Style and Self Care: Bribing Ourselves with Back-to-school Yoga Swag-- Basic Supplies

A very important part of back-to-school season for me is Treats. As in, Bribes. Treatbribes. For myself.

To put in it in more grown-person speak, I find it easier to do unpleasant things (like sending EIGHT HOURS worth of emails) if I offer myself some incentives. A big part of this program is currently The West Wing and Ben and Jerry's Banana Peanut Butter Frozen Yogurt, but I'm looking to diversify my self-bribing options. On the list of Rejunvenatory Activities: cook something yummy, take some photos, practice yoga.

I really love what Ros has to say in her at-home yoga tips about making yoga a precious indulgence in daily life. I was struck by her suggestion to make yoga special by indulging in a nice lotion, a beautifully curated practicing space (even it's just between the bed and the wall) or special clothing. Of course, you can practice yoga anywhere and with anything-- the body is all you need-- but it's always a relief to be reassured that yoga as a philosophy is not fundamentally austere-- it's about celebrating the body as an extension of the self!

In the sprit of self-care and bribery, I asked Ros, along with another of my very favorite yogis, Minnesota-based yoga instructor Lisa Bevevino, to share the yoga swag that enriches their practice, and then added a few of my own faves. The products I feature here are all hand-made or ethically-made when possible-- Etsy is a rad source for yoga treats!

Here's what we love:

Ros: A Jade yoga mat. It's made of natural rubber, which has a texture that reminds me of sharkskin- nice and grippy! Plus, the natural rubber is a renewable resource, the mats contain no PVC and Jade plants a tree for every mat sold. It's fairly expensive (over $60), and it certainly wasn't my first mat, in the era when I was just starting to go to classes, but I'm so glad I finally made the investment.

Anna adds: Second on the Jade mat. I have very sweaty hands and normally need towels under my palms during a down dog, but not with Jade mats. They also seem incredibly durable-- I've seen years-old mats with little signs of wear-- and they are made in PA!

Ros: One cork block, which I like because it's heavy and dense without being hard or poke-y.

Anna adds: I use this in place of meditation cushion, in a pinch.

Ros: One blanket, which I use in savasana, for meditation, and for hanumanasana (on the rare occasion I feel like doing the splits at home).

Anna adds: Splits. You have got to be kidding me. No.

Ros: One strap, which I'm mainly using in back-bends right now.

Anna adds: I am far less bendy than Ros, so I use a strap a lot more often-- especially for hip and hamstring stretches. This one, handmade in CA, doubles as a carrying strap for your mat!.

Ros: One meditation cushion, which I use to elevate my seat in meditation.

Anna adds: Having butt support with a cushion like this makes sitting in meditation feel so much better for me! I like handmade buckwheat pillows like this, because you can add or remove stuff to adjust the height.

Ros: One lavender eye pillow, which my grandmother gave me years ago.

Anna adds: As for smelly things, I also really like Aura Cacia Panic Button essential oil blend. It has lavender in it, and also neroli which is kind of like orange? I put some on my wrists and behind my ears before I practice.

Ros: I've also used Jivamukti lavender lotion and China Gel in class, and would love to keep them at home. The china gel is fantastic- it's an icy-hot gel that you can apply to your low back or shoulders before practice, and helps to keep those muscles warm and loose. The lavender lotion just smells lovely and comforting. :)

Anna adds: When I have to stay out in The World after a yoga class (and therefor can't go home to shower) I have been enjoying Leap Organics body powder --which is basically like Gold Bond for hippies--to cut sweatiness It's talc-free (better for your lungs) and smells like lemongrass, but it still has that tingly feeling.

Ros: I also like to have eucalyptus oil, lavender oil and tea tree oil around. The latter two can both be mixed into a spray bottle with a 3:1 mixture of water and white vinegar for a mat-cleaning solution, plus they're both antiseptic. The eucalyptus oil I just find soothing.

Anna: Ros has been reminding me to do crucial things like CLEAN YOGA MAT for more than a decade now. She's the best, and I'm a lucky lady. Stay tuned next week for our recommendations re: Yoga clothing! Happy Weekend! May all beings bribe themselves within reason!

