I realized this during last years’ relay; the grownup yoga is fun, but doing the little raps and songs and jumping around in the kids’ yoga series is GREAT.

I was lucky that I got exposed to yoga by my mom at a very young age [in utero if I understand correctly] and even had time to savagely turn on it as an adolescent before I finally got smart. I was dancing as a kid [from about age 3 to age 17] and while I certainly enjoyed myself I was pretty awkward, and then eventually got a bit too…substantial…to professionally dance, at the point when being able to do things professionally suddenly becomes relevant.

So my only real body awareness at that time came from having to look a certain way from the outside. [Which, what adolescent girl doesn't need a little bit MORE of that in their lives, right?] The idea that in yoga, the postures were generated from the inside, because of the way they felt, didn’t make itself fully understood to me until I moved to Vancouver 6.5 years ago. I’m sure my teachers mentioned this most central tenet of practice but I just couldn’t fathom it; I was still trying to “deliver the goods” in yoga class.

It’s pretty heartwarming to see yogic youngsters telling a room full of adults what compassion or patience means to them. Those little ones have the jump on the rest of us; they are starting to collect all the tools they will need to build a better world.

The whole event was beautifully set up, with different rooms veiled with tall translucent scrims and themes of Water [for sleeping] and Fire [for chatting, and for watching the Unofficial Video Sponsor of the Yoga4Kidz Society Relay: “Planet Earth”. That blue bird-of-paradise can cause quite the giggling fit in the chakra-flattening early morning, I hear] and The Tent with the Cookies [for cookies, also other foodstuffs, also a giant portable waterbottle with a urinarily intense sounding faucet, also the Silent Auction]. The actual yoga classes were held in front of the stage and that space became 1. energetically charged 2. a bit ripe in short order.

What I’ve taken away from my experience at the Relay is how much it pleases me, as a teacher, to see students open and dedicated to ALL forms and styles. In many cases I had the little mental battles that “experienced” yogis have with themselves: “why are we doing it this way? that’s not good for people with hypermobile sacroiliac joints. feet together? gaaaaaah” &c. All that debate really tells me is that being “experienced” doesn’t actually make you more experienced, if you know what I mean. I did everything I was asked, as a sort of openness meditation, and got to enjoy the offerings of many many different techniques and languaging over my practice period.

Periodically I’d look up and see some students and/or my team, digging on whatever they were doing, with the little almost-invisible smiles of people who are totally immersed in their inner world. I’ve been in, and taught, many yoga classes where students are just doing their own thing, and while I have no particular desire to remove that choice and that autonomy from them, I think what can be upsetting about that is that they are missing out…they are missing the experience of openness, of solidarity with their classmates, of experimentation if they are used to something else. Of course specific conditions or bodies may need variations and solutions, and I’m not really the kind of cat who naturally breaks out in a rash when they see mats out of alignment [although placement is important, I don't have the natural congenital allergy to it that some yogis do].

But so many of the teachers this weekend were just pouring their heart out, volunteering their time and energy to support this excellent cause, and when that is reciprocated by an openness and receptivity in class…well, then you’re cooking with gas. Feet together or feet apart? Back foot turned in, or parallel to the back of the mat? Spine straight, or backbend? Fingertips to the floor or to the ankle/shin? Do your yoga: take a breath, soften, LISTEN. What is being asked of you in this moment? Are you receptive to it? What does it feel like? Is it different than usual, and what is your response to that? And then making choices with full awareness and discrimination.

It turns out you can do pretty much every different form under the sun over a 24 hour period, and the only thing that will happen to you is that your eyes will have a glow from inside with the knowledge that you’ve done a wonderful thing.

Doowutchyalike.

Thanks to Dusty Groove America

This makes a MASSIVE, simply massive amount of borscht†, ‡. The good news is that it will keep very well as it is vegan [if you omit sour cream] and that it will nourish you and everybody you bring a jar to [at the office or similar]. The other option is, of course, to fire up your calculator and create a partial batch. You might ask, Sjanz, why have you created such a huge amount of borscht for this recipe? The answer is that it’s all gauged around one head of cabbage, because I find that if I use a partial head it goes all sad and limp and stinky in the fridge. YMMV!!

†A note on this borscht: Ideally, you’ll want the food processor for this. Roots are hard to cut, and you need relatively small bits to render down properly. I have made borscht in the past by hand, and it always comes out a bit like Klingon food, probably because I get a little hasty. So if you have a food processor, get the grating attachment out, and a big side bowl to put your grated goods in, since most civilian food processors will need to grate this much in 3 batches.

