The holidays are over and the new year has begun. Somehow I feel like I am in between, breathing. The loss of my mother-in-law has me not wanting to cook, (one of her attributes). The impending surgery for my dear friend has me attentive to her process. I feel dull, slow, and sober.

I also am aware of the sense of yoga postures I have practiced… pain free, staying steady, breathing, regardless of whatever the pose is. I am blessed with having taken the opportunity to practice for a long time, in a lot of circumstances. I continue.

Are your holidays over? Has your new year begun yet? Ki to Happiness breathes in between.

We learned yesterday that my mother-in-law Helen passed away. After 92 1/2 years of a life well lived, she exited her form peacefully. My husband Bob was watching the football game with his son at the moment, just as she would have had them.

We have lit a candle in honor of her. It is illuminating a hanging plant she gifted me years ago for my birthday. Our simple memorial of her is just what she wanted.

What would you want? How could you exit the most peacefully? Ki to Happiness honors Helen’s wishes.

Joyful “end of holidays” tidying going on here. Putting away decorations, repurposing components, deep cleaning all are projects of the new year.

These rituals anchor us, cuing our sense of timing. Other rituals may have been restricted this year. So we appreciate all that helps us find continuity.

How tidy are you? Have you found satisfaction with your rituals as the holidays come to a close? Ki to Happiness finds joy in the afterglow.

The 2021 selections have been revealed! Since were all in the same boat, we will be practicing both posture and it’s variations. Camel and it’s variations will be the counter pose.

In addition, we will highlighting the Water Lily, aka Ardha Utkatasana, Flaminco, Lakshmiasana. Lots of names for standing on one leg with the other crossed over as we stretch the outer hip. Bob has already started into his own personal year with his own posture, armless cobra.

How do these postures of the year sound to you? What would your personal posture of the year be? Ki to Happiness chooses all…

Happy new year! Our governor has announced the extension of the present restrictions until January 11. Some parts of the new year will still seem like the old year. Our flexibility and adaptability will continue to support us.

Ringing out the old, there’s room for the new! In our gratitude yoga practice yesterday, we had a chance to extract the best of 2020 and bless that which we released. In the fresh space that remains, I have lit my New Year’s candle, which says “Be Kind”. Our new posture of the year will help us strengthen our resolutions.

What would your candle say? What would posture would you choose for the year? Ki to Happiness wishes you all a kind year.

One last day to get it right. 2020 will leave a legacy in all of our lives. We get to participate in how it is remembered. So many things to be grateful for, which perhaps would not have come forward any other way than with these challenges.

I’ve had a daily gratitude journal practice for decades. Yesterday, I was inspired by Bracha Goldsmith, astrologer and YouTube personality, to take it up a notch… to 200 gratitude expressions daily. That’ll keep me out of all kinds of trouble in the new year.

What are you grateful for this year? How can you best celebrate? Ki to Happiness is grateful for you, your eyes reading this, technology connecting us, yoga inspiring us…

I had a cancellation yesterday. That opened my schedule up to do some organizing. It was a very good use of the lingering full moon and eclipse energy.

Reflecting back, I am amazed at the tremendous amount of growth and progress personally as well as professionally. I encourage you to take stock of your year, with a keen eye for the blessings despite (or because of?) all the challenges.

Can you take time to reflect? How does it look in hindsight? Ki to Happiness congratulates you on your perseverance and patience.

Today’s full moon is the last of 2020. It’s light reflects to us how we feel about you this year. The sensitive heart may witness the feelings of others also as one’s own.

Radical empathy with others may facilitate healing the divisions on many levels: in ourselves, families, communities, and on a global scale. From the safety of your space as you are reading these words, open up to others. Feel how we are all in this together, even as we are separate. Let this feeling build as you grow in compassion.

How do you feel in the energy of this full moon? What needs healing? Ki to Happiness knows we alone can heal, and we cannot heal alone.

At the end of each year, we may reflect on what has transpired as the calendar pages turned. The vision we held for the year 2020 has become manifest in reality, as best it could. As we bid 2020 farewell, let’s make use of what has been revealed.

Revision invites us to create something new from what has occurred. The best parts of this year strengthen our resolve to continue changing what we can, while there’s been much to simply accept if we truly want peace and serenity.

What part of 2020 do you want to bring forward? How does 2021 look from here? Ki to Happiness envisions peace, starting with me.

Festivities subside, and the dishes are done. The fears we may have had going into 12/25 have been faced. Safety replaces those fears.

Without big family gatherings or large group events, quiet little celebrations with adequate food in sheltered spaces wearing the colors of the season brought cheer enough. My dad’s expression of an “Elegant sufficiency” fits.

What fears have you faced? Are you enjoying freedom from drama? Ki to Happiness feels safe enjoying the afterglow of an elegant sufficiency.