20 Minutes of yoga: Check

5 Minutes of Meditation/Pranyama: Check

Since being pregnant, I’ve added in the usage of one of those big balls.  Haha.  Off topic but have you seen the Shweaty Balls segment on the Christmas SNL?  Anyway…I love the big balls for for hip circles (lol sorry now I’m laughing), modified windshield wipers and a modified thread the needle pose.

I started doing sun salutations last night and had this incredible pressure in my head during down dog and child’s pose (almost like I was experiencing high blood pressure). :/  That plus swelling in my feet and hands, and a weight gain of 4 pounds in two days has made me think preclampsia!  Yuck.  Going to the dr. today to make sure it’s not.  I’d much rather work than be on bed rest for the next 3 months.  It’s probably not, but better safe than sorry.

I wouldn’t have known about high blood pressure and inversions (any pose where your head is lower than your heart) had it not been for teacher training!  I think Downward Dog is normally safe for people with high blood pressure, but like I said I have never felt that much pressure in my head before.

Check out the below quote from elisiumyoga.com:

“When we invert the body such that the head is below the level of the heart, there is a tendency for blood to pool into the head. This pooling of blood into the head greatly increases when one also elevates the lower body and legs above the level of the head. When we do Yoga poses and other forms of exercise, there is an increased demand for oxygen by muscle cells. The way that the body meets this increased demand for oxygen is by increasing heart rate and blood flow. So if we invert or place the head below heart-level during Yoga poses and other exercises, not only is there pooling of blood in the head, there is an elevated blood flow and pressure coming into the cranial region.”  www.elisiumyoga.com

From what I was taught there isn’t actually a “pooling” of blood in the head, just an increased blood flow, but they got the increased demand for oxygen and the increased blood flow part right.

Anyone else have a better explanation or link to an explanation for why to avoid inversions with high blood pressure?  I was in a hurry today and that’s the best I can find.

Also, ABC-of-yoga.com has some good suggestions for yoga poses to do with hypertension.

Well, off to my doctor’s appointment.

Shawnee

Update:  I went to the doctor and I do have high blood pressure!  :/  I hate when I’m right.  My doctor wasn’t in today so when the nurse asked the other doctor and he said he wasn’t that concerned.  Even though he’s not that concerned, I can’t help but be concerned.  I often don’t trust doctors.

I am still getting swelling in the hands, I’ve had swelling in my legs and feet for a couple weeks now and I have a pretty bad headache today.  Not to mention the sudden weight gain.  How do you explain that?

They want me to take it easy, keep my feet elevated and watch my symptoms.  I’m staying home from work today (Thursday) and hope to be back tomorrow.  We’ll see.

Looks like my yoga will be very light today with lots of pranyama.

That’s about all I could handle today.  No Micheal Jackson Experience or physical asana practice for me, just meditation and pranyama: pure and blissful.  I did about 25 minutes of breathing, relaxation techniques and meditation on God’s Word; Psalm 139.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you. –Psalm 139: 7-12

Teaching Yoga

In today’s email from Yoga Journal, there was an interesting “Challenge Tip,” which I thought could be useful to not only include in one’s own practice, but also for a teacher to explore in class:

“When practicing standing postures, it’s best to keep your eyes open. That helps with stability and balance. It’s also important to keep your gaze soft, especially when attempting more challenging postures. Staring hard at something can contribute to tension in the body, whereas soft eyes help you relax into a posture” (Yogajournal.com email, Jan. 10, 2012).

I was intrigued by the idea of writing up an entire sequence based on “feelings.”  It would be a fun practice to play with and help students become more aware of their bodies.

For example, playing with the eyes open and closed in a simple balancing posture (near a wall, of course). Or even something as basic as playing with the position of the feet in tadasana (parallel to the mat, toes pigeoned, toes in second position, etc.  Through out the class the teacher could make several inquires such as, “How is your balance with your eyes closed? or How does this position of your feet feel in your hips or knees?”

Anyone else have thoughts on this or written a sequence on this?  What areas could we teach students to feel and explore their bodies?

Shawnee

Today marks day 1 of Yogajournal.com’s 21 Day Yoga Challenge.  Each day Yoga Journal will provide participants with a video, vegetarian recipe and a yoga tip.  Since I’m 5.5 months pregnant  I won’t be doing the videos and I’ll probably continue to eat meat.  I need all the iron I can get.

