A Taste of Sparkle

Tip 247, from 1001 Pearls of Yoga Wisdom:

Stand firm When you’re feeling a lack of focus at work, think about the stabilizing qualites transmitted by standing asanas. Imagining yourself in one of the Warrior Poses will help to restore a focus to get you through the day.

With today’s to-do list approaching 20 items, I thought I would take a few minutes to recharge and recenter myself.

It’s easy for me to get stressed out and pretty much work myself up into a frenzy about things not getting done or not getting done right, thoughts about if I am prepared for this test or not, am I working on one class too much and getting behind in another, etc. – whew! It’s stressful just thinking about it.

I liked this “pearl” because as I’ve mentioned before, the Warrior series of poses are my favorite. While in them, I feel strong, confident, and capable. This pearl is somewhat revolutionary because it is such a simple, yet effective concept: you don’t actually have to be in the pose to feel like you are. Just something to think about, whether you’re catching up on work from the weekend or preparing to go back to work tomorrow.

This book has so many great little tips. It is great to just flip through and find the ‘pearl’ that applies to you in this moment.

My lunch today looked so photo-ready, so of course my camera would choose that exact time to run out of battery! I had a Gardenburger-hummus wrap with carrots (with almond butter, of course) and sugar snap peas. The colors made the plate really appealing and now I’ve got energy to continue chipping away at my to-do list Good luck with yours!

…or is it “school interferes with Rock Band“? I went downstairs to get a glass of water and got lured to our Wii by the sound of music. When I looked at my watch, it was 10 p.m.! And I have work to get done! What can I say, sometimes this girl loves her video games!

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My school runs its own organic farm and this summer, they sold packages where, every week for eight weeks, they will deliver a fresh assortment of organic vegetables. Our first delivery came today and it was so fun to see everything we got! My definite favorite was the rainbow chard!

First of all, it was giant. And it’s so pretty! From TrueStar Health:

Chard’s leaves can be prepared like spinach, and its stalks like asparagus. In fact, its leaves serve as a good substitute for spinach in most recipes, but they will need to be cooked slightly longer.

Chard may be steamed, sautéed, or braised, and it can be added to soups, stews, and casseroles. The leaves and stems may be cooked and served together, or prepared separately as two different vegetables. The Italians make an egg frittata with chard.

For salads and sandwiches, it’s best to use young, tender leaves. For a simple side vegetable, leaves of medium size can be quickly sautéed—the stalks can be prepared this way, too. Older leaves and stalks are best steamed, boiled, or added to soups, as the stems require a longer cooking time to become tender than the leaves do.

Rainbow chard also is a good source of Vitamins A and C, and contains a huge amount of Vitamin K!

Tomorrow is Farmer’s Market day, which is perfect because I used my last leaf of kale today. I’m going to pick up some more kale and see what else I can find!

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My knees feel much better today. I’m glad I took a rest day, I think it was just what I needed. I’ll be back in my running shoes tomorrow I snacked on two mini ClifBars while babysitting. Nothing was sounding good to me for dinner, so I just went with PB & banana quesadillas. You can’t really go wrong there, at least in my book. I had a gala apple on the side. Later on, for dessert, I had a half cup of coconut milk ice cream with two mini gluten-free cookies.

Today’s exercise was yoga, yoga, and more yoga! I did half of this week’s YogaToday class in the morning and then this evening I restarted it and did the whole thing from beginning to end. Now, this was a tough class! It is an Anasura-inspired class, so it is very focused on opening the heart. There were a ton of front planks, side planks, downward dogs, and lowering from planks to the floor, so I know that my arms will be sore tomorrow! I didn’t get to the gym today because I figured that this yoga class would give my body a better workout than a few miles on the elliptical. My body is very used to the elliptical, but yoga always knows how to make it work.

The class also including a good amount of warrior poses, which was great. I love the Warrior set of poses. Warrior II is my favorite – I feel strong and beautiful in the pose, like I am a warrior who can take on anything!

Q: What’s you favorite yoga pose, and why?

Good night, everyone! I’m off to bed shortly too, right after I catch up on a bit of work.