Let’s think about our beds for a moment. We do love our beds but let’s think not just about our beds but our bodies in our beds. To state the obvious our beds are made for sleeping. We have our side, our pillow, our sheets and blankets. Our heads go by the head board. Our feet by the foot board. Sheets are tucked in at the bottom. Very comfy. Very cozy. Warm, familiar, homey. We lie down and let our beds hold our bodies as our spirits wander off to wherever they go at night.

Beauty Everyone is beautiful. This may sound trite, like a meme for your Facebook feed, but no matter what judgment your mind creates when you open the door to a new person, within 20 minutes they will transform before your very eyes into a perfect expression of divinity. Strengthening that muscle makes life so much more beautiful. Shame Shame is powerfully hobbling. It is brilliantly effective in keeping us afraid and disempowered. If you struggle with shame, you may not eve

Years ago, I was in a fabulous production of Love! Valor! Compassion! I loved that play and everyone in it! An all male cast and all female crew. Of all the many shows I’ve been a part of, this AIDS era play created such a feeling of love for these characters and their intense struggles. The title reflects the love, the bravery and the compassionate response needed when facing challenges that no one has any solutions for. Maybe that’s what made compassion the right choice dur

I’ve been doing yoga for just about 30 years now. 30 years!That’s a long time! And it’s been an important part of my health care regimen. Over the decades, I’ve tried many different forms. Ashtanga yoga, Iyengar yoga, Kundalini yoga, Power yoga, Restorative yoga. Some inspired a deep dive, others were a passing romance. I got my teaching certification in Vinyasa yoga in December, but I’ve never taught a class and I’ll tell you why. My favorite yoga class of my entire life was

In the Pacific Northwest, the mountains are always beckoning! More trails than anyone could ever hike in a lifetime. Between the Cascades and the Olympics, there are always new adventures, magnificent vistas to take in. Imagine that every time you go for a hike, you take the same trail. It leads right from your bedroom door, trips over a babbling brook, winds through a thicket of white birch and breaks out above the trees. At the very top, there is an astounding view of an an

Join the Menbodied Institute in October for: Intimacy Bootcamp! We all need intimacy. Unfortunately, many of us know first hand that a life without intimacy is painful. It hurts physically and emotionally. Without intimacy, we often feel at a loss, disconnected. Lonely. Continually spinning our wheels, reaching toward connection in the obvious, tried and true ways but find they haven’t worked for us. Or we give up trying entirely. Whether single or in relationships, intimacy

You’re too tired. This is not going to work. It’s just not our thing! A waste of time! Boring! This is so weird! Go back! Whenever I teach an intimacy exercise, I give my students fair warning. As they start to move, the first thing that is going to happen is that a voice inside their heads, their ego, is going to do their very best to talk them out of it. Our egos are the parts of ourselves that keep us believing that we are separate from one another. In order to keep themse

Over the weekend, I went to the Austin Radical Faery gathering! I’ve got so much to integrate about myself and my community. One of the consistent elements of Faery gatherings is to play with gender by dressing in wigs, jewelry and beautiful gowns. For some, this is an important opportunity to express a part of their identity that most often remains hidden. For me, I will slip into something just to twirl and look at myself to ask, who am I in this dress? Is something reveale