I’m currently shoving a chocolate nut bar in my mouth, standing in our kitchen, staring blankly. No, really. It’s been a loooong day. The second day the little dove’s been home sick with a fever, cough, and runny nose (poor kid!). I’ve been thinking and thinking about how I want to write this specific post about beet(le) juice and my yoga invitation to you. Shoving low-grade quaaludes (aka chocolate with hazelnuts) in my face wasn’t what I planned.

But now, here’s the thing, isn’t that the real dirty side of life? Not the yogi sitting meditating under the tree, but the yogi hiding behind the tree glomming buddha goodies? Well, that’s real for me. I have my days or moments when I cave into an easy escape. Tonight it was the chocolate bar Mr. Wonderful brought home with him after he saw my ‘How long until you are here?? I am losing it….’ texts (and this) little gem that he sent to calm my nerves. Life isn’t always picture perfect, oh hell, it’s rarely picture perfect, and that’s okay, as long as we don’t cave into the easy escape all the time.

Spring is a really good time to evaluate this ‘yogi behind the tree’ behavior and change it. When I think of spring I think of renewal, fresh starts, and growth. It’s not exactly sunshine and roses over here in these parts yet, but the little buds on the trees and the tease of a semi-warm day is enough to get me motivated for a clean, fresh start.

There are probably a thousand ways to transform yourself after winter. I’ve already shared a few on here to help get you started. But I wanted to do something communal. I have seen a lot of yoga ‘challenges’ online lately, but I didn’t want to call it that. I thought ‘invitation’ was more, um well, inviting  – especially for folks who haven’t done yoga or haven’t done it in a long time, or for anyone who wanted to be a part of something transformational without feeling the pressure of a challenge. I wanted to create an invitation to a lifestyle change, something that would last. While this is a 30 day invitation, my hope is that it will go beyond the initial 30 days and become part of our daily routines. They say it takes 30 days to change a behavior or form a good habit. So that is the platform we’ll jump from.

My invitation is for all of us to do 30 minutes of yoga practice everyday for 30 days. What that yoga practice will look like will be different for everyone depending on what you need. Your daily invitation can be met at a yoga studio class, a home practice, with friends in the park, etc. Essentially, I didn’t want to get too dogmatic in what your daily yoga should look like for you. Our lives, experience with yoga, and schedules are all so diverse. It’s best if you choose how you will fulfill this daily ritual. 30 minutes of yoga for 30 days, every. single. day.

Although i’m certified to teach yoga, I’m far from feeling like a yoga teacher. Right after I received my teaching certification, I went into a really tough pregnancy and subsequent tough labor and postpartum. My plans to jump into teaching got waylaid by motherhood, and that’s okay. But now I’m back on the path and my deepest desire is to teach yoga and eventually to use yoga as a healing tool with human rights activists that are burnt out from the important work they do. This invitation is my first step in teaching. I chose this virtual space to start. The invitation starts this Saturday, April 12th and will go until May 12th and I do hope you’ll join me!

Here is how it works:

1. If you want to join this 30 day yoga invitation sign in and comment under this post – that way we know who we are and have the encouragement of community. I hope to see many of you there!

2. Practice yoga for 30 minutes everyday for 30 days. My request to you all is that your daily practice close with a 5 minute Savasana/corpse pose (either within the 30 minutes or outside of them – up to you). Savasana, is the end goal of our yoga practice as yoga is quite literally the practice of ‘moving into stillness.’ The goal of yoga is not the asana (or pose) it is moving the energy through our bodies to get into true meditation. Many yoga teachers include a minute-long Savasana or leave it voluntary. I believe Savasana is deeply important for our bodies to digest the asanas we’ve just done. 5 minutes may sound long, but you’ll thank me later, promise.

3. Post comments and/or questions about your daily practice. I will do my best to answer questions and provide some inspiration as well.

4. At the end of the 30 days we can share in this space what this daily ritual was like for us, if we will continue it, what challenges (if any) came up and how we dealt with them, and what our yoga plans are for the future.

It might sound scary, or even revolting, depending on where you are at. But, I am going to challenge you to think about how much time you waste during the day – particularly on the computer. 30 minutes is not that long. And, by joining in with others you have the added benefit of support. I know you can do this.

As a reward for all your hard work, you can make this amazing beet(le) juice smoothie. I mean, just LOOK AT IT. Holy baby Jesus, it’s fluorescent! It feels almost electric and tastes incredible. It’s packed with goodness. Beets, lower your blood pressure, boost your stamina, fight Inflammation, are full of anti-cancer properties, are rich in valuable nutrients and fiber, and provide detoxification support. These qualities make beets a great addition to our yoga practice and spring transformation. I know, beets in a smoothie, ewww. That’s exactly what I thought. But, trust me, it’s like nothing I’ve tasted before. Dreamy really. This smoothie is also packed with apple, pear, banana, almond milk, and a touch of honey. Added benefit, the little dove LOVES it.

Beet(le) Juice Smoothie:

Ingredients:

• 3 ice cubes
• 3 – 4 small peeled and cooked beets
• 1 whole apple peeled and chopped
• 1 whole pear peeled and chopped
• 1 whole banana peeled
• 1 cup almond milk (or another non-dairy milk)
• 1 Tbs honey

Directions:

1. Peel a bunch of beets & cut the ends off. Cut them into 1 inch pieces. Throw them in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 30-40 minutes. The beets are done when they can be pierced fairly easily with a fork.

2. Take beets out with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool. To the beet juice in the pot, add a splash of vinegar and a dash of salt, let cool, and pour into a mason jar. Store in your refrigerator and wait for and exciting recipe using this coming here soon! DON’T put this beet juice in your smoothie! The beets you don’t use in your smoothie can be kept in the refrigerator for up to a week and used in more smoothies.

3. Place your ice cubes, cooked beets, apple, pear, banana, almond milk, and honey in a blender. Blend on high until completely smooth. Make this and join me for the 30 day yoga invitation! Sign in below and enjoy!