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Happy fall, Lion’s Breath yogis and yoginis. May falling leaves and the crisp, sun-filled mornings uplift you this season.
With winter just around the corner, relish these fleeting fall moments before they’re gone. When life moves so fast, sometimes the only way to reconcile its hectic pace is to simply slow down! Press the Pause button. Breathe. Enjoy the moment. Just be.
Whether you find yourself on a yoga mat, in the car, at the dinner table, under a tight deadline, or face-to-face with a grizzly bear, you’ll benefit from embracing the philosophy of deceleration.
Slow isn’t quite the new fast, but it is a trend that – slowly but surely – is gaining credence around the world and at home.
Slow Food is a subversive movement’s that already taken root nationally with the emergence of Whole Foods superstores, more urban farmer’s markets and local organic grocery home-delivery services. Others are also challenging the “cult of speed” by slowing down everything from how they work, sleep and play to how they commute, converse and make love.
The fast-track isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be; our break-neck pursuit for wealth, status and consumer goods has robbed us of the simple joys of time, family, community, health and personal well-being, says author Cecile Andrews.
And it’s time to step on the breaks.
“The Slow Life means taking back our time for things that matter. And what matters is clear: We need joie de vivre, leisure and community, joyful, leisurely times with other people, talking and thinking about the events of the day,” writes Andrew in her book Slow is Beautiful: New Visions of Community, Leisure and joie de vivre. (New Society Publishers, 2006).
She says, ironically, relationships, reflection and revelry end up on the bottom of our to-do lists or don’t even make the list. Says Andrews, “They’re the first to go when life revs up.”
Step on the breaks with these random acts of slowness. Take back your time and transform your life — on and off the mat. In his book In Praise of Slow, Carl Honore writes:
“If a small act of Slowness feels good, move on to the bigger stuff. Rethink your working hours or campaign to make your neighbourhood more pedestrian-friendly. As life gets better, you will ask yourself the same question that I often do: why didn’t I slow down sooner?”
- Take time to shop for, prepare and eat a slow-cooked meal with friends. Linger over the food on the table. Savour and reflect on its smells, flavours, taste and express gratitude for the joys of sharing time and food together, then set a date for the next gathering.
- Work fewer hours. Explore the option of flex-time at the office or switch to a part-time job to give you more time to explore an old passion or take up a new hobby; spend with your family, friends or community; or go back to school. More and more people are leaving the conventional workplace because the stress, anxiety, low morale, corruption and/or lack of caring aren’t contributing to their overall happiness.
- Spend less, shop locally and avoid big chains as much as possible. Avoid malls and advertising – they feed the desire to want more.
- Don’t waste time over regrets and mistakes, but appreciate each day as it goes by.
- Cultivate patience and non-attachment in your yoga practice. Let yourself be exactly where you are today, instead of where your ego wants you to be. By honouring your body in the moment, and surrendering to the flow of your personal practice, you will ultimately tap into the nourishment and bounty you need to grow.
Slow down and consider how your actions impact our environment. Act intentionally and decrease the footprint you’re leaving on Mother Earth.
- Learn to cook things from scratch — it’s cheaper and more nutritious for you. Expand your diet to include new foods that are local or grown wild. Stop relying on big box stores to ship everything in from afar; their prices fluctuate with the price of oil.
- Consider having fresh, local ripe-for-the-season organic food delivered to your doorstep. The company Farm Fresh Organics (www.freshorganics.ca drops off fruit and veggie bins to homes around Edmonton. Prices are very reasonable, plus you’re helping to save the environment by reducing gas emissions and supporting your local Alberta farmers.
- Research car-sharing, cohousing and ecovillages in your area or work to form a greater sense of community in your area. Consider moving to a smaller house.
- Start sharing your resources with your neighbours. More sharing, less waste, greater community.
- Watch less television, get rid of extra stuff. Put your money into socially responsible investments, and if you have a car, consider driving a hybrid or biodiesel car, bike, walk, car-pool or take public transit.
- Start the zero-mile diet. Grow food in your own home garden. Start freezing, drying or preserving summer and fall produce for leaner winter months and you won’t have to pay $5 for a head of broccoli in February.
