open your heart

we've been working on heart-opening this week in class. opening and closing class with the hands in a "lotus mudra" before the heart. pressing the thumbs into the sternum and lifting the heart up while simultaneously folding the shoulder blades into the back is an easy way to lift not only your heart, but also your spirits! weaving a balance of side-stretches, forward folds and twists among backbends can leave you feeling not only physically energized but also compassionate for yourself and others. backbending quickly builds courage and stamina and although they may feel like a struggle at first, with a little surrender and a lot of breath work, you will soon find your body opening up just like a beautiful yet serene lotus flower! because of the many inquiries, here is a copy of what i read during savasana this week. have a wonderful weekend!

"Deep in the center of my being there is an infinite well of love. I now allow this love to flow to the surface. It fills my body, my mind, my consciousness, my very being, and radiates out from me in all directions and returns to me multiplied. The more love I use and give, the more I have to give, the supply is endless. The use of love makes me feel good, it is an expression of my inner joy. I love myself, therefore, I take loving care of my body. I lovingly feed it nourishing food and beverages. I lovingly groom it and dress it, and my body lovingly responds to me with vibrant health and energy. I love myself therefore, I provide for myself a comfortable home, one that fills all my needs and is a pleasure to be in. I fill the rooms with the vibration of love so that all who enter, myself included, will feel this love and be nourished by it. I love myself therefore, I work at a job that I truly enjoy doing, one that uses my creative talents and abilities, working with and for people that I love and love me, and earning a good income. I love myself therefore, I behave and think in a loving way to all people for I know that that which I give out returns to me multiplied. I only attract loving people in my world for they are a mirror of what I am. I love myself therefore, I forgive and totally release the past experiences and I am free. I love myself therefore, I live totally in the now, experiencing each moment as good and knowing that my future is bright and joyous and secure for I am a beloved child of the universe and the universe lovingly takes care of me now and forever more. And so it is."

--Louise L Hay

who knew?

walnuts make awesome burgers! andy and i just spent a weekend in mineral springs, wisconsin and they served the most ridiculously, delicious veggie burgers i've ever had (and i've had my share). try as i might, i couldn't seem to get them to divulge their secret recipe, but with my moosewood cookbook by mollie katzen and some details i pried out of the hotels proprietor (don't skimp on the sage!) i managed to piece together a pretty close version of my own. since launching it for my family this past weekend, i've raved about it to anyone within earshot and finally today after class a student recommended that i post it on my blog! genius! so here it is in all of it's vague, hippie-dippie glory. play around with it for yourselves and share your results with me! bon appetit yogis!

"danette's walnut burger extraordinaire"!

a few handfuls of organic walnuts (see this is where the vague, hippie-dippie part comes in!)

1-2 large organic cage-free eggs

freshly ground bread crumbs (trader joe's croutons ground up in mini food processor)

black beluga lentils (fully cooked/trader joe's)

sea salt

fresh ground pepper

dash (or 2 or3) toasted wheat germ

handful of fresh sage chopped

organic ghee (clarified butter) for frying

chop the walnuts into small pieces and add breadcrumbs (i added nearly as much breadcrumbs as walnuts). beat one egg in a separate bowl and add to walnut mixture. (save 2nd egg in case mixture ends up being too dry). then toss in a handful of the lentils, wheat germ (or ground flaxseed meal), salt and pepper. fold chopped sage in last and form patties (add extra egg here if needed). heat ghee in a pan and then add burgers. cook until crisp, flip and add a thick slice of sharp organic cheddar cheese. to serve burgers, i used challah buns that i toasted in ghee and then topped them with an aioli (organic mayo mixed with some minced garlic, dry mustard, salt and cider vinegar to taste), carmelized red onions, butter lettuce and a thick slice of a beefsteak tomato. Wowza!

P.S. my husband (non-vegetarian) claimed it to be better than a "regular burger" and my 8 year old fuss-budget-vegetarian daughter happily ate it! that is why i've declared it an "extraordinaire"!

