Conscious Relaxation in the Spirit of Gratitude

Sthira sukham asanam (Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, 2.46). This sutra reminds us that our poses should represent a receptive strength, demonstrating effort without tension and relaxation without dullness. That last part has become very important for me lately: relaxation without dullness. I'm including more and more restorative yoga and meditation in my practice, the aim of which is conscious relaxation and mindfulness. Our culture tends to define relaxation as checking out, turning off, or tuning out. As much fun as that can be, where does it really get us? If I sit in front of the television for a couple of hours, I always feel more tired than when I first sat down. In many ways, simply checking out is not relaxing at all. Rather, it constitutes ignoring the stresses that reside in our bodies and minds, allowing them to linger and fester. If I'm honest with myself, I'm most successful at deep relaxation when I give it conscious attention. To me, relaxation means letting go of tensions and worries to soften myself as completely as possible. So how do I do this, how do I practice letting go?

I just finished a week-long hip openers workshop with one of my teachers, Eddie Modestini, at Maya Yoga Studio here on Maui. As we focused on hip opening, a crucial lesson for us to examine was that of letting go. In order to open we must learn to let go of areas of stored tension, stress, tightness, injury, or even emotions. We must learn to peel back the layers we've built up over years of unconscious activity. I've begun to approach this by studying a conscious state of relaxation and mindfulness. Cultivating meditation and restorative yoga as integral parts of my practice has helped tremendously. These practices teach me to sit in stillness, remaining wide awake. I focus attention on my breath, as it moves through me, expanding and softening the fibers of my being. Conscious relaxation is meditation in action.

As the holidays approach, and everyone begins talking of gratitude, I've begun to wonder what role gratitude plays in letting go. Usually, when we think of what we're grateful for, it is for things we possess. We think of being grateful for what we have. Yet, as I explore consciously letting go, I've seen that if I approach tensions with an attitude of gratitude, they melt away. To stresses, injuries, challenging relationships, or pain I present gratitude for the lessons they teach me and the role they play in shaping my path. It is then that I can let go of them. If I instead approach those things I want to let go with anger or displeasure, they have a tendency to root themselves more firmly in my being. Cultivating an honest feeling of gratitude for our stresses can be incredibly difficult, I know. But I have found that regular practice in conscious relaxation is a key that opens that door. Start small: try a restorative yoga class, sit quietly for 10 minutes in the morning or before sleep, pause at random intervals in your day for a few smooth deep breaths. As we move into a time of year that is often a paradox of stress and worry amid celebrations of gratitude and giving, consider giving yourself the ultimate gift of letting go.

What's all this talk about kombucha?

Scoby mother and baby at 14 days fermentation

My household is currently in the midst of a home-brewed kombucha craze. Kombucha, which has Russian, Chinese, and Japanese origins, is a tea fermented with a kombucha culture that looks like a mushroom, though it's not actually a mushroom that produces this effervescent, vinegar-ish drink. It's a slimy conglomeration of bacteria and yeast that merely resembles a mushroom. A more fun term for this mass is "scoby," or a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast.

Why Drink Kombucha?

Aside from its exhilarating tingly taste, kombucha is purported to proffer many health benefits. A quick internet search will turn up a list of benefits that any snake-oil salesman would drool over. I've seen articles claiming that kombucha will do everything from regrow hair to reduce wrinkles to prevent cancer. Very minimal scientific study has been devoted to kombucha and its effects on the human body, so we have few definitive facts about kombucha's help/harm ratio.

We do know that some of the same live cultures in the kombucha scoby are the same as those present in many commercially available yogurts. A large body of evidence exists showing that such live cultures help maintain a healthy intestinal tract and even lower the incidence of yeast infections in women. It has been shown that Kombucha contains a decent dose of B vitamins. There are also studies suggesting kombucha demonstrates some anti-microbial benefits.

Personally, I drink about 4 oz. in the morning well before I consume anything else, and seem to have some benefits from this. I notice a nice little spike in energy and mental clarity. I've also observed that my usual "digestive irregularities" mellow out when I'm drinking my morning kombucha. What's more, I haven't been sick in a while. Maybe it's the yoga, maybe my diet, maybe my lifestyle, or maybe the kombucha. And yes, I'm very well aware of the placebo effect, too! Bottom line is, I really enjoy drinking a little shot of kombucha in the morning, and if I happen to reap some health benefits from it, too, then all the better!

