thrive lifestyle: Wild! And windy!

Wild! And windy!

It's been windy outside for nearly a week now! My sweet pea wigwams, which still have flowers on them, have fallen down and my beautiful, huge, ferny, pink cosmos plants are in disarray. Sigh! But it is the middle of November and it has been a wonderful autumn so I must accept the gentle decline of my garden and prepare it for it's winter slumber.

The wind can make us a little unsettled - it has certainly has made The Furry Guru a bit more skippety on his walks and the horses in the fields around where I live are more skittish in this weather. The wind can make it more difficult for us to focus and feel "grounded". Meditation can help with this - a few minutes sitting quietly with your eyes closed, feeling the weight of your feet on the earth, your sitting bones in contact with your chair, your hands resting on your thighs - can bring you out of your head with all its swirling thoughts and right back into your body, and this present moment.

If you're a member of Thrive Yoga you can practice the Mountain Meditation that was last week's new class to help ground, settle and relax you. This week's new class is a 45 minute all-round flow which also brings your attention into your foundation to encourage focus and steadiness.

Windy weather can have other effects on us too - my skin is feeling drier, especially my hands, and I don't go anywhere without my lipsyl. Ayurveda, the ancient Indian science of holistic medicine, uses yoga, meditation, diet, and herbs to promote optimum health and wellbeing. The Ayurvedic system seeks to rebalance the body using knowledge of the 3 doshas or constitutional "types". When the body is in harmony these doshas are in balance with each other but stressful lifestyles, poor diets and other factors can disrupt this balance. Here's the wikipedia definition of the doshas:

"three energies believed to circulate in the body and govern physiological activity, their differing proportions determining individual temperament and physical constitution and (when unbalanced) causing a disposition to particular physical and mental disorders."

The 3 doshas are Vata, Pitta and Kapha:

Vata governs all movement in the mind and body. It controls blood flow, elimination of wastes, breathing and the movement of thoughts across the mind. Since Pitta and Kapha cannot move without it, Vata is considered the leader of the three Ayurvedic Principles in the body.

Pitta governs all heat, metabolism and transformation in the mind and body. It controls how we digest foods, how we metabolize our sensory perceptions, and how we discriminate between right and wrong. Pitta governs the important digestive "agnis" or fires of the body.

Kapha governs all structure and lubrication in the mind and body. It controls weight, growth, lubrication for the joints and lungs, and formation of all the seven tissues — nutritive fluids, blood, fat, muscles, bones, marrow and reproductive tissues.

This article from Yoga Journal looks at how your Vata can become unbalanced at this time of year, and what you can do to become grounded again.

Gotta Lotta Vata? don't let the windy, cool and dehydrating effects of winter get under your skin.

by Niika Quistgard via Yoga Journal

As the cool chill of winter descends, do you find yourself more anxious, flighty, or forgetful than usual? It may be more than the holiday frenzy that’s got you feeling frantic—it could be that your vata dosha is out of balance. The most likely of the doshas to slip out of balance in any season, vata is especially prone to aggravation during late fall and early winter, when nature delivers an abundance of vatalike qualities in the form of blustery winds, cool temperatures, and dry air.

Composed of the elements air and space, vata is the subtlest of the three doshas (the others are pitta and kapha) and therefore the most vulnerable to life’s vicissitudes. Travel, weather changes, insufficient sleep, fragmented schedules, and excessive mental or sensory stimulation of any kind can all challenge vata’s stability.

Seated in the colon, vata governs all movement in the body and mind. (The Sanskrit translation of the word is “that which moves things.”) It enables our fluids to flow, our nerve impulses to fire, our thoughts to coalesce, and, well, our wastes to pass. In other words, vata keeps all of our systems going and contributes to great vitality.

Because of vata’s association with the nervous system, its state is often reflected in our mental health. When vata is in balance, we tend to be enthusiastic, imaginative, funny, quick to learn, and spiritually minded. But the excess vata of late autumn and early winter can leave us susceptible to feeling more fearful, scattered, or worried than usual. Physically, pain is the most obvious indication of excess vata; other common signs are variable appetite, insomnia, dry skin, constipation, flatulence, and irregular menstruation.

You don’t need to feel blown away by vata’s high season. These nurturing lifestyle choices can keep you grounded.

Stick to a daily routine, scheduling in more down time than usual. Aim for lights-out by 10 p.m. and get a full eight hours of sleep each night.

Prepare warm, moist foods and sit down to eat at regular times. Sweet, sour, and salty tastes calm vata. Cooked whole grains, root veggies, and savory soups are good dietary mainstays.

