Aug 30, 2015
Aug 27, 2015
Aug 24, 2015
8.23.15
There is no disputing the fact that Harper Lee is a phenomenal writer. But a sequel is never as good as an original you know?
Aug 23, 2015
8.22.15
final day of ytt
Doing the training this way - spread out over time with a small group of women - compared to the intensive way I did my 200 hour, allowed for a whole different level of absorption. Both experiences were life changing but during this training I was truly living my yoga. Every month brought new lessons and I watched the teachings unfold before my very eyes as life presented challenges and triumphs perfectly suited to what I was learning and the tools I'd just been given.
It was also so inspiring to learn and teach at the same time. I was able to stay inspired and show up for my students consistently and with different knowledge to share and incorporate in my classes and sessions.
But most of all I am so thankful for the gift of my sisters in learning and life. I feel utterly seen, supported and loved by all the phenomenal women who make up this tribe. My heart overflows with awe and with gratitude. It is beyond full.
Aug 22, 2015
Aug 21, 2015
Aug 20, 2015
8.18.15
It's summer. It's time. Tomato Sandwich time. Have you had this? Do you eat these? If not - START NOW. They are fucking awesome. So awesome I swore. It's also the easiest "recipe" ever.
Ingredients:
Bread - the whiter and more Wonderbreadish the better. Just trust me.
Mayo - lots of it
Heirloom tomato
Salt and Pepper
That's it. Spread lots of mayo on both pieces of bread.
Slice the tomatoes nice and thick.
Salt and Pepper each layer of tomatoes liberally.
Put it all together and eat! You're welcome.
Ingredients:
Bread - the whiter and more Wonderbreadish the better. Just trust me.
Mayo - lots of it
Heirloom tomato
Salt and Pepper
That's it. Spread lots of mayo on both pieces of bread.
Slice the tomatoes nice and thick.
Salt and Pepper each layer of tomatoes liberally.
Put it all together and eat! You're welcome.
Aug 17, 2015
8.16.15
I am so proud that I finished this book (finally!) and cannot stress enough how dense Tantric philosophy is. At least to me. Here is a small example from a page I just randomly selected:
"The Vishvodara Nadi flows between the Kuhu and Hastajihva Nadis and resides in the area of the naval. This Nadi is connected with the digestion of all kinds of food. The Vishvodara Nadi can be energized by the yogic exercises nauli kriya and Uddiyana Bandha (detailed later in this chapter), which involve contracting the rectal/abdominal muscles. Vishvodara Nadi is related to the adrenal glands and the pancreas and, together with the Varuni Nadi improves the distribution and flow of prana throughout the body, especially the prana that rises through the Sushumna Nadi."
You know what's really crazy to me? I completely understand this.
"The Vishvodara Nadi flows between the Kuhu and Hastajihva Nadis and resides in the area of the naval. This Nadi is connected with the digestion of all kinds of food. The Vishvodara Nadi can be energized by the yogic exercises nauli kriya and Uddiyana Bandha (detailed later in this chapter), which involve contracting the rectal/abdominal muscles. Vishvodara Nadi is related to the adrenal glands and the pancreas and, together with the Varuni Nadi improves the distribution and flow of prana throughout the body, especially the prana that rises through the Sushumna Nadi."
You know what's really crazy to me? I completely understand this.
Aug 16, 2015
8.15.15
boulder reservoirAnd then we got kicked off the beach cause there was a lightening storm. #coloradoproblemsAug 15, 2015
Aug 14, 2015
8.13.15
Now is the time to release whatever it is you're holding onto, or carrying, or burdened with, that you need to let go of. What is holding you back? What is keeping you stuck? What is weighing you down? What is no longer true? What is inhibiting you from growth? Breathe in deeply. Breathe out deeply and as you breathe out let it go. Repeat... repeat.. repeat... repeat... repeat........
Aug 13, 2015
8.12.15
Happy World Elephant Day! In honor of our tusked friends the mudra for today will be the Ganesha Mudra. Ganesha the elephant-headed god is one of the most beloved and worshiped gods in the Hindu culture. He is the placer and remover of obstacles and the god of wisdom, science, and learning.
To take this mudra bring the left hand up to chest height (in front of the heart) and turn the palm out. Bend the fingers. Lift the right hand up palm face in, bend the fingers and hook them onto the bent fingers of the left hand creating a lock. Inhale and as you exhale pull each hand away while maintaining the lock of the fingers. Inhale and relax the grip, chest and shoulders but keep the mudra intact. Repeat this with the breath 6 times. Then switch the grip so that the right palm faces out the left faces in, and practice 6 times with the breath, on the other side.
