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Healthy Activities Healthy Food Healthy Living Yoga

Heat Up & Cool Down … Yang & Yin

IMG_8050_smallSeeing a lot of this case lately … This week we celebrated Summer Solstice and International Day of Yoga !

Your hand opens and closes and opens and closes. If it were always a fist or always stretched open, you would be paralyzed. Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding, the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as bird wings.

– Rumi

It’s going to be a hot day … time for some yin to cool down with. That heat needs to escape. Or a combustion … In some tantra yoga ideas, the technique appeared to be the worship of the FIRE element – the flames to turn red hot and BURN to ashes all that needs to turn to soot … What are we to do with all that soot? Does it blow away or ??? We wash them away of course. While we need to strengthen our muscles and have what’s called “grit” or toughness, and I know that there’s great health benefits to sweat and we should sweat at least once a day. Sometimes, though, there seems to be over-emphasis on a practice where we “sweat” as though that’s the ultimate detox. Sure, it’s good and it’s one of the things that needs to happen for health maintenance but it’s all about the balance. I used to love Bikram yoga where I would be just dripping and I mean dripping with sweat; As Judith would say – these urges and for the short term, it felt good and I felt SO alive and vibrant but … we carried a residue of agitation. It was a temporary fix … Today, I prefer … the cooling flowing liquidy practice – maybe being a Kapha with some Pitta.
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The element of water is essential in human life – in fact we are 70% water … to wash away those things that no longer serves us and constantly replenish – need as much yang of course to enjoy that warming furnace sure, but yin is more my style as I burn up easily. As lectured by a famous Japanese chef, the soul to Japanese Shojin cuisine is ????? I was thinking UMAMI but turns out to be … water, pure water. Yes, water is the key to Japanese cooking and so … Japanese are predominantly … Kapha. An interesting theory. But in a way, my preference for liquid like form and movement comes from there … it’s in our makeup.

We have the ability to still the waves and ripples on the surface of the water & let the whirling sediments settle to the bottom …to find stillness. Pure consciousness flows like rivers and streams within us … To that great ocean reflecting the vast sky with every weather pattern imaginable. Waves flowing and ebbing … it’s the pulse of the Universe within us in which our interior world reflects the outside world … the beauty of it all to behold.

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Healthy Food

Welcome summer !
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Spanish flan …from Iberia restaurantIMG_7843_small
Sunshine Creme Brulee homemade by Masa – before torching to caramelizeIMG_8117_small
IMG_8233_smallMy kind of bento – macrobiotic bento by Shinobeu-san. Actually a bento photo from last year – it’s been too long… I miss the kind of food you feel absolutely better for eating it – there’s no guilt, no heaviness, no lethargy, no regret … only gratitude and sheer joy to the palate … just clean crisp vibration-wise positively charged bento !!! (no, that is not a meat burger in the center but tofu/beans burger with homemade ketchup … richly flavorful and very savory. Shinoubeu-san is trained in Kushi Macrobiotic cuisine!) GOCHISOUSAMA!

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Yoga

Rose Moon

The summer solstice this week coincides with full moon named Strawberry Moon by the Native Americans. The same moon is named “Rose Moon” if referred to in Europe. It’s been 70 years since last time summer solstice coincided with the full moon. It’s a signal from the Universe we catch this week that will play out in the next few months until Winter Solstice…

I “teach” restorative yoga Sunday early evening and … quite frankly surprised that anyone showed up on Father’s Day with a big basket ball game live on TV at 5pm, exactly when the class starts. Most men I know were glued to the screen, a drink in his/their hands … a showdown between Warriors and Cavilers had 30+ million real time viewers (BTW, NBA players love yoga … Here, it’s true.) Restorative yoga is not heavily marketed and I actually like the idea of serendipity – fateful stumbling into the luscious space, the idea of a secret recharge station is somehow appealing – so I bow humbly to anyone showing up to reap the benefits of this subtle but powerful practice. I mean, no wonder, Judith Lasater, PhD in East/West Philosophy and Yoga & Physical Therapist got so hooked. It’s meditation prep flowing and floating… a respite, taking refuge from the extremely hectic lives we lead.

It’s the inner wisdom that these students listened to – that is – we have to detox/cleanse, purify our bodies, clear our mind – press that reset button- before we can even reap the benefits of a meditation practice. All the chanting and matras are not going to help if your inner light is dim … unlit. In fact, a real zazen is probably not sustainable unless you are well rested and somewhat clear headed …to steady yourself. Sunday is dedicated to worship and deep healing RESTORATION. What Judith calls a “radical” relaxation to tap into the inner brightness we can all source. That brightness doesn’t just happen – that radiance, the “Sri” as Brenna and Jean would say – is something we harness through yoga practice, step by step.

In celebration of summer solstice and full moon this week sharing my favorite chandra namaskar you can find on utube – sheer love. It’s a goosebump for me. Truly. I am karaoke-ing this…Reminded me of the time Srivatsa Ramaswami recited a chant along with the Surya Namaskar – the contrasting solar salutation, making us realize the sacred significance of this practice – it’s not mere fitness and therapy. It’s pranic vibrations through each layer of our Koshas …so that we may awaken to live fully, taking nothing for granted, especially the love and beauty that surrounds us:

Om Kamesvaryai Namaha, “salutations to she who fulfills desires”.

Om Bhagamalinyai Namaha, “salutations to she who wears the garland of prosperity”.

Om Nityaklinnayai Namaha, “salutations to she who is ever compassionate”.

Om Bherundayai Namaha, “salutations to she who is ferocious”.

Om Vahnivasinyai Namaha, “salutations to she who resides in fire”.

Om Tvaritayai Namaha, “salutations to she who is swift”.

Om Kulasundaryai Namaha, “salutations to she who is virtuous, respectable and charming”.

Om Nityayai Namaha, “salutations to she who is eternal”.

Om Vijayayai Namaha, “salutations to she who is ever victorious”.

Om Sarvamangalayai Namaha, “salutations to she who is the source of all good fortunes”.

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In an essence, it’s a salutation, blessing and honoring the deep humanness of ourselves. Let’s make it a ritual we engage in so we are reminded of the beauty within and all that surrounds us.
Everyday.