Garudasana and Farmer's Market Soup

Garudasana ~ Eagle

Garuda: King of the Birds, Devourer

The animal diety Garuda is said to be born with a great hatred for evil and roams about the universe devouring the bad. Use Garudasana to feel strength in balance and to expel negativity. 

Astrid Kirschenbaum in Maui wearing ener~chi tie-dye pants, also shown on doodle. 

Dinner Tonight –– Fresh from the Farmer's Market! Try buttery, nutty, creamy Fava Beans. 

Fava Bean Soup

2 cups Fava Beans (about 2 lbs in shell.)

1 cup chopped White Onion

2 1/2 cups Chicken or Vegetable Stock

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

Salt, Pepper, Olive Oil

1. Remove beans from pods. 

2. Blanch beans in boiling water for 2 minutes. 

3. Saute the onions in olive oil, season with salt.

4. Stir in chicken stock, bring to a simmer.

5. Add fava beans, simmer until tender.

6. Add parmesan. 

7. Pureé.

8. Season with lemon juice and pepper. 

Hana Highway, Maui

Eka Pada Rajakapotasana

Eka Pada Rajakapotasana ~ One-legged King Pigeon Pose ~ Half Pigeon

I drew this on the plane ride to Maui on Easter Sunday. The stewardesses wore bunny ears.

Eka: One

Pada: Leg or Foot

Raja: King

Kapota: Pigeon or Dove

Yes, some sanskrit names are long, but they are worth learning and here is why. Sanskrit's is made of primordial sounds that manifest their true meaning. It is said that the vibrations created by the carefully chosen sounds (the word sanskrit means "refined,") resonate that which they speak of. In this rich, rhythmic and musical language –– "the spiritual language of the world' –– each written character is always pronounced the same way making it simple to learn and pronounce. 

"Sanskrit is constructed like geometry and follows a rigorous logic. It is theoretically possible to explain the meaning of the words according to the combined sense of the relative letters, syllables and roots. Sanskrit has no meanings by connotations and consequently does not age." ––Alain Danielou

I have always been especially drawn to Eka Pada Rajakapotasana. While researching it's benefits I discovered that it has therapeutic applications for urinary disorders, which I happen to put up with. Sometimes you need and love a pose without knowing why –– something beyond your reasoning tells you to practice the asana and practically puts your body in the position without the involvement of your mind. When you listen to and act upon this deeper intuition you are truly doing yoga.  

When we are sleeping, we often take positions that attempt to correct issues from our day-to-day habits. Sleeping on your back with your hands behind your head, elbows bent at the sides as though you are relaxing at the beach, for example, loosens tense Trapezius muscles. 

Dhanurasana

Dhanurasana ~ Bow

Dhanu: Bow

Be sure to protect your low back here, though you may have a bendy spine, don't be a show off! Prevent pain in your sacrum by keeping the knees from splaying out wide. This ballerina could probably take Dhanurasana a lot 'further', bringing her legs and head higher, even together. But she knows that yoga is not about capturing a dramatic picture. She is practicing restraint. Try it. In fact, a lot of ballerinas find yoga later in life and use it to correct a lifetime of over-stretching, their yoga is all about pulling back and pulling it in.

Yoga is all about you. Forget everyone else in the room and do what feels right. I injured myself in this pose during a Bikram class and though it has been years since, I still approach Dhanurasana with caution, if at all. The body remembers.

Dandasana

Dandasana ~ Staff Pose 

Danda: Staff, central "Spine" of the body

Do not be fooled by how easy this pose looks, go ahead, try it out now, sit awhile. Feeling it yet? This pose is excellent for strengthening the back and improving posture, but requires fairly limber hamstrings. It is better to have a straight back and bent legs than vice-versa, so go ahead and soften those knees or prop your butt up with a pillow/block/coffee-table-book. 

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Chaturanga Dandasana

Chaturanga Dandasana ~ Low Plank ~ Four-Limbed Staff Pose

Chatur: Four
Anga: Limb
Danda: Staff, Spine

"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." –– The White Queen, Alice in Wonderland.

While in Maui, Paia to be exact, I bought a pair of earrings from 'Alice in Hulaland'! I didn't even realize the fantastical name until I was reviewing my bank statements...

From A Year of Living Your Yoga, one of my go-to yoga books:
Clarity about money is another form of yoga practice. Our beliefs about money often contribute to our suffering. Plan a time right now to sit down and look with clarity at your financial life. When you do, celebrate the things you like, and make a plan to deal with the things you don't. 

“By cultivating attitudes of friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and disregard toward the wicked, the mind-stuff retains its undisturbed calmness.” ––The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Translation by Sri Swami Satchidananda

Bhujangasana

Bhujangasana ~ Cobra

Bhujanga: Serpent, Snake

Bhujangasana increases body heat and destroys disease; no doubt a pose that supports 'Tapas', click for more!

