Shiva Rea has transformed the face of yoga in the West by integrating power vinyasa flow, energetic music and free form dancing into her inspired style of teaching yoga.  Her brilliance and spontaneity can be soaked in her presence at classes, workshops and festivals and also through teachers she has inspired and trained worldwide.

This weekend’s theme of Embodying Tandava and Lasya is a practice of experiencing and integrating Shiva and Shakti.  This is a theme it seems Shiva Rea is ripe to impart to us as a powerhouse teacher with a fully feminine presence and a gift for leading many on the yogic path.

The space is going to fill with magic, mystery and a depth that only Shiva Rea brings.

Register NOW to reserve a spot: http://bit.ly/ShivaReaMay5

Food Freedom Coach and Yoga Teacher

Growing up with a stay at home mom I had mixed feelings. On one hand it was awesome to have mom around all the time, helping me with all the little things, dedicating herself to my interests and hobbies by bringing me to dance classes and friends houses and being the support a young girl needs to navigate the world.

On the other hand I saw that the life of a stay at home mom included a lot of laundry, cleaning and worst of all cooking.

“No way,” I said. That is not the life I plan to have. I remember very clearly the moment I made the decision to create a life that did not look domestic at all. Unfortunately, with that decision came a lot of health issues and struggle, especially with food.

As a result, I was at the mercy of take-out, restaurants and to be honest, the bulk bin at the health food store. And for “some reason” the only thing I could see in those bins was the granola.

It wasn’t until my discovery that I could take my yoga practice off the mat and into the kitchen did my love for cooking blossom. Well let me be honest, the love didn’t happen all at once. I was suffering from horrible PMS, digestive issues and had developed a very unhealthy relationship to food. Uncontrollable binges being the main culprit.

Trying to heal health concerns through the western healing model was getting me nowhere and since I had heard rumors that food could be the medicine, I figured I’d give it a go.

Since the love had to be developed I took it on that cooking would be a “practice” just like yoga.  I gave myself lots of room for the feelings I had about being a woman in the kitchen and the fact that I was really bad at it when I first started. I burnt more pots and pans than I want to admit. But I was determined to change my health holistically and so I stuck to my YOGA IN THE KITCHEN.

As a result my health and my life improved through the power of food.

And the best thing is that I actually feel more empowered as a woman in the world.

In honor of this month’s theme, honoring the feminine I thought I would provide you with some recipes that help support women’s health.

And I am here to help. Give me a shout if you want some support making the kitchen and food your friend.

In health and service,

Darshana

SPICY SAUTÉED COLLARD GREENS

With the spring cleanse well on its way our group is immersed in green vegetables. An excellent source for both the liver and gallbladder.

Sautéing leafy green vegetables enhances their naturally vitalizing nature.
See, greens give us great flexibility–so does cooking with oil. Bring the
two together with the vitalizing energy of cooking with the high fire of
sauté and you have created a dish that’s bursting with energy, but won’t
leave you nervous and edgy.

WHAT YOU NEED

Sesame oil
1/2 dried chili pepper, seeded, finely minced
1 sweet onion, thin half moon slices
soy sauce
1 bunch collard greens, rinsed, thinly sliced
1 lemon, quartered

WHAT YOU DO:

Heat a small amount of oil in a deep skillet.
Sauté chili and onion, with a splash of soy sauce, for 1-2 minutes.
Add collards, season lightly with soy sauce and sauté just until the
greens are limp and a rich, deep green.
Serve with lemon wedges (the lemon’s astringent quality aids the body
in digesting oil).

ADZUKI BEAN TEA
By Christina Pirello

What woman wants puffy bags under your eyes? If you don’t then this tea is for you. Puffy, swollen eyes indicate that the kidneys are becoming flaccid, overcome by too much liquid, sugar, even fruit juices. Little red adzuki beans help regulate the kidney function, restoring moisture balance in the body. For best results, take this tea 2-3 times a week for about a month. You’ll see clearer, fresher eyes and feel incredibly vitalized.

