A Little Space Yoga & Tai Chi

08/16/2026

08/16/2026

Attention is the most powerful thing we have.

Where we place our attention shapes our lives.

When we bring fresh attention to the body, we awaken.

When we bring attention to our family, our feet, our breath, our walking, and this moment, we begin to live more fully.

Our lives become what we practice paying attention to.

What can you pay more attention to today? Let me know in the comments 👇

Jai!

08/16/2026

One of the most reassuring things I learned after Peyton died was that grief doesn't just break your heart.

It changes your brain.

Suddenly, I couldn't concentrate. I'd forget why I walked into a room. I'd read the same paragraph three times without remembering a single word.

I thought something was wrong with me.

There wasn't.

Researchers have found that overwhelming loss changes the way different parts of the brain work. The amygdala—our brain's alarm system—becomes more sensitive, always scanning for danger. At the same time, the prefrontal cortex, the part responsible for concentration, planning, and decision-making, doesn't function as efficiently under extreme stress.

That's why you may struggle to focus, forget simple things, or feel mentally exhausted.

The hippocampus, which helps organize memories and place them in time, can also be affected. That's one reason a smell, a song, or a certain date can make it feel as though your loved one died yesterday instead of years ago. Your brain isn't simply remembering the event—it can momentarily experience it as if it's happening again.

Learning this didn't lessen my grief.

But it did lessen my fear.

I wasn't losing my mind.

My brain was doing exactly what brains do after traumatic loss.

Understanding that gave me permission to stop fighting myself and start showing myself the same compassion I would have offered anyone else.

08/03/2026

08/02/2026

There is a quiet, heavy exhaustion that settles into the mind when you spend years trying to manage the behavior of everyone around you. Carrying the immense weight of other people's choices, or wrestling with circumstances that refuse to bend to your will, eventually drains your spirit of all its natural vitality. You pour endless energy into explaining, fixing, and worrying, only to find yourself completely depleted by a situation that remains exactly the same.

The Buddha provided a direct remedy for this specific heartache in the Dhammapada (Verse 50), offering a path to immediately reclaim your lost energy. He advised his followers to completely stop obsessing over the faults, actions, and neglect of others, instructing them instead to turn that intense focus inward toward their own conduct. This teaching reveals that trying to forcefully correct the unchangeable is not an act of true care, but a painful form of clinging that binds you to suffering. When you desperately try to orchestrate outcomes beyond your control, you are freely handing your inner peace over to a world that is inherently unpredictable.

Reclaiming your serenity requires the profound strength to step back and let individuals walk their own complex paths, even when you deeply disagree with their direction. Releasing this tight grip is never a surrender; it is a powerful, active decision to establish firm boundaries and protect your own mental sanctuary. Allow yourself the beautiful relief of laying down the heavy burdens that were never yours to carry in the first place, and channel all that precious energy into cultivating the only domain you truly own—your own mind.