Is Your Body A SACRED SPACE?

Saturday, September 21, 2013 9-10:30am 375 Stuyvesant Ave

Do I see my body as a sacred space and do I feel safe in it?

Is there a baggage of fear or shame that I walk with, that in turn blocks my blessing and clarity from moving forward?

Am I willing to embrace and protect the free flowing pure energy of love and magic that flows through me at all times?

and most importantly, what can I do for myself to feel SAFE and FREE?

Please join Ola of Hip Dhamma Yoga for a special movement and meditation workshop brought to you through the Brilliant Festival curated by Toshi Reagon

~ * Word*Rock* & Sword: An Exploration Of Women’s Lives * ~

An annual series of events celebrating the brilliance and creativity of women!!

Sign up to purchase tickets through PayPal

RSVP online to reserve your space, cash and cards accepted at the door.

This moment in where we transition from summer into fall is the PERFECT time for leaning into self discovery and introspection.

As mother Earth passes the baton towards cooler nights and more colorful days, let us take part in ritual that will open the mind, spirit and body towards growth, courage and faith.

Let us allow the asana and meditation to guide us to a place in where our souls can feel loved, protected, safe and free!!

Let us be assured that within this world filled with constant challenges and chaos, it is possible to find peace, joy and clarity.

A self loving spiritual practice is more than needed it is a required. Come and explore what turns you on, helps you let go and makes you feel good

Like our great mother Audre Lorde says

:: caring for yourself is not just an act of self indulgence, it is self preservation::

Join me in loving your body, easing your mind and honoring your heart as we move into a powerful Autumn season.

Bring your Fall season intentions and an open mind ♥ ♥

*This workshop is for women and trans people only.*

It is pay what you wish with a $10 donation.

Please wear comfy clothes, bring water and a journal for writing.

For more information about all wonderful events taking place during the Festival please check the website – > http://wordrocksword.toshireagon.com/

10 Ways to Atone for Yesterday’s Food Sins

It was a party, I was nervous, just this once, I need love, this whole bag is just 99 cents!  All excuses I made yesterday when I went for the Utz, no salad prep, following fullty glutened pasta and chick peas.  At least it’s not a burger, right?  Wrong.  Even these “vegan” foods were a nightmare in my healthy digestive system.  Why?  Without first prepping the system with a water-rich alkaline salad, the dense starches and proteins combined to make rock-like gassy masses in my gut. Gross.  Plus the relapse to my friend potato addiction clearly represented some unworked emotional places, and what the hell does cooked cottonseed oil do in the human body?  Nothing good.

Well, no need to dwell in the past.  Today is the first day of the rest of my healthy life.  Here’s how to come back from a day or night of food/drink/name your poison abuse.

Morning After.  Take or leave any of these steps, but follow the order.

1. Brush teeth, hydrate.  The body detoxes through the mouth, so rinse all that ish out BEFORE taking your first water.  Drink room temperature or warm filtered water, 24-32oz, as much as you can comfortably.  Some people like a squeeze of lemon.
2. Cleanser.  At least 20 minutes after water, have 1 tablespoon raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar in 8 oz warm water. Wait 30-60 minutes before next step.
3. Aloe.  Have 4 oz aloe juice.  Wait 30-60 minutes before next step.
4. Ginger.  Press a few inches of ginger root through your juicer and follow with hot water to make a ginger tea.  Add a squeeze of lime and honey if you’d like.  Some have added garlic to this, though that can give a strong taste and leave a lasting impression on your juicer.
5. Green juice.  Have a liter pressed at home or at a juice bar.  Include a leafy green (spinach, kale), water rich hydrating cucumber, apples for taste, beets for cleaning the organs, and ginger, especially if skipping the ginger tea step.  Wait 60 minutes until next step.
6. Fruit meal.  I recommend some nice laxative quality fruits like melons and papaya…. Wait 60-120 minutes until next step.
7. Big friggin salad,  Have lots of cabbage, avocado, and your fave raw veggies, but keep it free of croutons, grains, dairy dressings, cheese, meat, and beans.
8. Simple cooked veggies.  Steam them or lightly sauté them.  The best thing for healing the past day of eating is to not repeat it, so consider this a “fast” and refrain from having fried foods, grains, flours, beans, animal proteins, and soy vegan foods.
9. Drink at least another liter of water throughout the day, preferably two!
10. Repeat the next day until feeling of wellbeing returns… or forever, cause this is a pretty nice regimen to live on.

