The Real Eat, Pray, Love

I devoured the book Eat, Pray, Love. The movie, "Eat, Pray, Love" was tough to swallow. I read the book about six months ago towards the end of challenging phase of my life. Like the author, Elizabeth Gilbert, I had gone through a divorce, not nearly as painful as hers, but like her Brazilian love interest (played by the beautiful Javier Bardem) says, "hearts were broken, so it is the same". I felt like the movie didn't measure up to Gilbert's real life story. So for anyone who goes to see the movie, I highly recommend reading the book in addition. This woman is considered one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine, and the movie felt like I was watching Julia Roberts on vacation. I'm a big fan of Julia Roberts, so I don't blame her. It's nearly impossible to reinvent Gilbert's adventure and recapture those precious moments of her real life.

A few months ago,I traveled to Virginia to hear an interview with Gilbert. Her interview brought together women (and some men) of all ages, races, religions, socio-economic backgrounds and more. I was amazed and surprised at how many amazing women I met that night- writers, business women, dancers, actors, stay-at-home moms, who were brought together because they were not only inspired, but life-changed by Gilbert. I overheard one woman who walked up to Gilbert crying, mumbling details of failed marriages and painful divorces. And Gilbert embraced this woman like she was comforting her sister, so personal and heartfelt. One woman even admired her necklace and Gilbert responded, " It's yours". She then took off her necklace and gave it to this woman she barely knew. This is the Gilbert I met, the person I read about, not Hollywood's version. So if you want to get the true Gilbert, find out where she speaks next, google her, watch her Ted talk http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html. This woman is brilliant, confident, and continues to inspire many....This is the real Eat, Pray, Love.

Yoga Helps

I just wanted to get a quick list of things that yoga has personally helped me with over the last year and a half.

Yoga helps my:

1. Balance/flexibility

2. Muscular endurance- it’s much different than doing a bunch of squats or testing your one-rep max

3. Stress levels (not just yoga-meditation has helped with this too)

4. Competitive nature- still like to compete, I don’t feel I need to in yoga. Most of these competitive battles are between myself and I, not others. Mom used to always say, “You are your own worst enemy.”

5. Focus- I feel more present in real life situations. My mind doesn’t drift as much.

6. Emotional state- less frustrated about things I can’t control like my outstanding healthcare bill that for some reason still hasn’t been processed and it’s been over one year. UGH!

7. Anxiety- Over the past year I’ve been in and out of the Emergency Room for panic attacks or anxiety attacks that caused faint spells in random places across the city (very scary). I haven’t had one in the last six months. So I’m pretty sure I can attribute this change to yoga since the beginning of the year I’ve been committed to the practice

8. Skin- I just picked this one up. Nadya Andreeva posted something about it facebook. Apparently the inversions such as handstands, headstands, forearm stands, sun salutations help clear up your skin. Check out article here http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Yoga-for-good-glowing-skin/articleshow/6212508.cms .

9. Lifestyle- It’s definitely changed my perspective. I think of yoga as something my body needs like breakfast or brushing my teeth. It’s not something I squeeze in anymore.

10. Spirit- It helps in a similar way dance has helped me. It has made me a much happier person in general especially during a turbulent time within the last couple of years in ways that therapy could never have helped.

The list can go on and on, but these are just a few ways yoga has affected my life.

Yoga Tunes

Picking music can be a little tricky especially since you have a class with varied musical interests and it’s not a dance class. I tried to choose music that represents my style and that everyone else could relate to. Check out my Yoga playlist:

1. Let Go – Frou Frou
2. Mausam Escape- AR Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire)
3. Lebanese Blonde- Thievery Corporation
4. To Zion- Lauryn Hill
5. Paper Planes- M.I.A.
6. Track 7- I have no idea what this song is or who the artist is. It’s a mystery song that ended up on my computer.
7. Digital Love- Daft Punk
8. You Rock My World- Michael Jackson
9. The Way You Make Me Feel- Michael Jackson
10. Man in the Mirror- Michael Jackson
11. How Come You Don’t Call Me Anymore- Prince
12. Breathe Me- Sia
13. In the Waiting Line- Zero 7
14. Pachad- Yael Naim

