For nearly nine years, I have identified myself as a yoga teacher and health coach. Those were my official credentials, and I felt comfortable in teaching yoga and nutrition. I’ve plenty of personal experience in both, having completely transformed my relationship with my body through yoga and having healed myself of orthorexia through mindful and holistic eating.

Over the past two years, I began to feel complacent in my professional endeavors, despite the fact that my client base was growing rapidly, I was making more money, and I was receiving public attention. My soul felt that I had much more to offer and, in return, much more to learn. I was once told that complacency is a red flag.

How many of us feel complacent in our current situations? It’s not necessarily a bad thing, however the term implies an essence of stagnation and lack of growth, learning, or inspiration in my opinion. Whether it’s laziness or my habitual ‘hanging out in the comfort zone’ tendency, the awareness I’ve cultivated through yoga has been knocking not so gently on my soul’s door to keep going and keep growing. And I simply cannot ignore that calling any longer.

Fast forward to my current practice— In addition to teaching yoga and guiding people through nutrition (which are both necessary components of holistic healing), I have come to discover that the root cause of many health issues stems from a lack of intimacy with self, or self-love. True intimacy with others is halted as a result, as we desperately seek outside of ourselves for fulfillment, whether through a new relationship, a new job, food, shopping, etc. When we do find ourselves in relationship with others, we often depend on that person for our own happiness, and become upset when our expectations are not met. We have not learned adequate and conscious communication around our desires, our fears, and our personal boundaries, because we have never actually checked in with ourselves.

As a result of not fully knowing and expressing ourselves, our bodies literally ‘lock up’ and hold on to past experiences, trauma, and fear. It is a natural response to not fully processing our personal experience. Our sensuality and sensitivity is limited when we operate from this place, and we lose our full potential and power as human beings.

Sensuality is the awakening of our pure essence… our purpose, our power and strength, our creativity, and our joy.

Without it, we are purely brain-based. Our bodies hold immense wisdom that can alleviate stress and help guide us in our personal and professional endeavors. Let’s break down the word ‘intimacy’… into-me-i-see…. INTO ME I SEE! It is imperative we build a healthy relationship with ourselves if we are to create meaningful relationship with the outside world. We must look deeply into ourselves first.

This spring, my partner Diego and I are offering a one-of-a-kind weekend workshop in exquisite Ojai, CA called SPRING AWAKENING, April 1-3, 2016. This fusion workshop intertwines yoga, nutrition, meditation, communication exercises, and sound healing in order to re-set your natural operating system and create more aliveness, sensuality, and bliss into your life. It is suitable for couples and singles, for it is a personal journey regardless of relationship status. If you are craving more intimacy and clear communication in your current relationship, a desire to attract a compatible partner into your life, increase your own connection with self, be exposed to nature, get into your body and your breath, or feel the miracle of natural ecstasy from within, this workshop is for you…