January Newsletter - new classes, mp3s and a survey!

My January newsletter has been posted: click here.

Yoga Nidra

"If you've been thinking you could benefit from exploring a meditation practice, you might want to start with yoga nidra. Classes in this deeply relaxing style are becoming more available, but it's also really well-suited to a home practice using one of the many available audio recordings."

That's a blurb to introduce this great overview article on Yoga Nidra.

For really detailed Yoga Nidra instructions and information, I like this site.

Guided Meditation mp3s

I now have guided meditation audio files available for purchase from my website:

Nadine's Yoga Downloads

Right now I have Mindfulness of Breathing and Loving Kindness meditations available. Additional files will be added in the future including Chakra meditation and guided Yoga routines.

Cat in Sun Salutation

I love this video. My cat likes when I do Yoga but she's not quite this adventurous!

Holiday Food and Yummy Pancakes

My last post about food was on December 13. I was still flying high on healthy food that day. Then I started to have problems with the foods I was adding back into my diet (tomatoes, chili peppers) and with other foods I had been eating all along.

Then came the first of my indulgence days. And they're still going. What can I say? It's the holidays and I'm enjoying all of the sweet treats of the season. And I'm paying for it because my body certainly doesn't love me eating this way.

I made a decision almost a week ago to go back on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), starting Dec 27. I've done this diet before for 8 months and it was the happiest my digestive system has ever been.

Almond flour (ground blanched almonds) is typically a big part of the SCD. I've had a lot of experience cooking with almond flour and made some great recipes. However, they always were obviously different than their grain-filled counterparts. Until I made these pancakes.

Before I share the pancake recipe, if you make these don't feel discouraged. I made a half batch and they got all gummed up in my blender (oh no!). So I put the batter in a bowl and stirred it; it seemed way to thick (oh no!). I put the batter on a griddle and it didn't spread itself, I needed to use the spatula (oh no!). Then I burnt one side (oh no!). After all of that I almost didn't try them. But I'm so glad I did. So tasty! And very pancake like.

Elana's pancake recipe (and see my notes below): Pancakes

1) Almond flour can be anywhere from coarse to fine depending on your source. Mine has always been on the coarse side which is what made my baked goods so different from flour based recipes. Before making the pancakes, I pulsed the almond flour in my mini-food processor to get a finer grind. I think this is what gave them that perfect pancake texture.

2) I don't use agave, so I substituted homemade apple syrup.

Leaving Facebook

Before you read the "why" below (if you're interested), I want to address the big question of "but Nadine, how do we stay in touch without Facebook?":

• read my blog. You can either 1) pop by and read it anytime; 2) follow my blog (easy to do if you use a blogging or blog tracking application); or 3) follow my blog by email (enter your email in the space to the right, under "Follow by Email")
• email me either at info@nadinesyoga.ca (for Yoga related inquiries) or at my personal email account
• call/text me (contact info on my website http://www.nadinesyoga.ca/)
• letters
• visits

Why am I leaving Facebook? Sometimes a simple conversation sparks a big change. That happened last night. I was out walking with a good friend. Near the end of our walk we stumbled onto the topic of Facebook. I talked about how I'd love to leave Facebook but just didn't see if happening since I felt it was keeping me in touch with certain people. Then we parted ways and the idea kept running around in my head.

When I first joined Facebook in 2007 I became addicted to it immediately and used it constantly. Then, over the years, my presence dropped off. When I started my business in 2010, I decided to use my personal profile page as an additional way to "advertise" my business. And eventually it became a place where I simply linked to my blog posts here.

As a businesswoman, everyone tells me I need to utilize social media. I understand how powerful social media can be. However, I also know that social media that needs constant updating goes against many of my personal philosophies. I don't believe I've gotten a single student through Facebook, but I have gotten new students through online Yoga directories and new friends through this blog.

From a personal perspective, I have remained on Facebook as long as I have because I wanted to stay in touch with certain people. But the reality is I'm not in touch with them. I watch things happening in their life through their posts, but don't actually connect to them. In letting Facebook go, I will need to be more pro-active about emailing/writing/visiting those people that I really want to stay in touch with.

It will be mid-January when I deactivate my Facebook account, so we have plenty of time to share email addresses/cell phone numbers before then.

Gingerbread Yogis

Check out this site: Baked Ideas

For my US readers, you can buy Gingerbread Yogi cookie cutters, or just buy the cookies! They look awesome. While they don't offer international shipping, arrangements could probably be made to get the cookie cutters up to Canada.

December Love List

20 things I'm loving right now:

1. Five Tibetan Rites. I'm loving the energy they give me and how great my back feels.
2. Smoothies. Such a refreshing, light meal.
3. My neti pot.
4. The holiday festivities, even if we don't really celebrate the holiday at our house.
5. Fresh pineapple.
6. The PVR. I love watching what we want, when we want to.
7. A bit of extra time to visit with friends through the holidays.
8. Fruit juice pop (fruit juice and club soda).
9. The incredible cuteness that is my cat.
10. My new haircut; just a subtle change but I love it.
11. Garlic and fine herb Boursin.
12. My mom, of course!
13. Lots of library books waiting for me to read them.
14. Sleeping in late (although I am trying to do that a little less often).
15. My students; each one a different treasure.
16. Contract work that keeps me busy and engaged.
17. My electric toothbrush which helped me spend less at my dentist appointment.
18. All the food blogs I read. So many gluten free and almond flour recipes out there for me to try.
19. Yin Yoga and Restorative Yoga; I love what they're doing for my body.
20. Yamas and Niyamas, I never get tired of reading this book.