Finally, it’s never a bad idea to spend some time in meditation and quiet contemplation in regards to the memories and emotional comforts that either called for the binge, or were soothed by it.  There’s just no end to the wisdom and lessons behind a relapse followed by a moment of awakening.

Chocolate Cupcakes Vegan Gluten-Free Soy-Free

I’ve been craving chocolate cupcakes since Moe’s birthday party well over two weeks ago.  Problem is, where does one find vegan gluten-free cupcakes on this side of BedStuy?  GrubHub and Seamless fail.  Not a single new cafe (Pantry, Breadlove, Liquid Oz) has a consistent supply of non-mainstream goodies.  I’m working on changing that, but alas, my baking Co is still in the works and this need is urgent.  After pouting for a day and a half, I broke down and made these.  Here’s the recipe.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Ganache Frosting

1/2 cup sunflower seed oil (or butter/oil of your choosing)
1 package Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free chocolate cake mix
2/3 cup applesauce
1/3 cup coconut milk drink (not canned coconut milk)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
4 tablespoons flax seed meal mixed with 6 tablespoons water (replaces 2 large eggs)
1/3 cup hot water
2 tablespoons vanilla extract

Ganache

1 cup canned coconut milk
1 tablespoon coffee grounds
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 ounces Trader Joe’s chocolate chips (vegan)

Preheat oven to 350.  Arrange 16 silicone muffin molds on cookie sheet and spray lightly with coconut oil.  (Or use cupcake pans with liners).
In the bowl of your mixer, add oil or softened butter and beat until creamy.  In the case of oil, you can skip this step since it is liquid.  Add cake mix, applesauce, milk, lemon or acv, and flax eggs.  Beat for about a minute on low, scraping down the sides.  Let it run on medium-low for about another 30 seconds.  Add hot water and vanilla and mix for another minute or so until mixed well and sides have been scraped.

Use an ice cream scooper to transfer batter to molds.  Bake for 15-20 minutes.  With gluten-free flours it may be hard to tell that the cupcakes are done with the toothpick technique because they tend to be quite moist even after 20 minutes.  Trust that they are done and let them cool in front of the fan or AC if you are impatient.  I am. If using silicone molds, keep them cooling until you are ready to frost them.  If using a cupcake pan, let them cool for 10 minutes before transferring them out of the tin to a cooling rack.  Let them sit 30 minutes before frosting.

Heat the coconut milk until it begins to boil.  Remove from heat and dump in the coffee grounds and vanilla.  Let sit 15-30 minutes depending on how strong you want the coffee.  Pour through a strainer to removed the coffee grounds.  Bring the mixture back to a boil and pour over the chocolate chips.  Stir until creamy.  The ganache will be warm will cascade down the sides of the cupcakes, however, if you let it cool in the fridge overnight, you can scoop out a thicker icing that will be less drippy.

Makes 16 cupcakes.  You can eat 4 by urself and still have a dozen to share.

Radish Leaf Pesto

Don’t let a single leaf of your share go to waste. Radish leaves make an excellent pesto, with or without basil!

• 1 bunch radish leaves
• 1 small handful basil leaves
• 1 cloves garlic peeled
• 1/4 cup nuts, seeds, or nut butter
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• juice of ½ lemon
• ¼ cup olive oil or more for desired consistency
• salt and pepper to taste.

Blend in food processor. Use as a salad dressing, pizza sauce, dip, or coating for kale chips!

Postpartum Wellness Networking Event

Saturday Aug 10, 11:30am-2pm– New Mom’s Postpartum Wellness and Networking Event with Hip Dhamma Yoga and Community Partners

Kelly, our beloved prenatal and family yoga teacher will lead a skill building intensive for our new mom community.  Grow with mamas in the neighborhood during this hour-long mom and baby class followed by postpartum support workshop and lunch!  Bring your lightly used or unused books, toys, clothes, and tools to swap.  Registration includes lunch by Peaches, gift bag, and raffle entry.  Suggested donation $50 with sliding scale $25-75, scholarships available 347-670-4325.  RSVP here.  Pay online in advance, or at the door, cards accepted.  Contact us for sliding scale or scholarship registration.