A few times a week, perform abhyanga, a full-body self-massage with warm oil, to nourish and protect the skin, a highly vata-sensitive organ.

Moderate, consistent exercise regulates vata’s mobile nature. In asana practice, include simple seated forward folds like Paschimottanasana (Seated Forward Bend). You can also experiment with standing poses like Virabhadrasana II (Warrior Pose II) to build strength and stability. If you’re feeling overstimulated or fatigued, do restorative poses to encourage deep relaxation.

The ears are especially sensitive to vata; you can protect the ear canals by inserting a few drops of warm ghee (clarified butter) or sesame oil each morning—a traditional vata-calming Ayurvedic practice. When outdoors, use earmuffs, a hat, earplugs, or cotton balls for additional protection from the wind.

And lastly, curb the tendency to talk unnecessarily, settling into rejuvenating silence whenever you can.

Yoga Anywhere, Anytime

When we start yoga, it is often to do a 90 minute class once a week - tick it off the to-do list and forget about it until next week. After practicing for a while, however, we might find it seeping out into daily life. This is the jackpot. The whole point. To have a healthy lifestyle with a healthy body, a healthy mind and a healthy attitude to life itself, this is yoga.

You might recognise in yourself the signs that your yoga is becoming part of your life - standing in the queue at the bank, rolling your shoulders back and drawing your chin in, pausing to breathe deeply and notice where you are holding tension in the body, and softening it before you face a challenging task, or recognising when you are talking to yourself in a harsh, overly critical way and making a conscious decision to replace the words with some kinder ones.

You might find yourself doing a few yoga poses in your kitchen while you are waiting for the carrots to cook, or finding time at work to sit for a few minutes in quiet contemplation. You are no longer someone who goes to yoga. You are a yogi.

Robert Sturman is a photographer and a yogi. He photographs people doing yoga, not just on the mat in yoga studios but practicing in the midst of in their daily life, and often in unusual places. Here are a few of his photos:

Trace Keasler on Wall Street

Tao Porchon-Lynch, yoga teacher and dancer age 95

Erik Milosevich - policeman

Prison inmates, Africa

Sarah Thompson on the Victoria Line, London

The photographer Robert Sturman

You can see more of Robert Sturman's inspiring work here http://robertsturmanstudio.com/work/ which might help to motivate you to practice your yoga anywhere, anytime too.

This Week's Healthy (And Easy) Recipe: Warm Red Cabbage Salad

This recipe was very quick to make and was delicious - I'm looking forward to making it for my friends in my Book Club when they come for lunch in a couple of weeks time.

You will need:

3⁄4 cup walnuts
2 teaspoons oil, walnut preferably
salt and pepper
1 head red cabbage, finely shredded or sliced
1 red apple, peeled,cored,and cut into thin julienne slices
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 1⁄2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red onion, quartered and thinly sliced
4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled in large pieces
1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Here's how to make it:

In a 180 degree oven (350F or gas mark 4), toast the walnuts that have been tossed with the oil, salt and pepper.
Bake for about 5 minutes, being careful to not let them burn.
In a large saute pan or skillet over medium high heat, add the vinegar, garlic and oil.
As soon as they are hot, add the onions and cook for only a minute or so.
Next add the cabbage and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring continually, until colour changes from bright purple to pink.
Season with salt, pepper and a dash more balsamic vinegar.
Remove the wilted cabbage to individual salad plates and top with the apples, walnuts, goat cheese, and herbs.

The Teachers Who Have Influenced Yoga As We Know It Today - this week Swami Sivananada

Swami Sivananda was born in India in 1887. He studied medicine and practiced as a physician before becoming a monk and founding the Divine Life Society and the Sivananda Ashram in Rishikesh. He was a prolific author, writing 296 books on a variety of subjects. He died in 1963.

His teachings on yoga formed the Sivananda Yoga that we know today. The Sivananda Centre runs intensive teacher training courses in many different countries and has produced over 26,000 graduates over the past 40 years. Sivananda teachers can be recognised by their yellow tee-shirts and white trousers.

The Sivananda training system aims "to retain the vitality of the body and decrease chance of disease, by simply and naturally cultivating the body."

The Sivananda system has 5 principles:
Proper exercise: Asanas
Proper breathing: Pranayama
Proper relaxation: Savasana
Proper diet: Vegetarian
Positive thinking and meditation

A typical Sivananda yoga class starts with resting in Savasana, followed by Pranayama practice with Kapalabhati and Anuloma Viloma techniques. Warming up with Sun Salutations comes next and then the set series of 12 postures is practiced. Each of these sections of the class is separated by a brief Savasana and every class follows the same format, with very little variation.