... for my family. I am thankful for my wonderful husband who loves me even when I am at my most unlovable. I am thankful for my children and the joy and pride they bring me. I am thankful for my parents, who gave me life and have always given me love and support. I am thankful for my brother and sister and their spouses and children, and for aunts and uncles and cousins, for filling the holiday house with laughter and love.
... for our home. I am thankful for warmth and light. I am thankful for stocked cupboards. I am thankful for soft beds and an even softer sofa. I am thankful for a place for the family to gather and be safe while storms blow.
... that I have access to advanced medical science, nutrition, massage, Reiki, yoga, and many other healing modalities, and I am thankful that I am free to choose whichever serves me best. I am thankful that my body is strong and healthy thanks to the combined work of doctors, nutritional consultants, massage therapists, Reiki masters and yoga teachers. Today I am especially thankful for a cortisone shot and a list of yoga poses to practice daily, to heal my knee and stretch my hamstrings so that I can run again. I am thankful for the gift of hope.
... for friends, old and new, distant and near, none of whom I see enough of. I am thankful for friends who, after years apart, come together as if only days had passed. I am thankful for friends who open their homes, cars and arms whenever I am in need, and who reach out to me when they are in need. I am thankful for friends I will never meet but whose online chatter lifts my spirits.
... for opportunities to learn and grow and expand. I am thankful for opportunities to stumble and fail and try again. I am thankful for opportunities to share all that I have.
After eight weeks of Anne's "Drawing so it Looks Real" class I renamed the class "Drawing so that if You Stare at it Long Enough and have had a Couple of Beers You can Kind of Figure Out What it was Supposed to Be." I think I can safely rule out being a long-lost relative of Monet. Or Picasso, even.
After the inevitable fight with my ego and many post-yoga class talks with Anne, I finally got to the point where the actual process of drawing was fun, which was the original point of taking the class. I wasn't a model student (I didn't do my homework) and no matter many tools and tricks Anne presented I never did grasp the concept of proportion (hmmm... maybe I am related to Picasso). But today Anne set up a still life and said "be free."
Proportion be damned! WooHoo!
Guess what? When I have fun drawing I like the end results. I'm not looking for space in a gallery or anything, but when my inner critic starts in with "you left out the shadows" and "what happened to the other end of the pick ax?" I can smile, tell my inner critic to stuff it and look at the pretty pink garlic which was hardly pink at all in real life but I liked the color and, what the heck, it's my drawing.
In a moment of extreme pretentiousness I named it. Therefore, I would like to present "The Freedom of Fall."
Art in America is calling. They have a job for my inner critic.
Maybe because my grandparents were wonderful bakers, or maybe because I spent my high school years working in a bakery, I love to bake. There's nothing like the smell that comes from the oven when cookies are baking, especially during the cold months. When I discovered that wheat gluten contributed to the aching in my joints I cried over the loss of baked goods. Luckily there are lots of gluten free recipes out there to try. I also have a problem with my cholesterol, so now my experiments are vegan as well as gluten free.
There is a bit of a learning curve, I'm finding. I've scoured a few attempts out of my baking pans before throwing the recipe away. (Wasting rather expensive gluten free flour kills me, but sometimes there is no choice.)
Today's experiment was a success! These vegan, gluten-free oatmeal chocolate chip cookies were so good I thought I'd share the recipe with you. I adapted the recipe from an oatmeal cookie recipe from Bob's Red Mill.
Vegan, Gluten Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup Earth Balance or other vegan margarine 1 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup turbinado (raw) sugar 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed combined with 6 tablespoons water 1 teaspoon gluten free vanilla 1 1/2 cups gluten free all-purpose baking flour (I use Bob's Red Mill because that's what the local grocery store carries) 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon Xantham Gum 3 cups gluten free rolled oats 1 cup dairy-free chocolate chips*
Preheat oven to 350F. Beat margarine and sugars together until smooth. Let flaxseed and water sit at least 1 minute, then add flaxseed mixture and vanilla and beat well. In a separate bowl, blend flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and Xantham Gum. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients and blend. Stir in oatmeal and chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 - 12 minutes or until golden brown on edges. Cool 1 minute before transferring to wire rack. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.
* I use Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips, which do not have any dairy ingredients but are not "dairy-free" because they made in a facility where milk is present. If you have a sensitivity to dairy, look for a true dairy-free brand.
Click here for a printable version of this recipe.
Kermit was fourth Chakra green before being green was hip.
I did promise I would continue my exploration of the Chakras in pop culture. It took awhile (okay, five months might be more than "awhile") but we're moving up the spine again.
