Office Yoga

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Most of us spend considerable time sitting at a desk and/or working at a computer and let’s face it, our necks and shoulders get really cramped and tight. Depending upon your particular line of work and your physical condition, those knots can begin tying up your mind as well as your shoulders. The antidote for me is frequent yoga breaks.

Today I gave a short demonstration for area workers of some yoga stretches that can alleviate Desk Stress. Here are two poses that will help yo release that tension. It’s a very brief, mini introduction to yoga in the workplace.

OFFICE YOGA Stretch and Relax while at your desk!

       Arms Overhead – Great for releasing shoulder and neck tension that occurs during computer work.

With hands clasped together, turn palms toward knees. As you inhale, raise arms overhead.  Continue softly breathing as you press through index finger mounds.  Release shoulders towards kidneys. When ready, exhale and release arms.

      Seated Spinal Waves -If you are feeling stiff and achy, try some spinal waves. The spinal waves gently move the spine releasing tension throughout the back of the body. As tension and knots are released, energy can flow in unimpeded waves of healing and rejuvenation throughout your entire system. Try them anytime you need a quick pick-me up during the day.

Sit with your buttocks on the middle of the seat with your ankles falling in line with your knees. Inhale and lift the spine. Place your hands palms down on your thighs.  As you exhale, round the back draw the tail forward while pressing the navel towards the spine to engage your abdominal muscles. Tuck your chin gently stretching the back of the neck. Invite the shoulders to roll forward, away from the spine.  Inhale and reverse the curve of the spine, lifting the chest and drawing the tail down and towards the back of the chair. Lift the chin and stretch the front of the neck.  Roll the shoulders back and squeeze the inner shoulder blades toward the spine. Stretch the front of the torso as you release the belly. Lift and open the heart center.

Repeat 10 times.

© Carolyn Kieber Grady 2012  

     

Hurray for Woman Power

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Yoga is about learning to channel energy. Using your power involves channeling your energy. Not recognizing your power is perhaps the easiest way to negate the energy at your disposal. This tribute to women who have transformed their own energies into action to change the world in big and small ways is inspiring for all of us, men, women, children, elders alike.

Though International Women’s Day is March 8, I am inspired by this video TODAY. It really supports my intentions for the year 2012. How about you?

Carolyn’s Tonglen Video

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Holy Smokes. There’s been a huge shift and I have finally created a perfectly imperfect meditation video. My first ever. Oh such wonderful new areas for me to grow and improve upon.

Thank you to my sis (in law) who is bravely battling cancer. You have inspired me. And inspired healing in circles known and unknown.

Blessings to all of you who are still hanging out at BarefootandUpsideDown. Would love feedback regarding this new adventure.

Sensual Living

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Do you wish you could live more fully present in your life? I sure do, so I am working on expanding my sensory awareness. There is so much that passes me by, that never registers in my consciousness every waking (sleeping!) moment

What is sensual living, but a life spent paying attention. It’s a physical life. A receptive awareness. It is presence. Experiencing all that is. Touching, feeling, seeing, smelling, moving (yes, the body has that kinesthetic sense), listening, tasting. Any and all of these modalities can become meditations if you ramp up your awareness and really open yourself to what you are experiencing. Yoga itself becomes a powerful tool for meditation this way.

I just finished reading A HOUSE BY THE SEA by poet, May Sarton. Sarton describes living a sensual life in on the coast of Maine. I feel as if I’ve lived at Wild Knoll and pulled goldenrod from her delightful garden and sipped chablis on the patio in her colorful tapestry of existence beside the sea.

Here is a video that I found inspiring and hope you will too. I can’t wait to make my own BOOK OF SENSES. I invite you to live sensually for one month. Maybe we can compare notes afterwards.

Cassie’s Workshop: Book of Senses from Cassie Oswald on Vimeo.

Community in Sound

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This morning in class after we chanted OM ~ and the class is becoming less self-conscious and more vibrational as they grow accustomed to chanting ~ a student remarked how “good we sounded” as we had reached that exquisite blending of voices ~ that community of OMs.The experience reminded him of the Virtual Choir he’d seen on You Tube.  Eric Whitacre, the composer and conductor speaks in the following TED video of what the process of group singing meant to him. He said that the first time he sang in a choir he realized that he was part of something bigger than himself.

In yoga, we’d say that we ARE something bigger than our conception of our individual selves. This is the beauty of chanting before class. We acknowledge and surrender to that energy, that grace, that love.

