<![CDATA[Camp Utopia Yoga - original pradipika]]>

<![CDATA[Camp Utopia Yoga - original pradipika]]>Tue, 29 Aug 2023 13:19:05 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[Move Water]]>Fri, 01 Jun 2018 02:00:06 GMThttp://www.camputopia.com/original-pradipika/move-water

It is the last day of our Practical Pradipika Spring Clean Up, and we will finish up with the most vital piece: pure water.

Hard to find in the modern world; lots of tap water is pretty dirty, but to be auspicious, water doesn’t come in plastic bottles either. Get a good filter system and a reusable bottle.

Here’s what more important: after you drink water (a dozen times a day), MOVE. If you sit, most of the water runs through your central channel, just like a river through the desert. Close in, the vital organs get watered, but the extremities don’t. Your skin, your joints, muscles, tendons, all the fascia that holds you together, needs to be watered too.

Just move a little after watering your landscape. Wiggle, jiggle, giggle, do the hokey pokey - just move, and send it out to the far edges of you.

Thanks for playing along everyone! I hope you had fun. This last tip is from the brilliant mind of Gil Hadley. #gilhedleyisagenius #practicalpradipika
@airstreamyogi @camputopiayoga @allisonrissel @shineon.yoga

]]><![CDATA[Safe & Salty]]>Wed, 30 May 2018 23:18:41 GMThttp://www.camputopia.com/original-pradipika/safe-salty

Are you the type of person who can mindlessly eat a bag of popcorn at the movies, then a bowl of chips and salsa at happy hour, and still be unable to keep your hand away from the chips at a party?

The ancient yogis rightfully disdained eating salty, processed, garbage food, but 500 years ago they didn’t have buttery, salty popcorn and dill pickle chips, so maybe they had it easy.

In any case, no matter how much the sweet, satisfying, auspicious food you’ve been eating might please you (and cravings for salt, alcohol and meat should be reduced for you if you are eating sweet) eventually we need a little bit of salty to remain satisfied.

My go-to foods for a salty, crunchy snack are olives, pickles, organic trisket crackers, or a warm bowl of barley with butter and salt. Yummy, healthy, and pretty auspicious.

What are your go-to salty treats?
#practicalpradipika @airstreamyogi @camputopiayoga @allisonrissel @shineon.yoga

]]><![CDATA[The Good Egg]]>Wed, 30 May 2018 02:36:57 GMThttp://www.camputopia.com/original-pradipika/the-good-egg

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika does not mention eggs, but they are a great choice in the modern search for auspicious food. Eggs are super healthy, light, easy, satisfying and versatile.

Chances are excellent you can find eggs from someone in your neighborhood, produced by well loved backyard hens. These are the most auspicious, and best tasting eggs you can get. Cheap supermarket eggs are produced by hens living terrible lives - we can do better. Buy local, yard raised. Every time you buy animal products, try to buy the absolute healthiest for you and the animal. If it ate poison and you eat it.....
No matter how you feel about meat - every meatless meal you eat makes a difference in our world right now. Eggs make a great sandwich; they are perfect for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Adding one more egg meal to your week is easy.

Two of my favorite egg meals that work any time of day are these easy and fantastic egg muffins, and savory French toast. Both allow lots of healthy add ins like spinach and tomatoes, take minutes to whip up, and taste great!

What are your favorite healthy egg dishes? #practicalpradipika @airstreamyogi @camputopiayoga @allisonrissel @shineon.yoga

]]><![CDATA[The Satisfied Sweet Tooth]]>Mon, 28 May 2018 20:16:47 GMThttp://www.camputopia.com/original-pradipika/the-satisfied-sweet-tooth

The ancient yogis liked to eat sweet; but they also liked it healthy, whole, pure, natural, and auspicious. Most junk food is at best, neutral. Like eating paper. It won’t kill you, but it adds nothing. Some junk food is downright harmful.

It doesn’t have to be - eating sweet can be easier than pie.

Today, I’m sharing my favorite guilt-free sweet ‘treats.’ Why not share yours too?
#practicalpradipika @airstreamyogi @camputopiayoga @allisonrissel @shineon.yoga

Skip the ice cream and unhealthy syrups and just pile your banana up with frozen or fresh berries, a scoop of yogurt or fruit preserves, and a dollop of honey. That's breakfast!

I replace nuts with bee pollen for a little crunch, although raw nuts are great too.

Add a little organic chocolate for a delicious dessert.

This is such an easy thing to make, although you have to stand around and stir it for 40 - 60 minutes while it thickens, or it pops its sticky self all over your stove top. Freeze or put in the fridge in a sealed jar for 2 weeks.

I was making peach butter with the last of the frozen peaches, and just as it was beginning to thicken up, I thought of spooning some into popsicle molds and ice cube trays, just to see. Consensus: heaven. Nice and fudgy.

