Yoga In DeMun

We often think of stability as something physical — strong legs, a strong core, good balance. These are all wonderful signs of a healthy body, but there is another kind of stability that matters just as much: inner grounding.

The ability to pause when life feels rushed or overwhelming.

To breathe when you feel stressed, stuck, or uncertain about what comes next.

To stay connected to yourself when you feel overwhelmed and don’t know how to manage what you’re feeling. Yoga gives us an opportunity and real practice to turn inward and reconnect with ourselves.

When we strengthen the body with awareness, we also begin to notice how we respond to challenges as they come, where we hold tension, and what helps us return to center.

This is the kind of strength and stability we practice — not only in the body, but within ourselves. 🌿

Join me this week:

8/26 Wednesday for 5:15 p.m.- 6:15 p.m. Community Yoga, open to all levels. All donation go to Wydown United Church

And at 7:00 PM - 8:15 p.m., we’ll focus on Core Strength & Stability — building strength from the inside out while cultivating balance, awareness, and a deeper sense of grounding.

Sign up here:
https://www.yogaindemun.com/class-schedule-

Embrace the final stretch of summer!

Walking the Inca Trail was one of the most challenging experiences I’ve ever had—and also one of the most rewarding. Just like yoga, sometimes the practice is challenging in the moment, but afterward, you feel stronger, clearer, and so grateful that you kept going.

Click here to read my latest email and a little reflection I’d love to share with you.

When Life Asks Us to Change (8-18-26)

https://mailchi.mp/6ec253313d44/my-3-favorite-books-to-open-your-inner-universe-17997964

A waterfall doesn't create its water out of nowhere. It is part of the Earth's continuous water cycle.

Its source comes from many places: rain that falls in the mountains and is absorbed by the soil, plants, and rocks; melting snow and glaciers at higher elevations; and underground springs that eventually emerge through the earth. These waters gather into streams and rivers, flowing naturally downhill until they become the magnificent waterfalls we stand before.

There is something extraordinary about meditating beside a great waterfall. As we listen to the endless sound of rushing water, it gently carries away the constant stream of thoughts in our minds. Effortlessly, we become fully immersed in the present moment, and that sense of pure peace stayed with us.

As we spent a relaxing afternoon by the river and waterfall and taste the spring water, I smiled because it felt as though I was reliving a moment that my 15-months-old self had already known in my spirit. My mom told me that, as a baby, I would run toward waterfalls with a big smile as if they were the greatest thing in the world. Then she realized I wasn't just a baby learning to walk, I could run! It was pure joy for me, and it still is.

Being there, I wondered if that same joy had always lived within me. Perhaps this journey wasn't about discovering something new, but about remembering something our heart had known all along.

Returning to the All-Knowing Within.
Catarata Sirenachayoq waterfall, Sacred Valley, Peru

Hello everyone,

I hope you have been staying cool this week!

As summer settles in and the days grow long and warmer, we enter the season of Fire, a time of brightness, energy, and activity. The sun sits high over our heads, the days stretch long, and the temperature reaches its peak for the year, and we are at the beginning of it.

What the Season of Fire impact for your body, mind, and emotion

Based on Eastern Five Elements traditions, Fire 火 is associated with our heart, with our emotions, and with rapid change. Fire gives us motivation, passion, and bring change, but just like a flame, when it burns too high, it can leave us feeling irritable, burnout, and restless, meaning it is easier to feel impatient, sadness, or anger, you sense more emotion part of you. It can have a huge impact for our sleeping quality due to the heat and light. The season of Fire invites us to cultivate the Water quality within us— to practice calm, ease, and letting go, regularly and gently.

Below are a few practices I invite you to explore, on your own, or together with me. I will be in Peru from 7/10- 8/5, and I hope to see you before, or after my return from Peru. :)

Wednesday, 7/1 and 7/8

Ease and Calm - 5:15 p.m.- 6:15 p.m.
Strength and Stability 7:00 p.m.- 8:15 p.m.

Sign up here, I looking forward to welcome you!
https://www.yogaindemun.com/class-schedule-

An 11-minute invitation to start your morning, or return to yourself after a full day. From the outside in, we step into stillness together.

