The Birch Bark Blog

Mostly dogs and yoga,
but also yoga and dogs.

An evolving collection of essays, stories, reflections, and occasional disappointing wordplay.

New posts every other Thursday… in theory.

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  • A Meditation on Death

    As many of you already know, Shine, my oldest dog, has a tumor in her lungs.  It showed up on an X-ray that I requested because her breathing had been off recently.   Shine is dying.  It might not actually be the tumor that causes her death (or, more likely, the reason I decide to humanely… Continue reading A Meditation on Death

  • Goals, Intentions, and Invitations

    In many yoga classes, students are encouraged to set an intention at the beginning of practice. Intentions are not quite goals.  I see goals as some kind of finish line, a completed achievement.   In the context of yoga, a goal could be to be able to accomplish a particular feat such as touching your… Continue reading Goals, Intentions, and Invitations

  • The Role of Ego in Dog Training (Part 3) – Finding Peace

    In Part 2 of this series, I described how ego (Buddhist, not Freudian) can show up and insert itself into the ways we live with, train, and generally interact with our dogs, to the detriment of everyone involved. Here we will examine how to acknowledge when and where ego appears, why it’s detrimental to both… Continue reading The Role of Ego in Dog Training (Part 3) – Finding Peace