About marja

Marja is a certified eRYT 500 yoga instructor. For over twenty years, her experience, passion, and sense of humor keeps her approach to teaching yoga and mindfulness light and entertaining. As an educator and freelance writer, her background in health science and community nutrition combined with her studies in India serve to enrich her understanding of the mind/body connection. Since retiring as a performing songwriter a.k.a. Marge Calhoun, Marja and her husband, John, live part time in Colorado and Australia. While in the US, she is an instructor in Summit County, Colorado.
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Use the Eight Limbs of Yoga Inside and Out

From the inside out, The Eight Limbs of Yoga can be a useful tool for meditation as well as thoughtful daily reminders. As the winter approaches, so do the pressures of the holidays. Compounded by seasonal affect disorder, life’s complexities can dim the joy of merriment; however, there is good news. The Eight Limbs of Yoga offers a two-fold solution to the blues by balancing moods while managing our interactions in the cold months that lie ahead. Written by the sage, Patanjali, sometime between 200 BCE to 200 CE, Yoga’s Eight Limbs is an important section in the first of his four [Read More]

2022-01-16T22:59:55+00:00November 16th, 2021|Mindfulness, Well Being, yoga, Yoga Philosophy|
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Into the Lotus Wilderness: Traveling Light

In yoga, we learn to relax and calm the mind to feel the essence of our true nature. This peaceful liberated state may also occur spontaneously, just by communing with nature and connecting with its live elegance. Both can inspire an awakening, but how do we make it last? Venturing into the lotus wilderness with the Yamas and Niyamas reveals more about living in our true nature. Buddhist philosopher, Shinzin Young, calls the presence of our true nature an unobstructed clarity and equanimity. It’s easy to loose touch with it when physical, emotional and mental stresses become our compass. How do we [Read More]

2022-01-16T22:43:03+00:00September 10th, 2021|Mindfulness, Philosophy|
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Unmasking Social Intelligence

The study of social intelligence tells us we are empaths, all of us. Our brains are biologically wired to sense the experiences and feelings of others. Daniel Goldman’s book, Social Intelligence, The Revolutionary New Science of Human Relationships, uncovers how this empathetic link helps us to understand someone through a sense of feeling. New discoveries prove just how much relationships shape us and the significance of mindfulness. Because the pattern of another’s micro expressions can literally nurture us or poison us with bad feelings and poor health, masking is really quite revealing. Traveling in the covid-19 crisis, I saw some people not masked-up. The journey [Read More]

2020-08-02T00:14:11+00:00July 11th, 2020|Mindfulness|
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Why Breathe Consciously?

Breathing is one of the most natural and indispensable reflexes, yet rarely do we notice it until it is disturbed. It’s worth knowing that by controlling this vital life force the quality of living improves exponentially. Thanks to the ancient principles of yoga and yoga’s popularity, the inseparable relationship of the mind, body, and breath is no longer an esoteric concept, but based in scientific evidence. The way you breathe makes a difference.  At times you may not even notice how a quiet pant with shallow sips of air or sighing is due to a shortness of breath. This type of breathing [Read More]

2023-07-07T20:39:36+00:00November 26th, 2019|Pranayama|
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Change is Good

  As creatures of habit aren’t we constantly reminded that the one thing we can count on is change? Truthfully, I accept that change is inevitable and most of the time I say, "bring it on!" But, when my ski instructor challenges me to a new level of terrain, I cringe. Her popularity is a credit to her skill, so why do I resist? There’s comfort in familiarity. However, yoga invites the idea of welcoming change with a paradoxical twist from the ancient sage, Patanjali. In his epic text, The Yoga Sutras, he reveals that change is especially attractive when it leads [Read More]

2021-09-27T18:08:33+00:00April 17th, 2019|Yoga Philosophy|
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Rewire the Brain for Happiness

Happy New Year! In the advent of the new year we wish each other a “Happy New Year.” We want others to be happy, but what about ourselves? Recently, I saw the funniest episode on the PBS hit series, Doc Martin. The hilariously negative, insensitive bad mannered doctor asks the proverbial and exhausting question, “why does everyone need to be happy?” Of course, if he could answer that question and stop spoiling all the smiles waiting to spread around him, there would be no show. Happily, those in the field of neuroscience have discovered simple ways to elicit happiness. Even for someone [Read More]

2020-07-13T05:30:05+00:00December 31st, 2018|Mindfulness|
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Becoming a Better User of the Brain

A Glimpse into Neurobiology Hormones. We readily accept that some behavior is influenced by brain chemistry. One phrase we often hear is about menstruating or pregnant women, “That’s just hormones talkin’.” This piece of brain trivia confuses as much as it may placate because the idea that certain phases are “hormonal” creates false opposition between a chemically manipulated female brain and an unalterable male brain. The truth is, testosterone changes male behavior as dramatically as estrogen does, but an aggressive male is not usually thought of as being “hormonal.” Though a woman’s neuro-chemical makeup has a more regular cycle than a man’s, [Read More]

2020-07-13T06:07:04+00:00June 4th, 2016|Physiology|
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Get Free

Transitioning to Healthy Changes The stakes for modifying human health are high. According to Healthy People 2020, in 2008, 107 million Americans almost 1 out of every 2 adults age 18 or older, had at least 1 of 6 reported chronic illnesses: Cardiovascular disease Arthritis Diabetes Asthma Cancer Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Obesity, stress, smoking, poor nutrition, binge drinking, drug abuse, unprotected sex, and a sedentary lifestyle are contributing factors of chronic disease. Our attitudes, beliefs and perceptions often influence destructive behavior. In 2008, individuals in the United States reported on average 7 physically and/or mentally unhealthy days within a month. Despite [Read More]

2020-07-13T06:21:30+00:00January 20th, 2013|Health|
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Connecting with the Universe

Connect by Letting Go In holistic environs the idea of “connectedness” is no stranger. Likewise, the concept seems familiar because it drifts across a myriad of philosophical texts and often conjured by our yoga teachers as they say, feel a sense of connectedness with We are encouraged to “become one with the universe” because separateness is an illusion and a source of suffering. Great. How do you do that and what exactly does it all mean? Fundamentally, the impression of being “one” with everything seems impossible or subjective at best. In a culture driven by individualism and competition, it contradicts our modus [Read More]

2020-07-13T06:45:31+00:00July 22nd, 2012|Mindfulness|
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Get Smart With Yoga

In the past few decades yoga’s popularity has increased exponentially. The ancient mind/body science known for promoting relaxation, flexibility, and strength is common knowledge, but other benefits are now gaining recognition like improved mood, increased cognitive abilities and enhanced lifestyle behaviors. Scientists are reporting outcomes from a myriad of claims pertaining to the system of yoga and as the data has been quietly collected, studied and documented, another question has emerged, “does yoga make you smarter?”Based on the findings, a consistent adherence to yoga does in fact facilitate smartness.  When practicing the prescribed methods of yoga, the internal change of chemical effects result in positive synergistic states of heightened awareness. Characterized [Read More]

2020-07-13T05:47:32+00:00June 3rd, 2011|Mindfulness|
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