Old Friends

It was a perfect day in Vancouver today. K went off to her course in the morning and I rolled out the yoga mat provided by the hotel ( how awesome is that?) and practiced in the small space between the beds. I got up into headstand today! I was so excited when I got up there and a little nervous that I only managed to hold it for one breath but that's one breath longer than yesterday.

Then I went out and met another friend Z for breakfast and a trip to H&M. Luckily I was disappointed by their selection so didn't spend any money. We spent the day wandering the city and catching up.

I can't tell you how grateful I am and how much it warms my heart to have these amazing friends in my life. I may whine sometimes that all my friends live far away but it says a lot when we reunite and we just keep moving without missing a beat. I'm sure we talk a lot more than we would if we saw each other once a week or once a month but that feeling of being hoarse after talking all day and all night, I treasure.

Ooops

I was up early this morning for my practice.  It was still dark outside, LW still fast asleep.  I thought it was going to be tough getting up but I woke up before my alarm went off and was excited to start my practice.

For the first time I was able to get through Surya Namaskr B (Sun salutation) without needing to pause to catch my breath.  My jump backs are starting to feel more possible on my mat.  My feet are making their way back almost through my arms with a little more ease.

But there I was in Urdvha Padmasana, trying to find my balance on my shoulders, and damn, I forgot the Prasarita series!

Urdhva padmasana

I don't know how I managed to do that.  I love the Prasaritas.  Oh well, next time.  

Prasarita padottanasana D

I started adding Shirhsasana (headstand) to my practice last week.  I've only ever done Shirhsasana with a wall behind me and the first time I lifted up on Tuesday was with Jeff's help and it felt so awkward and a little freaky.  But the following night I was able to get both my feet up in the air and hold it for 5 breaths.  And the last two days I was able to do the same.

Shirshasana, almost there

I love this progression I am experiencing in my practice.  It can be difficult but it is so very satisfying.

Mind Garbage

I took 4 days off from my Ashtanga practice.  This morning was my first day back on the mat.  I hadn't planned on it but Thursday was a moon day, Friday I tried Bikram again after a month off, Saturday is a traditional day of rest and while I considered practicing I was kind of yoga'd out and Sunday I just didn't want to.

I was yoga'd out because, well, I let my mind get the best of me after my Bikram practice on Friday.  I started thinking waaayyyy too much about what direction my practice needs to go in.  Why I think it should go a certain way.  And I felt I needed to explain or justify whichever practice I choose to do - to myself and you lovely people who read my blog.  I love doing this to myself.  I love stressing myself out about tiny little details that occur in my life.  It can be anything from my yoga practice to how I spoke to the barista at Starbucks.  Ridiculous.  It really is.  Especially when it comes to my yoga.  When I do this to myself I get to a point where I am so worked up about a situation it consumes my mind.  It gets to a point where my brain is about to explode and I hit a release valve and it all leaves and I stop thinking about it completely.  I step back completely and just let myself be for as long as I need.  This is what I did this weekend.

As I rolled out my mat this morning and brushed my teeth and pulled my hair back, a tiny part of me didn't want to practice.  But as I took my first breath and grounded through my feet and tried to access the lift through my core, I started to feel the yoga work it's magic almost immediately.  I felt the mind garbage, the negative self criticizing thoughts leave my body and my soul.

Tomorrow, I leave to Vancouver for a few days to visit a girlfriend.  I plan on practicing every morning and spending some time exploring the city on my own while she is in a course.  I'll be blogging via my iPhone so I hope it works!

Namaste, everyone.

Be true to your self today.

xo

Apple Cinnamon Protein Shake

I love this shake it is perfect for fall.  I found this recipe in an Oxygen magazine and have tweaked it to my liking.  Enjoy!

1/2 apple, chopped

1 tablespoon chopped ginger

1 date or prune

handful of fresh or frozen spinach

1/2 banana

1/2 tablespoon peanut butter

1 cup almond milk, unsweetened

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

1) Gather all your ingredients.  I forgot the apple in the photo and the acorn squash snuck it's way in. 

2)  Dump everything into your blender and blend on high.  I do not have one of those high power blenders so I let mine whiz around for a couple of minutes to make sure the spinach, ginger, apple and dates get nicely pulverized.  I also added a half cup of frozen blueberries to make the shake a little colder.

Direction

Follow your path.

Whatever that path may be.

Sometimes my path feels like it looks like this.  Straight and narrow but full of life.

Sometimes I feel as though I have so many decisions I may explode.

Sometimes I feel like I could make one of two decisions - the easy one or the not so easy one - the problem is I don't even know what these two directions are yet.

Sometimes I feel so worn down that my path feels lifeless, gnarled and twisted.

Sometimes I am so content with where I am that it makes me nervous.  It is so beautiful that I am afraid a monster will jump out at me and ruin the image.

