Daily chores and the art a moving meditation

     Who has time to meditate and pause anymore?  Our days seems to be filled with millions of little events.  There are 86,400 seconds in a day.  How many of these 86,400 seconds are unaccounted for, open for free-time or just sitting around?  If you are like most people here in the US, I'm guessing very few.  So who has time to meditate or pause within this day of 86,400 seconds?  We all do!  Maybe not a formal meditation but we all have time for a moving meditation.

   Within each day, we all have repeating tasks, daily chores or consistent habits.  Brushing teeth, washing dishes, eating, driving to work, putting on makeup or feeding your dog.  Everyday we have a few minutes here and there that we don't need to focus on because we have done it a million times.

    Here is an idea to play with this new year:  The daily practice of pausing and being present.

  This practice is a moving meditation to be done in the course of your normal daily activities.  It isn't about adding on to your already full list but pausing withing those 86,400 daily seconds and giving yourself a good dose of TLC.

     What is in a pause?  A pause is an interruption of mind chattering, pressing, constant movement, brain disconnected and shallow breath that fills our days and seconds.

  Here is the challenge I give to you:
      Pick a task- any task will do.  Your task needs to be something you do daily for about 2-20 minutes.  It can be anything from cooking dinner, washing your face, night time dishes, taking your dog for a walk, or driving to work.  The most important part is picking one daily event to ground your practice in that event.  This event/task/chore keeps you from forgetting or getting off track.  When you prepare to brush your teeth- BING! This is your trigger- whatever task you pick- is your trigger to begin.

    And once you have picked your trigger- what next?
As you enter your task you take a deep breath, you stand or sit a little taller- extending your spine tall,   you breathe again and this time you relax your shoulders.  As you breathe in you breathe in deeply   holding this breath for a second or two.  When you release your breath your posture is tall but your shoulders let go and relax fully.  As you breathe again you smile- just a little smile like a little thank you kind of smile.  As you breathe out you let your smile relax with your shoulders.  As you continue to breathe, smile, and release, your whole focus comes to the present moment. Letting your senses strengthen this practice.  As you pause and breathe, you relax and smile.  As you pause and breathe you stand a little taller and now you feel your feet and notice you are grounded in the present moment.  As you breathe and smile and are grounded you listen a little clearer, you can look around and notice where you are, you take a second and feel your own energy,  If you are eating can taste deeper, savoring each bite, you can catch a whiff of the aromas around you.  You continue breathing, smiling and relaxing your shoulders.  Your posture is tall and your feet grounded.  Your breath continues to deepen, slow and expand into your back and abdomen.  Life gets a little easier and you will feel refreshed.

    This little practice, sandwiched within our busy day is incredibly rejuvenating.  Meditation doesn't have to be done at a yoga studio or in lotus position, it can be done while chopping carrots for dinner.  My grandmothers both had daily farms when they were my age.  Their days were busy and full of hard work.  Going off to meditate was not an option, they used their daily chores as their meditation.  We can do that to, maybe we don't milk cows but we do something everyday.  Pick a task and make it a mindfully quiet place to breathe and see what happens.

Wishing you all a happy new year and a lot of restorative pauses.
         Denise

 5 minutes has 300 seconds within.  300 seconds can change your life

 

Winter health with Chia Fresca Drink

Welcome to winter and the dryness that comes with cold weather.  If you want to have extra energy this season plus happy skin and bright eyes make sure to stay very hydrated.

A few years ago I came across this recipe for super hydration in the book called Born to Run.  The ancient running people called the Tarahumara Indians used this drink as a sports and hydration drink for their long runs- think 100 miles wearing sandals!!  Before food went into the laboratories it was used in its natural form.  Using quality food as your medicine makes smart sense.

    Recipe for Chia Fresca

    10 oz of fresh/filtered water
    1 tbl spoon dry chia seeds and yes just like the chia pet commercial chia seeds
    Fresh squeezed lime or lemon- to taste
    Raw honey to taste

Mix into a glass or container.  For the first few minutes shake or stir the chia seeds until they become suspended.  If you don't stir you will have clumps.  The chia seeds hold hydration are super hydrating for us.  I usually make up a big batch and keep it in our refrigerator for up to 4 days.

This is an excellent first thing in the morning to get you going drink.

The original recipe used wild limes and agave nectar.  I don't have access to wild limes so I use organic limes or lemons.  You could use either I prefer lime.  As for my sweetener,  you can use agave, raw honey, maple syrup or coconut sugar.

Warning:
   Raw products are not recommended during pregnancy.
   Raw honey is not recommended for children under 1 year old.

Chia seeds can be found just about anywhere
     Health food stores, Fred Meyer, Super supplements and Winco just to name a few.

If you want a fascinating read and a good Christmas present idea check out the book
      Born to Run by Christopher McDougall- one of my favorite books of all time.
   

Unexpected gifts of Black Friday

It is early Thanksgiving morning.  I was going to sleep in but like clockwork my body awoke before the rest of our home so I could start my daily practice.  Sally our flop eared smiler and Q-tip our always hungry kitten are also wide awake always ready for any action.  On second thought, Sally is ready for any action, Q-tip is impatiently waiting for his breakfast- he loves to eat!!

We have already celebrated our family Thanksgiving a couple of weeks ago.  Which by the way I highly recommend!!  On Saturday the 16 of November we gathered 19 to our home for Turkey and all the fixings.  Everyone brought something to the feast, we used colorful paper plates, compostable plastic utensils and plastic cups.  Simple yes, but it was what I had imagined Thanksgiving should be.  I was indeed grateful for my family, our home, our abundance of food and blessings.  It felt like we all were.

This early Thanksgiving idea came from Black Friday.  My step mom works in retail.  Today, the official day of Thanksgiving, she will be going into the store at 7:30pm, working all night for all the early Black Friday shoppers.  This odd and sleep deprived schedule created our Thanksgiving day change.  hint: Never rule out where your blessings can come from!

4 holiday benefits to doing turkey day 2 weeks early!!

1.  More family and friends could join our celebration as this day didn't interfere with their normal
holiday traditions.

2.  The prep and planning seemed easier and the grocery stores weren't in a frenzy.  I could gather my cooking supplies whenever I wanted and didn't have to wait in lines or push through crowds.
     (on the flip side, the turkey selection was slim and most of the holiday sales hadn't started yet.  I did find an all natural turkey for $15!)

3.  But- and this is a huge but...  We all got an additional 2 weeks before Christmas- which feels a lot like breathing space!!!!  I do love breathing space.  Especially this time of year, when my schedule fills up but my body wants to calm down.

4.  Turkey day was held on a Saturday, which gave us all of Sunday to put the house and dishes back together and take a nice solid afternoon nap.  (we did use the grandma dishes for serving)

These are simple things really but when you enjoy the simple things in life, life seems simpler!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all, however you find this day, may you also find an abundance of blessings to count and yummy food to eat.
      Denise