yoga – Peaceful Reader

Yoga + Random Thoughts

Yoga saved me these last few years. Heart surgery is far memory now and yoga has helped me regain muscle and physical confidence. It started with Adriene but then, Sam, a young friend of mine opened a studio in the neighborhood and I’m hooked. Teaching is a lot more emotional these days and a good round of yoga after school helps with that energy.

Some weeks I’ve managed to make classes Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Some weeks I only make a 2-3 classes but either way I’m thankful I have a place to go that feels like home. Many studios across the country focus on hot yoga or fast exercise yoga. I know I’ll offend someone with this statement but I like real yoga that means something, that goes a certain pace, that builds up and slows down into a well-intentioned savasana. I’m there to be in tune with my body, to flow for sure yet I don’t want to move at breakneck speed. There are different kinds of yoga for a wide variety of people. I just like what I like and I’m glad that many of Sam’s classes are perfect for me.

Random Thoughts:

I’m reading three great books right now and they are all about hard topics:

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller-family trauma mixed with old love but lots of trauma

The Huntress by Kate Quinn-WWII women and Nazis

Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey-I’m listening to this and it’s interesting but I do not like the abusive father-son relationships.

End of the school year is coming up fast. I don’t feel ready and yet I’ve also packed my summer (possibly) too full.

Saw Japhy over Memorial Day weekend and it’s just never enough time. I’d take them all back home again for a spell. Go back in time.

January Bits

(Our view)

Winter came in like a fury two weeks ago with lots of snow and cold temperatures. It’s beautiful out with the snow glistening under the bright sun. All the winter gear is necessary at this point; hats, gloves, big, long coats, scarves, plus warm beverages for your insides.

Successfully getting ahead of a winter storm we took Japhy to Minneapolis so she could get on a plane to Guatemala. She will spend the next 4 weeks at a yoga center on Lake Atitlán to become a certified yoga instructor. I miss her desperately yet I know she’s on an amazing journey in a very cool place. Also it is 83 degrees there…very different from 3 degrees!

(Japhy’s view)

My mom’s birthday was January 15th and we celebrated her life with a Red Lobster lunch with friends, game of spite and malice with another set of friends, texts with my brothers, and a toast over FT with my sister-in-law all to say we miss her very much yet are glad she’s not in pain anymore. Her pictures flash up on my phone all the time and it all gives me a reason to pause and think of her for a brief moment.

Today I’m sitting in front of a beautiful burning fire thinking about the last time she and my brother Jason sat in this same space and I’m thankful for the good things she brought to my life. While reminiscing I pulled out one of her Big Sky Montana cookbooks to browse and I found a little note on a recipe telling me when she made it and what she liked. While browsing I found a Brussels sprout and walnut recipe I’m going to make tonight.

Because of the temperature I’ve made soup to keep our insides warm and happy. I made a cauliflower/potato soup and a red lentil soup last week and both were very good. I made the red lentil soup for book club on the 15th and then made it again on the 17th for friends visiting from New York. It’s easy to put together and I paired it with jasmine rice so it could be served as a dal and we had toasted pitas for our bread.

Stay warm wherever you are and appreciate the little bits about your life…

Fall catch-all

I love fall recipes especially all things with butternut squash! I recently made a spicy butternut squash pasta recipe from the NY Times that was so good I made it twice in one week. As the weather changes we are always look for heartier dishes to warm us up. I’m in the middle of planning our upcoming Thursday meal which I now like to call our Un-Thanksgiving or our Grateful Day. Growing up my family and Greg’s family both celebrated the holiday with all the traditional fare and I used to help my mom prepare a turkey and all the sides but then we just stopped. For many years I prepared other dishes we liked instead such as vegetable lasagna or food from India. The last few years I’ve made vegan Wild Rice Soup; that and some fresh hot bread from the oven makes a perfect meal. This year the only thing I have my heart set on is skin-on mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy. Otherwise I’m still searching for ideas. Tristan has two vegan pies, apple dutch and pecan, on order from New Pioneer Coop in Cedar Rapids.

In between cooking I’ve read:

Dry by Neal Shusterman because it is on a banned book list and I was curious. My first Shusterman book and I will read more. (4 stars)

The Rachel Incident by Carolyn O’Donoghue because I heard it reviewed on a podcast. (4 stars)

We are called to Rise by Laura McBride because it showed up in my free library. (3 stars)

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros because two librarian friends highly recommended it and it was getting a LOT of attention. I liked it and am happily waiting to read Iron Flame. You should probably love high fantasy to enjoy this. (5 stars)

Fellowship Point by Alice Elliott Dark because it’s our book club choice for November and I am enjoying it but I’m only half way through the 579 pages. (probably 4 stars)

There are a lot of good series to tuck into for fall:

Everything Now on Netflix – Japhy and I discovered this and loved it. It’s about a young girl’s struggles with anorexia and a lot of high school drama but it’s very real in it’s depiction plus it takes place in London.