My goals for each day are simple: 20 minutes of Micheal Jackson Experience, 15 minutes of yoga, and 5 minutes of meditation.  I’ve actually been at it for 3 days now.  Yay me!  Just decided after today’s workout that I wanted to journal this journey.  Something about my yoga teacher training must have sank in.  Wasn’t really a fan of the journaling during.  Hmm I wonder what kind of psychological unconsciousness is going on there?

Anywho, I don’t feel like writing this on a pad of paper so I figured I’d resurrect the ol’ blog one last time.  I’ve already ended it 3+ times.  What’s one more?  I’d start a new blog all together, but I’m not ready for that sort of commitment….yet.

Back to the journaling…

24 minutes of Micheal Jackson Experience. Check.  Beat my own score on Bad.  I’m getting so so good.

15 minutes of yoga.  Check.  I did a short segment on a prenatal dvd I own.  It’s a lovely dvd minus the girl’s accent.  Segment included, tadasana, uttanasana, down dog with a chair, squats, trikonasana, dancer’s pose, and vrksasana.

5 minutes of meditation. Check.  More like pranyama tonight.  I did some deep diaphragmatic breathing and included keagles.  Also did some ujjayi breath with keagles.

I ended my pranyama time by allowing some thoughts to flow so I could take a sneak peak into my brain.  I kept thinking about my birth plan.  Then my mind wandered to the doctors putting me on an IV.  There is a lot of fear associated with that darn IV.  I mean I did pass out the last time they tried to put one in me.  Ok, so I guess there is a lot of fear associated with child birth period.  Good thing I have yoga.  And Jesus.

Namaste and God Bless,

Shawnee

If I do pursue blogging once again, I’d like to focus a new blog on writing/yoga/healthy living.  Perhaps in the future, after I have established a couple yoga jobs, I may create a blog as part of a website to help market myself via social media.  Also, I may eventually start a family blog just for close friends and family to have updates about my life.  

My blogging style, like my life has definitely grown and developed over these past few years.  It’s been a journey, one that I’ll continue when the time is right… just not right now.

Namaste, Friends.

Scrambled egg with red onions, green pepper, salsa verde and tapatillo sauce rolled up in a Socca.

Simplicity.

One would think this is a word that carries meaning across all walks of life.

It doesn’t.

Don’t get me wrong.  I thought it did.  I have been under the false impression that simplicity is defined as: 1.) Easy; and 2.) Fast.

Looking over a much broader spectrum of people and cultures that definition would clash.  Take for example, the definition of American simplicity.  Our Container Stores and 10 minute meals would be completely foreign to a Buddhist monk.  The monk might say to us, all the technology, day planners and containers we use to try to simplify life actually makes our life more cluttered.  We might say to the monk, your life is boring. 

Side note: At this point in life, I think I’d prefer the quiet of a convent.  Send thee to a nunnery!  

Recently I visited a naturopath to set up a supplement, eating and lifestyle plan to heal me from my Hashimoto’s disease.  It is anti my definition of simplicity.  It is not fitting into my box.   It is not fast and it is in no way easy.

No longer can I get a quick bite to eat.  I can’t take 10 minutes to get ready for bed.  I can’t pack my lunch in under 5 minutes, and it is absolutely essential that I plan and pre cook meals.

BAH! 

I found a little slice of my New Simplicity.  It isn’t quite as quick as grabbing a corn tortilla from the fridge, throwing on a small handful of pre-shredded cheese , topping it with salsa, and microwaving it all in 30 seconds.

But under my new definition of simplicity, it doesn’t get much simpler.

Behold Socca.  According to Wikipedia: “Socca is a specialty of southeastern French cuisine, particularly in and around the city of Nice. Its primary ingredients are chickpea flour and olive oil, like the northern Italian farinata.”

Socca: 1 cup garbanzo flour (aka chickpea flour), 1 cup water, salt, pepper and your choice of seasoning.  Whisk all ingredients together.  Cook like a pancake in a well oiled pan.  I used coconut oil.  This recipe makes about 4 Soccas.

From the time of starting the recipe to the time I took my first bite it was about 10 minutes.  Keep in mind I stopped to take a picture.

It’s crisp, it’s soft and it’s warm.  Plus it is gluten, dairy, corn, soy, sugar, peanut, and processed food free. 

I got my new edition of Real Simple Magazine in the mail today.  My husband said, “But you know, it really isn’t simple.”  Fitting right?

Because I like food and I like cooking… (really I do…I know. I know. My fellow foodie bloggers have pretty much disowned me because of my over abundant writing prompts and no food pictures.) 

