Layer and freeze each layer before adding another layer.
Layer 1: milk
Layer 2: layer with black cocoa, gluten-free flour, and milk (or cream) that's more creamy and good for beverages.
Layer 3: cold blueberry tea
Layer 4: cold brew coffee (or coffee of choice)
Layer 5: milk
Add a few blueberries if you like.
Make plant-based pandan ice cube. Add pandan mixed with water and freeze
Add the ice cube to the top frozen layer.
Bring drink out to regular room temperature about 10-15 minutes before you want to consume if semi-frozen and 30 minutes or longer if frozen solid. Watch your planet beverage change before your very eyes! For kids, you can swap cocoa or chocolate milk for the coffee layer.
Slow down and living sounds like a snail boring description in this marathon journey we call Life. Or something we’d do later in life.
But actually the way to discover more of what you want in this life is found in those slower and often overemphasized silent sloooww moments where you can gather your thoughts in mindfulness.
On the flipside, if you get in the habit of being busy, you’ll find slow life seasons as mundane in comparison.
And that gives your ego the opportunity to make the difference a negative, when it’s actually a positive. For one, you lower stress that you can’t measure and that can add years to your life.
When you embrace slow seasons and dig deeper, you can find the joy of missing out of activities and discover more of you.
I know when I was younger I felt like all eyes were on me when the truth is people are concerned with their own lives.
They’re not thinking of us as much as our naturally entering thoughts want us to think.
So focusing on ourselves gives us our healthy back. And at the end of the day and our lives, we’re the only ones we are guaranteed to be with.
Saying no to what’s not good for you is good. Only you as an evolved being know how to live your life wisely.
…Sometimes this can take seasons to embrace.
And when you go through the motions of enough busy seasons, you realize there’s an end to each season. The buildup can end up in letdown. And looking back, you gain wisdom and lessons learned that are invaluable for your future.
Summed of wisdom can follow with: it’s not about what you do in your day-to-day that matters most as today becomes a fast and fading memory tomorrow. You never re-live yesterday.
This type of discernment often comes later with years and experience so you don’t waste more time on things that don’t matter. Back in my earlier years like most my age, I measured achievements against the culture I grew up around that didn’t last.
An example: I started out going to public schools in the U.S. county where at the time I was growing up had the highest ranking standardized test scores in the nation… like the SATs taken in high school.
Living outside Washington DC that’s full of movers and shakers didn’t make slowing down a goal. The idea was to speed up and always be busy no matter what.
Photo: This is the remodeled open skylit space in the house that I grew up in where my desk sat decades ago and I learned to type on an ancient typewriter in the 80s. And then picked up writing daily years later.
I gradually shook off the “busy” mentality to get to where I am today where being busy on purpose matters most.
And the Universe helped me by removing obstacles that at the time seemed like a mean joke. Because starting over seemed like a recurring theme. But being in those rough seasons and trying to gain traction, I grew. And I made other accomplishments that weren’t on my list.
Lessons Learned
I realized life well-lived isn’t meant to be a linear path, going up and up. It’s more like up and out, and sometimes back down. And navigating adversity and new starts help you with now what? situations.
Being a late bloomer can actually help you. If you didn’t peak too quickly (or having peaked yet!), you didn’t miss or haven’t missed out!
Your experiences in between build you up to what you need for your dreams to turn out to be a dream come true (and not a letdown).
In your time, you’ll appreciate when you are fully spiritually ready to embrace what is meant to be yours! 🎉 Remember the turtle in the slow pace life marathon wins the race. 🐢
When I entered my new start in college, it was eye-opening as that was the first time I realized students came from totally different background circumstances.
Before then, I took high school courses and learned things prior that other people who came from other places in the U.S. had never experienced and that was shocking to me at the time.
I needed those eye openers to embrace moving down south, a slow down pace in life more on my terms.
There, I was immediately struck with how politics didn’t suffocate the air. And I was able to appreciate a slower pace life.
With new environment and time, I realized that this life is more than what our resumes and awards say about us.
