One year ago, I decided to pursue an entirely new career. I left behind a comfortable corporate job with health benefits, paid vacation days, a great pay check, and normal working hours -- I gave all of this up in exchange for a happier life.
In my new career as a full-time yoga teacher, my life is very different, but in the best possible way. My job does not pay for my health benefits, I only get paid if I actually go to work, I make less than half as much money, and my hours are anything but normal. If I had to quantify my happiness level today in comparison to this time last year, I would say it has tripled.
1 Comment
Since yoga has become my full time job and my only means of an income, I very rarely get a substitute teacher for my classes. On an occasion when I do get a sub, I always notice after the class occurs that the class size is much smaller than a normal crowd for my class. The next time I teach the class, at least a few students will say to me, "I saw that you had a sub for class, so I didn't come last week." Or, in the event when I have had to change around my schedule and switch class times permanently with another teacher, I've had students tell me that they no longer take class at that time.
Since a lot of my day is usually spent running around and driving from place to place, I am always looking for super easy, delicious meals to make for myself. It's also helpful when the meal is healthy! This recipe is exactly those things: easy to prepare, delicious, and healthy.
I really like to teach advanced poses in my classes. I find that, when explained in detail and with demonstration, most students find advanced poses pretty accessible. At the very least, they usually feel confident that they will find themselves in the pose one day.
Recently, I was teaching flying pigeon, which is usually challenging for most of my students. During one particular class, a student, who was feeling defeated, said to me, "I don't feel like I will ever get this pose! What is the secret?" I responded, "You have to practice! You have to really want to get the pose." Without realizing that my words may have offended her, or anyone else, I continued with class. There is a great little cafe near me called the Allways Cafe which serves a healthy selection of food like soup, salad, wraps, and sandwiches. One of my favorite things to order is the Sweet Potato Quesadilla which is full of sweet potatoes, pumpkin seeds, green onion, spinach, cheddar cheese, and a honey-lime-chipotle sauce served in a whole wheat wrap. When I order the sweet potato quesadilla, I get mine without cheese and add black beans -- yum!
Once there was a man walking across a field who encountered a tiger. When the man saw the tiger, he fled across the field, the tiger chased after him. Coming to a cliff, he caught hold of a wild vine and swung himself over the edge. The tiger looked down at the man and sniffed at him from above. Terrified, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger had come, waiting to eat him. The man then notices two mice, one white and one black, who have begun to gnaw away at the vine. The man suddenly becomes distracted when he sees a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine in one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. Oh, and how sweet it tasted!
--- When I read this story, I laughed. I thought, "If only everyone could have such a positive attitude -- including me!" When you think about challenges in your life, what comes to mind? Does the thought of facing a challenge fill you with stress and worry? Or do you think, "No big deal; I can get through anything!" Perhaps, you have mixed feelings, like me. A few years ago, I was searching Pinterest for new recipes and stumbled upon a recipe for vegetarian buffalo cauliflower. After reading through the ingredients, I knew that I could make the recipe vegan and couldn't wait to try it at home! My vegan version of the recipe turned out to be a huge success. In fact, I liked it so much, I ate it completely by myself in one sitting!
Over the past few weeks, I have been experiencing major changes in my yoga practice. I contribute these changes to the workshops I have attended recently taught by a variety of teachers, and also to my teacher, Lindsay Lusignea, who I have been working with one-on-one to expand my knowledge and advance my practice.
Yesterday, I took a backbending workshop with Kino MacGregor, which was fantastic. I was mostly impressed with her knowledge of anatomy because she seemed to know EVERYTHING. Her verbal cues and ability to demonstrate poses were incredible. Besides being a great yoga teacher, she seems kind, humble, and light-hearted. I feel truly grateful to have had the opportunity to learn from her. Although I was genuinely impressed by Kino, I left her workshop feeling less confident about my ability to teach yoga and had huge doubts about my practice. Specifically, I felt most insecure about a backbending workshop that I taught last month. After attending Kino's workshop yesterday, I really questioned whether or not I was qualified to have taught a workshop about backbends. For a moment, I actually questioned whether or not I am qualified to be teaching yoga at all. As a full time yoga teacher, I teach a lot of students each week. When I say a lot, I mean that I teach over one hundred different students of all different levels every week. One of the things that I hear students say the most is, "I can't".
My reaction is usually, "You can't? But I haven't even seen you try! How do you know that you can't?" Seriously. How do you know that you can't do something if you haven't tried? Perhaps the pose that you have deemed "impossible" is actually very possible for you, but you are simply afraid. Maybe in this moment you lack confidence which is what makes you proclaim, "I can't!". Maybe it has very little to do with your physical ability and has everything to do with your attitude. Several years ago, I made the decision to convert to a vegan lifestyle. You'll notice that I didn't use the word "diet". I believe that diets are created for short term results. In order to see long term results from a diet, the diet must become your lifestyle.
Inspired by Indian and Thai cuisine, this recipe is 100% vegan which means there are no animal products or bi-products. Worried about your protein intake? Have no fear! This bowl of deliciousness is packed with protein dense ingredients:
Vegan or not, this recipe is certainly not lacking flavor. Let's get to the cooking! |
CategoriesArchives
June 2023
|