Usually I’m slow to get to my spring cleanse. By mid-March, I’ve grown pretty attached to the warm, heavy foods of winter—root vegetables, hearty grains, organic eggs, fish and meat. A big salad just doesn’t do it for me when it’s still cold and damp.

But this year—being catapulted right into sultry, midsummer weather by St. Paddy’s Day—it’s another story. Bring on the fresh juice and bitter greens!

Not only does it feel uplifting to add more raw foods, but the pungent greens help to detoxify the liver after the winter. Still, with my vata constitution, I need something a little heartier, warmer and more grounding. Bring on the kitchari!

Kitchari (pronounced kee-cha-dee) is a simple Ayurvedic grain and bean dish that is easy to digest (and easy to make). And it will clean out those pipes after the heaviness of winter cuisine.

It’s not fancy, but my students—when I’ve served it on Mindful Nature Retreats—have loved it. And the basic recipe can be modified for your family’s taste. Not spicy, but savory, even children with more adventurous palates may take to it, with a few tweaks. See ideas in the recipe below.

Kitchari

1 cup basmati rice
1/2 cup mung beans (soaked overnight)
6 cups water (reserve 1 c. for end)
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 pinch asafoetida (get it in bulk at the coop, smells weird but enhances flavor)
1 cup diced vegetables (options include zucchini, carrot, cauliflower, celery)
1 teaspoon ground cumin & coriander (cinnamon may be a good option for kids)

1) Place rice and soaked beans into 5 cups of boiling water, adding the turmeric and asafoetida.

2) Cook over medium heat until the water is mostly absorbed.

3) Add one more cup of lukewarm water, vegetables and optional spices. Simmer until water is absorbed.

The final dish should have a soft, moist consistency, like a porridge. I like to sprinkle with a dash of Bragg’s Liquid Aminos, and garnish with fresh cilantro springs. A side of braised greens (dandelion greens are a great spring tonic) complement the dish nicely.

For a full-on cleanse you can eat a mono-diet of kichari and drink fresh juice for 3-4 days. And by then you’ll have a spring in your step.

I’m taking an informal poll about a summer Mindful Nature Retreat. Let me know if you’re interested in cocreating a getaway up North around Summer Solstice this year. You can leave a comment below or hop on the Facebook group page to weigh in. Summer’s just around the corner it seems!

I am so glad I threw down the gauntlet last month on a 40 Day Meditation Challenge. I challenged myself, with the hope that my blog and Facebook subscribers might decide to take it too. The challenge was simply this: Practice meditation a minimum of 5 minutes a day for 40 days. No specific time, place, technique, agenda, dogma. JUST. DO. IT.

Well, there’s nothing  actually to do. Just sit. Just breathe.

So have I met the challenge? So far, yes! I’m over a month into having a regular sitting practice again. Has it been easy? [choke, gasp, wheeze] Uh. No.

The time hasn’t been an issue. A mere 5 minutes a day is doable, that’s why I set it up that way. And it hasn’t been hard for my body, propped with pillows and wrapped in a blanket on my bed, when I sit just before getting up in the morning.

The issue has been my own freakin’ wildass Monkey Mind. It basically never stops these days. Life has been throwing down the gauntlet ever since the 40 Day Meditation Challenge began. Family issues, health challenges, you name it.

Fear, grief and anger have loomed large. The second circle of Hell in Dante’s Inferno comes to mind, where the two-timing lovers Paolo and Francesca are doomed to be tossed about endlessly in their own whipped up emotions. The Italian verse captures the feeling so well: “Di qua, di là, di giù, di sù li mena.” (“It hither, thither, downward, upward, drives them.”) For them the “it” was lust.

William Blake, The LoversThe "It" is lust.

For me, on the meditation cushion, any strong feelings or turbulent thoughts can get me whipped into a frenzy that makes it hard to stay put. But I have.

I’ve felt tossed around, yes. But, still—given my pledge—I have sat. Sometimes for 5 minutes. Most days for longer than that. And for much of the time my mind has been going a hundred miles a minute.

