Post-Thanksgiving rehab

Woke up this morning with a bit of a head cold and wondering what to do with the piles of leftovers in our fridge. (Note on the head cold: I do have to say I am quite impressed that I've gone from being one of those people who got colds all the time, to not being able to remember the last time I had one...thank you, neti pot.) Sent husband and child out for a dad-daughter date so I can have some quiet time to myself. Came up with 2 things to address both problems of the day, and offer up a little post-Thanksgiving rehab:

Restorative yoga. I was perusing the Iyengar YOGA tome for restorative yoga sequences for head colds and found one of my faves: supported prasarita padotanasana. It's a gentle inversion that eases mild congestion, and feels restful and recuperative. It's interesting to compare how you can adjust a pose to either dial up the intensity or make it restorative. This picture shows the intense version, which is just to give you the idea; for the restorative version, get a big, fat pillow and put it under your head. A yoga block (or two) works just fine as well. Here's the step-by-step:

• Stand with your feet approx 4 feet apart, toes turned in slightly
  
• Fold forward on an exhale and place hands on the floor shoulder-width apart
  
• Adjust your prop (block or pillow) do that it completely supports the crown of your head - make sure it is high enough
  
• Let your hands and upper body relax (don't push the floor away) and keep the weight out of your heels
  
• Hold for 4-5 minutes, slowing your breath, and be sure to come up slowly and carefully when you finish
  

Leftover recipe from the November Gourmet. Here's what we're having for dinner - Turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce and blue cheese butter. Dig in fridge and find:

• blue cheese
  
• butter (soften in microwave)
  
• whole-wheat bread
  
• sliced cooked turkey
  
• cranberry sauce
  
• arugula (optional - this is not in our leftover pile and I ain't buying it)
  

Mash blue cheese with butter (about 2 oz cheese to every tablespoon butter) and some black pepper. Spread on toasted bread and assemble with everything else. Simple yet decadent. A nice finishing touch to Thanksgiving. 

Enjoy! Hope you are feeling full, happy, and restored. 

A mantra for the holiday season

Well, here we are, it's officially the holidays. This is the first season that Morgane is really tuned in to what's going on - yesterday we were walking through Target and she was stopping every 5 steps to announce another addition to her Christmas list for Santa. While I love to see the joy she finds in this concept of Santa bringing her presents on her list, I'm wondering how to shift the focus towards the holiday experience, vs. the material goods. Today, Thanksgiving, is a good place to start, with the concept of giving thanks - I'm going to make it my mantra for the holiday season. A nice way to launch full force into it, when the quest for material goods can often squelch the joy of the season. So we are spending time talking about what it means to be grateful for everything we have, and to take time to appreciate our blessings. Yeah, it sounds so lofty/corny, but really, how often do we think this way? And now more than ever is the time to do so. We're so culturally conditioned to orient ourselves towards the material (perhaps that's why we're surrounded by such a sense of panic, with the current financial situation). My yoga practice and studies have made me acutely aware of this over the years. It doesn't mean that I don't like buying things (Lord no), but I definitely place a higher value on the experiences I share with others and the world around me. This sense of connection is what brings me the most happiness.

Here's what's on my short list today:

Food: someone asked me the other day if I was cooking for Thanksgiving, and I realized that I am almost always cooking. I'd feel pretty lost if my life wasn't revolving around food, and I love nurturing myself and my family through my efforts in the kitchen. But today is a special day, not only with regards to the menu, but also to be thankful that I enjoy the luxury of food, being able to choose what I eat and feed my family, and not having to worry about where the next meal is coming from. 

Family: pictured here are the two people that make my heart come close to bursting. 'Nuf said.

Experience: my life is full and rich with experience. Yeah, I get impatient and annoyed and all that other stuff, but overall, I enjoy almost every thing I am doing, from getting my daily latte to dropping off the recycling to the more dramatic, like riding off under the Big Sky on Flash...I find meaning it it all and to me that is a true gift. It hasn't always been this way, it's taken me a long time to get here. So I am grateful to whatever higher power made that happen.

Yoga: couldn't leave this off the list. Quite simply, it's caused so many things in my life to come together. I am also grateful to everyone that has trusted me enough to allow me to teach them yoga, and share myself with them in this way.

Join me in resolving to take the mantra of thankfulness beyond this one day. Namaste, and Happy Thanksgiving. 

