The need to belong is a psychological driver behind a desire for human connection, but WHO are the people we want to connect with, beyond basic survival needs, and HOW do we find them? <<click image to read more>>
30 Days Are Over - What's Next?
Putting a new idea out there — such as this 30-day practice for the wine industry on breathwork and meditation — is a lot like turning on a lightbulb. Once it’s lit, we’re more able to see what we couldn’t see before. << click on image to read more >>
The Importance of Showing Up
Our aim with the 30 Days of Practice is to share ways to help you navigate a career and industry that can be difficult at times. But there’s one thing we can’t teach you how to do, which is perhaps the most critical step in the process –- and that’s to show up in the first place.
Don't Think You Have Time to Meditate? Try This Instead.
Don’t think you can find time in the day to meditate?
Think instead about the times during the day when you move.
As in, walking – from your car to the office, say, or walking the dog, or even walking from one meeting to another. Notice the different paces of walking – sometimes briskly, others leisurely. <<click image to read more>>
Two Tools For Better Breathing and one is FREE!
As we draw to a close of our 30 Days of Practice, here’s two simple resources I have found instrumental in helping get deeper into my breath and manage stress, concentration and anxiety - and one is free!
<<click image to read more>>
The Light in You
In the presentation that launched this 30-day practice, for my part on meditation, I spoke about two things that seemed like fairly radical ideas.
The first was to underscore that quieting your mind is a challenge, and that’s normal. It’s normal that a new thought crosses your mind every 1.5 seconds on average, and it’s normal that every new thought is a psychological release. <<click on the image to read more>>
Go Easy on Your Self-Talk
At Cathy’s kind invitation, earlier this week I spoke to a group of MBA students at Bologna University on the importance of narrative in wine storytelling. Storytelling one of my favorite subjects to study and share, and I truly believe compelling stories can take a wine brand from good to great. <<click on the image to read more>>
How to Find Your Center
“Stand with all four corners of your feet on the floor. Rock a little forward. Then rock a little backward. Then forward again, and backward again, a few times. Find your center.”
Sound familiar? <<click image to read more>>
Jetlag - 6 Tips To Take You From Fog To Fabulous
For the 6% of the population who never suffer jetlag, you are truly superheroes in my mind.
But for the other 94% of us, the sleepy, foggy, groggy feeling of jetlag can strike at the most inopportune times when traveling on business. <<click image to read more>>
What I’m Not Supposed to Say about Meditation
As I’m traveling abroad this week for work, I’ve realized something about my meditation practice that I’m probably not supposed to say.
But here goes.
<<click on the image to read more>>
That Fine Line Between Effort and Ease
Ever felt like you’re walking a tightrope? Balancing high up in the air, barely putting one foot in front of the other, with only your focus, determination, unending nerve, and a balancing pole to get you through? <<click the image to read more>>
Hands Up or Hands Down?
"Sit with your hands in your lap."
That is, normally, the instruction we hear regarding what to do with our hands when we meditate. Today I'd like to draw your attention to a very subtle movement, and encourage you to experiment with how it impacts your practice. <<click image to read more>>
The Simple Breath Trick That Takes You From Rookie to Rockstar
It’s five minutes to show-time. Peeking out from backstage, you see the prior conference speaker wrapping up, your stage time looming and the opening line you’ve prepared since the beginning of time ready to go.
Then “glossophobia” sets in. <<click image to read more>>
Should I Meditate in Order to Work Better
Today I'd like to share with you a post I wrote for my "home base" of yoga, on the six steps of applying the practice of meditation to my work, and especially my career as a writer. <<click image to read more>>
Surviving Trade Fairs – 10 Tips for Going The Distance
Spring has sprung and for many it means packing the carry-on for the marathon that is multi-day trade fairs. Between the jetlag, relentless meetings, tastings, and long hospitality nights, your body can take the brunt. <<click image to read more>>
How to Make Space for Meditation
Making Space is a tiny little book, written by Thich Nhat Hanh.
It somehow manages to be both full-to-the-brim powerful and gently encouraging, all at the same time.
Its message is about creating a home meditation practice, and I'd like to share five highlights with you here today. <<click image to read more>>
Don’t Just Do Something – Stand There a Minute!
Rise and shine!
Every morning we step out of bed ready for the new day and the opportunities ahead, but how do we approach each and every moment from a grounded, solid, centered place so we can be more mindful in our daily lives? <<click on the image to read more>>
30 Seconds is All It Takes
How many of you have heard of Kevin Zraly's 30-second practice?
I have no idea if Kevin himself would call it a "practice," but it feels like a practice and it's a neat thing to know about in any case. <<click the image to read more>>
The Eight Limbs – Yoga Beyond the Physical Poses
Kumbhakasana, dhanurasana, malasana and the crowd favorite, shavasana.
If you’ve ever taken a yoga class, you have likely heard these poses or positions called by teachers as you have moved your body and breath through class. But yoga goes so far beyond the physical practice represented in much of mainstream America. <<click image to read more>>
Drink While You Pour
Drink while you pour.
It’s another of my favorite takeaways from my teacher, at home in Atlanta, that also happens to resonate at the personal level for those of us in the wine business. <<click the image to read more>>