Insights and Inspirations from Around the World
Workout Smarter, Not Harder: The Wonders of Electrical Muscle Stimulation
I am so excited about EMS, let me tell you about it! My first session went like this: my instructor had me put on a jumpsuit that made me look like a superhero. Super cool already. The suit has electrodes running through it that align to the major muscles of my body....
Gallery Tour of Cuba
Chiara and her travel partner Barbra Esher have scheduled their next Inner/Outer Travel excursion for Cuba in January/February 2019. They traveled to the island in March 2017 to set venues, meet locals and gather images to share with you. Enjoy this preview of the...
Guest Blog: Traveling to the Depths of Our Hearts & the Height of a Volcano
This month, Barbra Esher -- Chiara's beloved travel partner & co-leader for their Inner/Outer Travel transformative journeys -- has written a guest blog about Bali. Meet Barbra's friends as well as the locals who will be escorting the February 2017 Bali trip...
What is Sound Bath on SoulMat?
The tradition of using singing bowls for meditation, music, relaxation, and personal well-being dates back centuries. In some Buddhist practices, singing bowls are used as a signal to begin and end periods of silent meditation, as part of chanting phrases, or even to...
Re-entry Reflection (Part One): A New Relationship with the Urgent
I'm sure you all have experienced that feeling that something just has to be attended to. Right this instant. No matter what. Drop everything. I've had many of those of late: The email that has to be written, making my morning walk just a bit shorter and a lot more...
SoundBath on SoulMat: Relax and Restart
Hopefully you've all noticed that our next event is a one-hour detox for mind, body, and soul on Friday, December 18th from 7:30-8:30 at Aditi Yoga, featuring a combination of Somat (with Chiara) and Sound Bath (with Megan Costello Sloan). As some of you may be...
Northwest Seattle Living Magazine Features My Home
Rooted and Open After an afternoon with a writer, editor and photographer, this is how they chose to describe me! I love it. All about homes and neighbors, this magazine focuses on those of us who live here in the northwest part of our northwestern city. I have spent...
Bali Reflection: Having Gratitude for Having Existence
Even the rice fields are full of gratitude. Every fifty or a hundred feet is a shrine, to thank the gods for the crops. Join us on our 2018 Bali tour I have travelled the globe, but this is my first time in Bali. What’s really catching my attention here is how the...
A Newfound Intimacy with my Pelvic Floor
I met Kathe Wallace several years ago. I was looking for answers about why my back did not seem to stay "in" for any respectable amount of time. It felt like something in my foundation was off, and I couldn’t put my finger on what exactly I was doing. No amount of my...
Fall in Tuscany: Wine, Olive Oil, and Truffles. Oh My!
Not that you need an excuse to join us on the La Dolce Vita Tuscany 2016 trip, but if you're looking for one, the countryside comes alive with festivals, feasts, and celebrations all revolving around the three things a gourmand just can't live without - wine, olive...
Madonnas & Lotus Flowers: The Masala (“Mix”) of India
Come along on a photo journey as I share the flavor mix we are experiencing on our Transformative Journey to India - happening right now! Next year, my colleague Barbra and I will be sending a similar array of photos from Bali... Perhaps you'd like to join us there?...
The Tuscan Idea of Fun
With so many exciting events right in my face--a Somat Teacher Training module here in the U.S. and a stack of adventures coming up in India--what I'm really thinking about right now is La Dolce Vita Tuscany retreat I'm offering with Jen Mitchell next fall. It's not...
Connection is Counter-Cultural
Last week I spent seven days in a training called Nonviolent Leadership for Social Justice. Remember those bumper stickers that say "Subvert the Dominant Paradigm"? What I discovered at this training is that, while I always thought I was subverting the dominant...
SoulMat is now Somat!!
SoulMat has a new name: Somat! The name features the word "soma" - which loosely translates to "body" - and which we use to describe the body-sensation experience of being on a Somat. These days, with our eyes on our computers and ears filled with buds, we end up in...
Ease in Moving, Ease in Staying
What is core? What is so important about it? Is core support equivalent to having an awesome set of abs? Core is where our central nervous system and our organs reside and function. Core is what is at the very center of our physical and energetic bodies. Our muscular...
Re-entry Reflection (Part Two): Attachment to the Body
In the month since I returned from India, I’ve been immersed in teachings about the mechanics of the body in three different workshops about Anatomy. All those names of muscles, images of neural pathways and discussions about blood circulation have added an...
SoulMat Soothes the Weary Traveller
I'm midway through a 5-week trip through India. For the first time, I brought a Somat with me--I can get stiff, tired and cranky after 14 hours on a plane followed by 5 hours at the airport in Dubai! Turns out lots of the travelers I'm with have found comfort on the...
Making Your Nervous System Your Ally
Last weekend I taught the first-ever Somat teacher training on U.S. soil. Talk about exhilarating! Talk about juggling many balls! 12 hours of instruction with a newly crafted curriculum and an 80-slide presentation. As usual, my blood pressure was low; it always has...
