Saturday, August 31, 2013

Your Monthly Yoga Sanskrit

By Wonderlane [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Above is a picture of the ruins of a university that was based out of ancient India. It attracted students from as far as Tibet, China, Greece, and Persia, and it was absolutely free for students to study here. By legend it was the location Buddha designated to teach his first students.

It is the Nalanda University. Nalanda in Sanskrit means “giver of knowledge”. “Nalam” translates to lotus. The lotus represents wisdom and knowledge. “Da” means to give. Nalanda is a perfect name for a university, but also a perfect word to think of for yoga sanskrit.  


As students of yoga, we naturally receive the gift of Nalanda from our teachers. One can not look inward to find the poses, but first make take the guidance of outward forces. Those forces help us listen to ourselves to find a yoga path.  

Although Nalanda is not the name of an actual yoga pose, I thought it would be an interesting place to start in my "Yoga Sanskrit" series. The passing of knowledge is one subject that I personally find to be sacred. Even with more and more of the world gaining access to seemingly endless knowledge from the internet, there are still some things we cannot learn digitally. Yoga serves as a perfect example. 

We can learn the yoga sanskrit names for all of the poses if we really want to without Nalanda, but to achieve good form in yoga we must seek to find the Nalanda outside of the internet world by going to yoga classes. I am thankful to have the means to access Nalanda, and one day I hope to pass on the knowledge I've learned from others.


Thursday, August 15, 2013

Eat Pizza and Change the World at Tino's in Columbia, MD

Tino's Italian Bistro is hosting a dine-out Fundraiser for Neighbor Ride on Monday Aug 19th between 11 am-10 pm. Neighbor Ride is a program in Howard County that supplements transportation for seniors through a volunteer program. You can read more about Neighbor Ride on their website here

When I tried Tino's pizza it was okay for American style pizza, but don't expect your socks to be blown off with their standard pizza. Their salads actually out shown their pizza in my book with fresh toppings and a delicious house made salad dressing. So if you are trying to eat healthier, feel free to grab a salad instead or in addition to your pie. 

Tino's has a rather large wine list for a pizza place, but I haven't personally explored that facet of the restaurant. With all the lovely weather you can sit out back in their dining area. Maybe you can even stop by the Yoga Center of Columbia to take a class before or after, because the studio is literally just a couple minutes drive from this restaurant.  

Ten percent of all of the proceeds will be donated to Neighborhood ride for carryout-out, delivery, dine in, catering and wine sales (yes, you can drink for charity too)! 

Here is information about Tino's: 

8755 Centre Park Drive 
Columbia, MD 21045 
410-730-8466
www.tinositalianbistro.com

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Yoga for Folks with Desk Jobs

This week the Huffington Post featured an article showcasing basic yoga postures that help reverse harm done by sitting at a desk for hours on end. Check out the yoga moves in the article here to see how you can alleviate the sore shoulders, hip, back and neck that comes from countless hours at the desk.

What the article didn't go into is stretches to avoid carpal tunnel. While an ergonomically sound desk set up does help alleviate the risk, this still is a common injury among office workers. As a freelance writer I spend many hours a day just typing away on the keyboard, so I try to always be mindful of any pain, tightness or discomfort that comes up. One way I deal with this is taking frequent breaks, but I also make sure to frequently stretch out my wrists.


Here is a video courtesy ehow.com showing one of my favorite stretches for the wrists. To get a deeper stretch point the fingertips down towards the ground instead of up towards the ceiling. There are also many other free videos available in this section of the website that show basic yoga moves to help ensure the health of your wrists.


I usually combine some of these moves into my daily home yoga practice. It really feels great after a long day of work to stretch everything out. I also randomly take breaks during the day to do some of these stretches which mixes up the monotony of work, chores and play.