It is from that space that we twist and turn ourselves in the poses and that we sit quietly in breath work or in meditation or savasana. This is true whether we have chanted in a hall with hundreds of yogis or if we chant silently to ourselves while practicing. This is the sound of the universe. Of the primal energy that flows everywhere. The vibration that is.

In class at Panterra on Tuesday night, we were fortunate to have sitar player, Justin Scarimbola strumming his instrument while we fell deeply into savasana. As one note fell away, another appeared, then another and another. The evening raga grew a little “on edge” as daylight was fading to dusk and the notes picked up steam, coming faster, more insistent and then sliding back into quietude. The music took my mind along on its journey. Afterwards, I felt that somehow, I saw the world a bit differently. Time and space shifting in their tides just as the Indian raga grew louder, softer, faster, slower, smoother, rougher.

Today is windy and hot. Yesterday was hot and still. It’s all labile, change, flux, even when it seems to be static. Do not stay stuck, the music, the chanting, like our practice tell us.

We are capable of so much more love than we realize.

MANTRA for today: May I open to unknown capabilities within myself today.

Okra Eggplant Curry

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Okra Eggplant curry (barefoot photos)

Though okra is very nutritious, I have detested it forever, until Mike discovered a way to make it not so slimy, by baking it in the oven before adding it to the dish.This dish has now become my FAV curry!

INGREDIENTS

Okra ~ 1 lb. frozen

Eggplant ~ 1 medium chopped into 1/4 ‘ cubes

Zucchini (optional) ~ chopped into 1/4 ” cubes

Onion ~ 1 large chopped

Tomato ~ 2 medium chopped

Green chili ~ 2 chopped or 4 small chopped

Fresh ginger ~ 1 ” cube peeled, grated

Garlic ~ 4 cloves chopped

Cumin seeds ~ 2 tsp.

Cumin powder ~ 1 tsp.

Coriander powder ~ 1 tsp.

Chili powder ~ 1 tsp.

Turmeric powder ~ 1/2 tsp.

Safflower oil ~ 2 Tbsp.

Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Place okra on flat baking sheet and heat in 250 degree oven about 20 minutes while completing the next couple of steps

2. Heat 2 Tbsp. oil in large skillet

3. Add cumin seeds. When they begin to sputter add chopped onions.

4. Add turmeric powder, fresh grated ginger, and garlic.

5. Stir for 1 minute and then add eggplant and chilies.

6. Continue sauteing and add 1/2 cup water if it sticks.

7. After 5 minutes, add coriander powder, cumin powder, chili powder, tomatoes, zucchini and okra.

8. Saute fro 3 more minutes, add salt to taste, correct seasoning as needed; cover and cook on low heat for about 5 more minutes for flavors to meld.

9. Remove from heat.

10 Serve with crisp poppadom and coriander chutney.

 

Elder care and yoga practice

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Rolling Brook Restorative (barefoot photos)

I am so sorry dear readers that it has been sooooo long since I’ve posted.

This is the thing, my father-in-law who moved into assisted living in Fredonia last fall, fell out of bed and clunked his noggin’ at the end of February. Ten days of hospitalization were followed by a transfer to a nursing home-the locked dementia ward. This man, who two months ago was enjoying homemade dinners and classical music concerts with us, can no longer walk, barely eats, is in diapers, has leg sores, and hardly knows who his son is, much less who I am. At nearly ninety years old, where is the dignity? What effect does my yoga training have on my response to his suffering…and the family’s grief and suffering?

Well, the first thing I rely upon is the breath. I take long sessions of ujjayi to assuage the grief that he is leaving us.

The second practice I engage in is TONGLEN meditation. I will write a page about that soon. Fortunately for me, my teacher, Mahala of ten thousand bodhisattvas dot com offered a Tonglen class shortly after Ben went into the nursing home.  Did the universe know that I needed this? I can hear my yoga teacher muttering karma, carolyn, karma!

As a caregiver of a ninety year old with end stage dementia, I now know that I need to learn how to take care of myself first because at present I am suffering from a very nasty case of the flue, probably due to exhaustion. So restorative yoga, here I come. The third practice. Pull out the bolsters and blankies, cause I’m resting, deeply. It’s the core practice of compassionate caregivers.

Cauliflower Soup

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Mike enjoying cauliflower soup & salad dinner (barefoot photos)

This easy easy soup is a delight to make as well as enjoy.