WHAT YOU NEED

1/4 cup adzuki beans, rinsed well
1/2-inch piece kombu
1 cup spring or filtered water

WHAT YOU DO:

Place beans and kombu in a saucepan with water.
Bring to a boil, uncovered, over medium heat.
Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 30 minutes.
Strain out beans and drink while hot.

Makes 1 serving.
Note: You may continue cooking the beans for soups or stews

GINGER SALMON

Fat. The feared word by women yet one of the most essential elements for women’s health. That’s why in all my programs I help women create a positive relationship with the word fat, the fat in food and yes even the fat on their body. Fat is required for the production of serotonin, which elevates mood and promotes good sleep. It helps digest fat soluble vitamins like Vitamin A, D, E &K. It is essential to the production of hormones: especially reproductive hormones. It helps you feel comforted, satiated and satisfied because it contains more energy. We need our fats ladies, so lets learn to love them. 

WHAT YOU NEED

3-4 ounces of salmon
1-2 carrots cut on diagonals or diced
1/2-cup broccoli cut into florets
ginger- grated about a 1/4-cup (more or less depending on your taste)
garlic- minced ­(optional)
1 onion cut in long length width pieces
1/2 cups leafy greens (choose something you like: kale, collards, bokchoy)
olive oil
tamari or salt
(feel free to use any other veggies)

WHAT YOU DO:

In a frying pan or wok place olive oil and sauté onions and garlic (optional)
Place about 1/4 cup of water and add carrot, salmon and broccoli.
Cook for 3-4 minutes
Add grated ginger and let fish simmer in the ginger water and veggies until almost done 5-6 minutes.
Add leafy greens and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
Add tamari or salt to taste (optional)

*the more ginger you use the tastier the dish.

QUICK BOILED SALAD

If you suffer from digestive upset in any way this salad might be the right medicine for you. Raw vegetables can often be harsh for some women’s digestion. But a little quick boil can break down the enzymes just enough to help the digestive track without losing too many vital nutrients.

WHAT YOU NEED

Greens- chopped
Carrots, diakon, radishes, etc.. roll cut or cut in 1/2 if smaller
Sesame seeds

WHAT YOU DO:

Put water in pot, bring to boil or use a steaming basket.
Steam or blanche
Each vegetable for 3-6 minutes or until vegetable gets bright.
Remove from water.
Eat hot or cooled.
Sprinkle with sesame seeds

Darshana Weill is a Food Freedom Coach and yoga teacher. She founded Break the Binge Cycle- 21 days to taking control of food without feeling deprived and the 5 months to Food Freedom Program. All her programs aim to support women to use consciousness with their relationship to foo. She works with individuals and groups. She also teaches a variety of health related workshops around the Bay Area, Santa Cruz and nationally.

WORKSHOPS DARSHANA TEACHES AT THE YOGA TREE

Cleanse and Renew; A 3- week springtime cleanse- The Yoga of Food: How is life feeding you?Nutrition 101, Sugar can be Medicine, Women’s Wellness: Treat PMS Naturally, To Be or Not To Be a Vegetarian and Yoga and Food For Emotional Eating.

To find out more about Darshana’s program

FINDING FOOD FREEDOM

Check out www.darshanaweill.com or

www.findfoodfreedom.com/liberate

To contact Darshana directly call 510-423-0603 or email her at darshana@darshanaweill.com

Want more recipes? Check out Darshana’s 50 quick and easy recipes Ecookbook: http://darshanaweill.com/page/cookbook-1

This month’s Goddess Pose honors the sacred feminine through embracing wholeness and the many life-giving aspects of the divine.

Goddess Pose, also called Victory Squat and Utkata Konasana (Fierce Angle Pose) strengthens the lower body, activates the core, releases the breath in the abdomen and helps to integrate the upper and lower energy centers of the body.
While you will most certainly increase strength and will in this asana, one of the sweet benefits of Goddess Pose is in learning to balance and integrate the pairs of opposites – will and surrender, strength and softness, activity and receptivity – which can inspire growth toward wholeness in your entire being.