‡And yet another note on this borscht: You can easily make it up with loose beets, freed of their greens. However, if be-greened beets are available, local and organic if possible, that’s how I roll; at the bottom of this recipe is what I like to do with the greens.

All right, no more notes. Here we go.

You will need:

2 bunches red beets

1 bunch golden beets

2 stalks celery

M made this look all old-timey with his Gimp-Fu; I like it

1 large carrot

1 russet potato

1 cooking onion

2 cloves garlic

1 “thumb’s” worth of ginger root

1 head white cabbage

Half a bunch of fresh dill

4 boullion cubes [onion or beef]

4 or 5 squirts of Bragg’s, to taste

4 tbsp olive oil

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

The juice of one lemon OR 1 tbsp lemon juice [I like the Santa Cruz organic]

2 tsp dried dill

½ tsp dried thyme

Top and tail the beets, and peel them. Cut the cabbage into quarters, core each quarter and cut the cored quarters into “food processor” sized chunks. Ditto the potatoes. Top and tail the carrots and celery. Cut the bottoms of the dill. Cut the onions into “food processor” sized chunks and peel the garlic and ginger. Got it? Good.

You can now proceed to julienne and finely dice almost everything, which should take you until 2012 or so. Or feed the onion, garlic, ginger, celery and carrot into the fp, in that order. Put in a bowl, set aside. Then feed the dill and beets. Set aside. THEN the potato and cabbage.

In a big ole soup pot, heat the olive oil on medium high heat. Add the onion &c., as a sort of gingery mirepoix. Add the dried herbs and salt and pepper. Stir until excess water has evaporated and the onion is translucent. Add beets and dill, and potatoes and cabbage. Keep stirring well. Salt and pepper as you go. The whole crazy mess will start to stick to itself and turn all pink/purple, just keep stirring until it sticks so much that you can’t standz no more.

THEN cover with water, add boullion, Bragg’s and a little more pepper. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 45 minutes. Test broth and make sure veggies are tender. Add lemon juice and reseason with salt, pepper, Bragg’s if necessary. Simmer on low heat for another half an hour or as long as you can stand it.

Serve with a sprig of your remaining fresh dill, sour cream or tofu sour cream [Bryanna Clark Grogan has a good one] and some farmer’s rye or pumpernickel toasts.

With the beet greens, slice ‘em in 1” slices and rinse very thoroughly. Feel free to add any sturdy green you have on hand e.g. kale, chard, mustard greens, even collards. Put all the greens in a sink full of water. In a very hot shallow pan, add 2 tbsp canola oil. When it gets stupidly hot, put the range fan on, and an apron. Stand back and get ready for fun. Put the wet greens in the pan and OH MY GOD they will crackle and hiss and steam horrifyingly, but that’s the good part. Get some tongs [silicon, ideally] and turn them whenever you can. Add 2 tbsp gomashio [that's sea salt and sesame seeds], and OPTIONALLY: 1 tsp chili-garlic sauce. Stir thoroughly. Ideally, the liquid will evaporate completely but as long as the greens are thoroughly wilted you’re good to go.

As soon as the greens are dark and limp, turn the heat off and OPTIONAL add: a splash of dark sesame oil and a bit of Bragg’s or soy sauce. Stir to toss thoroughly and let rest on the element for a little while. Serve on their own, or as another side for the borscht [some kind of weird Slavic/Asian crossover....Mongolian?]

Doop-de-doop, having a burrito, gettin’ ready for Big Rock Friday…

I think this one is my favourite so far. I’m bringing it back because I like it so much.

Hendrix, “And The Gods Made Love”

Not necessarily stoned, but, uh...beautiful

Hendrix, “Have You Ever Been [To Electric Ladyland]”

Hendrix, “Are You Experienced?”

Kiss, “God Gave Rock’n'Roll To You II”

BTO, “Takin’ Care Of Business” [CanCon]

Bon Jovi, “Wanted Dead Or Alive” [Yes, you're reading that right]

Van Halen, “Little Dreamer”

Beatles, “I’ve Got A Feeling”

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, “Little Wing”

Beck, “Ramshackle” [Kinda random but it seemed to work]

Sabbath, “Planet Caravan”

Floyd, “Us and Them”

Beatles, “Across the Universe”

Beatles, “Julia”

When I was in music school the most powerful thing I was told by my teachers was that the voice was capable of doing anything that any other instrument could do, in a technical sense. It couldn’t play more than one pitch at one time [practically speaking] but other than that, the sky was the limit.

