There is a particular kind of exhaustion that comes not from doing too much, but from never quite landing. You move through your morning, your meetings, your meals — but part of you is always somewhere else. Anticipating the next thing. Rehearsing a conversation. Running over what you forgot to do.
This week is an invitation to stop.
Not to stop entirely — but to stop rushing past yourself.
Week one of The Sacred Pause is built around one simple idea: you cannot tend to what you are not present for. Before we can root, we have to arrive. Before we can rise, we have to touch down.
On the Mat This Week
Sessions this week are slow and supported. Long holds. Props welcome — blocks, blankets, bolsters. The practice is not about getting somewhere. It is about feeling where you already are.
The mantra for the week is simple and worth returning to whenever the pace of life tries to pull you forward:
I am already enough, right here.
Let that settle into the body, not just the mind.
Off the Mat: Three Ways to Practice Arriving This Week
The real work of a slow practice happens in ordinary moments. Here are three things to bring into your week.
Pause before you begin anything. Before you open your laptop, before your first sip of coffee, before you start the car — take one full breath. Inhale slowly. Exhale completely. This is not about adding time to your day. It is about claiming the time you already have.
Notice the texture of what is in front of you. At least once a day, put your hands on something — the ground, the bark of a tree, the rim of a cup — and actually feel it. Not mindlessly. Actually feel it. This is how the nervous system learns it is safe to be here.
End the day with a body check-in. Before sleep, lie down and ask: where did I hold tension today? Not to fix it — just to notice. The body keeps a record of everything you moved through. This is a way of saying, I see you. I was here too.
A Thought to Carry
Presence is not a destination you arrive at once and stay. It is something you return to, again and again, like a breath.
This week, every time you find yourself already somewhere else — in tomorrow, in the worry, in the to-do list — let it be a gentle signal to come back. Not with frustration. With the same soft curiosity you would offer a friend.
You do not have to earn your way into this moment. You are already here.
This post is part of The Sacred Pause, a four-week May yoga series exploring presence, pacing, rest, and nurture.
Enjoying this content? My book 52 Weeks of Wisdom & Wellness goes deeper — find it here.
Most of us don’t have an action problem. We have an alignment problem.
We stay busy. We check the boxes. We do all the things we think we’re supposed to do — and still feel like something essential is missing. Like we’re tending someone else’s garden.
In yoga philosophy, this is exactly the problem that the concept of right action — known in Sanskrit as Satya-driven karma, or more personally as Svadharma — is designed to solve. And this spring, after weeks of clearing space, releasing what no longer serves us, and getting honest about what we actually want — it’s time to choose what we plant.
This post is a deep dive into what right action means, why it’s more relevant than ever, and how you can begin practicing it — on your mat, in your garden, and in your everyday life.
What Is Right Action? The Yoga Philosophy Explained
The concept of right action comes most powerfully from the Bhagavad Gita, one of yoga’s foundational texts. In it, the god Krishna counsels the warrior Arjuna who is paralyzed by doubt before battle. Arjuna can’t act — not because he lacks ability, but because he’s confused about what’s truly his to do.
Krishna’s teaching is radical: act from your dharma. Do what is yours to do. And release attachment to the outcome.
This isn’t passivity. It’s precision.
The Two Sanskrit Roots Worth Knowing
Satya — truth. In action, Satya means acting from what is actually true for you — not what looks good, performs well, or pleases others. Right action is honest action.
Svadharma — your own path, your own duty. The Gita is clear: it’s better to do your own dharma imperfectly than someone else’s perfectly. Right action is personal. It belongs to you.
Together, these concepts point to the same truth: intentional, aligned action — chosen from your own values, not borrowed from someone else’s expectations — is the foundation of a meaningful life.
Why This Matters in Spring (and Why Now)
Spring is not a metaphor. It’s a biological and energetic reality. Everything in the natural world is making choices right now — which shoots to push through the soil, which branches to extend, where to direct energy.
Plants don’t grow in every direction at once. They follow the light. They go where conditions are right. They don’t waste resources on ground that can’t support them.
