Breaking away from attachment.

I’ve always touted that yoga is so much more than asana (yoga poses), but sense breaking my wrist a week ago, I have been pretty mopey about not being able to ‘do yoga’.

If you’ve ever been injured before, you know how annoying it is to be: taken out of your daily routine; told you can’t do things you want to do; have your independence taken away. For the first few days I felt pretty useless as my hero of a husband washed my hair and tied my shoe laces. It took a level of acceptance and submission that I was not ready to give in to. The same was true for my yoga practice. I had just gotten myself back in the routine of a daily ashtanga practice, even waking up early to go to Mysore classes at my studio. Then … CRACK … all those efforts seemed thwarted.

Then, I remembered, you don’t ‘do yoga’, you’re supposed to live it.

Sharon Gannon, co-founder of Jivamukti yoga said, “You cannot do yoga. Yoga is your natural state. What you can do are yoga exercises, which may reveal to you where you are resisting your natural state.” My yoga practice can be as simple as reading a yoga sutra, taking a few minutes to do some breathing exercises, meditating, looking to the yamas and niyamas, being mindful in my daily activities.

It’s so easy to get attached to an image of yourself, or attached to an expectation you’ve put on yourself, that when life gets in the way of that expectation it can cause serious grief and suffering.

I’m trying to let go of my expectations and attachments, and am taking my yoga practice day by day, doing the best I can in each moment with the resources I have. This month could be the best month of yoga I’ve had in a long time!

Mindful Menu: Miso, Mushroom & Nori Soup

This recipe makes me so happy. Ramen soup has always been one of my all time favorite comfort foods, so being able to make a healthy version at home has been a god-send in this rainy London spring. The tahini in this recipe was a wonderful surprise, adding a delicious nuttiness and a bit of thickness.

Ingredients:

For the broth:

• 2 heaped tsp. Miso Paste (more to taste)
• 1 heaped tsp. Ginger Paste
• 1 heaped tsp. Tahini
• Drizzle of Roasted Sesame oil
• 600ml Boiling Water

For the main event:

• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 birds eye chillies
• 2 stalks of spring onion
• 20g dried porcini mushrooms
• 150g mixed exotic mushrooms (try enoki, chestnut, shiitake, etc.)
• 1/2 block of tofu
• 1 – 2 sheets of Nori
• 1 large handful of kale
• 2 stalks of bok choy
• Green Beans (a handful)

Method:

This recipe is easy to put together, once everything has been prepped. So, I like to get all my ingredients lined up, and my chopping out of the way before it begins!

Boil some water. Put your dried porcini mushrooms in a mug, and fill with boiling water, leave to soak as you prepare everything else. Finely chop the garlic, chillies, and onions, set to one side. Chop your mushrooms into large chunks, your tofu into 1 inch squares, your bok choy into bite size pieces, and your green beans in half.

Heat a large pot, or wok, and drizzle with your roasted sesame oil. Add the garlic, onions, and chillies. Next, add in the tofu, and allow this to brown, flipping occasionally. Grab your soaked porcini mushrooms and add water and all into the pot. Here comes the bit where you start to throw everything in! Add in your remaining broth ingredients (the miso, ginger,  tahini, & boiling water). Next chuck in your mushrooms, green beans and kale. Allow everything to simmer, until the vegetables start to soften. In the last 2 minutes add in the bok choy, and then cut (I use scissors directly over the pot) the nori into small pieces. I didn’t mention salt or pepper, you may have noticed. I find that the miso is already very salty on its own, so to add extra gets a little overboard. If you’re into pepper, you can of course add a little in to suit your taste.

Now you’re ready to serve! I like to add some extra nori strips to the side of the bowl for people to eat raw. Nori seaweed is so good for you, rich in iron, vitamin C, and chlorophyll which reduces inflammation and makes your skin happy and healthy. A delicious superfood!

I didn’t use noodles on this go, but I have in the past. If they are pre-cooked, my advice is to add them in at the last possible moment, or I like to add them to individual bowls and then serve the broth over them. This stops your noodles from disintegrating into your soup, making it a big mess! You could also use rice if you felt so inspired!

My laughing Buddha salt and pepper shakers loved it too!

 

“Sit there in Silence” Meditation?

Him: “What kind of meditation do you do?”

Me: “Uhh… the sit there in silence kind?”

Feeling pretty ignorant, it was at this point that I made a mental note to google different types of meditation from the privacy of my own room. I mean, I was just going off the classes I’ve been to, and what I did during my yoga teacher training. It’s kind of embarrassing for me to admit this, but I had never thought about what kind of meditation I was really doing. Or why! So I did some research, and found this amazing article about 23 different types of meditation. 23!

