Thanksgiving and the City…Up Dog, Down Dog, Turkey Split

by Meredith Litz

Flowing solo this Thanksgiving? We’ve got you covered!…

Not everyone is fortunate enough to spend Thanksgiving with their families. Sometimes it’s work, distance or simply lack there of that prevent us from stuffing with stuffing and negotiating with the last piece of pumpkin pie. Well, if you relate to one of the preceding conditions – here are some bright ideas to keep you pumped with prana (life force) this Thursday!

  • DO YOGA at Golden Bridge NYC! – This Thanksgiving Day Join Guru Dharam Singh in a special Kundalini Yoga and Meditation class followed with a community Thanksgiving Day Feast and Gathering. Time: 10:30am – 12:30pm, Meal starts at 1pm. Cost: $25/pre-reg, $35/drop in. More Info: Visit Website
  • SALUTE THE SUN at The Om Factory! This would be kind of like the turkey trot for yogis. Ashley Bouldin has built a special morning Thanksgiving class revolving around Sun Salutations – 108 of them, to be exact. But don’t worry, it’s not about how many you do as much as it is the anticipated radiance you’ll feel afterwards.  Start the day in a happy place! Time: 8:30am – 10:00am. Cost: $17 drop in. More Info: Visit Website.
  • TREAT THE SENSES at one of NY’s Finest Restaurants! Check out the best Turkey Tables for 2009 at NY Magazine’s Thanksgiving Guide.  Or  for a Vegan Thanksgiving Super Vegan has a great list of locales with menus – Lavender chocolate cheesecake from Blossom anyone?
  • BE THE SEER at the 83rd Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade! Ya know, “when in Rome…” ! Here’s a list of talent you can expect to see in addition to the 1500 cheerleaders, dancers, singers, performers and 800 clowns (no I’m not kidding): Bello, Grandma and the cast of the Big Apple Circus, Andrea Bocelli, Boys Like Girls, Alan Cumming, Billy Currington, DJ Lance Rock and the cast of Yo Gabba Gabba!, Jimmy Fallon and The Roots, Gloria Gaynor, Emily Hughes, Kermit the Frog and Tiffany Thornton, Jane Krakowski, Cyndi Lauper, Ziggy Marley with Judah Marley, Katharine McPhee, Miss America 2009 – Katie Stam, the cast and Muppets of Sesame Street, Mitchel Musso, Keke Palmer, The Pizzarelli Quartet, Jay Sean and Carly Simon.
  • VOLUNTEER TIME at the Woodstock Senior Center! Serve the clients restaurant-style at their annual Thanksgiving Lunch. Woodstock is a single resident occupancy hotel in Midtown, is the only source of nutritional meals for many of its members, both the homeless and the housed. Time: 8:30 AM – 2:00 PM. Register first at NY Cares - Website.
  • CREATE THEN DONATE! Make a “Blessing Bag”.

Every Thanksgiving season The Bowery Mission distributes “Blessing Bags” containing personal hygiene items and other necessities to the men and women they serve. Below are the listed items to include in your donation! Visit Website.
    • Toothpaste
    • Shampoo
    • Razors
    • Socks (white and black)
    • Hats
    • Toothbrush
    • Deodorant
    • Shaving cream
    • Underwear (all sizes)
    • Gloves

Kind Ambition

Kind Ambition

Living the yoga principles of detachment and nongrasping doesn’t mean you can’t be ambitious. In fact, applying them to your goals can make you more successful and happier, too.

One September morning in the middle of a yoga class, Yvonne Simon dropped into Child’s Pose.

On the face of it, this would seem unremarkable. But for Simon, who’s 45 and lives in Manchester, New Hampshire, the moment was nothing less than stunning.

The class started like many others in Simon’s decades of practice. She entered class with high expectations. If the person practicing next to her could manage to do a full Urdhva Dhanurasana (Upward Bow Pose), so would she, no matter how much her wrist hurt. In fact, in most classes, she found herself playing a private little game: She’d look around the room, identify the most experienced yogi and the newest—and then assign herself a score somewhere in between. She usually rated herself a 7.

Sometimes she tried to check her ambition at the studio door, but it always seemed to follow her in. This tendency wasn’t confined to yoga class. A competitive swimmer and straight-A student when she was young, she grew into an industrious adult, moving through careers in teaching and publishing. In 1996, she became an entrepreneur, cofounding a software company, Six Red Marbles, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Read the rest of this entry »

New LavenderSense event calendar – check the sidebar!

UPDATED CALENDAR OF EVENTS

May ♥ 2009

• Culture • Spirituality • Wellness • Yoga • 

12/Tuesday

Free Workshop: Have You Had a Spiritual Experience? at Quest Bookshop from 7-8pm. For more information, visit www.exkankar-ny.org

14/Thursday

INTEGRAL YOGA PRESENTS SNATAM KAUR NYC CONCERT. Sacred Chant Concert with GuruGanesha Singh, Manish Vyas and Tanmayo. Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew 263 West 86th Street. 7:30 p.m. Purchase tickets for $25/$35/$45 and get more information at www.iyiny.org or www.SpiritVoyage.com.

