Archive for ‘yoga’

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December 3, 2010

One Word – #Reverb10

Beach yoga in Laguna Niguel. Photo by Carla Duharte of babyjidesign.com.

December 1 – One Word.

Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you? (Author: Gwen Bell)

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PRESENCE

Last December, I decided that my word for 2010 was going to be PRESENCE. I wanted to stop multi-tasking and Doing. So. Much. Too. Much. I was done with being super-mom, super-attorney, super-volunteer. I wanted to spend more one-on-one time with my kids, with my husband. And I started to do yoga regularly again…after a 10 year break.

It has been amazing. Presence has transformed my life, continues to transform my life. Not only did I go to that first yoga class, I added many new habits to my life each month that has made me healthier and more present in my life overall. And I remembered some things, in this new space that I created by reducing some non-essential obligations that had been taking my energy away from my family and friends. I remembered more about who I am as a person. As many parents of young kids, my identity has been really entangled with my kids these part almost 7 years (Ben and Lily will be 7 in less than 2 months – crazy!).

My word for 2011 is ADVENTURE. I’m going on some. I’m not sure what yet, but this is where my roots lie. My parents are super-adventurous, I married a guy who loves adventure and its something I want to share with my kids more.

And…I. Can’t. Wait.

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This post is part of the #reverb10 challenge. Read all of my #reverb10 posts here and please let me know if you are doing the challenge too, so I can read your posts too!

Posted in #reverb10, yoga | 3 Comments »

October 29, 2010

938 words about cleansing

An unsigned gift

I am sitting here drinking a Diet Dr Pepper, something I really did not think I would be doing just one week post-cleanse. It is a slippery slope, getting back to “reality” and “normal” eating/drinking after really restricting yourself. I’m not so proud of myself just now. But I do love me some Diet Dr Pepper every now and then. Hey, at least I’m not eating Cheddar and Sour Cream Ruffles along with it, right?

I felt great on the cleanse, which consisted of a “pre-cleanse” period for about 5 days (during which I got rid of the wine, caffeine, second helpings and chocolate binges, and added more green smoothies to my lifestyle) and then a “full-on-cleanse” period for 5 solid days. I post-cleansed for 3-4 days….and I suppose I feel like I’m still sort of in the “post-cleanse” period.

During the pre-cleanse, one of the things I did was to take an afternoon to clean my kitchen. I listened to Cate’s 1-hour audio on “The Simple Kitchen” (a free workshop that she does – I highly recommend it) while I cleaned. I felt like I was already in a good place, having done some of my “pre” work. I had shopped for the fresh veggies and herbs I would need for the cleanse – asking “Where in the ginger root? How about mung beans?” in Whole Foods. Hearing Cate’s voice while I threw out leftover taco meat and wiped down the shelves of my refrigerator solidified things for me and helped me to see my kitchen as a…well, simple and central place.

This was not just about what I would be eating during the cleanse, but also about how the kitchen is the CENTER of my house and of my family. This is true for me more and more. I used to be just in and out of the kitchen, never really spending time there. This, despite my kitchen being literally in the center of my house (we have a “great room” concept, so there is no closing the door to the kitchen or avoiding it – it is there all the time). But I was not really present in kitchen before just several months ago.

On Saturday morning, I called my sister. One of the drawbacks of Robin living so far away is that she is 4 and a half hours ahead of me timezone-wise. In this case, however, I used this to my advantage. I was just getting up, but she had been up for hours and had already done the first item on the to-do list for the cleanse – the salt water flush. She and her husband had both done it, with good results – the results being that the heaviness of the sea salt completely cleans you out. I turned on my kettle and sat down with a mug of sea salt water. Um…ew. But it wasn’t terrible. It also did not work for me. What?! Later in the day, I reported my lack of results to Robin. It took us a while to figure out that I hadn’t used enough salt. Oh, fantastic, I get to do it again! This time, I only had to drink half a gallon of the nasty stuff and voila.

In the afternoon, I dusted off my juicer – literally, it had been sitting on top of my dryer for at least 2 years and was caked with dust – and Jeff and I figured out how to make Green Lemonade. Pretty tasty (sweet apple, celery, kale, ginger root and lemon – the lemon is key, by the way)! Ok, I could do this.

Ingredients for Green Lemonade

I feel like I need to do a quick aside here…. Let me just say that I am not a fan of boxes and herbs that you buy in the health food store as cleanses. This cleanse that Robin and I did through Yogahealer was a “Living Foods” cleanse. We mostly drank juices and hot peppermint tea. We had some soups and salads as well. We did not take any “supplements” – just add tons of fruits and veggies. Guided by Cate Stillman at Yogahealer (Cate was one of my yoga teachers over the summer at an amazing workshop we attended), it was challenging for sure, but very supported. The online forums that Cate moderates as part of the cleanse were key. Key. I could NOT have done this by myself, even with Robin. I needed this community.