Chai la-TAY

So it's that pre-holiday time where all thoughts turn to food, and yoga, as my life will revolve around both for the next week. Now that's my idea of a holiday. I've been planning our Thanksgiving menu, making the shopping list, checking the pantry etc., and got to thinking a cup of chai would go well with these activities on a Sunday afternoon. Morgane loves a little chai in her milk, and calls it a "chai la-TAY". I decided to make some homemade chai and love how it turned out - not quite as sweet as the store-bought, but definitely richer and in my opinion yummier. I think Morgane will like it too. 

Here's the recipe. I'd recommend doubling or even tripling it, as this is only about 2 mugs:

• 2 cups milk
  
• 1 cup water
  
• 1 1/2 tablespoons loose Darjeeling tea
  
• 1 cinnamon stick
  
• 9 cardamom pods, crushed slightly 
  
• 7 whole cloves
  
• 1 1/2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and chopped into chunks
  
• 6 black peppercorns
  
• 2 tablespoons sugar
  

Combine the ingredients in a medium pan and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover, and let steep 15 minutes. Return to a boil, strain, and serve hot. Sip & savor - let me know what you think. Hope you find some quiet chai la-TAY time to yourself before the big day.

To all you yoga entrepreneurs

I don't know about you, but I'm getting tired of bad news about the economy. Yes, quite frankly the situation sucks right now, and every day brings updates from fellow yoga entrepreneurs who are getting squeezed, or worse yet, shutting down. I understand the need to be practical, but practical + pessimistic = the kiss of death. So here's a little inspiration from Robert Mondavi, to keep us on track with our vision in the current tough times:

To succeed and have a happy life, you need common sense, a commitment to hard work and the courage to go on your own way. Interest is not enough - you must be passionate about what you do. Find a job you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life. 

I plan to raise a glass to that this evening. Cheers.

Creative genius

Morgane my 3 year old is going through a new phase, happily a good one. About a week ago she brought over a piece of paper she had been drawing on to show me - lo and behold, it was 2 smiley faces with stick legs. I blinked. Was this a fluke? I blinked again, this time with tears in my eyes, at her sheer unadulterated joy at her creation. Since that day, she's produced quite possibly a few hundred people: her and mommy, her and daddy (I keep telling daddy he has an odd resemblance to mr. potato head), grandma, grandpa, all kinds of people. Today her teacher at preschool told me how much time she is spending on this, with concentration and quiet contentment, and that it is unusual at this age to be drawing "representational art". Which of course I heard as she is a fabulous artist-in-the-making. I used to draw and paint quite well, up until the need to have a 'lucrative career path' squelched that creativity - luckily I now have found other creative outlets. But I always have it in the back of my mind that I want to return to my art one day. Now Morgane is inspiring those thoughts again with her artistic bliss. I think we often forget how wonderful a feeling it is to simply create, to participate in this process without concern for whatever the result may turn out to be. So sign up for that class you've been wanting to take but just can't seem to justify, and unleash your creative genius on the world. 

Wilsall, Montana

Ever heard of Wilsall? I hadn't either, but it's quickly becoming one of my favorite places. It is also going to be the location for our summer '09 Cowgirl Yoga Camp weekend retreats. Janice, our Cowgirl Yoga head wrangler, has her ranch there. Last Friday I took another visiting DC friend out beyond the Bridgers for an afternoon of snowy horseback riding, and on Saturday, my fave yoga photog Larry Stanley took engagement pictures for a couple from Boise at the ranch. I'd like to think I had something to do with the latter; the couple contacted me at Larry's suggestion as they wanted horses to be part of the shoot, and I in turn put them in touch with Janice. It makes me smile when something like this occurs, because to me it's a reiteration of how yoga brings people together that would never otherwise meet. Check out Larry's blog to view some of the stunning photos. 

Here are some interesting Wilsall facts: Wilsall is located in the beautiful Shields River Valley, nestled between the Crazy Mountains to the east, the Bridger Mountains to the west and the Absaroka Mountains to the south. Located directly in the Shields Valley River Basin, home of the oldest archeological dig in North America, is the Anzick Site, dating back to 11,500 years ago. In 1968, it was discovered that the late Ice Age peoples left over 100 red ocher covered stones and the bone artifacts of a two year old child at the most prominent land feature in the center of the Shields River Valley Floor located near Wilsall. 