The Hatha yoga tradition was born of Tantric traditions, which celebrate the divine feminine through the forms of Shakti. In Tantra, Shakti is the cosmic feminine force, the creative, dynamic power of Pure Consciousness that complements Shiva, the cosmic masculine principle of Pure Consciousness. [i]

We can experience this power by unfolding several of the many divine forms of the feminine energy, or the Goddesses within, while practicing Goddess Pose.

The Pose

Position your feet one leg’s distance apart. Turn your heels in and your toes out toward 45°. You’ll bend your knees in the direction of your toes and squat, lowering your pelvis down. You’ll have more stability and balance if you keep your buttocks above your knees rather than squatting all the way to the level of your knees. Raise your arms out to the sides, bend your elbows and turn your palms to face out.

Spread your toes and root through the four corners of your feet. Bend your knees just until you feel the flow of gravity descend through your legs, creating grounding throughout your entire body. Feel your legs growing stronger and more stable; observe your connection to the life-giving, sustaining quality of Mother Earth and all of Nature, or the Divine Feminine in the form of Prakriti.

Draw your tailbone slightly toward your pubis to maintain length in your spine, and let your attention become more fully present in your core. On your exhalations, gently lift your low belly and pelvic floor as you float your navel to your spine. If you are pregnant, create light tone through your abdominals, embracing your baby and the life force that is growing within your body.

With strength in your legs and energy moving through the core of your body, receive the force of Kali, or the fierce protection of the eternal Mother. Among many things, Kali (kala or time) represents the pure power of existence and the power of spiritual insight that cuts through all negativity, illusion and duality. She exists beyond time and space, and is responsible for all of life, from conception to death and beyond.

When we are established in our core, both physically and energetically – when the prana flows through the central channel of the spine – we can experience the quality of nirodha, the merging or dissolution into the Absolute, the supreme intelligence of the Universe that is unending and undying. In more relative terms, nirodha is that ability to bring the mind back to a state of Witnessing, beyond its limiting identifications to the source of our being, to a state of Awareness and pure potential.[ii]

As you tune into this power to endure and integrate the sensations, thoughts and feelings arising, notice the part of you that fiercely cuts through the tendency to want to give up, change position, or tense up. Relax the muscles of your face, continue to feel the downward flow of energy in your body, the upward rising energy in your spine and the knitting or weaving of these opposites at your navel center.

Draw your shoulder blades in lightly and feel the expanse of your ribcage, chest, collarbones and belly. Soften your palms and the soles of your feet, relax your jaw and experience the nourishing radiance of Lakshmi, the mother goddess form of wealth, prosperity, beauty and fertility. Allow your mind and belly to relax, receive this cooling and soothing energy as though bathing in the light of the full moon.  Allow for a quality of ease in your breath and throughout your entire being.

Lengthen up through your crown, draw your chin in towards your throat and bring your palms together just above your head.

Sarasvati, “essence of self” or “she who flows”, is the river goddess of wisdom, knowledge, music, education and the arts. Among many things, Sarasvati helps us embody the divine knowledge that brings wisdom and harmony into the world. She is the power of remembering your essential self.

Soften the palms of your two hands and feel the warmth radiating between them. Close your eyes, soften your forehead and draw your awareness into the midbrain, sensing a presence of energy. Allow this presence to grow, like a pearl of light and rest your mind in this illuminated consciousness, letting it spread throughout your entire being.

Dancing with the Goddesses

Exhale, straighten your legs and release your arms down to your sides. Inhale, bend your knees, sweep your arms out to the sides and up overhead, bringing the palms together. Bend your elbows as you lower your hands to the space above your head. Again, exhale, straighten your legs and release your arms back to your sides. Inhale, bend your knees, sweep your arms out into a wide embrace, bringing the palms together overhead. Pause after your inhalation as you lower your hands above your head. Exhale, release the arms back to your sides.

Continue these movements, pausing for a moment at the very top of the inhalation and dissolving the mind into that quality of fullness, feeling your whole being alive and present. Then, slowly release and return your arms to your sides.

