Updates
April, 2024
Dear friends,
I have exciting news for those of you who have been asking about my classes. I am going to be teaching a couple of yoga classes – hybrid this time, so you can join me from anywhere – Monday, 5/13 and 5/20, at 9:30am PT.
If you’re in Seattle, join me in person at the Conservatory, a newish studio in Columbia City. It’s right at the intersection of Genesee and Rainier – there’s free parking on Genesee on the west side of Rainier and along Rainier itself. If you’d rather practice from home, you can register for the online class. Both links to register are here, under the “events” tab — https://www.theconservatorynw.com/ Whether you join online or in-person, I am excited to see you and celebrate having bodies that can move and breathe together.
I am also thrilled to report that I am through the hardest part of cancer! I barely say that out loud, because of course we can never know what comes next. Cancer reminded me of that so abruptly. But the odds are that I am through cancer and it won’t come back. I have been trying to write some of what I’ve learned over the past seven months, now that I can finally have a tiny bit of distance to reflect and look back. I’ll share that when I have something ready.
Deep breaths friends.
Love,
Krista
November, 2023
Dear community,
I am overdue in writing. It’s been a hard few weeks, months, and years for all of us. I am mourning the deaths in Israel, now the war on the people of Gaza. I am taking a deep breath. May there be space for all our sadness, rage, sorrow, grief, and fear. May we be together in the complexity of it all.
My personal “hard” has a new name: I found out in August that I have breast cancer. It is early stage and treatable. It is devastating sometimes and weirdly OK at other times. When I found the cancer, I extended my leave from yoga teaching. Not so much because I couldn’t teach with cancer, but because cancer brings with it a slew of appointments, some of them, in the desperate beginning, at whatever time they can slide you in. A couple times I was sure I was coming back to teach, and then the next available appointment was Thursday morning. And so, I am still on leave from yoga teaching.
While my body changes, the places that I teach are also evolving. The mindfulness classes for parents through Odessa Brown clinic were suddenly cut, and so those classes will be on hold starting in January while we look for a new home. Lotus Yoga has converted to a teacher-run collective model, with hybrid classes taking place in a new (beautiful!) space in Columbia City.
A year ago, I think I read that half of Seattle’s yoga studios had closed because of the pandemic. Any ethical yoga studio – one that was in it for the healing more than the profits – was operating on a slim margin. I have complicated feelings about being part of “yoga” in the U.S., but still. I mourn the loss of one of the ways we have created to gather, to grow together as we learn how to be more fully, brilliantly, authentically ourselves and in community. I am so grateful for the efforts of the Lotus collective to hold our community, especially through so many other big transitions.
I am thinking about how to return to teaching. I hope that in January or February I’ll be able to return to my Thursday morning class. I am so grateful for hybrid technology – if I teach in person, I will also always offer the Zoom option. I am interested in hearing from you as I plan, if you are someone who would like to come back to yoga practice with me. When and where is best for you? Would you come to an in-person class in Columbia City? In Mt. Baker? Or would you prefer online? Does Thursday morning 9:30 gentle-ish work for you, or is there another time you would show up? (I see you friends who used to practice with me in the evenings.)
There is more to say, but for now I’ll end with gratitude. I feel grateful to know so many powerful healers and organizers and artists and parents and teachers – people who know how told hold brokenness and difficulty, people who know how to ask what we need, people who are so good at bringing us together amidst chaos, people who are good at precisely, even brutally, seeing and showing back to us the specificities of pain and love. I feel so grateful to be in community with you.
Love,
Krista
April 2023
Hello Spring! By the time I hit send on this email, I think the sun will finally be re-emerging. I realized recently how many poems that talk about the weather that I love (read to the bottom for one, see Nikki Giovani’s Make Me Rain for some more greats!). Weather isn’t just for small talk! I love weather as a constant reminder of how things change, how much is out of our control. For me, in a body that craves warmth and heat, winters and springs in the NW are a constant place for training, for remembering – everything changes.
There is so much change right now, maybe always – terrifying, exciting, dreadful, mundane. I am grieving so many losses, including the far too many people dying from gun violence. If you haven’t gotten to know the incredible work and too-short life of Elijah Lewis, please read the Seattle Times obituary and follow the links to see him speak. You might take action in so many ways, including donating to his family to continue his work. May we follow his lead in committing ourselves to doing all we can to make our communities safer for everyone to grow, heal and thrive.