Potential Risks...

Many of kombucha's fans drink the elixir at their own risk, given that a myriad of concerns over potential hazards have arisen as kombucha's popularity skyrockets. First, kombucha is a fermented drink, meaning it will contain trace amounts of alcohol. When people brew at home, there is obviously a lot of room for variance in actual alcohol content. Most commercially available kombucha products register 0.5% alcohol, or about the same as a non-alcoholic beer.

Kombucha is a sweet tea, because any fermentation process requires sugar. As such, diabetics may want to watch out for potential blood sugar spikes from kombucha.


Generally speaking, good kitchen cleanliness will be fine for most kombucha home brews. Some brewers have developed a more sophisticated process to closely monitor pH levels and check for potential pathogens. Some even recommend thorough sterilization of your utensils. My experience has been fine with good old-fashioned cleanliness. The primary concern here seems to be the introduction of mold to the culture. I abide by the old adage, "when in doubt, throw it out." If you find what seems like mold on your scoby, toss it out and start fresh.


Some people have reported feeling ill after drinking kombucha, while many more feel great after consuming it. Please use common sense, and if you choose to brew your own kombucha, do your homework first. Read through some of the seemingly endless information available online, and decide for yourself if it's something you'd really like to try.  If you do try it, take small doses first to guard against any potential negative reactions.

Ok, I've Done My Homework, and I Want To Make Kombucha! What Do I Do?

Well, it's helpful to have a scoby and a cup of starter tea from a friend! You see, with every batch of kombucha brewed, a new scoby grows on top of the mother scoby. So once I started brewing, I was quickly overrun with scobies! I was fortunate enough to have a friend start me off, but what if you don't know anyone who brews kombucha? 

There are some resources online for purchasing a starter kit, and the brewing sites I've listed below contain some of those retailers. Check your local area for stores that sell kombucha, and contact them to inquire about their sources. They may have a local brewer with more than a few scobies to share. 

Of course, scobies have to come from somewhere and some renegades out there have published instructions for how to make your own kombucha mushroom. I always love steps to greater self-sufficiency:

http://www.foodrenegade.com/how-to-grow-a-kombucha-scoby/

http://www.instructables.com/id/Making-your-own-Kombucha-mother/

Once you have a kombucha mother and some starter liquid, you can begin brewing! Check "The Food" section of this blog for the instructions that give me a great batch of kombucha every time. 

There are also tons and tons of kombucha brewing recipes available online. Some I like are here:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Kombucha-Brewing-Instructions/

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-a-Big-Batch-of-Kombucha/

http://www.thenewhomemaker.com/kombucha

http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/how-to/how-to-brew-your-own-kombucha-083972

A final note on the home brew craze

I garden, yoga, and brew my own kombucha. All of these practices are firmly rooted in self-sufficiency. That's one of the greatest appeals of these practices for me. Anything that gives me a greater say in seemingly unpredictable outcomes makes me feel more empowered and in control of my destiny. Even something as small as brewing kombucha contributes to this. I suppose that's why we're seeing a resurgence of do-it-yourself activities like this one. After all, it's fun to make your own "stuff," and I'm always surprised at just how much I learn along the way. 

Happy Brewing!

Yoga Gave Me a Better Butt

That's right, yoga gave me a better butt. I say this not merely in reference to my much stronger physique from yoga, though that is a lovely perk. Rather, I'm referring to the trade I made with yoga, that turned out to be one of the best deals of my life. I offered up the butts of my smoking habit to yoga and not only did it happily accept my offering, but also gave me, among many other wonderful things, that better butt in return. I've spoken briefly of my success with smoking cessation through yoga, but I feel compelled to write about it in more detail at the moment. Perhaps I can share something that will be useful to my fellow smoking cessation warriors out there.

First and most importantly: Never underestimate the power of intention! If you've been to any yoga classes, you've probably heard more than a few times an instructor suggest that you "set an intention for your practice." This can be anything from focusing your attention on a particular breakthrough you'd like to have on your mat, to opening yourself up for greater insight into something off your mat. I like to practice this every time I come to my mat. I can't count the number of times I've reached deeper into a pose or had an "Aha!" moment that was directly related to an intention I set for my practice. The power of an intentionally focused mind and will is one of the strongest forces on Earth.