A calmer, life slow down has other benefits too like you actually are mindful of what you’re doing or watching in the moment. That brings joy.
The moment is not a blur like outfit changes to the next activity that’ll come and go and you may not have fully enjoyed because your headspace was busy preoccupied.
These are a few ways to embrace the slow pace life and wisdom sooner when you’re in the busy seasons:
Slow cook your foods. I’ve had microwaves in and out of my life. And when I had one, I always used the equipment.
But when I didn’t have one, I realized I would pause to think about things in life (mindfulness) when I was watching over food heating or slow cooking.
In slow cooking life, I sometimes daydreamed about complex dishes like those when I worked in hotel catering or restaurant event planning.
Or happy fond food memories in gastronomic experiences I had. I spent vacationing weeks in Italy where the slow food movement grew and developed into American organic and sustainable cooking culture because of restaurants like Chez Panisse.
It’s fun to immerse yourself into other worlds like this that you’re not in. It’s a different type of mindfulness.
Then when brought back to actually cooking, that brought me back to simpler cooking times which is the way I appreciate foods for their whole and individual tastes.
Then voila! dinner is ready and you had a ‘lil escape… so meal prep is actually enjoyable. 😉
Slow down habits become a balanced and joyful lifestyle. And that can start from nostalgia or daydreaming that can be part of your healthy life like meditation.
Those type of things slow you down and sometimes you can resurface a dream.
A habit of slow living or slowing down can be changed with or without a simple piece of kitchen equipment. 😊
Take a moment to take deep breaths. We can never be over-reminded. We have nothing if we don’t have our daily breath. It gives us space. And if you ever feel heart palpitations, this is a way to calm those down:
Listen to your inner voice and what’s it telling you. When we have nagging thoughts, they usually mean something needs to be addressed for our peace. In those times, it’s better to get out of our head voices and listen to the higher channels.
Take time for yourself away from people. We act differently when we’re around people and social environments than by ourselves. We take on their energy and want to naturally blend in with ours. But it’s hard to find your authentic self in those head spaces when trying to please others.
It’s good to take some solo time out that’ll speed up your personal growth. That’s when you can reflect on what matters in your life, so you don’t end up with regrets.
Taste your tea when you first put your lips on your mug. Enjoy the aroma. Using Ayurveda methods, smelling a scent or spice first, is a good way to see if it’s pleasant. What’s pleasant to your eyes doesn’t mean it’s favorable to your body.
Then when you come back another time, you may feel something different for the same experience. Our bodies are constantly changing and sending us signals. When you’re aware and sensitized to your own senses, you can better influence how your day goes.
So next time, give your food a good acknowledging stir before you take a bite.
Do mindful eating or intuitive eating. In intuitive eating, it’s all about slowing down and mindfulness. And when you do that, you pick up different notes and palates. You become more open to different tastes.
Slow down eating when you’re around people, are you the first one to finish eating? Mindful eating is a balanced effort in a busy agenda. Find at least one meal to practice on.
Why not enjoy what you’re eating and appreciate the food and drinks you have in front of you?
Take a few bites and imagine the food source. Where does the food come from before the grocery store? Someone if not you from your garden sourced the food. For plant-based foods, those come from the land and were picked by someone.
Many food travel shows teach us about regional food sources and how certain cultures prepare dishes that can make us slow down and appreciate.
Get rid of check list to-do items that never needed to be completed. Lists are great for groceries but for life direction, not so much. You end up zipping through the list.
The goal (of lists) is to get to the end. And in slow down, we want to experience and enjoy the middle.
With lists you can also end up working on things that were never important to begin with. Those slow down your progress.
If you have a slow pace life, you remember what’s important in the moment as your miracle memory (or spirit) prompts you.
And finally, take time to look at old photos or read journals you wrote.
Try to remember who you were back then. You want to see a new and improved you and not one that has aging appearance effects. You’re aging in wisdom beauty and a better quality life.
Butterfly Pose is a much needed pose for tight inner hips and hip opening. This article is about how to get the most out of the pose to open your spirit and welcome in a new mind and body healthy season.
