Food Food Yum Yum

I. Love.Food.  It is one of my simple pleasures in life.  I am not a picky eater.  I will try almost anything as long as it didn't walk or fly or have a Mommy at one time.
Seeing as it's November and a time of Thanksgiving, yada yada yada.  I'm teaching class with the intention of gratitude, I want to talk about food and how much I love it.

So from ballpark nachos to movie theater popcorn, to spring greens with champagne vinegarette to decadent dark chocolate eaten between sips of black coffee, I love it all.
 
I was very excited tonight about my mexican fiesta, easy peasy too.  Having homework, guitar practice, yoga class, drum lessons, etc, easy peasy best fits my schedule at this time of life.  Vegetarian refried beans added to a cup of cooked rice with a couple dallops of salsa, slopped into a corn tortilla and topped with slivered cabbage, shredded veggie cheese and jalapenos...was a feast fit for....well, a mom and her family.  Oh, and top it all off with a couple squeezes of lime juice. It was delicious. 

So here's where I get all yoga-ee on you.  Here's the true indulgence.

1.) Before digging into this little pocket of heaven, energize (bless) your food, give thanks that you have it.

2.) Eat   s l o w l y.  Even close your eyes and feel the textures.  We did this together as a family.  It was a little odd, but fun.

3.) Lastly, after eating, take a few minutes to enjoy the fullness of your belly and bring awareness to the fact that the food will now play an integral role to nourish you and support your body.

Get excited about your next meal and...

 ¡Que aproveche amigos!

Five Things

Strength, Flexibility, Time, Mental quiet, deep breathing

 It took me these five things

to accomplish this pose.

Once you can find the right balance between these qualities,
it all falls into place.
Soon you are doing what you thought you could never do. 

Such as, in life. 

When you takes these qualites from within yourself

(because you posess all of them and more) 

find the right balance between them,

you reach for your dreams

 you accomplish your goals.  

Beautiful things happen.

When I came into this pose after much patience and perserverance and found the right balance, I suddenly realized that in creating this harmony in my body, I have also created more harmony in my life, with my family, nature, with everyone I encounter during the day.  By bringing these things together, I have found that spark within, so that my light may shine a little brighter.

Let your light shine a little brighter too.

Right now.
Close your eyes.

Take a deep breath.

Better Days

http://youtu.be/6dxqolWJarg

This is my favorite song right now.

I have always loved Eddie Vedder and now that he sings this song.  Oh lord help me...


Here are the lyrics:

I feel part of the universe open up to meet me
My emotion so submerged broken down to kneel in
Once listening the voices they came
Had to somehow greet myself read myself
Heard vibrations within my cells in my cells

Singing "Ah-la-ah-ah ah-la-ah-ah"

My love is safe for the universe
See me now I'm bursting
On one planet so many turns
Different worlds

Singing "Ah-la-ah-ah ah-ah-ah-ah ah"


Fill my heart with discipline
Put there for the teaching
Find More lyrics at www.sweetslyrics.com
In my head see clouds of stairs
Help me as I'm reaching
The future's paved with better days

Not running from something
I'm running towards the day
Wide awake

A whisper once quiet
Now rising to a scream
Right in me

I'm falling free falling
Words calling me
Up off my knees

I'm soaring and darling
You'll be the one that I can need
Still be free

Our future's paved with better days

Rules to Live By

Remember

                                                                                 AND


And you will do just fine!

MC Yogi

I was browsing through the i-tunes store to come up with some good music to set to my yoga classes.

I came across MC Yogi and fell in love.  He is a funkadelic yoga teacher himself, beatboxing and spinning soulful beats with uplifting lyrics about love, peace and beauty.  This ain't yo mama's yoga music!

Check him out!

Here is his video for Give Love

http://youtu.be/rpVUih5nY9g

Your Authenticity

Have you ever been told, "Just be yourself and everything will be fine!" What does that actually mean? Aren't you always your self? No, not really. Do you act the same way in front of your friends that you do around your co-workers? your parents? Nope. We have different masks that we wear during the day. There is that time though, that we feel most at ease with ourselves and with life. That is the, "just be yourself."

I completed a local yoga teacher training workshop this past weekend.  Might I say, that it was the most delicious and fulfilling yoga training that I have had to date.  I feel like a whole, new, enlivened person buzzing with creativity and energy for my practice and my teaching.                                   

We were asked these questions:

                                *When do you feel your most authentic self?

                                *Where are you?

                                *Is anyone with you? Who and why?

                                *Where do you feel it in your body?

 .

I invite you to sit quietly with these questions as well.  Go ahead, grab a pen and paper and write, I'll wait...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

What did you come up with?  Was it hard to conjure a time and place of feeling authentic?  Or was it easy? Do you have it in your mind now?
.
.

In the hectic times during your day, you can close your eyes, take in some prana and go to that feeling and image. After writing that truth, it becomes more tangible, it is stronger felt, it is accessable. It has always been there, but in the chaos of humanness (is that even a word?)  we forget and it gets buried under all the junk.  So sift through the junk and pull that authentic self to the forefront and live from that space for a while. 

It feels so good.

Vegan Revolution

I typically shy away from animal rights videos and PETA and the sorts because sometimes they have such graphic depictions of what goes on with animals in the food industry. I literally just can't take it.  I'm way too sensitive.  I get upset, I cry and then I can't get the awful images out of my mind.  Those videos do serve a purpose as I've known people to evolve to vegan after seeing the horrifying details.  In fact, five years ago I stopped eating meat after reading about factory farming but continue to stay meatless for the countless other reasons.  This video is not one of such graphic negativity but one of shared love and a hope.  Enjoy.