Here's Chris, Raven, Flash, and I on our ride. 

Well-rounded yoga

I attended a yoga workshop yesterday with Mika at the studio I teach at in Boz. I'm not sure where Jessica found this French yogi, who was not only easy on the eyes but also a fantastic teacher. Who doesn't like yoga + French accent? Anyhow, I was thinking about what makes a good yoga class/practice, and why after yoga I sometimes feel...well, to be honest, so much better than others. And I decided that well-rounded yoga is most important to me, both in practice and in teaching. What do I mean by that? If certain elements are missing from a practice, the post-yoga result is a raw, incomplete feeling. For example, if I leave out backbends, which are very important to my body, I'm out of balance. Which is not why I am doing yoga, right? It's about approaching yoga as an integrated system, vs. just doing random poses. The true art is in the sequencing. There is a sequence to follow for how you warm up, and when you practice inversions. There is a lot of flexibility to that, and like everything else, different styles produce results for different people. But imagine if you started your practice with an advanced posture, like the inversion forearm stand I posted on earlier in the week, without warming up your shoulders. Yikes. 

I'm getting ready to lead an info session this afternoon for our Bozeman YogaWorks teacher training program; I took this training at my DC studio in 2006 and it changed a lot about my yoga practice (in a very good way). The YogaWorks system is the epitome of well-rounded. You feel balanced, and damn good, after a YW practice. The training program is the same, integrating perfectly proportioned parts of asana work, teaching methodology, yoga history & philosophy, anatomy and subtle body. It's precise yet flexible. It's interesting and accessible. IMHO, it's the strongest foundation you can get for becoming a yoga teacher or deepening your practice. So I'm looking forward to sharing my theory on well-rounded yoga. If you can't find YW near you, you can experience their yoga at many of the yoga conferences around the country, or search for a YW instructor in your area. Namaste. 

Holiday fun (already!)

We had our mini-session with the lovely Alicia Caine last Saturday, for Morgane's holiday picture. Don't you just love being 3? You get to have a holiday picture, like you are some kind of superstar. Alicia always manages to make my little devil look angelic. Check out her blog and amazing photography.

Strengthen your ski season...

...with yoga, of course! I am writing a six week series on getting ready for ski season with yoga. Check out the first installment on skinet. Opening day at Big Sky is Thanksgiving, but who's counting?? 

Pinch A what?

Today was one of those days that surprised me. I woke up on the uninspired side of the bed, and wondered how I was going to plow through a morning full of activity, including teaching my weekly yoga class at Be The Change. However, I've been in this position many a time before when having to teach, and it forces me to be present and open to the energy exchange between student and teacher. On a day like today, I look to receive energy from my students if possible. And the universe presented me with a lovely, lively group of women this morning. I felt SO good after class, re-energized and inspired. We had so much fun breaking down pincha mayurasana, feathered peacock pose, or more simply, forearm stand. Pinch A what?? I was showing the pose to Morgane and that's what she asked. She's definitely got pinching on the brain lately, and I unfortunately have been on the receiving end of this quite a bit (we're working on it). I told her to call it "pinch a peacock", which I think is a fun blend of Sanskrit and English. Here's me doing my best pinch a peacock under the Big Sky.

Montana for Obama (almost)

Just read this post entitled "Montana for Obama (almost)", by a fellow Athleta Chi writer and blogger, about how she was in Montana on election day. Great photo. And I love what she has to say about leadership, because if we can sort past all the gloom and doom of war, economics, and everything else that's messed up, the only way out is through potential. We have to be able to believe in our potential or it will only get worse, and we don't need experts to predict that. Thanks Shannon for visiting, and for your optimism (despite the electoral outcome here).

Slow Food

I picked up a new local magazine the other day that has reignited my fire on organic, sustainable and local food. Edible Bozeman is part of a national network called Edible Communities, whose mission is to "inspire readers to support and celebrate the growers, producers, food artisans, chefs, and other food professionals in our communities". I used to think that shopping at Whole Foods was doing good, but since moving to Montana and joining the Bozeman Co-op, reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal Vegetable Miracle and taking the time to read up and learn about the issues, I've changed my ways quite a bit. I had gotten quite used to getting whatever I wanted whenever I wanted it (cue my memory of the endless, mile-high produce piles at WF during the holiday season), thanks to the global food economy, and never thought too much about how many miles a piece of food may have traveled in order to end up in my grocery cart. Now I think about that when I shop. A lot. I'm definitely not saying that I don't buy out-of-season items - after all, I live in Montana where the growing season is very short. But I notice if I have the choice to buy apples from Washington state or New Zealand, and I'll choose what used the least amount of resources to get to me. I've researched our local farms and food producers, food purveyors and restaurants. I like being informed about the choices I make for myself and my family. It feels healthy.

