This morning, I begin a 40-day Kundalini Yoga journey to improve my physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.
Healing from the holidays—from bad foods and less exercise--is always something I need to do. This season was a doozey, though, for it came with it an unfortunate personal matter, which required me to leave town several times to care for a family member. My yoga practice and good eating habits disappeared on December 15th. Ghostlike. Quick flight. Out the window. I am now looking for them to come back to me.
The reality is that I have to get back to them. Warriorlike. No quarter. Now.
I give myself plenty of yogic points for spending this last month caring for loved ones. Such work is called Bhakti Yoga. But the yoga of effort (Hatha), the yoga of energy (Kundalini) are in a state of deficit in my life, so much so that I very much dread, dear reader, what lies ahead of me on my path: hard, hard work to re-gain the foothold I’ve lost. I feel like our economy. Struggling, recovering, trying to get upright again.
Here’s the plan: I will be practicing Kundalini Yoga every day, performing a kriya (set of exercises) I blended from some of my Kundalini favorites: exercises for the back and navel center; the Kundalini cornerstone kriya/chant known as the Sat Nam Kriya; exercises to bring a feeling of calm and joy; meditation; and relaxation. Every day I intend to practice for about 40 minutes. I need this. I want this. It does not take a lot of yoga to start feeling better.
In addition to my Kundalini work, these 40 days will offer me the opportunity to eat well. I will attend to eating as much raw food as I can and avoid altogether alcohol, caffeine, white sugar, and white flour. I anticipate that the Kundalini Yoga will bolster my willpower and remind me of the groove I often feel from mindful eating. I hope to start feeling lighter and happier in just a few days.
I’ll keep a little log of my 40-day journey and share the highlights here, thereafter. Sat Nam. Namaste.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
On Break
Happy New Year.
My pink yoga news is that I am now on a teaching sabbatical (end date unknown). It’s not that I do not love teaching. I do. And it’s not that I don’t care about my students. I om-om-om so really do. And it’s not that suddenly I have a problem with yoga, got all harumpfy with it one day and rolled up my yoga mat saying, “Hit the road, mat. I’m going to find real meaning, real fun and truth, without you! Who needs YOU?” I don’t, I didn't, and I do.
By allowing myself to hang up my teacher’s pashmina for awhile and don instead the worn t-shirt and yoga pants of the student, I will be readying myself for the day when what I have to offer is aligned with what I know as a yogi, an artist, a teacher, and an individual. I am taking a sabbatical in order to be a better teacher, yogi, and person.
This is not to say I am not available. For consulting, private lessons, and occasional special yoga events, I hope to be able to make some time. Additionally, I intend to produce more Pink Lotus Yoga products this year that will help users develop and deepen their very own om-ishness.
Finally, I intend to shift my energies towards other efforts besides yoga during this teaching break. Into whatever direction that takes me, one of my goals is to merge my love for writing with my love for yoga. So, dear reader, the upshot sum is this: I’ll be posting rants, chants, stories, and helpful yoga advice here at pinklotusnotes weekly or biweekly. I hope you’ll check back often and speak up about what you'd like to read and discuss.
Om and Namaste and may all your dreams be on their way.
My pink yoga news is that I am now on a teaching sabbatical (end date unknown). It’s not that I do not love teaching. I do. And it’s not that I don’t care about my students. I om-om-om so really do. And it’s not that suddenly I have a problem with yoga, got all harumpfy with it one day and rolled up my yoga mat saying, “Hit the road, mat. I’m going to find real meaning, real fun and truth, without you! Who needs YOU?” I don’t, I didn't, and I do.
By allowing myself to hang up my teacher’s pashmina for awhile and don instead the worn t-shirt and yoga pants of the student, I will be readying myself for the day when what I have to offer is aligned with what I know as a yogi, an artist, a teacher, and an individual. I am taking a sabbatical in order to be a better teacher, yogi, and person.
This is not to say I am not available. For consulting, private lessons, and occasional special yoga events, I hope to be able to make some time. Additionally, I intend to produce more Pink Lotus Yoga products this year that will help users develop and deepen their very own om-ishness.
