Living well: Yoga

I began practicing yoga 9 years ago in an effort to jump start my meditation practice. You see, my meditation practice had plateaued. I'd read somewhere that yoga was considered a moving meditation. So I figured it'd get things moving again. I proscrastinated for a month or so before I bought yoga clothes and a sticky mat. I hadn't worn spandex in public since 1980 something when radio stations across the country cranked Salt -N- Pepa's "Push It". I showed up at the Ashtanga Yoga Center in Washington, DC wondering what my ass looked like in those pants and wondering if my sticky mat would always have that chemically smell. I sat there waiting for class to begin. My jaw dropped when the instructor walked in and matter-of-factly announced that Ashtanga yoga was the most rigorous styles of hatha yoga in existence. You see, I was expecting to be guided through a series of meditations with a few gentle movements sprinkled in between. Was I in for a big, huge surprise. After the first five Surya Namaskar As, I was dripping sweat. After Surya Namaskar B, I was taking the first of many breaks. By the time class was over, I lay on my shiny new mat comatose. Grinning, the instructor stood over me and asked if I was okay. I was not. I was knocked the fug out and he knew it. Fifteen minutes later, I managed to drag myself into a vaguely upright position. A few minutes after that, through the grace of whoever, I willed my wobbly legs to carry me up the 3 flights of stairs to the sub station. But I was hooked and I've been up dog and down dogging it ever since.

I eventually migrated to Vinyasa flow where I could practice postures that were forbidden to me as an Ashtangi. After a couple of years, I went on to be trained to teach Vinyasa yoga. In Vinyasa, each asana is linked to the next creating a continuous flow of movement that is rigorous and meditative. In both Vinyasa and Ashtanga the focus is on aligning breath, body, and mind.

Just this morning, I had a lovely, long conversation with a friend of mine in the south of France. Someone had told her that neither Ashtanga nor Vinyasa are backed by a philosophy. She wanted to know my thoughts around that statement. I am not yoga scholar, but I do not know of a philosophy that underpins Ashtanga or Vinyasa yoga (If someone reading this knows of one, then feel free to school me). In fact, I was disappointed when my first yoga teacher said that there is no philosophy associated with Ashtanga. Patanjali, the founder of Ashtanga, often said that if one does enough yoga, the philosophy will eventually reveal itself.

As I got a bit older, I've come to view Ashtanga and Vinyasa flow as methods for balancing one's energy. This is particularly the case with Vinyasa flow. One can create a practice composed of asanas that are either heating or cooling. I'm experiencing a swirl of activity at this point in my life. So I have cultivated a cooling practice in an effort to create balance. Alternatively, there have been moments when I didn't have shit going on in my life. Therefore, my vinyasa practice was more heating.

Lately, I've come to understand yoga as the major manifestation and personal development tool that it is. The more rhythmic styles of yoga like Ashtanga and Vinyasa bring your personal scripts to the front of your consciousness to be examined. You can determine which ones to keep and which ones to toss. Using physical movement to excavate personal scripts from one's psyche is as old as the hills though. What happens next is up to you. You can either mouse out and run, cheese in mouth, back to old your old way of being....OR you can write new scripts. As you change your internal environment, you find that your external environment has to cowgirl up and you will find yourself with new people and situations that mirror the upgraded you.

For the local people, join me on Wednesday nights at 7:30 pm at 4th Street Yoga in Berkeley. I'm a hands-on teacher. This means I give physical adjustments to help you go deeper into the asanas. Also, my classes are infused with humor and set to the rhythms of world and house music. So come on out for a playful exploration of your full potential as you build strength, endurance, and flexibility. I'd love to have you!

Namaste people

Hotness: "Cracked Ice or the Jewels of the Forbidden Skates"

Don't miss the world premiere of:

"CRACKED ICEor THE JEWELS OF THE FORBIDDEN SKATES!"
A new play by Jennifer Miller with additional text by Deb Margolin

In this glittering theatrical extravaganza, the infamous juggling duo, The Liberty Sisters, have been fleeced by an evil ponzi schemer. Sybil and Statua Liberty embark on a mad-cap tour of revenge...but they aren't the only ones after the greedy crook. Mistaken identities, missed opportunities, star crossed lovers and variety hall numbers all combine to bring East Village high camp back home. It's tragedy, it's farce, it's mystery, it's mayhem...it's "CRACKED ICE or JEWELS OF THE FORBIDDEN SKATES!!"