I've spent most of this weekend cooking, warm and cozy november food like chili, muffins, cookies, a breakfast frittata. Tonight I'm making stuffed pasta shells and baking spaghetti squash we got at the pumpkin patch. Amidst this food frenzy I also plan to start reading Carlo Petrini's Slow Food Nation; in 1989 Petrini started the Slow Food Movement to "counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions, and people's dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes, and how our food choices affect the rest of the world". Sounds like lots of food for thought. Have a yummy Sunday...

A little help from Yoga Philosophy & Chi

OK the election is behind us and up next? The Holidays. I have to say, it is my fave time of year, despite the love-hate mood swings that the season can bring on. And despite the fact that hearing Christmas music in stores the day after Halloween still just doesn't seem right. I wrote an article called Comfort and Joy, Comfort and Ease for Athleta Chi that talks about a little holiday help inspired by ancient yoga philosophy. I'd love to hear your comments.

Here's to change

What an exciting day yesterday. This country certainly put the need for change into action by voting strong. I know this seems weird to go from talking about an historic election to discussing my hair, but - I don't think it's random that I drastically changed my hair color today. Drastic in that it's back to my natural shade (very dark). Enough faking it, already. Enough portraying it as something it's not. Now back to the election, and I'll keep this short and sweet: I am proud to be an American right now. It's been awhile since I felt like I could say that. No, everything isn't going to suddenly be perfect now, but with change comes hope and the new energy needed to meet the challenges ahead. So here's to change. Because we sure as hell need it. As did my hair.

It's all in my head

I had a riding lesson the other day that was a real eye-opener, plus a heart and mind opener too. I'm working on getting comfortable with speed of the four-legged, horse variety; despite the yeehaw thrill of cantering, I seem to always find my heart up in my throat in anticipation of it. Mind talking at body loud and fast: what if Flash trips, what if you fall off and "bonk your noggin" (as Morgane always says), what if, what if, what if. Will somebody please shut my mind up?! So Janice had us doing a series of cantering exercises, and on a longer one, it seems I was yelling WHOA. I was? But here's the most interesting thing: Janice told me that although my voice signal was to stop, my body language was not, I was moving with Flash in good form. My head was saying stop while my body was saying go. Boy, how often does THAT happen? I certainly didn't need further proof of being stuck up in my head, but there it was, loud and clear as the "whoa" that I didn't even realize I was yelling. Which led me to ponder how wonderful it can be to stop letting our minds rule the roost, and let our bodies and intuition contribute more. Can you give your body permission to actually feel without direction from the mind, and allow yourself to enjoy this natural state? How much of our stress do we create in the war zone of our minds? An easy place to try going au naturel: the yoga mat. Here's the gorgeous Flash, my equine teacher right now.

Halloween Yogini

Although Morgane is going through a Disney/princess phase, I was able to convince her to wear two costumes for Halloween; she was the Little Mermaid for trick-or-treating last night, but at her preschool, the costume theme was, "people who help people". So of course, she went as a yoga instructor. I was pretty pleased with this, as you can imagine. I cut a yoga mat in half and tied it up with a strap for her to carry around; she was sporting her "I heart yoga" t-shirt, mala beads, and an OM anklet, and she LOVED chanting OM. That is what she's doing in this picture, check out the focused expression. She was even ready to teach people up dog and down dog. I couldn't help grinning from ear to ear after dropping her off at school. Following in mom's yoga teacher footsteps? I hope so...at least, I hope that yoga will continue to bring peace and joy to her life. It made me recall how I've infused yoga into our relationship since the day she was born - when she was an infant, I would gently rub her third eye to put her to sleep (it still works sometimes). There are opportunities to infuse our daily life with yoga, even if we can't always make it to the mat. Hope you had a fun Halloween.