As I read through the article, I found I had already been doing some of the forms, without realizing. Other forms I had heard of, but had no idea what they entailed. Since doing my research, I’ve broadened my style of meditation from ‘sit there in silence’ to: metta meditation, a reflection on love and kindness starting with yourself and gradually moving to the world itself; and I Am meditations, as taught by Eckhart Tolle and Mooji. Both of these methods have brought me amazing new experiences in my meditation. Obviously, they won’t all work for everyone, but I plan to try as many as I can and find the ones that work for me.

Things I’ve learned in the past week from meditation:

Talking about my meditations has made me conscious of things I might not have noticed otherwise. 

• You can do this by journaling, talking to a friend, or shamelessly writing a blog post. Somehow recording, or taking time to process what you have just experienced has been really valuable for me. The more we take note of the patterns of the mind, the easier it is to break them!

Some days will be easy, some will be hard.

• I had a few days of effortless meditation. Thoughts that came seemed to disappear quickly. I felt focused, centered, and ended with the most amazing feelings of joy. Other days it felt like I was trying to prove a calculus equation (something I was never able to do).

Don’t judge yourself.

• On those days it was difficult, I found it important not to beat myself up about it. Telling yourself off for not concentrating takes you further and further away from concentrating. Learning to be neutral about my thoughts, and not judge or comment on the ones that come in has been hugely important.

Enjoy it.

• Taking time for yourself can be hard! I’ve started looking forward to my morning ritual of meditation. Living in a busy house, it’s some of the only alone time I get!

Happy he stands, happy he sits, happy sleeps, and happy he comes and goes. Happy he speaks and happy he eats. This is the life of a man at peace. – Ashtavakra Gita

10 Things NOT to think about during Meditation.

It’s strange those things that come up during moments of silence, so I thought I’d share with you the list of things I’ve had to push out of my mind this week!

1. To-Do Lists! I love to make a list… I really do. I love the feeling of crossing things off of lists. Sometimes I’ll add things I’ve done to the end of a to-do list so that I can cross them off and feel awesome about myself.
2. Movie Casts: I found myself playing 6 degrees of separation, linking one actor to another without a real end goal. It was only when I came to “Oh yeah, Christina Ricci was in the Adam’s Family” that it finally dawned on me, you should probably try and focus a bit more…
3. TV Jingles: The most random ones. From childhood, mainly. A stand out was the Goldfish Cracker song.
4. “I wonder what happened to my friend from 1st grade, I hope she’s doing well.”
5. Congratulating myself: In theory, I’m happy I’m so positive, however, telling yourself you’re great for being able to concentrate on meditation means you’re probably not concentrating on meditation.
6. Food: “What should I have for breakfast/lunch/dinner?” This thought is a favorite. It crops up even during the deepest points of meditation. “Oh! I’ve got that curry in the fridge still!” This thought knows no boundaries.
7. “Maybe I should start composting. Would it be smelly?”
8. Future Plans: These varied from goals of where I want to be in 5 years, to Friday night. My brain really wanted to figure it ALL out.
9. WWLGWT?: What Would Lady Gaga Wear Today. A thought I’ve literally never had, but that pre-occupied my mind for at least a minute today. What?!
10. “I should write a blog post about all these things I’m thinking about!”

It’s a week into my 30 days of meditation, and so far it has been amazing. On a couple of occasions I found it difficult, as I was already very tired, but I found that after meditating I was generally more awake, and feeling refreshed.

New rules I’ve had to impose on myself, which I share with you free of charge:

1. No checking of Facebook or American election news before meditation. (I could spend hours doing these activities.)
2. Pee before meditation.
3. Try and pick a focus before you begin. This REALLY helps. Whether you like to listen to music, or sit in silence, if you have a focus, it’s way easier to bring your mind back from it’s constant wanderings if you have something to come back to. Things you can try are: your breath, surrounding sounds (try listening for the quietest noise in the room, without attaching any story line to it), chakras, a concept (like love, peace, or happiness).

Hope you’re finding your meditation as enjoyable as I am! Feel free to share your weirdest meditation thoughts!

Aummmmmmmmmm!