Plus, good exercises you can do daily to help open your butterfly pose hips when they don’t want to fully (or you simply want to keep them flexible). 🧘🏻♀️
…Which btw, our bodies are natural wonders and so is the total eclipse that gave solar chills and happy tears this week, that I’m still reeling over and you can too days later.
When you have tight hips, you know it immediately when you move around. And I didn’t know about this because I didn’t feel it until one day.
And like the Butterfly name implies, the Butterfly pose looks like opened butterfly wings.
Or if you speak in chef language like I often do, you know what butterflying means on a plate.
Butterfly pose looks also like an open lotus flower. 🪷
Opening your hips this way is a metaphor for opening yourself up and while you’re sitting still in patience and peace.
In life, butterflies wait before they can flutter about. It’s one of the fascinating creatures out there in nature I think and a symbol of transformation. They are fragile like we are. 🦋
Similarly, we start out as caterpillars in life crawling along and hopefully like most, make it to adulthood.
Then we transform into our adult butterfly bodies in new seasons.
As sweet reward, we get tastes of honey along our journey and feed back honey nectar to our community.
We contribute to the environment we’re in where we spend time. And this is a metaphor for making our individual impact in the world that’s one of our highest callings.
Caterpillar on a leaf beside a butterfly (parent?)… can you see the butterfly in the photo? 🦋
Butterflies are unique in colors and design patterns like the Peacock Butterfly commonly found in Europe or Asia, or a Monarch Butterfly that I see often in North America.
They are something we can globally appreciate like the sun, the moon, and the solar eclipse.
Butterfly Pose As a Metaphor For Opening Up
Phyiscally, Butterfly pose helps to open in tight hips. You’re a lotus flower ready to blossom and sometimes your mind-body can get stuck. 🪷
Giving it time to open up and bloom when ready is part of patience in Life.
In your Butterfly pose, if it’s not easy, do it gradually. Don’t force it along.
Pain is never good in yoga. Unlike physical sports and fitness, that says, “no pain, no gain.” Yoga is completely opposite: pain means no gain.
Because you’re doing something you shouldn’t be doing to your body.
Pain is a warning signal from your body.
In yoga, it’s good to challenge the body with stretching further and higher, but only when it’s in tip-top shape.
And with all the muscles, tendons, joints, and crevices in our bodies, sometimes there are places that need broken mending.
So we want to add stress to those parts. We want to work on other parts while our weak spots heal. And with Butterfly pose, you know whether or not you have a weak inner hip injury.
If you’re feeling tentative, then be gentle.
One thing I like to do is raise myself off the mat.
You can use a block or a towel to raise your thigh above the mat until your hip loosens up (one side is usually tighter) and you can get to your ideal Butterfly pose.
So you can still do a modified version of the Butterfly pose without stress and repairing your bottom wing. 🦋
And then when ready, maybe someday your knees and top half of your leg touch down on the mat, or they don’t.
Either is great.
For beginners, it doesn’t matter how cool it looks.
All that matters is you feel good. Maybe that’s why my Vata loves yoga for the comfort reasons. 😊
You’ll find what you’re comfortable with and then you’ll have a baseline for what your body can do in those areas, and what the limitations are.
The limitations are there to help you lean in on your unique body and SELF. Create goals that are good for your body. 🎯
In Butterfly pose, a good goal would be to not feel any tension or pain in the hip muscle, inner hip, or groin areas.
Both men and women seem to have this common issue.
If you sit a lot this could be a reasonable cause. And if it shows up one day, it could be a new habit position you were sitting in that simply needs to be adjusted so you can restore.
In the meanwhile, you can complement Butterfly Pose with Triangle Pose and Pigeon Pose that are other yoga poses that will help open up in slightly different angles.
Also try the Seated Spinal Twist.
As usual in yoga, one side is usually tighter than the other for different poses, so workout a little longer for the side that needs more TLC.
Balance and alignment comes from asymmetrical efforts. So if for balance ⚖️, this means intention or laser focus on the side or area that needs attention.
