yoga + me = LOVE

Yoga has been mentioned in my blog before, but I believe it is time I devote a post specifically to this new practice I have started in my life. When I met all the new teachers in Miami we spent a lot of time talking and getting to know one another. Several girls talked about their love of yoga and their desires to seek out yoga in Colombia. At this time, I had heard of yoga but knew very little about the practice of yoga. I remember seeing the passion and happiness on everyone's faces when they talked about practicing yoga in a community.

After arriving in Colombia I lived with Maggie, who taught yoga in the US. Her love for yoga and wonderful teaching totally motivated me to learn more. Thankfully, Maggie graciously taught me the basics within the protective confines of our apartment. From there I started attending the once-a-week classes she holds at school for teachers. Five months later I have been consistently practicing yoga at least twice a week, sometimes more, and it has become a significant part of my life. So much so that I am currently participating in a weekend long Anusara yoga workshop with some fellow teachers right here in Cali. The workshop has been great so far, although I know I will be sore after doing about 6 hours of yoga today! Yikes!

The best part of yoga is the way it makes me feel. When I practice yoga I feel part of a larger community, a community of people who believe in the possible. One of the things Maggie often tells us is "Root down to rise up." Sometimes she means this literally, to ground our feet into the earth and then rise up in our poses, but other times I interpret this philosophically. That if we all root down together then together we can rise up and change the world. And yogis, people who practice yoga, could just change the world, it really wouldn't surprise me. I have learned new things about my body, the way I move, and what I am capable of thanks to yoga.

Through my yoga practice I remind myself to be present in each moment. Rather than worry about the future or contemplate the past, I focus each day on the present moments at hand. How can I be my best self today, in this moment, in this interaction?

Yoga also teaches me to be still and listen, listen to what my heart is telling me, listen to the presence of those around me. Though yoga practice, and specifically shavasana, the final resting pose, I have learned to quiet my mind and just be. If you have known me for any amount of time, you can only imagine how difficult this is for me. Sure there are times in shavasana where we are supposed to be lying still without any thoughts, but instead I am concocting a to-do list, grocery list, or blog post in my head. BUT I'm getting better every time - promise! :)

Yoga is full of mantra and more, and I still have so much to learn about my yoga practice, and everything yoga related. However, for now I am content with this new part of my life.

evidence that i am still young & impressionable.

Lately everything I read about, hear about, listen to, watch on television, etc. all I can think is "Cool! I want to do that!" Maybe this is because I have been thinking a lot about my life list of things to do, and deciding what is or is not worthy of making it on that list, but everything just seems like a great new adventure!

The book I am reading right now is no different. John Francis, author of Planet Walker is a genius. I seriously love this book. When I heard about this book about a guy who took a vow of silence and walked around the world I thought "Borrrrrring." Turns out you actually can't judge a book by it's cover cause I am loving it!

John starts walked in California, takes a vow of silence on his 27th birthday in order to avoid having to justify the lack of walking, and his life takes off from there. 17 years of silence and 22 years of walking later he had an amazingly rich story to tell. His story totally makes me want to walk around the city more, or my state, or Colombia, or the planet, I really don't know. Also - his silence and his commitment to his silence is astounding. I wonder if I could be silent for a whole day? a whole week? a whole month? I think at some point in my life I am definitely doing it for a whole week...probably in the summer since teaching math without speaking might be a bit of an undertaking... What do you think?? How long could you go in silence??

I will write about the book in more detail later, but until then here are some quotes that have caught my eye. :)

• "I realize now that I have taken a stand that challenges a way of life, a way of seeing things. It is no wonder people challenge me. I am challenging myself."
• "From this new place lessons comes, or perhaps realizations. The first is that most of my adult life I have not been listening fully. I only listened long enough to determine whether the speaker's ideas matched my own."
• "As my father stretches to understand my journey I realize that maybe you can't change the world by your actions alone, but you can change yourself. And when you do, the world around you may change by attempting to understand you, as we all try to understand each other."

LOVE that one about listening fully!

Have you ever tried to just listen in a conversation?

Listen to the other person talk and then wait 2-3 seconds before you jump in and respond?

Try it sometime - it will blow your mind!

I am a mango master. And yes, this is a legit accomplishment.

One of the best parts of Colombia is the inexpensive, delicious, fresh fruit in every grocery store (or street corner) on a daily basis. The produce section abounds with common fruits I have known back in the States, like apples, strawberries, pineapple, cantalope, and mango, to new fruits I had never even heard of until I came to Colombia. For example, lulo, guanabana, mora, granadilla, pitaya and more!

One fruit in particular has been the subject of many discussions here in Cali - the illusive mango. Do not be fooled by the sweet, delicious smelling, yellowy goodness inside, for to arrive at that amazing entity you must first cut the mango. So grab a knife and a cutting board, no problem, right?

FALSE.

The art of cutting a mango is no small task and should not be taken lightly. First, you have to take into account that mango pits ARE NOT round. They are oval shaped, very long, pretty wide, but without much depth to them. (That's the best I could explain it...if you cannot get a picture in your head may I recommend Google or a personal effort to improve your spatial reasoning). So you examine the mango. Decide which way you think the pit goes and then cut into the mango along the pit. In order to maximize amount of delicious yellowy mango for eating you want to cut as close to the pit as possible. BUT not too far that you cut into the pit (which is darn near impossible, more likely your knife will get stuck and you are back to square one).

Assuming you cut along the pit and now have a slice of mango to deal with, the skin is still on the mango. Eating the skin of a mango is a no-go, so now you need to skin the slippery goodness. Awesome. Thanks to a colleague I developed a sure-fire technique which involves slicing into the mango in a cross pattern until just before you hit the skin, and then using a spoon to scoop out the slices. Repeat to the other side of the mango, and you have many delicious slices to consume. The last step is to cut away any remaining mango-y bits from the remaining pit. Keep in mind the mango is juicy and all over your hand, kitchen, knife, cutting board and probably clothing by this point. No wonder most people, my roommate Steph included, simply give up on the pit all together and toss it aside.

Sounds like a lot of work, right?

It was.

At first.

But now?

I rock at mangos.

Seriously.

I attack, slice and chop them like an experienced chef.

PROOF: In making delicious Apple Berry salsa for this week's book club I decided to add a bit of mango to the mix. However, in order to add mango to the salsa I needed to chop a mango up into small little bits. In the past, I have only attempted respectable slices or bite size pieces. Never small little bits to go into salsa. Not one to let an inanimate object get the best of me, I decided to go for it. With Steph looking on wearily I attacked said mango.

The result? Check out this gem.

Look at all those tiny perfectly sliced pieces!

Enjoying the mango goodness that inevitably was covering my hands.

Skinned and pitted.

I am a mango master.

I was clearly quite proud - proud enough to document the entire experience on film. :) Seriously though, it made the already amazing salsa of green apples, strawberries and kiwi all the more delicious and everyone loved it at book club! There wasn't even any left for my lunch today! :( In general our hosting of book club was a fabulous success, and as always I walked away inspired to read and learn more. Here's a quick shot of our living room floor covered in just some of the books brought my ladies last night. Update soon to come on what I'm reading right now...

Until then, happy weekend!!