Bhujangasana awakens kundalini. A Kundalini awakening is when energy flows upward freely through the chakras and creates a heightened state of awareness. 

According to Tantra, kundalini energy rests like acoiled serpent at the base of the spine. When this dormant energy flows freely upward through the seven chakras (energy centers) and leads to an expanded state of consciousness, it's known as a kundalini awakening.

For some, the experience can be blissful and filled with feelings of love and a sense of the interconnectedness of all things. For others, it can feel more like a bad drug trip, or even a psychotic break, where practitioners go through altered sleep cycles, changes in identity, or depression. This discrepancy has led many Westerners to fear the coiled serpent resting in their spine, ready to strike.

Kundalini awakenings are rare in Western students because hatha yoga is practiced in a less spontaneous way today. "People are trying to hold the poses in a certain way, as opposed to doing poses that release energy blocks specific to their body." Kundalini reminds us that consciousness is far vaster than most of us have ever imagined, which can seem overwhelming and disorienting. –– YogaJournal.com

I just returned from my honeymoon in Maui (hence the 8-day break in posting,) which was blissful and filled with feelings of love and a sense of interconnectedness of all things. No, my kudalini did not rise on our island getaway, but I do feel lucky in love and marriage, which I will take over a bad drug trip or psychotic break any day. (Although I look forward to those inevitable parts of holy matrimony as well.)

Balasana

Balasana ~ Child's Pose

Bala: Child

Place your third eye, your inner eye, on the floor.

The third eye color is indigo. Close your other two eyes, focus on the space between your brows, your pineal gland, and picture an indigo light emanating from that area. After practice eat some dark bluish foods: blueberries, blackberries, eggplant, and blue corn and become enlightened.

"The person who is not searching for clarity does not even know what brings him or her happiness or sorrow." –– T.K.V. Desikachar

Bakasana

Bakasana ~ Crane ~ Crow

Looks like a crane wading in a pond. This pose is great for the wrists. Lately, my wrists have been feeling funky. I find the best antidote for this problem is to go to slower moving classes so I have time to adjust. Remember slower does not mean "easier" or "no workout," holding poses often takes a lot more strength of both body and mind and teaches us the valuable lessons we practice yoga to learn.

Every asana must have both qualities of sthira and sukha. Sthira is steadiness and alertness, sukha is the ability to remain calm and comfortable. You should feel alert and unstressed in any given posture. If the breath is strained, the pose is not right. The quality of our breath expresses our inner feelings.

Paper cranes or yoga class?

Baddha Konasana

Baddha Konasana ~ Bound Angle ~ Butterfly ~ Cobbler's Pose

Baddha: Bound
Kona: Angle

This pose stimulates the abdominal organs, ovaries, prostate gland, bladder and kidneys.

"We begin where we are and how we are, and whatever happens, happens." –– T.K.V. Desikachar

Open the soles of your feet like a book, fold your torso forward if it feels good, and "Argh!!!" It relaxes the jaw.

Ardha Chandrasana

Ardha Chandrasana ~ Half Moon Pose

Arda: Half
Candra: Glittering, shining, having the brilliancy or hue of light. Moon.

The sun and moon represent the two polar energies of the body. Hatha yoga is the physical practice to purify and prepare your body for meditation. HATHA can be divided into  HA: solar energy and THA: lunar energy. Together "hatha" means forceful, communicating that powerful work is necessary to reach a higher state of being. So while the most important aspects of yoga do not concern the physical body, in the beginning you can't just sit on your a** to get 'there.' 

To feel the proper alignment practice Ardha Chandrasana with your back body pressed up against a wall, it feels amazing even for the most developed practitioners.

Have both legs so strong you could stand on either foot. 

"Yoga" "yolks" the sun and moon energies and by joining them together creates balance and strength inside you.


"When force of circumstance upsets your equanimity, lose no time in recovering your self-control, and do not remain out of tune longer than you can help. Habitual recurrence to the harmony will increase your mastery of it." –– Marcus Aurelius

Physical yoga, including balancing and strengthening full-body poses such as Ardha Chandrasana, will help you to recover your self control and return to your harmony. 

Ananda Balasana

Ananda Balasana ~ Happy Baby

Ananda: Bliss

Bala: Child 

Also called Dead Bug pose.

Think right angles: 90 degrees thighs and shins and 90 degrees shin and foot.

A pose for fatigue that will stretch the inner groin, hips and low back. Surrender to release. Eventually the feet will go behind the head. When this happens extend your arms over your thighs,  clasp your hands behind your back, rest your occipital bone on your metatarsals and sleep like a blissful yogi ;)