Creating Connections: Yoga Rocks the Butte!

by Meredith Paterson

Mark your calendars now because this February 10-12, 2012, Yoga Rocks the Butte will be happening in the insanely gorgeous Crested Butte, Colorado. If you haven't visited Crested Butte before, go go go! Beth and I were there this summer for a Yogiños: Yoga for Youth® training at Yoga for the Peaceful, and it is not an overstatement to say that we both fell in love-- the people, the yoga, the mountains, the food, the people. We immediately scheduled our next trip.

Yoga Rocks the Butte includes yoga from luminary teachers such as Shiva Rea, r.r. Shakti, Twee Merrigan, Shannon Paige Schneider, Micheline Barry, Monica Mesa, and more. Plus there will be music from Dave Stringer, Govindas and Radha, Steve Gold, DJ Drez, and many others. And as if that's not enough, there are packages that allow you to combine yoga with skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing. Throw in spa time, excellent lodging, organic food, and breathtaking scenery, and blend to create your own potent elixir! (I think I want to schedule a couple of weeks there now.)

Yogiños: Yoga for Youth will be there offering workshops and kids' and family programs so that you can bring the whole family for a weekend of winter wonder!

Check out the event page on Facebook for the latest on the schedule of events and additions to the lineup.

Together at the Table: New Research on Eating Together

by Meredith Paterson

These Saturday Together at the Table blog posts are intended to start or sustain a family dialogue about food, cooking, and eating, and we'll be sharing recipes, food-related research, food events, and other fun food-related tidbits.

This week, I came across newly-published research about the benefits of eating together as a family. This research confirms that preparing and eating meals together nourishes us as people and families on so many levels. Mealtimes may be the only times carved out in our busy days where we actually get to focus on each other.

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University found the following correlations between infrequent family dinners and alcohol, tobacco, and drug abuse among teenagers:

"Compared to teens who have frequent family dinners (five to seven per week), those who have infrequent family dinners (fewer than three per week) are almost four times likelier to use tobacco; more than twice as likely to use alcohol; two-and-a-half times likelier to use marijuana; and almost four times likelier to say they expect to try drugs in the future, according to The Importance of Family Dinners VII, a new report from The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA Columbia).

The CASA Columbia family dinners report revealed that teens who have infrequent family dinners are likelier to say they have ready access to alcohol, prescription drugs (without a prescription in order to get high) or marijuana. Compared to teens who have frequent family dinners, those who have infrequent family dinners are more likely to be able to get alcohol, prescription drugs or marijuana in an hour or less. In contrast, teens who have frequent family dinners are more likely to report having no access to such drugs.”

And the benefits of eating together go way beyond reduced substance abuse. Eating together can help improve vocabulary, it is a predictor of academic success, and it is a predictor of overall health and well-being.

The Mommy Dietitian has a wonderful list outlining the many many reasons we should take time to eat together along with some great mealtime tips and recipes.

I love this article and photo essay from the New York Times about family dinners and the art in each family's traditions and rituals. It's not about being fancy-- who has the time for fancy?-- it's just about being together.

How do you carve out time for meals together?

Poised for Possibility: Off the Mat

by Damla Eytemiz 

Yogiños: Yoga for Youth® changed my life and I think it can change the world, too.  Last week I was reading "Bringing Yoga to Life" by Donna Farhi and she writes, 

Andersen finds joy in asana off the mat.

"Regardless of what stage of life we're in, Yoga practice should serve to bring forth our unique skills, strengths, and talents. It should help us live with greater ease and acceptance. If we mold our practice into some idealized form based on an external standard that is irrelevant to our own destiny, our Yoga practice will only fortify a false sense of self. In this light, always consider your practice in terms of how it can balance and serve the rest of you life. The practice should serve you: you are not a servant to the practice." 

Skills, strengths and talents… That is what I feel after each Yogiños class. Every Tuesday, I teach yoga at Mi Casita Montessori School and whenever I get out of gate, I find myself so relaxed, more focused and I feel the freedom from fear inside me.

I started yoga in my home country, Turkey, but, at that time I wasn’t interested in it so much. When I came to the US, I started to see more and more people each day, practicing yoga. All of them were under the same umbrella... All were more positive, more willing, more free, more independent, more and more…

Students and teachers at Corpus Christi Montessori School
explore opening hearts to team-work during our
whole-school integration program.

When I spend time with Beth Reese, I enjoy it so much. And I feel the same joyful moments spending time with Meredith Paterson, Yuko Wolf, Sandra Golaszewski… There should be a common point, I thought. And not difficult to figure out… All of us are meeting under the Yoginos umbrella.

