Open Your Heart

If you work in an office most of the day, your body is probably very familiar with the action it takes to hover over a keyboard or notebook. This rounded, shoulders-forward pose might allow you to get closer to your work, but it's imperative to take a break every now and then and stretch your chest so that your work slump doesn't become an all-the-time slump.

Try this simple chest opener:

From a standing position, roll your shoulders back. Clasp your elbows with your hands behind your back. If you have more flexibility, you may join your palms behind your back, with the fingers pointing upward. On the exhalation, roll the upper arms back toward the wall, opening the chest between the sternum and shoulder. As you open, keep the ribs relaxed; make sure they don't jut forward. Remember to stay grounded in your feet and center the movement below the navel. Relax the eyes, jaw, and tongue. Release on the exhalation. Change the arm on top, if you are clasping your elbows, and repeat.

Do this once every hour, and before you know it you'll stand up straighter and feel more balanced.

Namaste

Eating Seasonally

Eating in Season

Seasons form the natural backdrop for eating. All of the World's Healthiest Foods are seasonal. Imagine a vegetable garden in the dead of winter. Now imagine this same garden on a sunny, summer day. How different things are during these two seasons of the year! For ecologists, seasons are considered a source of natural diversity. Changes in growing conditions from spring to summer or fall to winter are considered essential for balancing the earth's resources and its life forms. But today it's so easy for us to forget about seasons when we eat! Modern food processing and worldwide distribution of food make foods available year-round, and grocery stores shelves look much the same in December as they do in July.

Guides for Eating Seasonally

What does this mean for you? Eat seasonally! To enjoy the full nourishment of food, you must make your menu a seasonal one. In different parts of the world, and even in different regions of one country, seasonal menus can vary. But here are some overriding principles you can follow to ensure optimal nourishment in every season:

• In spring, focus on tender, leafy vegetables that represent the fresh new growth of this season. The greening that occurs in springtime should be represented by greens on your plate, including Swiss chard, spinach, Romaine lettuce, fresh parsley, and basil.
• In summer, stick with light, cooling foods in the tradition of traditional Chinese medicine. These foods include fruits like strawberries, apple, pear, and plum; vegetables like summer squash, broccoli, cauliflower, and corn; and spices and seasonings like peppermint and cilantro.
• In fall, turn toward the more warming, autumn harvest foods, including carrot, sweet potato, onions, and garlic. Also emphasize the more warming spices and seasonings including ginger, peppercorns, and mustard seeds.
• In winter, turn even more exclusively toward warming foods. Remember the principle that foods taking longer to grow are generally more warming than foods that grow quickly. All of the animal foods fall into the warming category including fish, chicken, beef, lamb, and venison. So do most of the root vegetables, including carrot, potato, onions and garlic. Eggs also fit in here, as do corn and nuts.

In all seasons, be creative! Let the natural backdrop of spring, summer, fall and winter be your guide.

Live right now!

THE LONGER YOU WAIT FOR THE FUTURE THE SHORTER IT WILL BE…

Just Breathe

Breath

It is incredible how a few deep breaths can shift your state, bringing ease to your body and spaciousness to the situation at hand. Breath diffuses tension. Breath creates space. Space to feel. Breath invites us to pause. Breath invites us to settle. Breath is energizing. Breath is here all the time...until it's not. Breath is nourishing. Breath is a gift. Take it in fully. Padma Gordon.

The only change is in ourselves

Part of the philosophy of yoga is that we can't always change the world around us. No matter what we do, bad things will happen and stressful situations will arise. The only thing we have control over—the only thing we can change—is ourselves. We can decide how to react to situations that challenge us. Will we allow them to throw us off center, or will we calmly deal with something unpleasant and not let it have a bad effect on us, taking it in stride.

Yoga teaches us how to respond to stress patiently. We must experience the physical challenge of the postures without fear, and use deep, calm breaths to move through them. If we can take that lesson off the mat and into our daily lives, we will move closer to the goal of responding to stress and bad things in a careful and considered way.

Yoga Journal 

Namaste,

Shaini

Take a Stress Test

Make a fist and squeeze it tight. Keep squeezing—as hard as you can—while you count to 10.

What happened to your breath while you did this? Most people find that they completely stop breathing, which is what typically happens when we're under stress. If you think about it, this response makes sense. The body seizes up in a mild form of shock.

But this response is exactly the opposite of what is healthy for the body. Instead of seizing up, we must learn to relax during times of stress, for only when we're relaxed can we find a solution.

Yoga can help you practice this principle in action. In yoga, the "stress" is the physical challenge of the posture. Although our first response to it may be tension, over time we can learn to deepen our breath and expand into the pose.

Yoga Journal

Namaste, Shaini

Be Present All meals a day

We've all heard that "we are what we eat." A more specific way to translate that axiom is to say that what we eat, to a great extent, determines our health. More complex is the idea that how we eat affects our health. When we appreciate and are conscious of our food, we derive incredible benefits from eating, in part because such awareness makes it difficult for us to eat food that is bad for us.

Discover food anew every time you eat. What you will find is that every apple, slice of toast, or meal in your favorite restaurant has its own unique, subtle qualities that often slip by, unnoticed, when you eat habitually or in a distracted state of mind.

If you can bring yourself back to the present moment for just an instant and pause to see how your food aligns with you deep in your core, you'll find you have an unfailing tool for knowing what is truly healthy and satisfying for you.

Yoga Journal

Namaste, Shaini