Caring For Yourself Creates Deeper Integration

A lot of my friends have been creating lists of all the things they're grateful for. I love this practice. It's a great way to shift your perspective so that you see more of the beauty and goodness that surrounds us.

When I started my list, I realized that it's not just the things in my world or my relationships that I'm thankful for. My gratitude list starts with life itself, and I express my appreciation with the way I care for myself and my body.

Your body is a gift and should be treated as such! It's through our bodies that we are able to experience all that life has to offer. As you care for your body, you grow more sensitive to all that lies within you; you have the opportunity to align more deeply with your true nature and to become more integrated with who you really are.

When we are really rooted in our true nature, we get healthy and happy which allows us to offer our light back to the world as a gift, an offering of thanksgiving. Caring for yourself is not a luxury, it's a way to bring more joy and beauty into the world!

Sweet Holiday Treats!

During the holiday season sweet treats are everywhere presenting some real challenges to our willpower. We all know it's important to eat sweets in moderation and to be wise in choosing what we use to sweeten our foods. Refined sweeteners are stripped of their life force energy and their vitamins and minerals. They deliver quick energy but when eaten in excess will contribute to unhappiness and disease. Natural sweeteners made from whole foods are a much better choice. This year make your holidays more healthful by replacing refined sugar with maple syrup, brown rice syrup, honey, unrefined evaporated can juice or any other whole food sweetener that suits your tastes.

Here are some of my favorite holiday treats:

Maple Spiced Pecans
1/2 tsp coconut oil
2 cups raw pecans
4 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground clove
1/8 tsp ground all spice
1/4 tsp salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Lightly grease baking sheet with coconut oil
Combine ingredients in a bowl or even better, shake in a zip lock bag
Spread onto baking sheet
Bake for 10 minutes, stir and bake another 10 minutes
Cool and serve

Maple syrup comes from the sap of maple trees and is one of the least refined sweeteners available. It is graded according to USDA standards. Compared to grade A, grade B maple syrup has a stronger flavor and higher minerals content. It's important to get real maple syrup and to read product labels because many maple syrup flavored products are actually made with corn syrup. It's also important to use organic maple syrup to avoid the formaldehyde that many companies use to process the non organic types. To use it instead of sugar, substitute 3/4 cup maple syrup for each cup of sugar while reducing the other liquid in the recipe by 1/8 cup.


Mango and Pineapple Crumble

Topping:
1/2 cup whole white wheat flour (This is not white flour. It is whole wheat flour that comes from white wheat. It is lighter in color and flavor but still but still has all the fiber and nutrition of regular whole wheat flour.)
1/3 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup evaporated cane juice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup raw pecans, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut

Mix in a large bowl until mixture forms coarse meal

Fruit Filling
3 tbsp evaporated cane juice
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
3 mangoes, peeled, pitted and cubed in 1 inch cubes (about 2 1/2 cups)
1/2 a pineapple, peeled, cored and cubed in 1 inch cubes (about 2 1/2 cups)

Mix the dry ingredients together and toss with the fruit

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Lightly oil an 8 inch square glass baking dish with coconut oil
Pour fruit mixture into pan and top with the flour oat mixture
Bake 40 minutes or until topping is brown
Serve slightly warm

Evaporated cane juice has been used for thousands of years and is made by evaporating the water from whole sugar cane juice. Although derived from the same source, evaporated cane juice does not undergo the same degree of processing that refined sugar does. Therefore, it retains more of its nutrients. It's nearly as sweet as refined sugar but also offers us a host of other subtle flavors. Use it anytime sugar is called for!

It's important to maintain a healthy relationship with the sweet things in life, receiving and enjoying their pleasant nature without overdoing it. Use your sweeteners judiciously this year to help make this holiday season your best yet.

Yoga In The Hayloft

Celebrate the season by celebrating you! For the month of November, I will be holding yoga classes in the hayloft at Green Gate Farms. This is the perfect setting to tune into the fall season just as yoga is the perfect way to tune into your true nature. It is through yoga that we deepen our relationship with ourselves. On our mat, we explore who we are as we artistically celebrate our unique gifts, creating more beauty and more light in the world. Join me on Saturdays at noon throughout November.

Adults of all levels of experience are welcomed. Beginners will be well supported. If you have a mat, please bring one. Loaner mats are available on a first come first served basis.

Green Gate Farms is located at 8310 Canoga Ave Austin, Tx 78724

Yoga is a Celebration!
November 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th
Every Saturday
12 pm - 1:15 pm
At Green Gate Farms
Cost $10

Call (512)779-8296 for more information!

Create A Personal Spring Within

This is the time of year we naturally gravitate toward fresh, light foods that embody the expansive energy of the spring season. Match your diet to the season by choosing foods that emphasize spring time qualities like young plants, fresh greens, and sprouts that move qi up and out. Use the flavors of the season which are pungent and sweet like the cooking herbs basil, fennel, marjoram, mint, rosemary, caraway, dill, cilantro, and bay leaf.