Meanwhile, our Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Program through Odessa Brown Clinic is growing in exciting ways. This spring we are offering classes for parents in Spanish and in Somali, a six week group for the Black community, and we have opened up our ongoing Wednesday evening drop-in practice session to any and everyone! Which is to say, you do not need to be a parent or caregiver or anything other than a human interested in practicing mindfulness with other people on zoom, Wednesdays 8-9 pm. I facilitate some evenings, but you’re missing out if you don’t show up to meet the other, incredible facilitators on our team! Information about all our classes is here .
And finally, a writing update! I’ve had a couple more essays published or accepted for publication recently! The South Seattle Emerald published a piece I wrote in February, titled “Love for the People at Seattle Public Schools You’ve Probably Never Heard of. ” If you want to read other work I’ve published recently on parenting and disability, you can find it on my web page.
I hope this finds you soaking in the sun or the rain, moving in ways that feel deeply good in your body. And if “feeling good” sounds like a distant planet, please know you are loved and not alone.
With gratitude,
Krista
October 24, 2020
Dear community,
I come to you with a reminder to practice! Monday evenings or Thursday mornings if you want to practice with me. 🙂
Of course you don’t need to come to my yoga classes or any yoga classes to practice. And you don’t need a special mat or special pants or a special cushion (though if those things help you practice, get them out!) You don’t even need any specific techniques. But you do need to be curious about getting to know yourself, and you need to either have community to support you or the inner discipline to keep coming back. And back again.
The idea of practice is simply that, like the old “you are what you eat,” we are also literally shaped by what we practice, what we DO. Over time we build our reflexes, we build our cellular memory, we build our capacity for strength in the face of adversity. That is practice.
So come to yoga… or a mindful walk, or a song, or a talk with a friend or a moment of awe at the fall colors. Come practice returning to a still point, returning to flow, returning to breath, so that when it’s time – when you or your family or your colleagues or your community need you to be centered and present – you can show up grounded and ready.
I admit that I am, again, preaching what i need to hear! This moment is so fraught, so big, so uncomfortable. Let’s take care of ourselves so we can move through it all with rooted, radical love.
Krista
PS – I would love your help. I am not great at outreach. Besides of course these email, which go to those of you who already come to class, or don’t come but read my emails (which you are welcome to keep doing!) I would love your support in spreading word about my classes. Maybe forward this email to someone? Maybe you have other ideas about how I might be sharing this resource right now? Thank you!
Oct. 12, 2020
Dear community,
Fall has arrived in full force, at least in the Pacific Northwest. This morning I went for a run in my summer-rain gear, and it was not sufficient for the gusty cold winds that came with the rain. It felt like a metaphor for this moment. The strategies that got me through the summer will not translate to fall and winter.
Yesterday I had the pleasure of being part of a fairly intimate zoom reflection on spirituality with the prophetic Dr. Cornell West and Rev. Sekou. (To be clear, I was just watching on mute, but there were only a couple dozen of us with cameras on in the zoom – so it felt like Dr. West and my family were hanging out on a Sunday morning!)
I was struck by so many things Dr. West said about spiritual life. That our spiritual practice should fortify us to be able to face great obstacles, not make our lives more comfortable. That our spirituality should remind us that mainstream ideas of “success” are often far from what is just and right. That all of us living fully in this world are hurt by it, but that we can transform that hurt into healing.
But honestly the thing that I felt most deeply was his passion and humor and joy – I felt it right through the screen. Even as he sees and can articulate injustice with such deft precision, he embodied this deeply grounded, resilient joy.
So I accept his invitation, and I extend it to you. Even in these hard times – COVID; isolation; continued visibility of violence against Black, Indigenous and people of color; hatred and money-hoarding at the highest levels of power – we can build our collective resilience. And a key ingredient in our resilience can be joy.
To be clear, I’m not sure exactly how this goes. But I know that each of us has such deep wisdom we can access when we slow down. I know the yogis teach that our deepest truth – our innermost ‘kosha’ or layer of ourselves – is joy. And I know that I touch that wisdom and joy when my spiritual/yoga/meditation practice is in community, even if it’s on zoom.
Wishing you joyful resilience,
Krista
Sept. 28, 2020
Dear yoga community,
I have been thinking about hope, about our interconnection, about facing what is without numbing or fleeing or denial. I wish I could say my practice makes me steady all the time, but the truth is that these are unprecedented times in my lifetime.
Some things that I know in my bones:
We need each other.
We will take care of each other.
When we act, the effects ripple out in the world in ways we can never know.
Mystery means there is so much more than any one of us can know.
When I pause, it is not a retreat; pause lets me move with more power and purpose.
