healthy body healthy mind - chard

ok - looks like i took a 2 week savasana! i hope you practiced this sustaining pose at least once while i was away.

as i admired my lunch yesterday i started thinking about the food/fuel that we put into our bodies and how difficult it is to change those patterns once they are established. my 3 and 5 year old children have already established habits that are proving extremely difficult to break. imagine how difficult it is to make new habits at 42. my lunch yesterday was so beautiful, i tried to take a few photos of it for you, but they turned out terrible, so you will have to trust me on its beauty!

i heated a little olive oil on med-high heat and tossed in some chopped swiss chard. i only left it in a minute before removing it and tossing in some mushrooms and a few slices of smoked sausage (ok, the sausage wasn't the best choice but i was working with whatever wasn't frozen). when i got it all on the plate, the chard just made my mouth water - its deep green color with nearly purple veins running thru. it was amazingly delicious and is making my mouth water right now!

kyle and i have decided to go wheat free. kyle may go full 'paleo' but i have to pick my battles. i have a habit of going whole hog on some new thing for about a minute and then falling off the wagon almost immediately because it's too much change at once - budgeting, organization, food. so, my goal right now is to remove wheat from my diet (mostly). i've been reading quite a bit lately about wheat and its effects on the body. they are not good! i started this quest about a month and 1/2 ago. the first 3 weeks i did great and started feeling better almost immediately! i had more energy and i slept better. but i got tired and lazy and went back to what was familiar, so i'm back on the wagon now and plan to keep it up this time.

if you see me at The Diner with a big 'ole pancake on my plate, look the other way. i'm giving myself 1 meal/week to eat what i want. i don't have celiac disease, so a pancake won't send my digestive tract into the throes of distress, therefore i will enjoy a little splurge unless my body protests.

if you want to join me on this journey, i suggest that you read the book wheat belly by william davis.

hump day pose: savasana

don't ask me how he ended up wearing these boxers. this dog never ceases to amaze me!

i've been waiting to release this post until i could get a photo to post. i don't have one, i'm sorry. every inch of my home is full. the rooms are dark, my camera is older and i don't know how to do cool light tricks. i don't really want pictures of myself, i can't post pictures of my kids, and k and i are not in the same room long enough to talk about who will pose and who will snap. So, there it is - my excuse train leaving the station. let's move on to savasana. banjo does a great savasana.

savasana (shah-VAH- sah-na): Corpse Pose; Deep Relaxation
the most important part of your yoga class. the one you or your peers may chronically skip out on. [blatant opinion warning] one of the biggest misses by some yoga teachers (apart from safety instruction).

your body tends to cool during deep relaxation, so you may wish to grab your socks and/or something to cover up with.

lie on your back, feet just wider than hip width, letting your feet roll out to the sides if they want; arms at your sides or out a little from your sides, palms up; close your eyes. if your lower back feels crunched, draw your knees into your chest, curling your pubic bone in toward your spine briefly before releasing the back of the hips back to the floor and stretching the legs back out. if you still feel a crunch in your low back, bend your knees, place your feet at the outside edges of your mat and let your knees drop toward each other. you could also place your hands on your belly if you are more comfortable this way.

if you feel exposed, or vulnerable lying like this, it can help to place your hands on your belly, or drape something across your hips.

take a deep breath and as you exhale, give the weight of your body to the floor.

now for the hard part - relax. give yourself to lying here for 5 minutes at first. you should very quickly stretch this time to 10 minutes and then 15 or 20. it can take a full 10 minutes for your body and mind to settle into this relaxation, so less than 10 minutes is a nice rest, but is not savasana.

don't give up. this could take some time. the most important thing is to keep trying. you can imagine relaxing every muscle in your body from head to toe. you can imagine sinking into a hot bath, starting with your toes and slowly working your way up your body. you can use a mantra - even something as simple as thinking 'when i inhale i let go, when i exhale i release.'

set a timer. give it a go. you could even search for savasana on youtube to see if you could get a recording of a guided relaxation. let me know in the comments how you did.

namaste,
brandye