You know all those aches and pains you deal with? Well those are your body`s way of telling you that something isn`t right. If we all really listened, our bodies would tell us what it needs. Take it from me, I know all about chronic pain. I`ve suffered with chronic neck and shoulder pain for over 10 years. I had tried acupunture to physical therapy including everything else in between. Sure, these therapies helped temporarily but never more than a day. If I had known then what I know now I might not have had it so bad. My body kept trying to tell me I needed to make a change but I didn`t even know it was trying to communicate with me.
I had the absolute worst posture sitting at work, my rear would be on the edge of the chair or one leg draped over the other throwing my entire body out of alignment. Well, sitting out of alignment for 8 or more hours a day is of course going to wreak havoc on the body.
It was 10 years ago this year that I first tried Yoga. I enjoyed the class, continued going every week for the 10 weeks I signed up for, never really practiced at home nor did I even realize the benefits I was receiving. Like I said, if I knew then what I know now I would not have suffered for so long.
All I can say is Yoga has changed my life. But it`s not something you can just do now and again. You really need to be committed as it`s a lifestyle change. I encourage you to start off with once a week for two months. You can do this by attending a class somewhere or in the privacy of your own home, by online videos or even DVDs. If you`ve tried once, twice or even thrice before I encourage you to try again.
I tried on three different occasions. The first was good, the second time was terrible and the third time was brutal. The first time I tried was a 10 week session and it was only good because the teacher was nice but I didn`t get that what I was doing was so good for my body so therefore I didn`t stick with it after the sessions were over.
The second time was a year or two later, this was only one class I attended which was at a gym. I realized that the instructor was not an actual Yoga Teacher but an aerobics instructor who had probably taken some yoga herself and thought she was qualified to teach a class. My friend and I just looked at each other knowing that this wasn`t Yoga whatsoever. We couldn`t even walk out because we didn`t want to insult the woman that we would see daily at the gym.
My third attempt was with an actual Yoga Teacher in fact he was the owner of the Yoga studio I went to however, it was a style of Yoga that to me seemed very bootcampish and I was turned off.
Well, I am so thankful to my friend Alison as she is what got me back to another studio and I`m so glad she did. One day at work she said she had been thinking about trying yoga and I said to her, `If you go, I will go with you.` The two of us never actually made it to a class together because of our work schedules but we got a group of co-workers interested and I ended up going with them. We had purchased an unlimited week pass, I was only able to go 5 times but absolutely loved it.
They say in Yoga, `When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.` That`s exactly what happened to me. My Dad had been telling me since the two car accidents that caused my chronic pain that I should try Yoga. Which is why I tried it the first time, really just to shut him up. He kept bugging me about it, which is why I tried again and again. But it wasn`t until I realized that I had been living with this pain for almost 10 years and knew that if I didn`t do something about it I would live with it for the rest of my life. So when Alison said she wanted to try it, I took that as a sign that I should give it another shot. I did, I fell in love with it and now I`ve been teaching for almost 3 years! I finally found my calling in life. I knew I always wanted to be a Teacher, it just took me some time to figure out what kind.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Smooth Day
It`s something about summer I guess, but lately I have been craving fruit! So much so that I went to the store looking for something for dinner that didn`t involve a lot of cooking as it`s been really hot, that I went home with nothing but fruit and a sandwich for my meal. Then several days later on a larger shopping trip, I picked up a number of items for a Smoothie recipe I came across. I had been planning to make said smoothie for breakfast for the last several days but not wanting to run my blender too early and disturb the woman who lives beneath me (that also works from home) I kept putting it off.
Well, today I had a massage appointment, the first in a long time. I went to this business in my neighbourhood and was looking forward to the walk over in the sunshine. On the way back from a wonderful massage, I planned to make that smoothie for lunch. I received a new blender and electric frying pan for Xmas from my family one or two years ago. On the way home I recalled the first time I used the frying pan and dropped the lid which shattered into a million pieces. I had this horrible thought of using my blender today for the first time and dropping it, then having to watch that shatter too. Yet, still very excited to make this smoothie.
I got home, rounded up my recipe and fruit, realizing that I didn`t have any actual instructions just a list of ingredients. I wasn`t sure what to do but put everything in the blender to blend it up. So I did just that. When it seemed to look like a smoothie, I grabbed my favourite tall mug and got ready to fill it up. Well, I was determined not to drop my blender, hugging it closely and in an attempt to untwist the top from the base, I tried to get some leverage by holding the handle with one hand, that was a mistake because the top part untwisted and my smoothie started to run all over the counter.
