by Hilary Lindsay | Jan 20, 2021 | Ethics, Healthy Living, Meditation, nashville yoga, Social Commentary, society, Yoga, yoga community, yoga teacher, yoga teaching |
The Inauguration of Joe Biden 2021 Spring air teases the forsythia and bluebirds forward. The white cold light of winter still shines slantingly through my Southern facing windows this early dawn. It will soon shift to the northern side of this house and morning will be less of a call to attention as the days drift on for hours, eventually bleeding into night. On this day that Donald Trump departs he will take despair with him. He will carry the crushing weight of hate away on the country’s helicopter. His departure will unclog the suffocating sludge of contention that has sucked the oxygen from our people. It will feel that way for some of us. Some of us will follow the fumes kicked up by his dust, hoping to stay in his reality star story. Some will choose lies but most will roll over with exhaustion hoping for an unbroken rest now that he’s been replaced by a human being whether it be in defeat of their vote or victory. Will we emerge from the bunker rolls of toilet paper and paper towels to wonder at our prison walls? Will we stare in confusion at the storehouse of swabs, sanitizers, soaps and wipes stuffed into corners? Will we ever look at a communal bowl of food without horror? Will we find the old friends waiting and pick up the pieces as they’d never broken? What do our jobs that were lost mean now? Were we necessary and is there a place for us? What do the jobs we’ve done from home feel like when we take them back to...
by Hilary Lindsay | Mar 24, 2020 | Cooking, Healthy Living, nashville yoga, Recipes, Social Commentary, yoga teacher |
Hey All, Here is a lovely recipe from The Sprouted Kitchen. They look so darn good. I thought it was worth sharing as the rain and safe shelter keep us home during this mysterious and nerve racking time. It seems like I mostly bake and eat these past two weeks with a dash of yoga and dog walking to boot. I will make this with unbleached white flour and coconut flour as that is what I have here. I rarely follow recipes exactly anyway. My favorite baking chocolate these days are Enjoy Life dark chocolate morsels. The other day I used Whole Foods organic butter rounds with peanut butter sandwiched in between and dipped them in melted chocolate. Left them on the front porch to firm on a baking sheet with parchment paper. Heaven. Anyway, The Sprouted Kitchen sent this out and if you like healthy baking you might go subscribe to them directly. Happy Snacking, Love, Hilary PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE SHORTBREAD BARS 16 small squares Ingredients for the CRUST 1/2 cup coconut flour 1/2 cup almond flour 1/2 cup oats 1/3 cup coconut oil 2 Tbsp. maple syrup 1 tsp. vanilla extract Pinch of salt NUT BUTTER LAYER ¾-1 cup favorite natural nut butter 3 Tbsp. maple syrup CHOCOLATE LAYER 7 oz. chocolate, chopped 2 Tbsp. coconut oil or coconut butter Flaky salt, to finish Instructions Line an 8” square dish with parchment paper for easy removal. Preheat the oven to 325’. In a food processor, combine the coconut flour, almond flour, oats, coconut oil, maple, vanilla and salt and pulse a few times to combine. Don’t overdo...
by Hilary Lindsay | Mar 21, 2020 | Social Commentary, society, therapeutic yoga, Yoga, Yoga Philosophy, yoga teacher, yoga teaching |
Two weeks ago if I asked what’s new with you, you would say, “I’ve been so busy.” Redundancy for our times: “Sorry I haven’t called. I’ve been covered up.” “You were on my list to call today!” ( Damn that’s cold. I’m a spot on the list to be remembered.) I too say, I’ve been thinking about you which I do instead of checking in. Maybe like me, you have nothing to say of importance, nothing is new, we would only complain or bore someone. So we just think of them. We’ve taken each other for granted. Worried over minutiae, Scrambled to organize time distracted by social media in between a bevy of offerings to do everything imaginable at all times. So much freedom, so much space, so much opportunity it’s impossible to find clear and present boundaries for humanness. Though I’ve prayed for the world to stay still long enough to get my breath all I do now is hold mine hoping no one I love loses theirs. The boundaries feel less like security than a noose. I am a happy recluse in the best of times. The best means I chose it. The best means I am self centered because all around me is secure with me being that way. I am making my way to a best of times mentality. A slow slog. Captivity is easier now than the intro to that. I wonder if that’s how the accused feel waiting for a trial that will surely result in incarceration. Scrambling like impaired ants to consider an uncertain future except the loss of choice and resources....
by Hilary Lindsay | Jun 26, 2018 | Healthy Living, medical yoga, Meditation, nashville yoga, Nature, Physiology, Pranayama, Social Commentary, society, therapeutic yoga, Tradition, Yoga, yoga class, Yoga Philosophy, Yoga psychology, yoga teacher, yoga teaching |
You are human and you think about the future. The future is a mystery that is scary. We are wired for danger. We are born for stress. It’s how we survived as a species. Now it seems to be killing some of us. People tell you to live in the moment. What does that mean? Of course you live in the moment. The moment is the life. You also consider the next moment. That way you have food. And a roof. Or at least a raincoat. You learned about that because of the past. There is so much to consider in a microwave life where every moment presents an opportunity to slide into sloth. I mean, you don’t consider consequences but live in the moment. A pint of ice cream and a bag of chips seemed like a good idea in that moment. So did the next drink or the trip home with a stranger. There is that too but is that what the new age pundits are recommending? Before you beat yourself up for succumbing to what seems the less enlightened version of be here now, consider that there is no such thing as the present because you are a compound of past present and future happening all at once always. You can’t live in just one of those things because they are not separate. What you can do is manage your reactions by observing them. Managing your reactions may result in better choices. It’s all about observation and ironically desire to be free of desire or a victim of your past. You are frustrated...
by Hilary Lindsay | Apr 18, 2018 | anatomy, Asana, Feldenkrais, Limbs of yoga, Meditation, nashville yoga, therapeutic yoga, Tradition, Yoga, yoga class, Yoga Philosophy, yoga teacher, yoga teaching |
I cleaned out an old desk and found this described in a flyer from a workshop I taught in 2008: Balancing Structure and Freedom The student moving from precise focused alignment to an exploration of the senses will come away with a deeper awareness of asana as the physical expression of yoga philosophy. The student will also be guided to freedom of movement within and without form to create form. The second part of that workshop presented a study in inductive v. deductive body reasoning which is why an Iyengar student back in the day described my classes as back door yoga. The pose is revealed as the parts come together. You might say, as the parts become organized as a whole. This is based on my experience of yoga. This is what a yoga teacher offers. It is not regurgitation of something before them. It is the expression of that information now digested by their unique digestive juices. My yoga developed during years of dual study in Iyengar and Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement. These practices do not involve opposing subtleties but they are opposing dynamics. They are taught independently in different worlds of somatics. That informed my teaching at a time few people were studying either. Now I see the online yoga world discovering the benefits of subtle movement . What felt unique to me is becoming “a thing”. That is a good thing. But when I wonder what I have left to offer any student that hasn’t been done before, when I become frustrated that I’ve said and done it all, I am...
