It’s a joy to be back at the studio as a practitioner, teacher, and owner after so many months of seeing only a few people. I’m bubbling with glee to be in the yoga room with so many practitioners under one roof. Once masks became optional (if fully vaccinated), I bet that you, like me,…
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Michele’s Insights – Strive to live the ordinary life in an extraordinary way
Strive to live the ordinary life in an extraordinary way. – Ralph Blum Every time I left my mom, I knew it was another goodbye: a goodbye to her voice; a goodbye to hearing her say my name; a goodbye to her knowing who I was; a goodbye to her sweet hands; a goodbye to…
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Michele’s Insights – Lessons Learned
“Bikram Yoga is a gas station,” Bikram Choudhury declared in one of his lectures at the Teacher Training in Acapulco. He was on a mission to help us understand the vast ‘horsepower’ within all of us, of which (according to him) we use a mere 3%. While the number is more of a ballpark than…
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Eighteenth Anniversary Insights – Michele Vennard
Eighteen years ago, I was lucky enough to open the doors of a small space that would be the beginning of Bikram Yoga San Jose – in the back of a run-down shopping center next to a popular dive bar. After my mom passed away in 1998, I knew life would be different because I…
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Hallowed Ground – Michele’s Insights
Thank you, 2020, for bringing out what lay hidden. Time has profoundly shown us not to take it all for granted. The daily news of people dying has forced us to shake off the entitlements that prevent any sense of real presence in life, our authentic and meaningful life. The precious moments in my life…
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Sorrows and the Search for Peace
There’s a Buddha statue that sits on my desk all curled up in a ball with his head sunk between his legs, hands covering his face sitting in sadness. I was given this statue years ago as it was said that this Buddha cries for the sorrows of the world. I don’t remember who gave it…
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Time for More – Michele’s Insights
This week was a turning point for me. Maybe for you, too. After learning that we were going to be sheltering in place for at least another month, I had to take a deep breath and a nice long walk. I had to soak in the idea that BYSJ will most likely be a part of…
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Breath and the Nervous System
Bikram Yoga Teacher, Misha Soltis, recently led us in our daily 10 am PDT live-stream Pranayama breathing on Facebook. She reminded me, and all of us, how great it is to have this one constant in our lives: our breath. With so much uncertainty, we often remind ourselves to stop and take a breath. We…
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Compassion from the Contrasts
Years ago, I recall Gary Vaynerchuk, a bold, self-proclaimed compassionate leading entrepreneur of this digital age, discussing the “me too” stories coming out as women started to un-silence themselves about the sexual abuse they had experienced. His takeaway was beautiful: “one day, from this, maybe the real lesson is that we’ll learn that we all have…
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The Flexibility to Adapt
Thank you to so many of you that reached out to see how I was doing with both my sister leaving and my ankle dilemma. My ankle is so much better, and the last two days I was able to take really long walks. It was glorious and another reminder to appreciate the joy of…
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