And because I love writing, check out this list of  food writing writing prompts from Build-Creative-Writing-Ideas.   And Because it really is ok for food blogs to have some depth. 

Check out this fantastic article on the Himalayan Institute website about “The Yoga of Simplicity.” 

Fun tid bit about me that kind of goes along with this:  To simplify my life, I packed away all my extra dishes and have only kept two of each dish (except the butter knives…my husband insists on three).  I am planning to do this with my clothes as well.  I am going to pack away all my clothes except for two weeks worth.  This is all in an attempt to simplify.  I thinks this counts as a yogic practice.

*All artwork by me.  No stealing it now. 

A questions for the comments:  Ever had or heard of a socca.? What do you do to keep your life simple?  Because no one every comments any more…I’ll send something to the first commenter.  Even if you comment two months after this post is posted.  I’m not desperate or anything.  I just like to share.  Most likely the prize will be a coupon for a free product.

Bellatrix Lestrange Tee makes its debut.  I tried to get the hubby to take a photo of me doing the Tree Pose (aka Whomping Willow Pose) in this outfit.  I think that was too much nerd for him to handle.

T - minus 40 minutes until epic finale commences.  Feeling some mixed emotions about the end.  Emotions also include my desire to sip on a milkshake.

Exercise: Write a short fictional story with a beginning, middle and end in 15-20 minutes.  Take 5-10 minutes to edit after the timer goes off. 

Want to join me in this prompt? Write your short story, copy it in the comment OR post it on your blog and link back to me.  If I get any takers on linking back to me, I’ll give you a shout out.

Fiction On!

Corey Maxwell Jamison is a lot like other 13 year old boys in his school.  He reads for hours up in his room about fantasy, Sci-Fi, the animal kingdom and physics.  He draws characters in knight’s armor and sometimes stays late at his school’s biology lab to dissect the worms and frogs the cheerleaders won’t touch.  Ok, so he’s not like other kids at all.

One day in the biology lab he ate his Saturn shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwich (made with love by his mama) while cutting open a particularly juicy worm.  He opened his biology notebook and began to draw a diagram of the worm’s insides: its heart and tiny organs.  He moved his face closely towards the worm to get a better look.  As he did so, he felt an incredible force on the back of his head.  Nick Wilson, the captain of the junior high football team slammed his face into the worm.

“Eat worm, you freaking weirdo,” Nick said.  His groupies laughed and followed him out of the room. 

Corey lifted his head and just stared at his biology notebook.  The worm dangled off his face and the smell of formaldehyde lingered in his nostrils.  All throughout fourth, fifth and sixth periods Corey dreamed up his revenge.  

“Worm sandwich?” he thought.  Too juvenile.  “Death by light saber?”  No, it would take much too long to construct a functioning light saber. 

On his way home from school, Corey passed the football field.  “Hey worm face.” The cheerleaders and football team yelled in unison.  That’s when it hit him.  Corey could taste sweet vindication as he ran home.  “It could just be the formaldehyde,” he thought.

Twenty minutes later Corey showed up on the football field wearing his knight suit, holding a padded sword.  He is a master LARPer (that’s live action role player).  He stood on the field and faced down his enemy.

“Is that worm face?” Nick asked out loud.  Just then, Nick got into a line backer stance and began to charge Corey.  The cheerleaders yelled “Yeah! Go Nick.”

Corey stepped to the side as Nick was only inches from knocking him senseless.  Corey smacked Nick on his back with his sword.  Nick turned around and began to charge again.  Corey gave a battle yell, turned and swung his sword over head.  This time he struck Nick in the helmet.  Nick’s face turned the color of beet innards.  He charged again.  Corey kneeled onto the ground, tripping Nick and flipping him onto the grass.

Winded, Nick rolled over onto his back and peered up at Corey.

“I’ll kill you worm face.”

Corey placed his foot on Nick’s chest to pin him down.  He pulled a handful of worms out of his pocket and squished the wiggling specimen inside Nick’s helmet.  Corey raised his sword into the air in triumph.  The football players and cheerleaders applauded.

And that was the last time Nick would ever call Corey worm face.  In fact, it was the last time Nick would even look at Corey.

Copyright: Shawnee Randolph.  7/11/2011

I strayed a little from the prompt.  But I love where the story ended.  I heart fiction.    Side note: I won the Creative Writing Award for my senior class in high school.  I forget that sometimes.