The Standards

]]><![CDATA[How to Win at the Grocery Store #3]]>Sun, 27 May 2018 23:36:01 GMThttp://www.camputopia.com/original-pradipika/how-to-win-at-the-grocery-store-3

How to Win at the Grocery Store #3
Every item that crosses the scanner impacts what will be grown, manufactured, packaged, priced and sold. You are not powerless in the grocery store unless you choose to be. They chase us, remember? We decide with our dollars.

Auspicious food doesn’t always cost more, and when you choose it, the costs keep going down, and the quality and variety keep growing. So in every way that you can stretch your budget to buy for the world you want, do.

Beware of marketing words like all natural. Becoming certified as an organic food is costly and rigorous. That is hard on farmers and small manufacturers, but right now, it’s the best option we have to make our desires clear.

Insist on fair pricing by walking away from products where the gap is too big between organic and not. Don’t buy either one, and trust that the people who study the numbers understand, and respond.

Train poison manufacturers with the big brand names; we decide what they feed us. Decide on healthy.

Buy local when you can. Even if it is not certified organic, a small local producer is more likely to be growing cleaner, and food that travels thousands of miles to get to you has worn through a lot of its clean points. No matter where you live, your local farmers are working incredibly hard to bring healthy diversity to your diet. Reward that. It makes the whole world better.

Some days you won’t have time or money for this. Just don’t stop believing that you decide with every dollar. And let’s all work together on this one. We win every time.
#practicalpradipika @airstreamyogi @camputopiayoga @allisonrissel @shineon.yoga

]]><![CDATA[We Be Jammin']]>Sat, 26 May 2018 17:39:36 GMThttp://www.camputopia.com/original-pradipika/we-be-jammin

Fresh, frozen, dried, preserved: blueberries are the greatest of all superfoods. Your skin, brain, eyes, teeth, immune system, energy - every part of healthy, youthful you thrives with lots of berries in your day.

But they are sweet enough without added sugar.

Just-Fruit preserves are hard to spot in the sugar-packed jam section of the grocery store, but they are worth it. Way more than a guilt-free pleasure - this is medicine.
Pile it on, as thick as you like. Who needs a facelift? Just eat this.

Today, show me your jam session! #practicalpradipika @airstreamyogi @camputopiayoga @allisonrissel @shineon.yoga

]]><![CDATA[Run the Numbers]]>Sat, 26 May 2018 13:23:51 GMThttp://www.camputopia.com/original-pradipika/run-the-numbers

Run the numbers.

The ancient yogis wanted to have both health and happiness. There are multiple references in the Pradipika advising against unnecessary austerity. Life is meant to be satisfying, sweet, and pleasing to you.

So run the numbers in your own life. You have, basically, 21 meals a week. How many need to be healthy for you to be healthy? And how many need to be “unhealthy” for you to be happy?

For some, 21 healthy meals are exactly the right goal to make you both healthy and happy. For others, a treat night, a Sunday brunch, a regular lunch meeting, or a combination of things might be the ideal balance.

Guilt trips and shame are not happiness; knowing your numbers helps you eat, and cheat, with minimal backlash and maximum joy.

Start with 18 and adjust accordingly. 6 perfect breakfasts and Eggs Benny on Sunday? 6 perfect dinners and Friday night pizza and beer? 6 perfect lunches and one afternoon happy hour?

It’s yours to decide the right balance.

This strategy also works great if you are trying to have more meatless meals. Make a list of your favorite meatless dishes, and simply start increasing the frequency of eating them, one by one, until you arrive at a number that satisfies all your wellbeing goals.

Today, think about how the numbers work in your eating plan, and post a picture of today’s healthy meal.

#practicalpradipika @airstreamyogi @camputopiayoga @allisonrissel @shineon.yoga

]]><![CDATA[Eat Dirt]]>Thu, 24 May 2018 22:02:32 GMThttp://www.camputopia.com/original-pradipika/eat-dirt

* If you have a compromised immune system already, this one may not be for you.

If you eat healthy food, and move moderately, you should have healthy, adequate muscles. If you want your muscles to be stronger, you have to challenge them. You can’t just pick up a weight one day, and expect your muscles to be permanently strong. You have to apply consistent, manageable, extra weight or endurance challenges to develop a truly strong, robust, healthy muscle system.

I treat my immune system the way I treat my muscles. If I eat healthy food and I am exposed to typical daily germs, my immune system should be adequate. If I want it to be stronger than adequate, I have to challenge it. My immune system is not a precious thing held in a box until needed; I need it 24/7. And I have to add consistent, moderate challenges in order to keep it in top fighting condition.

I don’t wash my fruits and vegetables unless I can actually see dirt on them, and that’s about the grit on my teeth, not the dirt.

Because I buy organic, I know I’m eating earth, not chemicals. The chemicals are too poisonous, but the earth is not. It’s my home, and I want to be strong and resilient on it.

