Thoughts From Annie
January 2009
Dear Friends, Hi. Happy New Year! Thank you all for being part of our sangha (community of practice) during 2008. What a wonderful year of yoga, meditation, mindfulness, Pilates, dana (generosity) and community building we have enjoyed together. Though I am not usually one for resolutions, this New Year I decided to look into the…
Read MoreDecember 2008
Dear Friends, Hi. If you’ve ever read Dr. Seuss’s classic, I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew, then you may understand one of the themes that has run through my life and my practice since I was a child. This book was my absolute favorite when I was young, and I can recite many…
Read MoreNovember 2008
Dear Friends, Hi. I can’t believe it’s November already. This past weekend we had our Saturday Sangha, which is our monthly community day (sangha means community that practices together), and we had a lively discussion about what we really need. This topic has been on my mind lately for a number of reasons. Mostly, I…
Read MoreOctober 2008
Dear Friends, Hi. I just sat down on the sofa in my living room, after having had a loud “discussion” with my teenage daughter. The argument wasn’t anything profound, simply whether she would be willing to drive her sister to a friend’s house using her own gas, which she has recently started paying for. As…
Read MoreSeptember 2008
Dear Friends, Hi. Here we are again at the start of the fall. I hope you all had a relaxing summer, and had time to put your feet up and just be. I have been thinking a lot about an old Buddhist story (it’s possible that this story exists in many traditions) about the idea…
Read MoreAugust 2008
Dear Friends, Hi. I spent two weeks on the west coast this summer, in Seattle at a Teen Talking Circles facilitators training and then 10 days of silent retreat at the Mindfulness Yoga and Meditation program that I am a part of at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, just outside of San Francisco. During those two…
Read MoreJune 2008
Dear Friends, Yesterday I was eating a mango at my kitchen table. It was really delicious. One of my teenage daughters, who especially loves mangos, was sitting in the living room studying for final exams. As I savored the first half of my mango, I thought about her sitting in the other room, and how…
Read MoreApril/May 2008
Dear Friends, I am a very impatient person. Maybe you are too. I don’t like to wait for the hot water to boil for my tea, so I often take it off early and drink lukewarm tea. I’ve been known to decide a room needs painting, buy the paint, and complete the job in one…
Read MoreMarch 2008
Dear Friends, I have recently been tested by some family challenges: two major situations where I needed to be able to problem solve and get into action, but also be present with my own feelings and needs, and the feelings and needs of family members. It hasn’t been easy, and it has really tested my…
Read MoreFebruary 2008
Dear Friends, I apologize for skipping the newsletter for the month of January, I was busy with some family business. So here we are in February already. I hope that you are enjoying your practice at Circle Yoga and/or Budding Yogis, and that you are staying well this winter. I’ve been thinking about something that…
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