April 25-May 10 Performance Space 122 -- First Avenue and 9th Street, NYC

• Wed-Sun at 8pm With additional late show
• Sat, May 9 at 11pm.
• Special performance to benefit Circus AMOK! on Sunday, May 3 at 8pm

Starring: Jennifer Miller, Ashley Brockington, Tanya Gagne, Sally May, Adrienne Truscott, Carlton Ward, and Rae C. Wright.Music by Kenny Mellman.Design by Jonathan Berger.Set Paintings by Mila Geisler.Choreography by Faye Driscoll.Prop Design by Jesse Proia.With additional text for Bernie Madoff by Deb Margolin.Special surprise guest artists each night, including Scott Heron, Jennifer Monson, Novice Theory, Jenny Romaine, and many more!

CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS TO REGULAR PERFORMANCES:Use code "FF12" to buy single tickets for only $12Use code "FF241" to buy two or more tickets for only $10 each!!!(2 for $20, 5 for $50, and so on.)

TICKETS FOR BENEFIT PERFORMANCE:Benefit performance tickets are ONLY AVAILABLE at the Circus AMOK! website. Benefit tickets are $50, $75 or $100 and include a post-show reception with the cast and creative team, as well as exclusive AMOK schwag!

"Cracked Ice" tickets are regularly $20. Obligatory Fine print: discounts based on limited supply; blackout dates may apply; may not be combined with other offers or applied to previous sales; may be discontinued at any time so book now and save!

Think: Your Personal Scripts

A key part of lifestyle design is developing an understanding of the scripts we run and how they help or hinder us. Scripts are a set of ideas about the world and our place in it. They dictate how we view ourselves and others and how we interact with our environment. Scripts vary according to our ethnicity, gender, educational level, class, income, and the place in which we reside. You can also think of scripts as social norms and mores. Scripts are useful because they provide us with guidance and, as a result, keep us from having to reinvent the wheel of living. However, scripts can box you in and keep you from realization of your purpose and unleashing your full potential.

The Social Ecological Model is a tool that health promotion folks use (Sorry for geeking out on you. I've got to use my $60,000 graduate degree somehow, right?). It illustrates the interactions that go on between you and the different systems that affect your behavior.

The model is made up of four spheres. They are: the individual (i.e. YOU!), relationships, communities, and society. Our scripts come to us via these spheres. When we adopt these beliefs and perceptions as our own and allow them to influence our lives, we give away our personal power. What scripts are you running and do they disempower or empower you? Find out by tuning into to my free teleclass later this month. Topics I will cover are:

(1) Are your scripts foes or allies
(2) Identifying scripts
(3) Scripts and personal power

Stay tuned for more details....

Design: Mid-century modern furniture for sale

Hi there. I have two mid-century tables for sale.

The table on the left was made in the 1950s by Ace-Hi Furniture in Gardena, California. The table on the right was made in the 1950s in Sweden. Both pieces are made from solid wood (as is the case with furniture from this period). I'm in the process of determining the type of wood that was used.

In the picture above, you can see how the tables look in relation to other living room items. Neither the mid-century coffee table or arm chair (pictured below) are for sale. Sorry, I've got to have somewhere to place my butt and feet. ;o)

Here is a close up of the Swedish occasional table (This ain't your IKEA stuff). It's classic, Swedish design--simple, elegant, and stream-lined. The legs screw in. The circles on top are made from brass.

In case you need proof.

I absolutely love this table and am loathe to sell it. It's sexy, vintage, and space age (Doesn't it look kind of like the Star Ship Enterprise?) all at once.

Call me for pricing and to schedule a time to view the pieces.

Jemitra

415.202.3455

Eat, drink: What I eat

I spend hours talking to clients about food during the week. It's a good thing it's my favorite subject. Otherwise, I'd be a miserable soul. I support my clients in transitioning from a highly processed diet full of sugar, fat, genetically modified, chemical filled foods to one that is more natural. They invariably want to know what I eat. You might be interested too. So I've decided to share some culinary highlights from the past 2 weeks. Included are recipes. That's in case you feel inclined to duplicate some of these epicurean marvels at home. Note that I'm an intuitive cook so exact measurements are not included.