Would I have stayed in my seat if I hadn’t committed to this practice for 40 days? With all that inner disturbance just waiting to grab my full attention once I got on the cushion? Are you kidding me?

But I took the pledge. Publicly. If I couldn’t do it, how could I expect my students to hang in? So every day I’ve sat for 5 minutes or 15 or 20.

Have I learned to quiet my mind? To still the churning of thoughts and feelings? To calm the chitta vrittis, as they’re called in Sanskrit?

Excuse me, I just spit out the water I was drinking…

No, I have not stilled my mind. But I’ve learned to sit anyway. By removing all pressure to not have thoughts. I’ve learned, as Pema Chodron teaches, to let the thoughts and feelings be the object of my meditation. Breathing with them. Just noticing the thoughts and feelings. No resistance.

The biggest aha? I’m learning to let go of the story behind the thoughts. And the urgency to act on them. As I do, they almost become like white noise. Definitely there, but not as much in the foreground.

Practicing meditation is helping me to accept whatever is present. Including challenging thoughts and feelings. And that has helped me to keep showing up. On the meditation cushion. And when life gets shaky. I’m happy I’m learning to meet the challenge.

I have watched the TED Talk by Brene Brown on the power of vulnerability several times. (Thanks to Kris Ward of Abundant Yogi for sharing the link with me.)

Click here to listen to the talk.

Vulnerability, Brown’s social science research shows, is not a liability—but a strength—when it comes to relationships and interconnectedness. It’s actually vital to maintaining close relationships with others. And people who have close relationships live happier, healthier lives.

As I see my very independent almost 90-year-old mother being forced to face her vulnerability, I can’t help but look at my own aging process. One thing I’m struck by is how very grateful I am for my yoga and mindfulness practice. They help me practice being present to myself in my most vulnerable moments and give me the courage and skill to share authentically with others.

Do I still need practice? Of course. Lots of it.

Is it worth it? I absolutely believe it is, as uncomfortable as it can be to feel that raw.

Especially during times of change we need to get real. With ourselves. And with each other. On and off the yoga mat. Our happiness depends on it.

I just saw The Descendants and I felt so grateful for my mindfulness practice. A cautionary tale, this movie made me want to practice, practice, practice working with strong, difficult emotions—on the meditation cushion and the yoga mat—before the proverbial shit hits the fan!

Times of transition can be tough

In the film, Hawaiian lawyer Matt King (played by George Clooney) is struggling to come to terms with his wife landing in a persistent coma after a boating accident. He and his wife Elizabeth had drifted apart before the accident. And, as Matt says, he’d been “the fallback parent”—so often away on business that he has no clue how to help his daughters navigate the difficult transition the family is going through. In their distress, family members reveal hurtful secrets to each other, without forethought about the devastating impact on others.

The barbs that the King family hurl at each other seem heartless. But it becomes clearer as the story unfolds that these cruelties are the result of the characters being hooked by strong emotions. They simply don’t have the skill to pause before spitting out what seem like truthful pronouncements at the time, but really are attempts to distract them from their own painful feelings.

None of us are immune

The hurt caused in these relationships on screen was a real wake up call for me. Personally challenged with life transitions of aging family members—at a time when I am experiencing caregiver fatigue myself—I know that I am not immune from getting hooked. When big emotions like fear, anger and grief wash over me it’s easy to say and do hurtful things.

Seeing this film made me so glad that I have a mindfulness and yoga practice. It doesn’t make me immune to unskillfulness. But it does give me tools. If I remember to use them. That’s the key.

What to do when you’re hooked

One of the meditation teachers who is brilliant on this subject is Pema Chodron. She explains the Tibetan term shenpa, that place where we get hooked.

“Shenpa,” Chodron says, “is the urge, the hook, that triggers our habitual tendency to close down. We get hooked in that moment of tightening when we reach for relief. To get unhooked we begin by recognizing that moment of unease and learn to relax in that moment.”

Getting hooked happens to everyone, she says. And I so appreciate her authenticity in sharing her own struggles. What Ani Pema recommends is pausing and simply noticing that we’re caught, hooked. Stop, wait, feel, pay attention to the breath, body and emotions. That’s the only way to go from unconscious to conscious. From reactive to mindful.