"i am ~ calm"

for the last few weeks i have been teaching sequences that emphasize balance and the mantra that i've been imbuing each class with is "i am" on the inhale, "calm" on the exhale. "i am calm". coupled alongside the challenges posed within "balancing" asanas, such as vrkasana (tree), garudasana (eagle) and vira 3 (warrior 3) silently repeating "i am calm" seems an interesting play on two extremes. remembering that what is cultivated on the mat is likely to sneak into your life off the mat, who couldn't use a little "calm" in their day?

summer

Where does the time go??? i can't believe that my last post was in may! it's not that i haven't had anything to share, because i have a backlog! that being the case, a list seems appropriate and quite efficient.

~ The telluride bluegrass festival! an annual convergence of hippies (jo??), yogi's and deadheads at 10,000 feet above sea level hooping and blissing out to bands like leftover salmon, lyle lovett and david rawlings and gillian welch. oh boy was that fun! got to meditate with the drepung monks (the dalai lama's posse) while we were there to. b.t.w. if you're planning on going next year you'd better drive a subaru. i'm not sure they will let you into town without one (the older the better) jo???

~Running! (a big nod to my student kate for this miracle!) after a year hiatus and big anxiety about shortening up my hamstrings ~ i've hit the trail again thanks in part to the podcast "couch to 5k in 10 weeks" ~ which has me up to a painless 20 minute run. after devouring the latest issue of runner's world i am chopping on the bit to get back to doing long runs :)

~ Creative cooking. i've been enjoying playing around in the kitchen again and not taking vegetarian cooking so serious and carb and dairy heavy. kale is a big fav at the moment.

~ green vibrance "green drink". i just started drinking this miracle elixir 4 days ago, so i'll have to get back to you about all the hype. i'm happy to say that it doesn't taste nearly as bad as you might think though!

~ Matthew sanford, an incredible, inspiring yogi! check out his website and podcast on speaking of faith. this man is amazing and i'm dying to read his book.

~ parivrtta trikonasana (revolved triangle pose) formerly the bain of my yoga existence, it has been feeling frighteningly good these days!

~ hillary rubin's podcast. a great level 2-3 hatha yoga practice that's free!! great in a pinch when i've been on the road or can't make it to elyssa's class at sunshine.

~ The wild rice burger from betty's pies in two harbors minnesota. i wanted to take a picture of it, it was so good, but by the time i thought of it i had already scarfed down more than half of it. mmmmm :)

~ On the subject of food.....the vegan "turkey" reuben at the chicago diner rocks. hell, you can't go wrong with anything at the chicago diner!

~A "girls"trip to lutsen, minnesota, just outside of grand marais, with my dear friend sara and our kids. no phones, no tv's, no cell phone signal, no kidding! did i mention that they also happen to have the best public radio station in the world, wtip? you can stream it free over the internet so check it out!

Now it's your turn to throw out a line and share your "list"! i can't wait to see what has been inspiring you....

"have neti pot will travel"

is anyone else out there suffering with seasonal allergies? i have been fighting the good fight this past week, but am beginning to feel a little overtaken! my defense has been; rest, lot's of water, a plethora of vitamins (shaklee of course!) and my trusted neti pot! at the risk of being "gross" i have on more than one occasion "plugged" this handy little device in class. i had been using a neti pot for years, but only after i had a sinus infection or cold going on. it wasn't until last fall when i met with a wonderful practitioner named ed danaher from the ayurvedic institute in new mexico, that i began to use it daily. it has since replaced my beloved cup of coffee in the morning, in that i need to use it or my day will somehow be "amiss". i firmly belive that in addition to the above regimene, the neti pot is what is keeping me hovering on the line of full blown sinunitus. even if you don't own one yourself i'm sure you've at least seen one. did you catch dr. oz using one live on oprah's show last year? i thought that was really brave! plus you can check out all kinds of tutorial videos on u tube. i use bottled water, a 1/2 tsp. of iodized sea salt and then warm it up for 20 secs. to make it warm, but not hot. f.y.i. if the water is too cold you'll get one heck of a brain freeze and subsequent headache! i also bring plenty of kleenex into the bathroom with me. so other than cutting down all the cottonwood trees in my neighborhood, does anyone have any other suggestions?