But what I try to remember about all these different paths I may walk down, is that each and every one has a piece of beauty associated with it.  And that whichever direction I may go, I am on a grounded path of my own choosing.

Untitled

I practiced Bikram yoga this morning for the first time in a month.  It was...nice?  It's strange, I'm not over the moon for the practice anymore.  It was good.  I can see the benefits.  I liked how it felt but something was missing.  I don't know why I feel like I need to make a decision.  That I need to know 100% which yoga I want to continue practicing.  I don't know why I feel like I need to work all of this out right now, after all it is the journey of yoga, it doesn't matter what happens at the end.

It was wonderful to be at the studio this morning.  My mum was there which is the reason I got up at 5:30 am, to practice with her.  I love practicing with my mum and I think it's the biggest thing I miss about my Bikram practice.  One of my favourite teachers was teaching which gave me another reason to get up in the cold and the dark.  Before class I made sure to tell myself that there was no need to try to go as deep as I may have a month ago.  I didn't want to hurt myself.  I felt strong and solid during class.  The heat felt nice and the asanas were comforting, my body knew what to do even if it hadn't done some of those movements in a month. 

It was also nice to just listen, to not think about what came next.  I simply had to listen to the dialogue.  I don't think I ever appreciated this before.  In my Ashtanga practice you are responsible for your practice, you need to learn, to embed the practice into your body and mind.  You are responsible for your alignment, your body.  Of course there is a teacher there but is not the consistent reminders that we receive through the dialogue in Bikram yoga.

I felt no need for water this morning.  I have never been a water chugger but I would always sip on my water.  I didn't take one sip until after final Savasana.  I attribute this to the Ashtanga and the fact that there are no water breaks in the Ashtanga practice.  For a month now I have been practicing yoga with no water until after my practice.  I was curious to see how this would translate into the hot room and I can see now how the need and craving for water while I practice yoga is all in my head.  Regardless of the heat or how much I'm sweating because I tell ya, I sweat just as much in my Ashtanga practice as I do during a cooler Bikram class.

It felt absolutely luxurious to be able to lie down in Savasana in between the floor poses.  It was strange not doing a Vinyasa between the poses.  I felt as though I was cheating a little bit :).  But I really noticed how they both have the same goal, to clear and release the blood through any limbs or organs that were stretched or bent or compressed during the asana.

So here I am comparing and contrasting the different practices.  Yes they are different but they all stem from the traditional Hatha Yoga.  I really just need to do what I want, what my heart tells me.  

  

Sanskrit Word of the Day - Chitta

I love languages.  They intrigue and excite me.  I speak French and Dutch and can converse in American Sign Language and am always interested in learning new words in new languages.

Sanskrit is the language which makes up the traditional names of our yoga asanas.  Sanskrit is strongly linked with Hinduism and is considered one of India's official languages.  I love hearing the invocation to Pantajali sung in Sanskrit.  It is beautiful.  I would love to be able to learn more of the language one day.

I was watching this video yesterday of Kino MacGregor discussing the Yoga Sutras.  (The Yoga Sutras are ancient texts written around the 2nd century BC by Patanjali discussing the 8 limbs of yoga.)  Kino speaks the sutra in Sanskrit, has the class repeat the words and then gives a full description of her translation of the sutra.  One word that I kept hearing her use in her discussion was Chitta.

Chitta (Sanskrit: memory)

- derived from the root Chit, "To be concious"

- the subconscious mind, the store house of memory

- where we store our memories and experiences and what define us

Definition found here.

New Mantra

My new mantra for focus during my practice and really during my entire day is, Lift My Core.  To continuously, constantly find connection in my core.  Whether it be in seated or standing poses.  Whether it be during the Surya Namaskrs.  While I'm sitting at my computer typing or standing in the shower or doing the dishes.  I need to find a lift in the core.

This should help me to keep my strength in my lower back but also help me work on these jump backs.  I put socks on my my feet last night and tried the jump back, well more of a slide - shift - slide when I do it, on the hardwood floor in the studio.  My arms ARE long enough!  It IS possible!  I was able to get my legs from the front of my mat to the back of my mat without lifting my hands off the floor!  I just need to practice finding more of a lift in my core to get my legs and bum through my arms.

Here is the lovely Laruga demonstrating a very graceful jump back and jump through. 

When I Grow Up

I remember, as a little girl, I wanted to go to space.  Then, I found out that you had to have 20/20 vision to fly above the Earth.  I let that dream go. 

Now that I've had lasik eye surgery, I do have 20/20 vision and while that dream still exists, it may be a little out of my grasp.  That's why Astronomy Picture of the Day is my homepage.  Every day there is a new image, featuring the universe.  Check it out!

This is my favourite image for November.

