HPC Week 4: Homemade Chai Concentrate

Homemade Chai Concentrate (aka Charmaine's Freestyle Chai Adventure) orignally featured in Ashland Yoga Studio blog post on January 12, 2011. One of the things I started to evaluate during the HPC was some of the foods that I
put in my body, one of them being soda.  I realized that I needed to cut back (and eventually cut it out all together). But until then I have worked to replace that craving for soda with lots and lots of chai tea.  This is a recipe for a chai concentrate that Charmaine posted on the AYS blog over a year ago. It is the lovely chai that was served at the Grand Opening Celebration in November 2010.  It takes a little work to make but it is very yummy and worth the effort. A nice warm mug of this mixed with some milk (in whatever form that is for you) and you will forget all about those processed sugar beverages.

STEP 1. Add 8 cups of cold water to a medium or large pot.

 STEP 2. Add the following spices to the cold water:

• 1/2 pound ginger, coarsley sliced
• 4 cinnamon sticks
• 2 T whole corriander
• 2 T whole black pepper
• 2 T decorticated cardamom (or an equivalent number of whole cardamom pods)
• 1 T cloves
• 1 t fennel
• *optional* - 1 whole dried red chilli pepper or 1 t crushed red pepper (crushed will be more spicy)

You can omit or alter amounts of any of these spices or add other spices such as bay leaves, whole nutmeg, anise seeds, whole dried cayenne pepper, or citrus peels)

 STEP 3. Cover pot, set to medium-high heat, and allow to come to a boil. Once water reaches boiling, reduce heat to medium-low and boil for at least 30 min. (This step may also be performed in a small pressure cooker. Set to med-high heat and bring to 5 lbs pressure. Once 5 lbs pressure is achieved, immediately remove from heat. Allow pressure cooker to cool for at least 30 minutes.)

STEP 4. After at least 30 minutes of boiling, remove from heat and add 1/2 cup black tea. Ceylon, English Breakfast, Earl Grey, or Jasmine all work well. If you'd like to eliminate the caffeine, you may use Rooibis (redbush tea) or a decaffeinated black tea. Cover and steep tea for 5 minutes.

STEP 5. After steeping tea, immediately strain all liquid into a 1 gallon container. Put strained spices back into pot and add 4 cups cold water for a second flush. Stir and let sit while you perform the next step.

STEP 6. Add 1 cup of honey (or sugar) to the hot strained chai and stir until completely dissolved. (You may also choose not to sweeten the chai.) Then strain the liquid from the second flush of the spices into your now sweetened chai.

STEP 7. At this point, if neccesary, add cold water to the chai until it reaches 1 full gallon in volume.

 Your chai tea concentrate is now complete. Refrigerate for short term storage or can in mason jars for long-term storage. Mix chai with milk or soy milk to taste.  Enjoy hot or cold.  Yum!

Week 4: What Makes You Alive?

"Oh to have peace, peace like you do, as you live out your days and face your truth... what makes you alive?"- May Erlewine, from the song "What Makes You Alive?" on her album with Seth Bernard, New Flower

It seemed natural to take some time with this post and reflect on the last four weeks of the HPC.  It's incredible to me that we had over 20 of you commit to joining the challenge.  When Charmaine and I started talking about this a few months ago, we had no idea if students would be into it or not.  Apparently, we struck a chord with many of you.  It was great to be able to work on something  personal and unique to each of us, but know that were not doing it alone.  What a great little community of students we have at Ashland Yoga Studio.  Yay for everyone that made a go of it for the first HPC! 

The intent of this from the beginning was to challenge ourselves to think more intentionally about practicing yoga outside of a regular structured class.  Practicing yoga more frequently and on our own is how we can see more of the benefits of yoga in our lives.  We each set individual goals and plans on how to meet those goals.  Here are the goals that I set out with when we started four weeks ago:   

• Work on carving out some more time and finding a space to practice:  I did make some progress on this.  It's still a work in progress and I think it will always be, and I'm OK with that.  The fact that I made some headway though is great. 
• Work on strengthening my core:  It's amazing that after four weeks of doing a little extra work at home, I can feel such a difference in my practice in and out of class.  This bit of progress is definitely motivating me to keep going to see where I can go from here. 
• Simply, just do more at home.  A pretty broad goal, but once I started to make some progress with the first goal, I found that I could regularly fit in a practice at home two times per week.  With going to class once a week, that means three decent yoga practices, along with fitting in some movement here and there at other times (some Downward Dogs during playtime with Violet, Sumo during toothbrushing, Standing Forward Bends while waiting for dinner to cook, etc.).  This shift in thinking that yeah, this makes me feel good and therefore is important enough to make time for was a real eye opener.

