Expecting Joy

It's been quite a week. The Namaste Experience continues with no luck on the juice fast. I just have not been able to complete one full day of a fast yet. I think part of my problem is the days I choose. I longing look at the sweets and decide to have just one. Just one succulent morsel, a little sweet, a sugary morsel of chocolate. Well my blog is called yoga, dogs and chocolate! I'm not one to quit so easily so next week I will choose another day. Hope spings eternal.

Last week I made an Italian Minestrone soup from cooking the whole foods way. Boy, what a disaster. I put all the ingredients in a slow cooker and headed off for the day. Bad idea... very bad idea. The result was a thick substance, bland and not entirely edible. OK, live and learn, as the song goes, there's always another train. This week I'll try my hand at Greek Lentil Soup. I also have a new yoga DVD, vinyasa flow with Seane Corne. There is very little talk if any, and I understand how this might unsettle some, but personally I need to breath these days and I'm looking forward to concentrating on breath rather than alignment. I'll report back on my silent practice.

Now for some really exciting news.... one of my students is pregnant! This is my first pregnant student and as soon as she told me I dashed home to look up the do's and don't and design a sequence for her. I am so excited and thrilled and I want to give her the very best experience I can to help her welcome in her new loved one by assisting her through the birthing experience by proving a solid yoga experience with breath and gentle asana. ANY words of wisdom anyone might have, student or teacher will be dearly appreciated and put into practice. If your out there I would love your suggestions.

Blessed day everyone!

Sweet Dreams

Thursday evening after a mountain of errands, obligations and a rather long workday I finally settled unto the mat. Destination: Kundalini yoga with Gurmukh. I'm tired and I wish I had a yoga nidra DVD or CD but it's this or vinyasa. I must say much to my surprise I had a good time. I am going to have to do this yoga DVD a couple more times but I really got a lot out of just one session. Gurmukh gives good directions and explains why, what your doing relates to the chalkra system which is the basis of this yoga. By the end I had worked up a good sweat and settled down for a nice savasana after one hour. she has a sweet dispostion and I felt encouraged to carry on although all I really wanted to do was sit in front of the television and veg out with a bag of chips. I slept like an angel Thursday night and woke up Friday without giving my alarm the usual sound beating it gets every morning.

With the gates open and all systems go I've been holding on tight and trying to figure out how to make all the pieces of my life fit together. The Namaste Experience is now in its third week with a lot of ups and downs. I have managed to cook one meal a week from Cooking The Whole Foods Way with last weeks meal Japanese noodle soup with tofu quite enjoyable. This week I will be making Italian minestrone soup. I've been careful to pick accessible recipes as life needs to be as simple as possible these days. I am still doing my yoga DVD review but finding it difficult to take on more than one a week. Tonight I'll try kundalini yoga with Gurmukh. I'll report back later on this. What I've found the most difficult is the one day juice fast. I have not been able to successfully make it one full day. Each time a pick a day, I wake up that morning ravished with hunger ready to eat a three course breakfast. I have to pick the right day, psych myself into it and stick to it! I am going to try again tomorrow, wish me luck! So far all I can say about my little experience is that I'm bewildered about how to smoothly fit it into my life. Its hard to find time to begin, do and finish everything these days. I have managed to finish a couple of books. I highly recommend Buddha by Karen Armstrong although a warning here, although its small, its compact and a little mind boggling because she gives so much information its hard to take it all in. I think this book deserves more than one read. I also read the last in the trilogy by Sinead Morearty, From Here to Maternity. Emma and James are a couple with fertility issues, using all their options to create a family. I loved all three books and this writer always has me laughing out loud. She's light and leaves the reader feeling life is really OK no matter what happens.

Well its off for a little Kundalini, hopes things are moving nicely for everyone!

One Down

Yesterday the Man and I went to a lovely beach to wile away a little time before the bell goes off, the gates open and were off and running. Knowing this week is going to be a shock on the system I thought I should get the first meal cooked and done before Monday. I made this very easy on myself, fried rice with vegetables. The only modification was herb instead of fresh burdock. I also spent the week trying Mantra Girl's Kundalini yoga DVD. I like the idea of cleaning out my aura but I'm not particularly fond of her approach or sequence. I'm sorry but I am not going to be able to recommend this based on the yoga. I would strongly suggest checking out her music and chanting. Truly her voice is divine, and I fully intend to incorporate her music into my classes. In a couple of weeks I'll be trying a yoga DVD with Gurmukh, a renowned kundalini teacher. This may give me better insight into the practice. Next up, Yoga Shakti with Shiva Rea. It's going to take me at least a week to get through this , there is a LOT of yoga in this vinyasa series! Tomorrow I think I will try my hand at a one day fast.

OK then.... one meal down, one fast one yoga video to go! Bliss factor: not bad.

End note.... How to make the Man ecstatic; be a rookie, pitch a no hitter, make it happen after we've lost five in a row. You should have seen him beam. Talk about bliss factor!

Happiness

I was quite taken by the Julie & Julia project and this got me thinking about what I might be able to undertake. If I was going to take on a little project of my own it would have to be something personally meaningful, possibly boasting my happiness factor up a notch or two. It would also have to fit into my already overloaded. over obligated, over scheduled life. As I have mentioned before my goal within my yoga practice is spending more time on the mat at home and becoming less dependant on outside classes. With this in mind I have chosen my project for the year. The Namaste Experience is a ten month project compromised of doing and reviewing 75 yoga DVD's, cooking one meal a week from Cooking the Whole Foods Way by Christina Pirello and juice fasting one day a week. In the end I'll compare the beginning of September 2007 with the end of June 2008 and we'll see how much bliss I've attained! First DVD is Yoga Shakti with Shiva Rea, first recipe ( the easiest one I could find in the cookbook) first fast, pure hell I'm sure.

Wish me luck!