That’s right action. That’s what we’ve been building toward for four weeks.
Week 1: Showing up — committing to presence
Week 2: Breathing through it — finding steadiness in discomfort
Week 3: Clearing — releasing what no longer serves us
Week 4: Right action — choosing what we actually want to grow
The clearing was essential. You can’t plant in cluttered soil. But clearing isn’t the destination — it’s the preparation. During the week of self-study, we really looked at what was getting in the way.
What Right Action Is NOT
Before we talk about what right action looks like in practice, let’s clear up a few common misconceptions.
It’s not productivity.
Right action is not about doing more. Our culture confuses busyness with purpose. But the Gita is clear: it’s not the quantity of action that matters, it’s the quality of alignment. A single truthful action is worth a thousand unconscious habits.
It’s not perfection.
Svadharma says: your own imperfect path beats someone else’s perfect one. Right action doesn’t require certainty. It requires honesty. You don’t have to know the whole route — you just have to take the next true step.
It’s not forcing.
A gardener cannot make it rain. She can prepare the soil, plant the seed, water consistently, and protect what’s growing — but she cannot force the bloom. Right action works with natural timing, not against it.
What Right Action DOES Look Like
Here’s where it gets practical. Because this isn’t just philosophy — it’s a daily practice.
In your morning.
Right action can be as simple as one honest choice before you reach for your phone. One breath. One question: what actually matters today? Not what’s on the list. Not what you think you should do. What’s yours?
In your garden (literally)
If you garden, you already know this practice. Every spring, you choose what to plant based on what you love, what your soil can support, and what you actually want to tend all season. You don’t plant everything. You choose.
That’s Svadharma in action. Intentional selection. Faithful tending. Trust in the timing.
In your yoga practice
Right action on the mat looks like choosing the modification that’s honest for your body today — not the one that looks impressive, and not the one that shrinks you unnecessarily small. It’s listening, then responding. Not performing, not collapsing.
With your dog (yes, really).
My dog Rosie has never once questioned whether she should go outside. She just goes. Full commitment, zero second-guessing, complete presence in each moment. Animals practice right action instinctively. We have to practice it deliberately. But the capacity is already there.
Three Questions for Right Action
Before you move on anything this week — a conversation, a commitment, a creative project — try pausing with these three questions:
Is this mine to do? (Or am I doing it because I think I should, or because someone expects it?)
Is this action aligned with what I actually want to grow?
Am I acting from fear and urgency — or from genuine intention?
You don’t need to answer perfectly. You just need to ask. That pause — that breath of honest inquiry — is itself a form of right action.
A Simple Practice: The Gardener’s Meditation
This week, try this brief grounding practice each morning before you start your day:
Find a quiet moment — standing in your garden, holding your coffee, or sitting in stillness before the day begins.
Take three slow breaths.
Ask: What do I want to cultivate today?
Let one honest answer arise. Don’t edit it.
Then ask: What is one aligned action I can take in that direction?
Take that action before noon.
That’s it. Simple. Repeatable. Powerful over time.
This Is How Growth Actually Happens
We tend to imagine growth as dramatic — a breakthrough, a revelation, a sudden transformation. But in yoga, and in nature, growth happens through faithful small actions, repeated over time, in alignment with what’s true.
The tree that survives the storm wasn’t born strong. It grew strong through seasons of small growth, deep roots, and incremental reaching toward light.
That’s what these four weeks have been building. Not a sudden change — a strong foundation.
The soil is ready. The space is clear. Now we choose what we plant — and we tend it, faithfully, one right action at a time.
Your Journaling Prompt for This Week
What have I been doing on autopilot that no longer reflects what I actually want to grow? And what one aligned action can I take this week to plant something true?
I’d love to hear what’s coming up for you. Drop it in the comments — or come practice with me this week as we move through these ideas on and off the mat.
Enjoying this content? My book 52 Weeks of Wisdom & Wellness goes deeper — find it here.
Clearing physical tension from the body through mindful movement.
For those of us navigating healing, chronic pain, or recovery (as I am in this season), clearing becomes even more sacred.
