by Brianna | Apr 19, 2021 | Chanting, Healing Yoga Practice, Kirtan, meditation
Chanting is one of my favorite practices. I have loved it for years now but it didn’t start that way. In the beginning the first time a teacher offered a chanting practice I picked up my mat and left. But once I discovered Kundalini Yoga where chanting is an integral practice – chanting became a regular part of my daily life. Music is a form of medicine and our nervous system is particularly tuned to the act of using our voice. This connection is due to the wandering nerve, also known as the vagus nerve or the 10th cranial nerve pair. This nerve innervates the vocal cords and the muscles of the throat (along with the heart, lungs, diaphragm, and digestive track – hence its “wandering” nickname). A sensory and motor nerve the vagus nerve both gives information to the body from the brain and takes information from the body back to the brain. It in many ways sets the tone for our overall resilience and in fact a healthy vagus nerve is one considered to have good tone. Chanting can seem intimidating but in actually it is just singing a repetitive verse or word (mantra). It may seem boring but there is known power in repetition – repetition can in fact relax us. This scientific reality was quantified by Dr. Benson at Harvard in the 70’s when he discovered the relaxation response by studying meditators who used mantra. The relaxation response, rest and digest response or parasympathetic activation (the peace part of your autonomic nervous system) is a zone of healing, peace and calm that is available to...
by Brianna | Feb 15, 2021 | personal growth, Power of Thought, reframing, Transformation, Willingness
Reframing is an art. One that requires a lot of presence to make happen. Everything really goes back to a willingness to be here, now. Without that willingness you can’t discern what is right for you. I have never liked cleaning. It has always been the chore I hate the most and I mean all cleaning. For years I hired it out and then the pandemic and now all the cleaning all the time. With a toddler it is impossible to ever have the whole house to rights. No matter what. No matter if I clean every day there will be more to clean. Give her a minute. The tricky thing is that when my house is dirty it brings me down. Like woe is me, down. Down below the ground down. So keeping my house moderate is a necessity and with toddler that means cleaning everyday. Every single one. This thought cycle was not helping me live my best life. I felt aligned with drudgery every time I had to clean. So I did a deep reframe and redefined cleaning for myself. For me cleaning of itself was not a win enough – but what I noticed by wearing a tracker is that I burned a ton of calories when I cleaned. Far more calories than by doing yoga or walking – even purposeful exercise was no match for cleaning’s calorie burn. Turns out cleaning is exercise. I love exercise. Ergo I love cleaning. Now whenever I clean I set my tracker to workout and I get it done. I exercise and feel all the good endorphins and...
by Brianna | Feb 13, 2021 | Healing, Healing Recipes, Simple Soup
If you know me you know that simple soups are my jam. I eat soup year round and often it serves as my breakfast. What ends up in the pot for my soups is usually veggie forward and made with things that are not at their full shine in my fridge. 1 head cauliflower broken into florets (leaves and core removed) 1 shallot 1 zucchini 4 cups veggie broth 3 cups water 1 TBL dried dill Add all the ingredients (excepting the dill) into the pot and simmer until veggies are cooked through. Remove the soup from heat, add dill and blend (I use a hand-blender directly in the pot but you can use a regular blender by blending in batches). Serve with a little salt and enjoy. This soup is also good...
by Brianna | Jan 10, 2021 | Healing Recipes
The perfect egg for me, is boiled for precisely 6.5 minutes and then cooled in an ice bath for 2.5 minutes. (remember to peel from the wider end after cracking it all over). My 6.5 minute egg sits somewhere between the line of hard and soft boiled. Key for me is that the whites are cooked with no translucent bits but the yolk remains soft. I am very serious about this. I set a timer when I make eggs like this. I stay present to what I am doing. I don’t pick up another task beyond the reaches of my stove. I eat these perfect eggs on toast, in soup, as a side of rice or a top a salad. Today I topped them with Chili Garlic Crack and the yum factor was ridiculous. I make them a dozen at a time and store them in an airtight container. The consistency keeps. Simple food – it seems so simple but it is also precise. I use cooking a lot in my practice of presence. It is obviously a wise choice to be present when you do things over open flame like boil oil. But the truth is that every act of cooking can be elevated to a profound ritual of awareness and gratitude. Food cooked with awareness and love tastes...
by Brianna | Jan 2, 2021 | Healing Recipes, Immune System
I made Chili Garlic Crack for the first time on New Year’s Day and I plan to keep it on permanent rotation. I made it for a Ramen topping but this stuff will be good on ALL of the things: starch, veg, meat. Beyond being YUMMY an added bonus of this wonder is that both Chili and Garlic are chalk full of nutritional goodness that support the immune system. Chili Garlic Crack 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil 4 garlic cloves, sliced as thin as you can muster 1 T Korean Chili Flakes – Gochugaru 2 T sesame seeds (I am all about the seeds. Tweak to less if you aren’t) 1 tsp salt (I like to use Kosher salt but any salt is fine) What is absolutely key to pull this recipe off is: Presence (this element is mandatory when you cook something like this for both safety ((grease fires suck)) and to get it to turn out. If you wander away or forget to stir it will catch-on and if the garlic burns/blackens it will be bitter). And of course not to make it all Yogic but – tasks like this make wonderful inroads for practice to become part of your lifestyle, the presence required pulls you inward to one pointed focus. This is when yoga rolls off the mat. Also, the straight up fact is that by paying attention you give your mind some peace while simultaneously making something d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s Heat Oil over medium heat and add in the sliced garlic. Stirring regularly for the duration of the time: cook the garlic until it beings to turn golden...
