In a column about health and wellness in your neighborhood, I usually focus on active things you can do to improve your health. I’ve written about yoga, walking programs, training techniques for runners, nutrition and information about resources right “under your feet” that can improve your wellness. I was recently exposed to a new mindset that I found very powerful and one that immediately had a positive affect on my own health by decreasing my stress level. For those of you that are aware of mindfulness techniques, you know that there are many things one can do to improve one’s health that …

Many people look to summer as the time to make changes in their lives around their health as the warmer weather coaxes them out of the house and outside. But any day is a wonderful day to make a new commitment to your health. The fall is also a great time to make new changes in your eating habits, exercise plans and overall health. But is something holding you back? Sometimes it’s not a matter of our body, but often our mind that’s holding us back from beginning something new or getting back into a routine of taking care of ourselves. In my work as a yoga teacher, I sometimes hear people …

The other day I had a lovely dinner with a friend at a local restaurant. In talking about a topic I’m particularly passionate about, I found myself using a certain word that would be considered profanity in just about any circle. Now, every once in a while, I’ve been known to use it and while it’s perfect for adding emphasis, it’s not the most pleasant thing to say or hear. You never know how any of these words will land on the person hearing them and, honestly, there were a lot of other options I could have used that were just as emphatic and expressive. Language is part of our expression, …

Last week I wrote about the back to school transition and some healthy tips to manage what can often be a stressful time. Back to school, the shift of seasons from summer to fall: these things both signify change. Even if you don’t have school-aged children and aren’t involved in the hustle and bustle of this time of year, it’s hard not to feel a shift these days. Change can be thrust upon us when we least expect it and sometimes it’s something we experience willingly, like a planned move to a new home. But in any event, it can be at times, both stressful and exciting. As a yoga student, …

It’s that time of year again: back to school. When I was young, yoga wasn’t part of my life at all, nor was it provided in my elementary or high school. Now it’s offered at many schools so children have a chance to try this wonderful practice to help them build physical strength, increase their ability to focus and manage the torrent of emotions that are part of their daily life. Yoga, mindfulness and meditation too, can all be useful tools for helping children and parents manage the transition to back to school. The practice of yoga is about more than the poses, it’s also a practice that …

Earlier this month, world-renowned endurance swimmer Diana Nyad attempted for the second time to swim the 103-mile route between Cuba and Key West Florida. She’d tried it before, 33 years ago, but the seas were too rough. This time, 17 hours in, she started to experience shoulder pain and after struggling through it, said she could not stand it any longer. After 28 hours in the water, she allowed her crew to pull her up and out. At 61-years-old, this is one amazing feat, regardless of the outcome. In one of her follow up interviews, the reporter focused on what she didn’t do, instead of …

By the time you read this, the stock market will most likely have gone up and down, in dramatic fashion, at least three more times. In the past 72 hours, the market dropped 634 points, then gained 429 points last Tuesday and sunk 519 points again. According to the news media, it’s the first time that the Dow has moved by more than 400 points in three straight days since November 2008, when markets were crushed by the financial crisis that had really just begun. It’s enough to make you sick. Not just stressed, but physically ill. And, despite the recent report that technology is doing well and…

The other day, an aspiring yoga teacher wrote me a note in response to an article I’d written. In my article, I had referred to my long corporate career that was blended with the years I had been teaching yoga. She said she was trying to figure out how old I was and figured we were around the same age. She said it gave her faith, because she wanted to start teaching yoga and thought she might be too old. When we talked further on the phone, I flat out asked her, “If teaching yoga is really what you want to do, what choice do you have?” My point was that if you really want to pursue something…

The other day I was walking the dog and there was a big pile of free newspapers from one of the kiosks on the street. They were flying around so I picked up a bunch and threw them away. When I was on my way home, I ran into a local mom; I could see her ahead of me pushing a stroller with 2 kids but at the same time, picking up the remaining newspapers on the sidewalk. I stopped and chatted with her and we had a nice conversation. As I continued walking I started to think about how much the health of a community falls on everyone's shoulders. We all live in our own homes and lead our own busy …

Today was the second week in a row I woke up to the “beep beep” sounds of trucks outside my window. Truthfully, I was already awake but the mere sound of trucks backing up was enough to send me into a moment of stress. Stress in the morning is never a good thing, especially on a Monday. Living here in Charlestown for the past few weeks has been a bit of a challenge. The construction, the no-parking zones, the noise, the dust, the obstacle course that has become many of our local roads and sidewalks. It reminds me of a central principle of Buddhism: the world is an imperfect place and what we …