Self Care How-To: Establishing a Daily Yoga Practice That Works

 Lately, as a part of my attempt to practice good self-care, I've been taking a few moments every once in a while to move through some yoga asanas on my own-- it feels great! Right now, however, it isn't a regular thing-- just something I do when I need a 'tune-up' in the middle of the day. The more I set aside time for these 'tune-ups',  the more I contemplate making yoga at home a regular thing in my life-- but I'm not sure how to make that happen. It feels daunting! 

 I asked my wonderful friend, yoga teacher Rosalind Schwartz, to share some tips about how to create a personal yoga practice. Ros is a graduate of the teacher training program at Heart of Yoga School in Carrboro NC. These days, she works as a teacher and administrator at my very favorite Washington DC studio, Yoga District. 

Here's what Ros has to say:

Dear Anna,

There are a lot of ways to practice yoga, so it's important to clarify what exactly these tips are designed to help you do. Yoga refers to a philosophical system descended from Vedic (ancient Indian) scripture, with practical offshoots ranging from selfless service (Karma Yoga) to extended meditation and philosophizing (parts of Raja Yoga). 

What we're talking about is Hatha Yoga, which is practiced via asana, meaning the postures and series of postures we in the global west call "yoga".

Most of us start practicing the yoga asana by finding a nearby studio and going to class once a week. We leave class feeling refreshed, calmer, stronger and more open. And so, if we have the time and energy, this usually turns into two times a week, then three times a week, and so on until it becomes entirely too expensive, and we begin to think about practicing at home. 

Your home practice is the core of your yoga practice. While it's really important to go to class and find a teacher who can speak to your experience and answer your questions, the home practice is where your attention can move inward without obstruction, and your practice becomes an authentic expression of who you are in the present moment. 

In my yoga teacher training, we worked with yogi Mark Whitwell's recommendations for establishing and cultivating a home practice. He suggests setting aside seven minutes every day to practice. That's it! Just seven minutes, whenever you want. If you can commit to seven minutes every day, you're already well on your way to having a sustainable home practice.

These tips are intended mainly to support people who have a familiarity with yoga basics and want to practice at home. People who have never practiced yoga may be better served by watching videos online, reading a book with helpful diagrams or attending a basics class.

1. Pick your space. Choose where in your home you want to practice, and let that place be The Place. If you have a small home, it may need to be a multipurpose space like a hallway, but it only needs to be large enough to roll out your mat. I know plenty of professional yogis who practice between the bed and the wall, or even in their kitchens!

2. Curate your space. If you're practicing in a hallway, this may mean hanging pictures or colored wall drapes to make it more comfortable. It may mean cleaning the space before you practice. It may mean burning incense or smudge sticks, or getting a salt lamp or candles. Whatever it is, make the space precious. Let it be somewhere you want to go.

3. Treat yo'self. There's no reason your yoga practice has to be about austerity and self-denial. Reward yourself for coming to your mat every day! You could use essential oils or a nice lotion before or after you practice. You could treat yourself to an extra-hot shower or long bath. You could buy yourself flowers or indulge in a favorite snack. Eventually, the practice becomes its own reward, but especially in the beginning, this helps to make it something you actually want to do.

4. Commit, but practice non-obsessively. Seven minutes every day isn't much, but eventually something will come up and you'll miss a day. Or maybe you only manage to practice for three minutes instead of seven. It will throw you off, and you may feel guilty. It may even seem like you should completely give up, because you broke your commitment and it therefore invalidates all the other days you managed to get to your mat. But that's nonsense. Don't trap yourself in this way! It's important to practice, but it's more important to practice without becoming obsessive. Give yourself a break. Return to your practice the next day. Resist the urge to judge yourself!