Watching The Descendants really brought it alive for me. I’ve felt shenpa in my own life, but it still can be hard to stop when there is such a strong urge to react. Particularly when it’s based in the belief that relief from the painful feelings will result from acting thoughtlessly when the emotions are full on. The characters in the film who are acting out—trying to blame and get back at others to escape from the feelings threatening to overwhelm them—are so obviously just adding to their own suffering.

There may be a brief surge of something that feels like power, a momentary release, but it really doesn’t help us feel better to be harsh and judgmental with others.

Real relief is in the pause

That’s what I’ve found in my life, but still I find myself choosing to ignore shenpa and to react to try to free myself. I have renewed resolve now to take that moment, that breath, that pause before acting from distress. Especially when it comes to communicating with loved ones. Unfortunately, those are often the ones we hurt the most.

Including our own selves. So, how about it? Do you think it’s time to let ourselves off the hook? All it takes is one mindful breath to come back to consciousness.

Need help getting started with a mindful meditation or yoga practice? Learning awareness of body and breath can improve all our relationships. Contact me for information on private sessions or click here for classes.

Some of my blog and Facebook followers recently made a commitment to practice meditation for a minimum of 5 minutes a day for 40 days. During times of change, getting still and silent can help bring clarity about where to surrender and when to act. It’s in the letting go of doing where we can discover how we really are.

And how we want to BE.

Are you ready to get back to meditation?

There are many different practices you can adopt when starting, or renewing, a meditation practice. Silently repeating a mantra or prayer, as taught in many traditions. Or simply focusing on the breath moving in and out, while letting thoughts come and go.

“Let what comes come; let what goes go. Find out what remains.”

A few weeks ago I came across the words above by 19th century Indian sage Ramana Maharshi. I knew immediately that in this phrase was distilled all the wisdom I’d ever need to deepen my meditation practice. Instead of repeating Sankrit mantras, like I did for years but recently moved away from, these wise words are just the direction I currently need to renew a daily meditation practice.

And I can take this profound, but simple, phrase into my daily life for guidance.

During this time, when I feel like the ground is shaking beneath me sometimes, because there is so much change going on, these are more than words to meditate on. They’re words to live by.

Join us on Facebook to get in on the Tree of Life Yoga Meditation Challenge. It’s not too late to start! Brand new to meditation and need help getting started? Or have you tried it and gotten stuck?  Come in for a private session.

My husband is leaving me in the dust. At least as far as meditation practice goes. Even on dark, cold January mornings he’s getting up when his alarm goes off and sitting for around 20 minutes, while I read or journal in bed.

For me, meditation of any kind, has slipped by the wayside. As I’ve had some kind of meditation practice (japa, metta, mindfulness) for over 30 years, the absence of a regular way to touch in to my center feels off.

Time to get back on the meditation cushion.

So I am, right here and now—publicly!—committing to resuming a regular meditation practice. I started this morning. I was awake early and did my sit right on top of our bed, wrapped in the duvet.

I am going to challenge myself to 40 days of meditation practice. Does this sound a bit daunting? It definitely is for me, if done rigidly.

It’s a setup for failure to commit to more than what is really workable. A day is missed—because a half-hour couldn’t be carved out of the schedule to meditate—then another, and it becomes an excuse to quit. The meditation cushion starts to gather cobwebs again.

“All or nothing” is the way many of us tend to approach meditation.

The secret to success? Start small and work your way up. Begin with a commitment to a little, and then feel free to do a lot more practice.

Judith Hanson Lasater, author of the restorative yoga bible, Relax and Renew, shared at a yoga workshop a few years back that she commits to doing just 2 yoga postures a day. Some days it’s hard to drag herself onto the mat, but when she keeps her commitment she almost always finds herself happily doing more.

Former Kripalu president, Jonathan Foust, recently admitted at a national yoga conference that he feels so much resistance to daily practice that he commits to just 7 minutes of yoga a day. That’s what gets him on his mat. And, once there, he gets into the flow of his practice.

