It is time to Play!

When was the last time you played?

The last time you laughed out loud or smiled for no good reason?

I see children having unlimited smiles all the time.  The more time I spend around kids the more I get to witness how they see the world with new eyes and the emotions that go with it.  Everything is new, amazing and has potential for fun! How great is that?!

As adults, especially around this time of year, we can easily get overwhelmed with responsibilities, stress, holidays and so much more.  We need to take a break of the adult world and re- learn how to play.  Its time to have some fun.  Recently in the Huffington Post, there was an article talking about the importance in play with children and how play actually helps them learn.  As adults, I think we need to listen to this research and maybe even give it a try for ourselves.  It is time we play, laugh and giggle like a kid again.

Miles just playing with a ball.

What a perfect theme for a yoga class!

 

This is the perfect theme to help out the students who –

gets angry in balancing / challenging poses

have a competitive nature

are too busy looking around

someone who needs to have a good laugh.

 

Some poses to go along with the theme –

Balancing Poses – How often do adults stand on one foot?! There are different levels of balancing poses you can work into your practice and for different levels. I like to remind everyone not to make a “gargoyle face” or monster face in poses that take some concentration. Smile!  Tree , Half Moon, Warrior 3, Dancer, Eagle.

Chair Pose – I love this pose. You need so much effort from your body and mind.  I often see very serious faces when we hold this pose. So I challenge to smile, sometime even tell a joke to make students laugh.

Upside down poses – It time to change your view!

Downward Dog, forward folds, Wheel , Wild thing and legs up the wall just to name a few.

Lions Breath – Stick out your tongue and be real loud on an exhale!

 

What are some poses that make you feel like a kid again?

 

 

 

 

Does it Really Happen in 3’s? Tips to deal with stress.

I am not sure if you ever heard the saying that bad things usually happen in three’s, but this week I sure feel like there might be some truth to that.  In the past 7 days we have had our new dishwasher, new refrigerator and garage door all break. The dishwasher and garage door was fixable but the refrigerator is a goner.   Less than two years old and the Frigidaire start button just burned up – leaving us grateful that the house didn’t burn down and a valuable lesson – You need to always find the positive in every situation.

What are some things you do to help cope with a stressful week?  Here are my top 10.

Here is my list of attitude pick me uppers. 🙂

1. Go take a Yoga Class. Meditate and breathe.

2. Go out in nature.

3. Turn off the news/ radio / social media.

4. Play with the kids or let yourself act like a kid. PLAY!

5. Treat yourself.  If you have extra cash go get a massage, mani/ pedi or facial.  If extra cash is not an option ( I feel ya!) a DIY facial is fabulous or paint your nails a fun new color.

6. Change your attitude to Gratitude.  Start that list of things you are grateful for.  Every time I have to do the dishes and I just don’t feel like it, I remember how lucky we are to have had food to eat and water to clean.

7.  Go through your closet. I know, this one is a little … different. Sometimes thinking about cleaning your closet can be such a drag, but when you think of it as a shopping trip or a chance to create new outfits it can be fun.  For some reason I gain so much joy in finding old or rarely worn articles of clothes and re-imagining new outfits.

8. Move your body.  Sometimes, all you have to do is dance.

9.  Be creative.  Bake, color, craft even organizing requires creativity.

10. Laugh.  Put on a funny movie, read a funny book, hang out with people who make you laugh.

Community of Spirit – A taste of Rumi

I love Rumi.  I am a huge fan of Sufi poetry .  The  writings are whimsical, mystical and full of adventure.  Each line makes you think until you come to your own conclusion on how the poem is speaking to you.  The best part, everyone’s answer is different and there is no wrong answer.

One of my favorite poems by Rumi is, ” There is a Community of Spirit.”  This poem reminds me to get out of my own personal head space and open up to the possibilities of the universe.  We are not in this alone.  When we allow ourselves to be free of expectations and mind chatter, we can find a way to be free… to be the true YOU.

A Community of the Spirit

 

Compliments of Beargrease photography.

 

Drink all your passion,
and be a disgrace.

Close both eyes
to see with the other eye.

Open your hands,
if you want to be held.

Sit down in the circle.

Quit acting like a wolf, and feel
the shepard’s love filling you.

At night, your beloved wanders.
Don’t accept consolations.

Close your mouth against food.
Taste the lover’s mouth in yours.

You moan, “She left me.” “He left me.”
Twenty more will come.