5. Practice what you want, when you want. Do you have to do sun salutations at home? Well, if it's the first thing in the morning and your body wants a warming practice, then it might be nice to get the heart rate up a bit. But if you're practicing right before bed when the body is ready to start cooling down, doing ten sun salutations would be counter-productive. Begin to listen to the signals of the body. Does it want to twist today? Does it want to do forward folds? If it was injured recently, maybe it needs to rest for seven minutes in legs-up-the-wall or savasana. It doesn't matter. Just get to the mat, invest seven minutes in listening to the messages of the body, and know that that's enough. 

Thanks, Rosalind! I am so proud to be your friend.

Check out Ros' classes at Yoga District if you'd like to experience her supportive, playful teaching style for yourself!

How to Cook Good Things Good: Salmon

Here's the truth about how I cook: I love recipes, but on weeknights I rarely follow them. Most of the time I just make something naturally tasty and healthy in a very simple way and leave it at that. Jo Robinson's new book, Eating on the Wild Side, is a great resource for foods to focus on. I also like Marion Nestle's What to Eat.

I've got a handful of staples in my wheelhouse, and once I find a way of cooking something that pleases me, I stick to it. A few sweet potatoes, divided into wedges and roasted. A bunch of kale. A beautiful piece of salmon, poached.

This approach makes cooking daily much more approachable-- no directions to follow, no extra ingredients to assemble. All I need to do is master the technique once, and I can use it indefinitely.

Poaching is a great fallback for salmon because it's forgiving, deliciously silky, and takes 10 minutes from the start to finish. You can roast salmon, you can pan sear it, you can make it into burgers. I've done all those things. But this is my fave; I never get tired of it.

Steps:

1. Set a large, shallow pan on the stove, adding  2 C water,  1/2 C white wine and a teaspoon of salt. You don't need to add anything else, but this time I also threw in a twist of lemon rind a sprig of parsley. Peppercorns, cloves, caraway seeds, garlic, orange rind or other fresh herbs would also be great. Up to you.

2.  Bring the liquid to a simmer and place the salmon in the pan. You might have to cut it into two piece to make it fit. It's ok if it's not totally submerged. Cover the pan.

3. Let the salmon cook for five minutes. Remove to a platter (I usually use a pancake flipper).

That's it. Now you can eat. A dollop of yogurt or a drizzle of good olive oil is yummy, but if you've got good fish, it's gonna taste great.

How to Eat Food: Breakfast Roundup

My Fall semester classes start Wednesday. I have so. Many. Feelings about that. Instead of talking about them, let's just talk about breakfast, shall we? I think that's best.

 I've got an 8 am class this semester, which means I've really got to get my life right in terms of a blood sugar sustaining breakfast or I am going to have a shit-fit tantrum every Monday and Wednesday around 8:15. That would be bad timing.

Among the harder lessons I've learned re: breakfast? Toast is not enough. See above warning about shit-fit tantrum. I tend to feel super happy about toast and jam and coffee for about two hours and then I want to cry. So. I've got four breakfast staples in my wheelhouse right now, and I'm on the hunt for more. Here's the rundown:

-Greek yogurt with granola (I love this Earlybird Foods recipe with the olive oil cut in half) and bananas.

-Soft boiled eggs, following these obsessive directions from Wired. With caraway Finn Crisp crackers. Top with salt, pepper and a teeny knob of butter.

-Chocolate cherry smoothie (made in a high powered blender so everything gets really smooth): two handfuls raw baby spinach, one handful frozen cherries, one frozen banana, two tablespoons cocoa powder, 3/4 cup coconut water, ten whole almonds. Advantage: very car-friendly. Drawback: chocolate mustache is inevitable.

-Steel-cut oats and quinoa cooked with dried apricots, topped with chia seeds, flax seeds, toasted almonds and blueberries. I tend to burn through this a little faster  than I'd like, so I'm usually hungry for a snack by 10 am. Is something the matter with me?

In the coming weeks, I'm planning on adding baked oatmeal! and an eggwhite fritatta to the rotation. Let's keep our fingers crossed for a even-blood-sugared Fall! What do ya'll like to eat for breakfast?

The Self Care Series: Caitlin Leffel Ostroy

I've been curious for a long time about the diverse ways that people take good care of themselves. As I finish my twenties, I feel like my huge project of developing an adult self-care practice is coming to a close. I'm thinking a lot about how I take care of my body and my mind, and how I want that to look in the next decade. It's scary and exciting!