Chrisandra leads dances with the goddesses in 4 weekly classes at Yoga Tree. Click here for her schedule. She leads the Heart of Renewal Retreats (register here for the 5^th annual Memorial Day Weekend Retreat) and is a core teacher in the 200-hour Teacher Training at Yoga Tree.

It’s not just the wraps that have become difficult. I can barely manage Bakasana because I can’t bring my knees high enough up on my triceps, and it’s altogether possible I’d suffocate if I attempted plow. Padhimosavasana is spectacularly challenging, and forward folds have taken on an entirely new meaning.

I started practicing yoga in Los Angeles more than 20 years ago. I’d love to say that I came to the mat looking for emotional balance and serenity, but that wasn’t the case. I started doing yoga for the same reason I started lifting weights and running nowhere on treadmills: I wanted to be thin. And, in less than a year, I lost 35 pounds.

I drove my teachers crazy: my vinyasas included an extra push up, and every dog was three-legged. While the rest of the class would work back bands in wheel or bridge, I’d kick up into scorpion, and instead of resting in savasana, I’d do little tiny crunches and hope no one noticed. For the first two years that I practiced, yoga was just another part of my workout. And then it changed.

I was in class contorting myself into pigeon when it happened. I realized that if I relaxed into it — if I stopped trying to resist the discomfort — I could stay in the pose. It didn’t require any physical adjustments. It had nothing to do with my body and everything to do with my mind. When we moved into savasana that day, I experienced it in a way I never had previously: I was not my body. Yoga stopped being about powering through class; it became a spiritual practice.

The last two years have been tough. I left Los Angeles and moved to Sydney and then Boston before I decided on San Francisco in September. Instead of comforting myself with yoga, I’ve been comforting myself with food, and, as a result, yoga’s no longer comfortable.

I’m firing up my practice again. I have to. Not because of the way I look but because of the way I feel. I can’t survive without yoga. For me, it’s all about understanding that my body isn’t my mind, and it’s tough to separate my body from my mind when my mind is in danger of being crushed by my body.

Anonymous

Pregnancy Awareness is dedicated to promoting healthy lifestyles and interactive participation from women around the world to provide the best for our children and families. Anna Getty and Alisa Donner developed this program and produce events to encourage women to reach out and be involved in their development as well as their communities.

Yoga and mindfulness practices keep us grounded and centered amid the ever-changing conditions of the world around us. In this article, I offer a meditation practice exploring the five senses as anchors for present moment awareness and experiencing.

Awareness of the five Senses
We are so fortunate to have the body and its basic five senses to help keep us firmly established and rooted in the present moment. By focusing our attention on each of the five senses throughout the day we can begin to discover (or rediscover) all of the tremendous beauty and magic that is alive around us.

Consider taking just five minutes out of your day to spend 1-minute sitting with awareness of each of the five senses. Allow yourself to naturally transition between sense modalities, or you can use a timer to cue you to shift awareness to the other senses. The order I typically practice in is the body/touch, sound, taste, smell, and sight.

To begin, center by noticing the breath, then explore the steps below.

1. Body/Touch. First breathe in and travel the breath all the way down and feel the body’s connection to the earth, if seated sense the connection of the sitting bones to the earth, feel the support and solid ground below and let go into that support. Next, internally shift and travel your awareness up through the body noticing internal sensations, and offer love and compassion toward anything arising in awareness. Deepen by sensing aspects of your inner physicality- the bones, muscles, tendons, tissues, joints, fibers, cells, the alternating fullness and emptiness of the lungs with the breath, the beating of the heart and the softness of the brain resting in the skull and sense the aliveness, spaciousness, and allow a mental letting go with an exhale. Truly allow a letting go. Shift awareness to the surface of the skin and feel the temperature of the air upon the skin and experience the gentle touch of the air. Rest here and when ready allow this body awareness to broaden and focus on sound.

2. Sound. Open your awareness to the vibrations of the sound waves circulating all around you and entering in through the ears. Refrain from both labeling the sound (e.g. music) and holding preferences for a certain kind of “pleasant” sound and stay with the raw sound waves. Notice how sound invites awareness to a direct experience of the here-and-now. Spend a few moments softening into whatever your experience is and expand awareness to the taste in the mouth.