I drink a triple shot mocha every day because 1. Love it, 2. Addicted to it, 3. It is my number one daily “dirty” food, because of the chocolate syrup. Almost everything else that I eat is organic. But every single morning, I throw down a little bit of poison, and my immune system gets a work out. Because of that, my whole body doesn’t freak out if I have beer and pizza. I can feel everything working a little harder the next day, but I’m not miserable just because I ate some junk food.

I am a firm believer in moderation, and I see it working in this theory. I get sick once every 2 - 3 years, and it is always mild and quick to leave; many of my most severely “healthy” food eating friends are sick 3 - 6 times every year. They are living too clean on a dirty world, and can’t cope.

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika would not recommend dirt-eating, but 500 years ago, they consumed a lot of dirt (and microbes) as a matter of daily living. Lysol spray and hand sanitizers hadn’t been invented yet, and everything and everyone was dirtier; they just didn’t know it. Your own human body ate boogers and dirt when you were a baby because it knew instinctively that a more resilient, robust, healthy immune system would be the result.

This is known as the “hygiene hypothesis” and there is some interesting evidence that a little bit of dirt goes a long way to reducing inflammation, allergies, asthma, eczema and all the other diseases of “affluence”. Although we are protected from some of the most deadly germs, we aren’t strong enough to combat the day to day. Modern life means many of us aren’t being exposed to enough of the germs that cause these ailments, so our bodies have become hypersensitive not only to them, but to microbes in general. There are 10 to 20 times more bacteria in you then human cells - they belong there.

Today, at the very least, try to go outside and touch the earth, with your feet or your hands. If you are buying fresh, organic food, try to resist washing it. If you’ve been eating clean since our program began, maybe it is time for a little junk. Go easy, but get dirty.

#practicalpradipika @airstreamyogi @camputopiayoga @allisonrissel @shineon.yoga

]]><![CDATA[Grow Your Own Sugar]]>Wed, 23 May 2018 16:35:21 GMThttp://www.camputopia.com/original-pradipika/grow-your-own-sugar

This is a stevia plant, a very popular sugar substitute. In plant form, it’s a superfood; fresh herbs are packed with goodness. You don’t need a green thumb to grow it, it’s an easy herb, and it tastes like sugar. You can just pinch off one or two leaves whenever you want something sweet, and munch away.

There are other sweet tasting, easy growing herbs that can add health as well as flavor: tarragon, Angelica and bee balm are interesting, and my favorite: wonderful varieties of mint that grow easily and abundantly almost everywhere. This summer I’m growing an “apple mint” and it’s fantastic! Fuzzy leaves and a subdued mint flavor with a definite crisp apple finish.

My favorite way to eat sweet herbs is straight off the plant, right there on my sunny porch. You can let your kids have a snack from the ‘sugar bush’ any time. It’s the most guilt free sugar fix possible. This is the essence of “auspicious food” mentioned in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. Plants are energetically very alive and full of light when consumed immediately after picking, so keep it growing and just pinch off what you need. Toss a few leaves in salads, iced tea, on a bowl of berries, or any dessert.

Today, post a picture of your fresh herbs if you have them, or any sweet auspicious food you are eating today.

#practicalpradipika @airstreamyogi @camputopiayoga @allisonrissel @shineon.yoga

]]><![CDATA[How to Win in the Grocery Store #2]]>Wed, 23 May 2018 06:46:07 GMThttp://www.camputopia.com/original-pradipika/how-to-win-in-the-grocery-store-2

When it comes to food shopping, the grocery store wants to confuse you about the value of “value.” Be clear: the value of a giant box of 500 cookies for $3.99 is the same as a giant box of foam packing peanuts wrapped around a tiny useless toy. You can fill yourself up with it, but it is - at best - only filler, and at worst, downright harmful.
In the world of food, the only relevant value is your health. You will spend more for it and it will look like less in your cart. It may challenge what you think a bargain is, because we sometimes don’t value our health until we lose it. Cancer costs a fortune; there is no value in mindlessly eating your way toward it. We’ve been trained not to notice the correlation between eating garbage and feeling like garbage, partly because you got that garbage for such a great low price.
I love the superfoods because they give me such power in the grocery store. It seems so simple and logical to me: if I must eat to be healthy, and I must spend money and time and energy on eating, then the foods with the most bang for the buck by definition must be the foods with the most power to keep me healthy. Superfoods.
My shopping list and menu planning revolve around them. I’m always shopping for super foods, or the ingredients I need to make a superfood meal.
That doesn’t mean I never eat cookies, but it does mean cookies are not on my regular shopping list. If I’m craving something unhealthy, I can decide to have it or not, but if I’m not being lured into buying it by its price point, then I know that I’m in charge.
Don’t let the grocery store decide what you eat. Google superfoods today and make a new, healthier grocery list with your favorite superfoods as basics, not luxuries.
Yes, it will cost more. Yes, you will end up buying less. Keep telling yourself it’s not about the money today, it’s about your whole life. Your health is the only value worth pursuing in the grocery store.
What are your favorite superfoods?
#practicalpradipika @airstreamyogi @camputopiayoga @allisonrissel @shineon.yoga

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