MUSINGS
August , 2022
Hi friends,
How do you start your day?
Same day, same space, same seat. It’s amazing how shifting our gaze alters what we choose to see.
I’ve recently found myself being drawn back into the old habit of starting my day by reaching for my phone or opening my laptop to check emails and class registrations. It usually takes me down this rabbit hole of scrolling and surfing until I’ve lost 30 or more precious minutes of my day. I feel anxious, frustrated and rushed - like I had overslept. I recognize that getting caught up in the fallacy of Instagram and Facebook along with the anger and sadness created by news and pundits is no longer the way I can set the tone for my day.
On my recent weekend away, I was inspired and encouraged to make a change. I’ve committed to spending at least 30 minutes each morning with coffee in silence, or by sitting in my garden with my dogs and listening to, seeing, and feeling what is real and present in the moment internally and externally rather than what an algorithm would serve me. The change in the way I approach and receive my day is tangible when I choose to give attention to my own life before I give it to anybody else’s, and it changes my entire experience.
How do you start your day? Are the choices you make for yourself each morning of service to your life?
Namaste,
Josh
August 7, 2022
"An empty lantern provides no light. Self-care is the fuel that allows your light to shine brightly."
I share occasionally in our yoga practices the importance of self-care and how taking care of ourselves isn't selfish, but rather a beautiful gift of self-love and appreciation. I know that in the space we share as we practice, it may be easier to commit to and embrace self-care, but I find that it can sometimes be a struggle to make time for my own care. I find myself busy, but not necessarily productive, and, on some days, even fulfilled by my busyness. I find the need to remind myself that self-care extends beyond three or four yoga classes a week. It can be created by turning off your TVs, phones, and tablets and enjoying a few moments of silence and stillness, a conversation with a friend, a walk with your pet, sitting outside and feeling the sun on your face, taking a bath - maybe even by reengaging yourself and learning something new. However we seek out moments of self-care beyond the yoga practice, I encourage you to begin to or continue to prioritize yourself so that your experiences and interactions feel whole, meaningful and bring you joy and fulfillment.
March 20, 2022
GRATITUDE
BY JOSH HOLDER
This was a previous musing from last spring, but feels especially timely again with the beautiful weather and new spring....
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This week, with the lengthening of days and the warmth of the more present sun welcoming spring, I've been able to start to venture out into my garden. The little walks through the yard show me glimpses of renewal as the crocus and daffodils begin to bloom and I see buds covering the magnolia tree and hydrangeas. Lilies and tulips have begun to spring up from the earth, birds are singing early in the morning and there is a flurry of activity throughout the day as the robins, blue jays, cardinals and nut hatches are busy swarming the bird feeders and flying about from tree to tree. There is a fresh, clean scent in the air that makes me feel renewed. This spring, after a very long year and winter, surrounds me with an energy that feels like hope and optimism, and I am already feeling a sense of rejuvenation.
These amazing sights, sounds, and scents of spring have offered me a sense of ease and brought peace to my soul. Rest well this evening and breathe gently, my friends. Warmer and brighter days, along with boundless opportunities have arrived.
The beautiful spring came, and when nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also."
-Harriett Ann Jacobs
November 7, 2021
GRATITUDE
BY JOSH HOLDER
My morning walk along Hinkley Lake... My heart is full as the love of my life strolls along beside me. My gaze is drawn through the veil of leaves awash in the vibrant colors of the season where I catch glimpses of the morning sun reflecting off of the glassy lake beyond. I am held present by the brisk November air gently passing my across my cheeks and tingling in my nostrils as the earthy, yet clean fall air rushes in. I hear the soft breaking of the frosty, shimmering blades of grass while my steps carry me forward as I approach the inevitable changes that await me and my family.
With a sense of melancholy, appreciation and joy, I am drawn back to the very moment I decided to share this gift of yoga. When sweaty and tearful in that moment of full presence, I chose to create and embrace a change in my life that now empowers me to stand fully in its beauty.
Inspired by this and all the other moments that yoga empowers me to meet and embrace, I dedicate myself again to sharing this beautiful gift of yoga as I offer a free class to all new participants anytime in the month of November and also a complimentary practice for all of you at Thanksgiving time - Complimentary Flow Yoga Thanksgiving morning at 8am and complimentary Chair Fusion Yoga on Friday November 26th at 9am.
OCTOBER 31, 2021
EMBRACING CHANGE
BY JOSH HOLDER
"Change is Inevitable. Change is constant." Benjamin Disreali
I know that for me in the past change has felt (and sometimes still feels) scary and anxiety-inducing. I have fought against it many times without success and felt frustrated, tired, and angry at the changes in life that I felt were being forced upon me. I would even sometimes think that the shifts in my life felt like a punishment for some wrong I had somehow committed against the universe.
I started to consider change much differently when I started asking myself if my job at the time was offering me anything more than money, while also acknowledging that I wasn't talking about work with the same enthusiasm, joy and excitement that many of my friends spoke about when sharing about their work experiences. I remember feeling that I wasn't making much of a difference, nor was I being stimulated by what I was doing. It felt very overwhelming and scary when I decided to become a yoga teacher. I had a mortgage, car payment and a retirement to continue to fund - could I really make this work?
