Category: Mindful Cooking

Posted on

Some Very Helpful Resources

I tend to recommend these resources to almost all of my clients. Enjoy!

Yoga With Adriene

https://www.youtube.com/user/yogawithadriene

https://fwfg.com

Adriene Mishler is the most popular YouTube yoga instructor for a reason. I first discovered her videos in 2016, but she’s been posting them (freely, of course) since 2012. I recommend her videos to any and all clients who are even just slightly interested in yoga and/or meditation. Her approach to teaching is based in self-love — real self-love, by which I mean love of your true self, not your ego or your stories. She takes things nice and slow, always reminding you to be mindful, focus on your breath, and “find what feels good.” Her detailed cues and explanations can turn a pose that seems simple into a complex, full-body experience. 

The YWA video library contains something for everyone, with many practices focusing on a specific state of mind (e.g. Yoga for Loneliness) or way of life (e.g. Yoga for Golfers). She has videos geared specifically toward depression, PTSD, grief, and social anxiety. She has multiple 30-day “challenges” or “journeys,” as well as various shorter video series, including one that makes its way through each chakra. Every month she shares a calendar with a different theme, assigning a specific video practice to each day, culling from her vast back catalog and adding a few new videos. I actually appreciate these calendars for limiting my choices, and for nudging me to try practices (like Yoga for Surfers) that I might not otherwise even consider. The length of her videos can range from 5 minutes to a full hour (though these are more rare), with the majority of them averaging about 20 minutes. This doable duration makes it easier to cultivate a regular yoga practice.

Adriene also has a membership website separate from YouTube. Ten bucks a month gives you access to all of her YouTube videos, ad-free, as well as a plethora of others that were made for members only. Some of these classes are taught by people other than Adriene — her trusted yoga friends and colleagues — but their different approaches are all in line with her general philosophy. 

I honestly don’t know what I’d do without Yoga With Adriene. The depth, breadth, and authenticity of her offerings are truly staggering. Also: she’s really funny! And she has a cute canine sidekick named Benji!

Tara Brach

https://www.youtube.com/user/tarabrach

https://www.tarabrach.com

Tara Brach (Ph.D) is a clinical psychologist, founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, D.C., and writer of multiple books, including Radical Acceptance and, most recently, Radical Compassion. She’s also a talented public speaker. Every Wednesday evening she lectures on a different spiritual topic, and each of those talks is filmed and uploaded to YouTube, and to her own website. I love the way she structures her talks so they always include amusing anecdotes and jokes mixed in with references to sacred texts, and here-and-now meditations. You pretty much can’t go wrong with any of her lectures. They provide deep soul nourishment for when you’re feeling depressed, anxious, lonely, ashamed, or just wanting to explore the more spiritual aspects of life as a human.

Cookie and Kate

https://cookieandkate.com

Cookie is a dog; Kate is the dog’s owner, who loves to cook vegetarian food and share her recipes with the world. If you’re not vegetarian, I still highly recommend this website, because not every meal needs to contain meat, right? And if you’re intimidated by vegetarian cooking, these recipes are a great place to start, as they contain very clear instructions and keep things pretty simple. You can filter your search for recipes by course, cuisine, diet, ingredient, and season.

Posted on

Mindful Cooking: Brown Rice

In my ideal world, we would all have schedules that allowed us to prioritize cooking. The preparation and sharing of fresh, flavorful, nutritious food would not be a perfunctory chore, but the primary activity on which all other activities centered. In the actual world, I’ll have to be content with inspiring a handful of people to cook just a little more often. That’s what I hope this blog series will do.

I myself have not always enjoyed cooking. I was twenty-five when I realized how satisfying it was to follow a recipe and end up with a beautiful, delicious meal. With this realization came another: I was capable of many great things. All I needed was the right ingredients, the proper tools, and some very precise guidance. Because I could learn how to cook, I could learn how to knit, how to draw (kind of), how to play guitar and write songs, how to be a radio DJ, a psychotherapist, a yoga instructor, and how to write a screenplay. 

Learning how to cook not only boosted my confidence in acquiring other skills, but also — and more importantly — taught me how to be mindful. Cooking gives me the time and space to be present with my Self. Few activities are more meaningful and life-affirming.

I’ve chosen brown rice as the first Mindful Cooking recipe because it’s so essential, and so simple. The opportunity for mindfulness is only about a minute long here, so make the most of it!

Here’s what you’ll need:

a fine mesh strainer

a small pot with a lid 

a cup of long-grain brown rice

2 cups of water

a teaspoon of olive oil 

a half-teaspoon of salt

Instructions

First, rinse the rice in a fine mesh strainer. Here’s your chance to be mindful. Don’t blast the water out of the tap; let it flow relatively slowly for a solid minute as you move the rice around with your fingers. Give all of your attention to the rice, the water, and your fingers. Also notice what’s happening in your neck, back, and shoulders. Notice how you’re breathing.

Turn off the water and let the rice drain for a moment, tipping the strainer in a few different directions until no more water drips from the bottom. 

Transfer the rice to the pot and add the water, oil, and salt. (I like to keep my salt in a small cup for easy measuring.) Stir everything with a fork, lid it, and place it over high heat. Bring it to a boil, then turn the heat down to low. Simmer on low (covered) for 45 minutes. 

While the rice cooks you can take a load off, or you can work on other complementary recipes, like roasted butternut squash or fresh salsa [coming soon].

Remove from heat and keep covered for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork and serve.

I make at least one pot of this brown rice every week. It’s great in burritos (or burrito bowls) and as a side with salmon and veggies. It’s also a nice addition to certain soups and chilis.