Life in a Pose

Good Morning all! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. On Sunday, I went to the bookstore and snatched up a few new reads, one of them being Poser: My Life in Twenty-Three Yoga Poses. I heard about this book a couple of years ago when it came out, but remained skeptical. Mainly because I couldn't really relate since I didn't do yoga. Funny how things change, considering now the majority of my time is spent practicing yoga. Throughout this book the author Claire Dederer leads us through skepticism about what she can do and can't do, something we have all probably been through when trying new poses and deepening our practice. Yoga is as much about breaking down the barriers in our lives, as it is about the poses.

Dederer takes the reader through this experience, sharing part of her herself through yoga, while at the same time creating something witty, delightful, and engagingly honest. I'm excited to read more... Yoga for me has been so much about learning to say yes, accepting that just being is enough and most of all realizing there is strength that I never knew I had... you just have to allow yourself to tap into things that you never thought you could, and allow yourself to open up without thinking too much about it. Maria, my teacher always says that in life, in yoga, we have to learn to get ourselves out of the way so we can truly live... quieting all the parts of us that tells us why we can't...


I can't, I can't, I can't, I told myself. What happens when you tell yourself that you can't do something that you are asked to do over and over every day?... The fact was, after all those down-on-my-knees chaturangas, my triceps were actually hard. The fact was, I was strong. But it happens all the time: We make decisions about ourselves and our lives that are not based on fact.- Poser

(It's Friday)

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend. Mine is packed full with yoga, a wedding, and more yoga. :) Here are a few of my favorite posts from a while back, just in case you missed them:
-All the Right Angles
-Kale and Avocado Salad
-How Cute Are These?
-The French 75

Snack Attack

When I don't have time to make my lunch, much less know what I want to eat, I usually keep working until I'm so hungry that sitting at my computer seems like insurmountable torture and I am left no choice but to peel myself away and walk (drive) to Whole Foods. Sometimes there is nothing more satisfying or energizing than a great mix of fruit, nuts and perhaps a little chocolate. It's the perfect snack in one. I came across this great recipe from PepperLynn earlier and thought I might pass it along... just in case you ever find yourself starving, and lacking a sense of what actually sounds good. Enjoy! image via PepperLynn

Flowers In Your Hair

I am absolutely loving The Lumineers right now. My mom introduced me to them over the weekend, and I can't stop listening. I just wanted to share, just in case you might like them too.

A Lovely Wednesday

Congratulations are in order this morning in regards to the post I made yesterday. My friends welcomed a new baby girl and I couldn't be more excited for them! Mom and baby are both healthy and happy. :) I honestly can't wait to meet the little one. My friends didn't find out the sex of the baby, so alas it was a surprise, but I had a feeling she was a girl the whole time. What do you think about finding out the gender? Would you want to know or want it to be a surprise? My mom said she just knew what she was having... I find it all very interesting! I think I would want it to be a surprise. Although, I love the idea of finding out the gender through a slice of cake. A Cup of Jo did a really sweet post on it!

What do you get for a little one?

Hello all! Happy Tuesday! I hope all of you are having a great one. My friend is going to have a baby today, and I'm so excited for her and her husband! Wishing mom + bebe a happy, safe, healthy and quick delivery!!!

Lots of love to both of them!!! Can't wait to meet the little one!

Time to...

Hit the ground running.

I hope all of you had a great Monday. Sorry for the long radio silence... sometimes, it's nice to take a break when your weeks + weekends have been relatively packed full...

This week, I'm going to have to remember to breathe and make this promise to myself.

Looking forward to...

These past couple weeks have been quite hectic for me and a little exhausting. I'm looking forward to slowing down a little bit this weekend-- hanging outside and enjoying a little break from massive amounts of yoga. Yes, you heard me, my body needs a break! And I am going to accept the relaxation with open with arms.

I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!

images via pinterest

Summer Lovin'

I love everything about these looks from Rory Beca's Resort collection. One of my favorite things about summer are all of the flowy outfits-- dresses, blouses, shorts and I have an excuse for never doing anything with my hair... I try to wear the "beachy" look. :)

Overnight Oats

Last Wednesday, I wrote about sprouted granola and on this Monday, I have to share my new found breakfast love: overnight oats. When I saw someone eating these overnight oats, during a yoga break this weekend they looked delicious. The best part is, you can mix it up in so many different ways.

