The land of milk and honey

Dear Sangha,

Here is the closest thing to the view that I saw daily (missing the sweet faces that I saw too, obviously) at Laurel Springs Ranch near Santa Barbara.

Isn't it sweet?

This was in the morning, on the way to meditation, mantra, and asana practice, before breakfast, (except not before breakfast for me because I would get up extra early and eat apples and almonds and tea first.)

Evening yoga practice

Summer solstice + the lovers' full moon of June = a lot of light and a lot of energy.
All of this light makes it an auspicious time to look outward and see all the beauty that surrounds us. It's a good time to open up to all of the loves in our life, enjoy them and ourselves.

Because of all of this light, it can also be a challenging time to relax and to find the sanctuary of sleep. The effect of all of this radiance might be restless sleep, not being able to fall asleep at all, or not being able to wind down. Here is a lovely yoga sequence that helps to restore our natural rhythm of sleeping deeply/awaking refreshed. It can help you wind down at the end of the day, but it can also help you to find a steady rhythm if you do it in the morning.


Yoga practice to wind down...
Start with some sun salutations. It's all about how you do them. Surya namaskar can be stimulating/awakening, fluid and watery, steady/slow. The way you do them is the way you will end up feeling afterward.

For sleep, Surya namaskars should be slow, strong, grounded. Focus especially on the forward bend and downward dog.


Do 5-10 sun salutations holding each posture of the sequence for three full breaths.





From standing, take your right foot back to pyramind pose. Hold 5 slow breaths.




Look up and turn to your left foot in for Padottanasana. Hold 5 slow breaths.
Turn back to the front of your mat, step both feet to the top of your mat, forward fold.
Move through a slow sun salutation.

Repeat on other side: Left foot back. Pyramid Pose; 5 breaths/Wide leg forward bend; 5 breaths/slow sun salutation

Move onto your back.
Reverse Tabletop OR reverse plank; 2 X 5 breaths















Shoulderstand (one of the best postures for sleep); hold 10-15 breaths



Plough pose; hold 5-10 breaths

Gentle twist on each side; 5 breaths


Bridge pose; 5-10 breaths


Happy baby pose (loosens low back and tight hips for sleep); as long as you like.

Savasana.
Bring a soothing thought to mind. If you fall asleep with a pleasant thought, it will colour your sleep.

Sweet dreams.

Breakfast Cookies

Dear friends,
For those of you that weren't just being polite, I am posting the recipe for "Breakfast Anytime Cookies." They used to be called Carrot Breakfast Cookies, but doesn't that sound so limiting?
Here's the recipe:

Breakfast Anytime Cookies
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 oil (I used Grapeseed, but you could use anything you like, including butter.)
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest (I would have put this in, but didn't have any at home.)
1/2 cup oats
2/3 cup shredded or grated carrots
1/2 cup raisins
1/3 cup toasted, chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, thoroughly mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon; set aside
In a large bowl, mix together the oil, granulated sugar, dark brown sugar and vanilla. When well mixed, add the egg and orange zest and beat for another 20-30 seconds. Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and stir until flour is absorbed. Stir in oats, carrots, raisins and nuts.

Spoon whatever size cookies you'd like onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake about 12-15 minutes (or more for big cookies.)
This isn't that big of a recipe. I tripled it and got four dozen little cookies.
Enjoy with love!

Golden Fabric first batch for Kaela

Hi Mikaela!
Fancy meeting you here.
Here's your first batch of fabrics. If you see a specific shade/texture you like, take note and let me know, k? We don't have to pick that specific one, but it will give me a good idea of what you like. They are also all different types of fabric: some are thicker, home decor kind of stuff and some are more cottony (which we could double up to make a sturdy bag for your mat.)
You also don't have to just pick one fabric. If it seems too busy or just like too much, we can always do a solid other fabric and use it for some extra detail.

This one is sort of thick cotton.


Sturdy + textured...

Light canvas/cotton

This one is shiny-ish. Not sure if you can tell...

More to come...

Second batch

Oriental cotton Textured

Weird toile, but I love it!

Old curtains kind of...

Cotton mandalas

Japanese canvas

Cute and nerdy

K. That's it for now. Sit with that and let me know where you end up!

For Christine...

Here are some of the postures we do to warm up in prenatal yoga class.

They are also postures that women often find useful during labor.

Here are some pictures: so you can show your partners how to support you better or just so you can remember them.

Seated Pelvic Circles

Sit in a cross-leg position with the hands on the knees. Move the torso from the hips in as large and smooth a circle as possible. Repeat on both sides.

You can also do this posture from an all-fours position.

Cat stretches

Begin on your hands and knees in a tabletop position. Your back should be flat with your hands directly below your shoulders and your knees below your hips.

Exhale and round your back into a big C curve toward the ceiling like a cat (1). Hug your baby tight with your abdominal muscles by imagining that you’re pulling your belly button toward your spine. Put your chin toward your chest.

Inhale back to the neutral position (1) or for a bit of a deeper stretch, lift the heart and hips (without compressing through your low back.)

Another variation of this all fours stretch is Tigress. Curve through the SIDE of your torso: Take your gaze over your left shoulder as you take your hips to the left (creating a stretch in the RIGHT side of the body.) Sway from side to side.

Superwoman stretch

Kneel on the floor in tabletop posture, knees below the hips, hands below the shoulders and gaze between your hands.
Inhale and extend your right arm and left leg so that your outreached limbs and back form a parallel line to the floor (2). Flex your foot and don’t sway your lower back. Exhale and return to original position. Inhale and repeat with left arm and right leg.

Hope this helps a bit, dear mamas.