Breakfast

The only thing better than breakfast is brunch. A good breakfast sets the tone for the rest of the day and since it's my second to favorite meal, I don't skimp here.

• Red leaf curled kale frittata on a bed of polenta (Italian peoples' grits)

Cook the polenta until it is done and set it aside. As it cools, it will thicken. This is good as you'll want the polenta to serve as a chaise for the frittata.

Add a tbsp of olive oil to a pan (I used a cast iron skillet. The iron leaches into your food and goes into your body. This is also a good thing.). Add rosemary, garlic, and kale to the oil and sautee for 5 minutes. Pour three eggs on top of the kale and cook for 5 minutes, flip and cook for 5 more. Serve on top of the polenta and finish with a dash of Tobasco sauce.

• Oatmeal with sage honey and fresh strawberries (pictured)

Cook rolled oats until they are done, then add almond milk, butter (I used a really nice butter imported from the Czech public), cinnamon, nutmeg, a couple pinches of sea salt, and folded in sage honey (This is honey made from the nectar of sage flowers). As the oatmeal cooled, I stirred in fresh strawberries.

Lunch

I tend to eat a lighter lunch because I like to rock out for dinner.

• Curried tuna salad on sprouted grain bread (I like Ezekiel bread)

Drain the water from chunk tuna. Add pickle relish (Stay away from the one's with high fructose corn syrup), mayonnaise, mustard, chopped celery, and sambhar curry powder. Mix well. Spoon the mixture onto slices of toasted sprouted grain bread, top with lettuce and slices of tomatoes. You can have this as an open faced sandwhich or you can top it off with another slice of bread.

• Curried miso soup (pictured)

I call this the soup of the gods. That's because if you eat enough of this, you'll live forever. That's how fuggin' awesome this soup is. Now, on to the recipe....

Add an oil of your choice to a sauce pan, then add onions and fresh chopped ginger. Cook until the edges of the onions turn clear. Add water. When the water begins to boil, stir in 1-2 tbps of red miso paste (Use organic because this ensures it wasn't made from genetically modified soybeans). Add peeled and chopped sweet potatoes. Cover and let the sweet potatoes cook for 15 minutes. Add chopped greens of your choice (Collards, kale, or mustard), a seaweed that stands up well to cooking (Arame, hiziki, sea fronds, or wakame, but not dulse as it will disintegrate), garlic, a dash of tamari or shoyu, and shitake or maitake mushrooms. Stir in 1 tsp of sambhar curry powder and ladle into your waiting bowl.

Dinner

• Rotisserie chicken with apples, sweet potatoes and sauteed rapini

Whole Foods has great organic rotisserie chickens for $8.99-$9.99 (Depending on where you live in the country). They are fresh and usually have been cooked no more than 3 hours prior. Being the food snob that I am, I will wait for one that's just been removed from the spit.

Boil sweet potatoes that have been peeled and cut. When they are mostly done, remove them from the water. Add a touch of olive oil to a separate pan. Add mustard seeds and diced onions to the oil and cook them until they pop and turn gray and the edges of the onions have turned clear. Add the sweet potatoes, chopped rapini, cumin powder, and turmer. Also, add a touch of rapadura or demerara (two lightly refined sugars) to cut the pungent taste of the rapini. Cook until the sweet potatoes are well done (though not falling apart) and the rapini is a bright green. Finish the dish with grated coconut and serve with chicken.

• Salmon crocakes (also spelled croquettes) with roasted okra

Salmon crocakes and okra have graced many a plate where I come from in the southeastern U.S. Just writing about them has me visualizing sweltering hot summer nights spent sitting on the front porch where we would burn rags in an old pot to keep the mosquitoes away.

Use canned sockeye salmon or wild caught salmon. Other types of salmon are farm raised and are sub par as they were not raised on a natural diet and have their flesh artificially colored pink (The plankton that free salmon eat gives its flesh that wondrous pink color). For one can of salmon, add two eggs, a handful of bread crumbs, cumin powder, and chopped onion. Form the salmon into oval shaped patties (One can makes about 5). Heat the oil in a pan and add the patties. Fry them until they are golden brown on each side.