When the mind races ahead of the body, we can feel rushed, scattered, or unsettled. That sense of irritation or edge is the body's way of asking for your attention. It is okay to take 5–10 minutes for yourself, for nothing. no agenda, no purpose, no reason.

This is an inner practice — more for the mind, for the lungs, and to break free from the chain of doing. An offering of a quiet place to land, just as you are, and the clarity and intention to begin or complete your day with ease.

Through slow, mindful movement and conscious breath, you are home.

10 Min Garden Yoga Routine | Release Tension & Find Clarity When the mind is moving faster than the body can follow, this gentl...

What My Father Gave Me Without Meaning To
- A Father's Day Reflection

Even though I have been lucky enough to know and work with many people closely in my life, there is one person I never really got to know. And I believe my deep desire to know people from the heart comes from exactly that; I never got to know my own father.


I know he is my father, but I don't know much about him as a person. Whenever I think about my father; as a little girl, as a teenager, even now, he feels like a wall. Like those ancient walls in Rome : here in the present, and yet distant in time. Distant physically, emotionally, energetically. Not because he was drinking or under any influence , he had simply blocked his own heart from connecting with life. He could be sitting right across from me, still and silent, and I couldn't feel him at all. It took me years to realize that the reason I couldn't feel him was because he didn't want to be felt by anyone. His presence could make a room turn cold, or leave me quietly afraid, because the consequence of making too much sound around him was unthinkable. He made a statement simply with his cold silent, and everyone in my family felt it and know how to translate.


It is hard to admit this, but he usually looked through me when he spoke to me. Being around him, I often felt more like the air than a person. And many times, he made sure I knew he hadn't wanted me in the first place, that my existence was a cost to him. I remember one time he handed me a pen and a piece of paper and asked me to count how much I cost him each day, and he wanted me to give him a good reason why he should let me to go to school? I remember thinking that is good question, and I take it seriously. I was around five years old.

Before we continue, I want to make two things clear.


First, I don't share this to make you think my father as a bad person, or to ask for compassion on Father’s Day, but it is quite the opposite. I have come to full acceptance of my life experience over many years now. No every relationship is perfect and beautiful. He was not perfect, but I have done enough of my own work to embrace myself, and to also see him with compassion, knowing that he was suffering too. In other words, I no longer need him, or anyone, to make me feel whole. I am whole.


Second, I feel more fair to share my story, not as a teacher, but as a person, and for many of you have shared your own rough experiences with me when it comes to some childhood to adulthood experience. So when I say I understand, I really, really do. I know darkness. And I have learned how to live alongside it without losing my own light, and want to emphasizing we are not here to be perfect, but to find our own way of living forward. Sometimes that means meeting a look or a silence that feels painfully familiar, and choosing not to take it straight to heart. We so often see ourselves through other people's eyes, but what if they have only known darkness, and choose to stay in the dark? Don't let someone else's judgment become your self-doubt. My father simply didn't know another way. He couldn't give me what he himself had never been given. We don't have time to wait around in the corner to asking for their two cents of love.

Looking back, as I’m thinking about him today, what he gave me without meaning to is learn to find light in the darkness by being himself. By being the way he is, he left me to figure out how I wanted to think, feel and create in my own life. What kind of person I would choose to become, to hate, or not.

If you have a loving father and mother who makes you feel loved, valued, and always supported — I am so happy for you, truly and whole heartedly, you are so blessed, and I know most people didn’t get both.


And if you are a parent who had a rough childhood of your own, I encourage you to make breathing space in your life and find time for joy and peace for yourself, so that you don’t get stress build up that cause pain in the body or in relationship. Because trust me — no matter how old your children are now, all they really want is a parent who remembers to smile, a parent they feel at ease being around with. As they grow older and think back on you, what they will remember most is your presence. Make smile and ease within you, your children would always want to spend every Christmas with you.

Life has no meaning. It is up to us to give it a meaning,
and value is nothing but the meaning that you choose.'

I'm grateful to share my story with you!
Have a lovely Happy Father’s Day!

