All or Something this Summer

As a Teacher I believe it is essential to be lifelong student and experience a variety of mindfulness and movement styles and teachers, keeping a beginners mind. I am blessed to have many local teachers in the area I adore and love taking their classes. I also study in online workshops and whenever I travel seek yoga.

Gina Caputo is my primary Yoga Teacher and Health Coach for the past several years. I first met her on a Soulrocker Retreat at Soulshine Bali in 2017 and I knew she was the one for me when she began guiding the first class of the retreat. She is deeply experienced in all the areas of yoga plus she is as real as real gets. Her sense of humor aligns with mine and I find her ability to connect the deep roots of yoga philosophy to modern living inspiring!

Gina simply uttered the sentence "You do you the BEST" while I was lying in Savasana during that 2017 retreat and it landed deeply. Sometimes I believe the simple offerings when delivered authentically can create a profound shift. After that week I have followed Gina online and attended other retreats and belong to her Yoga Potluck Online Yoga Community (open to all not just yoga teachers) and am part of the 1st Level Up League yearlong online group.

This March I attended both another Soulrocker Retreat at Michael Franti's Soulshine Bali Resort and followed it with a new retreat LEVEL UP with Gina Caputo. The Level Up was unlike any other retreat I have ever experienced and different from the role Gina had in the Soulrocker Retreat. I could write a book about this EPIC experience that encompassed all the facets of the Wellness Wheel for Whole Health. For now I'll share one nugget I use daily.

ALL OR SOMETHING. You've heard of all or nothing? This is so much better because life is not black and white. It's wavy and flows and does not consult our personal planner when things happen to knock us off track. During the Level Up Retreat I felt very empowered to release perfectionism, people pleasing and attachment to outcome and mentally became more flexible at 61 then I have ever been before.

I may not be able to do all of the poses in a yoga class, I can do some. I may not be able to meal prep for a week, I can do it for 3 days. I may not have organized all my files, I did 25%. Giving ourselves permission to regroup and not give up after stepping out of line with our goals keeps us moving forward. Incrementalism can help us not feel so overwhelmed when we have a project to begin - start and do part of it.

I have found that ALL OR SOMETHING removes the cycle of self shaming. It is not to be mistaken for not giving your all to a goal, but sometimes we don't have our all to give because life can start life-ing in the way! When that happens we don't have all to give. Example: if you think your body isn't in perfect yoga shape, show up as is and make the practice your own. I am doing that as a teacher, yoga progress not perfect.

Let's make this summer of 2025 THRIVE by pausing each day for 3 breaths to look at the sky and smile - counts as a meditation something. Do SOMETHING your furture Self with thank you for.

Thanks for reading this - I appreciate you!