The traditional recipe for Overnight Oats:

Makes 1 large serving.

½ cup rolled oats (not quick cooking)
½ cup plain Greek yogurt
2/3 cup milk -- **I use almond milk**
1 tablespoon chia seeds
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl or jar, cover with a lid or plastic wrap, and allow the mixture to sit in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, stir in the mix-ins of your choosing.

Variation #1 – Pumpkin Peanut Butter

½ cup pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons natural peanut butter
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Variation #2 – Strawberry Banana

2 to 2 ½ tablespoons strawberry jam
1 small banana, mashed

Recipes and image via Pepper Lynn

What If...

You didn't know your age? I was thinking the other day about all the ways in which define ourselves, and evaluate ourselves and I can't tell you how often I hear someone say (including myself)... well, I am (insert age), I should be doing this or accomplished this or have this by this age. Often we say well, I need to be out of school by this age, have this job by this age and the list goes on and on. When I was backpacking in India, we went through so many small villages. We would stop along the way to have chai, rest, sleep, etc. At one of the villages I wanted to know the age of the boy who was serving us chai. When asked, the boy said that he had no idea what his age was. He said he felt like he was 15, and that he had been through about 15 planting seasons, but he really didn't know. I found this to be pretty incredible. The boy didn't know his own age. I thought, what about celebrating birthdays? When we left the village I remember thinking about this for a long time, and even now 3 years later... I think more often than not, we get wrapped up in our heads about our age. Whether we're too old for something, too young for something, instead of just doing what we feel like we need to do. When I was home over Easter, I taught my mom a series of yoga poses, some were harder than others, but my mom is strong, a lot stronger than she gives herself credit for. Throughout the series she kept reminding me of her age... and I thought, what if she didn't know her age? What if she thought she was 10 years younger, then what would she think? We use a lot of descriptions to define who we are, our place in life. But, what if... you didn't know how old you were? What if... just for the day you could let go and allow yourself just to feel without being caught up in the head with things that supposedly "define" you.

If, I didn't know my age, I think I'd be about the same... but, I probably wouldn't worry so much about accomplishing things at a certain age. What do you think? Does age matter in terms of accomplishments? Or do you not even think about it?

If you do, maybe think about this: "Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and how you do it."- Maya Angelou

image via Lets Drift Away

Words to live by...

Hi everyone! I hope you all are having a great day/week. It's a little dreary here in Houston, and I thought this was a nice little reminder to make every day, the best day. :)

image via hip hip gin gin

Raw Sprouted Granola with Yogurt and Blueberry Sauce

Lately, I have been slacking on breakfast. I hardly ever eat any, and if I do, it's half of a cliff bar or something else that I can have quickly to keep me from fainting on my morning runs. But, it seems the cliff bars are no longer keeping up... I stumbled across this recipe on My New Roots and I can't wait to try it. Perhaps my breakfast slump will soon be over!

Raw Sprouted Granola with Yoghurt, Blueberry Sauce and Fresh Fruit
Serves 4

Granola
½ cup golden linseeds
½ cup pumpkin seeds
½ cup dried apricots & prunes
2 cups buckwheat sprouts (see above)
1 cup quinoa (see above)
1 tsp. vanilla extract OR ½ tsp ground vanilla powder
4 Tbsp. sweetener of your choice (liquid honey, agave, apple syrup etc)

Directions:
1. Put linseeds, pumpkin seeds, apricots and prunes in a large bowl and cover with water. Let them soak for at least 1 hour. Drain the excess water.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir around. Evenly spread the batter onto two baking sheets or dehydrator sheets. Place in the oven on the lowest temperature possible OR in a dehydrator for about 6-8 hours or until golden and crispy.

Blueberry & Apple Sauce
Ingredients:
1 cup blueberries (frozen are fine)
1 medium size apple, diced
2 TBSP unsweetened apple juice (or sweetener of your choice)

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a small pot on the stove over medium heat. Bring to a boil and lower the heat, let simmer for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and puree with an emersion blender or fork if you like it chunky.