One of my first big lessons in seeing change differently came while I was in my yoga teacher training program. My trainer told my group that change wasn't constantly being presented to make our lives unbearable, it was being presented because change is constant and the adjustments and shifts that it forces us to make are simply a part of living an engaged and authentic life. I started to see change as part of the constant act of adjustment that makes up our entire lives. Friendships evolve, parents age, health changes, what we value in our experience shifts.
We can't force or stop change, but we can adjust how we choose to meet it. I choose to consider change as a way to continue to become a better version of myself each day and to realize that being a little uncomfortable is ok as long as I keep myself from being complacent and continue to feel engaged and exited about what I'm serving with my energies. I choose to see change as a way to fully embrace life.
OCTOBER 4, 2021
THE LITTLE MOMENTS
BY JOSH HOLDER
How often do you consider all the little moments in a day? Moments that may be planned and moments that are random. These could be little moments of self awareness where we make choices that contribute to our happiness, advance our soul's work or allow us to see the beauty that is always around us. I feel so grateful that my yoga practice continues to teach and encourage me how to pause and enjoy all the little moments that may get lost in the times I confuse being busy with being productive. When I forget to breathe and surrender the distractions that pull me away from the presence needed to appreciate all the love that surrounds me, and to treasure the little glimpses of beauty that could go unseen in a life of busyness.
SEPTEMBER 12, 2021
YOGA BEYOND THE MAT
BY JOSH HOLDER
Oftentimes, when we near the end of our practices shared together, I invite you to take a final pause and open yourself to an intention, acknowledge how you'll choose to meet the blessing of the day ahead, or ask how you will extend the gift of yoga beyond the space we share after the final om or namaste.
It took me a long time to expand my thinking about what yoga beyond the mat or studio looked like. I would get caught up in practicing certain poses throughout the day when I had a break or encouraging myself to breathe when I was anxious or busy and while that was, and is, still a way for me to extend my practice, it has evolved. I still embrace the poses and the breath, but now, when I consider yoga beyond the studio, I view it as an opportunity to pause, to create little moments for myself when I can choose to speak kinder words, to consider a lack of reaction or action as an option, to be aware of the energies in my head and know how they are affecting my life.
Most importantly, though, yoga gives me pause to acknowledge all the little moments of joy and beauty that may be missed by constantly rushing and racing from one task to the next - moments to enjoy the crispness of the changing air as I notice fall approaching during morning walks with Buddy and Gabby, the ability to notice and appreciate all the new blooms and shifts of color and texture around the garden and beyond, to choose to seek out the kind faces and smiles around me instead of focusing on the beings wearing the frustrations and stresses so visibly across their faces.
By inviting yoga to be a part of the entire day instead of just an exercise class, I am empowered to gift myself and others more grace, to see joy and beauty in the mundane - I choose yoga in every moment because it makes me better at life.
I would love to know how you choose to extend your practice.
AUGUST 22, 2021
UNPLUGGED, DISCONNECTED, RECONNECTED
BY JOSH HOLDER
A few weeks ago, I was able to get away for a long weekend to spend time with people I love and take some time to reflect and rest. One of my main goals for that time away was to totally step away from technology, and for four and a half days, I refrained from all social media, email, texting and phone calls. The time and presence gifted to me by that choice to disconnect led me to be able to really.reconnect to myself. By choosing not to get lost in the scrolling of the screen and constant updates and alerts, I was able to be so much more present in the moments I had set aside for myself. I reestablished my connection to the beauty and power of a mindful breath. I felt so much closer to the people I was with and noticed how much more engaged I was. The quality of the time and conversations we shared was so much more special without constantly allowing myself to be drawn into the abyss of pictures, memes, ads and oftentimes just the general harshness of the virtual world.
Excessive screen time and phone and tablet use has always been a challenge to avoid, so before returning I decided to focus on the connections I could enhance by continuing to choose, when possible, to disconnect from my devices. I have been able to reduce screen time (beyond yoga) by about two thirds and I have noticed a sense of awareness that has made me more connected in my marriage. It has allowed me to spend more time reading, to be more creative and even more aware of the blooms and butterflies in my garden. I noted that for each moment I was staring at my screen, I was actively choosing to surrender a moment of my life.
This newfound space has encouraged me to examine the other connections I have and to question their quality as well as their contribution to my happiness as I strive to live at my highest vibration and stay connected to empowering my soul's work.
JULY 18, 2021
”THE TIME FOR SELF CARE IS WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE TIME FOR IT”
BY JOSH HOLDER
Over the course of pandemic, in weekly musings and yoga practices we shared, I talked a lot about taking care of ourselves - prioritizing who and what we gave our energy to, being thankful in our most challenging times, being mindful of what we returned too and gifting ourselves grace through the challenges of the year behind us.