We clear what we can. We soften what we cannot. We practice patience.
Why Clearing Supports Mental and Emotional Wellness
When we clear physical space, we create mental space.
Research consistently shows that clutter increases cortisol levels and mental overwhelm. Gentle organization and mindful routines can:
Reduce stress and anxiety
Improve focus and clarity
Support emotional regulation
Increase feelings of control and calm
Clearing is nervous system care.
And it doesn’t require dramatic change. It begins with one breath. One drawer. One compassionate choice.
Clearing the Body Through Gentle Yoga
In adaptive yoga — especially for seniors and those with neurological conditions — clearing looks like:
Releasing tension through breath awareness
Gentle joint mobility
Slow, supported stretching
Reconnecting to the body with kindness
We clear stagnation. We clear fear. We clear the story that says “I can’t.”
Movement becomes medicine. Awareness becomes healing.
Your March Invitation
Each week this month, we will explore clearing through:
Physical space
Emotional release
Mental clarity
Spiritual alignment
A bonus integration week
You do not need to overhaul your life.
Simply begin.
Clear one corner. Clear one thought. Clear one breath.
And let that be enough.
A Reflection for You
Where in your life are you ready to create space?
Not because you “should.” But because your spirit is asking.
Sit with that question.
Breathe.
And trust that small, steady clearing leads to spacious living.
Affirmation for March
I gently release what no longer supports my growth. I create space for light, clarity, and peace.
If this resonates, follow along this month at Embracing Spirit Yoga for mindful practices, reflections, and gentle guidance rooted in compassion and accessibility.
March is not about force.
It is about softening, clearing, and remembering.
And I am walking this path with you.
Enjoying this content? My book 52 Weeks of Wisdom & Wellness goes deeper — find it here.
An Intentional, Soulful Action Plan for Mindful Living
For the past 28 years, I have chosen a single word to guide my year. This word becomes a thread—quiet yet strong—woven into the tapestry of my life. It’s not a resolution or a goal to accomplish, but an intention to return to again and again.
My word for 2026 is Presence.
Presence feels both simple and profound. It asks nothing dramatic of me—only that I show up fully for the life I am already living.
Why I Chose Presence for 2026
We live in a world that constantly pulls us away from the moment we’re in. Even meaningful things—healing, relationships, work, growth—can become rushed or lived on autopilot.
Choosing presence is my commitment to:
Be where my body is
Listen before reacting
Noticing instead of rushing
Live my life instead of racing through it
Presence is not perfection. It is awareness. And awareness changes everything.
What Presence Means to Me
Presence means meeting my life as it is, not as I think it should be.
It is:
Breathing before responding
Listening without planning the next sentence
Caring for my body with attention, not impatience
Allowing my habits to be conscious rather than compulsive
Presence is how I want to live—in my health, my relationships, my work, and my daily habits.
A Soulful Action Plan for Living with Presence in 2026
Rather than setting rigid goals, I’ve created gentle anchors—ways to return to presence throughout the year.
Presence in My Health
My body has taught me many lessons over the years, and in 2026 I want to honor it with deeper listening.
My practices:
Daily check-ins: What does my body need right now?
Moving mindfully instead of pushing through
Resting without guilt
Choosing nourishment that supports healing and energy
Presence in health means responding instead of forcing.
Presence in My Relationships
Presence in relationships means truly being with the people I love.
My practices:
Putting the phone down during conversations
Listening to understand
Allowing silence without rushing to fill it
Speaking honestly and kindly
Being present is one of the greatest gifts we can offer another person.
Presence in My Work
My work is meaningful, and I want to meet it with intention rather than urgency.
My practices:
Beginning workdays with a grounding breath
Focusing on one task at a time
Creating instead of constantly consuming
Honoring energy levels instead of pushing productivity
Presence in work allows creativity and clarity to lead.
Presence in My Habits
Habits shape our days, and our days shape our lives.
My practices:
Morning rituals that begin in stillness
Pausing before automatic behaviors
Noticing patterns without judgment
Choosing small, sustainable actions
Presence helps habits become supportive rather than controlling.