3. Taste. Become aware of whatever you sense as taste in the mouth. You can be traditional and simply rest with whatever preexisting taste is in the mouth or you can be a bit more adventurous and mindfully pop your favorite candy in your mouth and meditate on all that sweetness! Notice the softness of the tongue, the hardness of the teeth, or whatever moistness or dryness is occurring. Again, soften into the experience and when ready shift the awareness to the sense of smell.

4. Smell. Cultivate generosity by taking a deep breath in and notice the scent as it enters, and the scent as it exists through the nose. Have fun here by utilizing your favorite incense or burn your favorite essential oil in a diffuser while you meditate. Smell is a powerful trigger for memories, so please don’t be surprised if some thought, emotion, or mental images arise tempting you toward engagement with the content of thought. Compassionately acknowledge what arises, knowing you can revisit it later in your post meditation journaling, and let it pass much like the clouds float through the sky. Deepen, soften, and settle in with smell for a few moments and when ready broaden to sight, or visual stimuli. I prefer to work with the color of the internal gaze, but feel free to be creative with what works best for you.

5. Color of the internal gaze, or a fixed external object. One practice to utilize with color is to focus the internal gaze upon the third eye chakra, Ajna, and intentionally fill the inner-gaze with the color of indigo, or a blue-violet vibration, the color associated with the third eye. Deepen the breath here and soften, like cotton, into this expansive field of indigo and sense everything slowing down around you- time, the breath, the heart rate, and sense a merging of the space within you, the space all around, a subtle awareness of the interconnectedness of all things. Softly rest here and allow the body to balance the energy of the earth with the energy of the sky, let all tension fall away, imagine yourself being held in the arms of the Buddha, or anyone you feel love and compassion from. Rest here as long as you would like, and when ready return a very gentle and light awareness back to the breath.

Prepare to conclude your practice by bringing the hands to the heart and bow to yourself for your dedication to practice. Hold a moment of gratitude for the body, the senses, and whoever may be a source of love and compassion in your life. Consider offering the healing energy of your practice toward the awakening of all beings, and the liberation of all beings from all suffering.

I hope you enjoy this practice and find it to be a very basic way to reconnect to the vibrancy and ecstasy of the present moment.

Come practice Hot Stone Restorative Yoga with me at Yoga Tree Telegraph in Berkeley! Join me every Sunday 10:45 am, Mon 12:15 pm & 8 pm, Weds 8pm!

Thank you and Namaste,

John Rettger, PhD, RYT-200

johnyoga.com

 —Thomas Tusser, A Hundred Good Points of Husbandry

Where Spring is blooming, all of nature is hinting at renewal.  Fruit trees burst into bright pink and white blossoms, birdsong awakens the early riser and the light of day stretches longer toward night. Rain showers quicken to heavy storms, followed by sunshine and more bursts of vibrancy. With so many twists and turns in the rhythm of this season, Spring is an ideal time to cleanse, purify, and renew the body, heart and spirit.

Marichyasana III is a seated lateral twist that can help with Spring cleansing. Named “ray of light” of the sun or moon, Marichi was the son of Brahma and one of the seven sages of creation in the Vedas. The chief of the Maruts or the “shining ones”, Marichi is a shining figure in the lineage of Hindu mythology – he grandfathered Surya, the sun god honored in our Sun Salutations, and was the great-grandfather of Manu, the Vedic father of humanity.

According to Light on Yoga by BKS Iyengar, a regular practice of Marichyasana III can help alleviate backaches, hip pain and shoulder problems, strengthen the muscles of the neck, and stimulate digestion and metabolism by toning the liver, spleen and intestines.

While nourishing the spine and stimulating detoxification, deep abdominal seated twists like Marichyasana are also energetically, emotionally and mentally purifying. As we twist and compress the organs, blood is “pushed” through more efficiently, releasing toxins and cleansing. We can also experience a transformational shift in consciousness, from feeling sluggish or stuck to feeling more alive, awake and aware as we perceive our own “ray of light” within and rest in this presence.