Over the last few weeks, I've been busy and anxious and feeling like I'm just going through the motions to try to keep up... committing to too many things, making unrealistic lists, getting caught up in my head and being frustrated over things I have no control over. After several days of being forced to slow down because of all the rain, I realized that I've been slipping away from all of those mindful choices I had made for the pace and quality of my life post-Covid. I've noticed myself spending too much time in front of my screens again, wasting time in the fallacy of social media and confusing busyness with being productive. I've realized that taking time for myself isn't necessarily taking care of myself. I think oftentimes it may be easier to be aware of self care when things are challenging and we are feeling depleted. Maybe we have to retrain ourselves in our awareness that the need for self care is constant. It's a gift of nurturing and maintenance, not just a practice to turn to when we're exhausted, irritable and depressed. I feel like we overcomplicate self care sometimes. It doesn't necessarily mean reading a self help book, 5 days of exercise a week, journaling or 20 minute daily meditations. Self care can be as simple as reading one chapter in a book or an article you've marked in a magazine, maybe self care is speaking to yourself the way you would speak to someone you love or letting yourself have your first cup of coffee without your phone or tablet in hand or enjoying the beginning moments of your day without the sound of the tv or radio in the background. Maybe self care is as brief and easy as encouraging yourself to pause long enough to notice the scent of your favorite candle burning in the background or lingering at a window to enjoy the blooms or greenery outside your immediate space.
Be good to yourself. Self care is an act of self love to be prioritized. You are worthy of the investment.
JUNE 13, 2021
GAZING INWARD
BY JOSH HOLDER
Oftentimes when we join our breath and our energy as we come to our practice, we allow ourselves to begin to "notice”. I often refer to using the breath to become more aware as we take the gaze inward. Sometimes that inner gaze offers us a cursory glance at the quality of the breath and an acknowledgement of body, and that's as far as we allow the gaze to travel. While that is okay and sometimes all that is needed, sometimes we CHOOSE not to look further because either we haven't trained ourselves to go deeper, or sometimes we are afraid that we simply won't like what we see. Maybe we recognize on some level that we may see ourselves in a much harsher light than others do and talk ourselves out of gifting us the awareness of true self.
I never encourage you or myself to take the gaze inward just to fill time in a session or check a box but rather to empower each and every one of us to be truly seen - the good, the ugly, the irrational, all the stories and energies inside that make up who we truly are. The gaze inward is never offered for us to beat ourselves up or to feel so flawed that we feel unworthy, but to gain an awareness of where we are in the moment and maybe treat that moment as a starting point - an opportunity for us to grow. As we empower ourselves to be seen with our own eyes, it gifts us a high state of presence and a willingness to be with ourselves long enough to really challenge what we are experiencing. Are our reactions and frustrations coming from something perceived or real? Are the judgements we may pass along to others really just a reflection of judgments we hold for ourselves? Are we dedicating ourselves to the right people and causes? Are we dreaming big enough, or settling for a life or existence of complacency, just because it's easier than challenging ourselves to change? Maybe we love what we see inside and that awareness allows us to embrace and amplify all of the beauty and strength that makes us part of who we are. I think that when we truly allow ourselves to be and feel seen, it empowers us to let others truly see us and in turn that may design a more authentic life experience.
May the steady gaze you lay upon yourself come from a place of love and grace, and gift you with a life presence and purpose.
APRIL 25, 2021
A BEAUTIFUL SPACE
BY JOSH HOLDER
This beautiful space I treasure - my studio, my yoga space . Rarely used for yoga pre-pandemic, it has become one of my most loved spaces in my home. It has offered me so much this year: the ability to share and receive, to form new and meaningful connections and friendships, and to feel supported and encouraged by this community. This space has held me while I grieved and mourned. It has offered me refuge on days where the weight of anxiety and depression felt unbearably heavy. It has become a sacred space to come to, in which I have been uplifted and healed. It is a space in which I pray and find joy. In this space I feel worthy, present and grateful. This space has trained me, and is teaching me that as much as I treasure the four walls of this room, by extending my practice beyond it - breathing and choosing mindfully what I celebrate and receive - that sacred space isn't a just a room, but wherever life's journey guides me.
MARCH 21, 2021
SPRING REVIVAL
BY JOSH HOLDER
"The beautiful spring came, and when nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also."
-Harriett Ann Jacobs
This week, with the lengthening of days and the warmth of the more present sun welcoming spring, I've been able to start to venture out into my garden. The little walks through the yard show me glimpses of renewal as the crocus and daffodils begin to bloom and I see buds covering the magnolia tree and hydrangeas. Lilies and tulips have begun to spring up from the earth, birds are singing early in the morning and there is a flurry of activity throughout the day as the robins, blue jays, cardinals and nut hatches are busy swarming the bird feeders and flying about from tree to tree. There is a fresh, clean scent in the air that makes me feel renewed. This spring, after a very long year and winter, surrounds me with an energy that feels like hope and optimism, and I am already feeling a sense of rejuvenation.
