2 quick tips to destress

stressed out? mind spinning in all directions?

exhale.
One of the best ways to bring yourself back down to earth is to lengthen your exhalations. This form of breathing encourages the nervous system to become calm and quiet, moving the body into a more restful state of being.


focus.
Sometimes when the world sends us spinning, we want to do nothing more than drop everything and stare into space. But this approach often gives the brain free rein to continue its obsessive and agitated thinking. Instead, try focusing your mind in a constructive and engaging way: practice a challenging yoga pose or an absorbing breathing exercise. Or try a forward fold, hang loose there a bit, and let a fresh supply of blood give you a new perspective.

my dogs, waiting to be walked

new lunchtime yoga - public class

i have just added a lunchtime yoga class to my schedule, Tuesdays, 12:30 - 1:15 pm at Rejuvenate Spa and Yoga studioo, in the Sun Trust Gardens Building, downtown Atlanta, at the corner of Baker and Peachtree Center streets. Begins this Tuesday, September 22nd.

The class will be all levels, everyone welcome. The Rejuvenate yoga studio is one of my favorite spaces, as it has a great view of downtown and midtown in the wide front windows. If you can get away at lunchtime for yoga, your afternoon sails on by; refreshed, you can be even more effective at work.

mats and props provided.

for more info, directions, and pricing, see the rejuvenate website

** also, i still have open classes Wednesday evenings at Rejuvenate, 6:00 - 7:15 pm.

yoga with weights

i went to my family's summer house in Michigan at the end of August for an end-of-summer vacation. I rallied the whole gang (husband DC, Mom + Dad) to a yoga with weights class at Union/Yoga in Lake Leelanau. It's a great studio, has been there for many years, and the director Sandra taught the class. I thought a yoga with weights class would be a power yoga session, accelerating strength building and toning. However, this class focused on building bone density, through slow and meditative movements, and was relaxing. I loved it, as did my whole yoga posse. It really opened my eyes to even another approach and interpretation of yoga.

summer veggie reading, part 2

A book that got even deeper under my skin was MAD COWBOY: Plain Truth from the Cattle Rancher Who Won't Eat Meat by Howard F. Lyman and Glen Merzer. Howard Lyman was a fourth-generation cattle rancher, who took over his family's farm in the 1970s when the scope of ranching and farming was changing with the introduction of chemicals, hormones, and feedlots. The book is full of first-person accounts and facts of where our beef comes from, and it's very disturbing and powerful. Lyman's own deteriorating health led him to question the cattle-for-food industry, and ultimately leave that world behind. He's a full fledged vegetarian. Lyman was on the Oprah show in the late 90's where she questioned the beef industry's practices when Mad Cow Disease was on the rise. The book covers not just the beef industry but also the dairy industry.


When you look at a meat-eating diet from the perspective of 1. killing other living beings for food and 2. prior to killing the animals, pumping them full of chemicals and hormones to speed their growth and kill the diseases they get from being penned in unhealthy environments, which remains in the cellular makeup of the food, well, those are pretty compelling arguments for avoiding the beef altogether.


Last summer, I read Skinny Bitch, which i felt was more sensationalist, and it was the first-person account of a "Mad Cowboy" that really made the most powerful argument for going fully veggie.

summer veggie reading, part one

first, i read Yoga and Vegetarianism: The Path to Greater Health and Happiness, by Sharon Gannon, the founder of the Jivamukti style of yoga. In addition to developing Jivamukti yoga, Ms. Gannon is also an animal-rights activist. She presents many impassioned arguments for vegetarianism, many based on the yogic practice of ahimsa, non-harming, but the quote that resonated the most with me also encapsulates santosha, or contentment:

"Yoga teaches us that we can have whatever we want in life if we are willing to provide it for others first. In fact, whatever we are experiencing in our lives is a direct result of how we have treated others in the past. The way we treat others will determine how others treat us. After all, they are only acting as agents of our own karmas. How others treat us will influence how we see ourselves. How we see ourselves will greatly determine who we are, and who we are will be revealed in our actions."