Yogalaurent

Smile !!! ( by Conquer clothing)

My acupuncturist, Sophie, is the one who introduced me to the benefit of Sage other than the culinary use of flavouring the stuffing or the sauces for pork and poultry… she burn it in her room where she receive her patients… Greeks used to call it the herb of gods, wisdom and strentgh… Romans, Charlemagne and monks during the middle age used Sage for increasing women’s fertility, warding off evil, local anesthetic and curing many, many other ailments… well, you believe what you like but my first impression was of a sharp, clean, fresh smell. It reminded me of lavender, mint, basil, rosemary and thyme, smells that which remind me my native Provence. But Sage had something less obvious, more subtle, cleaner and more uplifting.. I absolutely loved it and rushed in my gardens to plant my own crop! It is now time to harvest it. This summer has been precoce with all fruits, flowers and plants. We need to do in July what we normally do in September, weird seasons! I decided to cut the tips of the Sage, leaving baby leafs behind for a later growth and crop. You can use it fresh and bag it in plastic bags and freeze them, ready for your christmas stuffing or your apple and onions sauces. Myself, I left it in a bowl to dry outside under the hot summer sun. When dry, I will store it in a dry container and will burn a few dry shoots in a cup before my Yoga meditation or practice to clean the air of the room… try it and enjoy it!!

.Take your time and let go of ambition

.The posture will emerge as tensions and imbalances clear from the body

.There is no need to “muscle”

.Find the roots of the posture in relation to the ground (feet, sitz bones, hands, knees, forearms, upper arms, shoulders, spine, pelvis, etc.—whichever part of the body connects with the earth)

.Keep the body soft as you drop into your “anchoring”—the body part that touches the earth

.Always give attention to alignment by beginning from the ground up

.During your inhalation be passive (remain still)—then move on the exhalation

.Once stabilized and secure in your posture, watch for the exhalations to begin to triggerripples of release in the spine

.Sense the dropping action of the sacrum, which precedes the multi-stage releasing of spinal curves, and which occurs at the end of each exhalation

.As the sacrum, lumbar and pelvis release, let the exhaled breath release you from the waist up

.The resulting wave will clear the upper spine and neck of tension and imbalance

.Spontaneous, dynamic movement may surprise you! It brings life to the pose

.Wait until you can do the pose well in this method before deepening it or practicing a more challenging variation

.Once you are grounded, postures evolve through awareness of the rhythm of the breath and the lengthening of the spine

.“scooping” the pelvis while standing is helps with discovering the sense of a wave of release

.Long natural curves in the spine are desirable as balancers of front / back weight distribution

.Flat-backed students benefit; as the deep pelvic tensions release, a curve grows

.Know that while you are in transition from a more “muscle-dependent” style of practice, your muscular corset begins to change and you are temporarily more vulnerable to injury

.When you are ready, there is no fear, and the posture arrives easily

.Have “infinite time-and no ambition”

.”Do not kill the instinct of the body for the glory of the pose.”

~ Vanda Scaravelli

Today in Ridley market Dalston, I discovered a fruit called Soursop or Hanuman fal. It is believed that Lord Ram and his disciple Hanuman consumed this fruit on their way to Sri Lanka. Ugly fruit but so the flavour is out of this world! a bit like a passion fruit, a paw paw and a pineapple.. find it and make yourself a chilled milkshake full of vitamine B.   In a blender:
1 pound sour sop peeled, seeded & sliced
1.5 cups milk
5 tablespoon sugar (add more or less to taste)
1 cup crushed ice
1 squeezed lime (optional)
Enjoy.. perfect after yoga practice!!