Change for a Twenty: A Small Act of Trust in a Divided World
When I needed change for a twenty at the Board of Elections, a stranger stepped in. What followed reminded me that trust and decency are still alive in quiet, everyday moments.
The Architecture of Resilience: After the Wilting
I bought these cacti to fill pots that once held plants that didn’t survive. This is about resilience, boundaries, and choosing differently after the wilting.
If Your Instructor Isn’t Cueing Breath, You’re Missing Half of Pilates.
Pilates isn’t just about slow control or feeling your abs. It’s about pressure regulation. When you understand how breath affects intra-abdominal pressure, hollowing, and bracing, you stop chasing burn and start training spinal stability. Here’s what most classes never explain.
Confident Women Don’t Compete (do you?)
When confident women succeed side by side, competition fades. This essay explores how insecurity fuels criticism, why women police one another, and what it looks like to build community instead of tearing others down.
When Someone Stops Showing Up
At the YMCA, people don’t just come to work out—they come to belong. When someone stops showing up, their absence is felt. This is a reflection on community, aging, and the power of being noticed.
Fear in a Split Second: The Dominoes of an Ordinary Day
I can’t stop thinking about the timing of it all — how every small, ordinary choice quietly stacked itself into the exact moment where everything changed.
Yoga Was Never Meant to Be a Workout: The Real Practice of Yoga Starts Long Before the Mat
For many people, yoga is first encountered as a physical practice. It appears as movement, stretching, strength, or a class on a schedule. While the physical aspect of yoga can be meaningful and beneficial, it represents only a small fraction of what yoga actually is.
From the Year of the Snake to the Year of the Horse: A Personal Reflection
As the Year of the Snake comes to a close, I find myself looking back not with nostalgia, but with reverence. This was not a year of visible milestones or tidy victories. It was a year of reckoning. Of survival. Of shedding layers that had grown too tight to breathe in.
This is My Busy: The Invisible Work of Regulating Yourself
“I’m busy” is often assumed to mean meetings, deadlines, obligations, productivity.
Sometimes it does.
But sometimes what I mean is that I’m busy managing what’s happening inside my body, and the way my mind responds.
You’re Not “Overreacting,” Medical Test Results Are Often Delivered Poorly
Last year, I had my first mammogram. It showed masses in each breast, which meant I had to come back for additional testing. I remember thinking, but it was my first time, you can’t get breast cancer your first time, as if there were some invisible grace period no one had told me didn’t exist.
Winter Workouts: Or How I Accidentally Burned Calories Just Existing
Shoveling Snow: Roughly 370–715 calories per hour depending on effort and body weight, with vigorous hand shoveling on the higher end.
Using a Snow Blower: Burns fewer calories — around 200 calories per hour while walking and pushing the machine.
Cold/Shivering: Cold exposure itself can increase energy expenditure through shivering and brown fat activation — estimates of 100–400 calories per hour are typical for shivering, although this varies widely with temperature and individual factors.