That being said, I do feel a bit lost now. Even with the post-cleanse recipes and all I have learned (and continue to learn) about what the best things to eat for me are, I am SO tempted by Starbucks cranberry-orange scones and Tootsie Rolls (damn you, cool fall weather and Halloween!). I am continuing to drink my Green Lemonade on many mornings (ok, I’ve had it only twice in the past week…), but find the culture of treats and junk around us incredibly alluring. I want to have a healthy relationship with food and feel ok about indulging in moderation. Is this possible in today’s society of convenience and packaged foods? I know, an unanswerable question. I suppose we all have temptation, right?

I am cooking mainly out of two cookbooks right now – one is the Kripalu Cookbook (Kripalu is a yoga retreat center in Massachusetts that Robin went to last summer and we have made many yummy recipes from this book and online recipe center – largely vegan and vegetarian, very accessible in terms of healthy eating) and the other is The Earthbound Cook, which is a selection that the bloggers at From Left to Write are reading for November. It is my hope that I can find a good balance and to take the things I learned with me to the “real” world. For instance, The Earthbound Cook talks about how to do sprouting, something I learned in the Yogahealer cleanse – I love seeing this stuff as more “mainstream.” I guess my whole goal is to ENJOY the healthy food I’m cooking and eating and to learn more about how my family can eat and cook less packaged/more living. And I think I’m in a good place to do that.

Thanks to all for the support during this cleanse. Among other awesomeness, I came home one day to find the lovely rose and lavender arrangement and unsigned note from a friend (pictured at the top of this post). Thank you to whoever left it! (Actually, I DID figure it out – this nice person is very nice to me and others all the time – she inspires me to be a better friend. Thanks :) )

If you want to do a cleanse of your own, do a Living Foods cleanse with Cate from Yogahealer, as opposed to out of a box. All right, I’ll dump out the rest of the Diet Dr Pepper and have some tea now…

Posted in Challenges, Cooking, Home life, My Twin Sis, yoga | 8 Comments »

September 30, 2010

Healthy Mom, Healthy Kids

Yesterday at our elementary school, ice cream cones were being sold after school. We already have ice cream on Fridays (and we definitely get right in line for that at the end of a long week!)….do we REALLY need ice cream Wednesdays too? Ridiculous. Where is the healthy alternative here?

Six months ago, I thought our family was pretty healthy. Not super healthy, but fairly good. I thought that our kids were doing ok in the food department – typical picky eaters, but getting better, trying new foods, adding different things that they liked. We were not sedentary. The kids knew what vegetables are (unlike some of the kids Jamie Oliver talked to in his The Food Revolution/TED speech). There was no soda or chips in our house (regularly anyway…I pull all the junk food out for special occasions like the Super Bowl :) ).

But…last February, I started making changes in my life(style). This wasn’t prompted by a crisis or anything. It sort of just happened. It started with switching from coffee to tea. This was an easy one for me, but it might not be for everyone. I just personally have never been a big coffee drinker (I had drank decaf for 9 years) and had heard about the health benefits of green tea (antioxidants, better breath, cleaner teeth, etc).

In March, I added another change, since my tea thing had worked so well. I continued adding something every month and I tried to make sure the effort was going TOWARDS something healthy, rather than a feeling like a deprivation.

February – drink tea

March – daily yoga (minimum: 15 minutes of sun salutations)

April – no red meat…ok, that’s a deprivation one, but still pretty easy for me

May – green smoothies, no/less processed foods….ok, definitely deprivation and this one is HARD!

June – enjoy summer

July – get outside

August – light candles

September – meal planning

Some of my descriptions above are slightly cryptic. Like June’s enjoy summer truly means work less. I was living in my email for years and was ready to do something else with my life. July’s get outside meant for me taking walks/going for runs/gardening/shopping at the farmer’s market instead of the grocery store/biking to somewhere I would normally drive. August’s lighting candles meant cleaning my kitchen table off and lighting candles every night to enjoy my home (this has all been helped tremendously by FlyLady and if you don’t know what FlyLady is and you have a cluttered/messy house/life, go check it out NOW! It can be slightly cheesy at times, but I just take what I like from it and routines work wonders for me).