These amazing sights, sounds, and scents of spring have offered me a sense of ease and brought peace to my soul. Rest well this evening and breathe gently, my friends. Warmer and brighter days, along with boundless opportunities have arrived.
Namaste,
Josh
MARCH 7, 2021
A FULL YEAR
BY JOSH HOLDER
"A bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you fail to make the turn" - Helen Keller
It was one year ago this week, March 12th, that I taught my last in-person yoga classes and lost my job due to the pandemic. At first, thinking this would simply be a two-week break to "flatten the curve". I embraced some overdue home projects and unread books, never realizing what the year ahead would bring us. In those early moments of pandemic, there was so much uncertainty, doubt, and worry as I watched many friends and family struggle as they dealt with their own challenges: losing jobs, closing their business, becoming responsible for teaching their children and dealing with the emotional weight of pandemic and all its unknowns. I remember thinking to myself in those early weeks, "how am I ever going to be able to support myself and contribute to my household? How long am I going to have to go without seeing my friends and family? What am I going to do”?
A friend suggested teaching a yoga class online to keep myself busy and provide a little income to slow the drain from my savings. With a huge amount of trepidation and worry, never having heard of Zoom, and doubting that any meaningful connection could be made between myself and the participants online, I shared yoga virtually on March 28th for the first time. From those very early sessions to now, through all the frustrations, learning opportunities and moments I was forced to adapt along the way, I feel so grateful for all of the friends, new and old, that have been on this journey with me, and for all of the kindness and support I've been shown along the way. I am perhaps more grateful now than I have ever been for the gift of yoga, and how once again it has changed my life. On many days, just one breath at a time, yoga has helped me rise above fear, and embrace the change that led me to this moment. In celebration of our shared journey together, on March 13th, I will be offering a complimentary Chair Fusion Yoga class at 9am and a complimentary Yoga Flow class at 10am. Please invite your friends and family to join us in this celebration.
Namaste,
Josh
FEBRUARY 28, 2021
LOVE ME, SHOW ME, GUIDE ME
BY JOSH HOLDER
This morning, I had the privilege of taking a yoga class from a friend who is just completing her yoga teacher training. She and a fellow teacher trainee shared the practice with a group of their fellow students and a few friends, and as I scanned the screen taking in all of their faces, I couldn't help but smile as I felt the rush of their energy extend to me beyond the edges of my Zoom screen. I was so impressed and moved by their obvious passion for yoga and all of the hard work I could tell they had put into themselves and their teaching, that I was able to surrender myself to the mat and led by those confident voices and was able to embrace the role of the student. After emerging from Savasana at the end of the session, energized yet calm from the beautiful pace and tone of the practice they had shared with me, I started to think of some of the beautiful teachers throughout my yoga journey that inspired me. Lanie McMannus, who was the first person to ever encourage me to become a teacher and taught me the beauty of creating and holding space for others; Marcia Camino, a true mentor who hired me as a teacher at her studio very early on in my career and introduced me to so many different styles of yoga and taught me that there was so much more to yoga than vinyasa. And Diana Vitantonio the angel who led my teacher training in 2012 and whose powerful voice of love changed my life forever. She taught me to listen to the beautiful voice within myself, helped me heal my soul and honor it and truly helped me love myself. She taught me that most often students in my yoga classes probably never remember the yoga sequences or even the playlist but they would never forget how they felt in that space. To this day, I never share a practice without repeating the words she shared so many years ago …"Love me, show me, love me, guide me.” I am so grateful for those teachers and lessons along the way and today, especially grateful for the beautiful practice with the teachers this morning who reminded me that a teacher never stops being a student.
Namaste,
Josh
FEBRUARY 14, 2021
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY
BY JOSH HOLDER
Happy Valentine's Day, friends! Enjoy the chocolates, flowers, sweet notes and cards and every other kind gesture guided your way, and maybe consider love in all its many forms - romantic love, love of family, love of friends and maybe the most powerful love: love of self. Self love, not selfish love is an amazingly powerful and a beautiful gift to our highest self. When we know and honor our worth it gives us the ability to recognize our gifts, spirit, quirks, and all the beautiful imperfect perfections that make us who we are. I was in my yoga teacher training program the first time I seriously considered what that meant - my mentor and teacher, Diana asked "How can we expect others to love us with respect and lack of condition if we can't love ourselves that strongly"? Your relationship with yourself sets the tone for every other relationship you have! When we learn to love and value ourselves with true belief in our worth it empowers us to set healthy boundaries for ourselves, dream big and then go chase those dreams and ultimately love big, unconditionally and fiercely. My Valentine's Day wish for all of you would be that you know and hold sacred your worth in a way that graces you with the willingness to share and receive love so pure and powerful that the world around you sees and feels the strength and magic of it.
