A friend of mine was talking about deciding whether she wanted to stay in a relationship and i thought man, we all make that decision every day.
You know, when you decide to keep your mouth shut instead of say something bitchy. When you decide to be open-minded and listen rather than holding onto your judgements. When you decide to tell the truth instead of just glossing it over or saying what you think the person wants to hear.
Each of those choices weaken or strengthen the connection we have with our loved ones. Each time we’re either nurturing what we having, or making a tiny tear. So we’re choosing all the time.
I’m doing a detox again and I do them because I’m a Foodie. I need to reset my taste buds and habits back to “clean” every once in a while. I need to remind myself that even though red wine goes with everything, that doesn’t mean it has to. I need to remind myself that veggies and brown rice are good.
But it never fails, I open up my kit, find the list of OK/verboten foods and feel that sinking feeling. Column 1 you can only have 20% of, so your eyes slide hopefully over to Column 2 and 3 where you see in the recommended list that you’ll be living on brown rice and leeks with a nice big glass of water - for TEN DAYS. It’s not very inspiring. For a Foodie it’s a little terrifying.
But look down column 3 a little farther and notice with me that you can eat butter and any oil that isn’t peanut. How did I miss that before?
I still have holdover habits from the ol’ low fat days. And I rationally know that the body needs good fats, but it was a big epiphany for me the day I read that the fat soluble vitamins in veggies *need* some fat to help your body absorb them. Yes, that means butter on your veggies, celebrate with me. Or olive oil, or sesame oil - you get the picture.
So for tonight’s meal I did this:
Threw some brown rice into the microwave rice cooker for 20 minutes (with some butter 
). Put a good puddle (maybe a tablespoon) of sesame oil in the pan and heated ‘er good. Threw in a quarter-size slab of fresh ginger. Cut carrots into matchsticks and threw them in the puddle. Cut thin slices of red and green peppers and a couple stocks of bok choy. Added and tossed it all around. Added a sprinkle of Chinese Five Spice. Sprinkled with sesame seeds. Tossed until the carrots were done enough. Loaded up my rice and enjoyed.
The veggies had good flavour. I use a non-stick pan so that I don’t *have* to use oil for stirfrying. But I found the oil gave the meal the staying power to get me through the evening without racing for the rice cakes and almond butter (my snack stand-by during detox).
Day 1 and I’m a happy Foodie. Stay tuned and I’ll tell you what else I make.
I’ve been doing alot of Yoga Mudra lately - the juicy shoulder/chest stretch that feels so great if you’ve done alot of time at a desk or computer.
To get into Yoga Mudra - interlock your fingers together, clasping your hands behind your back. Ideally you want to have straight arms so if that’s not happening, grab a strap. Roll your shoulder up and back. *Squeeze* your shoulder blades together. Then straighten your arms, pressing your hands away from your hips so that you feel a stretch in your chest and the fronts of your shoulders.
It’s an arm position that you can use in all kinds of poses. Here are a few:
Standing Forward Bend - stand with feet hip width apart. Establish Yoga Mudra with your arms and then slowly bend forward, creasing at the hips. Keep a slight bend in your knees. Make sure neck is relaxed and head hangs loose. Keep letting your shoulders relax, keep breathing, this can be intense. Stay for at least 5 breaths. If you can really focus on relaxing your shoulders, often you’ll get just a tiny release your exhales. Come out of this slowly so you don’t reintroduce any tension. Bring hands back to hips first, unclasp your hands, then roll up, or with hands on hips come up slowly with a flat back. Stand and breath for a bit.
Wide Leg Forward Bend - use the same instruction as the last except with feet farther apart. Bring your arms in a t-position and widen your feet so that they’re under your ankles. The insides of your feet should be parallel to each other. Again, knees can have a little softness in them. Follow the same instructions as the Standing Forward Bend.
Warrior 1 - Hold Warrior 1 for a few breaths, then Yoga Mudra your arms and creasing at the hips, fold over your bent leg. Relax your arms away from you. Your torso can rest on your thigh. Keep your neck relaxed. Breath as you actively rest.
Kneeling - From a kneeling position get into Yoga Mudra and then fold forward so that your forehead is resting on the floor (or a pillow). Relax your arms away from you, finding the stretch. Then slowly lift your hips, getting a nice curve in your spine. You will roll from your forehead to the top of head as you lift. Keep your lower body active, so all your weight isn’t in your neck and head. Take a few breaths here and then slowly come back.
Locust - once you’ve done a pose using Yoga Mudra and another back bending posture to ensure you’re warmed up, try this one. Add Yoga Mudra to a Locust pose. Try bringing only your upper body off the floor the first time. Keep legs engaged so you have a firm foudation. And then for the second round bring upper and lower body off the floor. When you do the first one really focus on squeezing your shoulder blades together as you press your arms away and press your chest forward. Really work the curve in your upper back. Then in the second round work the curve in the lengh of your back. I love this one, it’s intense but delicious. When you finish each one, let your head rest on your mat and take a breather feeling the way the energy moves in the back of your body.
Relaxed Yoga Mudra - The other night in class we were winding down, almost to Savasana but I wanted to do one more shoulder stretch, so we did this one. Lay face down, put your arms into Yoga Mudra getting a shoulder stretch while the rest of your body is fairly relaxed. You can also do it lying on your side.
Yoga Mudra is such a good heart opener and it stretches all those muscles that get tight from slumping all day. It’s worth adding at least one of these to each yoga session.