Yoga Toes

I remember in one of my first Iyengar classes, the teacher talking about learning how to spread your toes to give yourself a wider and stronger base to stand on.  The first time I ever tried to actually get my third, fourth and fifth toes to move felt nearly impossible.  Today, 4 years later, I looked down at my feet and very deliberately fanned apart all of my toes with ease. 

Why did this take so long? According to Yoga Journal, our toes have the tiniest muscles in our bodies and are often atrophied by the time we reach our adult years from lack of use.  We have abductors on either sides of our feet and these can get lazy over time and also smooshed from being stuck in tight shoes.  So I guess over the years I have consciously and unconsciously worked on abducting my toes, moving them away from each other.  It works, when I stand on my mat at the start of my practice I focus on spreading my toes and often in forward bends I will pick up my toes and adjust them so that they are straight instead of curled or turned in a certain direction.

Our feet are what carry us, propel us and balance us.  We should give them some more attention.  Next time you step on your mat or you are at home in front of the TV or at your desk at the office, spend some time with your toes.  Play with them see what they can do.  

Via

Winter Food Woes

What is it about these cold days that make me want to make yummy, cheesy casseroles and bake warm savory pies?  It is killing my self control right now.  Last night I made a tamale pie, which I found to be OK. It was my first time making it and I'd never made grits before so there was a learning curve but it was a fail in LW's opinion so at least that one will be off the menu.  I'm trying to find some great one pot meals that LW can throw in the oven when I'm at yoga and we can eat when I get home.  I'm starting to lose my creativity and along with the health factor.

I've been breaking out the crock pot and have been letting veggies and meats simmer all day which is delicious.  I found an amazing recipe for Shepherd's Pie, which uses way less potatoes than normal and incorporates yummy squash into the topping.

The lack of fresh, in season fruit and vegetables is such a shock to the system after November.  Here, in Victoria, we get local squash, potatoes and kale well into winter but the local carrots are starting to fade and the zucchini is long gone.  I find it difficult to buy carrots from California because a) they have no flavour, b) they have traveled so far and c) they are more expensive.  And cauliflower is starting to get pricey again - four dollars for one head! 

I've been roasting vegetables which I adore and baking chicken but I've also been craving homemade mac and cheese and homemade perogies.  I find I start the week off well with lots of kale and healthy food but as the week starts to end and it keeps getting colder I struggle with choosing to make the healthier choices.  I guess it's just reconnecting with my self control and doing more research for some healthy, non cheesy dishes.

Know When To Rest

I broke tradition today.  In the Ashtanga yoga tradition, Saturday is a rest day.  I took my rest day yesterday.  

This week has been a tough one for my practice.  My lower back has been sore and so you would think that my practice would get a little easier.  It hasn't.  Every movement that I go through during my practice has been done with more care, more conscious effort than I've ever done before.  I move more slowly while lowering down in Dandasana, taking care that my core, my legs, my arms are all working together and are strong.  I move even more slowly into Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward Dog) while focusing on opening my chest and lengthening through my abdomen.

I've been able to find this new focus from the two Mysore classes I went to this week.  I was lucky to receive invaluable information from both Jeff and Harmony.  They both gave me different tips on how I can work through my soreness.  I think that this rediscovery of this old injury will help my practice.  Sometimes you don't know you are doing something incorrectly until you receive feedback from your body.  When you receive that feedback you need to listen to it and as I was told, you do not want to reaggravate the discomfort.

I was also lucky enough to be helped into Marichyasana D on Tuesday and Thursday.  Oh my god does this asana feel incredible when you are in it.  The twist that I received in my spine was indescribable and the rush that I felt with all of my internal organs compressed together while still breathing and holding myself upright is one of the most amazing feelings of control I have ever experienced.  I love that now I know how I am supposed to get into this asana.  I tried it on my own this morning and while I was far from binding, am able to take on a new approach.

So as you can see it's been a busy week in my yoga world.  A lot of new things have been revealing themselves to me.  Thursday night after Mysore class and dinner I could barely move.  My joints were stiff and sore.  My back was bothering me again and I just felt old.  I needed a day off immediately, to allow myself to recuperate from the various changes I've been experiencing in my yoga.  I am so happy that I listened to my body because this morning I had very little feedback from my lower back.  I had a lot of energy and felt strong through my practice.

Sometimes you need to break tradition to do what's right for you.  You are the best judge of what you need.

Raw Carrot Cake Muffins

Oh yes I said it, raw carrot cake.  Sounds weird but it is so good!  I found the recipe at Two Blue Lemons and adapted it to my liking.

Raw Carrot Cake

4 cups shredded carrot

1 cup dates

1 cup walnuts

3/4 cup dried apricots

1 - 1.5 cups unsweetened dried coconut

1/2 cup raisins

2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1/5 teaspoon cloves

1) Grate the carrot in a food processor or by hand.  It took me a while to figure out this attachment on my food processor because I had never used it before but once I got the hang of it, those carrots were grated in seconds.

