Thursday is my home stretch to the weekend so happy hump day to you all! Having spent the last two Sunday mornings teaching yoga at the LuLulemon Boutique in SLO, surrounded by my friends and dedicated students, and drinking Blood Orange Mimosas directly afterwards while at brunch, you can say I’m pretty keen on this gig while it lasts! And if you ask me, the best kind of yoga is FREE yoga… just like a home practice, if you can discipline yourself to show up… for you!
You can join me this Sunday at LuLulemon from 10:30-11:30 a.m. for a FREE yoga class! Details here!
Some of the other teachers I work told me this week that they think I’m boring because I do my own Ashtanga practice, alone, sans music, props, and all that jazz if you will. (I’m really fine with being boring since the alternative is dramatic!) They wonder why I don’t take other classes or come to their class, I’m sure, and even though I may drop into a workshop or my friend Meg’s class occasionally, practicing alone is something I enjoy and the time spent alone on my mat, is one in which I crave. There’s nothing like showing up for yourself and no one else, and I compare the practice to taking vitamins or brushing my teeth; it’s something I do, day in and day out, even if it’s not all asana everyday.
Yoga is your time for you. Whether it be sitting in meditation, or chanting, or doing the Primary Series, it’s important to have time for yourself. Yoga can also be very social for people and while I am so glad that it helps to build community and make friends, I am usually at yoga class to escape having to chat with people, and answer my phone, and focus on anything that’s not in the scope of my mat, and my mat only. Of course as a teacher I chat up all of the students because I want to know about them and what their profession is and how yoga helps facilitate their lives, and mainly because I really like them all… a lot!
I ran into my friend Andrea yesterday and when she asked me what was new, I was stumped for a “good” answer! I’m pretty boring (was what I was thinking) and the fact that things rarely change in my life (and when they do, I go BIG) is really fine by me. I don’t have to live a big extravagant life to enjoy what’s right in front of me. I enjoy the simpler things in life like a long walk on the beach, hours spent reading a good book, snuggling my dogs and dinner at home with Andy watching Frasier on Netflix. Andrea then replied, “You are enough!” And then she so convincingly told me why I’m exciting; because I am the Yummy Yogini, I hang with cool dogs and I do stuff with my “gorgeous” husband. How sweet and she was right! So don’t be afraid to be boring sometimes and do a home practice! I didn’t get these muscles from sitting on my rear! If you want some help starting a home practice or meditating or just getting on the mat, look there!
Love my family! And judging from those doggie smiles, they love me too!
Okay, speaking of muscles, I have a recipe for you today featuring mussels… haha! This dish also includes saffron, and I promised my friend Ryan (ages ago) that I would put a recipe on here featuring the spice. If you don’t know too much about saffron, it’s a spice derived from a flower, commonly known as the “saffron crocus”. Saffron crocus grows high and bears up to four flowers, each with three vivid crimson stigmas, called threads, are collected and dried to be used mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent in food. It’s also one of the most expensive spices in the world, by weight, and my lovely husband happens to keep a whole bunch of it in our freezer! You can get some at your local Asian market.
Steamed Mussels in White Wine- serves 1-2
Ingredients:
-1.5 pounds mussels, washed and scrubbed
-1/2 tsp saffron
-3 cloves garlic
-1/2 cup white wine
-1/4 cup water
-salt and pepper
Directions:
1. In a small sauté pan, add all of the ingredients.
2. Place a lid on top and simmer on low until all the mussels open. Transfer to a bowl with the juice.
3. Enjoy with some delicious fresh rosemary bread and a glass of white wine too!
So simple to make!
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Since I’ve read Jeannette Walls’ other two books, Half Broke Horses and The Glass Castle, I thought I’d read the last of her collection, The Silver Star. It did not disappoint! This was the story of two sisters who decide to get on a bus and travel to Virginia after their mother has a breakdown and leaves them for weeks on their own with a mesly $200 that they are to spend only on chicken pot pies for breakfast and dinner! The only other relative they have is in Virginia so when they show up and pop-in on their uncle, the story really gets good. I loved the bond these two sisters had and their willingness to fight for one another no matter what. 