In the coming months, some of my amazing friends have agreed to talk in this space about their own self-care routines. I'm so lucky to have them as my teachers in this.

We'll start with my friend Caitlin Leffel Ostroy, who lives in NYC with her husband, Alex. Caitlin is an editor at Rizzoli, a wonderful essayist and a very enthusiastic eater. I once spent a blissful, snowy afternoon in Chicago with Caitlin at Rick Bayless' Xoco, eating ALL THE VEGETARIAN THINGS and swapping recipes for soup. I'm really excited to share Caitlin's self-care philosophy with you because she's remarkably thoughtful and determined. An avid runner, Caitlin decided after the NYC Marathon was cancelled in the wake of Hurricane Sandy that she wanted to RUN IT ANYWAY. Just because. So she did. Here's Caitlin!

On the meaning of self-care

I’ve lived in New York City for most of my life, and there’s such a culture of competitive denial, at least in the milieu I live in: can you live on less, can you sleep fewer hours, can you give more of yourself to work. I’ve definitely gone in the opposite direction in my adult life. I consider it my responsibility and privilege as a grown-up to invest in caring for myself.

My husband and I are both freelancers, and that means we are responsible for purchasing our health insurance, and since we buy our own, the plans we are eligible for are very expensive and not very extensive. As a result of this, I’m cautious about what I do to and put into my body. Knowing that we will be hit with a bill for hundreds of dollars every time we step foot in a doctor’s office or try to fill a perscription has been a very strong incentive for us to take good care of ourselves. It’s also encouraged me to be open therapies and practices, such as shiatsu massage and more recently, acupuncture, which are either alternatives to western medicine, or preventatives for it. At the root, my focus on self-care is about keeping myself healthy and energized in the absence of a safety net like employer-sponsored health care.

On grooming

I’m very focused on skincare. My hair is a battleground, and I never learned to put on makeup, but skincare is my thing. My mother died right when I was coming out of adolescence, so I’ve held on to the few “adult” lessons I have from her. One of the things she told me was to take care of my skin when I was young. (The other one was not to tweeze my eyebrows too thin!) I use a cleanser and a moisturizer in the morning, then the same cleanser with a serum at night. I have a number of skin allergies (metal, salt, chemicals), so I have a pleasant excuse to explore organic and higher-end skincare lines.  One I like a lot is REN; they use very high quality ingredients in their products, but they are also very effective, which I feel like some of the more “natural” lines are not. For my birthday last year, I asked for an eye cream from Eve Lom, which is too expensive for me to buy on my own, but man, it was like putting caviar under my eyes.

Honestly, I don’t feel that I’m attached at all any longer to the idea of “improving” my looks. I’m 32, and somewhere along the way, I just fell into completely accepting the way I look. My practices of self-care are more about exploring ways that I can feel stronger, happier, and more at peace with the world. All of that said, I’d still love it if I woke up one day with nice straight hair.

On physicality and exercise

I was terrible at sports and gym class when I was a kid. Then, I went to college, and I found the gym and a world of physical activity beyond competitive teams sports. I began running five years ago—a type of exercise I’d avoided in the past because I thought I was “bad” at it—and realized that there’s this whole other dimension to exercise as an adult that has nothing to do with comparing yourself to other performers in your peer group. Because I’m a writer and editor, I find the purity of an exercise like running a welcome and necessary balance to the fraught interior world inside my head.

On emotional health

I practice Jivamukti yoga, which is a very spiritual practice, and also one that emphasizes looking inward. We meditate and practice breathing exercises, and think about life from the micro to the macro. One of the things that we do at Jivamukti that I love—though I understand it’s not for everyone—is that we talk a lot about mortality and death. I’ve found it incredibly calming to have a place that brings mortality to the forefront, and I like working on understanding myself as a transient being.