Slice the caps off the okra and split them down the middle. Add them to a bake sheet that's been coated in oil (I like to use coconut oil), then sprinkle with garam masala, and sea salt. Roast the okra until they have lightly browned and finish with a squirt of lemon juice (From a real lemon. Not from a vaguely lemon shaped container).

Snacks

• I love cheese (even the ones that smell like ass). Too bad it doesn't love me, but that hasn't kept me from being a member of the cheese registry at my local co-op. The past two weeks have seen me snacking on French Delices Bourgogne, Aged Gouda, and Sartori Bellavitano with slices of pears and locally made flat bread crackers covered in poppy, sesame, and fennel seeds.
  
• Mangoes, bananas, apples

• Peanut butter and honey sprouted bread sandwhiches with almond milk

Drinks

• Honey, lemon, and ginger tea

Pound a 1 inch slice of fresh ginger root with a mortar and pestle, then place the ginger in a strainer over a cup. Pour hot water over the strainer until the cup fills. Add the juice of one lemon and sweeten to taste with agave or one of the aforementioned natural sugars. This is what clears up the phlegm produced from all that cheese.

• Avocado, banana, and orange juice smoothie

Add 8 ounces of orange juice (Not from concentrate. Bleh!), 2 ripe bananas, and 1/2 an avocado to a blender and blend until the mixture is smoothe. If you really want to get jiggy with it, add a couple of fresh dates. It looks like hell, but tastes like heaven.

• Darjeeling black tea (See last month's unabashed exposition of tea snobbery)
  
• Gen-maicha green tea
  
• Water


• Afflingem and Hoegaarden (Two lovely Belgian beers. If you're gonna drink, then drink good stuff.)

Bon appetit darlings!

Design: Jemitra's boudoir

I decided to wait until April 2nd to write this post. I couldn't have y'all thinking it was a joke. Anyway, enjoy....

My bedroom had a most humble beginning as a 9.75 x 12 cube--almost a perfect square. However, I knew my little box had locked within it the soul of an elegant retreat. So how does an interior decorator go about releasing a boudoir from the confines of a box?

I wanted a grown up, but feminine bedroom with global accents. I began with the furniture, a sophisticated sleigh bed and zen-like chest of drawers. The dark furniture, beige walls and carpet combined to create an instant black and white palette. I elaborated upon it by adding a wool mud cloth print rug layered with a sheepskin. The sheepskin picks up the beige in the rug layered underneath it. I sometimes need a bit of encouragement to get out of bed in the morning. So I placed the sheepskin where its plush softness and my feet would meet. I added a bit of bygone glamour in the form of a gold tone mirror with an antique finish. Attached lengthwise to the wall and parallel to the bed’s footboard, it creates balance and makes the room look larger than it is.

Statues of Lord Ganesh adorn the walls. The smaller ones (not pictured) are made from bronze (that is oxidizing in a lovely way) and pick up the gold in the mirror. The larger one is made from carved and painted wood. Lord Ganesh is the member of the Hindu pantheon known as the remover of obstacles. Above the headboard is a placemat made from peacock feathers. In ancient myths, the peacock symbolizes among other things: royalty, spirituality, awakening, guidance, and protection. A good thing to have in one’s bedroom, is it not?

I knew I wanted to contrast the dark wood with a white comforter. The pillow on the left is chocolate brown tweed fringed with feathers. The pillow on the right bears a tribal pattern embroidered in a chocolate colored thread. Something happened when I hit thirty. I’m not exactly sure what it was, but I began to long for a pink bedroom. This is a rental so I couldn’t very well paint the walls pink. My new favorite color ended up making a cameo in the form of the dingleball blanket that’s holding it down at the foot of the bed. It’s perfect for chilly San Francisco nights and fog shrouded mornings. The bedroom door is covered in a piece of fabric given to me by my mama. The pink of the fabric and the dingleball blanket are friends with each other.

The defining feature of junior one bedroom apartments is the hallway that joins the bedroom and bathroom. I turned what used to be a doorway into an entryway by hanging contrasting curtains. The left curtain is made from brown velvet while the curtain on the right is cotton with sheer, cut out panels. A cowrie shell necklace was converted into a tieback while the right curtain was left free hanging so it can be drawn closed for privacy. To the left of the doorway hangs a beaded mirror. Below it is a chest that is the throne for two crows that my mama made by hand. The pyramid box to the right holds wishes and affirmations.

