BayleafYogi

This is for my grievers, trauma survivors, and the people who love on them. I don’t always share this part of my life on here. Just when I think something I have learned might help.

For those who have known me for some time, you likely know that my world changed forever with the death of my daughter in December 2018. Since 2024, I have been doing the hard and deeply valuable work of EMDR therapy, a kind of trauma therapy that uses dual attention processing to rewire traumatic neural loops and expand the window of tolerance.

A week or two ago, I completed my last session for now. I am not fixed. But I am better. 🤍 There is more room. Less bracing for impact.

If you are in it right now (depth, disorientation, exhaustion), I won’t tell you it gets easier in a simple way. But I will tell you that it can shift. Your nervous system can learn something new.

You are not broken.
And you are not beyond help.
There is more possibility here than you may be able to feel yet.
Keep going. 🤍

Rumor has it that the local wildlife are having a banner summer. 🍹💅⛱️

I’m carving out reading time this summer. Join me for tea and talk about one or more? A few from my list:

—The Untethered Soul
—The Path of the Yoga Sutras
—Bhagavad Gita (J Hawley version)
—Prodigal Summer
—Yesteryear

This wouldn’t be formal. Just time to read, reflect, and share. I’m open to other book ideas too, especially ones that feel like they invite conversation (rather than answers). If this sounds interesting to you, please reach out 🌿

A fast semester, for good reasons. Glad for the slowdown.

Fridays are for play.

Celebrating two years with this nerd. We are so lucky we stumbled across him, quite literally while on a walk. 🖤

Hello old friend. I’ve missed you.

Choosing joy (as well as I can) as I head into a weekend of contradictions. Not bypassing. Just noticing how beauty and pain are braided together. Sometimes inspiration comes while teaching! That was the case today with my very special online class.

Six years ago, a group of us gathered online looking for movement and connection during a strange moment in the world. What has grown since then is something steadier and stronger: a small, committed group of women practicing together three times a week.

I’ve grown as a teacher, and we’ve grown together. I don’t take any of that lightly. 🤍

Life feels demanding these days. And loud. And I know I’m not the only one. The practice helps us return to what is steady beneath the noise. Happy April, friends…this will be our focus for a good while across all of my classes. ❤️