All the Light We Cannot See limited series on NF- I loved the book and was looking forward to this. We have one more episode to watch. Mark Ruffalo is amazing as is the young daughter and the young German radio genius. The Nazis are all sufficiently creepy as hell.

Lessons in Chemistry on Apple TV – I loved the book and the series has not disappointed at all. It veers from the book but it is captivating. Brie Larson plays the great Elizabether Zott with zest.

I’ve also made a habit of going to yoga a few times a week at Cota Studios and love practicing in person with other people after years of doing yoga alone with Adrienne in my upstairs studio. Sam is a relaxed and knowledgeable instructor who brings calm and joy into the practice. I really appreciate the gift of this studio in our community.

Happy holiday however you celebrate. Do remember the real facts of this holiday in that those First People who came to the table in peace were later tricked through false treaties, tortured, and killed for who they were. Remember all that is going on in our world from sea to shining sea and that while we do have much to be grateful for we must think about how we can help and be empathetic and aware.

The lazy days of summer

I like to do yoga in my pajamas. I do. Before the pandemic I went somewhat faithfully to a yoga studio with other like-minded folks and I enjoyed the camaraderie. I did. But when the pandemic hit I discovered the joy of doing yoga right upstairs in what used to be my child’s room. That child now owns a home of his own and only sleeps over on Christmas Eve so I turned it into a yoga/meditation home studio and reading corner. I love to wind my way from my bed to bathroom and then take a sharp right over to my studio all while still happily sporting bed head and soft pink pajamas. It’s a beautiful thing. I bring up Adriene’s monthly calendar and pick that day if I seem drawn to it or any of the other amazing videos she has on her YouTube channel and I just get down to it. After heart surgery it took me awhile to make it back to that room to specifically do yoga but I’m back there and I appreciate it all the more for the break.

I like to read in my pajamas. I do. Even on my patio which is in the back of my house and no one can see me except for the chickens and the dogs. They don’t judge. My reading time right now is on elementary-middle grade fiction for the state award books. I have to mix it up with a few adult books over the summer as well. On my Kindle app I’m reading Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid and I just finished That Month in Tuscany by Inglath Coooper. A friend lent me her copy of The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill and another friend highly recommended The Messy Lives of Book People by Phaedra Patrick. And on a recent lunch date my husband and I wandered into our local Barnes and Noble. We found quite a few books I’d like to read in my pajamas but we “only” walked out with three; All the Broken People by Leah Konen, The Promise by Damon Galgut, and The Pallbearer’s Club by Paul Tremblay. Also on my list to read are Lucy Foley’s The Paris Apartment, Justin Baldoni’s Man Enough, and Rebecca Serle’s One Italian Summer.

What else am I doing this summer while I am healing and on break before school begins again in August? Walking the dogs, cooking, and thinking…just processing all that is around me. I’m doing a lot of that in my pink pajamas.

Holiday Self-Care

At this time of the year I start to feel like I’m on a super light speed treadmill and I can’t keep up. Finishing school with students, shopping, wrapping, tree trimming, treat baking, family (Zoom) gatherings, post office runs, holiday cards, it all ads up to a head spinning schedule. This year I’ve had one thing throughout most of December that I’ve relied on either in the morning, right after school, or before bedtime that has kept me steady.

Based in Austin, TX Adriene, and her sidekick Benji, does a monthly yoga journey and Find What Feels Good subscription classes. She has free yoga classes galore on YouTube, including school resources, and I can find a different one every day to fit my desire/need. The energy Adriene sends out on emails and in videos is what keeps me coming back. They are low key, kind, and she encourages you to play in your practice. Angelle connected me to these unique videos and Groovy Girl encouraged me to join her for 25 days of yoga during December. From what I understand they really helped her get through the last few weeks of her semester at school.

Give yourself a self care gift and find one of her videos to just start…once you begin you may not want to stop. It’s a little like eating salted caramel saltines or my friend Jim’s buttery caramel squares. Amazing.

Blessings for a gracious holiday.

Writing, trying to stay normal 2

Happy Friday!

We are on day 10 of our Shelter in Place and what I’ve learned so far is it’s important to make a schedule and get dressed each day. And I mean both of these pretty loosely; I try and do yoga every day, I do something for school, and I do get dressed but that could be sweat pants or other activewear. Most days I make food for both of us. Today is the first day our teenage daughter is home with us. She’s been on quarantine with the family she traveled with for Spring Break for the last week. She doesn’t have any symptoms and neither does the family so we deemed it safe for her to come home. We don’t know what’s really safe and what isn’t yet we missed her and felt like it was just time. It’s hard to keep our distance and it’s extremely difficult not to hug/cuddle but we’re doing it because this is the new norm. In another week I’m going to feel comfortable to hug her.

