To Be ... Or Not to Be...A Vegetarian

     A few years ago, our house went vegetarian for health reasons.  I have been a dedicated yogi for decades, but never followed many of my fellow practitioners into this lifestyle.  Loved meat, figured there was a chain of command here that was too intelligent for me to challenge.  But when someone I love more than chicken wings faced a life threatening health problem, it seemed that a big diet change was something concrete I could do to support his healing.

    After awhile, I enjoyed the new recipes, the lower grocery bills, the smaller dress size and better digestion.

    Fastforward five years however and a few cracks begin to show.  My B12 bottomed out; my iron is low and my thyroid becomes comatose.  Hmmmm....  My mood is lower than Letiesha doing the limbo at last year's pool party.

    A good naturopath put me on the track to more protein, less sugar and proper supplements so things are looking much brighter.  But I still wonder... would my energy improve if I ate meat again?  Am I one of those people who just needs meat?

    After feeling the lightness that comes with a plant based diet and the ever blossoming depths of compassion that develop as you practice yoga, I am struggling with introducing suffering into my diet.  Of course, even the soy beans had to sacrifice so I can enjoy my tofu burgers.  It's a balance.  Big Agribusiness is scary and my consumer dollars won't go to supporting that.  There are no pat answers.

    In the meantime, I have been exploring new recipes again.  Looking for more intense protein entrees that don't use meat analogs (gluten doesn't agree with me and soy protein isolate derivatives may cause some thyroid problems).  Tempeh has a bit of an aftertaste for me, but it is a complete protein that is utilizes fermented soy beans, and therefore is more digestible than tofu.   Below is a recipe we enjoyed this evening for

Sweet n Sour Meatballs

 

Break one package of tempeh into 1" cubes and place in a saucepan with 2" water in the bottom.  Steam tempeh for 10 minutes, drain and cool.

 

Meanwhile, in a food processor, chop one onion, 3 cloves garlic, 1 egg and 1/2 cup oatmeal.  Season with 1 tbsp dijon mustard,  1 tbsp tamari  or soy sauce, 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp sesame oil, 1 tsp salt and pepper to taste.  Process until smooth.

 

Add cooled, dry tempeh and pulse until well blended.  Mixture should be sticky but not too wet.  Create 2" meatballs and place on greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, turning a couple time to brown evenly.

 

In a deep frying pan, heat 1 cup salsa and 2 tbsp agave syrup or honey.  Gently add meatballs and simmer for 10 minutes.  Serves four.

 

And this is chilling for snacking tomorrow....

 

Roasted Vegetable Pate

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

 

Rough chop one large onion, one eggplant (don't even worry about peeling it or soaking it) and 1 cup green beans.  Sprinkle generously with coarse salt and olive oil.  Roast in oven for about 30 minutes or until browned and fragrant.  Cool.

 

Bring 3 cups water to boil in a covered saucepan.  Add 1 cup lentils (green or dark work best).  Simmer over lower heat until tender, about 30 - 40 minutes.  Drain, cool.

 

In a food processor, combine lentils, roasted vegetables, 1/2 cup raw almonds, 1 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp rosemary, 1/2 tsp thyme and a pinch of caraway seed.  Start to process then add 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar in a stream while processing.  Taste and adjust salt.  Chill thoroughly, then serve with crackers, baguette, etc.  Also an amazing sandwich filling.



More Musings on Duality....

I love chocolate but can't stand country music.  Love rooms painted in shades of yellow but dislike mushrooms.  Preferences are common.  Have you ever stopped to consider how much of your behaviour is driven by preferences?

We have an experience, like going camping, that we either like or not.  If we find something that is pleasurable, we work hard to repeat that experience.  We might even become a little obsessed about recreating that experience.  Maybe we have to always go to the same restaurant or stick to the same kind of car.

Conversely we work hard to avoid what we don't like.  This is called aversion.  A great deal of human suffering occurs when we try to steer away from unpleasantness, much of it inevitable.  We might even drift into unhealthy behaviour like avoiding the dentist or proper exercise due to an unfortunate experience.

Yogic wisdom teaches us that aversion and attachment to pleasure are two sides of the same coin.  Both pursuits/avoidances lead to suffering.

Take camping for example.  I do love it.  Look forward to those hot lazy lakeside days.  It is almost an obsession and leads to being depressed about winter every year.  I am divorced from my preferred activities and climate.  Definitely this is suffering. 