How I Will Return to My Word Throughout the Year
A word of the year only works if we remember it.
Ways I will stay connected to presence:
Writing the word in my journal regularly
Asking, “What would presence look like right now?”
Letting it guide decisions both big and small
Allowing it to evolve as the year unfolds
This word is not a rule—it is an invitation.
An Invitation to Choose Your Own Word
Choosing a word for the year is a powerful mindfulness practice. It creates a compass rather than a checklist.
If you feel called, ask yourself:
What quality do I want to live with more deeply?
What do I need to return to this year?
What would support my becoming?
Then listen. The word often arrives quietly.
A Closing Reflection
Presence reminds me that my life is not waiting somewhere in the future. It is happening now— in this breath, this body, this moment.
Teaching From the Heart: How Intentional Yoga Themes Shape Our Practice—and Our Lives
There’s a quiet moment that happens before every class I teach. A pause. A breath. A soft tuning-in where I ask myself, What do my students need today? What do I need today?
For years, I have had the same monthly themes, and they flowed easily. Those familiar themes supported me through so much, but lately I’ve felt a deeper shift. A call to move beyond the patterns I’ve relied on… toward teaching with more intention, more presence, and a renewed sense of soulful planning.
It’s funny how yoga works like that. We think we’re just choosing a theme, and suddenly we’re learning about ourselves.
When Teaching Themes Become Life Themes
What I’ve discovered is that choosing themes isn’t just about cueing a class. It’s about choosing the energy we want to cultivate—on the mat and beyond it.
When we guide students through grounding, we remember to root ourselves. When we teach about softening, we start to release our own grip. When we focus on balance, we begin noticing the places in our lives that feel uneven.
The themes we teach become tiny mirrors reflecting back what we, too, are navigating. And that’s the beauty of yoga—it never asks us to have it all figured out. It simply invites us to be awake to our experience.
Planning With Intention Isn’t Less Soulful—It’s More Meaningful
For a long time, I resisted planning too much. I prided myself on intuition, on feeling the energy in the room and following it. And there’s magic in that, yes. But now, as I grow and evolve, I understand something deeper:
Intentional planning doesn’t restrict the soul—it gives it a container to shine.
When we choose themes in advance, we’re not locking ourselves into rigidity. We’re choosing to approach our work with care. We’re giving our students consistency, nourishment, and continuity. And we’re giving ourselves a moment to pause, reflect, and ask:
What lesson is trying to be lived out here?
Practicing the Principles We Teach
Each time we create a theme, we apply the principles of yoga without even realizing it:
Ahimsa reminds us to choose gentle words. Satya invites us to teach what feels honest. Svadhyaya asks us to look inward as much as outward. Tapas nudges us to stay committed, even when life feels heavy. Santosha reminds us to find contentment in the simple act of showing up.
The way we plan is a practice. The way we teach is a practice. The way we live is a practice.
When we bring intention into our teaching, we naturally bring intention into our days. Our yoga themes become our reminders, our anchors, our quiet truths that follow us long after the class has ended.
A New Season of Teaching—and Living
As I move into this new season of teaching with greater intention, I’m reminded that yoga is always evolving us. It doesn’t just shape our bodies—it shapes our choices, our energy, our presence, our perspective.
And maybe that’s the real theme of all of this:
When we teach from a place of intention, we live from a place of intention.
And in that space? Everything—your practice, your life, your purpose—begins to align with more clarity and more heart. I cannot wait to share each month’s theme with you!
A Year of Renewal: Reflecting on Change, Courage, and New Beginnings
Every year, I choose a single word that becomes a thread woven through my life—my sankalpa, my heartfelt intention. This year, my word is Renewal, and as I close the door on another chapter, I can clearly see how life has been guiding me toward this exact moment of rediscovery.
2024 was unlike any year I’ve ever lived. It brought deep healing, unexpected shifts, and a powerful invitation to grow in directions I didn’t anticipate. After decades of helping others reconnect to themselves, this was the year life asked me to reconnect to me.
