I love yoga. I love studying yoga and I love teaching it. I basically have two main repositories for my attention these days: family- both biological and beyond, and yoga. This made my recent resignation from Nourish Yoga difficult. I loved many aspects of teaching yoga there. I will deeply miss the students I had the honor of teaching, and I’ll miss the collaboration with other teachers.

That said, I know how attention works. My studies have taught me that my attention is the only real commodity that I have to offer this life (this is a quote by another yoga teacher) and that what I give my attention to, or what I allow my attention to be consumed by, is of the highest order of consideration when it comes to living in a way that’s aligned with my priorities. Attention is how we focus our energy: our physical energy, our money, our thoughts, our time.

This fall, I taught more yoga than I’ve ever taught in my life; indeed, more than I thought possible for one person. I made that choice, in order to honor previous commitments while saying yes to new opportunities, and what resulted was that my attention and energy was no longer being used in a sustainable way. First, I had far too little time for my family. My attention to my own life and household was deleteriously affected. Second, I was physically exhausted. My attention to my own well-being was being compromised and this made service to my students and to my family very difficult. Third, I lost touch with my own yoga practice, which is the most potent way that I focus my attention to feed the energy reserves I use for the rest of my life. And finally, the studio, which consumed the lion’s share of my attention this fall, was not sustaining me in a manner commensurate with my training (comprising years of attention and energy given to doing my practice and learning the craft of teaching) or my energy expenditures there in the way of my time.

What I am engaged in now can be termed “a sabbatical”—a time of rest, reflection and growth. My family, my health, my practice and my studies will be given some overdue attention. I also hope to continue to make strides toward my Anusara® Yoga certification- a demanding process that will culminate in a well-worthwhile acknowledgement of many years of attention to this study, and will serve to improve my teaching even further.

It’s my personal belief that yoga really is a very high path of service to people. So, please be assured of my commitment to be teaching public classes again soon. Please visit this website for announcements about upcoming events. I’m also hopeful that I’ll be able to fulfill my duties as a “yoga blogger.” I do love to write, and perhaps more frequent written reflections on the life of yoga practice will result from my decision to teach less for the time being.

I offer my humblest gratitude for the attention that you’ve given in order to read this post. May your practice flourish, and may your daily life be filled with the rewards that result from paying attention to what is most important.

All the best wishes for the New Year and Namaste~