In the course of this, I have realized that we have been FAR from healthy and that our mainstream culture is on a fairly dangerous track. For me, it is a process, it is still a process. I am continuing to add new healthy habits to my lifestyle and I know changes won’t come overnight. I am not trying to lose a bunch of weight (although those nagging 7 pounds would be nice!), but to focus on prevention of disease, feeling good and setting a healthy example for my kids. It is also about having less stress in my life and just enjoying life to the fullest.

For September I have focused on meal planning. A good friend of mine, Jane, who writes the blog This Week for Dinner, has proven to me by her example that I should plan what to have for dinner every night. I KNOW that, logically. The problem for me had been that, up until several months ago (when I cut out processed foods and was forced to start cooking), I did not ENJOY cooking. I have always said “I don’t cook. I’m not a cook. Jeff is the cook in our family.” My mom was not a huge cook – she made the same 10 meals, alternating them around, for my entire childhood and none of them were quite inventive (sorry, Mom) – but she was a great baker and I learned that from her. My dad was a good cook, but he threw in a little bit of this and a little bit of that and I never quite learned the basics. My Grandma Nita was a wonderful cook and baker – I wish I had been able to spend more time with her growing up (we moved away when my sister and I were 8 years old and she did when I was in college).

So I baked, but never cooked. Never really cooked. I could follow a recipe, but would slink over to the prepared foods more often than not. Frozen pizza and a salad in a bag = dinner is served!

Now that I am cooking, I actually really enjoy it. And the kids are helping me cook, something that really did not happen before. They used to just continue playing and I would do it all (all being getting the scissors to cut off the plastic wrap and hitting “start” on the microwave). A big aha moment for me has been: My kids LIKE to cook. They actually enjoy it. It is fun and messy and experimental (especially if I let them get messy, have a turn stirring and pouring, and try their ideas out).

Today, Ava and I made pumpkin bread. We made it “healthier” by making some changes to our standard recipe. Of course, Ava can’t tell the difference (neither can I), but is learning how we can substitute whole wheat flour and agave to make it less sugary for us. This is not “hide spinach in the brownies” baking, but is very open with the kids about how I making things healthier.

 

Healthy Pumpkin Bread

 

Healthy Pumpkin Bread

Adapted from the recipe on Squidoo

3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2  teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup agave
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup pumpkin purée
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup applesauce
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes – 1 hour. I made cupcake too – bake about 15-17 minutes.

I could have adjusted the recipe to use just egg whites, but I didn’t want to go too off for my little experiment. It came out super yummy, so next time I’ll probably add some pumpkin seeds and some cranberries, maybe take away some egg yolks.

Because it is more a part of our lifestyle now, we talk with the kids all the time about the importance of getting exercise and eating healthy. We are (finally!) to the point where our family of five can go out for a run/walk/bike ride all together and not get overly exhausted, but all get exercise in. The kids see my make green smoothies every morning and I hope someday they will try them. For me, I feel like the key with young kids is to set a good example.

October habit?

Well, I am going to focus on my internal health. Starting October 11th I am doing my first ever cleanse/detox. I’m so excited about this Fall Cleanse (which includes some awesome yoga from one of my instructors, Cate, in the beautiful Tetons).

This post is part of the Yahoo! MotherBoard (of which I am a proud member!) discussion for September, centered on teaching kids healthy eating. Read more posts here on the YodelingMamas and on Yahoo! Motherboard.

Posted in Cooking, Getting Fit, Home life, yoga | 7 Comments »

August 27, 2010

Learning through osmosis

Figures in Motion: Famous Figures of Ancient Times

This post is part of the From Left to Write book club today and is inspired by the book Figures in Motion: Famous Ancient Figures by Cathy Diez-Luckie, an activity book for kids. Figures in Motion are movable paper figures to cut, color and assemble. Other Figures in Motion books include Dinosaurs on the Move and Animals in Running Wild, Famous Figures of the American Revolution and Famous Figures of the Civil War are in development for 2011.

When I was in college I took an Anthropology class to fulfill some general education credits. It was one of those class that I just….remember, to this day. Why did I learn so much? Although there were quite a few long, boring, archaic overhead projector lectures (remember those?!), required reading was The Anatomy Coloring Book. Yes, we were going back to kindergarten. A handful of colored pencils and my coloring book and I was off to inside and around the body. But the funny thing was that I learned SO much.

Recently, I got another anatomy lesson as part of the Anusara Yoga immersion I attended in Jackson Hole, WY and it all came back. It turns out that The Anatomy Coloring Book is also recommended reading for yoga instructors.

