Mustard Mania

February 2012

Greet the mighty Mustards, more formally known as the Brassicaceae, for within this family one species alone, Brassica oleraceae, can be kale, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts or kohlrabi, depending on how it is cultivated! For example, a cabbage is a terminal bud that is bred to swell while kale is made to open. This family knows how to maximize the permaculture design principle of obtaining yields through added value. ‘Tis the season for wild food from this family so keep an eye out.

 

Mustards are cool weather plants, and one of my favorites from this big old family is watercress (Nasturtium spp.), available to harvest from streams in the dead of winter. The mustards are easy to identify by their flowers, both simple and quaint, with four petals, 4 sepals and 6 stamens and seedpods that spiral up the plant’s stem in a raceme.

 

Wild mustards like the cresses, pepperweeds, silver dollar plant, shepherd’s purse and garlic mustard are some of our early spring flowers, giving the landscape new color after a winter’s cold. They make great additions to salads and often when I see one in seed, I break open the pods and chomp the seeds right there on the spot. They are powerful and spicy and give a surge of vitality into my bloodstream. You can get these benefits in a more civilized fashion if you like, by harvesting mustard seeds to make your own mustard condiment.

Homemade Mustard Recipe

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons wild or cultivated mustard seeds

Enough vinegar and water to cover seeds

Wild mustard greens optional

Salt to taste

This makes a small batch. If you like it, increase the amount of seeds next time. Barely cover the seeds in a half vinegar/ half water liquid and soak over night. Change the ratio of this liquid if you want a more vinegary mustard. Optional step-Add in aone-fourth to half a cup very finely chopped wild mustard greens if you are going to use the recipe within a week’s time. Grind all ingredients together, and add salt to taste. Does great as an ingredient for salad dressing or to flavor a stew, and of course as a sandwich spread. People must love mustard because worldwide it is estimated we eat 700 million pounds of it annually. Enjoy Mustard Mania!

The genus Brassica produces more agricultural foods than any other in the world, including collards, turnips, radishes, broccoli rabe, mustards, horseradish, arugula, rutabagas, Chinese cabbage, bok choy, totsoi and rapeseed (canola). Yet there are over 300 more genera in the Mustard family, all of which are edible (this is not to say all taste good, however).Some members of the Brassicaceae family are planted as ornamentals, like sweet alyssum, candytufts and wallflowers (avoid eating their seeds.)

 

Nutritionally the mustard vegetables give us plenty of vitamins A, C and E, and are good sources of antioxidants and phytochemicals. Medicinally the paste of mustard seed has been used to relieve sore muscles or toothache, as an appetite stimulant and as a poultice to break up congestion through its rubefacient properties (improves localized blood circulation by drawing blood to the surface of the skin).

 

How many mustard relatives can you find growing around you? Thomas Elpel’s book Botany in a Day and his website www.wildflowers-and-weeds.com can help with identification and Marc Williams’ website www.botanyeveryday.com also has more detailed info on Brassicaceae plants.

 

For me, one of the greatest forms of freedom is to know what is edible in the plant world and what is not. And since all members of the Mustard family offer some kind of nourishment, it is worth getting to know them and greeting them with thanks whenever you see one.



What is Yoga?

January 2012

I am delighted to be living in a time when Yoga is a rapidly spreading practice for people from all sorts of backgrounds. To see individuals coming together to move their bodies with awareness in order to gain strength and flexibility while simultaneously calming their minds fills me with sheer joy. To know they may be taking Yoga home and bringing it into their daily lives brings me much hope for humanity. Watching people of large and small build, young and old, tune into their breath and create space and length in their joints, muscles and tissues is a beautiful sight, a bodily orchestration of harmonizing human potential in a peaceful and compassionate way.

 

Yet even with all this wonderful swelling of Yoga into mainstream culture, it can be misrepresented if we alienate its parts without at least acknowledging and at best integrating the Whole Path. Modern science and medicine excel at taking standardized extractions of whole organisms and ideas and then treating that concentrated part as if it were the whole thing. Yoga has not escaped this trend, and as a result, despite the multiple benefits a concentrated version of something can bring, there remains the potential downfall of imbalance and misunderstanding innate in taking anything out of its original context.

 

A recent example of this is an article in the New York Times Magazine called, “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body,” followed by a piece a few days later aired on the national news titled, “Can Yoga Wreck Your Body?” where yoga teacher Glenn Black suggests that the vast majority of people should give up Yoga altogether. This gives fuel to the fire of anyone who already had doubts about Yoga’s health benefits or finds it threatening to their belief system. That’s too bad, since if we think about it, everything in life has risks; it is a matter of asking ourselves whether the rewards are worth the risks.