Giving up some of my power for our collective liberation is right, even if it is hard.
Collective struggle for justice is more powerful than any one person.
We need each other.
We will take care of each other.
Love,
Krista
Sept. 6, 2020
Dear community,
I’ve missed seeing you on zoom… and I’ve also enjoyed a little bit more time for my own practice over the past couple weeks. I will continue my teaching break through Labor Day, and then I will return to yoga teaching this Thursday, Sept. 10 and then next Monday, Sept. 14. (See below for times and zoom links.)
By retreating a couple weeks from teaching, I’ve had a little more time for my own practice. It’s been fun to try new things and reconnect with the deep joy I feel in mindfully moving my body. And I have been working with quieter practices – sitting still and listening to what happens in me when I face unknown and discomfort. Of course some days my practice feels forced or hard or boring. And sometimes it feels like it meets my body/heart/mind/spirit’s need so exactly. I wish that for you, too – to stick with practices that serve you, knowing that there will be days that feel dull and others when you can meet your heart’s need so profoundly.
As my family embarks on the journey into online school with two kids this week, I am aware of how much I don’t know about my capacity to teach through this pandemic home-schooling – and of course that none of us know what to expect this fall. I hope to keep teaching yoga Monday evenings and Thursday mornings, as well as mindfulness some Wednesday evenings. I’ll stick with that schedule through September and see what happens. I wonder if we’ll need even shorter practices, or earlier or later. I love creating community for embodied, accessible, welcoming yoga practice, so please let me know if you have requests or ideas about what would serve you.
I wish you so many deep breaths as we dive or roll or stumble into the school year and the fall.
Love,
Krista
Aug. 3, 2020
Dear yoga community,
I write wishing you the space – whether it is a moment or an hour – to nourish yourself in whatever way your heart needs this week. A deep breath, a slow walk, a jump in some water, a conversation with a friend. Or of course, a yoga class. 🙂
I come to yoga for inner and outer connection, meaning I want to connect to my heart and body… and I also want to build community with others on this journey. I have to admit that I’ve wondered (even doubted) recently how much connection we can build through these screens. When I teach I feel the connection sometimes, and other days I wonder if any of it translates through the zoom.
As if the universe (or zoom gods) heard me, this past week I went to online spaces held by others – my peers and spiritual mentors – and felt so deeply welcomed, loved, and seen through this screen. I needed that reminder, and I come back to teaching this week re-inspired to find and build ways to connect through this technology.
Sending love and looking forward to seeing you,
Krista
June 29, 2020
Hello dear ones.
One thing that gives me joy right now is seeing the national bestseller lists, the Third Place Books top-sellers list – seeing how many people are listening more closely to the voices and wisdom of Black folx. Here are three of my favorite things I’ve just recently read/listened to. I’d love to hear your reading or podcast lists, too!
“It is Time for Reparations” by Nikole Hannah-Jones in the NYT Magazine https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/24/magazine/reparations-slavery.html
“a word for white people, in two parts,” by adrienne maree brown http://adriennemareebrown.net/tag/white-supremacy/
“Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation with Anger” a podcast interview with Lama Rod Owens
https://irresistible.org/podcast/68
June 21, 2020
Dear friends,
Welcome summer, and happy solstice! I hope you’ve found some joy in the sunshine this week.
I’m pretty sure that all of us who teach – whether it’s yoga or anything else under the sun – teach what we need to learn. And so it is with so much humble gratitude that I show up to teach and hold space for our yoga practice together. Right now I am learning more about fierce compassion, about deep honesty and authenticity rooted in love. I’m especially drawn to looking deeper at what it means to do embodied healing from racism as a white person.
And I know I can get bogged down in my questions. And so I am also savoring of the joyful moments – the sunny walk along the smooth, wheelchair accessible path by the lake; the snuggle from my daughter pretending to be my kitten cousin; new flowers blooming around my neighborhood.
So I’m grateful to all of you who continue to build our community of practice together. I look forward to seeing you on zoom each week, even when I long so deeply to see you in person. Thank you for being willing to explore what it means to be fully human – for bringing your full and messy self to the practice and meeting mine!
I am always open to requests for adaptation, and I always love feedback. Please know I’d be honored to receive an email from you with either.
Right now I foresee my summer schedule staying the same – Monday evenings and Thursday mornings (see below for times and zoom links). I’ll be taking a break later in July (no class July 20, and I’ll have a sub for July 23), and maybe again in the end of August. I will keep you updated here, or please check out my facebook page for updates as well.
Love,
Krista