Tips to Get You Through the Holidays

Grabbed above picture from this site

The Holidays. Bah Humbug. Just kidding, I love the holiday season, but honestly, it can be an exhausting, emotional roller coaster! Too often, what should be a time of reconnection with family and a celebration of the past year turns into something that feels more like work than it should. Not to mention the mounds and mounds of food and sweets that you're often surrounded by (potlucks, parties, cookie exchanges, etc.), resulting in overindulgence, physical discomfort (i.e. hangovers and sluggishness), and guilt for having given into temptation. Then comes New Year's Eve which can sometimes be the last hurrah in overindulgence followed by strict, Puritanical New Year's resolutions that often get discarded by the middle of February. This year I've been trying myself to keep things in perspective and not let myself fall into the same habits of previous years. So I thought I'd share with you a few tips from my personal Holiday Survival Guide. And away we go!

Evlyone's a Ritter Bit Lacist!

The muppets got it right. The Avenue Q muppets, that is. Check out the little excerpt below from one of the songs they sing...

Evlyone's a ritter bit lacist! (sung by the Asian muppet)

"Everyone's a little bit racist
Sometimes.
Doesn't mean we go
Around committing hate crimes.
Look around and you will find
No one's really color blind.
Maybe it's a fact
We all should face
Everyone makes judgments
Based on race...."



Avenue Q is a hilarious musical and I wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone. This song in particular has been humming in the back of my mind the past week and a half as I've been constantly confronted by small acts of racism that people I know have been enduring. Fortunately, I myself have not been the target of these attacks, but, in a way, when anyone is attacked, we should all as a community be hurt, offended, and horrified.

I'm shocked. And not in a good way. I know I can be naive, but admittedly I'm guilty of thinking we've moved beyond random statements like, "Go back to China!" Actually, this happened to me once. Over ten years ago, I was walking through Covent Garden in London during my junior year abroad in college and I passed by an elderly gentleman in a suit and tie holding a briefcase who said to me in a normal tone of voice without ever looking me in the face, "Go back to Japan." I took a few more steps, disbelieving my ears, came to a faltering halt and turned around. He was already far away and it certainly wasn't worth it to run back to him and ask him what in the hell he meant by that. I know what he meant and it's not like I was going to fundamentally change his attitude towards me or my race (I'm Korean, by the way) that day. So I continued on, bemused by the events of the day, never to see or hear from him, or anyone like him, again.

That may have been ten years ago, but trust me, it still happens today.

OD'ing on Tech?

Wall-E

Prepare yourselves, I'm about to get up on my soapbox. 

This morning, I opened up an article on Psychology Today called, "Cyber Etiquette for Teens." The article starts:

"Computers and modern technology are taking up a lot of teen's time. While there are some perks to technology there are also some negative things associated with it. A national survey by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation found that kids between the ages of 8 to 18 are spending an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes per day using entertainment media (i.e., phones, computer, television, mp3 players or other electronic devices) that's more than 53 hours a week! And because our teens are so good at watching TV while working on the computer or texting a friend they have used their time-management skills to fit about 10 hours and 45 minutes worth of media content into those 7 hours and 38 minutes.

With teens spending so much time working on-line via social networking sites, emailing, texting, visiting chat rooms, or just surfing the net, it's important that parents review the following Cyber Etiquette tips with their teen."

The article continues on to discuss tips such as, don't use ALL CAPS when posting and don't talk to strangers. It feels a bit weird that parents should discuss internet etiquette with their teens but that's just because I didn't grow up with computers until I got to college (I mean, I remember a time when I had a typewriter...!). The tips the author discusses are all valid and I'm sure are important to discuss, but I have to admit, the article went in an entirely different direction than I was expecting. After that dire introduction, I had expected that the author was going to discuss limiting time spent on technology for children and teenagers. And, in fact, she does actually mention it, but only as a "PS" at the very end: "Bonus Tip: Set time parameters on how long you're on the computer. The computer will never take the place of a person. Too much of anything is unhealthy so don't let cyberspace consume your life." 

Now, let me be the first to say that I've definitely been guilty of placating children with a movie or a game on my phone when I lost patience with trying to entertain them in an engaging and personal manner. And, actually, I don't think this is too terrible of a thing every once in a while. After all, in order to care well for our children, we, as adults, need to retain some sanity, no? However, I do get worried when I think of having children someday in a world that is so dependent on technology. I worry about how socialized my children will be if they spend most of their days interacting with an inanimate object. With visual and auditory over-stimulation at its finest in video games and movies and communication via texting and IMing lacking subtle cues that are only available face-to-face (emoticons :) do not count), I wonder if my children will grow up lacking sensitivity and empathy. I wonder if they will be able to understand and value the simple joys of taking a walk, watching a sunset, or spending a quiet, lazy afternoon reading a book. Though perhaps I shouldn't be so gloom and doom, there was a time when people thought rock and roll would be the cause for great decline in children and teenagers. 