Yoga practice helps me to experience the beauty and perhaps discomfort in each breath.  I practice letting go of attachment to perfection and pleasure, and open to breathing through what doesn't please me in that moment.  There is equanmity in this space.

So if you have read the previous post, about the beautiful meditative morning torpedoed by the radio music, you might recognize how attachment to practising meditation in a certain environment would preclude enjoying the practice that morning.  Aversion to mind numbing, outdated music also might have dampened the moment.  To truly practice yoga, however, I tried really hard to detach and sit with the imperfection.  Meditation might not have been easy, but it felt like I really practised yoga.

It's Always Somethin'... A Musing on Duality

I love camping.  It's not everyone's cup of tea, and I had my day of five star only resorts.  But as I reviewed my priorities, and realized that if I loved to have a change of scenery at the budget available, someone would have to compromise.  So the great outdoors it was!

Camping has evolved into a spiritual experience more than a family affair now.  It's adults only, unless you count the pooch.

This is her loveliness in between chasing chipmunks and dunking for frogs.

 

Of course, the yoga mat and props come into the woods as well as various professional materials to study in these long, unstructured days.  And each morning begins with mantra, pranayama and meditation. 

The theme of compromise is illustrated by the top photo.  To get privacy, quiet, lakefront view and inexpensive location, you can't have all the upgraded amenities (although the outhouse is new three years ago and boasts two seats - no waiting!).  You share accommodations with many flying and creeping marvels of nature.  Upon a deer fly chomping a chunk out of my exposed thigh the size of Rhode Island, I have been known to hasten the transformative powers of Shiva with a well placed fly swatter and a pious "Om Namah Shivayah".  The price you pay for that delicious northern air, freshly scented with cedar and birch.

On the last morning of the our most recent jaunt, I headed down to the lake for practice at the unusual hour of 6:30 am (it is vacation you know).  The morning was exquisite!  The warm lake water was steaming into the cool morning air creating a mystical cloak across the still surface.  The sun was just cresting over the trees to the east, and the quarter moon still high in the western sky.  A loon called.  The barest of breezes whispered in the trees.  And then... the neighbour to the right turned on his radio.  Loudly.  To HTZ fm.  Most of that music was really bad 30 years ago, and it hasn't improved with age.  Can you see the contrast?  The irony?  Nature was offering her most elegant performance, and the perfection was shattered by man's determination to bend her to his needs.

I had to laugh.  Right out loud.  Was it tinged with insanity, perhaps.  But no matter how hard we work to create a perfect experience, it's always somethin'.  I went through with practice anyway, and enjoyed what was beautiful thoroughly.

That's what yoga is all about.  There are no goals, or trophies.  Your physical progress in the postures interesting, but not the focus.  Yoga practice is about being in this moment, with all it's warts and foibles.  Not seeking perfection, but finding the perfection in what is.  It's where we can integrate the black and the white, and find the gorgeous balance that was there all along.

To explore this idea further, pick a pose that is difficult for you.  Nothing that is dangerous or unhealthy, just one where you find agitation or physical resisitance.  Go to your mat, and do five deep breaths focusing on the specific intention of finding bliss in this pose.  See yourself moving your body into a realistic version of this pose.  Now go.  Are you reaching too far?  Is that is what is causing the resistance?  Do you lose the rhythm of your breath?  Explore how to find the perfect balance of release and effort.  Stay for 10 breaths longer (this is a long time!).  If you really need to break, then do so.  Try another day.  Come back to a resting pose and reflect on what you have learned.

Clean Eating Brownies

(Gluten free; Sugar Free)

Tried these last week and they were yummy.  Fudgey style, rather than cake like, and quite bittersweet.  The touch of almond flavouring made them taste exotic, but if you prefer, omit it.

Combine:

1/2 cup oatmeal

1/4 cup unsweetened, preferably organic cocoa

1/4 cup protein powder, chocolate flavoured (I used hemp)

1 tsp stevia powder

I used a food processor so the oats became flour like.

Add:

3 Tablespoons coconut oil (again, preferably virgin and organic)

1/3 cup plain non fat Greek Yogurt (I used goat milks' yogurt)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

1 organic free range egg
1/3 cup agave syrup

Mix well.

Hand stir in 1/3 cup raw cacao nibs.

