tranquiliT smanquiliT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Enjoy this week,  focus on gratitude, bringing to light the positive even in the negative. Every challenge and struggle has a lesson or opportunity deep in its core. sometimes it is very hard to determine what that could possibly be or you may want to throw up your hands with a "i'm SO over the lesson, please help me out here" request to GOD. it's normal, we all struggle and I like to believe we're all doing the best we can. Somedays we just don't have the energy to put our best foot forward, somedays it is better for us to show our best faces to the world by staying in bed! when you have the mindset of "tranquiliT smanquiliT," know that your yoga practice that day may be curled up on the couch with hot tea rather than 

eka pada bakasana 

(one-legged crow).

Shanti (Peace),

Sherry

Off the top of my head thought!!

At times my mind seems to race from one thought to another..but in all that confusion I reflect on.....

Every day you are given a fresh canvas on which to paint. What do you want your masterpiece to look like? explore the ways in which your life contributes to your community. What small step can you take today to make a difference in someone else's life, ultimately affecting yours?

May we all live a life that has a positive effect on others in our own unique way, you have a special gift. explore it and let it shine. thank you for so positively affecting mine over the past year through this blog.

Peace,
Sherry

A Dose of Pleasure Friday – Sensory Pleasure: Taste!

I'd like to discuss taste. All of you foodies out there might be surprised, but it's believed that tast is the least refined of all our senses, as humans can perceive only 4 basic tastes (salty, sour, sweet, and bitter).

The sister science of yoga, Ayurveda, approaches the sense of taste a bit differently. According to this ancient Indian science, there are 6 tastes: sour, salty, astringent, pungent, bitter, and sweet. The teachings of Ayurveda urge us to include all 6 tastes in each meal to balance nutritional needs.

Here in the West, the different tastes are often linked to emotions, hence the term “comfort food.” Often we associate different foods with emotions or states of mind. Take chicken soup, for example. Many associate this warm, comforting dish with maternal love (I know many people who delight in eating and/or preparing their mother's or grandmother's chicken soup). Often familial celebrations or social gatherings revolve around food. Unfortunately, the increasingly faster pace of life and the advent of fast food has robbed us of taking our full pleasure in our sense of taste.

How many times have you rushed through a meal only to realize that you don't even remember what it tasted like? Do you chew your food or gobble it down quickly? Do you cook with spices? Do you vary the types of food you eat, or do you tend to eat the same food every day? Becoming more aware of your habits around food can help you enhance your sense of taste and derive more pleasure from it.

Here are some tips and resources to help you expand your capacity for pleasure through taste:

• Try different types of foods and cuisines to excite your taste buds. Some foods that delight my taste buds include persimmons, dates, figs, cilantro, coconut water (from a fresh young coconut). Some delicious cuisines which use a variety of pleasure-enhancing spices to try include Indian, Thai, Mexican, Vietnamese, Afghan, and West African.

• Slow down. Before you begin eating, take a few deep breaths, say a brief prayer of gratitude for the food you're about to eat and then eat mindfully. If eating mindfully is difficult for you, practice with this simple mindful eating exercise before you attempt it at meals. Some wonderful books on this topic that can help you change your relationship with food are: Slow Food: Collected Thoughts on Taste, Tradition, and the Honest Pleasures of Food, Slow Food Nation's Come to the Table: The Slow Food Way of Living, and The Slow Down Diet: Eating for Pleasure, Energy, and Weight Loss

• Enhance your sense of taste by using a blindfold. You can do this by yourself or with a partner (which is so much fun). Simply gather a variety of foods on a plate. Blindfold yourself and then each morsel mindfully. By eliminating sight from the equation, you'll enhance your sense of smell and taste, which will increase the pleasure of your eating experience.

• Think about your taste history. Think back to foods that ellict a response in you. Maybe it's your mother's meatloaf or tomato sauce that signified Sunday dinner with the family. Reflect back on foods that have an impact on you and taste the meal in your mind. Imagine the flavor, the texture, how it feels to bite into it and chew.

Savor all of the different tastes that you come across this week. Note the ones that you love, crave, and want more of. Indulge your sense of taste and notice the pleasure that it offers. I'll be back in a few weeks to discuss my favorite sense of all – touch.

Have a pleasure-filled day,

Sherry

Sherry is a yoga practitioner and teacher, lover of God/family, life, adventurer, and nature fan.

Raspberry Cupcakes...YUMMY!!!!!

  

Raspberry Cupcakes..

4 oz butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups xylitol
2 cups self rising flour
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 egg whites
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries

Cream the butter and xylitol for about 3 minutes. Add vanilla extract and mix. While continuing to mix, add the flour and milk alternatively, finishing with the milk. Mix until incorporated.

Separately, whip the egg whites to semi stiff peaks and fold them into the batter gently. Fold in the raspberries.

Divide the batter amongst 24 baking cups and bake at 350 for about 14 minutes until done.