I’m a big fan of the Garden State Soundtrack, which is where I first heard “Let Go”, “Lebanese Blonde”, and “In the Waiting Line”. It’s very chill and easy listening soundtrack. I also love Miss Lauryn Hill. I’ve been waiting for over 10 years now for her next album and still nothing. She’s an amazing talent- singer, song-writer, rapper, and actress. Hip-hop dance is what introduced me to Daft Punk. They’re actually considered house music with tehno beats, but in a less annoying techno way. It doesn’t make your head hurt. A few days ago, I watched the Michael Jackson documentary “This is it” movie, which inspired me to include MJ. His music was such a big part of my childhood and learning how to dance. The perfect complement to MJ is Prince of course. Both are so different, yet with similar influence. I used to be a part of the fan club. A couple years ago, I went to his one week tour in Paisley Park (Minnesota) with all of his crazy die-hard fans. The man is beautiful and wears high heels, yet still very masculine. Sadly he didn’t play anything from Purple Rain soundtrack because of his new religion (Jehovah’s Witness), but he lit that stage on fire playing all of his other major hits.

I ended in Savasana with one of my favorite new artists from Israel, Yael Naim. She sings in French, Hebrew, and English. I chose this song because it helps me relax and chill. I have no idea what she’s saying because it’s in Hebrew, but whatever it is, every part of this song speaks my language.

One Unlucky Experience

After yoga class the other day, I decided to eat healthier than normal. For me this means avoid the Baked by Melissa cupcakes, Mr. Softie truck, or savory crepes and opt for a much healthier options. So I decided to go to a raw and organic eco-happy take-out spot near Union Square. As much as I want to be a part of this whole raw/organic revolution, I was so disappointed with my entire experience from start to finish, that it really turned me off. You know how it is when you go to a restaurant you have a bad experience; it makes you never want to go back and tell you friends to never eat there.

Without mentioning the name,I really wanted to like this restaurant. The décor was sort of bohemian with hippiesh-crunchy, granola, tatted up employees who seemed eager to talk about their organic t-shirt collection. I ordered Thai lettuce wraps and some sort of re-energizing juice spritzer. I ended up waiting about 15 minutes before the cashier yelled to the kitchen asking to make sure they’re actually making the food this time as there were 2 other customers semi- impatiently waiting for their food. This is never a good sign. Make sure they’re making the food this time? We all fiddled around with our respective IPhones and Blackberrys to pass the time as we eagerly waited for our late lunches on this very glooming rainy New York summery day. I sat and checked my email as I wanted to savor every last bit of my $7 juice. The bags of take-out trickled in one by one, my food coming last about 30 minutes later! My $20 lunch that was RAW, took 45 minutes to make. And honestly the food was not worth the wait. Of my 3 wraps, I ate about half. The cashier, who seemed more like a manager, was very apologetic saying that the kitchen staff forgets to make the food sometimes. For a restaurant that’s so highly rated and considered innovative for being a premier organic/raw restaurant in New York, how can the kitchen staff forget to make the food? What are they doing back there?

Thinking that my overpriced lunched pretty much sucked, I thought I might make it up by getting a decadent somewhat healthy dessert. I overheard a customer order a moonpie, which looked like a dark chocolate covered brownie with vanilla cream in the middle. This looked like my kind of treat. I’d get 2, one for now, one for tomorrow. To my surprise my two little brownies cost $20!! Are you serious? The manager went on to explain that they’re really difficult to make, lengthy cooking process, etc. Nooo no no, I’ll get one then and even that was a lot for me. After my first bite, I couldn’t hold it down. Waaaaay too sweet. I needed water or soy milk to get rid of this bitter after-taste. I should’ve gone with Pink Berry or Red Mango.