Spread thinly in a well oiled 8" square pan.  Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

The challenge is to just eat one!

This recipe was adapted from "This blog makes my butt look big?".  Thank you for the inspiration.

My Weekend Breakfast Treat:  Veggie Omelette Baked on the BBQ!

To do:

As bbq pre-heats, chop one small onion and place in cast iron pan with olive oil.  Place pan on upper rack in bbq and saute onion slowly.  Add other chopped veggies, like asparagus, peppers, tomatoes, broccoli or zucchini.  Saute for another minute or so till softened.  Add 4 beaten, organic, free range eggs, seasoned with salt & pepper.  Cover bbq and bake for about 10 minutes over low to medium heat (depending on your bbq).  Omelette will puff and slightly brown.  If you like, add crumbled feta (I prefer goat or sheep's milk) or dairy/soy free daiya cheese and let melt.

On the side... 

Sweet Potato Home Fries

Scrub, but don't bother peeling a sweet potato and chop into one inch cubes.  Toss with olive oil, coarse salt, freshly ground pepper and chili pepper flakes.  Place on foil covered cookie sheet and place on bottom rack of bbq for about 20 minutes, stirring regularly.

Steamed Greens

Loosely chop 3 cups of kale, collard greens or spinach (any favourite green will do really).  Bring one cup of broth (chicken, vegetable, preferably homemade but organic boullion cubes work well too) to a boil.  I have a side burner on the bbq so I could do this outside too.  Add greens and steam for about 15 - 20 minutes.

Fresh Niagara Fruit

Enjoy!

A newsletter came from one of my favourite teachers lately, Bo Forbes.  I wanted to share with you her view on our global nervous system.  To read more about her work, and watch some wonderful instructional videos, visit www.boforbesyoga.com.

Teaching in different cultures challenges me to distill my teachings down to their simplest and purest form. It changes the course of my teaching in both subtle and dramatic ways. It’s also incredibly humbling and awe-inspiring to witness firsthand therapeutic yoga's effect on our global community!

Teaching abroad gives me a clear message: as a global culture, we all suffer from a relentless drive toward productivity. The consequences of this drive are chronic anxiety and nervous system hyper-arousal. We might address this anxiety differently depending on where we live: in London, psychotherapy and medication are in vogue as much as they are in the U.S. Elsewhere, people might not verbalize their emotions in quite the same way. In Hong Kong, for example, people shared with me that the most popular form of therapy is actually retail therapy! (This explains why they have some of the biggest, most imposing shopping malls in the world, even at their international airport.)

Given the extent of worldwide nervous system hyper-arousal and the multi-sensory overload that exacerbates it, nervous system balance is our number one global priority. So what, exactly, are the best ways of creating this balance? Here are a few tips for learning how to moderate the activity in your nervous system:

1. Find some time each day, even 10 minutes, in which you can reduce sensory stimulation. Dim the lights, turn sound down (you can use earplugs if necessary), and rest quietly in a supine position with a bolster or cushion under your knees.
2. When resting, place an eye pillow over your eyes or brownbone to stimulate your vagus nerve and oculocardiac reflex (see this edition of our e-Yoga Practice Lab for more information). This slows your heart and turns down the activation in your nervous system.
3. Practice nasal breathing, which also helps to slow the heart, quiet the mind, and balance the nervous system. If it’s comfortable for you, lengthen the exhale so it’s a little bit longer than the inhale.
4. Life is already sped-up enough. If your nervous system is amped-up, you may be drawn to an intense, fast-paced, heated yoga practice. At least once a week, try slowing down your practice. Focus on integrating awareness and breath into each pose. Notice how much more embodied your practice is.
5. Take up Restorative Yoga, a relaxation-based form of practice. In restorative postures, the head is at or below the level of the heart. There’s an absence of muscular tension, and you’re supported by props such as bolsters, blankets, and blocks. This potent combination of deep relaxation in the body and quiet alertness in the brain stimulates the immune and digestive systems. It makes us more reflective about our experiences. It teaches us to sit with and breathe through difficult emotions. It increases our empathy for others, yet grounds this empathy with stronger boundaries and greater self-compassion.

When you do these practices regularly, you’ll discover several things: over time, your neural set-point (the level of hyper-arousal to which your nervous system is programmed) lowers over time. And the fringe benefits? Enhanced creativity, more self-awareness, and a greater capacity to nourish and sustain intimate relationships with others.