Practice
Brake for yoga
Kia Miller suggests these poses to stay
limber while traveling.
Before you go
Cat-Cow spinal flexes: Warm up the spine
and enliven the entire body.
At the rest stop
Wide-Legged Standing Forward Bend: Calm the
mind and release the low back and shoulders.
After you arrive
Bridge Pose: lift and lower your hips
several times to release the lower back and reenergize the legs.
Eye-of-the-Needle-Pose: open the hips and
realign the sacroiliac hoint after a long day of sitting.
Bites
2 for the road
Bring a healthy (and tasty) snack to help
you resist rest-area junk food
·
Bear Naked pecan apple flax trail mix includes a
crunchy blend of flax, pumpkin seeds, and dried apple ($2.99)
·
Vita Coco Coconut Water with tangerine juice and
no added sugar ($1.99 for 11 oz)
Taste
Sensory feast
An exceptional restaurant celebrates the
hidden delights of vegetables.
Restaurateurs and yoga practitioners Ari
Derfel and Eric Fenster think vegetarian food deserves equal billing with
meat-based fare. Though Gather, their Berkeley, California, restaurant, caters
to omnivores and vegetarians alike, the menu showcases veggie-centric food
that’s irresistible even to meat lovers. And while most high-end restaurants
focus heavily on meat dishes, chef Sean Baker fills half the menu with
intensely flavored vegetarian and vegan dishes. Gather’s acclaimed vegan
charcuterie plate, made up of bites of seasonal produce like chili-seared
eggplant and grilled heirloom tomatoes with mole sauce, is popular with both
omnivores and vegetarians. “We want to change the way people eat by helping
them see that vegetarian food is amazing,” says Derfel.
Derfel and Fenster, who both practice yoga
regularly, seek to support sustainable agriculture by souring their food
primarily from local and organic farmers. (Interested diners can peruse a
source book tracking the origins of every ingredient on the menu.) they
designed the restaurant to be light on the environment, and they strive to act
with consciousness and compassion in their dealings with their customers,
employees, and vendors.
“Yoga influences everything we do,” says
Derfel. “We want to create positive experiences that help people understand the
total connection of all living things.” It’s a challenging business approach,
Derfel admits, “but for us, it wouldn’t be interesting any other way.”
Kitchen wisdom
Eat your veggies
A new take on convenience food: Tamar
Adler, author of An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace, suggests
cooking fresh vegetables as soon as you bring them home from the market rather
than letting them languish in the crisper and on your conscience. Oven roasted
with olive oil and salt, sautéed with garlic, boiled lightly and dressed with
vinaigrette – when you have cooked veggies ready to go in the refrigerator,
you’re more likely to eat them.
Good to know
Anxiety antidote
A regular practice that includes yoga’s
spiritual and ethical teachings may ease anxiety more effectively than a
practice of asana, breathing, and relaxation alone, according to a recent
study. Yoga students learning about the yamas and niyamas (observances and
attitudes, such as nonviolence, contentment, and surrender) has significant
decreases in anxiety, including lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
“Spiritual principles can help you see meaning in your life situation,” says
researcher Tammy Greer of the University of Southern Mississippi, “and that can
lower stress.”
Yoga RX
Sore no more
For the first time, scientists have
scrutinized the biochemistry of a sore muscle to see exactly how massage
relieves soreness. Researchers at McMaster University in Canada found that a
10-minute massage activates certain denes which act to reduce inflammation and accelerate
healing. The benefits were found to be similar to that of ibuprofen, but with
zero side effects. The kneading motion of a massage stretches muscle cells
sideways as well as up and down, triggering inflammation-reducing signals-and
bringing sweet relief.