This mudra stimulates and strengthens the heart. It strengthens and releases tension from the neck, shoulders and chest. It opens the bronchial tubes, aiding in the release of any blockages there. It stokes the fire of courage and confidence and bestows strength on it's practitioner. Jai Ganesh!
To take this mudra bring the left hand up to chest height (in front of the heart) and turn the palm out. Bend the fingers. Lift the right hand up palm face in, bend the fingers and hook them onto the bent fingers of the left hand creating a lock. Inhale and as you exhale pull each hand away while maintaining the lock of the fingers. Inhale and relax the grip, chest and shoulders but keep the mudra intact. Repeat this with the breath 6 times. Then switch the grip so that the right palm faces out the left faces in, and practice 6 times with the breath, on the other side.
This mudra stimulates and strengthens the heart. It strengthens and releases tension from the neck, shoulders and chest. It opens the bronchial tubes, aiding in the release of any blockages there. It stokes the fire of courage and confidence and bestows strength on it's practitioner. Jai Ganesh!
Aug 12, 2015
8.11.15
This is Jessica...... she is an awesome adventure buddy!
This morning we scrapped our plan to hike Mt. Audubon due to some potentially sketchy weather. Instead I suggested we do South Boulder Peak as a good "warm up" option. When we go to the top, 3,000 vertical feet later we discovered from a fellow hiker that in fact this hike was harder than Mt. Audubon. So I think it's safe to say we are ready for it next time.
We also saw two hawks dancing with each other in the air, a hummingbird drinking nectar from a thistle and an angry rattlesnake, which we obviously went out of our way to avoid. Not bad for a Tuesday morning.
This morning we scrapped our plan to hike Mt. Audubon due to some potentially sketchy weather. Instead I suggested we do South Boulder Peak as a good "warm up" option. When we go to the top, 3,000 vertical feet later we discovered from a fellow hiker that in fact this hike was harder than Mt. Audubon. So I think it's safe to say we are ready for it next time.
We also saw two hawks dancing with each other in the air, a hummingbird drinking nectar from a thistle and an angry rattlesnake, which we obviously went out of our way to avoid. Not bad for a Tuesday morning.
8.10.14
"...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear gain. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably. They don't deceive you with thrills and trick endings. They don't surprise you with the unforeseen. They are as familiar as the house live in. Or the smell of your lover's skin. You know how they end, yet you listen as though you don't. In the way that although you know that one day you will die, you live as though you won't. In the Great Stories you know who lives, who dies, who finds love, who doesn't. And yet you want to know again.
That is their mystery and their magic."
~ Arundhati Roy
According to these criteria this is a Great Story.
That is their mystery and their magic."
~ Arundhati Roy
According to these criteria this is a Great Story.
Aug 11, 2015
Aug 9, 2015
Aug 8, 2015
8.7.15
This is Amadeus and Spencer. Both of them live here. One of them is in the Bennett family.
(A rooftop bongo session took place after the taking of this photo.)
I remember being a teenager. I remember thinking that I probably wouldn't live that long, feeling that I'd lived so recklessly in the few short years since I had actually begun living, how could I possibly sustain that pace for decades? Turns out I couldn't, but not because I died. Just because I grew up. I got smarter. I had good friends who actually did die and I felt the ripping bitterness of heart break. I realized that their parents would never get to see them move out and and onwards and upwards. Mine would, if I wasn't stupid, if I wasn't quite as needlessly reckless I would live a long time and lot of things would happen. I had that realization looking out a window at the ocean at my friends wake. It was quiet, murmurs of hugging and consoling in the background. I looked out at the ocean and I realized that I would see other oceans, lots of other oceans in all kinds of places... if I was lucky.
That was the piece that changed everything. In my experience, most teenage people, and even shame on them some older people, feel that they are owed this life. That they are deserving. They forget. We forget that we aren't owed a damn thing. We are lucky as hell to wake up every day and even luckier to call it a good day. A day when no one dies, and we have our health and we get to look at the ocean and hopefully someone loved is by our side. We are lucky to live to 17 or 27 or 30 or 40 or any amount at all. In fact we are so lucky that it's us that owe. We owe and we forget and think we are owed.
God I'm glad I'm not a teenager anymore.
(A rooftop bongo session took place after the taking of this photo.)