And I said yes.
Letting Go: Stepping Away After 18 Years
One of the biggest shifts—one that still feels surreal—was ending my 18 years of traveling to more than 50 assisted living homes. For nearly two decades, I poured my heart into teaching adaptive yoga, holding space for elders, and building community through mindful movement.
It was sacred work. Beautiful work. Exhausting work.
And it was time.
Pulling back to only a small handful of homes wasn’t just a schedule change. It was a soul-level shift. It was an act of honoring my body, my healing, and the next evolution of my service. For the first time in years, I allowed myself to loosen the grip on what I had always done and create space for what could be possible next.
A New Path: Becoming a Qualified Behavioral Health Assistant
This year also brought a huge professional pivot—one that aligned not only with my gifts but with my capacity. I stepped into my new role as a Qualified Behavioral Health Assistant, helping people recover from trauma through skills, connection, and compassionate support.
This work is meaningful in a different way. It requires less physical demand, but a deeper emotional presence. It allows me to live my values without compromising my wellness. And most of all, it lets me continue serving others in a way that honors my own healing journey.
Sometimes renewal doesn’t look like starting over. Sometimes it looks like redirecting your wisdom where it can thrive.
Welcoming Rosie: Joy Arrives on Four Paws
Another bright spot this year? I got a new puppy — sweet Rosie.
She arrived exactly when I needed a spark of uncomplicated joy, and she brought just that. There is something magical about how animals help us stay present, soften our hearts, and remember to play. Rosie has been a daily reminder that renewal can show up in wagging tails, muddy paw prints, and early-morning snuggles.
She is a gift of pure delight.
The Big One: I Wrote My Book
And then there’s the part that still makes me say, “Did I really do that?”
After years of teaching, thousands of classes, countless conversations, and decades of lived experience… something inside me said now. The words poured out—not from obligation, but from an inner knowing that it was time.
This book is the culmination of everything I’ve lived, learned, healed, and held. It is a tapestry of wisdom and wellness, a snapshot of my heart in this season of life. It is my offering. My renewal. My beginning again.
Writing it stretched me, surprised me, and awakened parts of my creativity that had been sleeping under the weight of survival mode. More than anything, it reminded me of my purpose—and my voice.
As I Step Into 2025
Renewal is not a return to who I used to be. It’s an unfolding. A softening. A reclaiming.
This year brought endings, beginnings, and a lot of gentle in-between moments. It taught me that clarity often arrives only after the letting go. That healing isn’t linear. That courage can be quiet. And that renewal is a choice we make every single day.
As I step into 2025, I do so with gratitude, openness, trust and renewal.
My sankalpa of Renewal has been eye-opening and just rich. What is next? Stay tuned as I reveal my word for 2026! It is going to be a good one!
Revealing My New Seasonal Essential Oil Blends and Gemstones
A Beautiful Companion to 52 Weeks of Wisdom & Wellness
As I’ve been writing my new book, 52 Weeks of Wisdom & Wellness: A Year of Mindful Living, one guiding truth has woven itself through every chapter: our bodies, hearts, and spirits respond deeply to the rhythm of the seasons. Each season brings its own emotional tone, its own energy, and its own invitation for how we might move, breathe, and live.
This is why I created a set of intentional seasonal essential oil blends, each paired with a gemstone, to complement the journey of the book. These blends aren’t just lovely scents. They are seasonal anchors, helping you tune into the themes of renewal, radiance, gratitude, release, rest, and reflection as you move through the year.
Spring Blend: Renewal
Gemstone: Green Aventurine Theme: New beginnings, emotional softness, gentle growth
Spring corresponds to Weeks 1–13 in 52 Weeks of Wisdom & Wellness, where the focus is on healing, compassion, returning to the body, and creating space for new energy. Spring is an invitation to soften, open, and begin again. The blend supports uplifting the heart, releasing heaviness, and stepping into fresh possibilities.
Summer aligns with Weeks 14–26, a time focused on presence, energy, confidence, and living with intention. This season encourages expansion and warmth. The Summer Blend supports vitality, creativity, courage, and grounded enthusiasm.
