Journal
Here you'll find writing on mindfulness, neuroscience, mental health, physical wellbeing, and yoga.
These topics often overlap: attention, behaviour and embodiment are all part of the same ecosystem of experience, and the aim here is to explore those connections in a thoughtful and practical way. Some posts draw from research, others from lived experience and teaching. The intention is to share ideas that are useful, considered, and occasionally a bit different from what is typically said.
April 9, 2026
by Karen Andersen, BSc (Behavioural Neuroscience), E‑RYT 500, YACEP Yoga is often described as a practice free from belief: simply do, and truth will reveal itself through […]
January 8, 2026
Long-term goals are rarely achieved through force alone. Through self-inquiry, reflection, and embodied practice, yoga offers a way to stay connected to what matters, even when motivation fluctuates. This post invites you to work with one meaningful goal and let practice support it over time.
November 8, 2025
Gratitude lives at the interface of body and mind. Deep in the brain, the insula translates sensations like heartbeat and breath into a felt sense of being. When we practice gratitude, empathy, or mindfulness, this same circuitry brings coherence to our inner and outer worlds, helping us feel meaning rather than just think it.
November 8, 2025
Gratitude lives at the interface of body and mind. Deep in the brain, the insula translates sensations like heartbeat and breath into a felt sense of being. When we practice gratitude, empathy, or mindfulness, this same circuitry brings coherence to our inner and outer worlds, helping us feel meaning rather than just think it.
November 5, 2025
Yoga helps us become more perceptive, even sensitive, to feelings that arise from within, but sensitivity alone isn’t enough. Without the grounding of intention and guidance of attitude, sensitivity can easily spiral into negativity. This reflection explores how we can turn awareness into right action, both on and off the mat.
November 5, 2025
One reason yoga sharpens perception may lie in how the brain anticipates the causes of the sensory signals that shape our experience. In neuroscience, this is […]
October 25, 2025
It might seem paradoxical that turning inward, through practices like yoga and meditation, can strengthen our outward relationships. But at its foundation, gratitude requires awareness. To experience feelings of gratitude and express them, we first need to be aware of what is happening within and around us. If we are distracted and desensitized, then we don’t have the bandwidth to be mindful.
October 18, 2025
Many of us are practiced at self-criticism, but less familiar with self-acceptance. Without it, our efforts toward growth can become driven by striving, discontent, and a sense that we’re never quite enough. To work with this, we’ll explore gratitude in this inward-facing dimension through several approaches.
September 30, 2025
Matcon Construction is currently realigning a storm sewer on Spring Street. From now until October 24th, there will be temporary road closures on Spring Street, Monday through […]
September 8, 2025
In times of heightened mental demand, such as the return to routine in September, our inner world can become noisy and overloaded. This article explores how higher-order thinking—like planning, reflecting, and managing competing mental tasks—can tax our cognitive systems, leading to fatigue and emotional depletion. Drawing from neuroscience and embodied practice, it proposes that yoga offers a counterbalance: a way to redirect attention toward simpler, grounding sensory experiences that reduce cognitive load. Through mindful movement and somatic awareness, yoga offers not just a temporary escape, but a tool for long-term mental resilience and clarity.
May 8, 2025
Savasana is often seen as a time for simple relaxation, but beneath the stillness lies a diverse and complex experience. It can bring deep release, strange dreamlike imagery, and a heightened awareness of the body and breath. In this piece, we'll explore what makes savasana unlike any other practice, a state where the mind floats between waking and sleep, and both ancient teachings and neuroscience point to its transformative potential.
January 16, 2025
In a recent intention-setting discussion in our teacher training program for 2025, I reflected on a pattern that I feel present both personally, and with the […]
November 11, 2024
On Remembrance Day, when I reflect on wars past and present, feelings of sadness for the loss of life and compassion for those who endured (and […]
October 4, 2024
Yoga teachers are seasoned guides in mindful movement and safe alignment and have your best interests at heart. But let’s be honest—sometimes all those cues can feel […]
September 8, 2024
You and I are amazing creatures, capable of learning a seemingly endless amount of patterns (ideas, skills, facts) to help us navigate our worlds more effortlessly […]
May 8, 2024
Our minds are beautifully efficient. Some days, I find it hard to appreciate this, especially when I'm tired or overloaded. But even so, there is so much unconscious work going on under the surface that it's baffling how the most seemingly simple feelings and actions come to life.
February 4, 2024
I’ve been distracted lately by thoughts on the pace of local development and how this will inevitably affect the future of our lives and livelihood. Sometimes, […]
October 20, 2023
In yoga philosophy, vairagya is the practice of softening our held viewpoints. Our mind is a powerful tool for predicting the cause of whatever experience we […]
September 20, 2023
I was out for dinner with a friend the other night, and we reflected on the feeling of September’s “new year”; a transition period between Labour […]