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.

Book Recommendation:
YOGA AND YOU
Esther Myers

This book, recommended by my first teacher, Julie Rosier, was one of my early introductions to learning about yoga and how to create my own practice. I would open the book on the floor beside me and twist and roll and contort to see if I was doing the pose properly. I carried it everywhere with me, reading as greedily as I read the Twilight series. I read and re-read and pondered over points, practicing each instruction when I could. I carried it with me on a visit to New York City and felt pious as I read it on the plane, flipping between pages to tie the teachings together.

I went on to have the extreme fortune of joining a teacher training class with Esther Myers. Esther's matter of fact approach to yoga is refreshing and empowering. She breaks yoga down into bite-size chunks, leaves out all the fluff, and transforms it into a practice that anyone can do. Don't get me wrong, I love some of the fluff, but Esther's style made yoga accessible for me.

It is not a very thick book. It is written in clear, simple to understand language. The instructions are precise and concise. I often find myself going back to this book and flipping through it's tattered, note-filled pages, looking for a better way to instruct a pose, or looking for answers to a question, or just in a moment of searching. Esther's poses are also amazingly grounded and open. Esther embodies the concept of being instead of doing a pose.

If you are just beginning your yoga practice, or if you've been practicing for decades, this book is a yoga library staple.

my tattered copy

Notice the amazing openness in the front of her body in all these pictures. She is completely rooted to the ground and lifting out of her center. These poses are just beautiful!

Sorry for the picture quality - I'm learning!