Now that I’ve graduated and joined the reality based community I don’t think that’s quite true. There was a lot of romance at the time about how Miles Davis wanted to be a singer and wanted to make his trumpet sound like a singer and blah blah blah but mostly we were the bane of small groups, brought out only for ballads, tacked onto big bands as an afterthought [and with simply ghastly charts...Van Morrison, anyone?]; sure, our goal was to sight read as accurately and quickly as any instrumentalist but I can still sight-read piano music faster than I can sight-sing. This is probably my technical failing and many apologies to those of you singers out there sputtering with righteous indignation. In my experience, however, I consider these shortcomings to be representative of our trade as a whole. I can remember one particularly chafing Steve Coleman chart where, to be honest, our whole group was a bit at sea and thinking: This really does not sound good when sung. Like, I’m trying everything here, and it just sounds foolish. The IDEA is laudable and pedagogically no doubt very sound [9/4! time no changes! whaaaaaaa] but it’s heartless…soulless…vaguely irritating.

Lettin' it all hang out

I submit that a big part of this phenomenon is not that the voice is limited in any way; on the contrary. What makes the voice so powerful is its intimacy and ability to connect. Without that it’s just a reedy or brassy sound, probably better accomplished by reeds and brass. In fact, culturally we seem to have such an attracto-repulsive fascination with the voice that people will watch even the FAILED American Idol auditions and just let their jaws swing freely in horror and awe. When you’re singing your {ahem} emotional pants are down. You’re putting it all out there. When you hear/see/feel “it all” from another human being, you get a charge that’s not always comfortable in the same way that total honesty is not always comfortable. Even singing that is considered technically not-that-great [and really, what does that mean anyway?] can give you that charge of naked heart.

So it sounds weird and unsettling to have this purity of heart directed at such a challenging piece of music that your frontal lobe is all contorted and you’re getting that little narrow wrinkle in between your eyebrows.  It’s like going to a yoga class that is ostensibly all about connection and spending the whole time talking about the iliotibial band and your left big toe.  Sure, you can [and should] know about that stuff, but don’t forget to bring it on home, you know?  There is TOO MUCH abundance of spirit in the voice to cram it into a lyricless leadsheet exploring the Locrian mode.  THAT’S why it sounds weird.

We’re now at the point, on this fine hemisphere of ours, where we are so inundated with recordings and simply flawless music coming at us from all directions that a human voice, with its tremors, spit and waverings, seems like taking your top off in public. I can now see [after many years of headscratching and sneers] why karaoke is so popular: it’s a reclamation project. And those of my yoga students whose practices are deepening as the years pass are getting more into chanting, and I believe that this is why. The voice is not just another instrument, with all due respect to my jazz teachers. It is a demonstration of the unclothed, honest heart. It is union of the highest sort: you imagine the note, you “hear” it in your mind’s ear, and then almost immediately you manifest. You conjure sound from empty air. Singing is yoga:  pure, unadulterated spirit.

It’s been a busy, intense week of teaching and as much as I do trust in the incredible power of creativity, I had to admit I got a little depleted there towards the end. I always feel a little guilty when I admit that I have run out of steam! When I was seeing a fantastic healer about a year ago, I told her that I had a hard time with not feeling well or working through health problems, because as a yoga teacher I should be an example of health for my students.

Yeah, yeah, I know...

Her eyebrows almost went through her hairline; she gave me the “Yeah. Right. Hard on yourself much?” look and I always remember that look when I feel like I’ve raised the bar a little too high.

The bottom line is that the first step on our path of spirit is sat, “truth” or “what is” or “reality” or “being”. It’s vital to have high standards for your own growth and what you expect of yourself, because that helps you accomplish the incredible achievements you know you have brewing inside. However, when I skip the first step, when I am not candid with myself about how I’m feeling, no matter how laudable my intentions: suffering ensues. There’s a reason that sat comes first. I can’t remember who I stole this from, but truth is like gravity. It has an extraordinary power that [quite frankly] I’d rather have on my side than be constantly wrasslin’ with.

So as I inch my way off of the little platform of Impossible Things I was trying to stand on and come back down to earth, it helps to remember what soothes and grounds me, and it turns out it’s mostly cooking [and then eating]. There is a reason why most recipes will be posted around the Sunday/Monday nexus! My offering to you, my nine readers, is to give yourself permission to return to whatever increases your internal reservoirs, so you can go back out there and kick butt in the atlasphere.

…and I’m still rustling up donations for our team.  Please visit the Yoga4Kidz Society webpage and search for the Heavy Metta team.

Go Team Go!!

I know this year is economically tough for so many, but don’t forget that (like all disasters) economic problems hit those who are already down:  women, children, and those already ill, disabled and in poverty.

Sometimes I feel that there is no way to even begin to contribute when so many people all over the world are suffering, and then that makes me feel like I can’t even start, so I am very proud to be doing whatever I can for this organization.