 

The result of practicing Yoga as laid out by Patanjali in Yoga Sutra, the authoritative text written on Yoga more than two thousand years ago, is a continuous inner peace and contentment that comes from stilling the mind and removing klesa (mental obstacles/afflictions). B.K. S. Iyengar, world renowned yogi, tells us in Light on Yoga “The signs of progress on the path of yoga are health, a sense of physical lightness, steadiness, clearness of countenance and a beautiful voice, sweetness of odor of the body and freedom from craving” When Mark Whitwell asks Desikachar in The Heart of Yoga what exactly is the ultimate goal of Yoga, Desikachar answers, “The ultimate goal of yoga is to always observe things accurately, and therefore never act in a way that will make us regret our actions later.” In the case of Yoga then, if practiced correctly and with devotion, the rewards far outweigh the risks.

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Plants as Allies

January 2012

 

Welcome into to the greatly anticipated year of 2012! As we earthly beings undergo intense opportunities for change and transformation, let's make it a priority to build our relationships with the plants in our yards, streets, gardens and woods who so humbly and quietly give of themselves eon after eon. We cannot survive without them, yet they can survive without us. Be intentional and give someone you love an herbal footbath to gently remind them of how connected we are to the plant world.

 "Herbal Footbath"

What you'll need:

-A bundle of fresh herbs or a handful of dried

-2-3 gallons of water, boiled

-Small tub for soaking (I like the Rubbermaid dishwashing tubs)

-Towel(s)

-A smile or a song or both

 

Gather plants in season, or have some dried herbs on hand to make a strong brew. Lavender, Rosemary, Nettles, Violets, Plantain, Birch twigs, Calendula, Lemon Balm, Red Clover, Valerian, Roses and Pine are some of my favorites. Add them to a pot of water that has come to a boil, turn off heat and let steep until the infusion comes to a temperature that is comfortable to soak feet in. Strain and add the water to the tub. Have your friend or family member comfortably ready to soak their feet in it. You can massage their feet if that feels good, and sing to them, or just give them the space to be quiet and relax and be enchanted by the plants. When done, have them take the plant matter and the footbath to the garden if there is one, or at the base of a tree, taking a moment to also release something in their life that is no longer in their best interest.


Often I will ask people, "Are you into plants?" Most answer that they love them but don't know much or spend a lot of time with plants. I then ask them to think about their clothing; the buildings in which they work and dwell; the food they eat; the art and entertainment they enjoy; and most importantly, the air they breathe. It becomes apparent we are inseparable from the plant world and use it all day long and with that awareness comes a sense of urgency linked with responsibility. On an ailing planet we can help make a positive shift by cultivating a conscious relationship with the plants themselves. When we have an authentic relationship with plants we are more likely to protect the environment in which we all live, rather than polluting it by consuming distant products to fill our need for connection.

 

What if you did not take quality time to listen and talk to your partner, child or closest friend? Your relationship with them would wane, and eventually, no matter how much you loved them, the relationship could not really grow or deepen. It would probably end. It is the same for anything in life- if we want something to be a strong part of our lives then we have to dedicate time and energy to it consistently. Thinking of Plants as Allies kindles the spark within us that can nourish whatever level of engagement we want to actively have with our green friends.

There are a myriad of ways we can develop our connection to the plant world. The first step though is in acknowledging their importance in the web of life here on earth. If you love the union of earth and sun and the uniqueness of their photosynthesized creation in forests, meadows, grasslands, oceans and deserts then stand up for the plants, and like the Lorax, speak for the trees in a way that moves you.

 

Maybe it's making herbal medicine that gets you regularly engaging with plants, or perhaps it's preparing wild or organically grown foods. Collecting, drying and pressing plants to make books, collages or card art, or learning about them for natural dye or paint is another way to unite with our allies. If you are a hand crafter, the plants may speak to you through their fibers, or through their wood for carving, or the making of mandalas for meditation and peace practice. Maybe you are fed by a spiritual practice of burning dried bundles of plants in the sweat lodge you made from bamboo, or you are a healer who washes wounds and sores in plant infusions. If beauty is your calling, the plants can teach you how to care for skin, hair and nails. Mathematicians can get lost in the forest marveling over the Fibonacci sequence. The love of games, architecture, philosophy and music can also be expressed through observation and direct interaction with plants.

