So What If It's Fall? Try These Fall-Inspired Smoothies

I love smoothies, but with the cool fall weather here, the bright berries and cool cucumbers don't cut it anymore. 

 

During the fall and winter season, I incorporate more dark greens and root vegetables in my smoothies on those days that my digestive system needs a break, or I am eating meals on the run.  Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Smoothie

Sweet potato, 1 baked and fully chilled or about 1 C.

Coconut milk, 1/2-1 C. to taste

Apple cider/juice, 1/4-1/2 C. to taste.  Total, liquid should just cover solid

Spinach or kale, small handful

Banana, 1 frozen out of peel

Cinnamon, to taste

Recently, I made another smoothie with carrot cooked soft in ginger water. 

 

I chilled the carrots in the water they were cooked in and then added some frozen mixed fruit (cherries, apples, pineapple, peaches), handful of greens, and a dash of cinnamon and almond milk to make it a bit creamy. 

 

I bet coconut would have made it taste like carrot cake!  It was delicious. 

 

 

Pele the Goddess of Fire

 

What do you think of when you envision a yoga teacher? If you had to describe a yoga teacher to someone who had never heard of such a person, what would you say? Would you discuss their looks? Personality? Tone and manner of speaking? Way of moving?  I am guessing the picture below is not exactly what you had in mind...
 


 

One word for ya: HOTHEAD!

Looking back at my evolution in consciousness, on and off the yoga mat, the factor driving me back to my yoga mat day after day has changed many times. Initially it was quite superficial. I wanted to slim down, lengthen out, and tone. 

But that isn’t what grabbed me about yoga.

I was sad.  I stopped caring. I wouldn’t get out of bed in the morning. I would show up hours late to work. I drifted away from social settings. At the end of a yoga class however, it felt OK to be sad. I felt hope, amidst the sadness. I started to function better, amidst the sadness. Then, the sadness began to be less present in my life.

I started to see past myself. I started to see how my mood affected others. I noticed that when I was happy, it fed others. The more I showed gratitude, appreciation, and love to others, the happier I was. My motivation to continue yoga began to revolve more around a sense of responsibility to make the world a better place. 

Historically, there are not many things that stay with me over time. I changed majors four times in four years. I haven’t kept in touch with many high school or college friends. I was head over heels in love with micro-finance, but then became jaded. I am 25 and sometimes I feel like I am ¾ of the way to trying everything. What if I end up uninterested in everything?! Even with yoga, I have gone through recent hiccups where I question whether it is where I can best serve humanity. I am starting to realize that I lose my enthusiasm for something when I don’t see a way to fit it into a new way of viewing the world. My view is always changing.

There has always been a part of me that I am embarrassed about. I would say, it isn’t only a part of me, but a part every human being to some degree. That part is anger. 

Anger. Burning, red-hot, swelling, high-pressure anger.   Anger, making me volatile and ready to explode at any moment. That is an emotion I have always feared to experience. As a yoga teacher, I sometimes dread and despise it even more. Descriptive words of an angry person and of a yoga teacher don’t have much overlap.

My anger often comes out of conflict. Conflict within, or conflict with something outside myself. Both have the potential to lead to frustration if left unresolved. Frustration, the feeling of being trapped, the feeling of helplessness, all feed my anger.


Land being build.  A gift!

As my view changes and I wonder how yoga can fit into it, I find myself sometimes feeling angry and explosive. I feel the pressure building. I resist my practice, and I resist connecting with other yogis and teachers. For yoga to continue being a part of my life, I will have to create a new yoga framework for myself, with the help of other teachers with similar views. I have to keep asking for daily guidance in my process. I have to have faith that this time of turmoil will pass. But in the meantime, my overall demeanor is a bit more assertive, harsh, and capricious.  

There are no perfect decisions. Sometimes the fiery, warrior, Pele ( the Hawaiian Goddess of Fire) path can cause destruction in your life. But it can also create. The people of Hawaii thanked Pele because she created land.  Her explosions were a GIFT. This fire is by no means perfect. It can cause destruction. It can burn bridges. It can be jealous. It can be violent. But yoga isn’t about putting that fire out, it is about turning it into passion. Turning it into new growth. It is about CREATING, not following. As important as flexibility is, this fire allows us to stand up for what we believe in, fearlessly, in any given moment.

Pele.  Fire Goddess.

I give thanks to the majesty of Mount Kilauea for helping me see the value in my own explosive moments. That growth allows life to exist within the middle of the expansive ocean. Sometimes Mount Kilauea and I create something and it lasts for some time. But lava flow is unpredictable. I build, I destroy, I rebuild. My yoga practice is much like this. I am not sure where it is going. Sometimes even my faith is destroyed as I grow, but I know it will always come back renewed. 

We all have some Pele in us, this I believe. But I have accepted that I might just have a lot of Pele in me. You may know me for a year before I erupt, but for now, I am very much an active volcano!

If you are an active volcano, use it! Embrace it! Celebrate it! You feed life.