I remember being a teenager. I remember thinking that I probably wouldn't live that long, feeling that I'd lived so recklessly in the few short years since I had actually begun living, how could I possibly sustain that pace for decades? Turns out I couldn't, but not because I died. Just because I grew up. I got smarter. I had good friends who actually did die and I felt the ripping bitterness of heart break. I realized that their parents would never get to see them move out and and onwards and upwards. Mine would, if I wasn't stupid, if I wasn't quite as needlessly reckless I would live a long time and lot of things would happen. I had that realization looking out a window at the ocean at my friends wake. It was quiet, murmurs of hugging and consoling in the background. I looked out at the ocean and I realized that I would see other oceans, lots of other oceans in all kinds of places... if I was lucky.
That was the piece that changed everything. In my experience, most teenage people, and even shame on them some older people, feel that they are owed this life. That they are deserving. They forget. We forget that we aren't owed a damn thing. We are lucky as hell to wake up every day and even luckier to call it a good day. A day when no one dies, and we have our health and we get to look at the ocean and hopefully someone loved is by our side. We are lucky to live to 17 or 27 or 30 or 40 or any amount at all. In fact we are so lucky that it's us that owe. We owe and we forget and think we are owed.
God I'm glad I'm not a teenager anymore.
Aug 7, 2015
Aug 6, 2015
Aug 5, 2015
8.4.15
I got halfway through demolishing this dish before I realized I should document it and share the recipe. It is sooooo flavorful and delicious. As usual no measuring was actually done here so these are approximations.
Ingredients:
-2 large Japanese eggplant (or regular eggplant, that's just what was ripe in the garden)
-2 bell peppers (I used purple, Orange or red might be even better)
-1 large onion
-1 can chickpeas
-1 cup cooked rainbow quinoa
-1/2 cup parsley
-2 lemons
-fine EOV or Avocado oil
-1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
-1 sprig Thyme
-1 clover garlic
-1-2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
-Cumin
-Salt
-Pepper
Cook the Quinoa according to your favorite method. While that's cooking roughly chop the eggplant, peppers, onion and set aside. Prepare the vegetable glaze by combining the garlic, thyme, mustard, vinegar, about 1/2 - 3/4 cup oil and a dash of cumin. Coat the vegetables evenly, apply salt and pepper evenly and liberally and then roast at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile drain and dry the chickpeas and combine with lemon juice, 1/4 cup oil, parsley (chiffonaded) and plenty of salt. Add in quinoa till the consistency and taste meets your liking. Once the vegetables are done roasting, taste, salt if needed and serve over top of the chickpea salad. Eat and Enjoy!
p.s. I discovered at lunch the next day that the chickpea salad also makes a great base for sauteed chard with a dash of mustard!
Ingredients:
-2 large Japanese eggplant (or regular eggplant, that's just what was ripe in the garden)
-2 bell peppers (I used purple, Orange or red might be even better)
-1 large onion
-1 can chickpeas
-1 cup cooked rainbow quinoa
-1/2 cup parsley
-2 lemons
-fine EOV or Avocado oil
-1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
-1 sprig Thyme
-1 clover garlic
-1-2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
-Cumin
-Salt
-Pepper
Cook the Quinoa according to your favorite method. While that's cooking roughly chop the eggplant, peppers, onion and set aside. Prepare the vegetable glaze by combining the garlic, thyme, mustard, vinegar, about 1/2 - 3/4 cup oil and a dash of cumin. Coat the vegetables evenly, apply salt and pepper evenly and liberally and then roast at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile drain and dry the chickpeas and combine with lemon juice, 1/4 cup oil, parsley (chiffonaded) and plenty of salt. Add in quinoa till the consistency and taste meets your liking. Once the vegetables are done roasting, taste, salt if needed and serve over top of the chickpea salad. Eat and Enjoy!
p.s. I discovered at lunch the next day that the chickpea salad also makes a great base for sauteed chard with a dash of mustard!
Aug 4, 2015
Aug 2, 2015
8.1.15
when you were little did you ever hang upside down off a chair or a couch and pretend the ceiling was the floor and everything connected to the ceiling was actually just sitting on the floor? and everything on the floor was upside down, because the floor was the ceiling?
yeah, i still do that.
"Each time I see the Upside-Down Man
Standing in the water,
I look at him and start to laugh,
Although I shouldn't oughtter.
For maybe in another world
Another time
Another town,
Maybe HE is right side up
And I am upside down."
~s. silverstein
yeah, i still do that.
"Each time I see the Upside-Down Man
Standing in the water,
I look at him and start to laugh,
Although I shouldn't oughtter.
For maybe in another world
Another time
Another town,
Maybe HE is right side up
And I am upside down."
~s. silverstein
Aug 1, 2015
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