 

The goal is to make a daily personal and direct connection with plants through whatever medium is your calling. You don't have to be an herbalist or avid gardener. Step away from your computer, Facebook, your iPhone and its apps, and be with what is truly sustaining you, less it be swiped away while you weren't paying attention. Wash as many people's feet as you can, and remember to soak your own, and you cannot help but to remember it is the more simple things in life that are our greatest allies.

Yoga and Hinduism

November 2011

In the twentieth century, a previously unheard of "Yoga" spread rapidly throughout the West, largely because of the influential teachings of such people as Swami Vivekananda, Paramahansa Yogananda, and Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, and by the early 2000's, Yoga became a household word and a worldwide, multi-billion dollar industry.

   

Because of Yoga's growing popularity, the need to clarify distinctions between it and a major world religion have arisen. Yoga and Hinduism are inextricably linked through geography, scriptures, language, beliefs and practices, yet they are not one and the same. So what makes Yoga Yoga and Hinduism Hinduism and why is it important to know?

 

Overlap within Yoga and Hinduism is evident in many ways. They both share the Sanskrit language- it is the ceremonial language in Hindu religious rituals and texts and the original language used to describe the meaning, practice and poses of Yoga. Both Yoga and Hindu traditions use Aryuveda, one of the oldest organized systems of medicine on the planet, that incorporates whole foods, spices, herbs and massage to both prevent and cure disease. The ten yamas and niyamas, which are the first two limbs mentioned on the Yogic eight-fold path, are actions an ideal Hindu would observe. Reincarnation is an upheld belief within the Yogic texts and the Hindu scriptures. These and more are some of the common threads weaving Yoga and Hinduism together.

 

Although Yoga originated as an instrument for enlightenment, it does not have religious boundaries, and for some people, yoga can mean no more than a set of exotic physical exercises that calm the mind and strengthen the body. However, in its entirety, Yoga is an offering of specific steps to be followed for uniting oneself with Divine.

 

In Christianity, the mystics have laid the groundwork for how to find liberation through spiritual enlightenment. In Islam it's the sufis, in Buddhism the monks and in Hinduism the yogis. Therefore, Yoga is associated with the religion that cradles it, without being limited to the religion itself.



Yoga is recorded as the oldest form known in the world for spiritual questing, inside of the world's oldest religion, Hinduism. This Vedic culture of India is the spiritual well from which flowed both the Hindu religion and practice of Yoga, and some argue over which came first. Yoga is first mentioned in the Vedas, the most ancient of sacred scriptures of Hinduism that originated orally around 7000B.C.E. There are many references throughout the sacred texts of Hinduism to Yoga, The Bhagavad Gita being the most famous and beloved.

 

Hinduism is a religion that has within it many spiritual practices, of which Yoga is but one out of six of its orthodox systems. Although values and ethics can be quite varied within Hinduism, Yoga has its own specific eight-limbed path, laid out by Pitanjali around 200B.C.E. in the Yoga Sutra. This authoritative text on Yoga describes in detail how to be and what to do to achieve a state of yoga, which is therein defined as the restraint or control of our mental state. The two parts most Westerners associate to Yoga- physical postures (called asana) and breathing exercises (called pranayama) are but two of those eight components.

  

The Hindu-American Foundation recently launched a campaign called "Take Back Yoga" in response to what many Hindus feel is an appropriation of their faith. What is frustrating for some Hindus is that the term Yoga has been narrowed down to just mean asana practice, perhaps with some pranayama, without the appreciation of the spiritual significance inherent in Yoga and the honoring of its history within the Hindu religion.

 

It seems to me it would serve everyone to genuinely offer acknowledgement and appreciation in all circles. Those who are not Hindu can be aware and respectful of the Yogic roots within the Hindu faith whether they believe in that religion or not. At the same time, the gift of Yoga could be shared openly by Hindus. Yoga has evolved and branched out like a river, with new forms emerging that meet people where they currently are; it is no longer associated solely with Hindu faith.

 

Regardless of Yoga's connection to Hinduism, I can vouch that one not need be a Hindu nor believe in any religion for that matter, to practice Yoga successfully. Yoga is a tried and true set of tools that supports anyone to take from it what they can to bring more awareness, vitality and compassion into their lives. To me, staying away from Yoga because your religion is not Hinduism is somewhat like not using the wheel because it was invented by a culture other than your own, one that undoubtedly held a different belief system.

 

Desikachar, the son of Krishnamacharya and author of The Heart of Yoga, wrote "In broad terms, the purpose of yoga is to reduce disturbance and return an individual to his or her inherent peace and power." If Yoga is to do what is was designed for, people of any faith practicing Yoga will benefit, and as humans, we need as much support as we can get to help us remember to be the Love from which we all came.

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