The dresser does double duty as a clothing container and docking station for my jewelry when it’s not in use. The glass lamp’s purple swirls and lampshade blend perfectly with the deep color of the dresser. The photograph of Macchu Picchu and postcard of Shiva and Shakti’s eternal embrace add visual interest to the anterior wall while the wooden rack to the left allows additional pieces of jewelry to be hung as art.

Room size: a 9.75 x 12 cube :o/

Look: Global sophisticate

How much it cost:

Bed (World Market): $310
Chest of drawers (World Market): $249
Comforter (Ross): $40
Sheets (Bed Bath and Beyond): $40
Dingleball blanket (Therapy): $40
Sheepskin (IKEA): $30
Mud cloth rug (World Market): $120
Pyramid box (Earth Star Connection): $50
Chest (Marshalls): $20
Crows (Miss Vickie): A gift
Wrought iron plant stand (World Market): $30
Peacock wall hanging (Cole Valley Antique Store): $20
Wooden Ganesh (World Market): $150
Gold tone mirror (IKEA): $80
Lamp (Marshalls): $30
Macchu Picchu photograph (Eastern Market): $15
Postcard (Some place in Berkeley): $2
Total: $1,236

Contact me for details regarding my interior decorating services 415.202.3455.

Living well: compassionate selfishness (part 2)

here's the continuation of january's post on compassionate selfishness. in the last post, i spoke about the importance of getting one's needs met. the first step is identifying what one's needs are. this can be tricky because our idea of what we think we need is often dictated to us via external sources. for example, i browsed through a couple of women's magazines while this post's contents were percolating. readers of those sorts of magazines come away with the idea that one needs things like perfume, hair color, depilitories, and mountain fresh douches. i'm pretty sure that when you were a little girl, your needs were very different. so here's an exercise to help you identify what your real needs are.

step 1: make a list of your perceived needs
step 2: review each need
step 3: write down a couple of sentences describing why this is a need and how fulfillment of the need will make you feel
step 4: identify keywords

this is what i came up with.....

jemitra's needs
1. respect
2. being listened to
3. money
4. sex
5. friends

why this is a need/how i would feel if these needs were fulfilled
1. being respected makes me feel valued. when i feel valued, my right to be alive and to take up space is confirmed.
2. being listed to makes me feel as though my words count. my words are one of the ways i express myself. so being listened to sends the message that it's safe for me to express myself.
3. money is an agreed upon medium that can be exchanged for goods or services (although it's not the ONLY medium). money assists in bringing me the basic items needed to ensure my survival. hmmm. this sounds like a script, but that's another post for another time ;o)
4. sex feels good because it stimulates nerve endings in my genitals that send messages which my brain interprets as pleasure. sex also feels good because it allows me to connect with another. 5. friends are important because they provide me with support and opportunities for connection.

keywords
1. valued
2. express
3. ensure my survival
4. pleasure
5. support
6. connection

once you've extracted your actual needs from your perceived needs you need to go about getting them fulfilled. the first step is believing that you can and should have your needs fulfilled. here's exercise no. 2. repeat to yourself, "i deserve_________(fill in the blank with your need)." what was your initial reaction? did you feel deep in your bones that you deserve to have this need met or did you resist the idea? if you experienced resistance, then it's worth it to take steps to understand why. if you feel unworthy of having your needs met, this will manifest itself as an external blockage and you will find yourslef in situations where your perceived and actual needs are not being met. if you feel on a deep level that you deserve to have your needs met, then it is highly likely that you've created situations that will do just that.

understanding our internal blockages around fulfillment of our needs can be an intense process that will likely bring to the surface some unpleasantness--past experiences and things about you that don't jive with your self image (or other's image of you). furthermore, rooting out the reasons and ways we block our own bliss can take years. but it's a freeing and therefore worthwhile endeavor. once you know what your needs are and have overcome internal resistance toward getting them met, dealing with external resistance is easier. you are then able to shift things in your external environment (work, relationship, activities, and whatever else) so that they align with your new internal reality.

this puts fulfillment of our needs back in our own hands as we learn that the responsibility does not rest with others.

p.s. that green shoe was NOT a need. it definitely fell into the category of a want. ;o)