If you cut the milk portion in half you can use it to replace a side dish of mashed potatoes.

This is Mike’s recipe; I like to use even less oil. As the onion begins to cook, I then add a bit of water to the pan which helps to steam cook the vegetables.

 

INGREDIENTS

1 large cauliflower chopped

1 onion chopped

1 T. canola oil

Abt. 2 C. rice milk

Salt & pepper to taste

 

DIRECTIONS

1.       Saute the onion in the oil.

2.       Add chopped cauliflower and continue to sauté for a few minutes.

3.       Add rice milk and boil until soft.

4.       Use immersion blender or potato masher to whip it until smooth.

5.       Add more milk to desired consistency.

6.       Season with salt and white pepper to taste.

Spinach and Tofu, Saag Paneer

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Spinach & Tofu (barefoot photos)

In my continual quest for GREEN dishes, I have been enjoying this fairly simple spinach and tofu meal. Saag aka Palak Paneer, is a delicious and satisfying staple of vegetarian Indian cuisine. Unfortunately, we live over an hour away from the nearest Indian supermarket, so don’t often have fresh Paneer (a type of Indian cheese) available. Tofu is substituted in this recipe, and while it is not a taste equivalent, it is nonetheless delicious in its own right.

INGREDIENTS

3 cloves minced garlic

1 chopped onion

2 T. canola oil

1/2 tsp. turmeric

1 lb. chopped fresh spinach

2 tsp. ground cumin

2 tsp. ground coriander

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. cayenne

1 lb. frozen spinach

14 oz. tofu, cubed in 1/2 inch cubes

2 tsp. arrowroot p[owder

1 C. rice milk

DIRECTIONS

Saute 3 cloves minced garlic with 1 chopped onion in 1 T canola oil and ½ t. turmeric until soft.

Add 1 lb. chopped fresh spinach. Continue to sauté.

Add 2 t. ground cumin, 2 tsp. ground coriander (freshly ground preferred), ½ tsp. ground ginger, and ¼ tsp. cayenne.  Cook until spinach wilted.

Add 1 lb. frozen spinach and continue to cook on low heat.

Meanwhile, sauté 14 oz. (container) of firm  tofu,  sliced into ½ inch cubes in 1 T. canola oil in no-stick frying pan until brown. Combine with spinach mixture. Cook 2-3 minutes  for flavors to meld.

Mix 2 tsp. arrowroot powder in 1 C. rice milk and stir into spinach mixture. Cook an additional 3 minutes.

Serve alone, or with fragrant basmati rice, or heat up a couple of spicy papaduum to eat alongside the “curry.”

Savasana, aka corpse pose

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Savasana, corpse pose (barefoot photos)


I am an experimental yogini. Lately, I have been approaching savasana, the pose of deep relaxation that I “do” at the end of my asana practice to see what I can learn from ten or twenty or thirty or sixty minutes reclining in a prone position.

The physical aspects of savasana are quite simple: stretch out on the floor on your back, roll the palms up to face the ceiling, allow the legs to flop away from each other, gently lower the eyelids, part the teeth slightly, cover yourself with a light blanket, place an eye pillow on your eyelids, use a folded blanket beneath your head and neck and a bolster beneath your knees, if you’d like. There are other variations and possible supports that can be used to induce a greater level of comfort, but I’ll cover those in another post.

Here are my journal notes after a savasana “lab:”

10 minutes: a sudden drop into physical relaxation. The body felt as if it were melting into the floor

13 minutes: another drop deeper ~ a deeper release down

17 minutes: Oh, now this drop felt nearly blissful ~ a tumble into bliss ~ so lovely

I was shaken out of it when hearing voices upstairs talking loudly and I picked up the phrase: “She’s really in bad shape.” Felt my mind turn on with adrenaline ~ thought maybe I should get up ~ racing thoughts, but felt my body still relaxed, so decided to drop back down into the deep relaxation, knowing the alarm was set and I could get up in three more minutes. Later note: this was an amazing realization: that I could CHOOSE whether or not to relax deeply!

20 minutes: the alarm rang and because I had already “come back” a good way, I decided to remind myself to come back s-l-o-w-l-y and resist the urge to run upstairs and find out what had happened (what had happened was in fact, a continuing deterioration of an 86 year old relative’s condition, and certainly not an emergency in the immediate sense of the word)

I’d love to hear of your experiences in savasana!