I’ve been working on mindfulness this year—which to me means a practice of being present in my waking interactions. It’s been a big challenge because I’m somewhat dreamy anyway (my husband says I’m the least observant person he’s ever met), and frankly, it’s been a little horrifying to realize how often my head is a million miles away from what my self is doing. I try to prevent myself from multi-tasking, and engage in fewer pleasant distractions (like listening to my podcasts while I walk).

When I think about it, all of my self-care habits are taken to some degree with the underlying goal of making me feel calm, so that I can make good choices, and experience life in the present. 

 


On spirituality

I think part of any self-care regimen that has a spiritual component is mindful of how the practice of it can help the practitioner help others. That said, there’s kind of an inherent self-centeredness in all of this that can shut out, to some degree, the outside the practice or the ritual. I didn’t start any of these things—skincare, running, yoga, diet, practices of mindfulness—with the goal of “acting” a different way. But I’ve noticed some subtle changes in my behavior: I consider my spoken words more, and answer questions more slowly in conversation. I can more easily define what I want and what I need. Going forward, I’d like to use these skills to make clearer, more mindful choices in every area of my life.


On eating

I’m not the biggest Michael Pollan fan, but I picked up Food Rules in the bookstore when it came out and opened to a page with this on it: Don’t eat anything with more than five ingredients in it. This made instant sense to me, and that one line has dictated my diet since then. I don’t take it literally, as in, I won’t eat a homemade dish with more than five ingredients in it, but in the sense that I’m sure it was meant to be taken in: pay attention to what you’re putting inside you, especially if it’s in a package, and make sure you know what those things are.

I also just started going to acupuncture, and my therapist recommended that I eat fish twice a week. I’ve been a vegetarian (ovo-lacto) since I was ten, so this is going to be an interesting experiment. So far, I’m liking shellfish and anything white that just tastes like olive oil, garlic, or whatever it’s cooked in. Can’t do the tuna, the salmon, or anything truly fishy. Other than that, I try to eat when and only when I’m hungry, and to eat whatever my body tells me it wants.

On supportive community

I have a wonderful husband, a great family, rich circles of friends—no shortage of people who care about me, and in some cases, care for me as well. That said, I’m in a better position than anyone in the planet to understand what makes me tick, and tick well. Engaging in practices that help my mind work in a better, calmer way, or moving my body in a way that supports, in contrast, the rest of my work is something only I can do, and for me, I like making those choices privately.

What other activities are crucial to your self-care?

Reading. Being involved in another narrative (whether fiction, nonfiction, historical, lyrical), in addition to being a great pleasure, helps my brain rest and my whole self recharge. It’s like changing to a different frequency and has an effect similar, in some ways, to meditation.

I believe that adults need to be their caregivers, and that however one defines that, caring for oneself has the same benefits are caring for another: it’s giving a certain amount of love, attention, or devotion to needs that enriches, improves, protects, and makes better. I could certainly get along with the things I mentioned above, but I think I would feel less like myself, so I guess the purpose for me in some ways is to stay “close” to my self and to prevent me from covering the core of my person with too many outside influences.

Thanks so much, Caitlin! 

Self Care: The Magic! Of! Phytonutrients! and why we are actually smart enough to understand them

I'm a sucker for food geekery. I'm a sucker for literature that makes me feel smart and in-control. Hey guess what? The magic! Of! Phytonutrients!

 Driving down to the beach this weekend, I flipped out over a Splendid Table interview with Jo Robinson, an investigative journalist who focuses on food and recent wrote the book Eating on the Wild Side. I've been at the beach with my family for three days now and I've already been informed that I am no longer allowed to discuss phytonutrients at dinnertime. Whatever.

Here's the idea behind Robinson's project: plants create phytonutrients to protect their cells from damage, and when we eat those plants we ABSORB THEIR POWER, and the phytonutrients protect our cells in turn. The best moment of the broadcast?

LRK: Antioxidants do what?

JR: They keep us alive.

LRK: That's basic.

Oh, Lynn.