I approached my Yogic Renaissance with the express intention of quitting smoking and living a healthy lifestyle. The gritty details: I was a half-pack a day smoker for 6 years, had already tried to quit once, and relapsed in 1 year. That year was beset with cravings, weight gain, and general malaise. I had gone "cold turkey" and that applied to my recovery as well. I did nothing to replace the void left by smoking except eat more and give myself plenty of pep talks. That year did teach me a lot, though. I learned that, for me, the psychological addiction to cigarettes was far, far more intense than the physical addiction. I used cigarettes as a crutch to help me cope with every little stress in life, as well as every little insecurity. Taking them away was like ripping a baby's blanket from her hands and leaving her laying there cold, exposed, and downright unhappy. And let's face it, I enjoyed smoking. I even relished it. I wouldn't have been smoking if I didn't find pleasure in it. So the challenge was to find something I enjoyed more than I enjoyed smoking, and for that something be mutually exclusive to the dirty little habit, so that I could effectively push it out of my life.

Enter Yoga! It didn't happen overnight. In fact, it took nearly a year of yoga every single day to completely kill the smoking demon. Yes, I felt ashamed smoking in between yoga practices. Yes, I was paranoid that other people in classes could smell cigarettes on my clothes or hair. Yes, I dreaded that someone from class or even a teacher might catch me on the street mid-puff and I'd be mortified. Yes, I felt like a hypocrite for a while. I even felt unworthy of calling myself a yogi as long as I was smoking. But I loved yoga so much. I loved the way it made me feel physically and mentally, I loved the deeper breaths I could take, I loved the noticeably lower stress levels, I loved the bliss I felt after practice, I loved the community, I loved the ideas and philosophy of it, I loved the feeling of being at home wherever I may be. I LOVE YOGA! The more I found to love, the more I threw myself into it, and the less I wanted to smoke. Surprise!

The real turning point for me, I think, was the day that I decided to confront all those feelings of shame and paranoia about being a "smoking yogi." In a beginner's class that I had begun to regularly attend, the teacher asked us each to give a reason why we were practicing yoga. When my turn came, I said, "I'm practicing yoga to quit smoking." There was a pause. "Ugh, they must think I'm terrible, gross, full of you know what," I thought. And then came the story that somebody else used to smoke, too and yoga helped so much, and how great it was to be quitting, and encouragement upon encouragement. Gone were the feelings of dread and mortification. I now truly felt like a woman on a mission. I had to state my intention out loud for everyone to hear, in order to hear it myself and fulfill it. I am now smoke-free for 1 1/2 years. I never have cravings, not even for a second. I didn't put on any weight, and I'm in the best shape of my life. And it's all because of yoga.

Photo by María Barros Cabalar

Of course, this is my experience, and anyone else's will be different. I feel that sharing my story adds to the wealth of information revealing that the seemingly impossible is actually possible. We've heard the celebrity stories of smoking cessation through yoga, from Christy Turlington to Jennifer Aniston. The modern medical establishment is even beginning to conduct studies on the effectiveness of yoga as part of a smoking cessation program that focuses on wellness training. Some of those studies are described here:
Yoga for Women Attempting Smoking Cessation
Yoga as a Complementary Treatment for Smoking Cessation
Yoga for Smoking Cessation Feasibility Study
Testing a Social Cognitive Theory Based Behavioral Intervention of Yoga for Smoking Cessation
Preventing Postpartum Relapse to Smoking Using Yoga and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

If you're a smoking yogi like I was, or are looking to utilize yoga to replace smoking in your life, congratulations! You're taking courageous steps on a path to better health and a better quality of life for yourself. It is one of the most important things you will do in your life. As you walk this path, these are some critical points to remember:

Love Yourself

Practice Your Yoga Every Single Day, No Exceptions
Imagine Yourself a Non-Smoker
Surround Yourself With Supportive People
Don't Give Up, Ever.... Even if You "Fail," Keep Trying
Never Underestimate the Power of Intention

And now, to lighten things up a bit, here's 

Jai Ambe Dave Stringer & the Smoking Yogis. 

Enjoy!