Jennifer Kathleen

Maybe it was best that any delusions about motherhood were crushed right from the beginning. That is what I thought as I sat on the bed, holding his feverish little body against my chest. With a stain from his diarrhea on the left leg of my pajama pants and the smell of his vomit on my right shoulder, my very first Mother’s day began. I held vigil all night, barely keeping the virus under control, filled with worry and fear and utter exhaustion. It was around four o’clock in the morning when the thought…

"Inner rest is the sacred ground on which we meet the light of enlightenment."

“Complete rest includes letting go of all forms of mental effort.”

Both of the above quotes are by Anam Thubten from his book, “No Self. No Problem.”

Today I offer you an opportunity to consider “complete rest” as a meditation practice. 

What does it mean to “let go of all forms of mental effort?” Well, if you have already been watching your mind, you have seen all sorts of mental formations. When a song plays in your mind. When…

Strong Body

Kind Heart

Clear Mind

This is my wish for you. But it is more than a wish, these are gifts that are yours for the taking. A strong body, a kind heart and a clear mind are actual benefits of Yoga. 

Let’s look at these gifts one by one

Strong body. Yoga gives you both power & flexibility that allows you to move with confidence through life. You won’t fear aging because Yoga cultivates trust in your body’s abilities and helps you maintain, even increase, your range of motion. 

Kind Heart. Through…

This post is for the person who is at rock bottom, who watched everything they built in life crumble down around them, for the person whose heart was shattered to pieces. I've been there and I need to tell you to hang in there. 

Don't give up. 

Keep imagining the life that you want, even if you don't know how you will get it. 

I've been where you are, when life was blown to pieces and I sat in the rubble with no clue as to how to even start to begin anew. Now I am on the other side of that hell, living a life…

I  absolutely adore this man. Today at breakfast, I felt so happy just to see him sitting across from me, that I asked if I could take his picture. If you don’t know, this is my husband. At the time of writing this, we have known each other for 9 years and have been married for over 5 years. As I looked across that table at this amazing man, I was thinking about the concept of “the honeymoon period” that people talk about. You have probably heard this expression, right? The “honeymoon period” is the idea…

“There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.”

– Vincent Van Gogh

I am an admirer of Van Gogh’s art. Particularly his work with irises and his paintings of sunflowers. Of course I love his Starry Night painting. To me it conveys the beauty, the peace and the mystery of the starry heavens. And yet, the man who created all of this beauty left us with an even more beautiful image in the quote above. 

“There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.”

Imagine, if you will, that your love,…

In December of 2024, my husband, Luv, and I were doing a bit of traveling in northern India. On our way to the Pantnagar airport, we stopped at a cafe with outdoor seating. This cafe was built on the side of a mountain, so from the deck we enjoyed a lovely view of the mountains. No other customers were there at the time, as it was rather late for lunch and too early for dinner. We were alone on the deck enjoying a very quiet and pleasant meal. 

After we had both finished our food, Luv left the table and went…

I began writing Haiku in 2019, but the majority of my haiku were written during the pandemic. I found them to be a wonderful coping mechanism. Composing haiku gave my brain a little puzzle to work on, distracting me from pandemic anxiety and providing me with a wonderful outlet for my emotions. 

A worldwide pandemic was a challenge on its own, but adding to my heartache at the time was the fact that I was stuck, on opposite sides of the world from my fiance (now husband) who is from India. If you have ever…

Every morning, here in Nagpur India, Oliver (my dog) and I go out for a walk around the building. We go around and around the outside of the building, which is basically a parking lot edged with trees and potted plants, enjoying the cool(er) morning air. In this way we can both get a decent amount of exercise while remaining quite close to home, where there is very little traffic, no stray dogs to worry about because the building property is enclosed by a wall that has a gate at the front, and the stares…

“Persistence guarantees that results are inevitable” 

- Yogananda

I wanted to share with you the above quote by Yogananda, because I have recently been reflecting on how true it is that small steps, taken each day, bring you the results you desire. 

Yogananda is the author of “Autobiography of a Yogi” which you may have read, or may have heard of the title. From my own experience I can definitely see, when I look back, that persistent effort paid off with my yoga practice, with my meditation practice and with…