Our Practice – Savasana
I have admitted this before, when I first started practicing yoga (purely for exercise), I snuck out (sometimes) before savasana. I fidgeted, I had things to do, and I never understood the purpose. Many (20+) years later, I am still challenged by the pose, but now believe it to be the most important, and the most challenging, asana of the practice. If we believe that yoga is about calming the mind (yes, Sutra 1.2 again), then savasana is really the peak pose of our practice - what we are working up to! We press through the asanas readying our body for the meditative and restorative benefits of savasana. While I certainly recognize that we all practice for different reasons, I do believe that most of us are working toward that harmony of mind, body and breath. There are so many good articles out there on the topic, the one I cite below from Yoga International discusses the challenges and the benefits. Look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Meditation – Slowing Down
As we move back into post Covid life (almost) I find things picking up speed. While I am certainly happy to be moving on from this tragic time, I am feeling pressure relative to commitments and expectations picking up and not having enough time in the day. The earliest months of the pandemic were extremely stressful given the horror of the disease and the unknown. Despite that, I came to find some peace and joy in the slower social pace, less after hours and travel work commitments and the opportunity to find ways to creatively enjoy life a bit more simply-and outdoors. I vowed that “when things get back to normal”, I would remember to keep the pace a bit slower and savor the things that I discovered I loved during Covid.
At the risk of sounding like Julie Andrews, a few of my Covid favorite things are: ginger tea and a good book, bonus lunch time walk with Zeus, sitting on the patio watching the hummingbirds and playing board games with my adult sons and husband. I guess I have learned that there is danger in trying to “fit it all in” and that no matter how fast I go and multi-task, I will never be able to do it all. By attempting to do too much, I will miss out on those small moments and miracles that I had missed by being ever focused on the next thing.
Remember, we get one life, there is no dress rehearsal.
“There is more to life than increasing its speed” – Mahatma Gandhi
Nurturing with Food – Banana Bread
It is cooling down and I am back to doing some baking. As usual, my go to are my stores of frozen bananas (or zucchini). This banana bread is moist and can handle extra bananas if you have them. Keep an eye on it as it can get dry if overcooked – if you use extra bananas and add ins you may need the full time (or more) to bake. It can be made vegan by substituting the eggs with chia seeds and water (1 T chia seeds to 3 T of water = one egg). Mix the chia seeds and water and let stand 5-10 minutes before using.
Enjoy!
See you on the mat!
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