In order to be in balance and to stay grounded with what is around us, we need to seek or find grounding and balance within ourselves…the best we can. Create a ritual for yourself – maybe something as simple as a 10-minute mediation to steady the mind. Or, start your morning with some gentle sun salutations and balancing postures to invigorate you and prepare you for your day. Finish the practice with a forward fold and a cozy Savansana.
A small serving of pickles after meals can aid digestion. And, pickles can be made from carrots, daikon or other radish, broccoli, cucumbers, cabbage, cauliflower, greens, turnips, etc.
Save Your Carrot Peels (and any anything else you’d use) for your smoothies, stocks and soups. It’s a great way to reduce waste or the size of your compost. You can store the clean scraps in the refrigerator for a couple days or even store them in in the freezer. Should I peel carrots for a recipe, I tend to use the peels the next day in my smoothie. And occasionally, I’ve been told my smoothie smells like compost…
Dried Orange Peel: Before you peel or cut your organic oranges, remove the thin strips with a peeler. Place the strips separately on a towel/paper towel in an open dish. Leave them out to dry for 3-4 days. Once they are completely dry, put them airtight jar. Dried orange peels have a deep flavor which are a great ingredient for savory or sweet recipes. You can zest or grind the peels or add them whole into sauces or stews.
For my autumn-winter smoothies, which during the cooler temperatures I consume close to room temperature, I toss in half an orange strip, a generous amount of cinnamon and at least a 1/2-inch slice of ginger. Orange peel helps improve digestion and sluggishness in the gut, and ginger and cinnamon are both warming spices that make the smoothie more digestible during the season.
A teacher of wise words once told me, if I didn’t share myself with others, I’d be robbing others of who I really am. So, here is my story of becoming a teacher.
Like many yoga teachers I came from the corporate world, 17 years as a civil engineering to be exact. For the first few years, I designed fuel systems for fire departments and emergency medical service (EMS) sites in NYC and then worked on water and sewer pipeline design in Phoenix, Seattle and the Bay Area, providing conduits of clean, purified water to serve people and conduits that dispose of the ‘crap’ people no longer needed.
There was a point in my career when I started experiencing pain in my hands and arms. At first I told no one, not wanting the pain to hold me back. Then, it got so bad where I couldn’t even turn a door handle. During that same time my yoga practice was on a hiatus. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be there; I was just too busy feeding my ego, making good money, and meeting deadlines to meet others’ needs. When the pain became so bad, I had to change my work habits and started going back to yoga. As I practiced regularly, the pain would lessen until the following work day. I realized yoga provided a healing element that over-the-counter pain pills couldn’t offer and that my body needed more overall movement. Once I was able to balance out my work schedule with a yoga and exercise schedule, I got the pain under control.
Then, upon a geographical move and a shift into a new role…the workload changed…the pain returned…it continued to get worse…until I would rest and practice yoga…then it came back…it became so it wouldn’t go away… I lived in this continuous pain cycle that turned into 2 surgeries and a career change.
When I realized that yoga lessened my pain and as the practice continued to heal me at so many other levels, I had this desire to become a teacher. My hope was maybe I could help other office bodies prevent physical issues or even supplement others’ lives with a mindful body awareness.
So here I am, now a teacher. Although the pain isn’t entirely gone, I have the capability to keep it mostly under control. I call it a blessing in disguise. I’m loving what I do…I’m teaching private and group classes, offering yoga that caters to the lifestyles and individual needs of the individual bodies. I had even found my way back to teaching at a chronic pain care center, a wastewater treatment plant and an EMS facility, providing a conduit that gives them a healthy source of nourishment, and offering a conduit to get rid of what they no longer need to live a better life. Maybe I’ve come full circle? I’m not entirely sure. However, now finding this bridge back to my former life I have the confidence to stand up and teach with my purpose. I’ve got this one life and I’m living it. I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.