Yoga Web-site up and running!

Well.. I finally have my Yoga studio web-site up and running, waiting to get a logo made.  I have ideas, now it's finding a person to put my vision down with out costing me my mortgage.  I still have alot to do and will probable change it a hundred times or add so much content that it will crash.  As I have been told before, when I do something I always have the accessories to go with it.  A web-site is my accessory..lol.  This along with going back to school to get my esthetician license is one of many things that is keeping me busy.

I have taught a few classes these last couple of weeks and I really enjoy it.  I am looking to train for my Children's Yoga Teacher training in August so I can reach out to kids in the community as well.

  I learn something in each class about myself and the people I teach.  I really don't think you ever stop learning.

Please visit my site...www.raleighyogastudio.com

Relief through Yoga and Chiropractic!

The complimentary facets of chiropractic and yoga jointly provide a system of lifelong therapeutic benefit and illness prevention.

Both fields are grounded in sound science and draw parallels in recognizing the important benefits to both the mind and body in keeping the spine aligned. The physical benefits of chiropractic are similar to those of yoga. It can reduce the effects of hypertension, diabetes, obesity, allergies, chronic overuse syndromes, asthma, degeneration, arthritis, stress, and digestive ailments.

The primary goal of the chiropractic physician is to ensure that the motion between all joints in the body is proper and sufficient. If the musculoskeletal system is not in proper alignment, the central nervous system cannot properly relay information to the body and illness may soon to follow.

. By promptly seeking the care of a chiropractic physician, you can prevent a condition from becoming chronic. Chronic conditions are managed equally well with chiropractic or yoga.

While yoga mainly helps correct the spine thru asanas (poses), a chiropractor utilizes adjustments to make these spinal corrections. The adjustment delivered is a manually directed quick, pain-free thrust to the joint. Adjustments are not limited to the spine, but can be delivered to the extremities as well.

Yoga is an ancient system with no religious affiliation. There are various traditions of yoga, most of which, aim to unite the body and the mind.

Asanas are perhaps the part of yoga most practiced in the US, but many people do not realize that when performed regularly, yoga has much more to offer than simply another form of exercise. In addition to re-aligning the spine, yoga helps us control the breath, the mind, and also improves internal awareness.

In addition, asanas help regulate our organs and restore balance to the body. By balancing our mind and body, we can reduce the effects of our daily stress, and ultimately, lead happier, healthier lives. Yoga helps put your health in your hands.

The breathing techniques used in yoga (pranayama) aid in removing toxins from the body, and allow the body to extract more oxygen from the air. More oxygen from the air, equates to more life sustaining oxygen to all the cells, including the brain. Only when enough oxygen is getting to all the tissues, can full repair and growth occur.

For these reasons, yoga poses can ideally complement the chiropractic rehabilitation program.

All Your Plans

May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.

Psalms 20:4 NIV

The doors that open..

As many of you know I have taken the journey to teach Yoga.  It has been a great journey, not easy, but then if it was easy it wouldn't be worth it.  I am going tomorrow to meet with a teacher to see if her and I are a match for me to teach at her studio.  I too am starting the journey to teach at the office as well.  Things take time to build, so this is where patience comes in for me.  I have come up with the name of Raleigh Yoga Studio, for a web-site as well as a possible Yoga Studio opening in the future...God willing.

The journey for me this last 4yrs has been full of all kinds of ups and downs.  I finally feel like my life is taking the course it was suppose to.  I feel God will use me in ways I never thought this coming year. (it's all so exciting).  Thank you to all my friends and family through these transitions, I appreciate all your love and support.

Hummus with Baked Tortia Chips...YUM!!!

I LOVE this snack when I'm in the mood for something savory! It's healthy and satisfying!! Give it a try! My hummus recipe is not an exact recipe....I just go by consistency and taste, but I tried to put it into measurements for you. For extra spice add some jalapeno juice to the mix..(we will call that Sherry Hot)..Too you can put this on a sandwich as well, or dip your favorite veggies as well.

Preheat broiler.

HUMMUS

Ingredients:
1 can chickpeas
1/4-1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt
1/2 clove garlic, or to taste
sun dried tomato's (not the ones packed in oil....the dry ones), about 1/4 cup or to taste
olive oil, to consistency and taste
kosher or sea salt, to taste
pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients except olive oil in food processor and process. While processing, drizzle olive oil until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning or ingredients to taste or consistency.

TOTILLAS

Ingredients:
1 medium whole wheat tortilla, cut into 8 wedges

Spray back and front lightly with olive oil spray and sprinkle with kosher/sea salt and pepper...or leave unseasoned.
Place on baking sheet and bake under broiler until light golden brown.
Remove from oven, flip, and place back under broiler until golden brown on opposite side.

WARNING: Don't leave your oven! These will burn fast if you don't keep a close eye on them!

Then spread hummus on tortilla wedges and enjoy!!