"jiva, what??"

i ordered this book, jivamukti yoga: practices for liberating body and soul from amazon as i sat out on the patio last sunday, tuesday it was on the porch and today i've almost finished it! the authors, sharon gannon and david life are sort of the "rockstar set" of yoga with a fabu studio in manhattan that caters to celebs such as: sting and trudi styler, christy turlington and claudia schiffer to name just a few. i've never come across any jivamukti teachers or heard anyone talk about this style of yoga, but as i surfed the web last sunday morning they just seemed to keep popping up and so my interest was piqued! from what i read and the few u tube videos they have out, i figured that they were pretty eccentric, but they spoke with such reverence about "the practice" and there are hundreds if not thousands of testamonials to their credit, one being from seane corn, whom i really admire.
the book did not disappoint! the first part is a very easy to understand section on the "roots" of yoga, the second part focuses on the "outer parts" or physical practice of yoga and the third and final part covers the "inner practices" of yoga, including a wonderful chapter on meditation. they do include a series of yoga sequences, but the pictures are rather small and i didn't think they covered warming up or how to end the practice very well, especially for beginners. another really good part of the book was chapter4 titled "ahimsa: walking the nonviolent path". both sharon and david are vegans, members of PETA and extremely vocal on the subject of animal-rights. just like the movie food inc. was difficult to sit thru, so to is it to read this chapter. i had been a lacto-ovo vegetarian from the age of 15 (gave up meat for lent) till i was about 30. when i began eating meat again, i slowly slipped back into it. a tuna salad sandwich here, a piece of chicken there, until i was actually eating prime rib, RARE! as i began my training with daren, he talked a lot about vegetarianism and the yogic path, but i remembered thinking, i did that already and i don't think i need to do it again. i was wrong. becoming a vegetarian again truly was not a conscious choice on my part, the more i studied, practiced and was surrounded in "yoga", the less i desired any meat and then at some point it just seemed wrong or contrary to the "lightness" that i was beginning to experience in my body and my life in general. and this isn't the only subject that sharon and david make thought-provoking either as it doesn't seem that holding back is their style!
all in all it's been not only a great read but very inspirational. if you haven't read it yet, i highly recommend it. after i finish this book, next on deck is "yoga: the spirit and practice of moving into stillness" by erich schiffmann. it got fantastic reviews on amazon and he is a very highly regarded teacher who i've been interested in learning more about. i wish i had hours and hours of uninterrupted time to read, there is soooo much more to learn! are you reading any good books? if so please share!

bloom

i awoke to the quintessential spring morning. cool and breezy beneath a crisp blue sky, shocks of pink on redbud trees, magnolia petals strewn across the street like giant pink snow flakes and the birds. it is so wonderful to hear the birds again! you really don't realize how quiet and insular winter is until the birds show up again in the spring. with sunshine, longer days and warmer weather, moods are lifted, possibilities seem endless and energy levels soar. everywhere you go people seem "warmer". they are out and about, smiling more and chatting. i'm seeing this crop up in my weekly classes as well. it started slowly, with some chit chat before class as people negotiated around each other setting out their mats and props. but now it seems to be spilling over into class with a few whispers and giggles here and there and then yesterday, after class, it erupted into full blown "community". community or "satsang" is a goal of mine as a teacher. it's why i began this blog actually, so that students could stop by and leave comments and begin sharing with each other all the delights that begin to bubble up in your life when you practice yoga. so, yesterday although class ended at 10:45, the last students didn't leave the studio until 11:20! yeah! with a core group practicing alongside each other sometimes multiple times a week, a camaraderie has settled in, a realization perhaps that "hey we have some things in common, don't we"?. yes, we do! yoga isn't simply an "exercise program".but you know that already. you won't find the same anonymity in a studio that you would after a spin class at the local gym. why? because yoga "yokes". it yokes the souls and minds and hearts of those who practice it, not only to the divine, but to each other. on a gross level it addresses the physical, but on a subtle level it enlightens the mind and transforms your heart. you can't help being drawn then toward people or a community that supports that transformation. during yoga practice, the ego takes a much needed ride in the back seat as we are encouraged to listen to our breath, notice how we feel and to open our hearts. asana practice has been likened to a "whole body prayer" and the perfect opportunity to practice the "whole body prayer" this spring is with the many additional sun salutations we've added to class. coming to them with a reverence, following your breath and rising and bowing again and again just like spring always shows up at the end of winter lifting our hearts and minds, energizing our bodies and bringing us hope. seeing our community bloom is much like the delight a gardener must feel when those first few flowers burst up, out of the long dormancy of winter each year and into the warmth and fortuity of spring!