Finally, I intend to shift my energies towards other efforts besides yoga during this teaching break. Into whatever direction that takes me, one of my goals is to merge my love for writing with my love for yoga. So, dear reader, the upshot sum is this: I’ll be posting rants, chants, stories, and helpful yoga advice here at pinklotusnotes weekly or biweekly. I hope you’ll check back often and speak up about what you'd like to read and discuss.
Om and Namaste and may all your dreams be on their way.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Yoga and the Economy, Part V--The Economy of Yoga (Yogic Diet)
It is spring 2009. Last fall, shortly after the first wave of financial crisis hit the news, I started writing a five-part article series on yoga and the economy and the economy of yoga. In articles one through four, we looked at yoga's history as a system of wellness for the everyday householder especially applicable in today's tough economic times. We looked at how yoga for physical exercise is economical on more than the financial level. We looked at how yoga for the emotions and mind can be inexpensive and deeply de-stressing, one of our greatest health-preventative measures available. And finally, in this last article, we will look at the personal and economical benefits of a yogic diet.
As I pointed out in the first article, even if you are exercising regularly these days but are experiencing more stress than before the economy plummeted, you are at risk of downturn in your health, or your personal economy-of-one.
It is precisely because this deep recession hits us on so many levels that we need to attend to the big three in wellness--exercise, mind work, and diet--in order to get and keep our personal economies-of-one strong. So let's look at the yogic diet, to see what it offers.
A yogic diet is a very healthy diet. Though it is oft disputed in the yoga community just what a yogic diet is (e.g., vegetarian vs. omnivorous), there is no universal hard and fast rule. I believe this: Pick a well-balanced diet that does your body and soul good. Let your stomach and your consciousness be your guide. Keep an open mind and listen to your body. Always be willing to change your diet when necessary.
That being set, I'd like to recommend what I consider to be the most yogic of all diets. It also happens to be very inexpensive, perfect for people on a tight budget. It is called a living foods diet . This diet consists of eating as much as you want of raw, uncooked, unprocessed, and enzyme-active foods. It is yogic because one eats conscientiously using simple food preparation, one eats highly nutritious foods, and one eats low on the food chain (good for the environment and animal rights observers.)
A living food contains its own digestive enzymes, which help your body efficiently digest what you've eaten. If you eat a food without its digestive enzymes, your body has to create enzymes necessary for digestion, so the chemistry-based philosophy behind a living food diet, then, is that you eat the food as nature created it. When you do, your body is receiving the most nutrition from the food in the most efficient way. The body is
working at its metabolic optimum when living foods are on the menu.
So what is a living food? A food that has not been cooked, or heated to about 118 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, is considered living. Raw fruits and vegetables, fresh-squeezed (as opposed to pasteurized-bottled, canned, frozen) juices, cold-pressed (as opposed to heat-processed) oils, soaked nuts, and the sprouts of beans, seeds, and grains are considered living foods. In contrast, any food cooked to about 118 degrees and higher loses its digestive enzymes; the heat denatures them. Much of our diet, obviously, is digestive-enzyme free.
A living foods diet is my favorite way to eat, and research into living foods (often referred to as raw foods, though some experts draw a line of distinction) will open a new door for you on how to think about, prepare, and eat food. There are many living and raw foods websites, blogs, and 'un-cook' books available to help you find your way. Living foodists eat salads, soups, sandwiches, faux meats, living foods pastas, breads, milks, dehydrated foods (cooked so slowly the enzymes stay active), cheeses, dips, sauces, cookies, smoothies, and drinks. It is far from a limited diet.
When I eat at least 50% living foods in a given day, I have more energy, and I feel more balanced and happy. In fact, I feel that when I eat living foods, my food is my medicine.
Sprouting foods is one living foods preparation technique that provides foods rich in enzyme-powered carbohydrates, protein, and fats. Sprouting entails soaking foods such as beans, legumes, seeds, nuts, and grains and then watering/draining them until they produce small tails. Foods treated in this manner grow tails because soaking and then watering them releases the food's enzyme inhibitors. Sprouting 'activates' the nut, bean, etc., in other words, or takes it from a dormant state to a living state.
