Stress has become a bad word in our culture. It causes illness and contributes t…

Secrets of Chaturanga Dandasana Pose

Chaturanga Dandasana, which means “four limbed staff pose,” is an incredibly com…

Accidental Meditation: You're Already Doing it

Most people think they are bad at meditating. Can’t sit still and turn your thou…

Karma: The Yoga of Action in an Unjust World

If you practice yoga, you’ve encountered the word karma at some point—in class, …

Yoga on the Go: Moon Salutation

There is definitely a specific pleasure in taking a public yoga class: listenin…

Don't Surrender Your Loneliness So Quickly

“My Eyes So Soft”by Hafiz, trans. Daniel LadinskyDon't surrender your loneliness…

The Yoga Sweat: How Our Glands Process Emotion

Sweating up a storm? Discover the emotional and spiritual meaning of sweating. …

Yoga for Shoulder Health

How often to do you walk on your hands? Do you spend time crawling around the o…

Cool It Practice: Balancing Yin and Yang in Good Measure

As human animals, we are affected by the weather. We like to think we’re not—ou…

Watch Your Mouth

“Bellydance is a service,” my dance teacher was telling us. “We are offering so…

Breathing: The Poetry of the Body

We know intuitively that our state of mind will affect our breath: it comes qui…

Yoga after 50, Still Going Strong

The story we are typically told about aging is that it is a downward slope: we …

Yoga as Medicine

The other night, my partner got a migraine. He was writhing in bed, ibuprofen s…

Is My Body Lying to Me?

“The body never lies,” Janet Stone said in a workshop on the yogic concept of sa…

Recovering from Trauma? Listen to What Your Body’s Trying to Tell You

The massage therapist slid her hand under my sacrum, and waited. I wasn’t sure w…

Yoga for Releasing Anger

Anger: we all know it, many of us well. But at a yoga party, it would be gauche …

Now Is the Time

“Now is the time to know that all you do is sacred.” ~Hafiz Remember that mome…

Unpacking the Warrior Poses

Once upon a time, Shiva, the Lord of Yoga, became infuriated to discover that hi…

Contemplating Injury: What Yoga Has Taught Me About Pain

This is how bad things have gotten: I am squatting on my floor by a low table to…

How to Develop a Home Yoga Practice

I used to think having a home practice meant I had to get up at 4 a.m. to chant …

Sun Salutations: A Dance with the Breath

I wish I could speak like music.I wish I could put the swaying splendorOf the fi…

How to Be Heard: The Yoga of Authority

I taught my first kid’s yoga class last week, at the school where my mom works. …

Puppy Guru: Why My Dog is My Best Yoga Teacher

A couple of weeks ago, I adopted a dog from the animal shelter. His name is Finn…

Heartache to Heart Opener

How I Tuned Into My Body’s Innate Intelligence

Yoga and Feminism

When I was in school, I wanted to talk about feminism all the time. I loved its …

Portrait of a Yogi

"A Rabbit Noticed My Condition"I was sad one day and went for a walk;I sat in a …

Expose Yourself: A New Year Intention, Inspired By the Moon

Setting New Year intentions by the moon.

When "Just Breathe" Isn't Enough: Practices for Deep Breathing

Breathing is, indeed, good for you. It’s been shown that breathing into the bell…

Translating the Secret Language of Your Dreams

I was on the hunt, seeking amrit, the nectar of immortality. I had to cross a ri…

The End of the World as We Know It: 3 Rituals for Winter Solstice

Are you ready to let go of what’s been holding you back and make space for what’…

Your Body is Talking. Are You Listening?

Injuries often happen in the silliest ways. We are intelligent adults; we look b…

Are You a Stressaholic? Here’s a Five-Minute Fix

What does it feel like to be in a relaxed state? What triggers me back into a st…

How to Create Your Own Personal Mythology

Every worldview, whether religious or cultural, is steeped in the structure of a…

Removing the Gu: The Trouble with Guru Worship

"see if they wet their pants"by KabirThe words Guru, Swami, Super Swami, Master,…

Waxing and Waning: Yoga for the Moon

Everyone, at some time or another, has felt a personal connection to the moon. M…

Past Lives and Concurrent Universes: Why Anything Is Possible

I recently took a workshop with a teacher named Gahl Sasson called “Past Life Re…

Idiot Compassion: Why Living Your Yoga Isn't Always Easy

This week, I saw something going on that I thought was wrong. Someone bigger tha…

Yogic Prescription of the Week: Read Some Good Fiction

I was sitting with a yoga teacher friend the other day, and he was having one of…

Yoga for Stick Figures: Every Body is Different

I am a yoga teacher, and I have scoliosis. I am not a straight-spined person. M…

The Yoga of Being Sick (Plus 6 Holistic Sick-Day Tips)

This week, I got sick. I’ve been feeling it coming on for weeks, and I finally w…

Bad Yogi! Bad! On Yoga and Forgiveness

I often say that yoga makes you better at absolutely everything, except remember…

Your Breath Is Your Super Power

If you’ve ever taken a yoga class, you’ve heard some reference to the breath at …

Why a Little Guilt Can Be Good For You

Guilt is a horrible feeling. When we are little kids, before our moral compass k…

Putting My Body in Your Hands: The Vulnerability of the Yoga Practice

Attending a yoga class is a fundamentally vulnerable thing to do.I think about m…

Goddess Matangi: Salty Old Lady, Teen Angst Heart

Soon, I’m turning 29. My birthday always sends me into an introspective tailspin…

The Yoga of Revolution

Yoga has been banned in several countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, and wi…

Be Yourself: Leave People-Pleasing to the Bee Gees

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the ways in which my work as an artist and…