There were a couple of surprise discoveries too that I didn't plan for. One of them was that I started to pay more attention to the food I put in my body and how it made me feel.  I think that I tend to eat generally pretty healthy, but one thing that I love that I know is bad is soda.  I love it and can drink several glasses of it through a day.  During the HPC I started to pay attention to how it made me feel though, especially as I spent more time doing core work, twists, folds, etc.  The slight bloated feeling I get from drinking the soda is NOT conducive to feeling well when working the abdominal area.  I made a concious effort to cut way down on my soda intake, which is something I knew that I should do but the HPC was the catalyst to make it happen.

I think one of the biggest discoveries though is that after taking four weeks to focus on integrating yoga into my life with more intention, I can feel that I actually crave to get on my mat.  To find this I didn't have to suddenly practice every day (maybe someday I will, and maybe I won't).  But even with adding two practices to my week outside of class, and little bits of movement here and there when I can, with each and every opportunity big or small I feel more grateful.  Every practice is done with joy and gratitude, and I can't wait until the next time comes along.  I crave to get on the mat and when I'm there it makes me feel more alive.  It's a feeling I didn't have before the HPC and I can't wait to see how my practice evolves from here.

My hope is that everyone can find this feeling of being more alive in something they like to do- whether it's yoga, or running, or writing, or hockey, or ice fishing, or anything you crave to do that makes your life more fulfilled.

My heart goes out to everyone that practiced with more intention these last four weeks.  Here's to feeling more joyful, centered, and well, more alive.

What sucesses did you have with the HPC?  What lessons will you take with you as we move on from here?

HPC Week 3: Our Favorite (Strawberry) Poundcake

Our Favorite (Strawberry) Poundcake from the Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts

Sometimes a great motivator and a perfect little thing to add to your home practice is simply a nice sweet treat when you're finished.  This is a variation of the poundcake recipe in the Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts, based on the recommendation from my daughter Violet that we make a "strawberry cake."  You can adapt this poundcake recipe to fit pretty much whatever flavor you like.  We chose to use some of our summer strawberries we still have in the freezer.  I found our version to be lovely with some fresh strawberries on the side and a hot cup of chai. Perfectly yummy after a nice asana!

• 2 cups butter, softened
• 3 cups sugar (you can use brown sugar instead of white)
• 6 eggs
• 4 cups unbleached white pastry flour
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 cups crushed strawberries (we used thawed, frozen strawberries)
• Optional- 1/2 cup milk (the plain poundcake recipe calls for milk, but this can be omitted if you use a juicy fruit like we did with thawed frozen strawberries.  We even drained some of the juice off so the batter wouldn't be too wet.  If the batter seems like its a bit too thick, go ahead and add the milk until it seems right).

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Generously butter and flour the bundt pan.

2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on high speed.  Beat in the eggs.  Lower the mixer speed to medium and add 2 cups of the flour, mixing thoroughly.  Blend in the vanilla.

3. In a separate bowl, combine the baking powder with the remaining 2 cups flour.  Add to the batter and beat well, until the batter is smooth and thick.

4. Fold in the crushed strawberries.  Blend in the milk if needed.

5. Pour the batter evenly into the bundt pan.  Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until the cake pulls away from the edges of the pan and a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

6. Cool in the pan on a rack for 20 minutes and then invert onto a serving plate to cool, leaving the pan on top of the cake for about 20 minutes more, so the cake will hold its shape nicely.

7. Serve with whipped cream, drizzled on chocolate sauce, and/or fresh strawberries on the side.

Week 3: Little Things That Make Your Home Practice Better

At this point in the HPC you may have started to work on some of the barriers we've talked about: finding time, a place to practice, and choosing some favorite poses or sequences to do at home.  These are kind of the nuts and bolts to a successful home practice, but what about other little things that can make a good home practice just that much better?  From the right music to the right outfit, there are lots of little things that can make our practice something we genuinely look forward to every day.