The Pose

Sit in Dandasana (Staff Pose), with both legs extended. If your spine tends to round when you sit, position your pelvis just on the edge of a folded blanket.

Bend your left knee and draw your heel in close to your pelvis. Press firmly into the base of your big toe and inner heel, spread the weight evenly across the whole foot. Reach out through your right leg, spread the toes and press through your right heel.

On an exhalation, turn your ribcage to the left, extending your arm beyond your outer left thigh. Bend your elbow and brace your right upper arm against the back of your right outer thigh. Walk your left hand behind your pelvis, resting your fingertips on the floor.

Root down through your sitting bones and lift the sides of your chest with equal effort. Turn your head to look over your left shoulder.

Stay steady in your pelvis. Your right sitting bone may want to shift forward and your left one may want to lift up. Find your deep roots and release them further into the earth. As you inhale, extend your spine, and draw the breath into the abdomen, the back body and side ribs. As you exhale, soften your belly into your thigh and deepen the twist. In the beginning, your breath may feel short and fast, so slow down the exhalations, making space for a long, slow breath in.

You can turn your head over the right shoulder, as shown in the photo, and direct your gaze toward the tip of your nose.

Stay for 5-10 long, slow breaths. Then, slowly unwind you torso. Extend your left leg and sit for a moment, savoring the space you’ve created for renewal.

Chrisandra Fox Walker teaches tools for rewiring and renewing the brain, body and heart in weekly classes at Yoga Tree (click here for her schedule), private sessions and retreats. She leads The Heart of Renewal Retreats and is a core teacher in the 200-hour Teacher Training at Yoga Tree. Email Chrisandra@gmail.com

Photography by Ryan Scott. Email Ryanedwardscott@gmail.com

My mission in life is to help women bridge the gap between yoga and food. It seems that while ON the mat many people get behind the notion of being self-aware.  They then go to their kitchens and forget to stay present with themselves.

This often results in people eating food that looks good, eating out of pleasure or as a means to escape. The “problem” is that these behaviors do not support our overall well-being, current health concerns or serve the body. And what about the amount in which people ingest. If we aim to use the tool of consciousness to stay connected to ourselves, then how come so many over eat.

Standing on the mat in yoga class you start to become present to your body. I imagine you begin by checking in with sensations. You may feel areas of tensions. As you stay conscious you begin to use the breath to focus your attention and bring energy and vitality to areas that feel tight and blocked. The asanas themselves combined with breath and awareness begin to release the tensions and you start to feel more open, free and expansive. The teachings train you to watch thoughts pass by like clouds in the sky and let them go. The more you practice coming back into the present, you realize nothing is really wrong or bad. As you continue to feel the expansive open nature of your being you say, “Hey this feels good. I’ll come back again soon.”

I remember years ago walking out of Jivamukti yoga studio in New York City feeling these amazing benefits of my yoga practice. I was present, alive, happy and centered. I lived right across the street so I usually went home after practice. As I went up the stairs to my 4^th floor walk up apartment it seemed that as I landed on each floor the part of me that was “awake” went to sleep. Before I knew it was standing in my kitchen with a box of cereal…. gone. What happened? Only moments before I was this women who embodied presence and consciousness and then upon walking into my house I had forgotten it all.

I would ask myself, am I hungry? Was the yoga class too intense and therefore I decided to dissipate the energy with food?

This didn’t only happen right after yoga class, it seemed to be happening most of the time I ate.

Awake on the mat.

Asleep in the kitchen.

Since I was on a search of self-discovery I decided to investigate. I wanted to know why I couldn’t stay conscious with food. As my search began I found was that many women (and men) struggle staying present while eating. I also was affirmed that our culture does not take pride, slow down or pay attention to ones relationship to food, Not only WHAT we put into our body but HOW we put food in our body.

As my exploration unfolded and my quest to learn how to become a conscious eater grew I had a paradigm shift. I realized that our current relationship and practice with food is not the problem. It’s actually the GIFT. Food as the study of who you are can lead you through the doorway to awakening. Our relationship to food is the vehicle to be here NOW!

