Weekend highlights

Weekend highlights: Friday evening girls wine & cheese night, running the "loop" (half-marathon 2 weeks from today!), Sunday morning mysore practice, cleaning out my in-box, de-cluttering my desk, La Colombe coffee, getting ready for my upcoming trip to Seattle/Portland (excited!).

I also found a new book to add to my reading list: The End of Overeating, by Dr. David Kessler:

"Back 50 years ago, the tobacco industry knew that smoking was harmful. If you look at how we were successful with tobacco, we changed how people viewed the product. We changed it so people now look at a cigarette and say, 'Boy, that’s a deadly, addictive, disgusting product.'

What we need to do, is to change how we fundamentally look at food, and ask ourselves, ‘Is that food nutritious? Is that going to provide the kind of nutrition I want?’ You have to be able to fundamentally change how you look at the food. One way to do that is to realize the extent to which you are being manipulated.

If you value being healthful, if you value eating nutritiously, if you say 'that is the kind of food that I want, that is not the food that I want"… then you can be free. Then, in essence, and only then, have you really re-programmed your brain.'"

~Dr. David Kessler (from this video)

5 ways to practice yoga and SAVE money

This is my older sister, Kim, who brought me to my first Ashtanga yoga class.  

My older sister, Kim, first introduced me to Ashtanga yoga and the Mysore practice. She’s also my personal finance expert (check out her book, Generation Earn, that just came out!).

Even my baby niece likes it!

My financial situation can be simplified as follows: I’m a student, I have a lot of debt, and I place high value on a consistent yoga practice and healthy food (both expensive!).

One of my biggest criticisms of the yoga industry is the high cost, which prohibits many people from actually practicing yoga. I am convinced there is another way... a way to make it possible for everyone to practice yoga, regardless of how much money one earns.

With the help of my sister’s wisdom, we’ve come up with 5 ways to practice yoga and actually SAVE money. I know there are more so please comment with your ideas!

1. Practice at home. Invite your yogi friends over to practice and create your own yoga community. Turn up the heat and adjust each other when you need it. Estimated savings: $50-150/month.
2. Say no to new yoga clothes. Wear your old shorts and tank tops to practice (I always think practice feels better in old clothes anyway). You can practice in anything... you don’t need fancy yoga outfits (no one is looking at you and no one cares!). You can always ask for hand-me-downs (or check out low-cost stores like H&M or Forever 21). Estimated savings: $25-50/month.
3. Give the gift of yoga. Holiday time is coming up, and instead of spending lots of money on store-bought presents, come up with some creative (and more meaningful) yoga-inspired gifts. Some ideas: Teach a free yoga class to friends or family members that have been wanting to try yoga. Make inspirational yoga-related collages using your old magazines. Frame your drawings or photographs of people. Make your own eye-pillows (Caitlin’s brilliant idea!). Estimated savings: $100-300/year.
4. Socialize with your yogi friends at home. Instead of going out for expensive brunch/meals/drinks after practice, invite yogi friends over for good old potluck. If everyone contributes a little something (wine/veggie treats), a feast is born! Estimated savings: $50/month.
5. Make time for your yoga practice. Yoga helps with concentration, anxiety, stress, pain, and more... helping you spend your money and time more wisely and in line with your values. Estimated savings: Priceless!

Fall food indulgences

Apple sauce 

Peel and cube apples. Throw in pot, add a little water to cover the bottom. Add a little honey/ agave. Cook on medium heat, stir occasionally (for about 30 minutes or until apples soften). Add cinnamon and nutmeg (as much as you like).

:

Carrot cake muffins (vegan and sugar free)

Preheat to 350 F. Mix: 1.5 cups flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1.5 tsp cinnamon, 1.5 cups applesauce, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 carrot shredded, raisins (walnuts would be a good too!).
Bake for 25 minutes or until done.

Mulled wine 

Heat 1.5 cups water, add bottle of red wine, add 3 cinnamon sticks and 4 cloves, add thinly sliced small orange and lemon, add a couple drops of vanilla, simmer for 3 minutes and serve! 

Yum!

Now off to Sunday morning practice!

Better than coffee

Just got back from teaching a yoga class to kids at a local high school… SUCH a rush! I seriously think that might be better than coffee!

Some thoughts from the class:

Pick a student demonstrator. There are always rowdy kids and asking them to be quiet doesn’t usually work. Picking one of them and assigning them to be at the front of the room as a “demonstrator” can be a good strategy.

… but don’t play favorites. Make sure to ask each student’s name and give each person equal attention.

Make it challenging. Teenagers get bored easily and challenge keeps them interested. Play with handstands, jumpbacks, and backbends (they come naturally to many of them). When they groan and complain gently remind them it’s good practice for everything else that we struggling with in our lives.

… but don’t make it too challenging. Making it too hard will be discouraging. Pick appropriate poses that are challenging but also fun and realistic.

Be serious. Try not to let people watch from the side of the room (it’s distracting), don’t play music (also distracting), don’t allow chit-chatting. I was too lenient at first and had to learn my lesson.

… but don’t be too serious. Joke around, laugh, have fun. This should be something they want to come back and to do again!

5 things I'm loving about practice right now

• Pushing through. It’s really hard to get through the whole practice, but sticking with it even when I don’t feel like it helps with the thousands of other unpleasant things in life I may not feel like doing. The morning practice toughens me up for the rest of my day.
• Not pushing through. Sometimes what I really need is to take a step back, slow down, and not do the full practice. And I really appreciate having teachers who allow for the freedom to get what I need out of practice, even if it’s different every day.
• Running before practice. Some people in the Ashtanga tradition may frown upon this, but that will not stop me! When I do a short run before practice (or run to practice), I find that my mind is quieter, I build more heat, I move more mindfully, and I don’t feel as rushed. I think it even helps open up my hips and lower back (though I’ve heard people say it does the opposite for them).
• Trying karandavasana. I don’t think I will ever be able to do the full version of this pose, but I still try to practice it every day. It’s a daily practice of imperfectionism.

• New savasana practice: My med school friend Brian started practicing with us a few weeks ago, and he told me that when he lies down for savasana (final resting pose), he thinks about everything on his mind all at once... and then lets it all go. I've been trying it out and it actually leads to some milliseconds of mental silence! It’s sort of when you clench all the muscles in your body at once and let them go, you find that everything relaxes more easily.

Our net of Indra

Loved watching this Richard Freeman video about the "net of Indra" that we are all trapped in...

Video here

"As you dig into any one thing, you start to find out that it's made of everything else."

Redesigning cafeterias

I was so excited to see this article in the New York Times today: how to redesign school lunchrooms to promote healthier eating. It's not about taking away the junk foods. Rather, it's about how simply redesigning cafeterias leads to healthier food choices. 

For example:

• Make healthy foods (like broccoli) the first thing you see
• Give food attractive names: Instead of “corn" call it “creamy corn”!
• Provide choices: Offer students a choice of carrots OR celery (not only carrots)
• Keep ice cream and desserts in closed containers so they're not easily visible
• Encourage tray use: This increases veggie and decreases ice cream consumption
• Decrease the size of bowls
• Move chocolate milk behind regular milk 
• Put apples and oranges in fruit bowl rather than a stainless steel pan (this makes it more appealing)
• Verbally offer students a salad (and more will say yes)
• Move the salad bar in front of the checkout (instead of off against a wall)
• Have student pay cash for desserts (instead of using lunch tickets to buy them)
• Make a “healthy express” check-out line for students not buying desserts or chips 

This is pretty much what my school lunches used to look like... yikes.