I learned long ago (and again two years ago in my kids’ preschool when they were learning about anatomy) that we have 206 bones in our bodies, but the symetry and alignment is sort of amazing. Most of the bones in our bodies, by far, are in our hands and feet. We go from many bones in our hands to two bones in our forearm to one arm in our upper arm. Our legs work the same way. The concept of pressing all four corners of the feet into the floor in any standing yoga pose means that you are finding the foundation. Without the foundation of the many, there is not room or strength or confidence for the rest of the body to flow upwards and outwards.

Maybe it is the same with the rest of our learning. We have to learn through osmosis or activity before we can take the next concrete step with that knowledge. We have to build the foundation. And, yes, apparently it can take years to put that knowledge into practice.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of Figures in Motion: Famous Ancient Figures by Cathy Diez-Luckie for the From Left to Write Book Club that I founded as a continuation of the SV Moms Group Book Club after founding that book club and serving as the book club editor for SV Moms Group for two years. I was not obligated to write about the book and all opinions are my own.

If you are interested in joining the virtual book club site From Left to Write, please contact me. From Left to Write holds regular book clubs, writing not book reviews, but our own stories that are inspired by the books we read.

Posted in A good read, Book Club, From Left to Write, yoga | 1 Comment »

August 22, 2010

Posing as a Canadian: Our trip to Newfoundland 2010

Robin and I at Regata Day in St. John's, Newfoundland

Just a few days ago, we returned from a month long trip to visit my twin sister, Robin and her family in St. John’s, Newfoundland. As luck would have it, we managed to hit pretty much the entire summer season there in this eastern island off the mainland of Canada. “The Rock,” as Newfoundland is sometimes called, has some pretty unforgiving weather – rain, sleet and misery is how my brother-in-law terms the usual state of affairs. But…on sunny days, it is gorgeous, and everyone runs immediately outside to dance naked in the sunshine. Ok, not really naked. But Newfoundlanders definitely bare more skin that I would in 60 degree weather (what is that in Celsius again? 15 degrees? Help me out, Canadians?). I still found myself going around mostly in a sweater and jeans in the Newfoundland summer.

(By the way, I traveled to St. John’s with the 3 kids, while my hubby batched it for a couple weeks and joined us at the end for about 10 days. The kids traveled great – thanks Air Canada for the 7 hours of movies…though I saw Catherine/Her Bad Mother last night and she told me that Virgin America flies a Toronto to San Francisco route and I am in love with that airline, so next time, Virgin!  At least for part of the way.)

At SFO, ready for takeoff

Newfoundland is a pretty cool place, despite the unforgiving weather. My sister has great friends, a culture that is centered around social events (drinking and eating, drinking and eating, drinking and eating), and a slower pace that we subject ourselves here to in Silicon Valley. There is a large Irish influence in Newfoundland – sort of like how Montreal has the French influences and Nova Scotia the Scottish. For instance, the drinking. There is a lot of drinking done in Newfoundland. Though the traditional Newfoundland drink is “screech” (an awful rum, maybe only found in Newfoundland) and not scotch. I was screeched in long ago, so am practically a Newfoundlander. Screeched in? You don’t know what that means? Oh. Well. Ok, I’ll tell you. CFAs (Come From Away’s – which is what Newfoundlanders call people who come to visit from other places) are pretty much obligated to be “screeched in,” a ceremony presided over by a natural-born Newfoundlander, involving standing in an ice-cold bucket of water, kissing a cod, reciting a poem (or something) and drinking a shot of screech. Really, it is fun. I think I was actually screeched in in Bermuda….by my brother-in-law when he and my sister lived there. I know….why did they ever move from Bermuda to Newfoundland??? Well, Newfoundland seems to be one of those magnetic places that people who are born and raised there want to leave for college or to travel, but then they always come back. It is a dream goal of mine and my Robin’s to live next door to each other someday, but for now we ride in a lot of airplanes.

Some fun local things people in St. John’s say:

  • Costco is still referred to as “The Price Club” even though the name changed at least 10 years ago
  • Every plastic bag is called a “Sobey’s bag,” Sobey’s being a grocery store chain
  • The “Outer Rim Road” is on every map and people will tell you to “take the Outer Rim Road to….” BUT there is actually NO Outer Rim Road. It is the Trans Canada Highway and all the signs say that, not Outer Rim Road. Confusing much?

Walking down George Street, a street in downtown St. John’s lined with bars that is sometimes closed off to car traffic for festivals, you will likely see some jigs being danced and hear lots of fiddle and Celtic music. It is very FUN to go out there at night and it doesn’t take long for CFAs to learn the words to the classic Newfoundland songs. Rock/celtic Newfoundland music exists too – heard of the band Great Big Sea? Simply awesome. We saw them in concert about 7 years ago. Gossip (as heard on a plane from St. John’s to Halifax on my way to BlogHer’10 in NYC): the lead singer of the lead singer of Great Big Sea is good friends with Russel Crowe, who comes to visit St. John’s quite frequently. I’m sure I will be hanging out with them on my next trip.

