Author: Ki McGraw

Bob and I had concurrent private sessions yesterday for the second week in a row. We both love teaching groups of students, and yet private work allows us to go much more deeply. Some prefer individualized attention, which is the traditional Hatha Yoga way.

Our lovely new studio affords space for privacy as well as for large group activities. Students interested in becoming teachers are starting individualized independent training with us. In this post Covid era, flexibility is required to adapt to changes, not just to stretch hamstrings.

What changes does this post Covid era require of you? Do you have the skills, space and time to accommodate these needed changes? Ki to Happiness offers skills with plenty of space and time for private and group activities at Hatha Yoga Center.

Bob and I celebrated our 21 year wedding anniversary from our ceremony in Bali by grocery shopping together at our neighboring QFC. I introduced him to a couple of the staff members who have indicated their interest in attending our yoga classes. We got some beautiful flowers to place about our deck For our lunchtime smoothie date.

24 years ago, when we grocery shopped together the first time we were gathering provisions for the first workshop we taught on Kauai. I held the basket in front of my body at arms length in an attempt to detach from the intimacy such activity symbolized. All these years later, I bask in our intimacy and our shared grocery basket full of flowers, smoothie ingredients and cat food.

How comfortable are you with intimacy? Can you ask in the simple pleasures of sharing your life with another? Ki to Happiness is grateful for the deepening intimacy the years have afforded to us due to our common practices and Hatha Yoga Center.

Perhaps our state got a little bit safer yesterday. Our governor has banned assault weapons. There are plenty of other weapons available that will continue to allow those who wish to be armed as is our constitutional right.

As a peacenik, I choose to arm myself with practices that deescalate conflict. Choosing peace on every level has saved me thus far. I plan to continue choosing peace and radiating it outward.

Are you able to deescalate conflict within yourself? Can you radiate that peace outward? Ki to Happiness chooses peace as a Spiritual practice.

In last night’s class, I spotted a student in his handstand. He accidentally kicked me in my face. I had him try his handstand again which he succeeded in.

As he profusely apologized which I accepted without hesitation, I told him it’s an occupational hazard. Afterward, I used arnica topically, adjusted my neck, and shifted my cranial sutures. Learning how to take care of oneself is a corollary occupational benefit.

What are your occupational hazards? Are there also corollary occupational benefits? Ki to Happiness applies the benefits to tend to the hazards.

Since my return from the Midwest, we have a sweet little bird who comes to visit and stays in the tree right in front of the Hatha Yoga Center. A couple of our birdwatching students have identified it as a Junco. Forgive me for not knowing the exact species as there are several.

My dad being an air sign like me, loved and attended to many different kinds of birds in his long life. The appearance of specific birds where previously there were none has given me a sense of pervading connection to him. Whether that is literally true or metaphorical, the cats and I delight every time the sweet Junco visits us.

Are you open to animal messengers? What gives you a sense of pervading connection to those who have passed away? Ki to Happiness receives the message of pervading connection.

Soft drizzle wets our new Earth Day flowers. They nod their beautiful heads at dawn’s slow grey light. Crows call to the morning as our cats take in the spectacle of another Spring morning.

Morning practice has many benefits, including the simple pleasure of observing these natural phenomenon. Quiet solitude heightens my awareness of the sounds and sights surrounding and supporting me. For all this and your eyes on this page, I give thanks.

What do you do first thing? Can you get up a little earlier to set your day right? Ki to Happiness gives every morning of her life to God-Is.

On this Earth Day, I will honor the chunk of earth that is hosting my spirit. My physical body gives my spirit a place to grow. As I practice and teach Hatha Yoga, I tend to it like a garden, pulling weeds, planting seeds and watering.

Removing the weeds of negative thinking, I have more room to plant seeds of gratitude and water them with patience and loving attention. Grounding, I look around me and appreciate the trees outside my window, the soil which sustains them as they receive the rain and reach towards the sun. In my years on Earth I have become a better guest on this host planet, learning the way of the great teacher, Nature.

Have a good a guest are you? What gift would you like to give your host on this Earth Day? Ki to Happiness offers the gift of Hatha Yoga to her body mind and will plant flowers to beautify the Hatha Yoga Center.



One of my students quoted her astrologer yesterday about these unusual energies we have been dealing with of late. She said it’s like we got off the bullet train, and landed in Jell-O. Now we are needing to do the backstroke in Jell-O.

My grandmother used to have an expression about such kinds of unstable energies. She said, lean on your own spaghetti. As we look within when there is minimal stability surrounding us we strengthen our connection with our Higher Power and grow confident and Faithful in its stability.

What grounds you when circumstances are unstable? How confident are you in your Higher Power and its guidance? Ki to Happiness grounds in yoga practices and grows more confident while facing each challenge with the Higher Power’s guidance.

Today’s rare astrological influence includes our second new moon in Aries together with the hybrid solar eclipse. This is likely to effect the next six months until the next eclipse pattern occurs. Setting intentions towards actively creating one’s future is advised.

Vision boards, brainstorming, and initiating changes are supported by this energy. Communication, travel, and electronics are likely already beginning to feel the effect of mercury about to go retrograde tomorrow. Time to walk one’s talk, slowly and thoughtfully in the direction of the future.

Where would you like to be in the next six months? What small steps can you take in that direction today? Ki to Happiness walks peacefully from this Heaven all the way towards that Heaven.

My tumultuous and delayed flight concluded with an easy pick up from my dear friend on the curb at the airport. She dropped me off in the windy afternoon at our live work space in the Vista building. Tulips I planted last September waved at me from our deck as I entered.

Bob and the cats greeted me sweetly. Homecoming, unpacking, and settling in, proceeded quietly as Chris taught my class. My nook called me to recline with my book before I closed my eyes.

What helps you when you face travel delays? What greets you when the trip is done? Ki to Happiness accepts what she cannot change and is grateful for the wisdom to recognize limitations for what they are.