by Tara Stiles | Feb 22, 2018 | Blog
Hi Friends, The time for reinvention is now. We're here in Berlin, staying in a super modest apartment, cooking most of our meals, taking long walks, doing the yoga, in the moment, in between Strala programs, right here right now. Last night as Mike was washing dishes in our tiny kitchen while I was playing with Daisy a grand game of cup stacking, he said to me, "I'm happy here, in this simple apartment, doing the normal things of life." Sometimes when Mike gets deep out of no where, he has these out-of-body experiences where he sort of freezes and… 
by Tara Stiles | Jan 25, 2018 | Be, Blog
This question comes up sometimes. How do I choose what to do? What to lead, what to share with people? It happens with yoga or tai chi classes, making this decision. It happens with life, deciding what to be, what to do. So in a way, what we lead isn't so much a choice, at the moment we're leading it. Even if we put a great deal of thought into picking what we say, what we present and do. Still, what we lead isn't decided in that moment, or even in our short preparation, leading up to this moment. … 
by Tara Stiles | Jan 20, 2018 | Be, Blog, Move
We're having a conversation about movement, tension, and softness in our online training group. It comes up quite a lot. I think there's a belief that we have to flex our muscles to be strong. Lock our joints to be safe. Push ourselves into alignment to be aligned. There's so much we have to do! But, maybe we could do a bit less. Maybe how we do what we do is something we could practice, a bit more. It's maybe pretty common for us to try to think our way into everything. Even our own bodies. In this way we… 
by Tara Stiles | Jan 20, 2018 | Be, Blog, Move
There are so many reasons we find our way to practices like yoga, qi gong, tai chi. Maybe it's to get more flexible, more mobile, or just more feeling good. Maybe it's to let go of stress, and make a positive connection with our bodies, our selves. Maybe we create harmony this way, some ease in our lives. So how do we get these things we want? Let's talk about flexibility, but it's a little bit the same for everything. So a good start might be somewhere in shifting focus a bit. It's possible that to get flexible, you don't… 
by Tara Stiles | Jan 19, 2018 | Be, Blog
Tara and I have watched a few movies lately. Frozen. Pocahontas. Ice Age. Our 11-month-old Daisy even watches with us sometimes. And of course hands down, Moana is my favorite. Competing even with Love Actually. So one of them has me thinking now about the phrase "I've got your back." I think it was one of those nice weasels in Ice Age, asking "Why can't anyone ever get your front?" Isn't that where all the action is? It's really up front that we need the help, isn't it?? It's funny. But there's also something there. I think these old phrases… 
by Tara Stiles | Jan 13, 2018 | Be, Blog
There's a wonderful opportunity we all have as teachers. It could be yoga we're teaching, or tai chi, or anything at all. We have this opportunity to help each other find our own way. To discover some of the biggest things there are to learn - some of the most important knowledge there is - isn't the kind that comes from outside of us. It's the kind that comes from inside. So it's good to know this. It's also good to practice it. That's how we make it real. Take yoga as an example. There's always this moment that comes up…