Lin, Robin and I at the George Street Festival on Regata Day Eve

What did we do there? With five kids aged 7 and younger, it was pretty lively. We broke up fights and made them clean up their messes. Oh! And we did some fun stuff too. We…

hiked around the beautiful ponds that are everywhere in Newfoundland

Ben at Kent's Pond

built houses out of “dinosaur eggs” in the forest where my parents are camped at the East end of their year long RV trip

Hannah and Lily at Pippy Park Campground

swam at the Murray’s Pond clubhouse pool

The kids play "whirlpool"

played with new toys

The birthstone fairy house surrounded by NYC sanitation vehicles (photo credit: Ava)

had lovely grandparent time

Bedtime with Nana, Papa and the girls

celebrated Regata Day in St. John’s (which coincided with my dad’s 73rd birthday)

Regata Day (a rowing race) in St. John's on Quidi Vidi Lake

hiked Signal Hill

Robin heading up the Signal Hill trail

played at Salmon Cove beach

Ben and Sam have a game of chase at Salmon Cove beach

taught our daughters yoga

Lily and Hannah do vinyasa

built sand castles

Hannah's "turtle island" at Salmon Cove beach

toured graveyards (6 year old Ben’s favorite activity….I know, a little morbid, but actually pretty interesting and Halloween will be FANTASTIC this year! We are planning on building an awesomely spooky graveyard in our front yard.)

At the Anglican Cemetary by Quidi Vidi Lake

climbed around in the fog at Cape Spear Lighthouse

Cape Spear in the fog

gardened

Robin planting around her new rock wall

went whale watching

Ava, Ben and I on the whale watch boat (we struck out that day, but had a nice ride)

climbed like monkeys

Lily climbs a pole aboard the whale watching boat

cooked and baked lots of healthy, organic (most vegetarian) food

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread from the Kripalu Cookbook

and our most fantastic day had to be our last, when we went to the Ferryland Lighthouse. This is perfection, I tell you. Gourmet picnic lunches (SO delicious), gorgeous view (we did see some whales too), lovely hike to get there. Nice :)

Ben holds the flag up to signal for our gourmet picnic lunch at Ferryland Lighthouse

Ava, Lily and Sam skip along the rocks at Ferryland Lighthouse

Lily at Ferryland Lighthouse, ready for picnicking

Our lunch at Ferryland Lighthouse - curry chicken sandwiches, orzo salad, chocolate cake, lemonade

Ava rock surfs at Ferryland Lighthouse

We had a blast. The kids want to see Newfoundland in the snowy winter (which they actually have, when they were babies). We tend to have visitors to California from Newfoundland in the winter who like to get AWAY from the snow and come to the sun, but I’m sure we’ll get to St. John’s in the winter someday.

Thanks to our hosts, Robin and Mark. Until next time, we have gone to the Price Club for some last minute items, packed our stuff in Sobey’s bags and headed out to the airport via the Outer Rim Road.

Posted in Family, Getaway, My Twin Sis, The Great Outdoors, yoga | 3 Comments »

July 14, 2010

Anusara Yoga Immersion in the Tetons

Me outside the Yoga Tejas studio in the Tetons

I’m not sure how I can truly describe the past week in words. But….I’ll attempt. To say I have been journaling lately would be a bit of an understatement. Journaling as in writing with a pen in a notebook, not blogging/online journaling. Journaling has been something I have been working on for the month of July and last week provided a unique opportunity to delve deep.

My sister Robin and I have been planning for a couple of months to travel to Jackson Hole, Wyoming (a very cool mountain town bordering the Teton National Forest) for Level 1 (the first of 3 levels) in an Anusara yoga immersion course. We learned about this immersion from our favorite teacher on YogaToday.com, Neesha. If you haven’t tried Yoga Today, you really should. It is a bargain at only $10 a month for unlimited streaming classes and has really excellent content. I love it for home practice when I can’t get to a live yoga class. And I adore Neesha, who is such a positive force and has a way of talking me through poses that I didn’t think were possible (I have been known to tweet things like “Whoa, I just did a backbend for the first time in 10 years. Thanks @yogatoday!).

{No, I have not been compensated by Yoga Today for the above endorsement – I just really, really love Yoga Today!}

read more »

Posted in Getaway, My Twin Sis, The Great Outdoors, yoga | 4 Comments »

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