Robinson goes on to explain that, over time, humans have increasingly bred plants high in sugar and low in phytonutrients. What a surprise.  BUT! There are plenty of plants in the produce aisle that still have what we need. As a doula, I tend to tell clients to just eat foods that are naturally bright in color, as many different colors as possible per day, but the science behind it has been hard for me to explain. This is the book I'll recommend to clients who want to understand more.

What I really appreciate about Robinson's approach is that she has taken 6,000 peer-reviewed scientific studies and aggregated their results to produced a single volume with clear instructions about how to eat AND WHY. These are not her own conclusions-- this is what the nutritional discipline has concluded. She's made dense science something that laypeople like me can really understand and implement.

For example! A few cool ideas:

--Don't cook garlic immediately after crushing or chopping it. Instead, allow it to sit for ten minutes. It will develop a compound called alicin, the major source of garlic's health benefits.

--In order to retain the phytonutrients in frozen blueberries, defrost them quickly in the microwave rather than slowly on the counter.

--Eat plants that have lead a rough life. The plants with the greatest amount of phytonutrients are those that have been exposed to a little hardship, and therefor have needed to produce chemical defenses. That's why plants bred to be pest-repellent or those treated with chemicals or grown in greenhouses contain fewer phytonutrients than organically grown or heirloom plants.

I find these specifics really cool because they push beyond the basics of low glycemic index and bright color. The premise of Robinson's book is that people are smart enough to understand the science behind all the nutritional advice they're given. It's a different approach from many nutrition books, which just offer lists of foods to eat and foods to avoid. I'm suspicious of that stuff. I mean, what if it's all bullshit? There's a lot of nutritional psuedoscience floating around and it often makes people feel more mystified and afraid. Robinson's research separates the wheat from the chaff, and presents it in a way that puts the reader in control. What a novel idea: to privilege our ability to care for our bodies by appealing to our brains.

Places: Great Cape Herbs, Brewster MA

This June, when I turned 29, I was on Cape Cod with some of my favorite people, so I shocked even myself when I asked to spend the morning alone. On purpose. Just hanging out. 

I went to the beach and put my feet in water. I took a yoga class. And I stumbled on Great Cape Herbs.

The owner, Stephan, made me great Americano and showed me around the shop. Herbs drying! Baby chicks hatching in an incubator! While I was wondering around, people kept passing through, some tourists and some locals. They all had questions, and Stephen answered them. Sometimes, he didn't have the answer to their question, so he told them that.

As a doula, I have a touchy relationship with herbs-- I get really worried when my pregnant clients start talking about taking them will-nilly because that shit is powerful. That's why I'm so glad that there are people like Stephan who are both super knowledgeable and extremely cautious. 

One of Stephan's big projects is WORLD WAR LYME: combatting and treating Lyme Disease-- a big health issue in that part of Massachusetts. He grows his own Japanese Knotweed and processes it into tinctures that make a big different in the health of people afflicted with Lyme, but he also encourages his clients to seek help from medical doctors. 

Stephan made me a tincture for my digestion that I now put in my water each morning. It's just for me, based on what I need. Also it has a hand written label on it that says "Anna's Tummy" which pleases me very much. When I left, Stephan was already surrounded by new customers. He's got a calm air about him that feels perennially unruffled and unrushed. Like, that each person he talks to is important, but that very little of what they have to say is a surprise. It's nice.

I left Great Cape Herbs thinking a lot about the way that people take care of themselves. I thought about the way that I take care of myself based on my instincts, and the parts I leave up to experts.

This is the last year I'll spend in my 20s. Everyone keeps telling me how much happier I'll be in my 30s-- apparently I'll be more self-assured. I'll know myself and what I want. That sounds great! I'm always up for more happiness! But I feel pretty good about what I accomplished with this decade.

Discerning how to best keep myself going has been the main project of my twenties, I think. Learning how to work my body and mind. I might be happier in my thirties-- I'll take it for sure-- but I think my twenties will be the decade I learned how to take care of myself. When to take herbs and when to take medicine. When to call the doctor. When to be with friends and when to be alone.

 Or, rather, I think I'll always be learning how to take care of myself. In my twenties, I learned that it's worth my effort to get it right. I'll take that, too.