Be empty of worrying.
Think of who created thought!

Why do you stay in prison
when the door is so wide open?

Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.
Live in silence.

Flow down and down in always
widening rings of being.

* Rumi translated by Coleman Barks

Yoga Mama- The Beginning

I would like to call myself a yogi.  I practice regularly, keep up with my reading and books while trying to live a conscious lifestyle.
I work hard on trying to go with the flow and be compassionate toward others while remembering that I am constantly learning, experiencing and creating.  Recently, I experience one of the hardest, scariest and wonderful thing in my life – the birth of my daughter.

Me at 30 weeks

I was the poster woman of a “perfect” pregnancy.  I was healthy, ate real, clean food, went to the chiropractor weekly, acupuncture regularly, taught yoga until the very end and practiced yoga up until I went to the hospital! We even did a wonderful course of Hypnobirthing and was so excited and ready to go through a healthy, natural birth.

Forty weeks came and went, I was sore from daily acupuncture and bouncing on the yoga ball non-stop when we got to 42 weeks. I had to go in to be induced. That was the first ,of many, to practice the release of the need to control and to just go with the flow.

We were at the hospital for over 8 hours, I was only one centimeter dilated and with every contraction my daughters heart rate dropped.  It was a sign that things were not going to go well. Before I knew it the midwife came back in with another doctor and gave us the news I did not want to hear.  A cesarean section was a must to have a healthy, living baby.

I was mortified, scared and felt like a failure.  All I could think is that I did absolutely everything I could, why?! What did I do wrong, what could I have done to prevent this?  Everything happened so fast.  From the time I signed the papers, baby Z was born 45 minutes later.  I barely had time to cry before they were shaving me and rolling me to the operating room. All I am going to say is the doctors and hospital were great, but it was one of the most scariest experience I ever had.  I was cold, everyone is in masks and I lost all control of my body from my breasts down.  CRAZY.  Thank goodness my husband was there and talking me through everything, I didn’t want to be crying or in hysterics the entire time.  Once the surgery began it was quick, I felt this weird tug , pull feeling ( which is why I believe child chiropractic is so important, but more on that later) and I heard her crying.  It was so beautiful and amazing to hear that cry.

My husband was able to grab baby Z and bring her to my head and shoulder to allow skin on skin.  She immediately started sucking on my cheek! That’s my gal!  But, instead of the surgery finishing up right away, my wonderful husband spent another 30 minutes holding her to my face while the doctors kept working.  I just kept thinking, “She is hungry , I want to feed my baby! What is taking so long?”  Finally it was all done, we were wheeled away and baby Z immediately latched and everyone was safe and okay!

I felt so lucky baby Z was such a good sucker. The way everything went, I was happy we got breast-feeding right!  For a 42 weeks, baby Z was pretty small but healthy.  When the midwife came to visit us the next day we found out WHY the surgery seemed to take so long.  When they pulled out the uterus for the c-section, my whole insides came out too! My bowel and stomach were attached to the uterus – completely blocking the left ovary and fallopian tube.  They fixed everything up while they were in there… but pretty much it was a miracle that we were even able to get pregnant, let alone carry her this far in pregnancy without issue.  Finding out this information made dealing with a c-section A LOT easier.  I went with the flow and it guided me to where I needed to be.  I had no control of the outcome, no control of preventing it and it was okay.  We have a healthy baby girl and I am okay.

Now come the healing process.  As a highly active person and yoga teacher, the 6 weeks of healing has been a challenge.  Just like everyone else, I just have to remember to stop, take a breath and be grateful for where I am now and release.

Veggie Broth Recipe

Its getting into the season of soups, stews and beans.  Some of my favorite food groups!  With a great garden harvest this year, and a couple trips to local pumpkin patches, I have had a lot of veggie scraps and leftovers so I decided to make my own veggie broth for our family.  We are a household of crock pot lovers, so we tend to use A LOT of veggie broth, and it can get pretty pricey when you get the organic kind, so I took a few days the other week and made batches of veggie broth. It is super easy and you will be happy with the results!

Step 1.  Collect veggies for your broth.  I used all the extra celery, Swiss chard, carrots, etc. from the garden.  I also use the leftover scraps of dinner veggies like; brussel sprouts, cauliflower, onions, garlic, etc. This is the one time the chickens and ducks do not get the yummy scraps.

Step 2. Place all the veggies in your crock pot and fill up with water.  I usually get around 4-5 cups of water actually in the crock pot once full of veggies.

