Welcome to February! I'm going to be honest, the world is throwing a lot at us right now. Sometimes my reaction is action - calling, emailing, donating, marching - and other times I just want to pull my baby close and hide under the covers together. Or gather with friends and laugh so hard our bellies hurt. It's all important. And therapeutic. And necessary. This week I've come back to one of my favorite Maya Angelou quotes: We have to continue to support our friends and families, to raise our babies to be kind, to find the joy in life even when it's challenging - especially when its challenging.
My hope is that this month you can continue to shine your light with friends, family, coworkers, and strangers. To join in community in a yoga class, mamas circle, spiritual community, or family dinner. To be and breathe with those like you and those different from you. Thank you for being a part of my community. In love, Elizabeth Read on for February offerings...
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Wishing you and your family, friends, and loved ones a day filled with gratitude. Need some gratitude inspiration?
We're on day 24 of the Gratitude Challenge - see all of the posts: Happy November! My yoga students know I love a good quote. Whenever I come across little nuggets of inspiration, I scribble them down in my notebook to share in class - often about gratitude, self-acceptance, and relaxation. The one I keep coming back to this week is from Amy Poehler's book Yes Please: I find this is a message that is always helpful since something is always changing. For my new mamas every day reminds us of this as our little ones grow, learn new things, sleep better, sleep worse, and become little people right before our eyes. In yoga we experience the change in our breath, our bodies, and our practice - sometimes how we desire and sometimes in ways that challenge us.
So in this season of dramatic change, see how you can embrace it. The longer nights, cooler days, the excitement (or not) of the holidays. Join me for a gratitude challenge or a yoga class! With love, Elizabeth Experts tell us why being thankful will improve your life and The New York Times tells us more. Harvard agrees. So let's share the happiness - I invite you to join me for a 30-day gratitude challenge!
My own gratitude practice started over 3 years ago. On September 10, 2013 a dear friend emailed a small group of women with an invitation to participate in a daily practice: we would send the group an e-mail with three things we were grateful for each day. It started off simple but over the months and years we've shared amazing joys and heartbreaking losses. Love of avocados and gratitude for warm homes, loving families, and food on the table. Some days the gratitudes flow freely, while others it is truly an exercise. I have to say it is one of the most important parts of my life - taking time to acknowledge all of the good even on the tough days. This challenge is even more simple - write down one thing each day you are grateful for. You can keep it to yourself in a journal or on a sticky note, or post on social media to spread happiness to your friends. A dear student of mine, Sara Meadows Shawe, was recently the featured student at Circle Yoga. She kindly permitted me to republish what she wrote about her experience at the studio:
Prenatal Yoga. I began prenatal yoga in January of this year. Each Thursday night I would join other pregnant gals in Studio 1 with our teacher Elizabeth Hubley, a new mother herself. I expected a typical yoga class with its silence and concentrated focus on maintaining postures, but I quickly realized this was a different beast.
Hope you are having a wonderful fall season!
I often find the shift from summer to fall bittersweet. The long warm days have come to a close, peaches disappear from the farmer's market, and we begin to turn inward with the coming of winter. But there are also so many joys of this time of year - the crisp autumn air, beautiful colors in the trees, and the coming of the holiday season where we celebrate community, family, and more. It's a season I usually spend a little more time in the kitchen - using farmer's market abundance to bake, roast, and discover new flavors. With Caroline's big sense of adventure and surprising transition to walking at 9 and a half months it's a little trickier to spend hours creating new recipes, but I do have this simple and quick Healthy(ish) Banana Bread to share. I'll also be teaching yoga and continuing to build community with Mamas Circle over the next few months - read on for the details. Enjoy this transitional season and I hope to see you soon! With Love, Elizabeth I love creating new recipes but with a toddling 9-month-old my time in the kitchen has been pretty limited. That, combined with my inability to eat a bunch of (organic and fair trade) bananas before they get brown spots, inspired this recipe. It comes together fast - like 30-minute nap fast - and is only slightly indulgent. It's definitely my new favorite afternoon snack. Plus, its vegan and with a simple swap of a gluten free flour blend for the whole wheat can be enjoyed by my GF friends, too! INSTRUCTIONS
1. In a small bowl, mix the ground flax seed and water and set aside for about 10 minutes. 2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. 3. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil and maple syrup. 4. Add in the mashed bananas, vanilla, and flax/water mixture and stir well. 5. Sift the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon into the bowl and fold in until just combined. 6. Fold in the chocolate chips. 7. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for about 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 8. Try not to eat all at once :) Good morning! I hope you had a wonderful summer! Our was filled with family dinners, homegrown tomatoes, yoga, baby playdates, sunny walks, cross-country travel, and more. As we head into fall, I'm exploring balance. As a mom to a busy 9-month old (how did that happen?!), a small business owner, and someone who needs a healthy dose of her friends and family, it's a tough thing to find these days. So as I often do when confronted with a challenge, I turned to my yoga practice. On my mat I'm steady in tree pose, feeling strong and open in half moon. Floating up into crow pose. I've got this balance thing... but to complete the metaphor, the pose has to be a little bit more complicated. Something like Eka Pada Galavasana. Flying Pigeon Pose. Arm balance plus hip opener plus leg extension. Plus, don't drop yourself on your face. Sounds about right! And there are two lessons from my attempts at this one: 1. Breathe (always breathe) and 2. Find ease.
And it works. Taking the struggle out, trusting myself, it makes it easier. Almost possible. Some days on the right leg. Some days not at all. But closer. So this month is all about finding ease. Amidst the challenge of competing demands my ease will be enjoying laughter-filled afternoons and relaxing weekends. Taking time to be with those I love and teaching with joy and patience. What can you do to struggle less? See if you can let go of a few of the complications and frustrations in your life and breathe. Always breathe. I hope to see or hear from you this month! With Love, Elizabeth P.S. Read more for ways to join me this month! Good morning!
It's a new month and the start of summer! This season asks us to slow down a little and take a break from daily life - whether it's taking a big vacation or just laying under a tree in the shade. Maybe you've felt it - the urge to slow down a little or take a day off. The busy pace of the past month has inspired me to explore the idea of "less is more." Which I can only agree with in some cases. Less ice cream is definitely not more ice cream. But less stress is more life. Having less stuff is more freeing. Less judgement is more love. It's hard to tell people you're striving for less is a culture that puts a lot of value on doing more and being more. We're supposed to want the bigger house, fancy car, and to be the CEO. But often it's the simple things that bring us more of what really matters - more happiness, balance, and community. When I built my business the idea was to have a flexible schedule so I could be home with my (then imagined) kids. But I had no idea how much I would come to cherish this time with my daughter. Over the past 6 months I have definitely been knocked off balance and had to reevaluate - sometimes twice in one day. I had imagined hours of time to plan and implement new projects while Caroline napped. Turns out she's not so into that! So I'm taking the summer to work on what will fuel our little family - finding balance and building community. Time to teach and cook and create, but also long walks, playing in the grass, and spending time with family and friends. I'm starting a Mamas Circle, teaching a little yoga, and taking a couple of vacations. Aligning my values with my life and doing my best to live in and enjoy every moment. I hope you'll take a little time to see what less can give you more this summer. With Love, Elizabeth |
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