Yoga in Your Pocket

Yoga is a good thing to have in your pocket.I’m writing this from the hotel rest…

The Art of Receiving

There’s an origin story that many yogis have: there was a first moment, a realiz…

The Yoga of Money

If we start looking more honestly at where our flow comes from and where it goes…

Synesthesia: A Practice for Translating Body Language

One of the reasons we practice yoga, in my opinion, is to become better translat…

On the Virtues of A Coffee Mug

I spent last week away from home, work, studio, email, and Facebook in the city …

The Science of Yoga

I went to take a friend of mine’s class a while ago, on a full moon. She talked …

Yogis Need Boundaries Too

Before I became a yoga teacher, I assumed all my teachers must have had it all f…

The Yoga Fight: Why Yoga & I Are “On a Break”

I have a confession to make. I haven’t been practicing yoga. But I HAVE been f…

Emotional Intelligence: A Practice for the Chakras

In last week’s post, I talked about the vital importance of emotional intelligen…

The Positivity Plague

We’re thinking about stress all wrong. “Pain is our absolute best teacher, becau…

The Yoga of Critical Thinking

I was talking recently with a fellow yoga teacher about a student who takes thre…

Ordinary Superpowers

I have a mantra. I say it to myself daily, in many situations, and it helps me i…

Composting for Your Life

It’s Spring 2012, and we just had a super full moon: The moon was closer to the …

The Delicate Art of Listening

“Close your eyes,” my yoga teacher says. “Don’t open them again for the next 90 …

Happy (Belated) Earth Day! I Got You Some Trash.

Earth Day 2012 was just a few weeks ago, and I’ve been thinking about what that …

Pitch, Pace, and Pause

As some of you already know, I am a spoken word poet, which means, generally spe…

Tao Te Ching and the Complexities of Going with the Flow

Lately, I’ve been reading the Tao Te Ching. It’s the seminal text of Taoist phil…

The Hidden Dangers of Sunshine and Flowers

As many of you already know, I am not what I would describe as a ‘sunshine and f…

Let’s Do a Spring Cleanse! (From Someone Who Hates Cleanses)

Happy first days of Spring! It’s a celebratory season, and one that just can’t …

Pratyahara: Withdrawing the Senses and Feeling Feelings

There’s a principle in Patanjali’s classical text on Yoga, the Yoga Sutras, call…

The True Key to Happiness: Peeing in the Pool

If you’ve ever wondered and searched with the greater population of the world fo…

The Season of Saraswati

Well, we’ve finally made it to March. Here in Vancouver, that means it’s still k…

Life Lessons from Yin Yoga, or, Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Yin yoga, in case you’ve never heard of it before, is a style of yoga in which y…

Testing your Hippie Boundary: Reincarnation

I was once at a workshop about managing grief through yoga practice. I remember …

Finding the Light in the Shadows: On Shri and Kali

It’s 2012: the end of the Mayan Calendar, the year of New Age spiritual transfor…

The Secrets of Your Core, or Why You Don't Need to Punch Your Yoga Teacher

The other day, my friend and yoga teacher Meghan Currie said to me about the cor…

How to Tone a Flabby Heart

Strengthening your warrior heart is about reacting with compassion and an open m…

Enter the Goddess: Shiva Rea and the Divine Feminine

Living in the world with the goddess principle means a radical change.

Teach Me, Teacher(s)!

Classically, the yoga practice (physical asana yoga as well as the meditation an…

Why You Should Resolve Not To Make Any New Year’s Resolutions

“There is a deranged hope that comes with the New Year that we are entering into…

Taking out the Trash: Goodbye 2011

As we pass the Solstice, the darkest night of the year, we are also entering int…

Open Your Heart to the Truth. NO, WAIT, SHUT THE WINDOW!

The truth will set you free! So they say. Lately I’ve been wondering—set you fr…

In Praise of the Giggles

Have you ever had a giggle fit?I used to get them all the time when I was a kid—…

The Most Important Yogic Tool You Have: The Bullshit Detector

Yoga has this wonderful quality of opening our minds and bodies at the same time…

You are Nobody. Thank Goodness.

“I always wanted to be somebody. Now I realize I should have been more specific.…

Creative Flow: How Yoga Can Spark Your Creativity

If you didn’t know me as a person, and all you knew about me was that I was a yo…

Zen and the Art of Not Tearing Your Hair Out

If you had a time machine, would you speed forward into the future or relive the…

How to Occupy Raging Bulls: The Way of the Tao

I’m going to tell you a story.One day, there was a raging bull in the middle of …

One More Reason to Wear Purple

Yesterday, I wore as much purple as I could muster. Even my eyeshadow was purple…

Why I Will Not Occupy Any Street

I was once in a workshop with celeb-yogi extraordinaire Sadie Nardini, and she a…

Me and My Guru

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the Sanskrit word “guru.” Most of us know …

Happy Birthday, Rumi and Me

Today is my 28th birthday. Birthdays have always been kinda hard for me, all the…

Tensegrity: The Softness in Power

Okay, so we all know we need to work on this thing called the “core” we keep hea…

What is Love? Baby, Don't Hurt Me

You can’t think and feel at the same time. One of my yoga teachers, Nico Luce, …

The Many Possibilities of Joy in a Small Cup: Yoga, Life, and the Second Chakra

Lately, I’m really into joy.That probably makes me sound like a jerk. I don’t me…

Yoga, Transformation, Silence, and Why I'm Just Like Gandhi

When famous yogi and author Yogananda visits Gandhi in his memoir Autobiography …

How Yoga Got My Mom and Me Through the Worst Summer Ever

Summer. A time of fun in the sun, pretty clothes, romance, rainbows, and unicorn…