1 Month of Meditation Challenge

Last week I taught my first meditation and mindfulness class, and was so overwhelmed by the response! It was something I had wanted to do for a while, but had never had the time, the platform, and was not 100% sure how to go about it…

I myself have been a casual meditator for only a year. Doing 15-20 minutes here and there, twice a week if I was feeling really good. Before my yoga teacher training, it would never have dawned on me to set my phone alarm to 20 minutes and just sit. Alone. With my thoughts. It can be quite scary, all alone in there! And for some reason it seemed like a time luxury I just didn’t have. During my yoga training, we sat in meditation every morning, and it started to open my eyes to the wonderful benefits it can bring. A sense of calming relaxation, better sleep, less anxious, the list goes on and on. When I returned to my normal routine, however, meditation got pushed out of the way as I made room for other really important activities, like being sucked into the facebook time continuum that meant a quick look at my news feed turned into half an hour before I knew what was happening! Clearly, I had more time than I thought…

You don’t need to quit your job, give up your possessions and spend 30 years chanting. Recent research indicates that meditating brings about dramatic effects in as little as a 10-minute session.

So, the excuses are over! For the next month (at least) I am going from a casual meditator, to an every day one. I’m shooting for 20 minutes a day at first, with a plan to make my way up to 30 minutes. I want to see for myself what progress can be made in as little as a month. I encourage you to try along with me! It really is easier than you think, the hardest part is believing you can do it, the rest follows naturally.

Taking a Leap with Hanumanasana.

This week started like many others – in a whirlwind. Not having a 9 to 5 job, my weekends are usually a balancing act of working early mornings in my job at the yoga studio, working nights in my bar, and spending time with my husband and friends who are all full of energy and zest for the prospect of a weekend. By the time Monday rolls around I’m usually pretty worn out and ready for a respite.

Though it feels the same, this week is actually different, as it marks a pretty big event, it marks the last year of my employment in the bar I work in. Seems trivial, but I’ve been at this bar for nearly 4 years. It has been my social epicenter, the place nearly shut down on my wedding day so the entire staff could attend the ceremony. It has been there for me between every acting job, allowed me months off at a time to become a yoga instructor, and even hosted my first yoga classes. I feel super cheesy writing this down, but it has been more than a job, it has been an amazingly supportive staple in my diet filled with some of my favorite London memories and friends.

And now I’m leaving.

The truth is, I’ve been meaning to leave for a while, but haven’t because I was scared. Scared I wouldn’t make enough money from acting and yoga to pay my bills (a valid concern), scared of breaking out of my comfort zone, scared of really going for what I want. Saturday night will be my final shift, and my final day to use my day job as an excuse of why I’m not getting what I want out of my real career choice. It’s a big leap for me. Jumping through the unknown with the hope I find terra firma on the other side.

The peak pose for my classes this week has been Hanumanasana (the yogi version of the splits). Hanuman is the Hindu monkey god, famous for jumping from main land India to Lanka (Sri Lanka) in one bound to help Rama in the Ramayana. His ‘leap’ was driven by his devotion to Rama, and his dedication to help him at all costs. I’m hoping to take some power from this pose, and from Hanuman’s faith of landing on the other side!

Vegetarian Fajitas with Mango Salsa

For the past few months I have been trying to eat ‘clean’.  If the term is new to you (as it was to me) it’s all about eating whole foods, and staying away from things that are processed. When I started this blog I vowed to dedicate myself to healthy living, yoga, and mindfulness. I committed myself to my practice and meditation, but realized an area I was lacking in was my nutrition. I was practicing mindfulness in all areas of my life, except my diet. So I decided to make a change, and winter being a time where I spend a lot of time indoors, seemed like the perfect period to spend some time creating yummy recipes that would be exciting for my tongue, and good for my belly. I’ve created what I’m calling my Mindful Menu! They are easy, filling, mainly vegetarian, but always good for you recipes!

Starting with fajitas! Growing up in Southern California, ‘salsa’ was one of my first words. Now that I live in London, I find the lack of good Mexican food a bitter disappointment. This recipe gives me all the tasty memories of home, and all the nutrients you could really ask for in a meal!

Ingredients:

2 large sweet potatoes  ~  3 bell peppers (colors of your choosing)  ~  1 courgette

2 red onions  ~  4 cloves of garlic  ~  2 red chillies  ~  cherry tomatoes  ~  1 avocado

1 mango  ~  1 tin black beans  ~  fresh coriander  ~ 2 limes  ~ tortillas

spices: salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne pepper, olive oil

Method:

Heat your oven to 200C. Peel and cut the sweet potatoes into long strips, toss in olive oil, and spices. Place in the oven and leave to bake until crispy.

Dice half of your garlic and chillies. Then cut into long slices 1 red onion, the bell peppers and your courgette. This will make up the filling of your fajitas.

In a pan, put in a touch of oil and onions. Allow onions to soften, then add the rest of your fajita filling mix, a squeeze of lime, and spices. I like to add in some of the juice from the black beans to give it a bit of sauce.