2)  Change the attachment in your food processor back to the S blade and chop up the dates, apricots, walnuts and raisins.  Chop them until they are well blended but you don't want them to be mushy.  Add the date mixture to your carrots and your spices.  Feel free to add more cinnamon or nutmeg or omit whatever you don't like.

3)  Mix the carrots, dried fruit, nuts and spices all together and transfer back into the food processor in batches.  Process until well mixed.  It will be mushy and you want it to stick together when you press it between your fingers.

4)  Fold in the coconut.  I nearly forgot this step and it is very important.  The coconut adds flavor and helps the the muffins hold together.

5)  Using a measuring cup, scoop the mixture out of the bowl and place on a cookie sheet.  Give the measuring cups a good smack to get the carrot mix out.

6)  This is where I decided to branch of from the original recipe.  The carrot mix tasted great like this but I felt it was a little unfinished so I decided to experiment by some of the muffins in my dehydrator for 12 hours and I baked one lonely muffin at 200 degrees for about half hour.  They both turned out great but I much prefer the dehydrated muffins.  They are slightly chewy and the coconut flavour really shines through.

Getting ready to be dehydrated.

One lonely one for the oven.

All done! Fresh from the dehydrator!

You can top them with a cashew icing but I omitted this step because they taste great on their own!

Enjoy!

Ganesha

I have begun exploring Hindu and Indian philosophy and religion.  Lord Ganesh revealed himself to me a few months ago when I was in a store trying to decide on a shirt that I wanted to buy.  I was in a free trade shop and these shirts were made by hand in Thailand.  My favourite one and the one I ended up buying has a version of Lord Ganesh on the front.

Lord Ganesh is the son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati.  He is revered as the god of beginnings, knowledge, wisdom, intellect and is most known for being the remover of obstacles.  Ganesh is identified by the mantra Aum or Om.

The Om symbol combined with Ganesha's trunk, ears, tusks and eyes.

I have been considering Lord Ganesh and the meanings that stand behind all he symbolizes.  Listen more, think big and talk less are actions that I am trying to follow every day.  As well as retaining the good and throwing away the bad or the unnecessary.

Ganesh Chaturthi is a festival held in India to celebrate the birth of Ganesh.  It usually occurs between mid August to mid September on the fourth day of the waxing moon and lasts for 10 days.  The celebrations that are held for Lord Ganesh today came to be in 1893 when an Indian freedom fighter, Lokmanya Tilak, reshaped the festival into a large community event where his goal was to bridge the gap between the Brahmins and non-Brahmins.  Ganesh was chosen to be the symbol of the festival because he is considered to be the "God of every man" (source).

Via Celestial Skeletons

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

We all know the story of the tortoise and the hare.  The hare challenges the tortoise to a race to prove how fast he is.  The slow tortoise accepts and the hare laughs at him thinking he will have no problem beating the tortoise.  The hare remains cocky and decides to sleep while the tortoise continues to plod forward with determination and with as much strength and energy that he has.  And the underestimated tortoise wins in the end.

This story popped into my head this morning as I was practicing my yoga.  I have begun moving much more slowly in my vinyasas.  I am finding more strength through my legs and feet and I am stretching my heart forward as I lower down into Dandasana.  Keeping the strength from Dandasana, I slowly and carefully roll my chest up and my shoulders back while lengthening and strengthening through my abdomen into Upward Dog.  I am trying to be much more aware of my core and to keep the control in my hips to prevent them from simply dropping down in order to get a deeper back bend.  I am actually resisting my deepest backbend for the time being because I think that is how I hurt my back.  I am trying to find the strength before I go deeper.  My transition from Upward Dog to Downward Dog has slowed down as well.  I am searching for the strength of my core, my legs and my arms to lift me up into Down Dog.  I realized that I was simply using my momentum to transition between the poses.

This awareness that I am trying to bring to my practice has slowed down my practice immensely.  My vinyasas are becoming a part of the practice as opposed to being something I must do between the asanas to stay warm.

Now, we all know that in the practice of yoga there is no race but I think that we all have a tortoise and a hare that exits within us.  The hare that wants us to be able to do all those amazing arm balancing postures and deep back bends as quickly as possible because we feel we have something to prove.  And the tortoise, that simply wants us to do what we can by focusing on the moment and putting one foot in front of the other.

The hare may be what helps us begin our yoga journey but the tortoise is what keeps us practicing.  The determination of the tortoise allows us to continue our practice through injury or life getting busy.  The tortoise allows us to access the resilience that is sometimes needed through a practice.  If we keep putting one foot in front of the other, no matter what the pace, eventually we will get there, where ever there may be.