Yogiños and yoga are not only learning how to do a butterfly pose, downward dog pose and the rest… It is for sure more than that…

I learned so many great lessons on the mat… Next week, I will be happy to write you the lessons on the mat… Please keep up with me…

At La Palmera Mall this past Tuesday,
Yogiños used kind hands to practice gently
touching the earth or in Spanish,
toco la tierra.

Before I forgot, let me give you great news…First Tuesday of every month, we will have hour class at La Palmera Mall 10:00am – 11:00am. Please bring your kids and join us. Tuesday October 3, 2011, we had our first class there and all the kids were OHMazing™! We had a great time with Beth.  As usual she was so energetic and positive. She was spreading her positive vibes all inside the mall. November 1st, we will be there again… And will be so happy to see you among us.

 

My OHMazing Journey: Musings on Museums and Journeys

by Amy Lewis Hofland

If you’ve been paying attention to art museum education in the past two decades, you know how much has changed. Gone are the sleepy galleries, dark after five, the tour guides who are “walking and talking,” and the inescapable hush of a silent space. To be sustainable, museums have had to repurpose, redefine, validate, and re-invent, or in Dallas Museum of Art terms, Ignite the Power of Art. It has been the greatest kind of journey. Now, museums are the new coffee houses: places where people meet and return often, ideas are exchanged, and art changes lives—lots of lives. In this spirit, the Crow Collection of Asian Art recently adopted a new mantra: Body, Mind, Heart and Art. We are a place where you can grow in these important aspects of your lives.

Filming Vishnu’s OHMazing™ Journeys in the
galleries of the Crow Collection of Asian Art

Body: For thousands of years, Eastern philosophy recognized the importance of attending to a healthy lifestyle. Whether you are studying the Analects of Confucius or the teachings of Buddha, body and mind are interconnected. Yogiños: Yoga for Youth® explores yoga both on and off the mat. This fall the second DVD with yoga and art instruction for children was unveiled: Vishnu’s OHMazing™ Journeys. In our galleries, you will find classes, lectures, tours, and wellness programs, all through the lens of art, history and language. A bright new partnership with the Dallas Yoga Center presents a broader, multi-disciplined range of teachings.

Vessel, China, Qing dynasty,
Qianlong period (1736–1795).
Nephrite. The Trammell &
Margaret Crow Collection of
Asian Art, 1975.1

Mind: Did you know a knowledge of jade helps you with a knowledge of people? Our next installation in the Jade Room explores how we are like jade. Confucius wrote in the Book of Rites II (Zhou Dynasty, c. 1050–256 BC, transl. Legge), “Anciently superior men found the likeness of all excellent qualities in jade.” Moral aspects of virtue, faith, and duty were taught through a study of the visual and physical properties of jade, and these teachings were requisite of any gentleman or official in training. Our curator, Caron Smith, explores these teachings through a selection of works from our collection with a hope, like Confucius, that in the end, we are all better people from the study of jade.

Heart: In September 2009, in a hot studio in Shanghai, I met Qiu Anxiong, the artist presented in this fall’s exhibition by Melissa Chiu of the Asia Society Museum. Huge canvases lined the walls of a space generous by Shanghai standards. In a contrast of experiences (customary in China), he pulled out his Apple computer and presented one of his video works. Six or seven of us crowded around his computer. Time suspended, we watched over an hour of his animations: virtual “flip-books” of digital stills of his paintings present an emotional landscape of the histories of China. Qiu collaborates with Chinese composers to lure the senses into a place where your heart stops and nothing else matters. I find his works arresting in every sense of the word. Starting on October 15, we will present Qiu’s new work in video format alongside several paintings, sketchbooks, and drawings. This is Qiu’s third U.S. exhibition, and my favorite Shanghai souvenir. Your heart will thank me later.

Children discuss and sketch
a relief of Ganesha

Art: Perhaps at the core of what keeps our body, mind, and heart in motion is art. At the Crow Collection of Asian Art you can find it throughout the fall—in the inventive studio projects designed by our creative museum educators, in the Crow Collection After Dark programming and in the curiosity and wonder-driven exhibitions. Hundreds of programs offered this October through Art in October, in collaboration with the Dallas Arts District, remind us of the power of art and its vital place in our lives. In Asia, art and life are interwoven; one is not separate from the other.

Join us for a journey exploring how rewarding a life coupled with art can be!