I decided to practice. What would happen when I “did yoga” in the kitchen. Breathed, checked in, asked questions and investigated the reasons for my hunger. I discovered many things. First I wasn’t always hungry for food. I became more present to the feelings in my stomach, heart, legs and my whole body. As a result I was able to choose the exact foods my body needed. Not from a place of logic but from a direct experience of my bodies messages. I found I enjoyed food more. The tastes, colors, textures. Gosh I had been missing so much. The more I practiced the yoga of eating I didn’t want to use food to escape. This gift brought me an abundance of joy.

You might be wondering how you can take your yoga practice off the mat and into the kitchen. Here are some useful tools to begin with.

The first stage is OBSERVATION:

When you walk into the kitchen check in with yourself. This includes all your parts; your body, your thoughts, your breath… Just like on the yoga mat. One of the keys to taking yoga off the mat and into the kitchen is to cultivate a practice with your senses. How does the kitchen smell? What sensations do you have in your mouth? What are the first things you see when you enter the kitchen? A glass or water? Or the brownies someone left after the party last night? Are you craving sweet? Salty? Pungent? Are you having cravings?

This is one level of conscious eating.

The second stage is INQUIRY

The art of asking and being in the question.

Do you need to eat foods that settle or do you need something to get you going? What are you aims when it comes to diet? What would give you the deepest nourishment?

The third stage is the INVESTIGATION

How do you respond when you decide to eat one food or another?

How do you respond to your cravings? Quickly or with pause and reflection? Are there certain times of day, certain foods or environments where you check out when there is food? Do you eat too much? Do you avoid certain situations if there is going to be food around? How do you eat? What happens when you try to restrain from certain foods? Do you notice that food is the place you go when you need comfort, relaxation or peace? WHO ARE YOU IN RELATIONSHIP TO FOOD?

Start with this 3-step process.

As the months go on stay tuned because I will be elaborating on each stage.

In the meantime I invite you to be bold. Be someone who uses food as a tool for self-discovery. And if you are ready to put this into practice join me and Yoga Tree this month for the 10^TH ANNIVERSARY of our Cleanse and Renew Program: A 3- week springtime cleanse.

This cleanse will support you to clear up health concerns, enhance digestion, give your body a break so you feel renewed, help you have more energy and more. But in addition it emphasizes the aspect of awakening through the practice of food.

We meet three Sundays, April 15, 22, 29, 2012. If you have to miss a class, no problem, we record everything.

Details are below.

I look forward to supporting you and your food freedom!

Darshana

Darshana Weill is a Food Freedom Coach and yoga teacher. She founded Find Food Freedom; A program where women gather to cultivate a peaceful relationship with food and their bodies. She works with individuals and groups. She also teaches a variety of health related workshops around the Bay Area, Santa Cruz and nationally.

WORKSHOPS DARSHANA TEACHES AT THE YOGA TREE

April 15, 22, 29, 2012

Cleanse and Renew; A 3- week springtime cleanse- Yoga Tree Valencia

For details or to register go to:

http://bit.ly/DarshanaCleanseAndRenewApril15

Yoga for Women’s Wellness

Friday’s at YOGA TREE TELEGRAPH, Berkeley

Starting April 6, 2012

10:45- 11:45am

Yoga for women’s wellness

$40 for 4-week series

$12 drop in class

Other workshops:

The Yoga of Food: How is life feeding you?Nutrition 101, Sugar can be Medicine, Women’s Wellness: Treat PMS Naturally, To Be or Not To Be a Vegetarian and Yoga and Food For Emotional Eating.

