Boy am I glad it’s Thursday! When I woke up this morning, I was already dreaming about the nap that I’m about to take after publishing this post! So much for “rising to shine” eh?! If you didn’t know or didn’t see it, yesterday was a full moon. In the Ashtanga yoga tradition (in which I study and teach) on the new and full moon cycles, the practice is observed, and the practitioner gets a “day off” from the series. Since our bodies are made of 70% water, we are affected by the phases of the moon. My teacher Tim Miller puts it best when he says that on full moon days, we tend to be more headstrong, while on new moon days, our bodies feel calm and grounded, but dense and disinclined towards physical exertion. After years of steady Ashtanga, I can feel the pull of the moon on these days and it truly is best to rest, and, it’s a great lesson in the practice of non-attachment.
But that doesn’t mean I get the day off from work… so maybe that’s why I’m so sleepy today! I actually live for naps. And not “cat naps” if you will. I’m talking two hours of uninterrurpted sleep, sans a bark from my dogs or the occasional loud truck that passes by. Twenty minute naps do nothing for me. I don’t know why. It’s better I don’t take a nap if it’s any less than an hour. And no! I have absolutely no trouble sleeping at night when I nap during the day.
Like most yoga teachers, my day is basically split into two parts. Every morning, with the exception of Sunday, I rise super early and practice yoga, teach Sunrise Yoga at 6:15 and then I hit up a TRX or Kickboxing class at Club Cardio, the new gym I’m obsessed with! Then I come home, eat, read, write, and I’m off again to teach yoga from 12-1. After that, I’m pretty much free until 5 p.m. which is when I find myself the most tired and in need of a power nap! So I take one before teaching my evening classes at 5 and 6:45 p.m. and I awake feeling refreshed, more alert and ready to get stuff done!
This is my friend/student Sara in Kurmasana, Tortoise Pose. It looks like she’s taking a little nap inside her shell right?!
I love doing research (probably why I got all A’s on my term papers!) and what I found out about naps is simple: they benefit the heart, help improve memory, and they act like a stimulant, much like caffeine does. So what’s not to love? Unless you’re suffering from insomnia, naps can be quite good for you and if you’re like me and have big breaks in between the day, they can be crucial for feeling like one’s best self later in the day!
Since I am big on multi-tasking, I often take naps while I have something baking in the oven. Is that crazy? And no, I am not afraid my house is going to burn down! It’s not like I’m cooking on a wood fire stove…. so yea, I set the timer usually for 45 minutes (the absolute shortest nap I’ve been known to take!) and when the buzzer goes off, or the smell of what’s baking hits me, I’m up and ready to go… usually back into said nap while the dish is cooling. It’s brilliant if you ask me! Most things that I bake take at least 45 minutes so if I’m tired and don’t feel like reading, this is my go to.
Okay, so here’s a recipe I created and baked yesterday… while I was taking a nap! HA! Once again I find myself with a ton of frozen bananas just asking to be used in something, sometime! If a banana is not green, I can’t eat it. I despise ripe bananas more than jicama, which I really, really find disgusting! That’s why I try to buy only two bananas at a time; it helps save me money and a whole bunch is really overwhelming to me in general! So I was feeling like banana bread and I wanted to give some to my students after class and since I know most of them have some type of dietary restriction, I chose my ingredients wisely.
Coconut flour is totally gluten-free and because it is SO absorbent, you’ll use way less than if you were to use whole-wheat or white flour. Just another way I stretch my budget friends! Oh! And I like rarely buy butter. What I do keep stocked in house is almond butter and this delicious peanut butter from Trader Joe’s that has flax and chia seeds in it so it’s more bang for your buck! Substituting the peanut or almond butter for real butter makes this bread more moist and it’s a better option health wise too! I also tossed some Organic Coconut Flakes in there too in order to enhance the flavor from the coconut flour. My students loved it, to say the least, and they forgot to save me a piece!
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Coconut Peanut Butter Banana Bread- makes one loaf or two small loaves
Ingredients:
-3 ripe bananas (or use this trick for frozen bananas)
-1 cup coconut flour (If you’re using whole wheat or white flour, use 2 cups instead)
-1/2 cup peanut or almond butter
-2 eggs
-1/4 cup coconut or almond milk (or any other kind too!)
-1 cup white sugar
-1/2 cup brown sugar
-1 tsp baking soda
-1/2 cup shredded coconut flakes
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. First mix the sugar and peanut butter together.
3. Then add the eggs.
4. Next, add the milk and the bananas, mashing them well.
5. Lastly, add the flour, baking soda, coconut flakes and mix.
6. Pour into a bread pan or dish and bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean! It’s easy to make this bread gluten-free and you can use this same recipe for other breads, simply substituting the bananas for things like pumpkin or mango! Get creative!!
7. Enjoy with friends!!
SO moist!
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We NEED to talk about books today because it’s been like two weeks and of course I’ve read like four books since then! My book club selected some amazing books these past two months and I’ve been impressed by the picks! On Saturday we met at Laetitia Winery in Arroyo Grande and had a book/wine/cupcake club featuring sweets from LicketySplit Bakery and the book War Brides by Helen Bryan. The cupcakes, flavored strawberry, camel sea salt, chocolate peanut butter etc, were the missing piece to our club, we’ve decided, and from now on it’s cupcakes and books! And wine too!
The book was a fascinating look at young women who marry soldiers they barely know and then are forced to leave their country, family and friends for life as a war bride. It was astonishing how much the women suffered as compared to the men who were far away and not having to worry about providing food for their children day in and out. Next month we’re reading Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline that I finished in less than two days if that tells you anything! The book was magical and about orphans in New York in the 1920’s and how they would be transported by trains to the Midwest where families would have a chance to pick and choose among them for keeps. It was sad and very moving and I loved how the protagonist and antagonist were so much alike even though they were 70 years apart in age.
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I’m ending this post today with a shout-out to my student and buddy Sue who is a dedicated Ashtanga yoga practitioner. She reminds me of myself and we are a lot alike because we have opinions and we’ve both been known to give them! HA! For the past year or so, she has refused to do a headstand in the middle of the room, away from the wall where her comfort zone lies. She is strong-willed though and always says “yea, next week” when I tell her she needs to get away from that wall! So to my surprise while she was in the Grand Canyon this weekend, she did a headstand. Away from the wall. And at the edge of the freaking canyon! Crazy lady!
And that my friends, is the power of yoga *practice* Namaste!