Step 3.  Set the crock pot on low and let it cook.  I like a nice long cook for about 12-15 hours, so overnight is the easiest.

Step 4. Drain the veggies with a sieve or colander.

Step 5. Store. I like to store in freezer bags, doubled up, in the deep freezer.  Don’t forget to label and date the bag!

Step 6. Enjoy in some delicious dishes!

*Tip – When defrosting the veggie broth, place the bag in a bowl do it doesn’t leave your counter full of water.

 

Failure… is it really that bad?

“O, happy the soul that saw its own faults.” (Rumi)

 Lately, I have been thinking about the concept of  failure, it has been the question of the week for my yoga classes. At first, the word just brings negative connotations and feelings – but that really doesn’t have to be the case. 

During pregnancy there have been a few, okay maybe more than a few, times that I felt like I was failing at multiple things such as;  keeping up with house hold duties, garden work, exercise routine, super healthy diet and many more.  What helped me get through this emotionally and probably hormonal dance was reforming the way I viewed failure. 

Failure is an opportunity.  At first it might not seem that way, but once you step back and take a look, we find that we have learned valuable lessons, gained experience and grow. 

Failure is opportunity.   A chance to practice surrendering to an outcome that you obviously did not want to happen.

Failure is an opportunity.  A new way to look at yourself, another person, maybe a whole idea in a new light. 

Failure can actually mean succeeding. 

I know this could be difficult to comprehend.  You just have to surrender. Surrendering is a constant theme in yoga.  We can do it with our mind, body and actions.  When I failed to do the dishes (again) and napped instead, I surrendered to the needs of my body and growing baby. 

I understand that the concept of failure can be towards larger, maybe more life changing situations, but that still leaves the same emotion, the feeling of failing.   The level of the situation just makes the level of surrendering or opportunity even bigger.  I used to own a retail business and when I had to decide to close the doors I was devastated.  After the first run through emotions, I realized the opportunities, joys and experience that I had were worth it.  I might have failed in keeping the doors open, but I succeeded in sharing my passion and knowledge with rocks to many amazing people, I have hands on experience owning and operating a business, I met my husband, I was able to bring my dog to work every day and so on and so on.  It’s hard to look at the experience as a failure anymore when I start shedding new light on the situation and see the positivity in it all.

 

Yoga Theme and Questions to ask your Students

Rumi Quote. “Oh happy the soul who saw its own faults. “

Ralph Waldo Emerson.  “Men succeed when they realize that their failures are the preparation for their victories.” 

Find a comfortable position to begin class and focus on your breath and to set the theme.    

Intention can be to surrender to your fears of failing and gain the strength to view the past failures as opportunities and strengths.

Poses – Eagle, Dancers, Warrior 3

 

What are some poses you would add to the class?

 

A Little Scary thing about Compassion and how a stone can help – Kunzite

Compassion is defined in Websters dictionary as, “literally, suffering with another; a sensation of sorrow excited by the distress or misfortunes of another; pity; commiseration.”

Compassion, this attitude of thought, comes with a lot of different meanings, lessons and emotions to everyone.  Personally, I try to work on my compassion skills daily.

It is so hard!  I believe I am a nice person, polite, and I try really hard not to judge, but sometimes finding that compassion for the people, things and organizations you just don’t like – is a challenge!  What IS helping me, little by little,  is finding the reasons  why it is a challenge to me.

One reason it is sometimes hard is because I am just scared.  Finding compassion in someone suffering is scary.  It makes you think of how you would feel if you were in that situation… and that is scary.  Who really wants to go through any suffering?

“Compassion, the sympathy of another’s suffering,” it is a challenge to have this sympathy on something that has hurt you in the past, but the true lesson in the act of compassion is rising above it all.  Get over the scary part.  De-personalize it and take the You out of it.  You cannot stop the future from happening, but you can open up your heart to be more emotionally ready.

There is one stone that helps me find compassion when I am in a challenging situation looking for help and that is Kunzite, also known as spodumene. Kunzite is the pink variety of spodumene and it is so beautiful and serene . Kunzite is a lithium aluminum silicate mineral, giving it a glow that pulses with calm, loving heart opening energy.  I have always imagined kunzite to have a moon like glow and mother attitude that puts you under a spell of the super loving, fairy like mineral.  The mineral has a way to open up your heart and take away all that is scary and resisting you to truly love and be loved.