This was takeout, not a sit-down restaurant. Where was I? I thought I was doing a good thing for myself by eating healthy, but instead I got bad service and overpriced bad food! I left feeling dehydrated, robbed, and still hungry. This whole industry needs to be re-worked. It’s one thing if you’re going to charge a lot for food that isnt’ cooked. The supply/demand thing I get, but at least give your customers a good experience so they feel like they’re getting their money’s worth. I won’t eat there again, but I’m still willing to try other options. If anyone has other options here in NYC, let me know. I won’t give up just yet. This was just One Unlucky Experience…..

Being black. Taking yoga. Not Mutually Exculsive!

Does practicing yoga force you to turn in your Black card? Why are there so few of us at yoga studios? Maybe we’re at home doing yoga by watching a free online class. Yeah right! As much as I want to believe that, I don’t think so. I’m not attempting to answer either of those questions. It feels like we’re just barely scratching the surface of this whole Yoga revolution. I think I can count on one hand the number of Black people I know who actually practice yoga regularly. And now my new yoga friend Hadji, from Strala teacher training, has increased my count by one. In general, I think I’m used to being the “token” black person in different social settings, so it really doesn’t bother me at all. It’s just something I’ve picked up on the more yoga classes I take.

I love seeing people like Russell Simmons, who believe that yoga can be life-changing. He’s been a regular yogi for years now. And everybody knows Russell Simmons, creator of Phat Farm and Baby Phat clothing and other major empires. He could easily be considered a Black Donald Trump next to Puffy of course. The man is worth millions. He can also afford to take as many yoga classes as he wants! The average cost of a yoga class is around $12 and as much as $18 in big cities like NYC or L.A. And some locations even do yoga by donation, which can also make sense because then you give what you can afford on that day. If gyms like Planet Fitness can open up and charge as little as $10 a month, then yoga has some competing to do. Some wonder why they would pay money to sit and stretch for an hour. This is definitely yoga misunderstood .

I hate to make broad generalizations about a race, but we can tend to be a bit conservative. So taking part in something like yoga isn’t the first thing to come to mind. Or maybe for black men in particular (or maybe it’s just men), it’s a fear of taking away some part of their masculinity. I mean how easy is it for a man to tell his workout partner that he can’t lift today because he’s off to yoga class? He’d get laughed out the gym. I know it sounds silly, but it takes a strong, confident man, to embrace his yoga-ness. I’m always excited to see a black yogi wherever I go take class. It’s like “Oh wow…another one, how’d you get here?.” I’d imagine it’s similar when a guy sees another guy taking class. It’s like running into someone from your hometown when you’re vacationing in Italy. You’re surprised to see each other, and you realize what brought you to your adventure was that you both wanted to experience Rome and eat good Pasta!

Being black. Taking yoga. Not mutually exclusive. I still have my black card.

Surf please!

I’m currently on my 2nd month of being a Pescatarian. I decided to make the switch for moral, health, and environmental reasons. Though I think I’m being moral, my decision still involves the death of innocent sea creatures. So I guess I’m now a pescatarian with a guilty conscience. So far I’ve felt good with my decision and haven’t tried to force this agenda on any friends as it really is a personal decision. I am slightly anemic so it took about a week for my body to get used to the idea, and now I feel normal. It isn’t quite like the feeling of weaning yourself off coffee or getting a caffeine headache. I thought I would feel weak and hungry all the time, but I’m strangely less hungry than I was before. I realize how much my body didn’t really need the meat in the first place.