Namaste,
Josh
FEBRUARY 7, 2021
TAKE A DEEP BREATH… REMEMBER… YOUR STRENGTH IS WITHIN
BY JOSH HOLDER
This week, with gratitude, I celebrate the power of breath. That beautiful exchange of air that empowers not only movement, stretch and strength, but an energetic exchange as well. A sacred force that can guide and teach us. My breath has been a companion through so many powerful, awkward, painful, exhilarating and joyful moments. My breath has been an ever-present companion on my life journey - during those moments that have felt unbearable and the moments I was so grateful for and wished would never end. My breath has been the gift that has challenged me to meet every moment with an open heart and willingness to be in it no matter how uncomfortable that moment was. Our breath is the gift that presents the promise and the possibility of a new day. Our breath is the gift that brings us together, and most importantly guides us to the powerfully intuitive voice of our highest self. That voice that could be labeled as gut instinct, guiding force or, as I call it, the voice of your soul. The voice that breath allows us to hear with the clarity and willingness, the most authentic and honest intentions to guide us through all the moments we're blessed with – both easy and challenging. Our breath and its amazing power is available to us in every moment if we just take pause and welcome it to be with us and to guide us.
Ultimately, my yoga practice and breath for 20 years has empowered me to hold space for myself. It has been in those safe, not always easy spaces, that I have felt present and worthy enough to make decisions that honored and uplifted me - moments where I realized that friends of convenience only are not friends at all, and that many people in my life who didn’t value my path or feelings didn’t need to be present in it. Setting and maintaining those boundaries, while not easy initially, changed the way I treated people and myself. Moments that gave me the belief and courage to change jobs and become a yoga instructor and the patience to never give up on that dream.
I’ve seen that choice evolve so many times over the years. Moments on the mat where I was so exhausted, and realized that rising above the weight and embarrassment of depression and anxiety by asking for help was the only way I could continue. And many of those moments have been beautiful -moments where I surrender myself to prayer and feel restored even if just for a few moments, moments where I had the clarity to realize that embracing and extending honest and true love in its many different forms would always be far more powerful than holding on to anger, resentment and ego. And, in one of the most beautiful and clear moments in those spaces, the realization that I had found my soulmate and that I would marry Ken. We may each, in very different ways, notice the power of our practice and the space that it holds for us, but that gift is always there for us one breath and then the next.
I closed my eyes, I took a breath, and an infinite world of possibility was before me.
Namaste,
Josh
JANUARY 24, 2021
YOUR LIFE IS NOW
BY JOSH HOLDER
This weeks musing was inspired by a card I received from a yoga friend. As I opened the envelope and pulled out the card while walking back to the house, the first words I saw on the card were "Your Life is Now". It actually made me stop and take a pause before going back inside. Over the last two days, those words have been constantly rolling though my mind, offering me another challenge and opportunity to gaze inward. Am I really living or merely functioning as I go through the days counting down to the end of pandemic and fantasizing about what the return to normal will look like? Am I waiting for life to be easier or for a more perfect time to set a new goal or seek out personal growth? I’ll admit that there have been days where pandemic and political fatigue have been exhausting and I wonder if that has made me complacent or even content to safely reside in the bubble that is home and routine? Am I, are we, on pause? As Max Strom asks us to consider in his book, Theres No App for Happiness, am I having a near life experience? I’m often amazed by those little moments where a phrase or even a single word can strike you in a way that forces you to honestly check in with yourself. I think that after a pause and some reflection, the words my husband has started sharing with me lately are appropriate for me to hold close and for us all to consider: "Give yourself some grace". I think those words are such a powerful reminder for us to celebrate so much about ourselves - our strength, accomplishments and each perfect imperfection that makes us each so special and unique. Those words also can empower us to take the days we need to heal, gift ourselves with self care and to be kind to ourselves when there are days that all we can muster energetically is an afternoon on the couch with little else accomplished besides being. I find that when I can be more gracious with myself and take the time needed to nourish myself that I am a more present, rested and engaged version of myself and that invites me to move away from the weight and wasted time of worry and doubt and step with confidence into the life that is happening now. The last year has shown me so much, that change is constant and often times very hard, life is an incredibly fragile yet beautiful gift and that being strong enough to challenge your perceptions and live outside your comfort zone is fully engaged and authentic living. Your life is now- encourage yourself to embrace it with grace, love and a willingness to constantly learn and evolve.
Namaste,
Josh
JANUARY 10, 2021
EMBRACING NEW HABITS
BY JOSH HOLDER
"For a life truly and fully lived, you must be willing to let go of things that no longer serve you and embrace new actions that empower you in the deepest ways possible". This quote from the Max Strom book, There Is No App for Happiness: Finding Joy and Meaning in the Digital Age with Mindfulness, Breathwork, and Yoga was one of the first books I read early in my yoga journey. This book kindly encouraged me to be more aware through self study and very importantly challenged me to examine my relationship with technology and the way I used it to interact with myself and others. I have noticed recently with so much more of my time spent at home that I have found myself drawn back in by the screen on my devices, and in challenging myself to create new habits in the new year I recognized that I needed to revisit this book and ultimately decided that limiting screen time was a well deserved gift to myself. I encourage you all to consider giving it a read as well. It's available here on Amazon.