Another yoga pose that can really help is a 5 star yoga pose on the mat with your legs straddled open to each side, and arms under and through your legs.
If you’re not familiar with the more common star pose, your head arms and legs make up the 5 points.
Doing this stretch faced down on the mat will also give you a good stretch through your legs and arms.
And combining physical therapy type exercise that you can do at home will help. These often use repetition vs. weights. And repeated repetitions.
One of the best exercises I found is the side hip abductor exercise that you can do on your mat.
You turn to one side and bend your knees and then lift the top leg up and down for 10 repetitions or more at a time.
A second exercise is: sit on the side of a regular height bed or a chair that allows a hip-leg to anchor straight down on the floor either straight up perpendicular or slightly shifted to the back while the other hip-leg (the tight one) is on the bed or chair.
Take the tight hip-leg (on the bed) and bend, so that you can see the bottom of your foot. You should feel a light stretch (that does not hurt) in the tight hip area that’s slightly different than on a mat.
If there’s any pain, you should stop as you may have injured the area somehow.
Remember, we’re fragile like butterflies. 🦋 We’re also resilient.
And if you don’t feel anything in your hips, that’s something to be grateful for.. and now you’re more aware of what to do and what people (aka older people) are talking about when they say they have tight hips…
Not feeling your hips is something else to celebrate. And Butterfly pose is a gratitude pose 🎉
Pollen count today near me is a report you want to take a look at if you are spring or year-round allergy prone these days. And I share tips in this article on how to manage allergies better with our constantly changing earth and where we have hope.
Pasture-raised, organic eggs are one of the healthy foods.
Because our beloved planet needs a restore, Amen!
If you’re like many of us, you’re feeling the effects. It’s not just seasonal allergies anymore… it’s year round allergy effects. And if you’re wondering if your new strange, non-serious, unexplainable body symptoms are related, they probably are. 🌎
They are for me too… I never had allergies before and then started feeling the effects in spring and fall from the pollen count today near me. And that gradually became winter and summer also.
DC had its highest pollen count today near me report in February that’s before the spring fever time. And why the Tidal Basin Cherry Blossoms that I grew up around bloomed earlier this year from previous years. 🌸 I remember one year where there were few blooms and I saw one tree near me.
We keep topping new records.
And this affects quality of life. You learn this quickly by observing the patterns. Like I noticed when it reaches over 70 degrees, my skin became thirsty and needs moisturizing self-care love.
By being aware, I can do something preventative.
And you can do the same with your symptoms.
There’s hope.
At one point, the rumor was that allergy effects last for 7 years.
…And in belief and hope in relief, I can attest in my case, that’s about right.
From 2015 to 2023 I felt the effects bad where I would go from my normal feeling self (no pollen allergy effects)… to whoosh my thinking mind was congested and felt like it was hit with a wind storm.
Which btw, gusty wind is not a Vata’s friend as it can knock us out of balance (especially as we already carry wind sameness properties).
Those seasons affected me in my daily activites where I couldn’t just sit outside that I used to love to do (and most of us do).
Because if I did, the next day I would pay the price, feeling out of it in a brain fog way. And I didn’t want to take a blocking histamine pill every day. I felt the blockage as… I couldn’t sneeze at all.
And as bodies adapt, these days I sneeze a lot and have a new appreciation for the self-cleansing interruption.
Likely, you or someone in your household feels the allergy effects in some way. Sometimes it’s our four-legged family members. 🐾
Below are a few survival tips to make the ride a little better until your body adjusts or you find a new way.
…And as we wait for our world to discover new ways to restore our natural world, and change how we handle our modern world like: food agriculture, transportation, and manufacturing.
These are major areas that affect the climate crisis connected to allergies. And places that used to be disconnected from these effects, like California, are now feeling the dust.
Even though there are more trees (that primarily contribute to the green spring pollen dust), being near the mountain air feels better.
And better than in a busy city or beach that this body can attest to… or densely populated with mass transportation pollution.
Observingly, places with less people like Norway and the Adirondacks had less pollen effects.
