I once heard my teacher, Abbie Galvin, say the most beautiful thing about practice that I had ever heard.

She said, “With asana, we build a cup. With pranayama, we fill the cup. With meditation, we drink the nectar from the cup.”

She so beautifully articulated the purpose and meaning of a balanced practice.

I carry this sentiment with me daily.

The wisest thing my teacher ever told me was to put my practice first.

She encouraged me to create my work schedule around my practice schedule, even if it meant turning down good opportunities.

Of course she was completely right: when I fail to make space for my personal practice in favor of teaching more classes, I lose energy. I get sick. I get depressed.

Practice is our time to receive, to replenish, to fill our cups.

When we neglect that, we’ve got very little left to offer the world.

Move and breathe into your tender spaces, instead of moving around them or avoiding them.

This philosophy runs deep for me – in my yoga practice and in my life.

I’ve worked hard to face challenges and tender spaces, move through them and all the sticky emotions that can come up, and then learn from the process.

The best advice I’ve ever received in yoga was to start doing yoga.

If it wasn’t for that first yoga class I took, I don’t know where I would be today.

I’m so grateful for all the elements that lined up for me to get to where I am now.

Although I still have a journey ahead of me.

Focus on how you feel, not on the perfection of the practice.

This practice is about embodiment and intention, not about “nailing” the perfect posture.

This advice has allowed me to drop into my practice, let it unfold, and has freed me to be creative and unique.

Breathe through it.

Whatever happens this moment will be gone by the next.

The best yoga advice I ever received was to be consistent.

My teacher told me to show up daily for my practice even if it was just breath work.

It stuck with me because I think that sometimes we skip practice because we don’t have enough time or energy.

It was a great reminder that the practice is much more than a flow class.

We gain benefits from even just 15 minutes of stretching or meditation.

I was told a long time ago that teaching yoga is not a performance, but an act of service.

My work is to get out of the way so that I may be a pure conduit for the divine energy to flow through me.

So, basically­­, it’s not up to me—­ something far bigger is at play here and I am merely the hands and the feet and the voice to carry it forth!