Heat the black beans in a pot on the stove until it begins to reduce slightly.

For the Mango salsa:

Dice your remaining garlic, chilli, and red onion. Chop up your cherry tomatoes and mango into small pieces. Add your salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne pepper spice mix, as well as a squeeze of lime and freshly chopped coriander. Mix it all together, and try not to eat it all before the rest is ready!

Slice your avocado to serve as a topping.

Heat your  tortillas and then build your fajita! I like to start with the beans, then put the sweet potato and fajita filling with a slice of avocado and generous topping of mango salsa on top. How you build it is really up to you though!

Enjoy and Salude!

Open that Upper Spine!

For a lot of us, the lower spine is more flexible then the upper spine, so in back bending postures the tendency is to let the lower back do the work while the upper back just comes along for the ride. Here are a few tricks I’ve picked up in order to help you kick that upper back into gear so you can get deeper into harder poses like Urdva Dhanurasana (wheel), or Ustrasana (camel).

Starting with Salabhasana (locust): An excellent pose for building back strength, but a pose that is all too frequently done incorrectly. Your yoga teacher tells you to ‘raise your legs, head and chest’, your lower back goes into a straining crunch as your legs lift a few inches off the mat, you forget to breathe, and after a few moments you collapse down. Sound familiar? That’s pretty much how I began this pose… It takes time to build up those back muscles, and the best way I’ve found to help this process along (without overworking your lower back), is to use some props.

Place 2 bricks beside each other length ways across your mat. Lie down with the tops of your thighs on the bricks. You want your pubic bone to be on the mat firmly pressing down! This will lengthen your lower back and help to illiminate painful crunching as you raise your chest. Bring your hands out in front of you, resting down on the mat, and lengthen your back as much as you can before you lift the head and chest.

To take it up a step, bring your hands back by your sides. Again, start by lengthening the back before raising your head, chest, and arms (palms facing in towards the body). All the time pressing down through the pubic bone and the abdominals.

 

Next on the list, a pose we all take for granted, Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (bridge):

Bridge pose almost always comes before wheel, and it is the perfect primer; but when was the last time you felt really challenged when an instructor asked you to come into it? Bridge always feels like a bit of a cop out… But no more! Make your bridge work, and you you will use it as a stepping stone to get you deeper into your back bends. Here’s why: When bridge is done to it’s fullest, it is an awesome chest and upper back opener, without the exertion on your arms.

Place your feet hip distance apart, souls of the feet on the mat. Use a belt, and begin by placing it across your ankles. With your right hand grab the excess of the belt that comes outside your right ankle AND slackening the belt in between your feet grab hold of the belt on the inside of your right foot. Do the same on your left side. The belt doesn’t wrap around your feet, you just create 2 ‘u’ shaped loops that you’re holding onto.  Lie back onto your mat and hold your belt as closely to your ankles as you can. Raise the hips, tuck the shoulders under and walk up onto the outsides of your upper arms. Your chin should come close to the chest.

Push your knees back towards your head, until you get a right angle in your knee joint. This will bring the hips even higher, creating a long lower back and a fully stretched upper back. This is the same feeling we want in wheel!

Turn this upside down, and what do we get? Dhanurasana (bow):

You know you have the flexibility to get here, because you just did it the other way around, so really go for it! Grab hold of the ankles, push the pubic bone into the floor (as in locust) to lengthen the lower back, now press the knees back and lift the chest. Lift the chest first and see how high you can get before kicking your ankles into your hands and using your leg muscles to get you higher.

 

Enjoy the benefits of an open upper back by throwing these exercises into your practice! Tell me how it goes!

Forgotten your Resolutions Already?

It’s mid January and for most of us, New Year’s resolutions are already becoming a blur of; I should eat better, lose weight, pick up a new hobby, learn a language, travel more, blah blah blah. Normalcy is creeping in as we settle back into our daily routines and the highs of the holiday season seem like distant memories. January is a weird time, I’m writing to you today after reading a news article claiming that this is the most depressing day of the year! It’s even been given a name: Blue Monday… I think a lot of the sadness that comes with this mid month, mid winter slump is that we have pilled so many expectations into resolutions, and ideas of our selves as these new amazing marathon running creatures that when reality sets back in, it can be a little underwhelming.

Sorry, if my view of January is starting off a bit bleak, but I think it’s important to get the bad news out of the way before we move on to the good news.

