After sleeping in and slumbering around for the 5th morning in a row, I was reflecting on how I had barely checked my email all week.
I have enjoyed some of these darkest (and coldest) nights so far by cooking yummy winter meals, snuggling up by the fireplace, sharing in heartwarming conversation and reflection of the past year, and visiting with friends and loved ones.
These dark wintery nights around the holidays are a time I gift myself this slow and peaceful pace.
Long winter walks and snowshoes under the blue bird sky, personal reflection, and this slow revealing of what my visions are for the coming New Year feel like an appropriate focus.
This week's Dark Night Delicacy (week #3) is coming to you from my pajama palace, where much creativity and care has been born.
From my restful slumber, much clarity and cuddled-up contemplation emerges in this week's dark night delights.
The Dark Night Delicacies are my holiday treat for you this year. A candlelit path into the darkest nights of the year, a taste of the Eat.Pray.Yoga Online Course and Community that begins this January, and a wintery-wise wanderlust that will keep you connecting inward to your winter warrioress.
Want Peace? Live Peace.
Each year around the New Year many of us contemplate what we are striving for in our lives, how we want to achieve certain goals, amend bad behaviors with resolutions, and turn over a new leaf. It is natural for the mind to crave a fresh start. The gyms get busier, diets or cleanses become all the rage, and often we focus on the bad habits that we hope to no longer do.
This year when you are contemplating what it is you are wanting, I invite you to join me in the remembering that in creating our NEW YEAR as we wish for it to be does not come from self criticism, chance, or something outside of you.
This year as we contemplate what it is we are yearning for in our hearts and minds, try to imagine how we can align both our thoughts and our actions with this desire.
If you are wanting PEACE, begin by focussing on your thoughts being more peaceful. See if you can find more peace in your actions, in your way of relating to others and in your way of loving yourself.
If you want more prosperity, try practicing abundant thoughts, giving more to others, and finding gratitude for what you have.
If you want more happiness, keep choosing unconditional happiness that is not based only on certain circumstances lining up just right, but rather seeing happiness and joy in how you think and how you move through the world. Try spreading more happiness in your interactions with others.
Wintery Wise Recipes
Roasted Spagetti Squash with Wild Mushrooms, Savory Chicken and Kale
Serves: 2-4
Ingredients:
1 medium-sized spaghetti squash, roasted
2 TBS olive oil
6 large gloves of garlic, minced
3 cups baby portabello mushrooms, chopped small
2 tsps fresh thyme, chopped
1 or 2 large chicken breasts, sliced into strips
4 cups dino kale leaves, packed
¼ tsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste
Zest of 1 lemon
Instructions:
Roast the spaghetti squash and set aside for later use.
In a medium-sized skillet, add the oil and heat to medium. Add the minced garlic and mushrooms. Saute for 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until garlic is fragrant and mushrooms have browned.
Add the chicken strips, and cook for about 30 seconds before adding the chopped kale. Cook 3-5minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.
Add the lemon zest, salt and cayenne pepper. Stir well and cook for about a minute. Remove from heat.
Strip the spaghetti squash into spaghetti strands and place in a medium-sized serving bowl.
Add the chicken/mushroom/kale mixture and toss together.
Serve with fresh grated parmesan and enjoy.
New Years YOGA Pose
Open your heart and free your mind this New Year.
- Anahatasana (heart chakra pose) is a nice opening for the upper and middle back
- Release tension in your neck and shoulders
- Softens your heart.
Find your way into Anahatasana
- On your hands and knees, walk your hands forward, allowing your heart to drop toward the floor. Keep your hips right above your knees. If possible, keep your hands shoulder width apart. Bring either your chin or forehead to the floor and breath into both the front and back of your heart.
Sign Up for the Eat.Pray.Yoga 2016 online Course and Community Right HERE
EARLY access to Module 1: Right off the bat, you can log in to the first Module of Eat.Pray.Yoga. Early access is only offered to the VIP early registrants.
If you missed any of the previous Dark Night Delicacies, you can check them out HERE.