Take Child's Pose

The other day I had a funky day. The type of day where there were constant blocks, in the form of stress, clumsiness, worry, etc. They kept popping up, trying to tell me something, I'm sure, but I was unable to hear the message. I was unable to find my breath, to use my yoga to get through the day with more sukha(ease). I was happy that that very night I was able to attend a Yin yoga class. Yin yoga is a very slow moving, deep stretching, grounding practice. Pretty much the exact opposite of a strong vinyasa class, which is an energetic, faster pace, sweaty practice. They compliment each other very well. I took the Yin class and left there feeling wonderfully relaxed and balanced. It didn't occur to me until later what I was able to do there in that classroom. I let go completely. The day that was so bothersome was dissolved. I poured the emotions of the day onto my mat, and that is where they stayed. And I thought how kind of my mat to take that stress from me and never complain. :)
A great pose to try this type of letting go is Child's Pose (Balasana). It's an inward-turning, quiet, restful pose that can be performed by anyone, even if you have never tried yoga before. Come down to the floor and sit on your heels keep your big toes touching each other. You can keep your knees together or separate them apart a bit. There are a few variations you can try; first, pictured above,is with the arms stretched out in front of you, which has a more energetic quality.

Second, is with your arms along side your body which is more rounding in the back and a bit more restful.

If your hips don't reach your heals, or your knees are troublesome, try using a folded blanket, towel or even a pillow between your heels and hips. Like this:

If your forehead doesn't reach the floor try stacking your fists one on top of the other, or stack a few books or pillows to lift the floor to you.


Resting the forehead is ideal so try your best to make that happen using even a chair if your body is quite stiff.

Remember, there is no shame in using props to make the pose more ease-ful and comfortable. We are practicing to let go of tension, not create more of it by worrying we're not flexible enough, or something less because we need help. Let yourself be supported to completely surrender to calm. Let any emotions, thoughts, feelings, discharge into the mat, blanket, carpet, pillow, whatever is beneath your forehead. Imagine as though there is a hole drilled into your Third Eye Space (The space between your eye brows) that anything that is not serving your body, mind and spirit can leak out of. Some days you might feel it's difficult to let go and other days you'll feel things flooding out of you. Just stay connected to your breath and use each exhale to chose something else to liberate.
Try Child's Pose today. Stay as long as you like and let me know how you feel! Don't be shy, if you have any questions I'm happy to answer!




Namaste.

YogaCookingMeditation

This blog idea has been floating around in my head for almost a year now and I have finally found the confidence to publish it. The following is something I was inspired to write one day after making bread. It pretty much sums up the theme of the blog. Let me know what you think. :)
Inhale. Exhale. Kneed the dough. Inhale. Exhale. Detach from the end result. Inhale. Enjoy the process. Exhale. Give love. While kneading dough I got to thinking. I got to breathing. I got connected. Making dough may not be on everyone’s to do list in the kitchen, but I recommend it. We can spend a lot of money in the grocery store for prepared foods. From carrots that are already cut into sticks, premade bread, cookies, crackers, peanut butter, dinners, sandwiches, coffee and smoothies. We are charged a lot of money for these conveniences. But when it comes down to it, to make these things your self doesn’t take all that much time. And you save a ton of money! Do we really not have enough time? Or can we not find the time? I know “people are busy” but what I propose is to slow things down. First, we need to define what we are doing with our time. Where would we rather be besides be in the kitchen? I’m sure there are a lot of places. I know not every one shares my passion for cooking, however I think with the right ingredients, and most importantly, the right mindset we can transform that.
After you have named all of the places you rather be and the other things you’d like to be doing, let that go. Let it go. Seriously, you’ve got to cook dinner, right? Take a deep breath and just as we do at the start of a yoga practice, set an intention or something to guide your thoughts and focus on, to put your energy toward: however you want to think of it. For me, it is putting my love into action. The love I feel for my family, my friends, neighbors, whomever I am cooking for, the food that will be presented will nourish them from a place of love. For me, the entire act of cooking is love.
After that, we still maybe wish to be other places. Feeling our “time is too precious” to be stuck doing anything “time consuming” while “time is flying by” and time has taken over our thoughts. But, guess what. Time in the kitchen is still “your time”. You are still YOU even though you’re cooking. You are still here, focused on a task, that you need to eat and nourish you body. So really, in fact it is very much your time, very much something you have to do. It does take practice, and just like yoga, should be practiced every day, letting go of attachment to possession of time, helps. It comes in handy while washing the dishes, too. 
The final suggestion is to get connected to your food. Knowing that the bread you're eating is made of yeast, and water, and molasses and flour because you mixed and kneaded the ingredients, watched the dough rise and enjoyed the smell that filled the air when it was baking is an amazing feeling of accomplishment, love and flavor.
Yoga and food feed our bodies, in different ways but to the same end. In yoga we are feeding our bodies with warm oxygenated breath. Awakening tissues layers below our everyday consciousness, and in doing so our bodies feel alive, energetic, open, spacious and centered. The food we eat literally becomes the building blocks of our bodies. We are made of protein, the fats we eat cover nerves to allow synapses to fire regularly, fibers keep our digestive tract clean. Both yoga and cooking are ways of showing ourselves immense love so that in turn we can express love to all beings.