Slow cooked eclectic pasta stew from www.savvyvegetarian.com
Ingredients:
- 1 cup cooked garbanzo beans, drained & rinsed
- Optional: Substitute firm tofu, tempeh, veg sausage or seitan
- 1 C. bean cooking liquid*, vegetable stock, or water
- *If you want to cook your own beans, see the directions below
- 1 1/2 c. dry pasta (rotini or penne)
- 2 celery stalks, sliced thin on the diagonal
- 2 small carrots peeled and sliced thin on the diagonal
- 1 cup sliced green beans
- 1/2 cup chopped green or red pepper
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 pinch hing or asoefetida (helps prevent gas)
- 1 tiny pinch cayenne
- 1/4 tsp dry ginger, or 1 Tbsp fresh minced
- 1 tsp dried basil OR 2 Tbsp fresh minced
- 1 tsp dried thyme OR 1 Tbsp fresh minced
- 1 tsp dried marjoram OR 1 Tbsp fresh minced
- 1/4 cup tomato puree
- 1 tsp salt or to taste
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- 1 – 2 cup water or stock
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- grated cheese, optional*
*Bean Cooking Directions:
1 Note - Double the amount of beans to cook extra, to freeze, for future recipes. Using a pressure cooker greatly reduces cooking time, but don't omit the soaking. Cook different types of beans separately!
2 Soak beans 8 - 12 hours. Change water several times to avoid fermenting OR Use hot water & change several times to cut soaking time to 2-4 hours
3 Drain & rinse the soaked beans, cover with cold water to cover & bring to a boil
4 Boil ten minutes & skim the foam
5 Cover & simmer for 1 - 2 hours, until falling-apart tender
Directions:
- Put 4 qts salted water on to boil for the pasta
- Heat the oil on low in an 4 – 6 quart pan
- Prep the veggies
- Add the hing to the oil
- Add the carrots, celery & green beans, and saute 5 minutes on med/high heat
- Add the herbs and spices, saute briefly.
- Drain and rinse the beans, then add to veggies.
- Optional: Instead of beans, add an equal amount of tofu, tempeh, seitan or veg sausage
- Add 1 cup water and 1/2 c tomato puree, cover and simmer until veggies are tender
- Meanwhile, cook the pasta in the boiling water for 7 minutes
- Add the pasta to the veggies, and as much more water as you like
- Add minced parsley, frozen peas, salt & pepper to taste
- Cook for 5 more minutes
- Serve in bowls, (sprinkled with parmesan cheese if you like) and enjoy
- Slow cooker or crock pot directions: After sauteing the veggies, combine everything except the cooked pasta and frozen peas in the slow cooker or crock pot. Cook covered for 3 – 4 hours on low. (Temperature settings vary from one brand of crock pot to another) Add the pasta and peas in the last 20 minutes of cooking, while you're making the salad, setting the table, cleaning up the kitchen, or, relaxing while somebody else does all that!
Each of our bi-monthly newsletters features an interview with a different Lion’s Breath instructor so you can get to know each teacher’s style, yoga philosophy, personality and practice better. Video footage included of the featured instructor doing their least-favourite pose.
Interview with Naissa Preston
When did your yoga journey begin?
About 6 years ago, while pregnant with my son. I was teaching a few cardio fitness classes at the time, when I woke up one day and recognized I no longer had any desire to yell at people. I had completely lost the "in your face, do 10 more until you fall over" attitude. I was drawn into the world of breathing and settling into one’s own body. As a student of anatomy, pilates was a perfect fit. After just a few classes as a participant, I enrolled in the STOTT instructor program and have made it a central "theme" both professionally and personally.
When and why did you start teaching? What is your style?
I am a personal trainer, so teaching people the stuff that balanced bodies are made of was an obvious next step. Lion’s Breath gave me my very first class in September of 2003. I have definitely grown and changed my teaching style over the years. I aim to give each student enough information and options to find their own path. I encourage everybody to be honest with themselves in regards to their own physical limitations and abilities, but also to push beyond those boundaries — just to see if they can. We are always testing to see where the boundaries are coming from – body or brain. I love to hear giggles and groans in my classes. It assures me that I am challenging the students, without pushing them into a place where they are frustrated or defeated.
What is your most inspiring read lately?
Beyond the Horizon by Colin Angus. He was the first person to circumnavigate the globe solely with human power. Bikes, feet, row boats, canoes… all the way around. How amazing is that, just to dream up the idea – then believe you could do it?!