Yesterday we had a teacher/car parade through our school neighborhoods. It was fun to honk and see students and families–I miss them all. It’s a lot more fun to teach class in person than remotely. The teenager here is struggling to understand a new set of rules for school as well. She has one college-level course that needs real assignments. Her teacher posted assignments with no due dates and no real instruction. It’s confusing and not exactly how she wanted the last months of her senior year to go. Everything is off the table; senior skip day, prom, dance recitals and competition. Really it’s the essence of being a senior that’s been cut short. Plus her sibling are all trying to make it through. Kaylee is in Brooklyn trying to shelter in place as she works from home. She takes walks and even then it is too crowded on the streets she says. Tristan is still going to work every day hoping he doesn’t fall ill. Everyone is worried about money and rent, house payments and toilet paper.

It would be real easy to bury your head in your covers and not come out for a few weeks. Obviously I’ve contemplated this more than once but I find it much healthier to get up at a decent time, have breakfast, do some yoga, clean something (even myself), and read. I limit watching shows or movies until the evening. We’ve been great about taking our dogs for walks, getting out breathing the crisp air. We’ve played cards and board games-don’t know how we will do that with the teenager yet but we’ll figure it out. March seems to be going out like a lamb not a lion so I hope spring weather is just around the corner. I would love a walk without the biting cold. I always said my house would be the best place to be stuck indefinitely because I have stacks and stacks of books.

Right now I’m reading The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie McDonald (800 pgs). And I’ve finished Netflix’s Next in Fashion, Virgin River, and still watching Sex Education. I think my goal for next week is to read chapter books using Google Classroom and posting for students to listen in. What are you doing to keep yourself busy?

Just do it!

I’m happy to share that I’ve made it to a yoga class the first Saturdays of January. State Street Yoga has a new teacher, Corinne, on Saturdays at 10:30, which is a very good time for me, because I can’t roll myself out of bed too early on a day off. Corinne is slightly unconventional, with a very soothing voice, good energy, and I’ve learned some new poses from her. New learning is always good. So I’m happy to have started again and found someone interesting in that process.

I’m reading several books right now, trying to read more than watch, which is a struggle especially because Groovy Girl introduced me to Grey’s Anatomy. I didn’t pay attention when the show aired originally but now I’m genuinely interested in the characters and what’s going on. It’s a bit like watching General Hospital while I was in college.

Books I’m reading:

The Library by Susan Orlean – so beautifully written, would not have thought I’d enjoy a nonfiction book about a library fire.

Endling by Katherine Applegate – I am just about 6 chapters in and curious about where the story is going. This morning I had the book in my arm at church and a precocious 10-year-old reader told me she thought the story was great. That recommendation alone should keep me going…

Code Girls: the untold story of the American women code breakers of WWII by Liza Mundy – This is for book club and I’ve cracked the cover twice and read a total of one page. I’m not encouraged to read this whole (572 pages) book. I’m a fiction girl at heart and struggle with titles like this. I’ll take a fiction book about this topic any day. If you loved this title, let me know…

My hands (and the house) smell all spicy from chopping onions, garlic, and ginger for a big batch of chicken korma. Friends are coming over for a beer tasting first and a bite to eat after. I’d already planned the korma dinner for family; I just had to double the batch. It smells delicious.

Namaste…

The simple things in life…

I have quite a few things swirling around in my personal life which are creating this need for me to return to some basic human needs for me; like yoga, meditation, and making bread.

Last Sunday I made 5 loaves of rustic bread. There is something so simple about pouring the four ingredients together. There’s an order to it. You begin with level teaspoons or tablespoons of yeast and you pour cups of soothing warm water over the yeast with a few sprinkles of sea salt. It’s almost mystical as you watch it start to bubble and froth after a few minutes. While it’s heating up I start measuring out cups of unbleached flour. One wooden spoon stirs it all together and then I use my hands, covered in some flour, to knead it around a little. My recipe doesn’t require this step but I like it. Just don’t do it too much. Before you set it aside to let it double in size shake some olive oil around the dough and the bowl. I only kept one loaf here; the rest I gave away to friends at school. Bread makes people smile and think of home. Sometimes people make chili for their family because you made the bread. It’s a win/win for all involved.