Because peanut butter and jelly sandwich  come in more than just heart shapes.

Check out these super cute Bobba Fet Peanut Butter and Jeally Sandwiches from Wendolonia.com.  Her blog is adorable and she puts together the most clever bento boxes for her kids.  What an awesome and unique blog idea.  She’s inspired me to get some bento boxes.  I wonder if gluten free bread would cooperate with cookie cutters.  hmmmm…

*Image from Wendolonia.com

Because this weekend is opening weekend of Harry Potter and because yoga, Starwars and Harry Potter always belong in the same blog post.

Check out Starwars vs. Harry Potter vs. Anusara Yoga from YogaDork.com.  bahahahaha  I have to laugh.  I love Starwars and Harry, and my yoga teacher studied under John Friend.    Too cool.

A word about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Okay, so more than one word: I’m excited for the epic battle scene and I am sad this is the final movie in the series.  With all of these emotions I am feeling, it is a good thing I don’t have the emotional range of a teaspoon, otherwise I’d need some serious counseling.  BTW, I so bought my Bellatrix Lestrange graphic tee.  WOOHOO.

Have a wonderfully Nerdy rest of the week. 

The prompt:  “What SHOULD Heaven be like?  Everyone has an image of Heaven, even those who aren’t religious.  Write about yours.”

The assignment: 15 minute free write.  5 minutes to edit.

Set a timer.  GO.

My prompt:

Heaven.  When I get there, I imagine, I’ll walk on streets of gold and surf on the crystal sea.  At least this is what I’m told.  I’ve also heard we won’t really have bodies, we’ll just be more like floating energetic presences.  Most people believe, however, we will bodies, brand new ones.  We’ll be able to fly like Superman, and  disapparate like Harry Potter.  We’ll even get a mansion with our name on it.  All for ourselves.

I’m fond of the new bodies and the super powers.  That can stay in my heaven. 

I picture heaven being the place I am most comfortable.  I don’t want a mansion, I want a Victorian/craftsman style Bed and Breakfast.  I want a front porch with big southern rocking chairs and a swing.  I’ll have an endless supply of strawberry lemonade and eggs and cheese.  I’ll even do the cooking and the serving, as in heaven there is no such thing as time.  I’m not sure if guests would actually stay at my B&B, since everyone else has their own mansion, but maybe.  Perhaps I could serve Jesus.

Down the street from my B&B there is a quaint little brick coffee shop ran by John the Baptist.  I imagine the man who ate locusts and wore camel hair would make a mean cup of coffee.  Above St. John’s Coffee Mecca is my yoga studio.  When I’m not serving B&B guests, I’d teach yoga.  Because in my heaven we do have bodies.  Though, now that I think about handstand would not be challenging if we had super powers.  Perhaps yoga would be recreational in heaven.

Even further down the road from my B&B, yoga shop and St. John’s Coffee Mecca sits a gigantic Roman looking library, with people in togas and olive branches in their hair reading on the one thousand steps.  Below the library steps is a large grassy field.  There is a group practicing tae chi, another group in a drum circle and there’s Jesus, all fresh from staying at the B&B explaining to a some listeners what he was actually talking about in Matthew.

This street opens up to the famous Crystal Sea.  But it’s not like real crystal, there is nothing better than warm ocean water, glistening in the sun.  People are surfing on the backs of dolphins.  And you should see the size of some of these sandcastles.  My humble B&B could fit inside of one of those things.

In my heaven everyone gets along, there is no discrimination, we worship together, share food together, exercise together and serve each other.  Plus we have B&Bs with southern hospitality, coffee, books and yoga.

Join me in this writting prompt.  Share your prompt in the comments or post it on your blog, link back to me and comment letting me know you did so.

Picture from cheeseslave.com

Heavenly Brownies.  Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Dairy-Free, Sugar-Free Brownies!  From cheeseslave.com:  Serve warm with a tall glass of coconut milk or almond milk (homemade if you are on GAPS). Or cut up the brownies and add to some homemade coconut milk ice cream (vanilla, or even better, chocolate) — heavenly.”

Seriously?  I haven’t had much luck with coconut flour, but I have to give this one a try.

Geeks in Yoga Heaven

Image from Odditycentral.com

Read more about yoga for geeks here: “Starwars Yoga, Because Geeks Need to Exercise too.”

Happy Prompting!  I’d love to see your prompts.  If you don’t want to join the prompt comment with this:  Heaven in 10 words or less. 

