I'm back!

So had little hiatus from the blog sphere. It's been a good summer with the kids. Went to Sweden for 3 weeks. Best place to practice yoga was a dock by a lake close to where we stay. Glimmering water with beautiful lilies floating in it, birch trees gently rustling in the wind and kids splashing and hollering.  I did my best... Love to travel but there is something about coming back and get in the swing of things that is just so great. It's that feeling of renewal. Air is getting crisp. Anything can happen .
And isn't this something yoga does for us too? Clearing the air, opening up for new paths to tread.
In many ways that is what I am after in my practice. The clarity.
Some days I just can't wait to get on my mat so that I can reach that place where everything makes sense.
Shift some of the prana around and let it flow freely. Stagnation is never good in any shape or form.
But sometimes we get stuck, in patterns or believes. Those voices in our head telling us what we would have, could have should have done. How about forgetting all of that and bust out a handstand or Warrior pose and listen to what you really want. Hear what your intuition is telling you, that's a voice to really pay attention to.

Vegan or not vegan?

So I just wanted to address this little thing called veganism. When I became vegan 14 years ago it was quite a new concept for people to digest. This was before Bill Clinton turned vegan and reversed his heart disease. In fact these days a slew of famous and not so famous people are vegan and living happy healthy lives.

Just to make things clear. Yes I would love if as many people as possible became vegan or at least something close to it. But I understand that each person has to choose a life that works for them and makes them feel good. There shouldn't be judgement involved, ever. On either side. But I know that everyone benefits from a diet full of whole foods, organic fruits and veggies ( with an emphasis on veg ) grains and legumes. Even scientists are getting on board with this. So even if you feel that vegan is not for you, visit your farmer's market or join an CSI  get your veg and eat it too. I love the way I feel and have great energy most of the time. I think my way of eating has been fine tuned over the years. Having kids made me more prone to cooking real meals, less grab and go. Also found that gluten free really works well with my constitution. Wheat makes me tired and itchy! Over all as long as you're making your meals balanced with healthy fats, avocado, olive oil, coconut oil, and protein, nuts and legumes ( and broccoli packs a punch too ) and a rainbow of veggies you can live a long healthy life as a vegan.

This is an illustration I made of Sadie Nardini doing Ardha Matsyendrasana. I gave it to her and she said it's her favorite pose : )

New network for healthy living

Veria is a new web TV / TV network featuring a  slew of great shows on wellness and healthy living.
Yesterday I got to shoot for  a new show called Rock Your yoga with host Sadie Nardini. She has a fun personality and her own spin on Vinyasa that is very core based. I really connected to her style at the YJ conference. It was super fun to be part of. Hopefully this will make more people get into yoga and the local yoga studios. Rock your Namaste folks!
http://www.veria.com/

Sukhasana illustration

I am going to my kids school on Fri to do info on yoga for the Health fair. Decided to channel my inner kid and creating a bunch of illustrations of different poses. This is the one I made for Sukhasana. Having a lot of fun and hoping to inspire the kids to try some yoga. How cool if we could get yoga into the schools! Namaste.

New flyer!

Running around

Ok. I admit. It's been way too long. I've been fortunate enough to have two of my best friends visiting from Sweden. We've been running around, having a great time. Also spending some quality time, cooking and chatting over a glass of wine. Luxury. A bit exhausting also, all the socializing. I also squeezed in a day at the Yoga Journal Conference, NYC. An all day intensive with the amazing Sadie Nardini. So inspiring. I also have some great news coming about a project with her!
Anyhow. Had a fantabulous day with my Swedish girls in the city. We went to see the Cindy Sherman show at MoMA. I can definitely recommend seeing that. Such a fantastic artist with a view of her own.Check her out here:
http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2012/cindysherman/
Ok. That's all for now. Peace.

Been looking for a healthy yummy treat for my family. This sounds amazing. I love that it has chia seeds in it. They are full of protein and calcium. Plus no sugar. Only bananas that are naturally sweet. Could this be a vegans dream? I think this will be a go to dessert in our house. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

Katrina's Chocolate Chia Pudding Recipe:

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup chia seeds
• 1 cup almond milk (or a non-dairy or raw milk of your choice)
• 2 Tablespoons carob powder or/2 Tablespoon raw chocolate powder
• 3 bananas mashed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• Dash of sea salt

Directions:

Mix everything together and chill for 1- 2 hours. Pour into beautiful wine glasses or individual glass pudding dishes to serve. I like to decorate the top with fruit, mint leaves, chocolate shavings or melted chocolate…. If you really can’t wait, feel free to get a spoon and eat immediately! :)

 

 recipe from  http://www.katrinalovesenn.com/

My own little helper

So in the name of Pratipaksha Bhavanam I started journaling at the end of the day. It is mentioned in the Patanjali's Yoga Sutras book 2 as replacing negative thoughts with positive ones.

I decided to end the day by remembering all the good productive things I generated. Instead of fretting over the things that didn't get done. Once I started doing this I realized just how much I was getting done that day. Even little things like keeping it together instead of loosing it when kids pushed my  buttons. Really nice to see that list of things done and feel good about it. Never been good at keeping journaling up but decided not to judge the length of it or the fact that a few days might be missed. I can highly recommend looking back at your day this way.

Signed up for the Yoga Journal conference in NYC. Full day with Sadie Nardini, Vinyasa Core teacher.So excited! This conference is a must for any yoga dork out there. And I'm certainly proudly one of them.
See you on the mat. : )

Yogi Seeds: Just finished the teacher training program!

 http://garrisonyoga.com/index.shtmlhttp://garrisonyoga.com/index.shtml