Intro to Meditation

motheringMother™ founder, Sydney, discusses clearing your mind and focusing on the deep breathing exercise, Nadi Sudhi in this intro to meditation video

mothering Mother in Daily Life Green Living Bites ~ Cambridge, MA began issuing parking tickets with yoga poses on them. "Citation Salutations" encourage destressing through yoga after receiving the violation. ~30 million plastic lined coffee cups are thrown into the garbage everyday in the US alone. Some shops will give a discount if you bring your own mug! Check out this mug that even has an insert to brew your own loose-leaf tea ~ The process of recycling paper employs more people than making new paper! Not to mention, recycled paper is made using 40% less energy than non-recycled paper. Quick Links About Us Recipes Join Our List The mothering Mother newsletter seeks to address how integral food and its connection with the Earth is to our everyday lives. Eating healthy foods is easy if you buy healthy and natural ingredients. Get familiar with your produce and bulk bags. You do so much for others, now do something for yourself. Buy fresh produce, fresh seeds and nuts, and follow the recipe below to good and natural eating. Can we eat our way out of the environmental challenges? One thoughtful meal at a time. See the continued "Eating Our Way Out" article at the bottom of this newsletter. Share your joy for the world by using cotton mothering Mother bags and sharing your home cooked foods with others. Namaste Sydney mothering Mother Blog For even more wholesome food for thought, presenting the mothering Mother blog! Check it out! Bulk Shopping 101: minimize your packaged purchases Joanna Falcone mothering Mother Student McGill University We at mothering Mother have established a list of ways to minimize the amount of packaging in your grocery cart and in your garbage bin. Grocery shopping with your own packaging can be like a game, a personal challenge each time you shop. How can I reduce the amount of garbage that is needlessly created? Even recycling uses energy, so keep in mind the 3 R's - reduce first, reuse next, then recycle. Consult with the list below and check into your own creativity! Just wanting to reduce waste is enough to get the wheels of new habits in motion. Depending on the season a stroll through the produce aisles can begin the menu planning for several meals. A mixture of root vegetables and fresh green vegetables give the promise of warm and hearty soups and stews, coupled with beans from the bulk section. Gazing at the selection in the bulk area can inspire me to create meals from a vast variety of natural grains, beans, seeds and nuts. The dessert options unfurl with the sight of flours, sugar, nut butters, honey, chipits, coconut and dried fruits. Bring your own reusables for take out at lunchtime, at the office (keep a container in your desk and wash after use), or for restaurant leftovers. Although you may catch a glance or glare from others around you, know that everything in our world was new at one time, and coming equipped with containers will one day be as commonplace as bringing your own tote to the grocery store. Who is going to take the brave first steps of change that are needed in our world?! We all know that there is tremendous waste around us. "No one can do everything, but everyone can do something! " (weaddup.com) Don't wait for the person next to you to lead the way. Be the change agent of today! That person is waiting for your crazy habits to become acceptable. Print the list below and post it as a reminder. Go ahead, get inspired, get crazy and minimize! * For more information on how to store bulk food items at home visit the mothering Mother blog! (See Wednesday, January 18th post) * To print: Drag image to your desktop, double click to open as an image file and resize for a perfect addition to your fridge! Peanut Butter Powerhouses These treats offer a selection of nutrients to restore the body following an aerobic workout, and they offer a wholesome replacement for sweets. The peanuts (legumes) and grain in the cereal combine for a complete protein. The honey enhances glycogen restoring following a workout, and the chipits round out the taste experience! ½ cup all natural peanut butter 1 T honey 2 T chipits, lightly chopped ¼ cup crunchy breakfast cereal, lightly crushed * ¼ cup raw peanuts, lightly roasted and chopped Coconut for rolling Combine the ingredients by hand. Once everything is thoroughly mixed together, using a spoon, form into balls. Then roll each ball in the coconut so that it is completely covered. Serve and enjoy! The coconut helps to keep the peanut butter from drying out and reduces the oil on the fingers when eating. The chopping of the chipits, cereal and peanuts reduces the size of these chunks so that the peanut butter is not dropping out while eating. It also give a more even distribution of the flavors and textures. Makes approximately 8 balls Reusable opportunities for this recipe: Peanut Butter and Honey purchased in bulk with a jar from home Chipits, cereal (granola), peanuts and coconut purchased in bulk with a Mini Sealed Bulk mothering Mother Bag * The idea of the cereal is to give the treats some crunch. Any crunchy cereal will work, even homemade granola! AEating Our Way Out (Part 9) Sydney MacInnis Founder mothering Mother Holistic Nutritionist and Yoga Instructor It is the New Year and the resolutions have been made and you and I are on a positive journey this month! There is a good chance that one of the personal resolutions is around eating/food, or exercise. This is the month that retail sales are down but fitness clubs and diet centers have a surge in sales and activity. Resolutions are often created in an effort to rebalance some aspect of our life that has fallen out of balance. According to Ayurveda, the ancient Science of Life that developed in India 5000 years ago, all aspects of our life require an awareness of and an attention to balance. Awareness and Attention.Balance. When something in my life feels out of balance it usually takes time for the situation to come to my attention. At first I will attribute it to circumstances around me, in an attempt to see if it goes away. Eventually, I cannot avoid the reality that I have to attend to it. I have to crawl within to see the situation. The practice of meditation offers conscious and uninterrupted quietude, it allows the body to calm, and it offers a safe space to explore the Darkness. My ignorance of the situation is the Darkness. Although the body is still, the mind wants to continue spinning through life at an incredible pace. We are all wired with a racing mind. Yogic breathing has the ability to start the calming of the mind. The mind and the breath are connected. In the quiet space, begin the rhythmic breathing of 5-6 counts on the exhale and 5-6 counts on the inhale. It only takes a few of these breaths to begin to feel the effects. When we are in a safe and comfortable physical place and mental space we can start to look honestly and openly at the Darkness that has sent us out of balance. "May the Light of Truth overcome all Darkness." The Light begins to shine as we openly and honestly look at what is lurking in that Darkness. This is about awakening ourselves. Take Awareness and Attention to your Intentions. It is with Awareness that we are able to seek the Truth, it is with Attention and Intention that we are able to transcend the habits that have formed in our life until now, and replace them with a way of Life that is sourced from our Being. Happy New Year, Happy New You! Much Light, Much Peace. Namaste