There was a lot of fruit in there and I couldn`t watch it all go to waste. I finally got to taste my smoothie by slurping it off the counter, not all of it, but most of it. I then wanted to wipe down the base of the blender and cord which were covered in smoothie but in an attempt to move it out of the leftover smoothie on the counter I pressed my Ice Crusher button. That would have been an even bigger mess, however thankfully I had the lid still firmly sealed. I still ended up with some of my smoothie on my shirt though.
Anyway, I thought I would share my story and the recipe as I drink my smoothie out of my mug.
1 cup green grapes
1 orange
1/2 Bartlett pear
1 banana
1 cup kale
1/2 cup water or OJ (I used OJ)
2 cups ice cubes
I didn`t even measure anything properly and can`t tell you exactly how much you would get out of it since part of it ended up on the counter but I would guess around 3 tall glasses. I read that you can substitute spinach if you can`t find kale or don`t like it. Note that the kale is the least smooth part (or maybe I just didn`t blend it enough) so if you don`t like pulp in OJ, you might not like kale in your smoothie. I`m not sure if I`ve ever had kale before but wanted to buy some for another recipe I heard about so figured I would try it in the smoothie too. I do have to say it`s a nice cool drink on a hot day!
About a week ago I was watching a little bit of Ellen and Gwyneth Paltrow who was promoting her Vegetarian cookbook, made Kale chips which sounded yummy. When Ellen asked what temperature and how long you cook them for Gwyneth couldn`t remember but said it`s in the book. I had planned to see if I could find a recipe online at a later time. The next day I opened my email and sitting in my inbox was a recipe for Kale Chips from one of my daily newsletters! I haven`t tried that one yet cause they are in the oven now!
http://www.canadianliving.com/blogs/food/2011/04/26/crunchy-kale-chips-recipe-ie-how-to-eat-a-bucket-of-kale-per-day/
Well, today I had a massage appointment, the first in a long time. I went to this business in my neighbourhood and was looking forward to the walk over in the sunshine. On the way back from a wonderful massage, I planned to make that smoothie for lunch. I received a new blender and electric frying pan for Xmas from my family one or two years ago. On the way home I recalled the first time I used the frying pan and dropped the lid which shattered into a million pieces. I had this horrible thought of using my blender today for the first time and dropping it, then having to watch that shatter too. Yet, still very excited to make this smoothie.
I got home, rounded up my recipe and fruit, realizing that I didn`t have any actual instructions just a list of ingredients. I wasn`t sure what to do but put everything in the blender to blend it up. So I did just that. When it seemed to look like a smoothie, I grabbed my favourite tall mug and got ready to fill it up. Well, I was determined not to drop my blender, hugging it closely and in an attempt to untwist the top from the base, I tried to get some leverage by holding the handle with one hand, that was a mistake because the top part untwisted and my smoothie started to run all over the counter.
There was a lot of fruit in there and I couldn`t watch it all go to waste. I finally got to taste my smoothie by slurping it off the counter, not all of it, but most of it. I then wanted to wipe down the base of the blender and cord which were covered in smoothie but in an attempt to move it out of the leftover smoothie on the counter I pressed my Ice Crusher button. That would have been an even bigger mess, however thankfully I had the lid still firmly sealed. I still ended up with some of my smoothie on my shirt though.
Anyway, I thought I would share my story and the recipe as I drink my smoothie out of my mug.
1 cup green grapes
1 orange
1/2 Bartlett pear
1 banana
1 cup kale
1/2 cup water or OJ (I used OJ)
2 cups ice cubes
I didn`t even measure anything properly and can`t tell you exactly how much you would get out of it since part of it ended up on the counter but I would guess around 3 tall glasses. I read that you can substitute spinach if you can`t find kale or don`t like it. Note that the kale is the least smooth part (or maybe I just didn`t blend it enough) so if you don`t like pulp in OJ, you might not like kale in your smoothie. I`m not sure if I`ve ever had kale before but wanted to buy some for another recipe I heard about so figured I would try it in the smoothie too. I do have to say it`s a nice cool drink on a hot day!
About a week ago I was watching a little bit of Ellen and Gwyneth Paltrow who was promoting her Vegetarian cookbook, made Kale chips which sounded yummy. When Ellen asked what temperature and how long you cook them for Gwyneth couldn`t remember but said it`s in the book. I had planned to see if I could find a recipe online at a later time. The next day I opened my email and sitting in my inbox was a recipe for Kale Chips from one of my daily newsletters! I haven`t tried that one yet cause they are in the oven now!
http://www.canadianliving.com/blogs/food/2011/04/26/crunchy-kale-chips-recipe-ie-how-to-eat-a-bucket-of-kale-per-day/
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