simple abundance

To keep me company on the long commutes to North County, where I work, I’ve been on a podcast frenzy. I listen to a slew of NPR podcasts, from the phenomenal “This I Believe,” “StoryCorps” (of which I’ve used several in my class) to the hour-long “Hearing Voices.” NPR also had wonderful readings by Tobias Wolff and Jhumpa Lahiri from their new books on Book Tour. Then, I exhausted the entire New Yorker Fiction podcast archive, particularly relishing the stories of John Cheever, Donald Barthelme, and Mavis Gallant. And after I exhausted all my usual resources, I turned to Oprah’s Soul Series.

I had come across the podcasts after searching for audio by Eckhart Tolle (author of the much-revered The Power of Now). Several people had recommended the book to me this summer, and Oprah has several interviews of him on podcast.

But I’m backing into the story the wrong way. Those podcasts are phenomenal, and I’m getting through them, and looking forward to reading the book. What happened is, Tolle’s voice is far too gentle for my rumbling car on the I-5, and so at first I listened instead to Oprah’s interview with Sarah Ban Breathnach, author of Simple Abundance.

The book’s been around for more than a decade, but it’s the first I heard of it. What struck me most in the interview was the need to be grateful in your life, and that gratitude is a path to grace. How many times in these last weeks have I complained instead of being grateful? Oh, I lost my voice. I can’t believe so-and-so did or didn’t or say or didn’t say this or that. Getting pulled into others’ drama. Reliving my mistakes. Wringing my hands over my future. Worrying about where I’ll be next summer. Feeling like there’s so little time for me in my own life. What I needed, if anything, was a reminder of all the good there was in my life.

So I went out and borrowed the book from the library. I immediately felt a kinship with it. The book details six creative and spiritual principles: gratitude, simplicity, order, harmony, beauty and joy. These are discussed in mini-essays, one for each day of the year. Last year, I sought guidance in The Artist’s Way, cementing my decision to follow a creative path. Perhaps Simple Abundance will help guide me this year. I feel I just need a little push.

The Jan. 1 essay begins with a quote from Zora Neale Hurston, “There are years that ask questions, and years that answer.” I’m not sure which the last has been, but it has been challenging: career change, major move, death, life. I know I wouldn’t change my life for anything, but the stress consumes me. How could gratitude, simplicity, order, harmony, beauty and joy NOT help me, or anyone, for that matter?

On this journey, you keep a Gratitude Journal, in which you write down five things you are grateful for that day just before you sleep. You should try it, too. I’ll begin.

Today, I’m grateful for…
1. Half time off from work so my body can heal and rest.
2. The comfort of my home, particularly my kitchen that feeds me and my bed that cradles me.
3. The “new” kitchen shelving that fits perfectly between the oven and the counter. I’ve been looking for such a thing for a year and found it today on the side of the road. I’m such a dumpster diver!
4. The sweet text message from B, still out of town on work.
5. My sewing machine that has produced a cute—albeit imperfect—blouse for me.

With happy thoughts, good night.

what makes a woman beautiful?

Health magazine did a stellar job in this beauty layout last year. They traveled the country to speak with real women about beauty, rather than the ungodly women who grace most magazines. I’m falling in love with this magazine, it upholds everything I believe in, and it doesn’t make me feel shitty about myself, like Vogue or Cosmo. In a society where age and weight are frowned upon, and women range from harboring shame of their bodies to flaunting all the goodies, this was a refreshing perspective.

Since I have to return the magazine, I’ve scanned my favorites to tack up for inspiration and thought I’d share.

See the whole spread here.

We live in a world of stick-figure celebrities, deprivation diets, and surgeons ready to overhaul almost any body part you can think of. And yet, many women are saying “enough.” Enough of the pressure from men, from the media—from our own mothers, sisters, friends—to measure beauty by the height of our cheekbones or size of our jeans. We are beautiful because of who we are, how we think, and what we do with our lives—not merely how we look.

open your hips, be happy

By now, everyone has heard my yoga-redemption story. Yet after it gave me the courage to get through the monotonous days (at least 1-2 practices daily), I only return to it once of twice a week and usually for no more than 20 minutes. I know, I know, the yoga purists are wagging their fingers at me. Come on, I’m a busy girl. And camel pose is hard.

But what I do love about yoga (when I do it) is that it’s a practice that makes me feel more open physically and emotionally than any other form of movement. It’s as if my whole body can breathe, being aware and proud of itself. I feel sexier. Calmer.