Banana Loaf - Free of Eggs & Dairy - Full of Delicious Flavor!

Since the thermostat in the oven at our new home is quite unreliable, the baking of cookies is a hit and miss situation. Thankfully the baking of sweet breads works well. For those of you who are enjoying the Pumpkin Cranberry Recipe (see blog post), you may love this recipe also. The mixing of fruit, nuts, dried fruit, unrefined sweeteners, and oil creates a moistness that keeps away the temptation or need for butter on a slice of bread.

This is a solid loaf! I was in a store today and noticed that they were selling prepared banana bread. The loaf weighed a fraction of this loaf! Made with real bananas, this loaf is best when the flavor is given several hours to develop after baking. So, although the temptation is there to take a slice shortly after it comes out of the oven, develop a discipline of the senses and let the loaf sit for a good 6 hours. Then you will enjoy the rewards of your patience and may want to share the flavors with family and friends around you.

Ripe bananas can be stored in the freezer until you are ready to use them. For this recipe you will need at least 4 good sized bananas. Take them out of the freezer and let them thaw in a bowl. When you are ready to bake just slit one end of the banana, squeeze at the unopened end and the whole thing will slide out. The bananas can then be mashed easily with a fork.


Banana Loaf

1 1/2 cups banana puree (4-5 large bananas approximately)
1/2 cup safflower oil
3/4 cup sucanat sugar
2 T Turbinado sugar
1 t vanilla
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup white flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t cinnamon
1/4 t salt
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (pecans would be equally delicious)
1/4 cup raisins

Combine the banana puree, safflower oil, sugars and vanilla in a large glass bowl. Whisk by hand (with a fork or hand whisk) to combine the ingredients. Add the walnuts and raisins. Stir again. Then gently fold in the combined dry ingredients of flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. This entire recipe can be done by hand. Use a large spoon or a rubber spatula. Do not use a mixer to combine. Pour into a lightly buttered loaf pan, smooth the top of the loaf with a knife. Bake at 350F for 45 minutes. Cover the loaf lightly and continue to bake for another 15-30 minutes. Loaf is baked when a skewer or knife inserted into the loaf comes out clean. Cool in the baking pan for 5 minutes before removing from the pan. Cool on a wire rack for hours. Once completely cooled seal in a covered container, preferably glass. Enjoy!