How to Assemble:
- Blueberry & Apple Sauce
- Buckwheat & Quinoa Granola
- A full-fat organic yoghurt (Greek/Turkish)
- Fruit salad

Place 2 spoonful of blueberry sauce in the bottom of the glass, then 2-3 spoonfuls of granola, 2-3 spoonfuls of yoghurt and finally some fruit salad on top. Enjoy!

{Notes from the Weekend}

Good morning all! I can't believe it's Tuesday. I feel like it should be Monday. However, I'm happy it's Tuesday.
I hope everyone had a great Easter/Passover. Friday and Saturday were filled with engagement parties for one of my best friends who's getting married in Spain next September. I've never traveled abroad for a wedding before, so it should be fun! I've got a busy week/weekend... yoga + writing are currently filling up my life. I hope you all have a great day!

images via dustjacket attic and pinterest

Bring on the Sun

I am loving these swimsuits from J.Crew. :)

The Four Agreements

Good morning on this Wednesday! A year ago today, was the first time I walked into the yoga studio that I am currently doing a teacher training with... little did I know how much impact that day would have on my life. A HUGE impact. I've been meaning to share this with you all for a little while now, during the teacher training we've had to read a lot of books, one of them being The Four Agreements. Since reading it, I have passed it along, because what I personally took away from it was a whole new perspective. It's an incredible book that discusses the impact of the agreements we make... with ourselves, our parents... about who we're supposed to be and how we're supposed to live. It also discusses the fear that many of us have about truly living our own life.

It states that... "Our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive-- the risk to be alive and express who we really are. Just being ourselves is the biggest fear of humans. We have learned to live our lives trying to satisfy other people's demands. We have learned to live by other people's points of view because of the fear of not being accepted and of not being good enough for someone."

This passage is said in the beginning of the book, and it resonated so much within me. I just wanted to share it with all of you. It's a truly wonderful book.

I hope you all have a great day! Here is my blog post, from my first yoga class at Yoga Ananda a year ago: An Afternoon Yoga Class Pretty funny!

Organized Chaos

I am definitely not one of those people who has to have everything in neat, tidy order. I wish I was! But, I seem to have too many books or magazines, or... perhaps, I'm just messy. When my mom visits she always starts trying to clean, even after I've cleaned! I've come to the realization that I'm one of those people who tends to be on the side of organized chaos. Oh well, what can ya do?

If you're super organized and you have any tips, feel free to send em' my way!

Hope all of you have a great day!

image note to self

Currently Loving:

images via pretty stuff and pinterest

Strength

Happy Monday and Happy April! I love new days, new weeks, new months... it is always a chance to start fresh. As the flowers are in full bloom and the spring showers sprinkle outside, I've been thinking about strength lately. Strength is often something that we relate to in relationship with struggle and in hard times (physically, mentally, emotionally), but this weekend I also got to thinking about strength in terms of courage- Courage to be alive, live from within, the ability to let go and open up to life. It takes strength to shed our masks, it takes strength to allow for other people to see us as who we truly are. When we find things that we truly love to do and truly want to share, it takes strength to go through all the little steps you have to go through to get there. I read a passage yesterday that in some ways spoke to this...

"There are often obstacles on our path. Roadblocks, barricades, detours. Things to go over, around or under. Sometimes the road blocks are telling us no, this door isn't opening. Find another way. Other times the roadblocks are telling us that the road we have chosen is very special. If we want to go down it, we will have to try. We have to focus. We will have to muster our energy and show the world how badly we want it. We will have to overcome each and every obstacle one by one, as they appear..."

If we want something badly enough, often times the universe has a way in opening the doors to get us there. Sometimes, we are our own road block and sometimes the road we think we want to take, isn't the right one.

Finding internal strength within to go after what we want, to open up to what life presents us, is an incredible concept. It takes strength to become vulnerable, to allow ourselves to fall apart a little and speak from our heart.

Maybe this week, find strength in honoring your feelings, honoring yourself, your path. Find strength to follow your heart...
and enjoy the day. :)