To find out more about Darshana’s program

FINDING FOOD FREEDOM

Check out www.Liberationfromemotionaleating.com

To contact Darshana directly call 510-423-0603 or email her at darshana@darshanaweill.com

Want more recipes? Check out Darshana’s 50 quick and easy recipes Ecookbook: http://darshanaweill.com/page/cookbook-1

The month of March is a natural dawn for sloughing off the dark and heavy of winter and embracing the light and radiant color of early Spring. With growing warmth and light-filled days, we tend to feel active and playful, especially after a long winter’s slumber. This month’s pose will help revitalize you physically, emotionally and mentally and awaken you to a lighter, clearer and more vital sense of well-being. Pincha Mayurasana (feathered peacock pose), “forearm stand” or “elbow balance”, belongs to the group of mighty inverted arm balances that build strength, stability, balance and help lighten the load by reversing the flow of gravity in the body. When we feel strong and centered inside, we tend to express ourselves more freely and playfully on the outside – like a peacock, just before lifting and spreading its beautiful feathered tail.

When practiced regularly, the forearm balance strengthens and opens the muscles of the arms, shoulders, neck, spine and core of the body, including the abdominals and legs. It requires focus and concentration to balance, so forearm stand will increase mental prowess, as well, and can help relieve stress, sharpen cognitive function and relax a weary and fatigued mind.

Inversions – when we turn the body upside down – increase blood supply to the brain and all the vital organs. The longer a pose can be held, the more far-reaching its benefits, so headstand and shoulderstand are considered to have a greater influence on the internal systems of the body than do the arm balancing inversions like handstand and forearm balance. Still, going upside down will turn your world upside down, and the tissues of the body and brain and even your psyche will benefit. Further, the exuberating sensation of grounding your heart energy through your arms, lifting off the earth and floating into balance provides an overall uplift and lightness to your entire being.

Note: Practice under the guidance of your teacher and avoid this pose if you have injuries to the shoulder, neck or spine, high blood pressure, or are menstruating.

Otherwise, celebrate an awakening of the energy and vitality in your body this Spring and express your true colors from a strong and steady center.

The Pose

Warm up for Pincha Mayurasana with poses that open the hips and shoulders and strengthen and stretch your core.

Come to your hands and knees facing a wall. Take hold of either elbow with either hand to mark the distance of your shoulders. Place your forearms on the floor, shoulder-width apart and parallel to one another. Position your fingers just a few inches away from the wall.

Spread your fingers widely. Curl your toes under and lift your knees off the ground. Press into the base of your thumbs and index fingers, root through the inner part of your forearms. Now, set your dristhi, or gaze. You can imagine drawing an equal-sided triangle on the floor, where the base runs between the two thumbs and the other two sides of the triangle meet at a point just beyond the hands. Direct your gaze to this point.

Draw your shoulder blades securely onto your back ribs and toward your tailbone, and rotate your upper arms out. From here, you’ll bend one knee and kick the opposite leg toward the sky. Inhale as you kick up and feel your abdominals lengthen to help lift that leg up, up and away. Let the standing leg follow. Place both heels on the wall, push up through the soles of your feet and spread your toes. This action of dorsiflexion will help to engage your legs as though you are standing on the ceiling. Hug both thighs in like you are squeezing a ball between them. Draw your tailbone toward your heels and your navel in toward your spine to help engage through your core. Allow your neck to lengthen and release the crown of your head toward the floor – you can even draw your chin toward your throat center to help deepen your core stability.

Now comes the art of balancing. Grip your forearms, palms and finger pads against the floor, root through your forearms and lift your triceps. It’s important to keep the shoulder blades firm on the back ribs, not letting them slide toward your neck. Continue to roll your inner thighs toward the wall and reach the ball mounds of your toes a little higher than your heels into plantar flexion.

Gradually, lift your head and stretch across the front of your neck, re-set your gaze at the peak of your imaginary triangle. Try taking one or both legs off the wall.

For added support, you can place a block between your hands with palms facing down, or hold the block between both palms and rest and root through the outer forearm edge.

Once you are more confident with the balance, get outside and practice lifting your feathered tail in the outdoors – against a wall, a tree, or free-standing in a grove with other fine-feathered friends.

Chrisandra Fox Walker teaches a few of the 84,000’s of poses in 6 weekly classes at Yoga Tree. Click here for her schedule. She is a core teacher in Yoga Tree’s 200-hour Teacher Training Program and leads The Heart of Renewal Retreats in California and beyond. Email Chrisandra@gmail.com