You’d have to test out on your body… just in case you are considering relocating, those are some life-giving things to consider.
One thing you can do in the States is research what the pollen levels are and which ones bother your systems.
So many people I’ve talked to don’t even know that this snapshot report exists.
How I use the report is: I put in my zip code and I see which days are lowest pollen count in the week that is available on the pollen phone app. The daily report can also be found on the site.
Then looking at the week, I immediately know low count days are predicted rainy days. So it’s not accurate as weather prediction is never 100% accurate (and sometimes off).
So, what you can glean from this information is that each pollen season impacted has roughly the same type, quality, and quantity of pollen every day until the pollen season shifts.
If the count is over, say 10 that’s high on any given day, then you know what to do preventatively for that season (or use the tips below to help you).
And you can take a look at what the culprits are such as elm, juniper, and maple trees these days in certain areas and what I see on my report.
Tip #2: Invest in and turn the air purifier on high. This helps significantly for spaces you spend a lot of time in like your bedroom or where you sleep, and in an office space where you work.
If you work around others, you’ll be the envy of your office mates as they get to feel the clean air effects too around you. 💨
Be sure to use HEPA filters that catch small particles like the green ones circulating around (and mold that’s more prevalent in the autumn).
I’ve had an air purifier beside me since around 2000 when it was discovered that an office I worked in had mold behind the walls. The air purifier invested in was a life saver, and I’ve never lived without one since. You appreciate close-up your healthy breathing daily in those instances.
Changing the filters and vacuuming often on schedule make a difference too in the quality of filtering you’re getting.
Tip #3: Do a weeky nasal cleanse with a neti pot, warm water, and sea salt mixture. If you battle with sinus infections often or seasonally, this is a preventative game changer.
Remember, you can’t change the air in this bubble life we live in, but you can change your effects.
That’s one thing we all knew early on in life: air quality affects quality of life.
New Generation Hope for Our Health
And we also picked up: what we knew in the past isn’t going to take us to our future. Or today’s mantra,“What got us here, won’t get us there.”
And while we’re cleaning out our sinuses, we can breathe in some good, hopeful vibes for our planet future with the kids of today, Gen Z.
Born with an innate earthly duty and social media, they may want to have a life mission to impact a fragile world that needs environmental repair. And that’s something we can be optimistically hopeful for. 🎉
…Maybe that’s your kiddos or you that’s saying “school me, please!” so something can be done about the environmental world chaos. In the meanwhile, we can bring back “act local, think global.” And that includes the foods we eat. Like eggs. Not these lawn Easter eggs. But edible eggs.
Because healthy eggs we eat are low histamine (anti-allergy) super foods loaded with vitamins that many of us can rally around, whether school or adult-age. You can make 2-minute easy poached eggs daily or celebrate eggs on occasion.
And if you get tired of eggs, maybe you can make your inspired waffles with this recipe that has a healthy twist (plus an egg 😉).
Vinyasa yoga flow is good for getting movement and activity flow through your systems. Learn some of the common mistakes below.
Creative expression flow from winter to spring in a healthy (gluten-free) chocolate mousse dessert. 🎉Recipe below…
Vinyasa was introduced a few years after I started regular yoga that was just starting to grow in America. We were slow to catch on, immersed in our busy Western ways.
And the Vinyasa series was repeated.
Classic Vinyasa yoga includes 4 parts: Downward Dog, Plank, Chaturanga, and Up Dog.
Start at Down Dog and end in Up Dog.
These poses help your arm strength and back flexibility. All are great for flexing your back if you’re having back tension issues.
Vinyasa flow is good for life balance rhythm especially when you’re having a tough season and wanna work out your Pitta frustrations on your mat. And of course, yoga helps your body balance in the process.
The Vinyasa front down, on-the-mat poses complement your Plow Pose restoring your back.
We can easily need a tune up. And learning good form in the beginning helps to use as a guide.
When we don’t know any better, we choose the easiest form for our bodies.
Note: by the time you get to Up Dog, your tops of feets will roll transition and be on the mat vs bottom of feet. So your feet position is evolving as you move into the Vinyasa yoga pose.
