The V-Word

“The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions.”   -Thich Nhat Hanh

I grew up accustomed to angry bursts of violence. My parents divorced when I was thirteen, but the years leading to their final separation made the divorce more of a relief than additional pain. Communications were mostly done in different octaves of yells and even now, my children...

by Elizabeth Spannuth

I turned 39 on Tuesday and in the weeks leading up to my birthday I was having mixed feelings about it. Typically, I don’t mind getting older, because I enjoy the mental journey. I am fond of saying “I miss my 20 year old body, but I don’t miss my 20 year old mind.” But being the birthday before the big 4-0, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I don’t have the trappings that...

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars….”  -Jack Kerouac

I think that this quote is one that I have always remembered because it describes me in...

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there.”  -Rumi

Today I had the gracious good fortune to learn about the mysteries of the inner world from Sally Kempton, a master teacher of meditation who has been practicing for over forty years and is a former swami. In our interview when I was asking her to describe what happens when you point your Awareness on...

by Elizabeth Spannuth

“You have the cutest little fat rolls!” proclaimed one of my yoga friends. I do Bikram yoga, which involves a room heated to 105 degrees. Naturally, this practice involves wearing as little clothing as possible, no matter how thin you are. It’s true I have a few extra pounds and that I wear the equivalent of a 2-piece bathing suit for this class. However I would never have...

“The challenge of history is to recover the past and introduce it to the present.” -David Thelen

Tonight launched the 43^rdannual conference of the American Association of Sexual Educators (AASECT), Counselors and Therapists. These are the people that are the educational engine as well as the therapeutic resources for the progressive understanding of what it means to be a sexual human being today....

“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.”  -Ernest Hemingway

I am coming to love my brokenness or at least I am coming to allow it the space it needs. I am not ashamed of the fear that blinds me or makes it hard to sit still with the uncertainty and disappointment of the moment. I am learning to look at my weaknesses as a friend, or at least a teacher. It is...

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who are alive.” -Howard Thurman

It was a Monday, in every sense and layered meaning of the word today. It was a pouring-down, rainy, cold, windy Monday that made you wish you were back in bed. I wasn’t feeling well and my lack of focus quickly turned...