Amy L. Hofland

DIRECTOR

The Trammell & Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art features a variety of spaces and galleries with changing exhibitions of the arts of China, Japan, India and Southeast Asia spanning from the ancient to the contemporary. Just 12 years in operation, this lovingly curated free museum offers a serene setting for quiet reflection in the heart of the Dallas Arts District.

The Crow Collection continues to grow in art and service to the Dallas- Fort Worth community with an emphasis on shared learning and fun. New initiatives include the development of an Asian physical and mental wellness center endorsed by Dr. Andrew Weil as well as an Asian Sculpture Garden slated to open in the fall of 2012. The garden features traditional Japanese landscaping, new Asian art acquisitions and additional works from the museum’s collection. For more information, please go to crowcollection.org.

Creating Connections: BreatheCure Conference

Today, I want to bring your attention to a exciting opportunity that is happening right here in Texas this month. The BreatheCure (BTC) Conference will be held at Rice University on October 29, 2011.

The BreatheCure Conference will feature presentations and workshops from yoga teachers, medical professionals from many different fields, health and wellness professionals, authors, and more. 

"The BreatheCure Conference curriculum was chosen specifically to serve as prevention and complementary treatment of cancer and other illnesses and to offer alternative wellness techniques to professionals and the general public as integrative medicine emerges into mainstream treatment protocols.

BTC Conference supports the illness-to-wellness community using a platform of educational lectures and classes for professionals and the general public to use as a means of enrichment. Our nonprofit Breathe the Cure is dedicated to teaching that proper breathing is a complementary treatment to disease and a tool to transform mindbody.

We believe that change comes from a healthy mind, body and planet and support deep breathing techniques and mindfulness as a healthy lifestyle and a tool that alleviates many symptoms of disease."

The 2011 BreatheCure Conference is a collaboration between Breathe the Cure® founder, yoga professional and legislative yoga advocate Jennifer Buergermeister from Jennyoga/CuraYoga and the Texas Yoga Conference, who partnered with Amy Garratt and Julie Byrd, co-founders and Yoga Studies Directors of Balance Your Body Yoga as well as BYB Pink Ribbon Recuperative Yoga.

Presentations include

Angela Caughlin: Journaling Through: Unleashing the Power of the Authentic Self
Alejandro Chaoul Ph D – MDACC Integrative Medicine: Current research in cancer
Michael Brant DeMaria PhD, Sounds True: In the Flow: Caring for the Caregiver Through Movement, Laughter, Music and Relaxation
Feather Jones, Herbalist: Tea for Healthy Lives
Anita Kruse: Purple Songs Can Fly Project
Laura Kupperman: Yoga for Survivors™
Marije Miller, Heartmath Solutions: Reduce Stress & Feel Better with HeartMath®
Melissa Smith: Thai and Fly Yoga – Playtime to Wellness
Roger & Albina Rippy, YogaOne: Breathe Into You: Healing the Literal and Symbolic Heart Through Movement and Breath.
Lisa Ware: Creating Wellness through the Art of Energy Healing and Reiki Therapy

and many more






The keynote speaker at the conference will be investigative journalist Barry Estabrook, author of Tomatoland. I have heard several interviews with Estabrook about his new book, and his stories about our food system viewed through the lens of the tomato are eye-opening and bewildering.

Registration for the 2011 BreatheCure Conference is $175.00 for the general public and $150.00 for students, teachers, and seniors. BTC is donating twenty percent of all proceeds from the conference to Pink Ribbons Project, a Houston-based nonprofit that saves lives and improves the quality of life for those touched by breast cancer.

2011 BTC Conference Sponsors include: Breathe the Cure, Texas Yoga Association, Texas Yoga Conference, Balance Your Body Yoga, Jennyoga/CuraYoga, YogaOne Studios, Wisdom & Co., New Living, Luke’s Locker, OneYoga USA, Pink Ribbon Recuperative Yoga Training, 002 Magazine, Kingwood Yoga and Wellness Center, Yoga 4 Kids, Expedition Balance, Origin. Magazine, JCC Houston, Yogiños: Yoga for Youth, Ligmincha Texas Institute, Yoganonymous, Luna Bar, Body Dynamics, The Motherhood Center, Ekam Yoga, Mind Body & Soul, Sedona Tea Blends, Pure Rain, PerfectMind Yoga, Your Body Center and Aerobifit.