What is your favourite saying?
Professionally? "Make sure there are no squishy parts".
What is your favourite pose?
It always changes. I do love the grace and challenge of the roll-over. Looks a bit like plough at the end, but pilates is more concerned about how you get there and how you get out. Done correctly, it is a great abdominal exercise and a super lumbar extensor stretch… and a bit of a party trick. My students know how I love those!
What is your least favourite pose?
The Swan Dive. It requires an extreme amount of awareness throughout your body, and serious honesty with your spine. Done incorrectly it could send you to the medicine cabinet, but done correctly — it is a wonderfully strong adventure for just about every muscle you’ve got. Also, Spine stretch forward.. so small and precise. Just the thing that is soooooooooo hard to teach to a group. And not very awe-inspiring to watch.
What are you listening to these days?
Really? CBC… I am a CBC nerd from a way back. Just because it isn't music, doesn't mean I am not listening!
Do you have another job?
Yup, I am the proud Mom of an energetic little boy who just started kindergarten and Step Mom to a great young woman. Oh, you mean a paying job — right! I am also a personal trainer at a few centres in Edmonton.
Lance Zein is now offering Massage Therapy Sundays Downtown
Paul Cramer is our in house Thai Yoga Massage Therapist. Stay tuned for his hours. View his bio in our instructors section: http://lionsbreath.ca/instructors/
Celebrate Slow
Take a break from the fast lane and celebrate 'slow' with your friends at Lion's Breath downtown this fall.
Too often the hectic pace of life can challenge our ability to live mindfully and be present in everything from how we eat, sleep and relax to how we work, consume and interact with others.
October 18th, 5pm–whenever... pause and join your fellow yogis and yoginis of the Lion's Breath community to enjoy the simple pleasures of food, good company and conversation in an unrushed atmosphere.
Let's linger just for the sake of it, get to know one another and indulge in the slow satisfaction of simply being!
Feel free to contribute and bring a home-cooked snack or dish, refreshments, you own plate and eating utensils…or just bring your wonderful self and open to the amazing possibilities of what taking time for each other can bring about.
It's time well spent! Hope to see you there.
Date: Saturday October 18th
Time: 5pm–whenever
Location: Downtown
Discover Body Wonder
Women's Cycle Charting & Drug Free Contraception Workshop
Date: (all included) Tuesday, October 14th, 7–9pm, Tuesday, November 4th, 7–8:30pm and Tuesday, December 9th, 7–8:30pm.
Location: Downtown
Registration: To register, call 780–488–4433. Fee includes 3 charting training classes, text and charting supplies. $110 + GST/woman. $95 + GST ea. when you bring a female friend/partner, sister, daughter. $15 + GST ea. male partners.
Riding the Red Wave
This is a 3 hour workshop is for women who wish to embrace their true power — their FEMININE POWER.
Date: (choose one) Tuesday, January 13th, 6:00–9:00pm, Tuesday, February 17th, 6:00–9:00pm, Tuesday, March 24th, 6:00–9:00pm
Location: Downtown
Registration: To register, call 780–488–4433. $59 + GST for one class.
Hidden Language Hatha Yoga
Deepen your experience of yoga through this intuitive, reflective approach to Hatha Yoga developed by Swami Sivananda Radha. The blend of yoga poses with reflection and journaling can open the door to your inner voice and wisdom. “What I know from practicing Hidden Language Hatha Yoga is that it is always about where I am at that moment… Through discovering our own secrets and making our own choices, our lives are put back into our own hands.” (The Inner Life of Asanas, Swami Lalitananda). Past participants note the “spaciousness… safety… warmth” of this class.
Suitable for anyone, whether beginner or experienced with yoga and/or journaling. Bring a yoga mat, notebook and pen.
Date: Sunday October 19th
Time: 2pm – 4:30pm
Cost: $30 + GST
Partner Yoga
Creates a playful, comfortable space for sharing yoga with a friend, family member or significant other. Discover how yoga-for-two can deepen the experience of a posture and bring new levels of intimacy to your relationships. Mat shy? Just show up, bring an open mind, listen to your body and be where you are — it’s the perfect place to be! (Flexibility is more a state of mind, anyway.)
Date: Sunday October 26th
Time: 7:30-9:30pm
Cost: $45 + GST (per couple)