Here are a few recipes that will help you create a personal spring within:

Spring Time Brown Rice:

Add a handful of mixed, chopped basil, parsley, cilantro, arugula, and/or spinach with a few halved red and yellow cherry tomatoes to some soaked and cooked, warm brown rice. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and a touch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.


Parsley and Mint Relish:

1 cup parsley or cilantro
1/2 cup mint leaves
1 green chili
1 clove garlic minced (optional)
2 dried apricot (soaked and minced) or juice of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Wash the mint and parsley/cilantro.
Chop and grind together with the green chili.
Mix with the rest of the ingredients.
Yields 1 1/2 cup.

So Hum Meditation

Developing equanimity of mind is not exciting or glamorous in the usual sense, but equipose offers us the gift of knowing our own heart which is the most precious experience of all.

It takes regular practice to achieve any great feat and that includes creating steadiness of mind. Practicing meditation every day will emancipate you from the incessant chatter of the mind so that you can realize your heart's divine splendor.

The So Hum meditation is easy to learn and uses breath and mantra to still the mind and relax the body. For the best results, practice for twenty minutes twice daily.

Find a place to practice where you will not be disturbed.

Sit comfortably with your spine fully elongated.

Focus on your natural breath for a few minutes.

After a few minutes, inhale through your nose while thinking the word SO. Make the sound last as long as the inhale.

Exhale slowly and fully through your nose while thinking the word HUM.

Continue at your own pace, steadily and silently.

If your mind wanders to other thoughts or sensations, simply begin again by gently refocusing on your breath and mantra.

Meditation For An Open Heart

As taught by Yogi Bhajan

Every challenge we face offers us the opportunity to express our best self. Sometimes reactive emotions and habitual patterns get in our way. Cultivating evenness of mind and an open heart allows us to respond to any challenge in a way that expresses our highest virtues.

The following meditation helps establish an internal state of equipose by quieting the mind and opening the heart. To practice, all you need is a few minutes and a quiet place to sit.

Sit in an easy pose with an elongated spine.

Lightly tuck your chin in to open the energetic channels that flow up your back over your head.

Touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth to connect the channels that flow up your back and down the front of your torso.

Either close your eyes or look straight ahead with your eyes just barely open.

Place your left hand on the center of your chest at the heart center. Press your palm flat against your chest, and make your fingers parallel to the ground pointing to the right.

Touch the tip of your right index finger with the tip of your right thumb to form gyan mudra. Raise your right hand up to your right side as if giving a pledge, but let your elbow relax in close to your side body. Your palm should face forward and your middle, ring and pinky fingers should point up toward the sky.

Concentrate on the natural flow of your breath. Regulate each bit of the breath consciously.

Inhale slowly and deeply through both nostrils.

Let your chest rise as you inhale.

Maintain that lift, and retain the breath for as long as it is comfortable.

Then, exhale smoothly, softly and completely. When the breath is totally out, suspend the breath out for as long as it is comfortable.

If you feel any agitation or irritability, you are pushing beyond your natural limitations. Take a short break, breathing normally, and return to the practice once it passes staying mindful of your natural capacity, perhaps taking in a smaller breath or reducing your time in retention or suspension.

Continue this pattern of long, deep breathing for 3-31 minutes.

First, try it for three minutes. If you have more time, try it for three periods of three minutes each with one minute rest between them.

For a more advanced practice of concentration and rejuvenation, build up to 31 minutes.

A Beginner's Guide to Taking a Yoga Class

Recently, I started taking salsa classes. Before my first class, I had no idea what to expect. I didn't know what to bring or even what kind of shoes to wear. It reminded me of what it might be like to go to your first yoga class.

You already have everything you need to practice yoga, but there are some things you can do to make every class you attend enjoyable and appropriate for your needs. This list will help you get started.

Preparing for your first class:

1. Find the right class: You should begin with a little research. There are many styles of yoga, and it is important to choose the style that best fits your needs. Any style can be adapted for beginners - so, look for a class with basic, beginner or level 1 in its name or call ahead to be sure that a particular class is appropriate for a beginner.

2. What to bring: You don't need much. Most studios have mats, blankets, blocks and straps, but if yoga is going to be a regular part of your life, go ahead and invest in your own mat - it embodies your commitment to your practice. You may also want to bring your own towel or yoga blanket.

3. What to wear: Wear comfortable clothes that you can move around in but that are fitted enough so that they don't bunch up or reveal anything if you end up in an inverted position. Yoga is practiced barefoot - so , you don't need socks or shoes!

Staying Safe:

1. Talk to the teacher before class. Let the teacher know that you are new and mention any injuries, medical conditions or concerns you might have about class.