Oh-so-long ago we left Tarzan beating his chest and screaming from his powerful solar plexus. Now we wander upward to the heart center and find Anahata, the bright green fourth Chakra. Anahata translates to "unstruck," as sound made without two things striking, but is taken to mean "unhurt" or "clean."
Located in the center of the chest, in the cardiac plexus, it's not surprising that Anahata is all about love. Being in the middle of the seven Chakras, with an equal number above and below, Anahata is the balancer and a healthy fourth Chakra creates balanced love.
Every individual has the basic right to love and be loved. Being a lover in a one-on-one relationship is part of that right, but there's more. Loving oneself and, therefore, deeming oneself worthy of others' love, is essential to Anahata's energy, as is a sense of kinship and belonging as part of a community. When you recognize your kinship to and interconnectedness with all life, you can be certain your heart center is glowing green.
The fourth Chakra inspires healthy relationships, where both parties give and receive, creating intimacy and devotion. When the scales tip too far to one side, relationships become a place of fear rather than love.
When Anahata's green light is smothered, we stop reaching out. Those with deficient fourth Chakras tend to be antisocial and intolerant, lacking the empathy needed to fit into the web of relationships. When the fourth Chakra's energy becomes excessive and consuming, we find codependency, clinging, and the green-eyed monster of jealousy.
Our friend Kermit sings of his journey to fourth Chakra balance. At first regretting being green, and blending in with ordinary things, he laments not being red or yellow, the colors of those lower Chakras that want to stand out and be seen. Then Kermit recognizes his kinship to the leaves, mountains and trees and decides that being green is beautiful. He points out that green is the color of spring, the lovers' season. In the end, Kermit is green and that's what he wants to be. He loves himself as he loves the green life around him.
Kermit is right when he says green can be "tall like a tree." Unfortunately for tall trees, they have a long way to fall. The risk of an open fourth Chakra, an open heart, is suffering great loss. It's not surprising that practices to balance Anahata include some for releasing grief.
On the yoga mat, we can find Anahata's green glow in heart-opening poses like Trikonasana (triangle), Virabhadrasana II (warrior II) and Dhanurasana (bow). Even rolling our shoulders back and down makes room for fourth Chakra energy.
When we step off our mats we can discover our green glow by playing with children and pets, those wonderful beings who love us just as we are and accept our love without fear. Look for creative projects that bring joy to ourselves and others and enjoy a good laugh every now and then. Rejoice in who you are and share your love with all who accept it and you'll be basking in green light.
And listen to Kermit, because how can you not love a singing frog?
Image via WikipediaI've been thinking about the way trees let go of their leaves in the fall. It's hard not to, since I'm ankle deep in crunchy brown leaves every time I go into the yard. Besides thinking that my kids really ought to start raking, I've been thinking that it would be very hard for people to let go of their leaves.
Of course, people don't have leaves, which is a good thing because I don't think people would trust enough to let them go. Trees take a huge leap of faith every fall, releasing the very thing they've been depending on for energy - I might even say prana - and trusting that they will survive without it until the sun gets warm in spring.
The human animal seems to have lost touch with the natural cycle of things, especially in the United States, and, instead of hoarding just what is needed for the lean winter months like squirrels, hoards everything, as if anything given up is lost forever. When was the last time you got rid of something - clothes, tools, a television - without replacing it with something bigger or better? Could you give your favorite blue sweater to charity and trust that, when the time is right, the universe will make sure you have another blue sweater you will like just as much?
An underlying principle of yoga, one of those things which gets you on the path to enlightenment, is non-attachment, or non-hoarding. Practicing non-attachment means letting go of fears which keep us clinging to stuff. Non-attachment asks us to be like the trees in the fall, and let go.
Not all of the stuff we cling to is physical stuff. We cling to time (just take a look through a beauty magazine and count the anti-aging products), relationships (breaking up is hard to do, after all) and beliefs. On the mat, we cling to asanas.
How do you feel when you can't do your favorite pose because of an injury? How about when you realize that the arthritis in your shoulder means you will never reach your goal of pressing your palms together in Garudasana (eagle pose)? We become attached to the outcome of our practice, whether it be completing all the asanas in the Astanga primary series or touching our toes in every forward fold, and strive for that outcome. The principle of non-attachment asks us to let go of the goals and just be where we are.
This week I've added some new, challenging poses to my yoga class plans. I hope that my students will approach the new asanas with curiousity and a sense of adventure, and without any expectations. Maybe they will all get into the poses, maybe not, but we can have fun trying.
When you get on your mat, can you be like a tree and let go?
