Ahimsa

When people hear the word yoga they think about the amazing, twisty poses seen on the cover of Yoga Journal magazine or posted all over the internet. Who doesn't wish they could get in to mermaid pose or do an incredible arm balance without landing on their face? I know I do. Landing on your face hurts and I have the mat burn on my chin to prove it! But there's so much more to yoga than the poses. I learned how much more while going through the teacher training process. 

Yoga is comprised of eight limbs. The postures are only one piece. You can be an awesome, dedicated yogi without ever stepping foot on a yoga mat. The first limb we learned about were the Yamas. Yamas are ethical standards, our moral code. One of the many books I had to read for teacher training was The Secret of the Yamas (not to be confused with The Divine Secrets of the Ya-ya Sisterhood). I'm oversimplifying but here they are:

Ahimsa - non violence, don't hurt anyone 

Satya - be truthful 

Asteya - don't steal 

Brahmacharya - don't overindulge

Aparigraha - don't covet

Pretty simple. These are rules we all know. Do unto others and all that jazz. We've heard this our whole lives. But what I'd never thought about before was to apply this to myself. As in, don't be mean to myself. Don't lie to myself and don't take things from myself...

Think about that for a moment. What if instead of looking at ourselves in the mirror and thinking all the horrible things we say to ourselves every day we look in the mirror and practice Ahimsa, or non-violence. We look in the mirror and say. "You know what, I'm pretty darn fabulous!" What if when someone gave us a compliment we fully accepted it? A co-worker recently told me he loves to hug me because I'm so full of positive energy he feels like it pours out of me and into him and helps him get through his day. Woah. That may have been the best compliment I've ever gotten! It made me misty. But I immediately started trying to take this compliment away from myself. "Man, he's nuts. I'm not awesome..."  Instead of stealing that wonderful compliment away from myself and beating myself up with self deprecation I decided to apply the Yamas to myself. I gratefully accepted his words and I will hold on to them.  

Yes we should practice the Yamas outwardly to others but I think it's more important to take them inward to ourselves. If we're good to ourselves it will change how we are towards others. 

Shanti.

Donating Your Brain to Science

Okay so I've had some pretty bizarre conversations in my lifetime. I'm a Mother so I've had more conversations about poop than I'd care to think about. I'm a Physical Therapist who works with the elderly so I've had more conversations about poop than I'd care to think about...old people and children love talking about their poop. (No idea why.) I've had conversations about death with people who are near the end. I've talked couples through positions for sex after hip replacement or after amputation. My point being, I'm comfortable talking to people about uncomfortable things.

Which is why I ended up being the one to ask my Mother if she'd be willing to donate her brain to science after she dies. It wasn't as terrible as you might think. Mostly odd. Kind of surreal. During her last appointment with the neurologist she, the doctor, asked me and my sister to step out of the room with her for a moment. "We're nearing the end here. Could be two weeks, could be three years." That's how the conversation began. To sum it up. My Mom has Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, there's nothing they can do to treat it. Would we be willing to donate her brain posthumously so they could study it and perhaps find a treatment.

Um...

Hmm.

"I think maybe we should talk to her about it first."

"Okay. Well I'll call you in a few days and we can work out how I'll procure it,"

Procure. My Mother's brain. Sure...no prob. My sister and I kind of looked at each other with that 'Alright, we'll rock, paper, scissors for who talks to her about this' kind of look. The last time my sister tried talking to Mom about end of life business my sister started crying, Mom started crying...it was a big mess. But I have these talks with patients all the time. Without crying. No need to do rock, paper, scissors. I won by default.

Sigh.

So after the two hour drive back to the nursing home I sat down to have this very bizarre conversation with my Mom. The person who gave me life. Surprisingly it's not the strangest conversation I've had with her. (You'd have to know us better to understand.)

"So, Mom. The Doctor wants to know if we'd be willing to donate your brain to science so she can study it and hopefully learn something that will help someone else."

She paused and gave me a blank stare. She knows the prognosis of the disease. After careful thought she said,

"Okay they can have it. But I'd like them to wait for me to be dead before they take it..."

Now that's the Mom I know and love. Laughing in the face of something that really isn't funny. I assured her I'd make sure she was completely dead before they got anywhere near her with a scalpel or saw.

For the Love of Smoothies

I've never been much of a breakfast eater. I know it's the most important meal of the day. My body has been fasting all night, I need all those nutrients and energy to get through my day, it revs up my metabolism...I know. I've heard it all before. But the smell of food in the morning makes me sick. So what's a girl to do? Blend up a smoothie that's what. I can make a smoothie, take it to work with me and sip it during our daily morning meeting. Sometimes this causes looks of horror, "Oh my, what the heck are you drinking?!", other times I get the Oliver Twist eyes, "Please, may I have some smoothie?". This morning I got the latter. Although I missed the pleading eyes and my poor co-worker didn't get any. So, to avoid the looks of horror or the guilt of not sharing I am posting the recipe for this morning's smoothie. I don't measure, I just dump stuff into the blender and mix until it's the consistency I like. You can add more fruit or liquid to your tastes. 

Jen's Berry Awesome Smoothie 

frozen berries - I used a mixture of cherries, blueberries and strawberries

kefir - I use plain but use any flavor or use yogurt

almond milk  

1 scoop protein powder

Toss in a blender, add liquid until berries are a little more than half covered, blend. Adjust to your preference. I sometimes add raw oats or ground flaxseed depending on how I feel that morning. 

I hope you enjoy!