2. Take care of yourself during class. Take care of yourself by staying mindful of how your body feels. Discomfort may be a part of the process of transforming your body, but sharp shooting pains warn of injury. It's ok to take a break, observe instead of doing, or ask for a way to modify a pose to make it more comfortable. You can always rest in child's pose and rejoin the class when your ready.

3. Use your breath as a guide. Strain and over effort of any kind make the breath shallow, forced or ragged. Stretching safely makes it easy to breath deeply. If you can not breathe smoothly and deeply, you're probably working too hard, and you may be risking injury.

Before Class:

1. Come to class with an empty stomach. A light snack is appropriate up to thirty minutes before class, but allow two hours to digest a heavy meal before practice.

2. Arrive a few minutes early. Allow time to sign in, meet your teacher and set up your mat.

3. Drink water before and after class but not during. Water cools the inner heat that helps makes the body flexible.

During Class:

1. Leave competitiveness, judgment and self-abuse behind. Yoga is a practice that will keep you challenged for a lifetime. There's no need to achieve everything the first day or year. There are no prizes given for getting into a pose faster or deeper than your neighbor. If you choose to be competitive on the mat, with yourself or with others, it's easy to overextend yourself and cause an injury.

2. One of the philosophical tenants of classical yoga is non-violence. This includes the practice of not harming yourself! Don't push beyond your capacity in any given class. Your capacity is ever changing - what you do today may be different than what you are capable of tomorrow. Stay in tune with yourself and you won't go wrong.

3. Listen to the teacher's feedback. Feed back is one of the most valuable benefits of attending class. We are so accustomed to holding our bodies in a certain way that it often takes an observer to point out how we can be more optimally aligned. You'll gain a lot by staying open and receptive.

Yoga Classroom Etiquette:

1. Speak quietly in the practice studio.

2. Turn off your cell phone.

3. Refrain from wearing perfumes or fragrances as some people are sensitive to strong odors.

Most importantly, have fun!!! Don't be shy, ask questions and enjoy being a beginner. Cultivating a beginner's mind is a great way to drop your armor and open your heart to experience the bliss of being!

The Yoga of Positive Thinking

It's been a year and a half since I visited the Sivananda Ashram, and I still find myself benefiting from what I learned there. In the Sivananda system positive thinking and meditation are essential and fundamental practices.

It's easy to practice positive thinking. I learned this technique from Shambudas. Every night, just before you drift off to sleep, think of three things you are grateful for. These things can come from events of your day or any element of your life.

After practicing like this for just a few days, you will find that you see your life in a whole new light. It's so simple and so powerful. Try it; you've got nothing to lose!

Creating New Patterns

I invite you to use these affirmations in a creative way to let go of behaviors that do not serve you and to establish the lifestyle that will nourish and sustain you.

Please find a quiet, private place.

Close your eyes and take a few deep, centering breaths.

Repeat these affirmations out loud.

Pay attention to your thoughts and feelings. As you practice, notice how they change.

Repetition is how we establish new patterns. Repeat this process as often as you like.

• I commit to reading these statements with reverence and love. I willingly take actions to align with the deep intelligence within myself that seeks health and wholeness.

• I embrace my process of healing, knowing it is integral to the evolution of my soul.

• I accept my challenges as gifts, and I am grateful for all that they reveal to me as I explore them.

• I release the habits that keep me from living life to the fullest and replace them with empowering actions that best support my body and mind. (here you may choose to include a specific habit you'd like to let go of - like I choose to stop smoking.)

• I love myself and nourish myself with life affirming foods, thoughts and actions. (here you may choose to include a specific action that you'd like to incorporate into your life - like I practice yoga twice a week.)

• I pay attention to what I surround myself with. If I am being pulled off my path of greatness, I take steps to release those relationships that injure and misdirect me.

• I accept myself fully. I am exactly where I should be.

• I honor myself and my efforts. I know that my evolution is constant.

• I stay with this process even on days that seem difficult. During those times, I look closely at my challenges, seeking to know myself better in all ways.

• All is well. I know this to be true today and always.

Yoga Nidra - Awaken Your Potential

Yoga Nidra is yogic sleep. Practitioners use a systematic method to completely relax the body and mind to bring about the deeply healing meditative state of yogic sleep. The method includes breath work, guided imagery, body scanning and sankalpa or intention setting.

These techniques restore balance to the body and mind. Yogis and sages have practiced Yoga Nidra for thousands of years to change deeply embedded habits or samskaras. When you practice Yoga Nidra, you feel great, and it's easy to align your daily decisions with your highest intentions.

This month, I will offer two guided sessions. Please join me and experience the healing magic of Yoga Nidra.

Yoga Nidra
4 - 5 PM Saturday 1/17 and 1/31
$12 for one session or $20 for both

Space is Limited!

Reserve your space today!
(512)779-8296