Well it happened…

Well it happened.  At 32 ½ weeks pregnant, I have caught a “cold.” 

I tried with all my might to prevent this from happening but it just wasn’t enough.   I eat healthy, regular chiropractic care, acupuncture, yoga, meditation, prenatal vitamin, vitamin D, vitamin C and fish oils daily.  I still managed to get sick.  So of course when I came down with symptoms I jumped on all the natural treatments I could think of to help strengthen my body and immune system.  I must say, I believe these things have all helped and made the healing process faster and more comfortable.

I just wanted to share some of the natural remedies I used and found to work to help ease some of my aliments and be safe for pregnancy.

1. Lots of Fluids.  My goal is over 94 ounces of water daily.  I know that is a lot, but you can do it!
2. Vitamin C.  I know for pregnant women you should avoid going over 2,000mg of vitamin C a day.  What I found really helpful was Emergen-C for Kids.  The Kids packets have only 250mg a serving, which allowed me to have a couple through –out the day.  To get even more water, I would fill us a 24 ounce water bottle and one Emergen C Kids packet.
3. Vitamin D. This is more of a preventative.  Most of us are deficient in Vitamin D so it is a good idea to supplement regularly.  Vitamin D is essential in having a strong immune system.
4. Garlic.  Garlic supplements are not recommended for pregnant women, so I just made sure to have extra, I mean EXTRA garlic in all my meals.
5. Essential Oils.  Peppermint, Eucalyptus and Lavender.  Using Almond oil as my base, I mix all three together and rubbed the oil on my feet every few hours.  What was great, is also used it to put on my nose as it was getting raw from all the blowing. We then put a great plug-in essential oil diffuser that I put Eucalyptus and lavender to smell up the room.                                                                                           Eucalyptus is a natural decongestant, and is antibacterial.  Lavender is great at calming and is antibacterial, antibiotic, antiviral and antiseptic.  Peppermint acts as an expectorant, soothes muscles, helps with headaches and is known to help reduce fever.
6. Acupuncture.  I made sure to get in to my favorite CommUnity Acupuncture to schedule extra treatments to help keep the immune system strong and some relief to my sore muscles.
7. Chiropractic.  I LOVE getting adjusted.  It has been a life saver during pregnancy and in my wellness care.  When I felt the cold coming on, I made an extra visit to help boost the immune system.

Welcoming Autumn with some Petrified Wood

The seasons are changing.  Autumn is here and slowly there is less daylight, more darkness, colder temperatures and the trees and animals are all making their way to slumber.  Autumn is the time to slow down.

Lao Tzu has said, ” Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”

As humans, I believe we sometimes forget to slow down and acknowledge our natural connection to the earth and elements.  It is time to SLOW DOWN.  It is okay to allow yourself to slowdown, stay inside for a day, create or recreate your space or den, take a nap, calm down the constant mind chatter and allow yourself the gift of being in the moment instead of speeding up and worrying about the future, the holiday season, work, school and job.  Just giving yourself a few moments, perhaps a yoga class, a meditation or even a moment in your car to slow things down.

Minerals and crystals can assist you in that feeling of joy and peace you get from gifting yourself a moment of stillness, a moment to acknowledge your connection to nature. Petrified wood is one of the many stones that can help in this connection. Petrified wood is heavy and organic.  With the past life of a beautiful, enormous tree millions of years ago, Petrified wood can fill you with the ancient wisdom of stillness and growth. Petrified wood helps ground you and take you back to your roots, the original roots of life and creation as it teaches you the lesson of observing and growing.  Most petrified wood are from trees that are at least 200 million years old and 100-200 feet tall.  They became petrified as a result of volcanoes eruptions and the minerals in the ash that replaced the wood with silica ( quartz ) and other minerals. Over time and environmental conditions, the wood slowly became petrified, fossilized and sometimes opalized.  Petrified woos is one of my personal favorite stones, always giving me a sense of ancestral strength and calmness.

 

Crystals & Yoga – What a great combination!

Crystals and Yoga.  What could the connection be?  To me, the connections are endless.  Relating a pose to a stone, a stone to a chakra, a chakra to an asana, an asana to chakra a chakra to a stone.  A beautiful cycle of similarities and influences to help us live a more balanced and happy life.

Do the words chakras, asanas and crystals just bring up questions and more confusion? Well don’t worry!  We will touch all categories and questions and learn from each other as we continue to live our life through our experiences.