Clean Program - Week 3 and Gift Card Draw

Before I update on my last week on the Clean Program I have a couple of announcements.

For those that live in the City of Nanaimo (or surrounding area): To be entered in a free draw to win a $25, $50 or $100 gift card with City of Nanaimo Parks, Recreation & Culture department (can be used for admissions, program registrations, RecPasses, facility rentals, etc) send an email with your name and phone number to giftcards@nanaimo.ca and put “Parks, Recreation & Culture gift card contest” in the subject heading. 1 entry per person. Deadline is Sunday Dec 18.

Congratulations to the winner of the YMX Giveaway: Cathy at Take It Easy Yoga!

The last day of my cleanse was Saturday. What did I love about the cleanse? How well my body felt during it (very light, not overburdened). Experimenting with different foods. Getting some physical distance from what was once the monkeys on my back (sugar, fat, processed foods). What didn't I love? Really, nothing, I loved the cleanse. And during the last week of it I found my energy very high.

What does it mean now that I'm done the cleanse? I have 3 types of days now: regular, indulgence and cleanse. My regular days (most of my days) I am slowly adding foods back in one at a time. I added tomatoes back in on Sun/Mon (homemade tomato soup) and they were a success! Today/tomorrow I'm adding in chili peppers.

What do I want to keep from the cleanse? A smoothie for breakfast. Basically 3 meals a day with little to no snacking. And a very simplified way to eat. While I intend to add more foods back in, there are plenty of foods that I intend to save for indulgence days rather than add to my day to day eating.

I will continue to update my blog sporadically on how the food re-integration is going as well as post some of my recipes.

Photos

In early November I did a photo shoot with JNE Photography. In addition to the lovely photo shown to the right, I also wanted to share some of my other favorites. November was a cold, windy time to do a photo shoot, but I'm glad I did. Jenny managed to capture a great cross section of who I am.

Finding the Humour

I love this post from Everything Yoga on not taking things too seriously with some attached links of Yoga absurdity: Yoga Outrage: A Lesson in Not Taking it All Too Seriously

Clean Program - Week 2

The end of Saturday marked the end of Week 2 on the Clean Program cleanse. How's it going?

I started having some cravings last week. Not really taste bud cravings, definitely not body cravings. More like mental, comfort food cravings. They've been easy to ignore, but it helps that I know the cleanse is nearly done. All the Christmas chocolate surrounding me these days hasn't helped with the cravings.

My body feels great. Still loving the cleanse. On Friday night it was our office Christmas Party (for the company I work for on contract sometimes). I was definitely off-cleanse that night. Potato leek soup. Salmon in puff pastry. Sticky toffee pudding. I expected to enjoy the food greatly and suffer greatly. I was surprised on both counts. The food was kind of mediocre, except the dessert which was exceptional, although ridiculously sweet. And while I suffered, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. My energy level was low on Saturday but back up on Sunday. And I was really glad to get back to the cleanse.

I love how the restrictions on food has made me a more creative cook and also reminded me that sometimes I like something really simple. I've been doing some planning for when the cleanse ends and re-integration of some of the eliminated foods. I'm looking forward to seeing what foods I have reactions to and which I don't. Tomatos will be the first ones I try.

I'll check in next Tuesday and let you know how the cleanse finished up and how the transition out is going.

For Week 1 - click here

YMX Shirt Review and Giveaway!

YMX (YellowMan Expression) contacted me to see if I wanted to review their Winter Flower Tri-Pocket Jersey.

YMX clothing is built on tattoo art, offering wonderful athletic clothing with phenomenal style. Just check out their website for all the fantastic colours and designs.

My Review

For those that know me, this shirt is a lot "louder" than what I typically wear. So I was excited to try it and see what I thought. I wore this shirt for several Yoga classes, during my exercise and to the office.

What did I love:

• The fit -  a fantastic snug fit that moved with me.
• The colour and design - I felt fierce in this shirt. I'm not sure I'd choose that everyday, but I loved it while I wore it.
• The material - a light synthetic. While I was a little too cool in late November wearing this, I know I'll love it come summer!
• The lining - the shirt has a white lining inside which means that when it stretches over parts of my body, the lining simply shows through (instead of me).
• A UPF of 50+ - since I'm usually slathered up with sunscreen all summer, this will be a great alternative.

I had no complaints. There is a hidden zipper that goes halfway down the front of the shirt. The only thing I would add to this is to take the hidden zipper the full length and be able to zip from top or bottom (for extra venting).

Disclaimer: I was sent this product, free of charge, in exchange for my fair and honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Giveaway

Would you like to win a jersey? YMX will send a Winter Flower Tri-Pocket Jersey to one of my lucky readers. To enter:

• visit YMX and tell me what piece you love either in a comment on this posting below (preferred) or send an email to info@nadinesyoga.ca.  Be sure I have both your name and email in whichever method you choose.

A winner will be chosen by utlizing random.org on December 10. Open to Canadian and US residents.

December Newsletter

My December newsletter has been posted: click here.

Coming on Saturday: a review and giveaway contest.