wisdomrootsGet back to your health. Get back to your roots.

Kripalu Yoga with Sean Level 1

Wednesdays 10am-11:15am @ Awakenings Wellness Center

This Level 1 class will introduce you to the architecture of the postures and the breath that supports them. Come build strength, body awareness, and flexibility in an open and supportive environment. You will learn:

• The foundations of allignment
• Breath technique, and
• Relaxation

Kripalu Yoga with Sean Level 2

Tuesdays 10am-11:30am @ Awakenings Wellness Center

This level 2 class is great for experienced individuals and strong beginners. This class will help you fine tune your alignment and invite you to explore the postures as they are expressed in your unique body. This class will focus on strength, sustaining postures, continued breath technique, and provide an introduction to meditation in movement.

Summer Session

July20th – August25th

$40 per level (6 classes)

$10 per class (drop in)

If you have any questions about which class is right for you(or to inquire about future classes), call or email Sean:

971.678.7956           sean@wisdomroots.com

Awakenings Wellness Center

1016 SE 12th Avenue Portland, OR 97214

Regular classes will be starting soon at Awakenings Wellness Center (on 12th and Yamhill SE). I am still finalizing the scheduling. Please comment on this post, or reply by email with a few times that work best for you on a weekly basis.

See you soon!

SeanMichael

sean@wisdomroots.com

Offering classes in the Portland area, I am a Kripalu certified yoga instructor specializing in gentle, beginner, moderate, and expressive yoga.

A typical class will lead you through centering, warm ups, asana (postures), pranayama (breath work and energy flow), and relaxation.

If you are interested, please call or email me and we can talk to see if my classes are right for you.

Phone: 971.678.7956
Email: sean@wisdomroots.com

Introductory rate:
$35 1 hr
$45 1hr30min

Need it now? Need it fast? This is a recipe for plain frozen yogurt lightly flavored with vanilla. It takes about 5 minutes to mix up, then throw it in your ice cream maker and wait for another 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

2 cups plain nonfat yogurt

1 tsp vanilla

1 pinch salt

3 Tbsp agave syrup (or sweeten to taste with more syrup. You can also try adding some stevia to sweeten it.)

Mix well with a spatula then scoop it into your ice cream maker until its thick enough to eat. Make sure to invite a friend over so you don’t eat the whole batch yourself.

Sauerkraut was gross as a child, but with age comes wisdom. It benefits the digestive system bringing you into balance and stabilizing the immune system. The downside is you can’t get this in a jar on a shelf at the store, you have to make it. While some stores sell fresh, unpasteurized sauerkraut in the refrigerated section, it is still a good excuse to experiment with this tasty dish at home.

Ingredients:
1 head cabbage
2 Tbsp sea salt

Stuff:
Pickling Jar or other vessel
Weight to weigh down the cabbage (either a large bag of water or a plate with something heavy on top)

Method:
Quarter the cabbage top to bottom and cut out the stem. Slice the quarters into fine strips, you know, sauerkraut shape. Place all the cabbage in a bowl and sprinkle the sea salt on. Squish around with your hands with some force to mix up the salt and cabbage and to start to release some of the liquid in the cabbage.

Pack the mixture into a pickling jar or another container* and place a weight on top. Cover and let it sit out of the light at room temperature for a week or so, depending on how sour you like it.

When you first open the jar to your newest food experiment, it may smell less than desirable. In fact, when I first made this I almost decided to throw it out based on the odor. I’m glad I didn’t though because it is delicious as a side dish or on sandwiches or added to other dishes.

If you want to cut back on the sodium or the sourness, go ahead and rinse the sauerkraut before eating it.

Welcome to the fantastic world of lacto-fermented foods!

*A weight is needed to compress the juice out of the cabbage to create the brine in which it ferments. You can use anything as a vessel (even a 5 gallon bucket will do if you are making in in large quantities. A plate on top with clean rocks or bags of water will do the trick.) A pickling jar is nice because it is air tight and a bag of water fits nicely inside.

Please join us for a free workshop! The Gentle Spinal Workshop will be on March 31st 2010 at Awakenings Wellness Center located at 1016 SE 12th Avenue, Portland, OR 97214. Please register as space is limited.

We will be focusing on loosening up the spine as well as opening the hips. This class will be great for beginners who want something gentle to start out with. The poses will also be able to provide challenges for more advanced students. All levels are welcome and its free!

If you are new to wisdomroots, please arrive 10 minutes ahead of time to fill out a form and get situated.

Please write if you have any comments or questions!

If you have mastered the Standing Forward Bend, try this next exercise. Called Cat stretch or Cat-Cow, it will help loosen up the spine. Come onto your hands and knees. Hands below the shoulders and knees below the hips, your back in neutral position. Inhale, tucking the tail bone and arching the back, allowing the head to relax down. Exhale, reversing the stretch, tilting the pelvis the other direction, swaying the back, keeping the abdominal muscles engaged slightly, looking up with the head. Continue this pattern with long, deep breaths for a few minutes.

When you are finished, come resting into Child’s Pose and enjoy the comforts of the stretch.

This is a light but warming dish for the cool spring days.

Ingredients

1 Bunch Chinese Broccoli

1-2 Tbsp Minced Ginger

1 Tbsp Soy Sauce

1/2 Tbsp Rice Vinegar

Cooking Oil

Method

Mince the ginger.

Wash and cut the broccoli to maintain length.

Add the oil to a large pan. A wok is best because it allows you to cook the food quickly and very hot. A hot cast iron pan will do the trick though.

Fry the ginger for a minute or so until it is a light brown. Add the broccoli, soy sauce and vinegar and cover for 30 seconds. Stir it around so it does not burn. Cover for another 30 seconds or a minute.

The broccoli is done when the leaves have all wilted and the stems are just beginning to soften. There should still be some crunch in them. This is tasty and preserves nutrients.

Learn to harvest and cook your own Bamboo Shoots!

You’re just not flexible now. Underneath all the built up tension is a young and flexible you. It is easy to get yourself back with a simple standing forward bend.

Stand in tadasana, mountain pose, with your feet about hip width apart. Relax the knees, tuck the tail bone, roll the shoulders back. Find a spot on the wall level with your eyes to focus on. Breathe here for a few moments, then take a deep breath in as you sweep your arms to the sky. Exhale as you fold down like a book, bending from the waist, letting the head drop. Breathe full relaxed breaths here for five minutes.

Your legs may start to shake. A teacher once said to me, “Shake when you’re young so you don’t shake when you’re old.”

To come out of the pose exhale as you slowly roll up, one vertebra at a time, bringing your head up last.

Do this daily and one day you will fold over like a book, right in half, effortlessly! See? You are flexible.