Many meditation teachers, including Sharon Salzberg who introduced me to metta, recommend a similar approach. Start with a little so it’s doable. Commit to a certain number of days to make it a daily practice, with 40 days being the traditional duration.

Take the Meditation Challenge. It can be for as little as 5 minutes daily.

Here’s what I’m committing to: at least 5 minutes of sitting practice a day. Even this might be a challenge some days, but I know that if I get myself on the cushion, knowing it’s just for a few minutes, I may stay for longer.

Want to join me in your own personal meditation challenge? If so, leave your comments below AND come join me on Facebook so we can compare notes.

Need a little more guidance to get started on a meditation or personal yoga practice? Contact me to set up a private session at Tree of Life Yoga. Packages are also available.

Hint: It’s about much more than doing a great Down Dog!

I love BEing with toddlers. Sure, they’re SOOOO busy it can be exhausting trying to keep up with them. And they can be fussy (which is, of course, a euphemism). Sometimes it’s hard to figure out what they need when they’re upset, especially when they don’t have words to express their feelings and desires.

And when they don’t get what they want…

…well let’s just say it isn’t always pretty!

What helps everybody involved during a toddler’s meltdown

? ? ? ?

Love ‘em up and then let ‘em go go go
. . . . .

It’s true, once they feel safe and nurtured they are back at it, doing their toddler thing—exploring the world around them. They become completely absorbed in finding out how they can interact with and impact that world.

I’ve observed in my Tot-Mama Yoga classes a sobbing toddler being held by a loving parent, and then set back on their feet again. They join the rest of the group mid-song, their arms spread wide in Twinkle Twinkle Little Star pose and smiling from ear to ear.

I’ve come to realize that we all need that safety and acceptance and love, before we truly feel ready to go out and do our lives—full on.

All of us Mamas (whether we have toddlers or not) need lovin’ up!

This is where self-nurturing comes in. Especially during these super challenging, rapidly changing times on the planet. With shifts happening simultaneously in our own bodies, we really need tools and practices to help ourselves feel safe and loved. Not having these skills can increase the unease we’re feeling, and paralyze us in moving forward in our lives.

During shaky times in my own life, I need those practices that nurture me and help me get on my way. I need them more than ever when the ground under me seems to rumble, because there’s so much change happening on the earth and in the lives of everyone I love.

Let me share a quicky practice with you that can be done in just a few minutes. Even standing at the kitchen sink or in the shower.

Heart Hug with Chest Expander

•  Cross your arms over your chest, wrap your arms around your shoulders and give yourself a ginormous hug. Feel the love from that part of you that isn’t afraid of struggles, upsets, fears.
• Drop your chin toward your chest and breathe into the space between the shoulder blades, letting out a sigh on an exhale. Feel the back of your heart expand for several breaths as you take in self love.
• Uncross your arms and reach behind your back. Clasp your hands and draw the knuckles away from you. Bring breath into the front of the heart center and let your chest float up. Feel love from the entire universe pouring into you as you breathe fully.
• Switch arms and repeat.

Then, like a happy toddler, you can run off. Watch out world, here I come!

Yoga practice when done mindfully and with self-compassion helps us learn to self-nurture and to find courage to do our work in the world for the benefit of family, community & the planet. Need a practice? Join us for Gentle Yoga and let your heart expand. Register now.

We’re only a little over a week into 2012 and some people are raving and others are bemoaning the year. I think that’s a little premature. While I’m all for seasonal rituals, for me there’s nothing magical about the first day of the Roman calendar. In Asia the new year gets underway in another month. According to the Celtic tradition we rebooted a few months ago.

But turning the page on the calendar, from December to January, does give us a collective opportunity to regroup and reset our patterns as individuals. And hopefully, this fresh start can help us to establish or reclaim practices and habits that serve our life’s purpose more fully than ever. Like we talked about last week, setting an intention for the year (I pick one word) is a practice that can open up so much freedom and joy.

But it’s not magic.

So, sure, some of us become disappointed. Even after a week. And those people who make resolutions—which tend to be more about “shoulds” than claiming the heart’s desire— rarely make it even a few weeks into the new year with those new habits intact.