What's more, sprouting provides high-level nutrition for only pennies. A pound of lentils (less than $2) will when sprouted yield thousands of grams of full-powered, easy-to-digest protein. (When sprouted, a seed gains up to fifteen times its weight.) A pound of cooked meat, in contrast, provides no more than a couple hundred grams of protein that is hard on the body because the digestive enzymes in the meat are denatured in the cooking process, undertaken in order that the meat can be eaten at all. A pound of sprouted food will create many highly nutritious and inexpensive meals.
Eating a yogic diet is just one way to health and pocketbook happiness. When combined with the other yogic practices discussed in this series, one will be on one's way to great health at low cost: the perfect economic hard times antidote.
Namaste.
As I pointed out in the first article, even if you are exercising regularly these days but are experiencing more stress than before the economy plummeted, you are at risk of downturn in your health, or your personal economy-of-one.
It is precisely because this deep recession hits us on so many levels that we need to attend to the big three in wellness--exercise, mind work, and diet--in order to get and keep our personal economies-of-one strong. So let's look at the yogic diet, to see what it offers.
A yogic diet is a very healthy diet. Though it is oft disputed in the yoga community just what a yogic diet is (e.g., vegetarian vs. omnivorous), there is no universal hard and fast rule. I believe this: Pick a well-balanced diet that does your body and soul good. Let your stomach and your consciousness be your guide. Keep an open mind and listen to your body. Always be willing to change your diet when necessary.
That being set, I'd like to recommend what I consider to be the most yogic of all diets. It also happens to be very inexpensive, perfect for people on a tight budget. It is called a living foods diet . This diet consists of eating as much as you want of raw, uncooked, unprocessed, and enzyme-active foods. It is yogic because one eats conscientiously using simple food preparation, one eats highly nutritious foods, and one eats low on the food chain (good for the environment and animal rights observers.)
A living food contains its own digestive enzymes, which help your body efficiently digest what you've eaten. If you eat a food without its digestive enzymes, your body has to create enzymes necessary for digestion, so the chemistry-based philosophy behind a living food diet, then, is that you eat the food as nature created it. When you do, your body is receiving the most nutrition from the food in the most efficient way. The body is
working at its metabolic optimum when living foods are on the menu.
So what is a living food? A food that has not been cooked, or heated to about 118 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, is considered living. Raw fruits and vegetables, fresh-squeezed (as opposed to pasteurized-bottled, canned, frozen) juices, cold-pressed (as opposed to heat-processed) oils, soaked nuts, and the sprouts of beans, seeds, and grains are considered living foods. In contrast, any food cooked to about 118 degrees and higher loses its digestive enzymes; the heat denatures them. Much of our diet, obviously, is digestive-enzyme free.
A living foods diet is my favorite way to eat, and research into living foods (often referred to as raw foods, though some experts draw a line of distinction) will open a new door for you on how to think about, prepare, and eat food. There are many living and raw foods websites, blogs, and 'un-cook' books available to help you find your way. Living foodists eat salads, soups, sandwiches, faux meats, living foods pastas, breads, milks, dehydrated foods (cooked so slowly the enzymes stay active), cheeses, dips, sauces, cookies, smoothies, and drinks. It is far from a limited diet.
When I eat at least 50% living foods in a given day, I have more energy, and I feel more balanced and happy. In fact, I feel that when I eat living foods, my food is my medicine.
Sprouting foods is one living foods preparation technique that provides foods rich in enzyme-powered carbohydrates, protein, and fats. Sprouting entails soaking foods such as beans, legumes, seeds, nuts, and grains and then watering/draining them until they produce small tails. Foods treated in this manner grow tails because soaking and then watering them releases the food's enzyme inhibitors. Sprouting 'activates' the nut, bean, etc., in other words, or takes it from a dormant state to a living state.
What's more, sprouting provides high-level nutrition for only pennies. A pound of lentils (less than $2) will when sprouted yield thousands of grams of full-powered, easy-to-digest protein. (When sprouted, a seed gains up to fifteen times its weight.) A pound of cooked meat, in contrast, provides no more than a couple hundred grams of protein that is hard on the body because the digestive enzymes in the meat are denatured in the cooking process, undertaken in order that the meat can be eaten at all. A pound of sprouted food will create many highly nutritious and inexpensive meals.
Eating a yogic diet is just one way to health and pocketbook happiness. When combined with the other yogic practices discussed in this series, one will be on one's way to great health at low cost: the perfect economic hard times antidote.
Namaste.
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