3 Bullet Thursday

March 1, 2018jeslarussa

This may be the first 3 Bullet Thursday not written and published from an airport bar! Thanks to a break in my business travel, this batch of yoga information, inspiration, and general lifestyle nonsense is coming at you direct from my embarrassingly messy desk.

So, without any further ado, here is a run down of the noteworthy from the yoga world.

What I’m Reading-Living Your Yoga, Finding the Spiritual in Everyday Life by Judith Hanson Lasater, Ph.D., P.T.

This book has been on my yoga book shelf for years, and on occasion, I have even referenced it in other yoga articles on this blog. I have not, however, read it cover to cover until now because it just didn’t seem to land with me.

Living Your Yoga is recommended reading the for 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training I am completing, and since I’m an “A student”, I’m reading the book AND making notes. Surprisingly, every page of this book is hitting home for me right now and I’m taking so much from it.

You know what they say, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”

Music I’m Listening To-Ambient and Not So Ambient

I love ambient music and iTunes Music knows this about me. So every Friday, the lovely algorithm at iTunes makes some ambient music recommendations just for me. The Fathoms album by Tapes and Topographies was in the mix last week and the iTunes algorithm served up an ambient winner.

In heavy rotation from the not so ambient genre at our house is the Kaleo A/B album. This album was released in 2016, so obviously it isn’t technically new. It is new to my husband though and he asked that I feature the music on 3 Bullet Thursday to make sure other people knew about this Icelandic blues-rock band.

What I’m Wearing-WTF, Lululemon?

I don’t usually spend much time writing about yoga clothing. But as a short chic, I feel it is my duty to tell the world that Lululemon made a pair of pants that are available in petite sizes (28″).

I don’t know what inspired them to finally notice that short people need pants too. Maybe there is a short woman in the design department at Lululemon who went rogue and cut the patterns off 4 inches short. But I urge you to remain calm because it only applies to their Street to Studio Pant II. The 28″ cut is the one for short girls. The 32″ cut is for the tall ladies. Also, technically, the Street to Studio Pant II is a crop style, but on short girls, the 28″ shows up as an ankle pant. Okay, fine. And one more thing, the 28″ isn’t lined. The regular length pants are lined. I guess they sent the rogue short designer packing before she had time to line them.

I have modeled them for you in the photos below. And, one final note about these; size up at least one size. The cut is clingy so if you want to be comfortable in them, which seems to be their purpose, I recommend setting aside your vanity and getting a little extra room.

Lululemon-street-to-studio-III — This is what they look like on a short girl who is not a Lululemon model. These are size 4 in the 28″. I’m 5’2″.

Lululemon-Street-to-studio-III-back — And plenty of room in the trunk!

Want More?

This site is full of yoga tips, information and inspiration. Check out the recipes section for vegan and vegetarian recipes to fuel your practice or eat a little cleaner. For some deep thoughts about yoga philosophy go here. And for past 3 Bullet Thursdays and other yoga tips and hacks go here.

This article originally published on www.groundingup.com

3 Bullet Thursday

February 15, 2018February 15, 2018jeslarussa

Here it is, your Thursday rundown of all things yoga information and inspiration from yours truly at the yoga BLOG, GroundingUP. Namaste!

What I’m Reading

I know that a few weeks ago I suggested you read something other than yoga books to avoid burn out during yoga teacher training. So, having said that, I’m taking my own advice and reading two literary classics this week; Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. If you are looking for a quick easy read, go for Treasure Island; it’s shorter than Wuthering Heights and is a little more straight forward.

Now having said that, I need to confess that I am reading a yoga book as well. It’s called Myths of the Asanas: Stories at the Heart of the Yoga Tradition. The book covers approximately XX asanas and includes a description of the anatomical alignment of the pose, its benefits and attributes, and some interesting and entertaining commentary on the asana’s origins. I recommend this book to anyone interested in yoga history or training to be a yoga teacher.