Christy

I believe, the best way to celebrate my Mother is to love myself. There is nothing I can give to her if I don't appreciate myself, see my own values, and exercise my potential in this precious life that she has given to me. She wants me to do good. She never cared about me being the best , she just wants me to be a kind person, offering kindness whenever I can. Whenever I can listen, doing my best being present, give kindness. She says, when I can give time and listen to other's suffering and concern, we are the Quanyin on Earth, so the person's heart can love and give again after speak to us without gong to temple, and pray, or to pay.

My Mother is always present in my life, in spirit, and I love the deep connection we have. As far as I can remember, exchanging gifts is not necessary, just a phone call and a kind reminder make me feel safe and certain wherever and whenever I am.

Happy Mother's Day to all the strong, intelligent, and beautiful Mamas in the world. 🌸

People often ask me what I love most about practicing and teaching. After nearly 12 years, my answer is still the same: it is the moment of feeling connection and freedom. A sense of ease moving through our body as everything else dissolves and falls away. The freedom of freeing the mind from everything and everyone that seems to have a grip on some part of us, keeping your breathing and living on hold or in pending. I love bringing people back to themselves, and to feel free. That is really what I care about and why I teach. My goal is to bring people to experience that freedom within themselves. Yoga, meditation, coaching, and retreats are many different pathways that take you back to meet your pure, unconditioned Self, Whatever on the mat, in a deep conversation that helps you reflect, or return to the loving arms of the nature.

In the world now that we are branding and selling yoga, mindfulness and wellness, in fact, everything that we are talking about here cannot be branded or sell, because it is not a physical product. Connection, peace and freedom are like the air. When we have everything in the world but no connection, peace and freedom, that is not a happy life, no matter how many figure everyone is chasing now, so Yoga in DeMun and I are like a space, bridge, a reminder, return to life, to nature, and yourself.

Nearly 19 years later, I can still vividly remember how much my legs shook after my very first class in St. Louis, but how free my mind felt walking out. I also remember the first crisp cold air that I breathed into my lungs felt like spring. It was in that same moment that I finally felt safe, that if I could find a way to stay strong and healthy throughout the winter here, then I would stay in the United States. So you can say that yoga did change my life.

From the perspective of teaching, I love witnessing the moment when everyone simply enjoy themselves and don't care if they can balance perfectly or not. The softness in their face. The opening of their heart. and the smile, It is hard to put into words, it is a genuine connection, and that connection continues long after the session ends. We talk, laugh, some life updates, the kids, the travels, the work, the dogs.., and yes, the coffee. We are so lucky being in between Forest Park and DeMun park, and many coffeeshop and restaurant, It is really just that simple.

Simply good

A Quiet Shift in Being Await in Peru 7/11- 7/22 (3 spots left)

Last June, I had the opportunity to go to Peru for the first time, leading our small, sweet group. I’ve traveled to over 20 countries on my own, and I’ve always loved exploring the world. But this experience felt completely different from the very beginning.

On the first night, our paqo, Andean spiritual guide, led us into a despacho ceremony. We were invited into their way of being. Suddenly, I felt I had moved from the modern Western sense of time into something more foundational or all-knowing (I don't know but I also know from my being). We were being guided to connect with something much larger than ourselves—the Milky Way, the universe—in a circle, under the full moon, by the fire. We set our intention and gave our offering to Pachamama — Mother Earth — asking for her permission and protection before our journey. It is in that moment I knew we had arrived in the right place, guided by people with deep respect, presence, and heart.

This Jully, I’ll be guiding a small group back to the Sacred Valley in Peru. This is not just a trip.It’s for you if you’re feeling a desire to pause and step out of your usual rhythm, a longing to reconnect with yourself in a deeper way, or a quiet knowing that there is more to feel, beyond what the mind can explain

We currently have 3 spots remaining, and we’ll be closing registration soon as we prepare permits for the journey.

If this speaks to something within you, you’re welcome to reach out or learn more in the link below, both from my personal self- reflection after Peru, and your coming journey in details. It is my greatest joy and honor to accompany you on this Sacred Heart pilgrimage of life!

Sacred Heart Pilgrimage Retreat in Sacred Valley, Peru
7/11-7/22 (3 spots left)

https://www.yogaindemun.com/sacred-heart-pilgrimage-in-sacred-valley-peru-2026