And is often forgotten about.
On that topic, these are some of the common Vinyasa Yoga mistakes:
We forget to flow our feet. In Down Dog, our heels are not on the floor. Or our toes can be curled under on the mat in Up Dog, like in Plank Pose.
We forget to pause. You can slow down (as also a metaphor in life) and insert in a Child’s Pose from the Up Dog to Downward Dog transition if you would like a rest.
Another common mistake is in the hands. Hands are partially flat relying on finger strength on the mat (when it’s good to have full hands flat on the mat). Ideally, hands and fingers are flat on the mat that also helps to protect your wrists and awkward arm bends that could send strange sensations to your hand parts.
In Up Dog, often the position of hands are too low beside the body as you shift the top half of your body forward. Try to align with your shoulders.
And while we focus on hands and feets, we forget about our mid areas, where:
The buttocks are not peaked high enough in Down Dog for a higher pronounced “V.” If you’ve been to a class and received individual instruction, often the teacher will pull your mid-section body up. And that feels lighter and totally different than in a comfy “V” where the body feels weighted toward the ground.
Using a body mirror can help you better assess if your form is good.
Then naturally as we just hiked ourselves up: when we move into Plank pose, our Buttocks are too high in the air resembling a hill in Plank pose. Lower just a bit, so in a mirror you look more like a down sloping seesaw. There aren’t bumps in the middle.
And then in Chaturanga, don’t be in a hurry. Stay there longer for a few breaths and gain the arm strength building benefits. You feel control over your body.
Then Up Dog if you choose is your last part of the flow. There are slight differences between Up Dog, Cobra, and Sphinx. Up Dog is the one with the highest energy vibes.
Then before you get back into Downward Dog, pause into Child’s Pose if you like a rest.
And this is also a good place to insert other inspiring creative poses for Vata especially if you need more energy in your life (feeling Kapha tired).
Your Creative Vinyasa Flow
When you feel comfortable with the basics, you can also add your own yoga spin. Just like each yoga class is different, you can make your own yoga pose moves with your basic Vinyasa Yoga flow series. And these movements will benefit your body.
Yoga is about feeling good and getting the kinks out. And being physically creative can do just that!
One instructional move is that yoga is different than other forms of exercise.
For one, many of the yoga up moves are inhale breaths and down moves are exhales. It’s the opposite in many other forms of exercise.
Like, in weight lifting, when you lift up, you exhale and let go of the air. So switching up your breath inhale and exhale for yoga can be helpful and tricky. The most important point is just to breathe naturally and then let the rest follow. It’s more important to follow good breathing habits in weight lifting where you can unintentionally hyperventilate if you overexert yourself.
Give yourself grace in yoga!
Another move that’s fun to do (if you see it that way) is when you’re in Chaturanga: shift your toes and arms forward and backward on the mat where your height or plane distance on the mat doesn’t change. You’re constantly moving. 😊
What makes Vinyasa special is it keeps you flexible and moving and this helps your creativity. As you use your breath in flow, you get in touch with your deeper senses inside you. And this can help you tap into your creativity that can be missing in your life.
In modern life, unless we surround ourselves in creative environments and inspired, we can get out of touch with creativity.
That’s my story (and maybe yours) in corporate where creativity is as far removed as personal expression unless you have intentions to improve those areas in your day.
One easy way is create your own Vinyasa yoga flow. Maybe you add a Pigeon pose in between your Downward Dog and Plank pose. Or a Hare pose coming out of Up Dog. Or you add a Mountain pose after your Plank pose and then step or take a jump back.
You can reach your Mountain with just a ‘lil creativity and nudge. Sometimes you just need the suggestion or permission and then you’ve enhanced your day with a few more calming breaths and moments without breaking a sweat.
And if you’re feeling energetic, you could get into your hands up Tree or full Dancer poses. And then come back to your Mountain, fold down and jump or step back to Plank. And from there get back to Chaturanga.
The possibilities are endless in your creative day of activities that take just escape break minutes away from your work and devices.