More Evidence for Breathing as Treatment!

This morning, I came across an email from a friend of mine in Switzerland who has apparently been a regular reader of this blog. He forwarded a link to me of an article on NPR that again touts the benefits of a regular breathing practice to relieve stress, improve the immune response, and even affect the expression of genes! Who knew that something so simple and automatic as breathing can have such a positive effect if only we bring our attention to it? (I guess Indian gurus have known for centuries, which should be even more reassuring, breathing, or "pranayama," is an ancient practice that has been perfected over time, available to the western world to reap its benefits. So, check out the following article and try it out sometime! (PS, thanks Sandi for thinking to send this to me!)

Just Breathe: Body Has A Built-In Stress Reliever

by GRETCHEN CUDA

 

December 6, 2010

There are plenty of ways to relieve stress — exercise, a long soak in a hot bath, or even a massage. But believe it or not, something you're doing right now, probably without even thinking about it, is a proven stress reliever: breathing.

As it turns out, deep breathing is not only relaxing, it's been scientifically proven to affect the heart, the brain, digestion, the immune system — and maybe even the expression of genes.

Mladen Golubic, a physician in the Cleveland Clinic's Center for Integrative Medicine, says that breathing can have a profound impact on our physiology and our health.

"You can influence asthma; you can influence chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; you can influence heart failure," Golubic says. "There are studies that show that people who practice breathing exercises and have those conditions — they benefit."

He's talking about modern science, but these techniques are not new. In India, breath work calledpranayama is a regular part of yoga practice. Yoga practitioners have used pranayama, which literally means control of the life force, as a tool for affecting both the mind and body for thousands of years.

To read the full article, click here to head to NPR's website.

More Yoga News

www.stroga.com

Hey there folks! Just wanted to share some exciting news! I'm going to be teaching a Vinyasa Flow class on Thursdays at 12:30-1:30PM at Stroga in Adams Morgan, Washington, DC.  What, pray tell, is Stroga? Well, it's a yoga studio/group fitness space. Basically, if you were to strip a gym of the weights and cardio and everything and just leave behind yoga and group exercise classes, you'd have Stroga. The classes tend to cater to a population who are perhaps not as interested in the more esoteric side of yoga - the chanting, meditation, and breathing. Though it is true that most classes begin and end with a few Oms, setting of intentions, and breathing is still very much emphasized.

At first, I wasn't sure how I felt about this. It felt like they were stripping yoga of its heart and soul and all you're left with is your typical exercise class. Well, here's the thing, that's how I came to yoga initially. I viewed yoga purely as something I enjoyed doing that would increase my flexibility, strength, and fitness. And if I'm being perfectly honest, I thought I might lose a bit of weight too. But, over time as I continued to practice, I noticed yoga's effects on my thoughts and emotions more so than on my body and began to value it for its spiritual benefits. So, maybe a place like Stroga can appeal to a different sort of folks who might have hesitated to enter a typical yoga studio and over time they may come to the same revelations I did through a regular practice. Or, maybe not, and I think that's still okay. Who am I to judge?

And honestly, I really don't note too much of a difference, if any, at all, in my own style of teaching or the types of classes I enjoy from what they offer at Stroga. The instructors are all well-trained and truly understand the mechanics as well as the spirit of yoga. You can even take a restorative class at Stroga which is certainly as far away from cardio and sweat as possible. So there won't be any compromising or anything in my teaching. If there were, I'm pretty sure I couldn't teach there. So, if you're in DC and happen to be available on Thursdays from 1230-130, then I'd love to see you at my class!

Namaste!

A Yummy Teaser

“To feel safe and warm on a cold wet night, all you really need is soup.” - Laurie Colwin

Do you love soup as much as I do? Especially on a wet, blustery day like today? Well, even if you don't I just had to share the best homemade vegetable soup recipe ever! It comes from a friend of mine from college, Tara Barker, who is a pastry chef in Rockland, ME. She's also the author of a beautiful blog called A Baking Life. She happens also to have Celiac Disease (which is maybe a bit ironic for a pastry chef) so all of her recipes are gluten-free. And before you thumb your nose at the idea of gluten-free pastries, you have to try her recipes. Plus, the photos on her site are gorgeous and she's got a couple of beautiful little boys decorating her pages with their impish smiles and excited grins. But, that's beside the point.

Recently, I decided to try my hand at her recipe for "School Soup." It's basically a vegetable soup jazzed up with something called Nutritional Yeast. Hmmm, doesn't really sound all that appetizing, but what the hey, I'll try it.