My body began to send distress signals when I re-entered school. My breathing was more shallow and my hip muscles ached. The breathing, of course, is a sign of anxiety, and the tight hips are a result of sitting all day.

The hips are important because they’re what allow you to move forward. Anyone who’s seen me on a bike or a hike know I like to go forward. I don’t even like reversing into a driveway.

Beyond restricting your forward momentum, some say that the hips are the seat of the emotions in yoga. I found this online:

Because we can hold years of physical and emotional tension in our hips, it’s important to know how to effectively release them … When tension from the hips is released, your whole body experiences the change. You’ll feel lighter emotionally and more fluid physically as you free stagnant energy and loosen tight musculature in your hips.

In yoga classes, I’ve seen people flat-out refuse hip openers like pigeon pose. As I’ve mentioned before with meditation, teachers have said we avoid the healing we need the most. Others say all movement begins in the mind, and when the muscles are tight, the mind simply overworks.

Either way, here’s a few faves (and a few others) that make your hips happy.

Beautiful Hemalayaa in the morning. The lunges in the sun salutations and triangle poses opens the hips. My absolute favorite, but I’ve done it so many times, I need something new. It’s like a little hokey pokey in the morning (you get to shake it all about).

Better Sex Through Yoga Vol. 1. Yes, this was a gift. Yes, I also own Striptease a la Carmen Electra. There’s no point in being shy, ladies. It’s a great practice, lots of downward facing-dog (head rush, anyone?) and hip openers I haven’t seen in other workouts. My only beef is the sound is poor quality, so I turn to it rarely. A good bet if you want yoga and a kegel-reminder wrapped into one.

When I’m particularly lazy (or sick, or hung over and my muscles need a good ringing out), I turn to the short A.M. and Stress Relief practices from The All Day Yoga Workout. Very much a beginner’s practice, using a strap and a brick. It’s healing like a bubble bath.

I just started using Yoga Bliss Hips, and the jury’s still out on this one. Not as much hip opening as you’d expect, but lots of emotion-bubbling from this form of yoga, Kundalini.

And finally, this comes from a DVD I bought and returned because Power (Vinyasa) Yoga is too fast paced for my taste. I like the breathers of yoga. I like not having to worry about my heart rate. Nonetheless, I may give this another shot, because I’ve heard good things about Tragically Hips. It’s a free, 55-minute download.

Here’s to moving forward.

getting back on the road

I learned two things when friends came to visit us in September.

1. Graduate school gives you cubicle ass.
2. I’m more tense than usual. (I think the diplomatic question was, “How’s your yoga going?” Obviously, not very well.)

Yikes. I’ll be a fat, gnarly girl with a graduate degree. My mind, of course, turned to exercise.

I don’t like to think of movement as exercise because visions of gyms come to mind. That smell of other people’s sweat. All those pectorals and cute buns. The high-end, fashion sportswear show. Sure, I like a romp on the treadmill every once in a while, but quite frankly, I’d rather nap.

I use my interest in traditional medicines to justify my lack of gym membership. In Ayurveda, this sort of strenuous exercise is detrimental to the ever-moving Vata constitution, which needs calming rather than revving up. In traditional Chinese medicine, it adds heat to an already overextended body warm with stress, caffeine and meals-on-the-go.

My interest in these philosophies stems from my belief in the mind/body/environment relationship, one that needs coddling. Yoga got me through unhappiness, walking through stress. I turn to them both again and again.

Walking

Several people I know swear by walking. I swore by walking, too, when it was my only form of transportation in a big metropolis. Exercise by accident, not design. California-going makes it harder.

After months of driving, my acupuncturist recommended I walk at least 5 minutes and as much as 45 minutes a day. I needed to get the chi moving, she said, I needed to let my work anxiety seep out. On a personal level, I needed to get away from my desk, under the trees, into the sunshine. Sometimes I thought of it as a moving meditation. Other times it was essential to my work. I’d leave my desk struggling with a lede, just to find it under the redwoods.

When I quit my job, I started to use audio walking guides by Debbie Rocker. They keep me going faster and longer. I try for at least a couple miles every few days. I know it’s not much, but consistent exercise is supposed to be better than occassional bursts of intensity.

But mostly, I’m searching for music that’ll make me gladly hoof the hills in my neighborhood. The kind of music that you dance to when you’re home alone. That makes you want to sing. From Motown to Wyclef to the Sundays. What do you listen to? What gets you out of bed in the mornings?