Month: December 2016

Categories
Healthy Living

SFO in December

A lot of comings and goings this year but we are staying put this holiday season for a reason. img_6926
Holiday party with fellow yoga teachers … feeling inspired. Lorraine in the center looking like a golden angel just came back from India/Nepal trip and I am so impressed with her adventurous independent spirit – my intention this year to follow her lead and be more fearless and more out of this head – to balance out the need to be responsible while being …carefree; Renee, the other beauty amazes me – she’s brimming with ENERGY. In fact, they both are brimming with love and light, so much that, through their energy conduction, I am resuscitated and re-charged!
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so decided to cover for another lovely yoga teacher’s class – everyone needs to take vacations so they can refresh and come back a better teacher, right?
Subbing with no other intention but to cover while she’s off to refresh and restore.
tomorrow at 9:30am @ Bay Club
Told any style of yoga so may I share Gentle Vinyasa Flow with a twist?
Hope so as that’s my regular morning practice:)
May we cover each other with respect, keeping friendship and camaraderie in mind.
img_6902 These lovely yoginis made me so happy, can’t stop smiling:) Picture time is over? Honestly, it’s been a rather challenging “weird” year but … an uplifting tribe creates the right vibe. Namaste:)

Categories
Healthy Food

Aryurvedic Cooking Class in Palo Alto

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I may need a refresher course as I hope to engage in a cleansing ritual start of 2017 – for that review of basic Aryuvedic cooking is essential. I highly recommend
Jyoti and here’s some endorsements I thought was well deserving of her course… The course I took was 4-days but this is a more “express” course done in 3 days.

Sri Sri Ayurveda Cookery Course: “Art of Wholesome Cooking”:)
Sponsoring organization: Art of Living Foundation USA
Dates:Jan 27 2017 – Jan 29 2017
Timings: Friday 6:30pm – 9:30pm Saturday & Sunday: 10:00am – 4:00pm
Venue: Private Residence in Palo Alto
Teacher: Jyoti Jain
Contact:
Jyoti Jain @ 6505969583 OR
jyoti@jainfamily.com

As a comment for the course I took … it was a wonderful review of Aryuvedic concepts such as Doshas (your unique “constitutions”) and Gunas (qualities, innate tendencies – can i say …Dharma?) in the context of Samkhya philosophy … Having grown up with a lot of diversity in people, foods, cultures … I tend to think that we probably should put everything in cultural context – for example, in Aryuvedic cooking, mushrooms are considered a no-no but from other Asian food cultures, that hold mushrooms as almost medicinal, this concept is questioned. I tend to think that we can just take what works in the local indiginous land of that practitioner. Maybe back in India, eating mushrooms caused some unwanted outcome but in China, the opposite held true … and there are SO MANY varieties of mushrooms, some poisonous, some hallucinatory, some just yummy. In Japan, dehydrated Shiitake might be used as soup stock for vegans and vegetarians so …I would not rule them out. SO, the theory and the philosophy probably has to adapt to the land of the people … SO in USA, in California … here again, somethings are probably alright to change and adapt as long as the intention remains the same.

I appreciated my exposure into various spices and how they are used as spices are not something that we use heavily in Japanese culture. Japanese taste is all about the beauty of artful presentation, the simplicity, non-oil but savory UMAMI based taste, natural seasonings, delicate flavoring and as this famous Shojin cuisine chef master said … it’s about how we master pure “water” and how skillful we are in the art of cutting and slicing, i.e., the mastery over the knife use (after all it’s a sword/shogun culture with precision based forms and shapes) in how we cook. It’s not so much about heat and very little oil … so …I really enjoyed learning about a cooking method completely different. We did share one thing though – that was, how we appreciate plant-based foods and believe that food serves as our best … medicine.
img_7945img_8012 Cooking with Gratitude … OMG, so Japanese… so many common threads I recognize.img_7942Could these be? Yes, sticks of butter, organic butter from Whole Foods.img_7865Not Vegan as we made Ghee!Clarified Butter … definitely an ingredient NOT used in Japanese cuisine so …interesting especially the current vogues seems to vilify butter – perhaps it’s more about moderation and portion control:)
img_7866It might be interesting to explore use of EV olive oil or avocado oil to replace here in California just as an option:)img_7917Spices and Herbs are the key !img_7948 While these recommended books may help, best to learn from Jyoti herself – it’s all 5 senses at work when you learn from a good teacher. Once you have the foundation learned from a good teacher, you can then make substitutions and modifications to – experiment to fit your own unique needs. That’s the fun.

Categories
Yoga

Yin & Yang

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Feeling so much better having attended a Therapeutic Yoga class during lunch today. The class is very well attended by students ranging from age 13 all the way to looks like, maybe 70’s. With nearly 50 students, I was surprised and then not so surprised. He masterfully creates the sense of safety and trust based on actual expertise – of course, people are drawn to that. I was inspired that there’s so much need out there that this teacher was able to respond to … it’s gentle and yet quite challenging; it’s relaxing but better than caffeine awakening, it’s calming and yet … super energizing. It’s quite the Yin & Yang and I loved it. This teacher led us to replenish ourselves physically, mentally and energetically. To me, the session rather reminded me of a class I took in Tokyo last summer – it’s caring and gentle but … challenging in a non-competitive way. You may even work up a light sweat:)

Inspired, getting mini-presents ready tonight for the loyal students who practiced being “present” this year by simply showing up … it’s a gift for sure to have students who give me the opportunity to blend what I’ve learned and try things out. I am filled with gratitude for their true “flexibility” – here’s the next two days as we head into Christmas Eve …Quite saddened that I am no longer teaching the Sunday night restorative class I had the honor of holding space for the last nearly 3 years. Having attended the 3 Invitational sessions with Judith this year – irony of ironies, I don’t get to share all that knowledge in that particular style I love – Yet Sunday evening is a tough time slot …for me with the training and impending travels and subbing frowned upon…as attached and wistful as I was … sometimes one has to let go one thing to let something else enter … it looks to be a sign from the higher self.

Besides, so happy for the lovely yogini who took over – it’s so sweet to have more yoga teachers who want to spread this kind of quiet yet powerful practice also. We are blessed:)

Thursday @ 7:40 am @ Bay Club, Redwood Shores – Yin Yoga
Friday @ 9:30 am @ Bay Club, subbing for lovely Ms. C – Hatha Yoga

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