The Minimalist Yogi

I believe that every morning has so much potential; early morning is a powerful and sacred time for personal ritual and practice that can carry you through your whole day. But also, a good nigh sleep makes for the best mornings; when I am well rested I feel that I am more in tuned with the start of the day, more grounded and connected.  Establishing a morning ritual, or routine can make each  morning less unpleasant and more exciting, over time and slowly these practices  can become ingrain. Every morning I like to dedicate at least 6 10 minutes to  yoga, depending on the day I am leaving the house be it at 5:30 am or 7am, I  modify the sequence to accommodate for the day. On days where my morning starts  at 4:50 am I dedicate at least 5-6 minutes of morning to a Surya Namaskara A  and B, or a simple flow that integrates it simple sun salutation. Whereas, on  days where I have leave late in the morning I dedicate at least ...

Exploring this flow for while now, I've done some version of it, but still not completely satisfied, but here is a version I've done yesterday. Majority of this flow consists of hip openers which has a lot of benefits. According to San Francisco vinyasa teacher Stephanie Snyder we hold stress and negative emotions—such as fear, guilt, and sadness—in our pelvis. For this reason alone, Snyder believes it’s particularly important to do poses that move prana (life force) through  that area.  But before going ahead trying the flow few things to keep in mind, take your time with opening your hips, because hip ligaments are strong, and DON'T PUSH yourself. Be aware of your breathing and and your knees. If you have any knee issues like I do modify the poses, props to help you as you can see that I use a yoga block while doing the split to protect my knees. Lastly, before starting you might be a little tense depending on when was your last practice, so lubricate your join...

Who inspires you to practice?  I'd be lying if I said I wake up everyday fully motivated and ready to practice, despite my strong love for practicing and experiencing the self-discouvery overtime I do a challenging posture many times I find myself needing extra motivation, which is natural and it's a part of being human, we can't always have the perfect day or be completely motivated to do something that we love or enjoy.  So whenever I find myself in that state of mind where I need extra motivation I always visit some of my favourite yogis blog to get inspire. Here are my top Five  Yogis who always inspired me to get on the mat even if it's for one 30 minutes to less. 

What Are you up to this weekend? This weekend I have nothing big planned besides helping a friend in his political campaign, doing some schoolwork that I’ve been avoiding all week, and getting some fun reading time.   Recently, I tried to re-read Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore's Dilemma for the second time, but I could not bring myself to actually finish the book. This is my second time attempting to read the book, but finding myself completely bored and uninterested. So I’ve decided to go with another book that I’ve been meaning to read for while now; Samuel Huntington “The Clash of Civilizations.” Even though the reading is somewhat heavy and some may even consider boring, I have to say I am enjoying, perhaps it’s my boring personality that’s enjoying it. The author provides an interest perspective into Post- Cold War world, and what we could expect in the future in regards to war; strongly recommend reading it. Apart from reading and canvassing, I’ll be seeing an ol...

         So it’s been a while since I last blogged, and a lot has happened since the last time. Some good, bad, and some eye opening experience that I needed in order to let go. For today ‘ll try to keep things on the good side. First I got a position with my school that is similar to a teaching assistant, however realizing that I’ll have students looking up to me like I am teachers scares the hell out of me. Regardless, I cannot wait to start I always look forward to new challenges. Another good news I’ve been practicing a lot lately, and I have finally conquered one of my biggest challenge of the summer that’s doing a headstand, which started slow but after falling twice on my back I realized that’s the worst that could happen. So, finally I can do it without the aid of a wall. Once your legs are up in the air you can experiment with them, and try different pose like tree, happy baby pose or forward bend. My favorite is eagle and forward...

Happy hump day everyone! today I had my first day of summer course of Political Science; which I thought was going to be a a whole class, but instead we just talked about the course' objective, and the importance of partisan government. So, my hump day is very lay back.  Lately I've been challenging myself and trying to advance my yoga ability by trying poses that i find challenging or difficult to accomplish. So far everything is going good, one of the biggest challenge has to be doing a headstand; which I am close to conquering perhaps in another month with more practice I'll be able to do it. One that I found annoying to do was the Peacock pose mainly not because it's difficult to do, but because it literally hurts your stomach and arms. Regardless I think it's one of those easy poses that any person is capable of doing.  Here are some of the poses that i've been trying lately. Also here is a video of how to do the peacock pose.  How to do Mayurasa...

So it’s been one, or two months since I last blogged about anything. I want say I've been busy, but it's an old excuse and I need something more original than 'I am busy." In other words, I am just lazy when it comes to blogging. Since my last blog a lot has happened some good, some bad, and some were almost expected. Regardless of the each outcome I am contented with each one, and do not regard a single one. First lets start with yoga, so with no school or homework to use as an excuse to not go to yoga class I’ve been going to yoga class pretty much twice or three times week. I am proud to say I’ve managed to conquer some balance. Keeping up with health and fitness I ran my second 5K marathons in May, and already training for another marathon that will be happening in two weeks however, this time I’ll be running 10K.    In the coming days I will TRY to post some for the recipes I’ve been trying these few. Majority of these recipes will be raw fo...

                        Its the last day of the tofu challenge and I must say I am still craving more tofu!!! regardless I think this challenge really delineated how a simple ingredient such as  tofu can be made into many delicious and beautiful dishes. This last dish was a last minute thing that I did after coming from a yoga class and feeling like I haven't eaten anything for days. Its really simple and it took less than 30 minutes to cook. Also if you guys have any ideas for challenges let me know, give me the key ingredient and i'll make magic out of it.  Ingredients:  -1 firmed tofu  -1 red tomato (seedless)  -3 green onions - 1/2 tbsp mustard seeds  -1 tbsp salt  -1 tbsp  grounded  tamarind  -1 tbsp olive oil  -2 tbsp balsamic vinegar  -Spinach Steps:  1. Chop or dice vegetables and tofu into squares or desirables shapes.  2. Preheat ...