If you were an English major or took writing classes, you probably remember the “no be verb” writing exercises.  It’s one of my favorites.  Not to mention after reading yesterday’s post…Let’s just say I needed the practice.

Writing prompt: Station. 

My goal: fiction and no be verbs. 

I left Oregon on a train and watched as the early 1900s style station faded away into the distance.  Just me, my backpack and my notebook.  Traveling to observe and write with no distractions.

A violent cough emerged from the man to my left and he elbowed me repeatedly.  I shifted my upper body to the right as to try to avoid his unintentional abuse.  I swear he leaned in closer. 

“Sir, do you need some water?”  I asked.

With his face as red as the flesh of a watermelon and his bulging fist covering his mouth he shook his head no. “I [cough, cough, hack, weeze] just [weeze, weeze, hack]…sometimes I cough [flem]”

Shudders.

After a moment his throat relaxed and the red melted away from his face like a thermometer. 

“How far are you going?” He asked.

“South Dakota.”

“How splendid! Me as well.”

Great.

What do you think? 

I think this heroine is going to have a very long train ride.  Maybe I should continue the story using more one word writing prompts.  Interesting…

To enhance your South Dakotan experience:

Image from allrecipes.com

South Dakota Sunflower Seed Cookies. Coconut and sunflower seeds?  Sounds almost healthy.  Substitute the margarine for coconut oil, the all-purpose flour for gluten free flour, and the white sugar for agave and it will be extremely nutritious!

Image from ur.umich.edu

I hear South Dakotan’s like to dance!  “Dance has always played an important role in Native American culture, and it’s still true in South Dakota today. For visitors who’d like to soak up the sights and sounds of traditional Native American dance, powwows are the perfect destination” (Quoted from southdakota-guide.com).

No powwows groups available to join near you?  Why not take up Zumba?  It’s high energy and semi-cultural.  Plus, I hope to be certified to teach it within the next year or so.  Therefore it’s got to be good.  Right?

Questions: Ever do the “be verb” exercise or been to a powwow? 

Then I heard the voice of my yoga teacher interrupt this bliss-filled thought.  “What would happen if you tried just being with the dishes and just being with the emotions the dishes bring up for you?” 

Ugh.  She’s so right. 

Dishes are the chore I despise the most.  When I was a kid, we didn’t have a dishwasher.  Mom would make me and my step sister scrub the dishes each night (well realistically, probably not every night).  Oh how I despised scrubbing the nasty food mixed with water.  The worst part was the silverware.  I had to feel around in the bottom of the sink, usually touching slime and goo, which would no doubt contaminate me. 

Even worse than fishing around in the revolting river of ectoplasm, was the time it took to wash by hand the dinner dishes of four people. 

When it comes to time and the dishes, I’ve had some pretty traumatic experiences. Of course there were the early years between the ages 7-12 previously mentioned.  From ages 12-21ish our dishwashers were old and decrepit.  We still had to scrub the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. 

From 21-26ish my husband and I had an older and more decrepitter dishwasher.  Again, the dishes required scrubbing first.  But that wasn’t the worst part, the last two years of enduring with that machine we literally had a trickle of water from our faucet to rinse the dishes.  I had to tote the dishes to the bathroom or truck the water to the kitchen.  Believe me, we complained to the landlords. 

Now, we have no dishwasher and I am back to where I started my dishwashing career. 

As I walked into my office building this morning, I asked myself why I hate doing dishes so much.  I decide it’s all about the time.  Then I asked myself why I hate doing things that take away from my time.  The answer: because I don’t have much.  Then, “why don’t you have much time?”  Because I am busy.  “Are you really too busy to do the dishes?”  No!  “So why do you feel like you don’t have enough time?” Because I procrastinate, ok? Sheesh.

This, for me, is the process of just being.  Now, I am not saying I won’t watch Grey’s Anatomy while I clean my kitchen.  But this is an exercise I may try to build into my yoga practice more frequently: Finding a problem and just being with it. 

Clipart found on YogaMonkeyKids.com

The Yogic Practice of Just Eating: One of the problems I have with just being is just eating.  The TV comes on almost instantly.  In the practice of mindfulness, mindful eating is the area I need the most focus.  Try this ancient yogic practice with me: clear the dining room table off, make dinner and don’t turn on the TV.  Whoah.  Life altering.

Question: What are some areas you need to work on “just being”?

–Shawnee, The Ex-Perfectionist