It may be finding the right soundtrack to your practice.  Maybe it's a favorite pair of yoga pants.  Maybe it's candles or lighting.  Maybe it's a particular scent you find relaxing that just puts you in the right frame of mind.  Maybe it's a favorite yoga DVD, or even a favorite TV show.  (Some may argue this isn't really the right way to do yoga, but is it really so bad to watch "Parks and Recreation" while doing some Sun Salutations instead of sitting on the couch? I think that totally counts as a home practice!  Especially if you're laughing a lot- bonus for the great core workout!)  Finally, maybe it's just the promise of a nice sweet treat after asana is done, like a piece of chocolate and a hot cup of tea (or a piece of Strawberry Poundcake- check out this week's recipe).

These things may get overlooked, but can make our home yoga practices more special and unique. They might be the thing that gives us that extra bit of motivation we need to get on the mat.  A couple of my favorite "little things" that I've been loving as part of my home practice:

• Music: I've been really enjoying Bon Iver- For Emma, Forever Ago
  as a backdrop to my practice.  Quiet, peaceful, and moving.  Lovely music made right here in Wisconsin- feels just right for these cold winter days.  Eddie Vedder's Ukelele Songs is really nice as well.  I've also been enjoying Morcheeba- a group that I loved back in college and have recently rediscovered as some great music for asana. Their album Big Calm is great to move to, as well as MC Yogi when I'm in the mood for something with more of a hip hop vibe.  I highly recommend checking out Pandora Radio or Spotify as free sources of music online that you can experiment with to find the right music to suit your practice.  
• Scent:  I am a person that can instantly be transported to another place and time with a particular scent.  Nag Champa incense not only reminds me of my more carefree days as a college student and record store employee, but it calms me and makes me think yoga.  (The incense that is in the yoga studio? That's it.  Simply lovely.)  I also purchased some LuSa Organics Grounding Essential Oil Blend at AYS and I wear it just about every day.  Taking in that scent all day is a pleasant constant reminder to me to check in with my body and take some deep breaths when I need to.  It also reminds me to do some stretches at my desk at work and/or to get on the mat when I get home.  

And yes, sometimes I do like to watch TV while I practice.  It's not ideal, and it does interfere with the ability to sit in quiet meditation and does not set the stage for a nice savasana.  But, I think the thing to remember is that with your home practice it is YOUR home practice.  Do what you need to do to get yourself practicing.  You don't have to be inward-looking all the time and what really matters is that you have a practice that you look forward to, and do as consistently as you can.  So, if there's a choice between watching the latest episode of "Parks and Recreation" and doing your home practice, remember there is a third option- to do them at the same time- and enjoy every minute of it.  

(If you can't tell, I'm a huge Parks and Rec fan- for you Amy Poehler fans out there check out this video of Amy learning about yoga from 9 year-old Anna the Yogini on her online show "Smart Girls at the Party".  Love this!)

What are the little things that motivate you to get on the mat, or make your home practice extra special?

HPC Week 2: Easy Butternut Squash Soup

Easy Butternut Squash Soup from the Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition (MACSAC) Cookbook- From Asparagus to Zucchini: A Guide to Cooking Farm-Fresh Seasonal Produce

Butternut squash soup is one of my most favorite meals on a cold winter night, and this soup will warm you all the way through.  While this recipe is pretty quick to prepare, you do have to plan ahead by baking the squash in the oven ahead of time.  To avoid this I have also prepared this recipe as a slow cooker recipe.  (To do this soften the onions and garlic as in step 1; peel, seed, and dice the squash; then combine all the ingredients in a slow cooker except the milk, and cook on low for 6 hours.  When it's done add the milk as in step 4 and puree the soup directly in the slow cooker with an immersion blender.)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3-4 cloves garlic, mashed with side of thick knife
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 3 pounds butternut squash, halved, seeded, and baked until soft
• 4 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 bay leaf
• pinch of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon or more curry powder
• pinch of nutmeg
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cups milk (low-fat or skim)

1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium.  Add garlic and onions; cook, stirring often, 7-10 minutes.

2. Puree cooked squash in a food processor and stir into onion mixture.  

3. Stir in stock, bay leaf, sugar, curry powder, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.  Simmer 20-30 minutes.  Remove bay leaf.

4. Add the milk; heat but don't boil.  Serve with crusty bread.