During my professional time as a wellness provider I have become more and more aware of how white dominate this billion dollar industry is. I recognize that I, as a white identified person, am apart of the saturation and influx of offerings literally white washing the space for other professionals and practitioners. My mission and goal is to uplift other practitioners and folks supporting the human organism and community care with their skills and wisdom. In the year of 2021

During this year of the Pandemic, I have never felt such humility and judgement (and much more) all at the same time. Where we had to shift to not going out and being isolated to then feeling the survival of working and paying bills and such. There is nothing that can compare to what 2020 and now 2021 is teaching us on many levels and layers. My life and spiritual practices have changed drastically. I have had to literally slow down since I cannot do my movement teachings wor

One thing nature is teaching me (and maybe you) is that we have no control over anything except our thoughts, actions, reactions/responses, intake of information, and our words. I cannot stop the Corona Virus, massive homeless crises, starvation, natural disasters, or people's emotional reaction to these forces. I am only in charge of myself and how I can respond. It is not an easy task to be calm within the chaos, so when I hear folks say this when I am in the heat of my emo

I was preparing for this pandemic. Maybe not completely with food and such, but with the pure dedication to changing and being adaptable to uprooting situations. I am about to rip off a sensitive and hidden bandage that I have been keeping to myself and a select few. I hope my shared experience can assist you on your healing journey. Almost 4 years ago my life (and my husband's as it was his direct experience) shifted drastically. We had just bought our house less than a year

As the holy-day season approaches I thought I would share a few ways you can give gifts that are intentional and supportive to our BIPOC community. What is BIPOC? BIPOC stands for Black, Indigenous and People of Color. Historically these folks have suffered the most under Colonization, Imperialism and Capitalism. Somehow these holidays have been traditionally about exchanging gifts during the family and community gathering in these colds winter months have been manipulated in

Dropping deeper into Svadyaya (self-study) in a Spiritual Retreat center. Hear about how I cultivated humility and contentment during my sta

I began my movement journey in a traditional training to become a dancer. I mean at the age of 7 and in the West no child knows if they will become a professional dancer they just hope to be. All I knew was that I loved to move and it felt good. Ashley Circa 2008 as a Bon Bon in The Nutcracker My mother saw my interest in moving my body and she knew that was my outlet. She knew that was my medicine. She knew that would be my way to speak. For those who don't know children who

I recognize that I am limited in this information, but I will share as much as I know at this time to the best of my abilities. With every truth there is some untruth and with some untruth there is some truth. Yin is a term that comes from Taoist (also written and pronounced Daoist) philosophy. Yin is interconnected to Yang. You may even have seen the symbol above. This is a representation that in the light part of the symbol there is still a drop of darkness and in the dark

In the West Yoga has become a synonymous term to name our physical practice, but there is more to Yoga than just the physical practice. There are more Yoga practices and lineages than the Hatha yoga (physical/forced) that we all practice in the West. Because there are many tenets and ethical codes for each lineage or school of yoga I will only pull from the Yoga Sūtras of Pantañjali (YSP) as that is our basis for Western Yoga asana Teacher Training. In all of the sacred tex

Growing up my dad used to sing this song, "The knee bone connected to the tail bone, the tail bone connected to the hip bone." At such a young age I really thought it was a simple silly song my dad would sing. Well turns out that was my first anatomy lesson! I would continue to learn, more traditionally, anatomy along my life path through dance, college, and through my yoga and other modality trainings. The body is it's own universe. Not one thing works alone in the body. It

I am witting this blog as I am cuddled up in my reading/study/nap/meditation space. We are finally getting some good rain this winter in Northern California and it is so peaceful and lovely to slow down and listen to the rain. To see it make shapes and sparkles on the window glass. I wonder who else might be doing the same thing. No music, no t.v., just Nature at her finest and fierceness. How often do we just slow down and listen to the rain? There in lies the question of, w

I get this question, A lot! I too didn't really know what TRE was until I graduated from my first yoga teacher training and actually attended my first TRE workshop. I was drawn in to the idea of releasing tension especially in the PSOAS. At the time, I was teaching dancers who were having serious PSOAS and hip flexor problems and thought I could learn something and bring it back to them. I later learned this is a self-help technique to physically release stress, tension and t

In the path of Buddhism the first 3 of the 4 noble truths is there is suffering, we must find the origin of the suffering, and knowing there there is a way out of that suffering. The fourth truth is the path to practice to eliminate suffering. As a young teen I didn't know why, but I felt so deeply connected to these four noble truths. The simple fact that I am suffering was a relief, Buddha knew we all came here and we would end up suffering as humans, but he also knew there

This blog is dedicated to my niece and all students from all walks of life. May you all be free of stress. During my time in school I wasn't very interested in learning math skills or science. The teachers that I had tried their BEST to engage ALL of us into the math or science or whatever skill that was being taught. Remember the example of the train going down one track at a certain mile/hour and the other coming at another mph, which one will get there first? Who's going t

This is the most common question; what type/kind of yoga do I practice? In Western society we have developed this separation into styles. It's nice, I will admit, when you show up to a Restorative class (for example) and you get...A Restorative class, not an Ashtanga class. It helps our Western mind know when I show up to this Restorative class I am going to be moving slow, lots of props and I might fall asleep ; ). When I show up for a Strong/Astanga class, I am going to swe

A few weekends ago my husband and I traveled down to LA for a family wedding and decided to make a road trip out of it. This was a big deal for us as we haven't traveled just us, no other family, for more than a night in over 2 years. BIG DEAL! Well this trip we were driving down with our cousin and the first and main part of our trip was for family. After the wedding we also had a lot of alone time while driving up 395. I didn't realize how profound this trip would be. Not o

Being a human is awesome and terrifying all at the same time. We get to witness this amazing life of standing upright, using our hands to do simple to complex tasks, all the way to re-growing cells while we sleep! All the while we are able to observe, with consciousness, that these thing autonomous, regulatory functions like breathing, happen and we have the ability to drop in and experience them. How miraculous is that?! Another amazing thing is the human brain and how we ar

As the summer vacations (or just summer months) are approaching I thought I would share some Yoga Poses you could do anywhere (even a tiny cramped airplane seat)! In college, as I was studying another movement modality, this was a suggested idea for a final project. How to find a seated tight quartered movement practice. Not only is it curious to change our perception of where and how can practice. But we then find ourselves being spacious, mindful, and free within our bodie

Well here it is. Part duex. This will be all dedicated to the care of your teeth, especially during dental drama (like getting your wisdom teeth removed). I am working on being more on top of my own routine, and when I had my wisdom teeth removed I was reminded of some simple ways to clean and support the gum growth. From Part one of my blog, I mentioned how I learned from my seasonal allergies AND how the sinus cavities were directly related (in my theory) to the teeth and d

Have you heard that Bob Marley song, Judge Not? It is amazing how it relates not only to our actions towards others, but also our actions towards ourselves. He was such a Rasta-Yogi! As I continue to investigate my own healing process, I have found a playful yearning for my original practice, BALLET. I spent hours upon grueling hours over the perfection of this technique over the past 20 years, literally pouring myself into this art of Ballet with blood, sweat and tears and i