Shanthi

Storage of Bulk Items

Although it is wonderful to purchase bulk foods using the reusable mothering Mother Sealed Bulk Bags, it is not ideal to store food in the bags for several reasons. The bags are porous, making your food open to the air of your home. To keep the food fresh and free of uninvited guests (bugs, rodents), store everything in glass jars. So, when you arrive home with your food, start to carefully pour your items into jars. Only open part of the top of the Sealed Bulk Bag to keep the items from spilling out (see photo here). Also, storing your bulk food in jars frees up your bulk bags for future grocery outings.

Store semi perishable food in the refrigerator if you might not eat it quickly. In particular this would pertains to nuts and seeds, which can become rancid as the oils destabilize over time. Implement portion control when you are shopping. The Mini Bulk Bags, when filled, will fill a 2 cup jar. More frequent purchasing is better ideal than buying large quantities to last for months.

The bags are to be washed after each use. To do this turn the bag completely inside out, and readhere the opening to itself so that it does not attach to your clothing in the washing machine. Wash in cold water, and always hang to dry. The heat of the dryer damages the seal on the bag and will greatly reduce the life expectancy of the bag.

Have lots of fun experimenting with the many ways in which you can use the bags to replace a disposable. Delight and take joy in the pleasure of knowing that you can walk on this Earth with a lighter step!

Shanthi

Mothering the Mother's Worry

This past weekend our son left for Southeast Asia to travel for 6 weeks on his own before attending a term of college in China. A whirl of emotions have filled the last few days!

As the departure date crept closer the list of "things to do" grew longer! Dental visits, eyes checked and glasses purchased, a visa for China - all squeezed in amongst lengthy hang out times with friends. The day before departure we are calling the doctor for malaria pills. He is recommending shots also.

The morning of departure, after a sleep in, malaria pills are difficult to find, the flight is earlier than remembered, panic is in the air as everyone is rushing to pull this lengthy trip together and make the flight. Out the door to the airport, breaking speed limits to get there.

Once checked in we discover that the travel guidebook is back at home, along with a few other travel items. There is no time to go back. We say goodbye outside the airport, a hug, a kiss, lighthearted elation that he will make the flight and depart soon. And then in a moment... he is gone.

I return home to an empty house. I take a few minutes to clean up from Christmas, and then I am there, in his room, with the laptop still on on his bed. And a flood of emotion waves over me. I am weeping, he was here and now he is gone. Where has he gone? I have no idea, and actually neither does he, because he did not organize any accommodations.

I am now abundantly aware of his flight schedule, and when he will be arriving at his final destination. My wandering imagination starts to take hold of me and in a flash I am worrying. The next morning I take these thoughts and feelings to the meditation mat. I am aware that I could lose days of my life, lost in thoughts of possibilities, until I hear from him. Yes, nadi sudhi, the breathing practice! On an inhale let me bring in the beauty of the world, on an exhale let me release these thoughts and tension.

By the evening I start to submit to the worry again, and opt for a quiet easeful bedtime. I open the bedside book of spiritual readings and start to read the message for the day. It was around serving and purpose. How useful can I be when my mind is preoccupied? How will this worrying make my life better, make our son's life better, make the world better? Yes, the Swami knew the words to give to me, and I slept peacefully.

The first email arrived in the morning. He was well, he had met some fellow travelers, he was excited to go scuba diving. Oh, thank you yoga breathing and meditation and wisdom for carrying me through this. I celebrated by weeping.

Thank you for showing me my own humanity, and for providing me with techniques and an understanding to transcend this humanity and to go to that place of Peace, of Spirit, of Faith. My heart feels expanded with a love for the spectrum of emotions and the responses they can elicit, and for the beauty of Life.

Shanthi Shanthi