Category: Beautiful Places

Categories
Beautiful Places Healthy Food Healthy Living

“Oh She Glows!”

cookiemonster
I was looking into Canadian – British Columbia related information and somehow, stumbled upon this blog as I was – actually to confess – looking for a recipe to recreate these cookies I got addicted to while there.
What kind of cookies? The package reads:

– “Sprouted 100% whole grain cookies”
– “No Egg or Dairy”
– ” Made with Chia and Flax”
– “Digest like vegetables” !!!

Cookies = Vegetables ???
Whhaaat? Doesn’t it sound too good to be true? BUT, they exist! Okay, not quite like veggies as they are made with sugar 🙁
Still, what a great blog ! I would cut down on the sugar or replace the sugar with perhaps apple sauce or dates though but … otherwise, such fun site to explore as Vancouver was:) Some bloggers are … amazing. (I was taken to this site because I wanted to re-create these cookies – modifying this recipe to do something about sugar… AND the ones in Vancouver had Chia seeds in them – very chewy…I may have to consult my Macrobiotic Cooking teacher – Shinobu-sensei:)

BTW, had you not already guessed, I love cookie monster …and live by the same philosophy:)
Munching down cookies, it’s a wonder that I somehow manage to be at my college days weight after going through a lot like a yo-yo in terms of weight. (I actually wanted to get down to 100-105lbs but this neighbor lady I respect took a look at me and said, “you lost enough weight – but no more, okay?”. From Japanese standard, I am fat ? but… I think I will just listen to her out of respect. Anyway, muscles weigh more than fat and …yes,

The key is… No white sugar.

Sugar-is-As-Addictive-As-Cocaine-From www.positivemed.com, a great resource.

It’s interesting – did you see THIS article which makes you realize how difference in perspective changes how you are perceived … no wonder, I used to sometimes feel FAT in Japan but relatively thin? or rather normal in US – What is considered IDEAL is different depending on which country you are in. It’s all about the Perspective so why let others judge you? Ideal weight is when you feel light and energetic – not whatever you see in the mirror – in fact, why even look at the mirror, other than to smile with unconditional love and motherly approval – trust yourself. You are “ideal” in this Universe:)

Perspective doesn’t shape your life, it IS your life.

-Judith Hanson Lasater

Categories
Beautiful Places Yoga

Restorative Yoga class in Vancouver

(Re-)Discovered that Vancouver is quite a cosmopolitan city – even after 2 weeks in Tokyo, the mega-city, step into Vancouver downtown area and one can appreciate this “city” with a rather international flair. Luck “fate” would have it that we were staying right across the street from a yoga studio and from our window, we could look down on Lululemon store down the block.IMG_0267_small
IMG_0055_small
A very clean and sleek yoga studio in downtown Vancouver. It’s Sunday morning at 9:45am, the studio is packed with 50+ students for this Restorative Yoga class.
Two studio rooms, one named “Earth”; the other named “Fire”… Earth room is very grounding with trees and greenery you can see out from the windows and lovely soft lantern lighting … whereas Fire studio is a smaller stark space (maybe because they heat it) with ShaktiShiva as display – so appropriate…no?
IMG_0061_small
This is the Earth Room …
IMG_0064_small
Greenery outside even though this is in the middle of the city full of concrete high-risers – nature is breathing alongside…
IMG_0067_small

IMG_0078_small
IMG_0079_small
IMG_0088_small
Neat to see the books I have in their book shelves …
IMG_0090_small
IMG_9999_smallHad to take a photo of this because this is exactly what this guy was talking about – he said, “I would do yoga if there was a class called ‘yoga for inflexible guys’ – well, here it is … he just has to show up in Vancouver? No more excuses – Yoga4StiffGuys? Good idea for some with trepidation starting yoga…
IMG_9971_small

Categories
Beautiful People Beautiful Places Beautiful Things

Safe Distance?

Rustic, quaint village … One does not have to get on an airplane – a getaway is possible in safe distance:)

Picked up this lovely book, A Year with Hafiz by Daviel Ladinsky. It’s a daily contemplations with Hafiz poems that I was drawn to by the color of the cover and then… had to own as I was on a short visit to Pt. Reyes station. There’s a lovely bakery and a bookstore there. (AND even a quaint yoga studio owned by none other than MC Yogi and his wife. Sweeet & cozy…Not to mention, Cowgirl’ Creamery…Not sure if there’s Vegan cheese there though – but just get Miyoko’s at the grocery store down the street…)

If you hadn’t guessed, I love … bookstores (& yoga studios, of course) and this particular bookstore in the village is quaint and the owner (I am just assuming he is), so nice when I purchased this book and somewhat related books. I realize with Amazon and eReading, maybe bookstores are passe but … love indie bookstores with smell of paper and shelves made of wood! There must be a whole forest worth of paper in the store …and some of these books seem to be …breathing. Yes – they breathe with life when you pick up one after another into your hands – Am I weird? Physical books are just not the same as Kindle and … while eBooks are practical, there’s something about the old fashioned papers in print – you can:

– fold the page at the corner…
– fold the entire page into a triangle for the corner to stick out…
– Not recommended but COULD rip a page out and fold into paper airplane or crane or …
– it’s a marker …
– press flowers you pick up from the side of the street…
– and that also goes for beautiful leaves with designs of veins so fine…
– you can write on them…
– highlight …
– doodle and draw, sketch…
– get inspired and mess with your own haiku or poem by the margins…
– not recharge it…
– write messages and then …
– give it …
– LOSE it…

Then let’s not forget that with thick ones, you can
– use them as yoga props! It’s a block!!
– it’s a zen cushion – a rather stiff one for sure.

Here’s the selected poem from August 24th – Enjoy and … possibly … relate:

***********************

Not Knowing Exactly What is Going On

You are newly hatched, so when someone
come by to feed you with some friendship or
even something well cooked,

your beak on occasion stick them in the neck,
not knowing exactly what is going on.

Even when the Beloved lands on your limb
with a fresh worm of guidance or wisdom,

your clumsiness can persist, and He too gets poked.

That is why I thought I might keep a safe distance from you,
maybe that of a few hundred years

Until you settle down, and get things properly worked out.

*******************
A FEW HUNDRED YEARS!????

Please … get things worked out,

soon,

Okay?

AND

“worm of guidance or wisdom” as opposed to “words of guidance or wisdom” … which do you prefer?