What I’m listening to

From time to time I listen to the From the Heart Podcast by Rachel Brathen. As a podcast, it is very much hit or miss, but I caught an episode where she interviewed Nahko (and Medicine for the People).

Nahko and his band are very much idealists out to change the world by advocating for a long and evolving list of causes. The music style is mostly singer songwriter with a rock leaning. The lyrics are about mindfulness, seeking the meaning of life, and saving the world with love and kindness and whatnot.

For me personally, I’ll need to be incredibly high and on day 3 of a yoga festival before this music is going to resonate with me, but he’s getting tour dates and selling albums, so this is clearly for someone. If you are local and going to BottleRock Napa Valley, you can catch him there Friday, May 25.

Quote I’m Pondering

Some of my readers may know that I’m learning to love Tim Ferriss. He is kind of an ass but he does have some great insight around time management, life goals and success.

Therefore, I dutifully read his blog, listen to his podcasts, and subscribe to his emails. Anyway, the deep thought for my week is something he said recently which is, “How can I make this a gift?” He asks this question when something unfortunate or infuriating happens to him.

Is your flight delayed indefinitely? Tim Ferris wants to you to find a way to make the situation feel like a gift. Um, okay, did you just get 5 hours at an airport (bar) to call your mom, or respond to an email backlog or draft that strategic plan you haven’t been able to focus on? Looks like you did. You are welcome. And thanks, Tim Ferriss, I hate you a little less today. Oh, and fuck you, American Airlines.

Want More?

This article originally published on www.groundingup.com

3 Bullet Thursday–Yoga Tips

January 18, 2018January 18, 2018jeslarussa

When I first conceptualized the yoga tips blog post called 3 Bullet Thursday, I thought I would post it twice a month because I really didn’t think I consumed enough yoga content to warrant a weekly yoga tips rundown. As it turns out, I’m a much bigger yoga nerd than I thought I was and my running list of bullets for 3 Bullet Thursday is getting out of hand. Anyway, I did my best to pare down the yoga books, yoga music, and yoga inspiration I’m currently churning through for my fellow yoga nerds.

What I’m Reading–Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

Full disclosure; you should know that when I say I’m reading something, that really just means I’m listening to the audio version of the book on audible.com. I commute about 11 hours a week and spend at least that much time in airports, airplanes and taxi cabs (okay, Ubers). To make that time feel well spent, I binge on audiobooks.

So about Siddhartha; it’s on many yoga teacher training reading lists because it chronicles the spiritual journey of self discovery of a man named Siddhartha. Spoiler alert, the sanskrit translation of Siddhartha is literally “he who has found the meaning of existence,” or “he who has attained his goals.”

It’s a quick and easy read (3 hours on Audible) so even though the title gives away the ending, I suggest you have a listen–even if you aren’t a yoga teacher or practitioner. It’s a classic and it won’t kill you to learn something.

What I’m Listening To–BuddahBar

Yes, I am referring to the compilation albums of lounge, chill, and world music. They are produced and distributed by the Buddha Bar bar, restaurant, and hotel franchise. It’s the company’s ambiance music and is the perfect background music for my life right now whether I’m at work or at home. No words (I get plenty of those coming my way) just chill sounds. iTunes seems to have the whole collection but I also have all the CDs (yes, actual CDs) so if you are local–that’s you Three Dog Yoga friends–and you want to borrow one, let me know.

Deep Thought I’m Pondering–“I wish I did not wish”

“I wish I did not wish” is a koan, which is a question or statement meant to test a student’s progress in zen practice. More or less it is meant to break your head.

I came across this koan on a Tim Ferris podcast where he was interviewing Gretchen Rubin about her many happiness related writing projects. That podcast is great, but too long, so I’m not going to recommend it here. I do, however, fully endorse koans.

This article originally published on www.groundingup.com.

Go to Yoga Tips & Hacks for more of this from GroundingUp