I felt buoyant about claiming my one-word intention this year. But, has it been all smooth sailing in the first week and a half of the year? No, most definitely not. Some of the practices I’d already claimed as the calendar year was about to turn to ’12 have been disrupted by illness, household equipment breakdowns and work and family responsibilities.

I’ve had to be oh-so-gentle and let go of self-judgment. I’m being flexible, and, though that is not my word for the year, it certainly serves my intention. Actually, it is an alternative meaning of the word I chose. It’s amazing how these Higher Self decisions unfold! That’s one of the things I love about the practice of intention: it’s full of surprises. That is where the mystery and the magic come in.

With my word in my back pocket I get all year to devote myself to the practices that serve that intention. Up, down and all around—which is a given in life. Staying the course and letting my deepest knowing about why I’m here and what I desire to create guide me is what really matters.

And I need to trust that, over time, what I can’t see now will be revealed. I guess it all is a bit magical.

How about you? Are there surprises in how your intentions are unfolding? Share your questions and aha’s in the comments below. And, if you’d like a free 30-minute phone Sankalpa Session contact me.

“The winds of grace are blowing–
it is you who must raise your sails.”

~ Rabindranath Tagore

The practice of mindfulness is more important than ever during times of outer change. The transition to a new year is a chance for deep listening, observation of what’s been learned in the past and recognition of what is ready to come forward. And 2012 is such a potent time of change. Why not harness it?

But, mindfulness is about staying in the present. So how to reconcile past, present and future, while not being pulled backward or forward, out of the moment?

For me, the ritual of letting go—of shedding the past—begins at Winter Solstice. I am drawn inward, to touch the void and I find—instead of being scary—it’s actually comforting. I choose not to judge myself for what hasn’t come to fruition yet. I treat myself as the newborn babe, innocent and full of wonder. Ready to be reborn. Whether it’s through a personal Mindful Nature retreat, or—like this year—simply daily silence, reflection and times of stillness resting in restorative yoga postures, I empty out.

When I do this, the ground is laid for renewal as the year turns. But I don’t want to imply that this is a painless process. Think of the snake shedding its skin or the butterfly emerging from its cocoon. That’s how this season can be for me, too, turning me inside out before I reemerge with renewed purpose and vigor.

This is a perfect time to set an intention that reflects the authentic self and supports the unfolding of life’s purpose. Forming a clear intention puts me in a state of grace, where my vision is allowed to unfold. My practice, for the last couple of years has been to chose one word to represent my intention for the year.

It was a no-brainer to come up with an intention for 2012. It’s what I really wanted to choose in prior years, but I felt I needed to get other things in place first. And this year, my deepest desire for a way to BE began to emerge on it’s own, without a lot of thought. The clarity was there; I just needed to choose to go with the intention that was calling me. So, I’ve been setting up systems and practices already that support it’s unfolding. I don’t usually broadcast my yearly intentions initially, instead choosing to hold them tenderly and nurture them with mindfulness practice. But, I do dedicate the benefits that unfold to all beings everywhere.

For you, my yoga students, especially! So, may the breezes of inner change soothe you as well. And may you find your own clarity and fulfill your deepest intentions as the year unfolds. Part of my intention is to support the joy and freedom of authenticity in the Tree of Life Yoga community in 2012, and beyond.

Happy New Year!

What is your intention for 2012? Please feel free to leave your comments below. OR if you’re stuck and need some help teasing it out contact me for a FREE Sankalpa Session over the phone. I’ll help you hone in on your intention and offer you some tools to support it’s deepest unfolding.

~ A holiday chant to the tune of Jingle Bells ~

Bundle up, bundle up,

Get yourself outside!

Put on a warm sweater,

you’ll feel so much better

when you hit your stride!

I hope you enjoy peaceful time with friends and family…and get out and enjoy the unseasonably warm weather! Sending love, light and gratitude your way. Thank you for staying connected in 2011, my first blogging year. Some sweet surprises to nurture and inspire you are coming along in the New Year at Tree of Life Yoga! We’ll be in touch…