Nightfall is setting sooner as we near the end of October. What better way to light up the dark, and your Halloween spirit, than carving into the bright orange of a pumpkin and creating a fun or spooky jack-o-lantern to decorate your doorstep?
Not only is it strangely satisfying to squish your fingers through the flesh and guts of a pumpkin, but added to a warm winter soup or homemade pumpkin pie, they provide us with a healthy punch of beta carotene, vitamin A, potassium, and fibre.
All this, neatly packaged in a vibrant orange biodegradable package, ready to serve up savoury or sweet.
Don’t forget to bake the pumpkin seeds in the oven with a dash of salt for a nutty, crunchy snack. These seeds are virtual power packs of potassium, magnesium, and fibre.
With all that pumpkin and seed eating out of the way, some powerful and energizing vinyasa yoga will help to burn those calories and give you a good warm glow as well.
What does the yoga world mean by vinyasa, anyways? Vinyasa means to flow from one posture to the next with your breath. In opposition to the static nature of hatha yoga focusing on one posture at a time, vinyasa builds on the base knowledge of postures and is delivered in a variety of ways.
Depending on the style of yoga and the instructor, vinyasa yoga is adapted based on whether the room is heated or not and if the intention is a powerful invigorating aerobic activity or a slow, steady, and deeply mindful sequence.
What I love the most about vinyasa yoga is how your motion is your meditation. The instructor’s voice melds together with the subtle yet present dance of body and breath. Say the following out loud and visualize the flow of your body and breath: “Inhale, sweep your arms up overhead, exhale as you swan dive your arms out and down to the floor, inhale fingertips to your shins as you look forward with a flat back, exhale step your right foot back into a high lunge. Inhale your torso and arms to the sky, shoulders over your hips, then as your right heels come down to touch the floor on a 45-degree angle, exhale your arms out parallel to the floor with your front knee over your ankle; warrior two.”
Until next time, keep it flowing, keep it real.