Gemstone: Tiger’s Eye Theme: Appreciation, clarity, letting go
Fall corresponds to Weeks 27–39. These chapters explore gratitude, grounding, awareness, and gently releasing what no longer serves. Fall invites us to simplify and return to the essentials. The Fall Blend supports emotional release, inner steadiness, and the practice of gratitude as the season shifts inward.
Winter aligns with Weeks 40–52. These final chapters center on reflection, deep rest, quiet healing, and reconnecting with inner wisdom. Winter is a season for listening, softening, and tending to the inner world. The Winter Blend supports nervous system calm, deep rest, and spacious reflection.
The book is intentionally structured by seasons, with 13 entries for each, inviting you to move through the year with presence and mindfulness. These blends were created as sensory companions to those themes, offering a grounding ritual as you read each week.
You can roll on the seasonal blend before beginning your weekly chapter and let the scent become a reminder of your intention for the season. This creates a layered, embodied experience of the book through touch, scent, breath, and awareness.
A Year of Wellness, One Season at a Time
My hope is that these blends help you feel supported as you move through your year. Whether you begin with Week 1 in spring or choose to start during another season, each blend offers a simple ritual to connect you back to yourself. They are gentle reminders to pause, breathe, and honor where you are.
They Also Make a Beautiful, Meaningful Gift
These seasonal blends and their gemstones make a thoughtful gift for anyone who values mindfulness, essential oils, intentional living, or emotional wellness. Paired with 52 Weeks of Wisdom & Wellness, they become a year-long offering of support, encouragement, and self-care.
This is the kind of gift that feels heartfelt, personal, and deeply nurturing. Perfect for holidays, birthdays, caregivers, teachers, friends, or anyone entering a new chapter of life.
We have all heard it before, but I am here to tell you there is so much truth to it. Movement truly is medicine in its most natural form.
For years and years I have struggled with the effects of fibromyalgia and I have learned the more I move, the less I hurt. Many people who live with fibromyalgia—me included—would probably rather lay on a heating bad and hope the exhausting pain goes away, but the reality is movement will in fact make you feel better.
When we live the yoga lifestyle and endure challenges like this it’s imperative to pull our awareness into the sutras, or principles that enhance how we show up in the world. For examples, living with truth means we listen to our bodies and only do what truthfully feels right. It’s about not stealing from ourselves by overdoing (or under doing) it and taking away from healing process. It’s also about non-harming and being intentional with what we say yes to.
Each day since coming home from the hospital I have made a deliberate and mindful choice to move my body. It may be that my six directions of the spine is my max, or a simpler morning sequence, or I might add onto my physical therapy exercises by grabbing my dumbbells for some upper body endorphins.
Besides the intentional ways to get movement, it’s so important to realize the simple everyday tasks that count towards movement! Think back to your first few days home from surgery, or when you were struggling with illness, and the small victories that came with making your own meal or even showering! I am so thrilled that I am not as exhausted showering and getting dressed as I was just a week ago.
All the ways we navigate our day also count as movement!
Showering and getting dressed
Preparing an easy meal
Walking to the mail box
Emptying the dishwasher
Doing a load of laundry
Making the bed
Walking around the yard
Tidying up your space
A short trip to the market
Of course deliberate and intentional movement is important, but during this recovery time be sure to pat yourself on the back for the small everyday tasks that require movement and congratulate yourself on a job well done. Try to incorporate the yoga principles into your daily life and opt for staying aligned with who you are, and not what you happen to be going through.
With over sixteen years experience, Stacie Wyatt is a E-500 hour Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance, Certified Brain Injury Specialist, Certified Trauma Informed Coach, Life Wellness Coach, Senior YogaFit Instructor, Mind/Body Personal trainer, Stress Reduction and Meditation Instructor, Pilates Instructor, and Barre Instructor. Stacie is also certified in Integrative Movement Therapy™and is also a believer in the power and application of essential oils for health and wellness and proudly shares doTERRA essential oils.