In keeping with the theme of embracing new habits in the new year, I'm excited to announce that each month I will be offering a complimentary community class one Sunday a month for both our Chair Fusion and Flow yoga groups. This will be a beautiful way for me to share the practice of yoga, encourage new participants to join our online yoga session and thank you all for being such an integral part of creating this amazing online community. I hope that you will all help me promote this new experience by inviting friends and family and share your practice with us in a way that will allow us to show that yoga is for everybody regardless of body type, age, finances or address and that this practice welcomes all. In that same spirit of giving back, we are moving forward with our previously announced plan to donate one yoga session every two months to help raise money for groups and organizations and that are close to my heart and yours. These offerings will be donation based and Yoga By Josh will donate 100% of those contributions to the group we partner with. Please let us know if you have any suggestions or have a group you would like to support as we launch this initiative.
Namaste,
Josh
JANUARY 3, 2021
A NEW YEAR
BY JOSH HOLDER
As we welcome in the new year and reflect on the months and year behind us, I encourage you to consider viewing 2020 as simply another chapter in the story that makes up your life. It would probably be very easy for us to view this as the worst year ever, or even time you never want to think about or remember again. You may even be tempted move on so quickly that you discard the moments and forget to recognize them as part of our entire experience.
As Hal Borland shares “Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.” Our lives are full of constant change, sometimes painful and ugly, sometimes beautiful and easy. Oftentimes it's both. Are we still willing to embrace the experience of the moments behind, with all of their challenges and opportunities? Moments of joy and incredible pain, not because they were easy but because they were ours?
As new days and seasons await us, I encourage you to reflect on the moments behind you with with much kindness and awareness. For many of us, the past year has been challenging, uncomfortable, enlightening, ugly and joyful all at once. However you choose to process, learn, grow and move forward, I would ask you to consider this year and its surrealism and to still honor it as part of your journey through this life - not to celebrate the struggle but to celebrate all we have learned about ourselves: our resilience, our strength, our faith our indomitable spirits.
However you have been delivered to this moment, may the lessons learned gift us the ability to meet the moments and experiences ahead with awareness, ease, full hearts and deeper awareness of all we are worthy of surrendering and embracing. May you meet the continuation of this gift of life with a wide open heart and deep appreciation for this beautiful, fragile and sacred journey we have been blessed with.
Namaste,
Josh
DECEMBER 27, 2020
A FOCUS ON JOY
BY JOSH HOLDER
"There is room in our hearts for sorrow and joy. Let's focus on joy today." These were words offered to me by a friend, who over the years has become family - words so powerful and comforting that keep returning to mind daily as I reflect on the year behind us. There is no denying that 2020 has offered us so much to handle, process and navigate - the loss of routine, normalcy, family, friends and even livelihood for some of us. While it's ok to acknowledge the extreme challenges the year behind has presented us, I would invite you to celebrate the joy you may have seen or experienced even in the hardest moments.
With the gentle awareness that what we feed with our thoughts manifests more of the same, let us guide our energies to the experiences that gave us moments of ease, joy, different bonds and interactions, new friendships, opportunities and goals. However you reflect upon the year behind you, please be gentle with yourself. I encourage you to be kind daily to yourself and to others, as we have all weathered, thrived, struggled and endured this year in very different ways. It's ok if you didn't finish the books on your reading lists, embrace a new hobby or put together your scrapbooks. It's ok if the pantry didn't get organized and the deep clean you planned didn't get accomplished or if the extra pounds you pledged to lose are still hanging around. It is more than enough to simply celebrate without hesitation or judgement that you are here and that brighter days are near.
I celebrate today all of you who have so warmly welcomed me multiple times a week into your homes via your phones, tablets and screens. I celebrate all of the words, notes, texts and cards that encouraged and uplifted me along the way. I celebrate the patience and the compassion shown as I was gifted ears to vent and virtual shoulders to cry on. I celebrate the memory and the joy that those who are no longer with me physically, but always in spirit that burns so brightly in my heart daily. I celebrate the beautiful, fragile and sometimes sloppy moments of life that are an amazing gift to us all. Ultimately, I celebrate all of you!
Namaste,
Josh
DECEMBER 20, 2020
REFLECTIONS ON MY CHILDHOOD
BY JOSH HOLDER
This week, I celebrate the joy my parents Tom and Jerri gift to me and their entire family. My mom is the first born of five and my dad is the middle child of five. When they were introduced, my Mom, at the age of 20, had already put herself through nursing school by working in a nursing home and my Dad was working at Campbell Soup Company in Napoleon, Ohio. Their children - my siblings, Marlo, Ben and myself - were raised for most of our years at home on the family farm that my Dad's grandparents had established many years earlier.
Products of upbringings that were less than ideal on many levels, my parents vowed very early on to create a home that was full of affection, love and lots of time spent with their children. They decided that my Mom would quit her job to stay home and raise their family. They knew that decision would come with significant financial sacrifice, but my mother who had helped raise her four younger sisters after her own mom had been forced to return to the workforce after their parents divorced in the late 60's, knew how much she wanted her own children's experience to be different. They both wanted to be as involved and present for their children as much as possible.