Any amount is much appreciated.  We’ll be rocking out with 24 hours of yoga next weekend.  Give whatever you can!

Now 100% Clam Free! Seriously, though, this is a soup that my friend Lindsay would describe as “a la Trogdor“, meaning: using big carefree chops of big easy cheap veggies that practically makes itself. In the interests of full disclosure I must tell you that this soup was made using all the shortcuts below. In the past I have been the person making my own bread and growing my own spinach and creating my own herb blends and I’ve provided options for those of you who wish to go the DIY route; God bless you.

A bunch of filtered water [10 cups or so, depending on the size of your soup pot]

5 russet potatoes, chopped into 1/2″ dice

1 carrot, as above

1 stalk celery, as above

1 shallot, in 1/4″ dice

1 medium leek, rinsed thoroughly, in 1/4″ dice {NOTE: The best way to prepare leeks, which will keep them un-gritty and also give them some of their own steaming liquid to make them tender, is as follows: Take a separate large bowl or deep measuring cup, and chop or prepare the leek as the recipe demands. The deep green ends of the leek are probably a bit leathery, so you can discard them. The best bits are the light green bits and the white bits. But I digress. Put the bits you’ve cut up into the bowl or cup and fill with water, and swish around, and break up the embedded hunks of leek until the grit starts sinking to the bottom of the water-filled bowl…and then walk away. Give them a swish and break-up when you walk by every couple of minutes but for the most part leave them alone. The reason this works is partly because of how leeks are grown [shored up with dirt as they become larger], and it will also create a “deglazing” effect when you put them in your soup. See below.}

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 package fresh spinach, sliced thinly OR a package of frozen chopped spinach

3 cobs’ worth of sweet corn kernels OR one small bag of frozen corn

3 cups of vegetable stock OR one tetrapack of vegetable stock

3 cubes of bouillon or your choice of equivalent [e.g. more stock]

4 or 5 squirts of Braggs’ [OR some soy sauce; not an ideal substitute so just try a tsp and then add to taste]

Herbs of various types: I used 1/2 tsp each of: dried dill, oregano, tarragon, basil and parsley, and a bit of chopped fresh cilantro because that’s what was sitting in the fridge

4 tbsp olive oil

OPTIONAL: 1/4 cup organic milk OR milk substitute [soy or cashew cream best, almond or rice will probably work but not optimal]

4 tbsp all-purpose flour

4 tbsp filtered water

1 tbsp butter or butter substitute [I used Earth Balance]

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

In a large, heavy-bottomed soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the carrots, celery, garlic and shallot. Add dried herbs and salt and pepper to taste [e.g. a couple of shakes]. Stir to cover and saute for 5 minutes or until shallot is translucent. Add leeks [don't worry about the water that comes along with them]. Increase heat to medium high and stir to wilt leeks, approx. 3 minutes. When it takes a couple of seconds for the liquid to cover the bottom of the pot when you scrape the veggies away with a wooden spoon, add the potatoes and corn. Salt and pepper the potatoes and stir. Saute all vegetables for a couple of minutes or until the potatoes JUST start to adhere to the pot bottom, then add: stock, water to fill the pot, the bouillon cubes, and the fresh herbs. Increase heat to high. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer until potatoes are tender.

When the potatoes are soft and almost falling apart [15-20 minutes at least] add spinach. Vegans, “low-fat” cats, and those who prefer a thinner soup take note: It will taste great right this second. Let it simmer for a little while, let it rest, and then mangia. Those of you who are looking for a little more *ahem* back end, here we go:

The key to this step is to make sure that the flour is 100% lumpless. In a medium bowl, add water to flour and stir so thoroughly there are no lumps. Add milk. Stir thoroughly. Add slowly to soup, stirring constantly. “Mount” the soup with butter or butter substitute. Keep on low heat and simmer. Let it rest before serving. Serve with multigrain or rye toasts.

What I remember the most clearly from this Big Rock Friday was how intensely SWEATY the afternoon became.  Listen to these tunes and go deep….

Apache at the Cake Shop (h/t NewmRadio)

Floyd, “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”

Zeppelin, “Black Dog”

Sabbath, “Iron Man” [abs!]

Zeppelin, “Kashmir”

Journey, “Don’t Stop Believing” [!!!!]

ZZ Top, “Cheap Sunglasses”

Creedence, “As Long as I Can See The Light”

Zeppelin, “No Quarter”

ZZ Top, “Made Into A Movie” [This is a GREAT song btw.]

