Links 4/29

It’s been in some ways an absolutely awful day but I’m still pretty content.  To explain the first part of that, I was fueled by food poisoning sometime around 2 am last night and my stomach is still feeling pretty tender.  On top of that, I wasn’t able to find the perfect plantings for my garden urns.  I’m thinking maybe nasturtiums.
To explain the latter part, it’s the birthday of one of my best friends and I got to see her for the first time in what feels like forever.  And in spite of my relative nausea, hanging out and catching up was lovely.

I’m enjoying Middlemarch, A Quiet Place was fantastic, and seeing the Art in Bloom exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts yesterday was beautiful and completely brought out my inner elderly white lady.  But what can I say, I love flower shows and I won’t deny it.

I have a scarcity of links this week, and you can decide if that’s good or bad!

• Allure on women in the fragrance industry.  Like fashion, its a business led by men that caters largely to women.
• Certain scents are found to reduce dogs’ stress levels in animal shelters.
• A list of things that intimidate me. Oddly relatable. What would be on your list?
• Self-discovery comes in all shapes and sizes.
• Scientists discover an enzyme that can break down PET plastic.

Truly, that’s all I have. It’s pretty shameful.

BUT

The yoga retreat has been picked!
*drumroll*
RADIANCE SUTRAS FLOW
Man am I ready for some ecstatic dance

I mean, not right now, because I have food poisoning, but in general.

Which Yoga Program?

Hello all, I’m completely immersing myself in doing nothing- but somehow that ends up with me writing immense to do lists to take up this newfound free time (and to prevent myself from doing the lab report I still have over my head).

And it’s a fair amount colder here than in France- but I can’t say exactly how much colder because I’ve also switched from Celsius to Fahrenheit and I don’t know the exact conversion. It’s not stopping me from daydreaming about the real summer though.  From doing garden work to thinking about dresses and bathing suits to planning possible travels and beach reads, my brain is charging toward summertime.

One of the places I’m hoping to go is a certain yoga retreat that I’ve been a few times before, either for a program or an R&R.
But I’m not sure which program I might want to do- here are the ones I’m looking at, with a one-sentence summary.
Spoiler: They don’t have yoga with baby goats, which is a serious disappointment.

• The Power of Moving Towards: Moving towards is one component of Azul, a conscious movement practice and path of personal transformation created by Amara Pagano.
• Awaken Your Divinity Within: Paul Selig introduces techniques to heal yourself and others, develop and sustain higher levels of consciousness, and release emotional blocks that keep you from manifesting your higher nature.
• Hiking and Yoga: Explore miles of trails directly adjacent to the Kripalu campus, and enjoy group yoga classes with experienced outdoor guides and yoga faculty.
• Moving into Bliss with Yoga: Vishva-ji applies the map of the koshas to a full repertoire of yoga techniques including lifestyle tips, asana, pranayama, mantra, yoga nidra, and meditation, bringing insights from traditional wisdom into your present-day practice.
• Radiance Sutras Flow: Experience a contemporary perspective on time-honored yoga philosophy, the wisdom of The Radiance Sutras, ecstatic dance, and Kripalu vinyasa flow.
• Kripalu Outdoors: Satisfy your longing for a connection to nature as you explore hiking, kayaking, and yoga in the beauty of the Berkshires.
• Yoga Fusion:  Yoga Fusion brings together leading instructors from various traditions for a powerful weekend of collaboration and community.
• Natural Spiritual Progress: Spend a weekend with a yoga master who has devoted 50 years of his life to understanding, practicing, teaching, and refining the traditional yoga received from his teacher.
• Power Vinyasa Yoga: Celebrate Power Vinyasa Yoga and learn how to develop a healthy, lifelong practice.
• Designing a Life that Matters: Debbie Millman reveals the common denominators that often hold people back and offers unique tools to help you conquer the obstacles you have put in your own way.
• Awakening Shakti: Using closely guided meditation, mantra, visualization, and inner journeying, this powerful, experiential program opens the body’s core channels and invokes the Sacred Feminine within the body and mind.

Friday Links 10/20

It may not be Friday where you are- hell, it’s hardly Friday here- but I’m starting a new (and long) day and will try to get this out of the gate before it becomes impossible. And if this is posted on Saturday, then you will know it was, actually, impossible.

• “It’s time for their to be roles in the ballet where two men can fall in love”. YES!
• Still trying to scrounge up and SNL skits I can find. Here’s Kellyanne Conway as Pennywise the Clown.
• A friend of mine who is also a Yale professor but who was not my professor and who is an amazing, lovely, inspiring woman wrote about her experience at a ten-day silent Vispassana meditation retreat.
• You already know my (very long and involved) feelings on the #MeToo campaign. From Reductress: Woman posts another Facebook status in hopes that men will learn to be human beings.
• A bunch of exhibitions coming up in Paris! What should I go to?
• Are box stalls really the best option for your horse’s health and happiness, or are they designed to reflect what human beings would want, were they horses?
• Is this feminist poem really by a third grader? “I am a church bell, gonging out wrongs and rights and normal nights.”
• A whole new way for me to be antisocial: Are you an introvert, an extrovert, or a Victorian ghost with unfinished business?
• This is so well-written and so funny: Will pumpkin spice destroy us all?
• Instead of saying, “Do not go around lighting people on fire,” we are telling women, “Don’t be flammable.” Men of the world, you are not the weather.

Wellness on a $0 Budget

I talk about wellness way too frequently.  It’s getting to be one of my favorite topics, along with the inexhaustible lists of books and movies.  Partly it’s me (what kind of millennial yoga-loving anorexia-surviving introspective vegan would I be if I didn’t?) and part of it is the current craze for wellness, mindfulness, and all of the associated paraphernalia (rose quartz lamps).

Interrupting this broadcast: I HEAR THUNDER THANK GOD FINALLY

Anyway…

I have ambivalent feeling about the current cultural boom being experienced by wellness.  On the positive side, it’s helped me find more people who share my interests and brought my niche interests to a much wider audience.  Yay! An opportunity for new friends with new shared interests!
Additionally, as society and the market adapts to appeal more to this current cultural climate, it also suits me better.  There are increased vegan dining options, more articles around that I find compelling…. more things are available that resonate with my lifestyle and mindset.

Friday Links 6/2

Happy first Friday of June! It’s hard to believe we’re almost halfway through 2017 already.
And as I know you’re wondering, a brief update my spring summer resolutions:

1. Yoga everyday: Successful, but mostly because I’m zealously practicing upside down tree pose (aka, a handstand)
2. Dry brushing: Also successful- I’ve dry brushed once every day.  It’s been good for my skin I think, especially because it helps me remember to moisturize.
3. Daily meditation: Failure. I haven’t meditated since I posted indicated my intent to do so.

And the image above is my new monthly desktop background. Alright, I think that’s all the updates.

Oh, no it’s not, I lied. Excitingly, this May that just ended was the highest-viewed month that List Mimsy has had, tallying at over 1,000 views. Thanks everyone!

Daily Practices (That I Do and Don’t Practice)

Annually, this is the time of year that I find myself making resolutions.  Despite being completely not on board with New Year’s lifestyle changes, there’s something about late spring/early summer that makes setting personal goals a lot more natural.

Looking to the future just happens a lot more organically when the weather is beautiful and the anxiety of university has dissipated.

So in the spirit of a lifestyle adjustment, I’ve been thinking about this idea of daily practices.
Specifically, practices I wish I had, practices I’m glad I do have, and practices that I would like to let go.