Hero at Home: Big Wheels Keep on Turning, part IV

Rebuilding faith in Split, Croatia.

by Beth Reese

Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.
~ Steve Jobs

One of the ways we can keep growing and moving forward with grace is to take care of ourselves. Chakras are the "wheels" in our bodies representing energy centers. Today I will continue to reflect on these internal wheels in our bodies and how we can activate these centers to make heroic—or OHMazing™—choices. These ideas are appropriate for heroes of all ages.

First we explored the first chakra, Muladhara. Next, we focused on the second energy center, also known as Swadhisthana or Sacral Chakra. Then we encountered the third chakra, Manipura, which is located at our spine directly behind the naval area.

Padma-sundara is shown by a circular flower
with twelve green petals. The intersecting triangles
represent the union of female and mal

Today we will investigate our fourth chakra, Anahata, our heart center. Anahata is connected with our thymus, located in the chest. The thymus is part of our immune and endocrine systems. The thymus is the site of maturation of the T cells which fend off disease and are adversely affected by stress. The heart chakra also governs compassion, love, group consciousness, and a sense of oneness.

One yoga pose or asana that assists in opening our heart and strengthening the muslces that surround our heart center is cobra/bhughangasana/culebra.

• • 

    Yogiña Remy extends her heart center or
    Anahata Chakra forward as she moves into
    cobra/bhughangasa

• Lie on the floor on your stomach with forehead gently resting on floor.
• With tops of feet on floor, stretch your toes and legs to wall behind you.
• Place compassionate hands on the floor underneath your shoulders.
• Open and lead with heart. Squeeze elbows into your sides.
• Press legs into floor.
• Squeeze legs together and try not to harden muscles of your bottom.
• Inhale press hands into floor pushing head and chest off floor. Try to pull chest forward while you lift
• Try to move your head back so it is stacked over your shoulders.
• Feel stretch throughout your whole spine, but LOWER self if you feel any crunching in lower back (and try to squeeze legs together more).
• Exhale softly lower chest and shoulders back to earth.

Elizabeth Reese, Ph.D., RYT, RCYT, is the founder and executive director of Yogiños: Yoga for Youth®. She is a teacher with over 20 years of experiences leading learners of all ages in creative problem solving, self-reflection and empowerment. With her doctorate degree in art museum education, Reese is the visual arts columnist for the Corpus Christi Caller Times, a visiting instructor at Texas A&M University—Corpus Christi, and the author of several articles and book chapters as well as co-author of the book, Experience Art: Teaching and Learning through Works of Art. Her teaching credentials also include windsurfing and skiing.

Together at the Table: Great Blogs for Cooking with Kids

by Meredith Paterson

©2011 Super Healthy Kids.
Amy Roskelley provides resources on feeding
your family healthy food.
Visit Super Healthy Kids for more ideas

I have recently found some OHMazing™ resources that I wanted to share with you. There are many days when I have no idea what to cook for dinner, and then the Google comes to my rescue. I enter the ingredients I have into the search box and 9 million recipes later, I am on to something. It's not entirely scientific, but it's always a fun experiment. Searching for a veggie lasagna recipe with zucchini the other day, I fell down a rabbit hole of blogs that cater to cooking and eating with children, and there are so many fun recipes and ideas that I can't wait to try. My hat is off to each of these bloggers for bringing families together for mindful meals.

 Here are some of the fun blogs I found with great kid-friendly recipes: 
http://blog.superhealthykids.com/ (see the flower tray crudité post connected to the adorable photo above)
http://www.raisehealthyeaters.com/
http://dinnertogether.blogspot.com/
http://whatscookingwithkids.com/

For those with food sensitivities and food allergies:
http://myaspergersgirl.blogspot.com/

Here is a kid-friendly, easy-to-prepare, healthy, veggie-full (Hallelujah!) lasagna recipe from Raise Healthy Eaters:

Slow Cooker Veggie Lasagna

Ingredients:
-8-ounce package shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
-15 ounces part-skim ricotta cheese
-2 large eggs
-¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
-1 teaspoon salt, divided
-1 cup carrots, shredded
-3 cups zucchini, shredded and firmly packed
-26-ounce jar roasted garlic marinara sauce
-8-10 regular lasagna noodles (not no-boil)

I made a version of the allergy-friendly lasagna
(mine had cheese but no meat, and I used brown rice,
no-boil noodles). Delicious!

 Recipe directions

For those with gluten, dairy, soy and/or corn sensitivities:
Lasagna (Gluten, Casein, Egg, Soy and Yeast Free)

What is your favorite dinner to make as a family? What resources do you use to find good recipes online?