The Summertime PAUSE
So far my summer is pretty jam-packed with teaching, practicing yoga, making art cooking, traveling and staying hOMe to find the PAUSE— how about you?
Have you felt the heat and created some simple rituals to help you slow down and shift the way you feel and go about your day-to-day in the summertime? I have. I try to conjure up the feelings of endlessness of summer days like when I was a kid lying on the beach towel looking at the clouds floating by trying to pass time during adult swim at the town swim club. The adult swims in the BIG pool displaced us kids to have definitive PAUSE in swimming and diving time. We tried for a mad scramble to ice cream truck, volleyball courts or knock hockey tables. If all were taken we were sent back to our beach towels or lounge chairs to talk amongst ourselves on how we thought this time in nothingness was just not fair. Who knew then that the PAUSE is priceless!
If we weren’t forced out of the pool, to take a PAUSE in our summer day, I most certainly would have shriveled up like my " pruney " fingers and never have given myself a moment to breathe after eating my ice cream .
When we can hit pause, even for a moment, to return back to our awareness of our natural rhythm of our breath or train ourselves ton breathe slowly and deeply ,we can train ourselves to tap into the healing power of our parasympathetic nervous system – the system functions that help use relax . This is sometimes referred to as ” rest and digest mode.” It so often pays off in unexpected ways throughout our daily living with our emotions and mental states. We can use touchstones of awareness like breath techniques, mantras, mudras, relaxing poses and a shower for inviting ourselves back to ourselves even in a “crazy busy day” training the mind races to trot at a slower pace around our track of existence.
Just maybe the shoulder "schlump" over the laptop to get out the ” last email “ before lunch will be put on hold and your pause can create permission for you with a bigger PAUSE - the summertime PAUSE ….
The switch of pace to surrender into maybe some boredom of just being with your breath and sipping on a limeade or ice tea. Most of Europe does a summer pause for month of August – it’s expected to take holiday, family time, rest & relax time –in other words you cut yourself a break without a “vacation”. A "staycation" with yourself in the simple moments. Can you give yourself the moment to be in the space of letting go to just be in the PAUSE once during your day without multi tasking? The heat of summertime is a great time to slow down with the pulse of the earth… embrace the warmth to just be in a precious moment of sunrise or sunset or sunbathe with sunscreen on vacation. For me, this yoga practice is about cultivating awareness and deep listening to the pulse of myself in the moments of the pause – creating a connection to move forth with conscious action or release towards living a well balanced, honest life.
I invite you to take a PAUSE while I am on summer vacation Aug 6-Aug20 in the Adirondack mountains of New York where my family is blessed to have an opportunity to recharge with hiking, reading, creating art and just being in the pulse of the PAUSE. Keeping it simple and basically watching the leaves blow, the grass grow and Ausable River flow. The time I take on my Heartful Yoga Asana Beach towel on vacation gives me space to recharge so I can move into my own creative flow allowing myself to get inspired by nature with no tick tock of a clock --- just the beat of my heart .
I will not be teaching on ZOOM. While I am away AUG 6- Aug20 you are invited to purchase my previously recorded Slow Flow classes through Ascend.
If you are interested in trying out a FREE Chair Yoga, Center & Flow, or Align & Refine class - please email me below and I will send you a FREE LINK to check out one of my weekly zoom classes, so you can practice with me while I am away.
Amid everything, I hope you’re finding those important little moments of a PAUSE this August for yourself, too. Force yourself to take a summer break under a tree, on your towel or mat. I leave you with my two favorite summer time recipes from With A Measure of Grace
OM SHANTI
Dani
Rosemary Limeade
It’s sparky, quite delicious and a natural mixer for margaritas if you want it to be!
I use an old fashioned manual squeezer or you could juice the limes.
4 cups simply syrup
4 cups fresh squeezed lime juice- can use a juicer or be in the moment of squeezing a ton of limes as your practice
10 cups water
Stir it up and ice it down. Garnish with lime rounds and small sprigs of rosemary. Makes about a gallon
Simple syrup
4 cups water
3- 4 cups sugar depending on how tart you like it
2 stem fresh rosemary
Combine water and sugar in saucepan
Bring to boil, stirring as sugar dissolves. Boil undisturbed and uncovered for 10 mins. Remove from heat, add rosemary and let
mixture steep, covered for an hour before you remove stem and strain out any floating leaves.
Arugula Pesto
During summertime this green can be found in abundance in farmers markets and supermarkets. Feel free to mix a variety of spikey greens you have on hand so that your Basil Pesto repertoire is expanded. This can be freezing in an airtight container so you have it available for an emergency pasta or pizza or dipping sauce.
½ lb. arugula (for milder flavor use half spinach)
1 ½ tbs salt
1 tbs brown sugar or agave
1 tbs red wine vinegar
4 red peppers roasted (skins peeled or buy Italian roasted red peppers in a jar)
1-cup walnuts or pinoli nuts (toasted)
1-cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds) (toasted)
3 cloves (roasted garlic or not –optional)
1cup EVO olive oil
½ lemon squeezed juice
Blend everything in food processor. Stop and scrap sides and process again. Can be frozen in ice cube trays and popped out when needed for pizza topper or pasta sauce - I recommend pasta with lines to hold the pesto – the more the merrier!