We were very blessed by two decisions they made early on that I believe were so vital in forming our family bond and giving us the space to create such great memories. The first is that dinner was always eaten together as a family, seated at the table. It was very important to my dad that his children be allowed to express themselves and have strong opinions even if they didn't match his, and those hours shared at the family table talking about our days, sharing stories and discussing ideas gave us the opportunity to find our voices. The second would be their decision to not have a television in the home until I was around 10 years old. That choice gave our family the time for game nights, reading and music during the winter evenings and long summer evenings riding our bikes, taking family walks, enjoying dinners grilled outside and oftentimes, an assortment of cousins and friends hoping for a game of Five-Dollar Baseball. I can still vividly remember at dusk, as those summer evenings drew to an end, the endless sea of lightning bugs sparkling above the acres of corn and soybean fields that surrounded our house. I am so grateful for the happiness and ease of those moments, and how almost 40 years later, how ingrained in my mind and heart those moments are and also how blessed we were to connect in ways that the flickering of a television or glow of a tablet or cell phone could never provide.
Our parents gifted us a collection of experiences and memories that brought joy in the moment, and as the holiday approaches after a year of loss, change, unpredictability and new opportunities, those memories have gifted me a new appreciation for the magic of Christmas and a heart very full of love, joy and gratitude.
Namaste,
Josh
DECEMBER 6, 2020
REMEMBERING MY GRANDMA
BY JOSH HOLDER
E. Marlowe Holder, my grandma on my father's side. She was tiny at barely 5 feet tall but beyond measure with her capacity to love and make you feel special. Born in 1923, she lived through the Depression and was married at 16 just in time to see her husband off to World War 2 before starting their family and continuing their life together upon his return. She was responsible for introducing my parents and setting them up on their first date which makes our connection even more unique. She lived with us after my grandpa passed after a years-long battle with cancer and she told me once that she felt our bond was so strong because she would carry me around our house crying as she mourned grandpas passing while caring for me after my Mom's brief return to work. Eventually, grandma moved into her own apartment, though she was an almost constant presence in my life until her passing. My Mom and Grandma bonded early and remained close until her death. They never referred to each other as in-laws but as mom and daughter, and I think their friendship and connection was a big part of the reason grandma was always so welcomed in our home. She would stay weeks at a time with us and I remember waking up many times as a child to find her and my mom laughing, visiting and sharing over coffee. Over those visits during the winter months, Grandma loved to curl up in a blanket and enjoy having movie days with us. She loved the movie Heidi with Shirley Temple and The Sound of Music was a favorite, too and we would all sing along, knowing the words by heart after watching it so many times.
As we got older, each grandchild was invited to spend two weeks over the summer summer with her at her little apartment that was filled with a lifetime of family treasures and memories. Those weeks were filled with marathon Parcheesi tournaments, games of SkipBo, garage sale-ing, antiquing, long walks in the morning, visits to the park to feed the fish in the pond, and swimming at the city pool near her home. On the days it would rain or that grandma decided we needed a quiet day at home, she would sometimes share the stories of her own Grandma's china proudly displayed in the hutch and show me the pieces of pink depression glass and that she had been gifted and collected over the year. My favorite treasure to see and hear about was the silver dollar gifted to her by her dad on her 16th birthday. Safely stored in a little lock box in the back of her closet, the year stamped on the coin was 1923 - the year of her birth. She shared with me that when he gifted it to her that he somewhat jokingly said "never spend it and she would never be broke" - I often wondered in later years if he used those words as the struggle of being a farmer in the midst of the great depression was still fresh in his mind and the worry of looming world war was growing. She told me that in that same conversation how he told her that when the time was right to give it to someone she loved. Those weeks and memories are magical and so deeply ingrained in my heart. I can still vividly remember the arrangement of the goldenrod couch, (which she referred to as a davenport) and floral chairs with lace doilies laid across the headrest in her living room, the placement of family pictures and her basket collection around the room. If I pause and close my eyes, I can still hear the sound of her voice and see the expressions that crossed her face.
Grandma passed peacefully, humble yet confident that her strong and unwavering faith would lead her into the kingdom of God that she so deeply believed in. I remember sitting at her funeral service with all of those memories rolling through my head and briefly questioning why I wasn't experiencing sadness and grief but joy. In retrospect, I think that it would have been nearly impossible to shed tears when all that filled my head and heart was the beauty of her spirit and love. Several months after her service, my parents came to visit me and gave me a little cardboard jewelry box that they had found while cleaning out her apartment. Inside the box, very carefully folded, was the letter I had written her on her eightieth birthday. In that letter I had shared with her so many of those memories, stories and moments we had we had together and how much I loved her. On the back of the letter, she noted the date each time she pulled the letter out to read it again and in the top left hand corner jotted in her faint handwriting "someday, somebody give this back to Josh". Below the letter in that tiny box wrapped in cotton, was the silver dollar gifted to her all those years ago. The coin and the energy associated with it is priceless to me and it has only been out of my possession once for a single day when a friend needed her spirit more in the moment than I did.
