Thoughts From Annie

Dear Friends, Welcome to winter. This morning it was only 9 degrees above freezing! First, a reminder – this weekend (November 3rd) we will have our Saturday Sangha again. 10% off all store merchandise all day, plus a time to sit together and talk about our practice from 5:00 to 6:30 pm. Please join us!…

Dear Friends, Thank you to each of you who emailed me or told me that these monthly thoughts have been helpful for you. Your words encourage me to write, even when I sometimes wonder whether what I am writing is relevant to other people’s lives. It’s a great reminder for me that even though we…

Dear Friends, Welcome back from your summer travels, whether they were geographic travels or simply inner explorations. I was fortunate enough to spend a week at a mindfulness retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh outside of Boston this month. As is often the case, the time I spent in mindfulness, and listening to my wise teacher…

Dear Friends, Before I write anything else, I want to tell you about a very wonderful event that we just added to our studio calendar. On Monday, July 16 7:30 pm, we will be hosting the Wild Lotus Band for a Kirtan/concert. This band is really amazing. I heard them play a few months ago,…

Dear Friends, I am writing this letter to you on an airplane returning home after a long weekend spent with two of my dearest friends. We met in the center of the country, one from the West, one from the Midwest, and me coming from the East coast. We holed up in a log cabin…

Dear Friends, It’s April again, the spring flowers are sprouting, and the birds are starting to make a crazy racket in the early morning hours. The trees are still mostly brown, but the forest floor near the creeks is quickly turning green. The transformation back to awakening seems quirky and unpredictable and unstoppable all at…

Dear Friends, Welcome to March. I have been thinking about this quote by Wallace Stevens a lot lately, especially as I take my daily walk through Rock Creek Park. Although I don’t usually walk around a lake, I do cross the Pinehurst branch of Rock Creek at least twice during my walks. This winter was…

Dear Friends, February is here, bringing cold weather (finally) and the holiday that we often have mixed feelings about — Valentine’s Day. Usually our feelings about Valentine’s Day range from dreamy romantic, when we have a partner that we love, to avoidant, when we don’t, to everything in-between. We often feel we have to have…

Dear Friends, Happy New Year! For the new year, I would like to share a poem that was read at our New Year’s Day yoga class by our lovely teacher, Anne Kennedy. May it help set your intentions for the new year. I look forward to seeing each and everyone one of you sometime this…

Dear Friends, Happy Holidays! If you’re like me, December is usually the month for frantic busyness… shopping, cooking, entertaining guests, going to parties, and much more. It’s often a lot of fun, and yet can sometimes create more stress than our bodies can easily handle. When I visit the monks and nuns of Plum Village,…