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, “Little Wing”

Sabbath, “Planet Caravan”

Floyd, “Wish You Were Here”

Buffalo Springfield, “For What It’s Worth”

10 Years After, “I’d Love To Change The World”

Sabbath, “Supernaut” [M's been getting involved in the Big Rock Friday playlist preparation and this was his contribution. It worked well for Surya B, what with all of the Utkatasanas and Vira Is and opportunities for Rock Mudra and headbanging]

AC/DC, “Back In Black”

Kansas, “Carry On My Wayward Son” [I can't believe they pay me to do this job]

Sabbath, “Sweet Leaf” [*COUGHkoffkoff*]

Skynyrd, “Saturday Night Special”

Heart, “Little Queen” [This one was so random I'm kind of ashamed of myself and proud of myself all at the same time. My God, she is an amazing singer]

Aerosmith, “Angel” [LOL I had this on cassingle]

Kiss, “Beth” [Big ups to Great Bob Scott, wherever you might be. Good use of the oboe, if you know what I mean]

Hendrix, “1983…(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)” [13 minutes of good solid backbending weirdness]

Sabbath, “Solitude”

Sabbath, “Orchid”

Sabbath, “Fluff” [I had no idea they were so....jazzy. “Fluff” is freaking gorgeous. Check it out if you haven't in the past]

Beatles, “Blackbird”.

Our class was about creativity and music; with Shantala setting up next door and my intention to basically let loose sonic hell on these poor people it really did feel like Fame or band camp; I haven’t felt that way since I was in music school, with PAs and instrument cases and people doing warmup stretches in Lycra gear all over the place. There are so many forms for this huge energy, from Shantala’s lush chants to these crazy songs. I wanted to apologize and be unapologetic simultaneously.

If, under some bizarre circumstances, I was paid every time I heard [or said] the phrase “body & mind” or “mind/body” or “body-mind union/continuum/dichotomy” whatever, I would own these here Internets. Now, mind you I’m in the line of work where that kind of thing comes up a lot, and not for nothing: those are two huge aspects of our human experience, and both the M and the B tend to chatter on an awful lot, often at each other’s metaphorical throats. The body generally wants to sleep, with breaks for eating, and more sleep. As John Friend says, the body’s favourite pose is Savasana! The mind…well, the mind has a bad rep in yoga anyway, undeserved IMHO, but I think it’s generally acknowledged that the mind does tend to go on a little LONG.

Some people have their epic M/B battle in asana class, when the going gets a bit rough; my inner Vietnam actually takes place at home before class begins, where I debate the merits of practice.

B: I don’t feel too bad. I’m a little hungry, actually. Do we still have any of those Fiesta Lime rice chips?

M: Only 41, you lazy sack. Now let’s do the math. I had a good vigorous practice yesterday and a sort of mellow one the day before, which makes for really only like a practice and a half over a 2 day period which isn’t really ENOUGH…and what kind of teacher would I be if I couldn’t motivate myself to get on the mat…but aren’t I just guilting myself into practice? Is that a wholesome and honest reason to engage in this noble art?

B: Yes, you’re just guilting yourself. Everything’s fine. Can you ask me to get those chips? I can’t get up on my own.

M: I can totally feel the tightness in my psoas on the right side. I need more Inner Spiral on the right side. It’s the idiopathic scoliosis. It causes compression in the left kidney area. Those are all facts and they’re all true. I can’t fix that here from the futon. I can’t do that here eating chips.

B: Yeah, I can feel that too but it’s no big deal…

M: YES IT IS A BIG DEAL I AM UNBALANCED I AM OUT OF CONTROL I AM FULL OF THOUGHTS AND THINGS! THOUGHTS!! SO MANY!!!!!!11!!

B: Dude…dude.

I could pretty much do this all day. Seriously, it’s like driving the Great Kia Magentis of Being with two squabbling children in the back.  So what’s the solution to letting these two clown on and on? Only one way to break the stalemate, and that is to introduce the third and most important element:

Don't make me turn this car around....

We practice because of the heart, the part of ourselves that resolves these internal battles; that gets this mind-body debate blissfully in accord. This is one of Anusara Yoga’s most central teachings, to me, and we get so involved in the intoxicating diet of either one of the Wonder Twins above that it is worth remembering: the heart is the trump suit you can play that will settle this, once and for all.

And the really groovy thing is that there is no achievement of either mind OR body that doesn’t become even more glorious, even more spectacular, when it is undertaken in the service of the heart’s kind, open sweetness. They are in no way mutually exclusive; I suspect that you can be brilliant, incisive, accurate and wise…powerful, strong, honest and earthy…and still be kind, open and sweet at the same time. Wouldn’t that be something?