I was flat on my back in a dimly-lit room with my knees curled
into my chest.

Just another Tuesday night Candlelight Yoga class.

The instructor — one of those enviably strong & sculpted women that inspires you to return to the mat, week after week — was going through the usual newbie-yogi rigmarole.

“This is a mixed-level class . . . move with your breath . . . don’t strain to the point of pain . . . flag me if you need help . . .”

Then she paused for a long, languorous breath — and said something I hadn’t heard before.

“I’d like you to dedicate your practice today to someone you love.
Take a moment to choose them.”

My mind was spinning, rollicking through my heroes & friends. Mr. Rogers! No — David Cross! No, wait — Dyana Valentine! No, uh, just a sec — GOT it!

We shifted into child’s pose. My mind kept circling, cradling, marveling at the delicious idea of ordinary, everyday, just-because DEDICATION.

Authors dedicate their books. Architects dedicate their monuments. Musicians dedicate their albums.

But why should dedications be reserved for Great Works of Art — why not today’s outfit?
Your next meal? Your tax returns? Your nightly bubble bath? Your business?

“This budgeting spreadsheet is for YOU, Suze Orman!”

“I dedicate this plate of buttered toast to Great Aunt Mimi!
May she rest in peace, with an endless abundance of apricot jam!”

“I slick back my ponytail in the name of Coco Chanel!”

“This digital product is hereby erected in honor of Edgar Allen Poe –
and Dave Eggers!”

When we dedicate the mundane & forgettable fragments of our lives to those we treasure & love, we anchor ourselves in the moment. The simplest task becomes . . . not grander, exactly. But perhaps — more decisive. More intentional. More energetically-charged.

With each small dedication, we trigger a ripple of pageantry & purpose.
Ring upon ring upon ring of devotion.

So as you dress & eat & write & decide & create & destroy & consume & craft & edit & drink & kiss & cry & stretch & plan & pray & launch & love . . . I’m asking you . . .

Where’s your DEDICATION?

xo.

And now, a brief word from our sponSOAR . . .

This post is dedicated to my dear friend & mentor Hiro Boga. I often find myself at a loss for words when trying to describe Hiro’s impact on my life & business. More often than not, I simply refer to her as
“my personal Yoda.”

Hiro’s online courses & virtual retreats verge upon legendary, in certain circles. But let me be clear: in Hiro’s world, you won’t find templates, tipsheets or The 7 Steps To Skippity-Doo-Dah. You will be challenged to actually attune to the soul of your business — approaching your business as a trusted friend & ally. Someone worth listening to. Someone worth treating with care. Someone worth loving.

This relational shift can change everything — what you choose to create & how you choose to create it. It’s electrifying. And so worth exploring.

Hiro’s signature program for evolutionary entrepreneurs — BECOME YOUR OWN BUSINESS ADVISER — is returning this April, for another 12-week cycle of spiritual, creative & financial transformation.

Explore the curriculum. Scroll through the praise. Register for the free preview class.
Then reserve your seat in the classroom — and prepare for the miraculous.

 
When I was 21 years old, I came out to my parents. From my miniature apartment. In a converted parking lot structure.
That used to be a YMCA. In New Zealand. Via Skype.

“Mom, dad . . . I’m a lesbian.”

I was crying. I’d never actually said it out loud.

What I didn’t tell them . . . was that I was also dressing almost exclusively in men’s clothing, compressing my breasts with sports bras, and generally making my way about town as a dapper Victorian dandy. Wrong century? Maybe. Wrong body? Perhaps. Or maybe it was just . . . supreme self-expression. Completely whole and true. In that moment.

I spent the next five years falling in love with beautiful & fascinating women. Artists. Psychiatrists. Aerospace engineers. One asked me to marry her. I said “yes.” And then didn’t. She told me to keep the ring — as a gift. I still wear it, sometimes.

A few months before my 26th birthday, I started to notice something. Men. For years, they’d been friends, sometimes colleagues, or gray & uninteresting blobs on the public metro system. And suddenly, they were . . . mesmerizing. I went through three in six weeks. Ahem.

Then I found . . . one more. A black metal cherub who dumpster-dived for computer parts and built servers from scratch — in between mastering the art of low-sodium pizza dough and composing electronica albums about radical socialism. He taught my sister how to play Metallica on her mandolin. I was just . . . done. Bonkers. Smitten. In loooooove.

Still am.

So, how did a hedonist lesbian from Los Angeles by way of New Zealand fall in love with a Marxist metalhead (with distinctly male genitalia) from Minnesota?

It should have been impossible. Maybe it was.

But . . . I yielded to my impossibles. Yielded as in, surrendered all power, presuppositions or supposed authority.

I’ve discovered that Love is all in the yielding . . .
more so than the contracts.

And that often, the most deliriously joyful thing to yield to . . .
is the ultimate impossibility.

xo.

And now, a brief word from our sponSOAR . . .

Lisa Claudia Briggs is a veritable treasure trove of healing wisdom. She’s a Harvard-trained psychotherapist, eating disorder specialist and sacred streetfighter for gifted, sensitive & empathetic women. With her medical-meets-mystical approach, she guides women through highly-individual rites of passage — over the coals of their own personal FireWalks.

If you’re facing a creative blockage, a relationship crux, or a seemingly-unsolvable business dilemma, Lisa’s 100-minute FireWalk experiences act as a multi-dimensional makeover for the mind, body, heart, and soul. The FireWalk is not about freedom from disordered eating or fractured self-care — though Lisa has offerings for those needs, too — but rather an invigorating creative brainstorming session, with a healing afterglow.

If you’re new to Lisa’s world & way of working, I implore you: spend some time with her gorgeous writing.
Find yourself mirrored in her manifesto. Read her radiant client reviews.

And when you’re ready, your FireWalk begins with a simple, cost-free conversation.

Happy Valentine’s Day. And as Lisa would say, “walk with beauty.”