All participants receive  Hip Dhamma Yoga class passes (three classes, $45 value) and gifts from Luna Bar, Organic India Tea, Iwilla Remedy, Juice Hugger, and Gullah Girl Tea.

Raffle Prizes:

• Dinner for Two plus Babysitting,
• Iwilla Remedy Natural Body Care Gift Basket,
• Discounted Rental at Freebrook Spaces (4 hours of rental space for events and birthday parties at 25% off),
• Unlimited Yoga Class Packages, and more!

About Kelly
Kelly began to seriously study yoga in 2007 in Philadelphia when she found that it provided therapeutic relief for long held injuries acquired over the years as an archaeologist. As she moved back to New York in 2009 to complete her Ph.D. in Anthropology at Columbia University, her love for yoga blossomed and she felt the need to share this love with others. She received her 200-hour teacher training in the fall of 2010 and started to also study eastern philosophy with Dr. Douglas Brooks and Eric Stoneberg combining her two loves-learning about other cultures and practicing yoga. Instead of heading directly into teaching yoga full-time, Kelly settled into another new role as mum and began to explore how to incorporate this new role into her practice. Pregnancy, delivery and parenthood led Kelly to explore the changes throughout a woman’s lifecycle and desire to make every step of that lifecycle a healthy positive experience. Her desire to learn more on how yoga and natural foods can enhance these cycles and provide relief for women’s health issues such as endometriosis or infertility led Kelly to complete prenatal and postnatal yoga training in 2012 and take courses in ayurvedic practice. She began to work with private clients in different phases of women’s life from pregnancy to post-natal and into peri-menopause. While she continues to explore all aspects of yoga, her practice and teaching now primarily focuses on women’s wellness and health in all stages of life.

Liquid Salad $2

Turn a salad into a raw foods powerhouse soup.  Blended foods are easier to digest, and great ways to save prep time.  Plus, a liquid salad is a delicious high-nutrient option for people with recent dental work, or compromised digestion.  Can be stored in fridge for 1-2 days, though avocado will begin to darken.

• 5-10 romaine lettuce leaves
• ½ beefsteak tomato
• 1/2 cucumber
• ½ hass avocado
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• juice of ½ lime or lemon
• water for blending consistency
• handful of basil leaves
• salt and pepper to taste
• nutritional yeast
• smoked paprika
• black truffle oil

Place lettuce, tomato, cucumber, avocado, olive oil, lime, basil in blender or food processor.  Add enough water to cover about ¼ of the ingredients.  More water may be necessary depending on your blender.  Blend until smooth and creamy.  Taste first, and then add salt and pepper.  Blend again to distribute salt and pepper evenly.  Pour into bowls.  Drizzle truffle oil on surface and sprinkle with nutritional yeast and smoked paprika.  Follow with a cacao avocado smoothie for dessert!

Makes two servings or one large meal

Estimated Cost: $2.00
romaine $.50, tomato $.50, cucumber $.25, avocado $.50, lime $.25 (spices already on hand, basil growing in planter box)

Raw Chocolate Lesson Plan

Raw Chocolate Decadence

 Vocabulary

• Raw foods – uncooked ingredients.  Raw food diets can be effective in preventing and treating disease.
• Carob – chocolate substitute
• Chia seeds – the same seeds that are used for Chia Pets.  Full of protein and fun when soaked.

STEM

• Science – We learn how raw foods deliver complete nutrients.
• Technology – We are using a blender to create our puddings, brownies, and frosting.
• Engineering – Avocado will be used to create a creamy texture.
• Math – we will need to determine which recipe to create first based on how much time we have in class.

Equipment Needed

• Blender
• Cups
• Bowl
• Knife
• spoon

Ingredients

•  2 ripe avocados
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp chocolate extract
• 10 Medjool dates, pitted (here’s how)*
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp coconut aminos (optional, but great for depth of flavor)
• Pinch sea salt
• 2 cup water
• 3 tbsp chia
• Cup dates (soaked)
• Cup raisins (soaked)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ cup cacao
• ¼ cup carob
• ¼ cup coconut butter
• sucanat and maple syrup to taste

Recipes and Procedures

Chocolate Chia Pudding

1. Slice, pit and scoop the flesh from your avocados into the blender.
2. Place all other ingredients, except chia seeds, into the blender and mix until super creamy.
3. Pour blender contents into a large glass bowl. Now, stir in chia. Cool for about 30 minutes before serving.