Last week, my column focused on how you can leverage the summer’s relaxed vibe to re-focus yourself on what you’d like to accomplish the rest of this year. It was a gentle reminder that although time is moving forward, it doesn’t have to mean you’re running out of time. Every day is a chance to begin again. It can be helpful when we have downtime to look at our personal habits. We all have things we’d like to change and we all have the opportunity every day to make a decision to shift things for the better. There are so many areas that can be explored: health, relationships, career, family, …

Ah, summer. Time to relax, eat, drink and repeat. Did you realize that July means the year is half over? I know, hardly an inspiring thought. Actually, I like to think of this time of year as an opportunity to get back on track with things that I set out to do throughout the year. In the summer, things tend to naturally slow down as people are focused a bit more on relaxing. Because of this, there may be more space for you to take time to think about things you wanted to do this year and get back on track with figuring out how to make those things happen. If you’re not sure, or you hate the …

I was listening to NPR the other day and turned it off. Right off. Now, I love NPR. I love that you can be listening to Barbra Streisand or Twitter co-founder Biz Stone in one moment and then be listening to the BBC or local news in the next minute. But on this particular day, it the news was just too much. Stocks dropping, employment claims up, sales of new homes down. I couldn’t stand it and just turned it off. Guess what? Things are tough. They’ve been tough for a while now and as the economy continues to struggle, so do many individuals and families. On top of that, there’s a lot of bad …

As soon as the Bruins won the Stanley Cup last week, I knew it would be the theme for my next Patch column. But what does hockey have to do with wellness, yoga and the neighborhood, which are the themes of this regular Patch contribution? Well, many things. Here’s a look at some of the themes that this amazing accomplishment brings to mind: Connection: There is no denying that sports are one of the greatest things to connect people both on a local, national and international level. It’s what brings parents out with their kids to the soccer field; it brings friends out to local pubs to root on…

I watched the news last night and saw that the high school graduating class from Monson, Mass. had their ceremony. It was bittersweet for many, as Monson was deeply affected by this month’s tornado. I heard several teens talking about the lessons they learned over the past week. Many spent time helping others affected by the storm, despite losing so much of their own. What a great lesson to be learned right there: that even in the most troubling of personal times, reaching out to help others can lead to your own healing. Around this time of year, in graduation ceremonies around the country, …

The Bunker Hill Road Race is coming up and I thought it’d be a great time to share some tips for runners inspired by yoga.  If you’re a runner and you’ve never done any yoga, these tips may still be useful but they will really sink in even if you try just a few classes. This will be one of the first years in a while I won’t be running, but from my morning position at Charlestown Yoga teaching my 9 a.m. class, I’ll feel a connection to all of the runners out pounding the pavement. One of the obvious connections that yoga and running share is rhythmic breathing. In yoga, the breath is often …

Bailey Rose lost a friend of hers the other day -- one of her lab friends passed away after a long and happy life. As any of you know that live with dogs here in Charlestown, you and your dog make so many friends just walking around town. It’s not uncommon for you to know the dog’s name before you know the owner’s name, but hopefully that happens over time.  I’ve lived here as long as I’ve had my dog: she’s grown to love the neighborhood and many of the people in it. There are many dog lovers in Charlestown, even those that don’t have dogs. Our store owners are so generous with biscuits and …

I had the opportunity last week to participate in the Charlestown Mother’s Association Spring Fair. It was a festive event at the Charlestown Working Theater and featured food, drink and creative items and services for sale from many local entrepreneurs. Along with taking time to see what was of interest around the event, local moms had a chance to do something social together and many of them had the support of their families in caring for their children while they had a night out. For me, it was a great opportunity to see a number of mothers that I usually see with their kids, but instead …

The other day I was hanging my coat in the closet and for some reason, the opening song from the old children’s show, Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, was ringing in my head. I remember with a fondness the way he so methodically hung his coat and put his sweater on before going off to visit his friends in the neighborhood. One of the reasons I think of that scene so fondly is because I think of myself as a perfectionist and think, on some level, Mr. Rogers was as well. Anyone that tied his shoes with such zest and had a closet as neat as his must be a Type-A perfectionist. Fast-forward many years …

I love the ways in which I get inspired to write my weekly Patch column. I usually wait for an interaction in the neighborhood to give me the nugget of an idea and I go from there. This week’s wellness inspiration is about “taking action,” which is one of the foundations of yoga and Buddhist philosophy. You may have heard of the statement, “taking right action,” which basically refers to the idea of not just doing something but doing the “right thing.” More on that later. I’m a new bike owner. As such, one of my neighbors asked me if I was going to attend a meeting about bike lanes in …