Meditation has the same effect. I like to sit on my bed right before going to bed and make some space in my brain. I can do it on my own but I’ve discovered three cool apps to help me as well. I started with Headspace created by Tibetan monk trained meditation teacher Andy Puddicombe. (read an excellent review here @ The NY’er) I like this app and it’s guided meditation with Andy’s British accent. I like that it gives me prompts during the day like “your meditation today can’t wait until you get home” or other little motivational moments to inspire you. This one has free basics but you have to buy a subscription to unlock more content. I probably won’t ever buy more I’ll just keep using free because I like what Andy has to say.

During an online conversation with my friend Erica, she shared that she uses Insight Timer to meditate daily so I downloaded that also. This one is totally free. I love that it gives me a more traditional meditation experience through bells, gongs, and wood blocks to begin and end my session. I don’t love that if I miss a day (which I do) it starts back over. So if I miss one day but have meditated five other days it still logs me as “day one”; I want it to appreciate that I did the five days. It’s still a great app and I’ve become accustomed to using both at different times of the day.

I met with my friend Lori for a drink and I mentioned meditation and she told me she was doing a 21-day thing with Oprah and Deepak so now I have that downloaded as well. These are longer sessions and to be clear I have yet to finish one but my heart is in the right place and I will get to it.

In between, I have been doing some yoga to keep my bones mobile and stretchy. I especially love how my arms feel after a few downward dogs and planks.

What do you do to stay stress-free? Drinking wine can also be helpful especially if good friends are involved. Salud!

Lazy summer days with yoga…

I’m in the middle of the only free days I’ll have for summer. I’ve done a little nannying, helped at a friend’s bakery, and in August we go on a little vacation.

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So on these free days I’m simultaneously trying to deep clean my house as I can’t ever seem to get ahead of the clutter; while I also do some deep relaxing. I have a stack of books for school to read, I’m spending time with Groovy Teen, and I’m working on my yoga. I love yoga but I fall behind during the school year. My husband created a wonderful workout space in our basement and this summer I’ve used it almost ever day.

Anyone can do yoga from home because there is a huge amount of free sequences on youtube. I have a Pinterest board dedicated to yoga and the other day before I did my regular go-to video I clicked on an article I’d saved awhile back. Pinterest is, of course, only as good as it should be if you actually use it. I think of mine as a large filing cabinet most of the time but then there are folders I reach into constantly. 8 free yoga channels caught my eye this time and by clicking on the article I found some very good new teachers to try. If you do yoga at home try each of these unique channels for something new. My goal is to try several by each teacher to see which one fits. I’ve gone through three and loved how it changed up my regular routine. I tried a sequence with Boho Beautiful and I was (good) sore for days.

Be inspired – try something new this summer. Looking out into my backyard as I type this; it may be an outdoor yoga kind of day…

Namaste~

Where does the summer go?

At this time of the month I begin to wonder what I did all summer? Where did the time go? In just one week I will be back in school. I haven’t blogged nearly enough over the summer. I didn’t finish writing any of the 3-4 stories I’m invested in finishing. I didn’t get enough closets cleaned out. It’s like panic mode. I’m not done with my summer homework…

On the other hand I’ve taken an awesome vacation to Asheville, NC where we floated down the French Broad River, ate at many wonderful places, listened to bluegrass at Isis, toured the Biltmore, and tried many of the local breweries. We accomplished a lot in the short time we were there.

I’ve cleaned out clutter-what feels like a constant life job-and helped Groovy Girl and Best Friend host a garage sale. I’ve helped a friend out by nannying her three children while she works this summer so I’ve been able to take them to the water park, the beach, and the library just to name a few fun days. I have spent some mornings writing but it is few and far between. How do I set up a practice of writing on a real regular basis? This question has plagued me for years. I don’t even get enough blogging done.

I’ve just gotten back into a good rhythm of doing some yoga in the morning and when school begins again I need to be ready to seriously get up out of BED and continue this yoga practice to stay with what I’ve built this summer.

I’ve read a ton which has been an amazing journey. Many summers I just try to keep up with books for school and this year I was introduced to the app @Litsy (thanks to @Librarydady) which has raised my reading to a new level. @Litsy gives me many adult titles to look for and order from our public library. I picked up a few from my own piles at home also and one of them was A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, which is my favorite book this year now. I recommend it to anyone who loves good fiction and isn’t concerned about 720 pages. It flies by.

It’s been a good summer. I may never have a summer where I write every day. I have several stories that are important to me though so I’m going to have to find a way. I did take time to play this summer. I’ve enjoyed time with Groovy Girl -a ninth grader this year. I did spend time in my beloved orange hammock. I’ve spent time exploring nature, eating good summer food, picking tomatoes out of my garden, had frosty summertime drinks on the patio, and basked in the glory that is summer, my favorite season.

And in one week I need to be ready for school.

(Photos: Looking in at Lake Lure, Groovy Girl and me, The Biltmore, Prescott kiddos and me, former student Julia and I, Crosby walking)