Growing up in the midwest, I strangely did NOT eat a lot of red meat. My parents cooked stakes, but I always turned my nose up at it as I never could get used to the texture. I always just ate the surf part of surf n' turf. I did, however, enjoy my cheeseburger with ketchup only and a small fries and McD’s. Poultry was an everyday thing in our house. And Pork was a once or twice a week thing. Seafood was a special treat. Having fish or better yet crab cakes (mom makes the best) was typically on a special occasion. So having recently made the switch to just eating seafood, I feel like I’m treating myself in a way. Eating seafood isn’t an everyday thing for me, I’ll probably eat it 2-3 times per week, and the rest of the time I’m eating Tofu. I love love love tofu, especially when it’s not too mushy! I eat eggs too, but not milk. I’m lactose intolerant, so my stomach can’t really digest the milk properly. As a side-note, let me also say I am an extremely finicky eater. If it doesn’t taste good, I won’t eat it plain and simple. Things that fit into this category for me are mayonnaise, cream cheese, cottage cheese, and Almond milk- yuck!

Given the decision to slightly change my diet, I definitely don’t want to be inconvenient to everyone else. I haven’t made any major announcements about this change; it’s only been mentioned as a side-note. Over the 4th of July, my friends made curry beef with sticky rice, and I had to ask if they could make mine without the beef. I felt like I was being difficult, but since they were are friends they understood. It reminds me of a scene in “My big fat Greek Wedding” when one of the family members asks “What you mean he don’t eat no meat?!! That’s ok, I make Lamb!” I recently let my parents know so they wouldn’t think I was trying to starve myself by not eating turkey burgers, ham, steaks, etc. Not sounding at all surprised, my mom’s reaction, “ Soooo how is it any different than the way you were eating before?” And my response, “I’ll eat everything at Thanksgiving except the Turkey and Ham.”

P.S. If anyone has any good recipes for tofu, please send my way! It isn’t always the easiest thing to make.

Child’s Pose is this Wildchild’s Imbalance

It’s often known as one of the most comfortable and restorative poses in yoga, however for me it’s always been tough. I’m used to pushing my body within its reasonable limits, but the child’s pose represents a different type of limit. It teaches me things about myself. I can register the imbalances within my body as a result. It can easily be considered a resting pose, but I feel anything but restful. It can be regenerative, but for me I’d almost rather do a plank for 5 minutes.

Why is this? When I was 13 years old, I tore my ACL in my right knee and have all the fun scars to prove it. It was a freak accident during gymnastics practice. Doing a back –layout on floor I started to over -rotate and twist causing my knee to pop. Since then, my knee has been at about 80-90% of what it was and slowly degenerating over the years. Since then, I’ve had 2 corrective surgeries. But please don’t feel bad for this knee! This knee has run 2 marathons and competed in 2 junior Olympics for Triple Jump. It’s had a great career and wants more every day. This knee could run 5 more marathons if it wanted to, but this knee does not like Child’s pose. Without hyperextension of the knee and complete bending range of motion , it makes it nearly impossible to sit on my heels. I feel tightness in my hips and in the back of my knee and sometimes even lower back. It can often be frustrating because I’ll be having such a great class and then Child’s pose….argh!!

As I dive further into yoga, I recognize and register these minor imbalances I have throughout each practice and even when I’m not practicing yoga. I continue to acknowledge and challenge myself every day to correct these imbalances and more importantly not judge it or let it get the best of me! It’s not just child’s pose, I feel the same thing with Pigeon pose (worse because it’s done on each leg).Child’s Pose is my constant reminder that these imbalances are natural, and that they exist to teach us something. And if I’m having a hard time with it, then my body really needs it. Plus I’m not going to grow in my practice if I only focus my energy on getter better at the poses I can already do well. My conditioned reflex for child’s pose is “Not this again, how about downward dog instead”? In gymnastics, it was the dreaded balance beam. In Soccer, it was shooting with the opposite leg (bad leg). In track, it was running the polo fields and hills at Iwo Jima (yep the famous DC Memorial has a healthy sized hill) every Tuesday and Thursday. And I can think of soooo many different real life imbalances. I notice that once I start settling into the pose, however, or those dreaded workouts or real life situations, it’s really not that bad. It's been over-hyped in my mind and in the end it’s what my body or mind really needed. The Child’s Pose isn’t going anywhere, just settle in and breathe and let it sink in without hype or judgement.