I rarely cry when I think of her and am beyond grateful that she is often with me and just as loved to this day as she always was, if not more. Her memory always gifts me joy.
Namaste,
Josh
NOVEMBER 30, 2020
FINDING THE JOY IN THE SEASON
BY JOSH HOLDER
"The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives"
-Russell M. Nelson
My goal for the holiday season this year is to see, share, experience, reflect and celebrate as many of the moments of joy that I can to create moments of joy and peace that I will carry with me on my path forward. I'm challenging myself not to view this pandemic holiday season as "the best it can be under the circumstances" but the best holiday season ever.
While it's not a good place to live, the past can be an ok place to visit, and on the occasions I do find myself drawn to the past I always try to guide myself to the beautiful memories that bring me joy. I'll be sharing many of those memories that I treasure this month in my weekly musing and little posts and pictures on my Facebook and Instagram accounts. I'll celebrate some of my my Christmas trees over the years and how I've always felt warm and happy looking at their beauty just as much in the years with very little under them as well as the years of abundance. I'll celebrate and share the love of my Grandma Holder who is with me in spirit almost every day of my life, my parents, Tom and Jerri, who gave me humor, compassion, my work ethic, empathetic heart and love of hugs. My brother and sister, Marlo and Ben and the unique bond that we share and treasure, my Aunt Joann and her wife Melinda who have been constant, steady, loving and unconditional in their support of me, my beautiful in-laws, Ken. Sr. and Bonnie who welcomed me into their family without hesitation and whose devotion and love for their family is a blessing to us all. I'll celebrate my most valuable and beautiful Christmas present ever, my wedding ring and the unconditional love gifted along with it that has changed the quality and trajectory of my experience and blessed me with a life that seemed unimaginable at spots along the journey to the present. Ultimately, I will live, share, encourage, project and celebrate with Joy. I wish you all full hearts and the willingness to create the most joyous holiday season ever.
Namaste,
Josh
NOVEMBER 15, 2020
THANKSGIVING
BY JOSH HOLDER
As Thanksgiving approaches, many of our families - mine included, will not be spending the holiday sharing the same table this year. I realized over the last several weeks that Thanksgiving would be very different this year and I experienced a temporary sense of disappointment and maybe a little sadness. I then remembered some thoughts I often used to share during our yoga practices.... It's really easy to be happy, joyful and grateful when things are going well. But, can we encourage ourselves to still create those moments that allow us to see the beauty of the blessings that surround us on a daily basis even in a year full of so much change? To embrace the warmth of those moments and remind us that even in the most challenging times we have so much to be thankful for?
Though this year continues to be different, we will connect with our families and friends in a new ways. I'll share the gift of yoga on Thanksgiving morning and be uplifted and humbly aware of the energy of our beautiful yoga community and how it has helped carry us through the uncertainty of the months behind us and prepared us to seize the joyful, easier moments that I trust will be here soon. I'll look at the Thanksgiving memory board where over the year we have pinned little slips of paper we have written on sharing our thoughts, remembrances and what we were most grateful for. I'll spend a little extra time with my gratitude journal and celebrate my marriage, my home and this beautiful country that I still believe in and recognize as a land of great freedom and incredible opportunity. I'll make the cinnamon rolls to enjoy with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade from the recipe passed down to my mom from a great aunt that has been a treasured family tradition since I was old enough to remember it. I'll try a few new recipes as I continue to explore my perfect Thanksgiving dinner and enjoy, as always, conversation and laughter with my friends and family from a distance this year but with as much love as always. I will remember/celebrate that even though there may be miles separating us this year, the bond and the memories we share with each other is not defined by the table we sit at or the room we're in but by the love we share for each other.
Namaste,
Josh
NOVEMBER 8, 2020
GRATITUDE
BY JOSH HOLDER
I am so grateful for all of you and the support you've shown me and each other as we have adapted, pivoted and navigated the last year. As friends, neighbors, family and members of this ever growing yoga community, I have been reminded each time we shared our practice together and interacted how powerful and uplifting it feels to be with friends, respectful and kind and neighborly to all those around us and I feel uplifted and hopeful each time I see you that the energy we are sharing with each other is extending to the world around us.
As we approach Thanksgiving, may we all be so aware of all we have to be grateful for and celebrate it. I will be sharing memories, pictures and reflections in hopes of bringing my gratitude journal to life to continue to celebrate that belief that there is far more good in the world than bad and that what we project and extend is what we manifest and request for ourselves.
In celebration of that spirit, I will be offering a complimentary Yoga Flow class Thanksgiving morning (100 max registration) and a Chair Fusion Yoga Class offered via video released that same day. Please invite your friends and family to sign up, too via the link below so we may continue to share the gift of yoga.
Namaste,
Josh
NOVEMBER 8, 2020
GRATITUDE
BY JOSH HOLDER