Brownies

1. Blend soaked dates, coconut butter, raisins, cacao and carob powder.
2. Sweeten as desired.  Spread on pan or cookie sheet.  Cool if possible, or serve as is (more fudgy when warm)

Thai Curry Lesson Plan

Thai Curry and Sweet Sticky Rice with Sweet Cilantro Lime Salad

 Vocabulary

Basil – an herb common in Thai and pan Asian cuisine.  Has anti-bacterial properties

Cilantro – an herb also known as coriander.  Cilantro (coriander) leaves has been used in preparation of many popular dishes in Asian and east European cuisine since ancient times. When added in combination with other household herbs and spices, it enhances flavor and taste of vegetable, chicken, fish and meat dishes.

Simmer – is a food preparation technique in which foods are cooked in hot liquids kept at or just below the boiling of water (which is 100 °C or 212 °F at average sea level air pressure), but higher than poaching temperature. To keep a pot simmering, one brings it to a boil and then reduces the heat to a point where the formation of bubbles has all but ceased, typically a water temperature of about 94 °C (200 °F).

STEM

• Science – We will learn how to simmer on the stove.
• Technology – We will use a citrus press to extract lime juice
• Engineering – We will be plating the dishes artistically as if in the Thai restaurant we visited
• Math – We will re-visit important measurements like tablespoon, teaspoon, and cup.

Equipment Needed

• Pots
• Stove burners
• Spoons
• Measuring tools
• Large bowl for salad
• Citrus press
• blender

Ingredients

• Sweet glutinous rice or sushi rice
• Coconut milk
• Coconut oil
• Thai Kitchen Brand Red Curry Paste
• Avocado
• Fresh basil
• Fresh cilantro
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Squash
• Eggplant
• Baby bok choy
• Bell peppers
• Fish sauce (optional)
• Tamari sauce
• Red and Green Cabbage
• Limes
• Carrots
• Sugar
• Toasted sesame oil

Recipes and Procedures

Sticky Rice

1. Measure out 2 cups of the sweet rice and place in a pot.
2. (Chef will arrive with pre-soaked rice) Add 3 + 1/2 cups water and stir. Allow the rice to soak at least half an hour.Sticky rice has a tough outer shell that needs to be softened (by soaking in water) before you cook it; otherwise, you may end up with hard rice.
3. After rice has soaked, add 3/4 tsp. salt and stir. Turn heat on high.
4. Once water begins to bubble at a gentle boil, turn heat down to medium-low so that it is just nicely simmering. Place the lid askew, as in the picture, allowing some of the steam to escape. Simmer the rice in this way for 10 minutes.
5. After 10 minutes, use a fork to pull the rice aside. Look down into the gap you’ve made. If all the water has been absorbed: turn off the heat. If there is still water in the pot: allow rice to cook another 5-10 minutes, or until all the water has been absorbed by the rice.
6. When all the water is gone, turn off the heat but leave the pot on the burner. Place lid on tight and allow rice to sit for 8-10 minutes, or until you’re ready to eat. The heat in the pot will steam-cook the rice, finishing it off perfectly.

 Red Curry

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon Thai Kitchen® Red Curry Paste
• 1 can (13.66 ounces) Coconut Milk
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon Fish Sauce / or Tamari to make vegan
• 4-6 cups assorted cut-up vegetables, such as bell peppers, onions, carrots and sugar snap peas
• 2 tablespoons julienne-cut fresh basil

1. HEAT oil in large skillet on medium heat. Add curry paste; stir fry 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until fragrant. Add coconut milk; bring to simmer on medium-high heat. Stir in brown sugar and fish sauce or tamari (if making vegan) until well blended.
2. STIR in vegetables; simmer 5 to 7 minutes or until vegetables are tender-crisp. Remove from heat. Stir in basil.
3. SERVE over cooked Jasmine Rice, if desired.

Sweet Cilantro Lime Salad

•  ½ head red cabbage shredded
• ½ head green cabbage shredded
• ½ lb. carrots grated
• 1 avocado
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• juice of two limes
• salt to taste
• drizzle of toasted sesame oil

1. Add cabbage and carrots to large bowl
2. Blend avocado with de-stemmed cilantro, lime juice, salt, and sesame oil.
3. Drizzle over salad and toss