View more..

A Yogi’s Optimal Vacay Features Luxury and Purpose

A Yogi’s Optimal Vacay Features Luxury and Purpose

Spend a Week Doing YOGA in COSTA RICA this Summer at the PuraVida Wellness Retreat and Spa!

edeficiojose1

“Beautiful, fun and healthy. Pura Vida Retreat and Spa is considered by some as the Wellness & Yoga destination of choice outside the United States. We offer you a perfect balance of mind, body and spirit in an oasis of beauty, tranquility and home like intimacy. Pamper your body and soul while exploring the delights of Costa Rica, a country which is renowned for its beauty.”

Click here to see the list of cool retreats going on this summer ..

Go Yoga-ing! New Line of Yoga Apparel by Old Navy!

Go Yoga-ing!

New Line of Yoga Apparel by Old Navy

a-little-yoga1

There’s nothing better than accompanying your significant other to buy socks and stumbling upon a brand new line of yoga apparel!

goga*Cue* Old Navy‘s new line of yoga inspired active wear called “Go-Yoga-ing”. The item that catches your eye right away are the great rib knit tanks with cute phrases and eco-graphics – the best part is they’re only $10-13 bucks – my personal favorite “Peace Love Yoga” (see above). Also, check out the bright colored tanks, leggings, sports bras, zip-ups and flip flops! 

Click here to go directly to their site GoGA!

lavender-sense-quote_41309

Bookmark/share this post

Earth Day 2009, Where to Celebrate

Young & Broke NYC – “Livin’ it up on a Budget”

picture-22

Young & Broke NYC – “Livin’ it up on a Budget”

Zzzzzzzz….It’s a rainy Friday afternoon and you need some excitement. Here it is — an awesome new online publication by a brilliant yogi-diva!

img_50802As you start to plan your weekend, you’re probably feeling bummed about the rain but hey at least the temperature has entered the 60s! That means, parks, rooftops, frisbees, outdoor yoga classes, dog-walks – all very soon! But, for now get some tips on whats goin’ on this Saturday and Sunday from an expert at Young and Broke NYC.

img_26273Though it is called Young and Broke NYC, you don’t need to be either in order to appreciate. And if you are, you may have found your new virtual best friend! In addition to being city savvy, Carmen Da Silva, creator of Y&B is a yoga teacher and owner of Urban Vinyasa. She not only brings light to the benefits of mind, body and spirit but now to those of the recession! As a Village expert, she’s created a super snazzy website with the best advice on dining, music and all types of hidden free stuff. Carmen makes it her business to find the latest trends and best ways to live it up in NYC, without having to break the bank.

Whether you’re new or old to the city, check out who’s got the best happy hour deals, where to go for free concerts, who’s giving out free haircuts and even… free steaks!?

See for yourself – www.YoungandBroke.org

lavender-sense-quote_4209

Bookmark/share this post

Honoring Your True Self

lotus

Honoring Your True Self

I think we can all admit there are moments when it is difficult to stay 100% true to yourself. Maybe you ate fast food for dinner last night and regretted it afterwards. Possibly you screened a phone call of someone that needed to talk to you. Maybe you pressed the snooze button which gave you a few more minutes, but sacrificed breakfast. We do these things because we, like all other human beings, have moments of weakness. Tiredness or other distractions take over and we end up punishing ourselves because we’ve ignored what’s most important – the truth.

In yoga it’s emphasized to live sattvicly. In Sanskrit, Sattva (or satya) means “truth” or “correct”. Put this phrase into action and it means to live purely and truthfully, free from malicious, misguided, self-indulgent or harmful intent. The idea is that the purer your life, the purer the experience you will have while on this planet. Satya is one of the 8 core values or limbs of yoga. The first five limbs, the Yamas, are the suggested attitudes that one practicing yoga should take towards others and the world surrounding them. Is it difficult? You betcha!

Where do you start? With everyday decisions: your attitude towards other people, your attitude towards yourself, your nutritional sources, your environment and whatever else your body intakes regularly. Focus on what you’re thinking and what you mean, versus what you actually do. Does your intention match your action? Will others understand and receive your intention based on what you are putting out for them? Chances are at some point during the day you’ll catch yourself slipping up at bit.

Here is a fun little game from the Oprah Magazine to help cultivate the sense of awareness we’re talking about. Go ahead, play! I dare you to learn something about yourself and the messages you’ve been sending!

INTEGRITY PENNIESpennies1
Learning to manage your reactions more carefully is crucial to self-mastery. First thing in the morning, put 10 pennies in your left pocket. Each time you say or do something other than what you genuinely intended (maybe you softened a response too much or were harsher than you meant to be), transfer one penny to your right pocket. Keep practicing to reduce the number of right-pocket pennies.

Bookmark/share this post

« Older entries

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.