While preparing to make my favorite vata-friendly Red Lentil Soup with Curry and Coconut Milk, I realized I had linked to the wrong recipe in my last post. I highly recommend the recipe at the corrected link--very tastey and inexpensive. If you don't have a blender, just skip the puree step.
I'm also making fresh beet, carrot, orange juice, Ginger Crinkle Cookies for dessert, and a side of herbal sinus tea specially blended by my yoga teacher. I wish I could eat like this every night!
Monday, March 16, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Need Vata-friendly Vegetarian Meals
Does anybody have a favorite vegetarian meal recommendation for vata-dominant people? I’m seriously not just trying to stimulate conversation. I truly need some good resources and haven’t been able to find any on my own.
I hear that vatas are one of the few ayurvedic constitutions that might actually need meat. I am a vata and do feel best when I have occasional, moderate portions of meat. But I find that I’m able to go without meat longer if I eat vata-friendly vegetarian foods instead of raw fruits and veggies and beans.
Red Lentil Soup with Curry and Coconut Milk is my favorite vata vegetarian recipe. I’d like to build my collection, so please share yours, too! Also, does anybody have a book or website to recommend as a resource for vatas who want to be vegetarians?
I hear that vatas are one of the few ayurvedic constitutions that might actually need meat. I am a vata and do feel best when I have occasional, moderate portions of meat. But I find that I’m able to go without meat longer if I eat vata-friendly vegetarian foods instead of raw fruits and veggies and beans.
Red Lentil Soup with Curry and Coconut Milk is my favorite vata vegetarian recipe. I’d like to build my collection, so please share yours, too! Also, does anybody have a book or website to recommend as a resource for vatas who want to be vegetarians?
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Shake It Up, Baby
I’m rereading Eastern Body, Western Mind by Anodea Judith and attempting to diagnose my chakra imbalances. Wow, does that opening line make me sound like a floozy or what? One of my yoga teachers is passionate about energy and assigned this task as teacher training homework.
I’m not sure what I think about the chakras being real, tangible centers of energy. I am, however, convinced that the chakra system is a valuable tool for meaningful self-evaluation. So far, my second chakra seems to be screaming imbalance, although I can’t figure out if deficiency, excess, or both are occurring.
The thing that’s tipping me off to a second chakra imbalance is guilt. I’m constantly feeling remorse over silly things like not taking time out of my weekend to call my mom, skipping yoga class to clean house, not being able to find time to establish the daily writing practice that I so desperately crave, buying frozen pizza instead of cooking a homemade dinner after work, and much, much more. I just can’t possibly live up to my ideals. I chase them and fall short every time.
I’m taking solace in this line from my book: “Flawless behavior inhibits the natural flow of energy moving up from the lower chakras and tends to polarize mind and body.”
So, flawed behavior must be good. Woops, there I go with my polarized concept of bad and good. Looks like I need a little more flow. What should I do? Wiggle my hips?
I’m not sure what I think about the chakras being real, tangible centers of energy. I am, however, convinced that the chakra system is a valuable tool for meaningful self-evaluation. So far, my second chakra seems to be screaming imbalance, although I can’t figure out if deficiency, excess, or both are occurring.
The thing that’s tipping me off to a second chakra imbalance is guilt. I’m constantly feeling remorse over silly things like not taking time out of my weekend to call my mom, skipping yoga class to clean house, not being able to find time to establish the daily writing practice that I so desperately crave, buying frozen pizza instead of cooking a homemade dinner after work, and much, much more. I just can’t possibly live up to my ideals. I chase them and fall short every time.
I’m taking solace in this line from my book: “Flawless behavior inhibits the natural flow of energy moving up from the lower chakras and tends to polarize mind and body.”
So, flawed behavior must be good. Woops, there I go with my polarized concept of bad and good. Looks like I need a little more flow. What should I do? Wiggle my hips?
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Says Who?
Lately I’ve been reading the Yoga Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita. Although I’m enjoying both texts, I’ve decided that I could live without the commentary. The biggest bone I have to pick is with the commentator on my copy of the Sutras: Sri Swami Satchidananda (SSS for short).
SSS says: We have all experienced death because knowledge comes only through experience. If a baby crawls to the edge of a tabletop and screams just as he is about to fall, it shows he must have died before. Otherwise, he would not know to fear falling and dying.
I say: That sounds like oversimplified logic—kind of like the outdated theory of spontaneous generation where scientists reasoned that maggots spontaneously generate, but failed to account for the whole concept of fly eggs.
SSS says: Habit becomes character, which possibly becomes instinct in a future life. This explains why some people are, for example, “born” guitarists.
I say: It’s called genetic predisposition.
SSS says: "Perhaps if Gandhi’s practice had been perfected, his assassin might have forgotten the idea of shooting Ghandi when he came into Gandhi’s presence.”
I say: That seems inappropriate to say. But then again, this post is probably inappropriate.
SSS says: Yoga is like smoking. The first time you smoke, you experience nausea and vomiting. But eventually it gets easier and the cigarettes begin to “smoke” you. It works on your tissues little by little.
I say: OMG!
SSS says: We have all experienced death because knowledge comes only through experience. If a baby crawls to the edge of a tabletop and screams just as he is about to fall, it shows he must have died before. Otherwise, he would not know to fear falling and dying.
I say: That sounds like oversimplified logic—kind of like the outdated theory of spontaneous generation where scientists reasoned that maggots spontaneously generate, but failed to account for the whole concept of fly eggs.
SSS says: Habit becomes character, which possibly becomes instinct in a future life. This explains why some people are, for example, “born” guitarists.
I say: It’s called genetic predisposition.
SSS says: "Perhaps if Gandhi’s practice had been perfected, his assassin might have forgotten the idea of shooting Ghandi when he came into Gandhi’s presence.”
I say: That seems inappropriate to say. But then again, this post is probably inappropriate.
SSS says: Yoga is like smoking. The first time you smoke, you experience nausea and vomiting. But eventually it gets easier and the cigarettes begin to “smoke” you. It works on your tissues little by little.
I say: OMG!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Asana for Couch Potatoes?
In an attempt to improve my teaching skills, I’ve been using my lunch break to study asana tables. I write for a living, so you’d think that studying during lunch wouldn’t be much of a mental break. But when I go back to my desk, I feel like I just did an asana practice. It’s the strangest thing.
And even though I’m not practicing any more than usual, my asana practice seems to be improving. My teacher says your capacity to verbalize the actions of a pose is a direct reflection of how you experience the pose. I get that.
And even though I’m not practicing any more than usual, my asana practice seems to be improving. My teacher says your capacity to verbalize the actions of a pose is a direct reflection of how you experience the pose. I get that.
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