The reason I believe most resolutions fail is because they have become more like wishes. Things that we wish would magically happen to us as the clock strikes 12 and the New Year is brought in. When the idea that we may actually have to work for these resolutions sets in, it all becomes a bit too much, and we dismiss them. Don’t worry, there is hope. There are things we can do to make it through this slump, and come out the other side actually feeling excited and energized about a new us.

1. Take those resolutions, I’ll call them goals from here on in, and write them down.

Make a real, realistic list of things that you would like to accomplish in this year. Where do you honestly see yourself in a years time? 3 years? 5 years? 10 years? Where you want to be in 10 years will help you make goals in the short term and make your dream seem like something attainable. What is the outcome you are trying to reach?

2. Now that you’ve decided what goals you want, ask yourself: why?

Why is this goal important to you? How will it change your life? What would it mean if you didn’t achieve it? Creating a sense of importance around your goals will help you understand their gravity in your life. You didn’t just write this goal down arbitrarily, something inside you thought ‘this will be beneficial’. Listen to that something inside you, acknowledge it, and use it to help you get what you want.

3. What actions are you going to take to get what you want?

This is the ‘How’ of the story. Say you want to learn Italian. By now you’ve written down your want, you’ve decided why it’s important to you, you lay awake at night dreaming about whispering sweet nothings into an Italian beauty’s ear as you ride in a gondola through Venice’s canals. Fantastic! What active steps are you going to take to now get what you want? Write down in detail how you plan to make it happen. Chose 3 actions a day that you will perform. The actions themselves can be small; watching an Italian movie, going to an Italian restaurant and ordering in the language, listening to a podcast, etc.

Make these actions a part of your daily routine. You remember, that routine you were getting so tired and depressed about? Yup, that’s the one. Take 5 minutes on your commute, as you brush your teeth, and decide what your 3 small actions will be today!

4. Let’s talk deadlines.

If you’re anything like me, you need one! Choose an end date and create a timeline of small successes along the way. Share these goals and deadlines with others. It’s great to have someone you are accountable to. Someone who will be forgiving if you’re a few days late, but will also remind you of why this goal is important to you,and  why you should keep going.

 

Remember to be kind to yourself! Keep your internal voice positive, and celebrate your success along the way!

Take Blue Monday and turn it into the day you decided, ‘hey that New Year’s resolution is still something I secretly want, so I’m going to actually get it’.

Happy Blue Monday, everyone!

Bonny

Why Giving Thanks is SO Important.

Thanksgiving is upon us, or at least upon the Americans among us! As an American living in London I’ve tried to spread my love of this holiday to my friends and family here for the past 4 years and would now like to spread my love with all of you!

Steeped in false historical accounts, celebrating ‘how great’ Native Americans and settlers got along you may wonder why this holiday is even allowed to remain on the calendar. I admit, the set up is dodgy, but here’s why I love Thanksgiving: at the root it’s all about spreading love and gratitude.

In preparation, I’d like to take some time out to discuss Gratitude and why it’s so important to show it for others, and for YOURSELF!

Benefits of being grateful:

There is scientific proof that being grateful can improve your psychological health. Robert A. Emmons, PhD. has been studying the science behind gratitude and found that increased levels of gratitude also came with improved relationships, energy levels, and can even help people dealing with tragedy and crisis. Being truly grateful cuts down our levels of envy, aggression, and negates the victim mentality we can take on in times of stress.

Showing gratitude to the ones you love is an excellent way to build them up and show them you care. I recently saw a teacher in Florida who every day takes time to tell his students what makes them great. Showing his gratitude to his students helps them feel more confident and, he reports, they are more gracious to each other and more able to express themselves in class. How lovely is that! It’s super easy to do, take 5 minutes and send a note to someone you are grateful to, it’s proven to have positive effects on their life as well as your own!

It may be easy to start sharing gratitude with those around you, but can we show it for ourselves?

Self love is a hard thing to cultivate, and a lot of people have trouble with it. In a world where we are very outward seeking, where we are goal oriented, and where even when those goals are met the bench mark is moved a little further away; it can be hard to say what we have and what we’ve accomplished is enough.

In this season of thanks and gratitude, there’s no better time to reflect on what you DO have. Give thanks for all the little things you take for granted each day. Acknowledge that you are enough, you don’t need to reach that next bench mark to be better or more complete. Allow yourself to accept this gratitude and start to cultivate a sense of self love by doing so.

Bring this gratitude practice to the mat.

Before I start a practice I like to dedicate it to someone or something. It can be to someone I know and love, or to someone I think really needs my love. It can be to an area of my life, like trying to build patience, or acceptance. Whatever you are thankful for, take some time to write it down, meditate on it, and tell that person! Live your yoga practice in the way you treat others and yourself.