Morning Prayer

May you be happy and at ease,
may you be free from suffering,
may you awaken to the lesson within,
may you see the beauty in everything.
SSP

Maroccan Dinner

 Chickpea and Carrot Salad

Ingredients:

2 cups of cooked chickpeas, rinsed and drained. 

2 cups of grated carrots.

2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar.
1 garlic clove, sliced red onion
1 ½ tablespoons of fresh dill, minced.
1 tablespoon of olive oil.
½ teaspoon of ground cumin.

Directions:
In a glass or ceramic bowl, toss all ingredients, cover.
Allow the salad stand for several hours at room temperature.


to serve: arrange on a bed of lettuce or kale

Hummus from scratch

Ingredients:

1 garlic clove.
¼ cup of toasted sesame seeds
¼ cup of fresh lemon juice.
2 cups of canned chickpeas drained, rinsed.
½ cup of water.
¼ teaspoon of ground cumin.
¼ teaspoon of cayenne.
Salt, to taste.
Extra virgin olive oil.
Lemon wedges.

Indian Prasad (flat bread) freshly toasted golden and fragrant

Directions:

In a food processor or blender, combine the garlic, sesame seeds and lemon juice; process until the mixture whitens.

Add the chickpeas and process until smooth.

Add the water, a little at a time, until the desired consistency is reached.

Add the cumin, cayenne and salt and process. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Flourless Pancakes

...suited for Diabetics!!!!

Instead of using flour use coconut flour and almond flour (you will need less than the original recipe w regular flour would require), instead of sugar use stevia, if you are a vegan use ground soaked flax seed instead of eggs. You can add sliced peaches, plums, apples, blueberries - whatever fruit you like. Made this on Sunday morning, it was delicious, no carbs, no sugar!!!

Vegan Cinnamon/Banana/Ginger Icecream

put in a blender :
3 cups of almond milk, 1 frozen banana (cut in chunks), 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp dried/ground ginger, 1 tsp Stevia (natural sweetener suited for diabetics), blend till smooth, (optional: chocolate chips), freeze, occasionally stir to keep smooth - voila! Enjoy

writing ...meditation...

...Writing has become a meditation and inspiration in itself.  Meditation - because I become completely absorbed and focused through the process. I forget to eat, what time it is or to take a break. Inspiration - because reliving my life this way is like an epiphany of some sort to discover what is possible, how to overcome obstacles, how to really live life to the fullest without regrets and to hopefully give the courage to the reader to believe in themselves when times get tough, to keep going, to start over, to never give up, to keep your gaze inward, see the silver lining within yourself not at a distant horizon. Its all here inside of you, its in the here and now....

Adventures...

....However, there was this particular day when I thought that beautiful little world of mine was too small and I decided to explore the world. I think I was 3 or 4 years old. So I packed my Dads “Rucksack” (an old fashioned backpack), that was so large that it dragged on the ground behind me, took his guitar (don’t ask me why), put my boots on and my “Tiroler Hut” (a hat typical for the Tyrol area in Northern Italy) and left. Nobody noticed. I got about ¼ of a mile just past the neighbor’s house when the neighbors saw me and casually asked where I was going. “Exploring the world” was my equally casual answer. Well, they asked me if I wouldn’t want to have some cookies and milk before embarking on this long journey, and, sure enough that sounded like a great idea and I went inside, forgot about the journey and enjoyed being spoiled. My parents showed up shortly thereafter, surprised of course but not even mad, just took me back home. So that is where my first big adventure ended and my dream of the big wide world started....

(excerpt from my forthcoming book 

"It’s not about putting your foot behind your ear -Living an Inspired Life/A personal journey of transformation through yoga"

Wilderness

...my most cherished moments are spending the night in the wilderness, curled up in my small backpacking tent or even just sleeping under the stars. I call it my “wilderness therapy”. ....sacred silence to be experienced that does not exist anywhere else, that makes me drink in the oneness with all, the interconnectedness of all beings, trees, mountains, air, water, space. Here it is where I find my happiness...SSP  (excerpt from "Living an Inspired Life - a personal journey of transformation through yoga)

Publish Post

Italian Amaretti Cookies...

without sugar (stevia instead)

Amaretti are little cookies that are light as a feather, yet have an intense sweet almond flavor. They're airy, delicate, and oh so simple to make. The recipe takes no more than 4 minutes to put together and they bake quickly.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups of almond flour -or- 3 cups of blanched slivered almonds, finely ground up
• 1/4 cup of Stevia (natural plant based sweetener, suited for diabetics)
• 3 egg whites
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon of almond extract
• Extra stevia for dusting

1 Preheat oven to 300 F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

2 In a food processor mill together the almond flour and stevia. Add the vanilla and almond extract and pulse for a few seconds. Add the eggs, one at a time, and continue to process until the dough is smooth.

3 Place teaspoons of the dough on the parchment paper and dust with sugar. Bake for 24-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely before serving. They will be slightly chewy at first, but they will be nicely crispy as a day or two goes by. Store in a cool, dry place. Makes about 30 cookies.

Living an Inspired Life

It's official now - I am writing a book.
  

Living an Inspired Life/A personal journey of transformation through yoga


 It's not about putting your foot behind your ear :)!!!!!

Drawing from a rich colorful tapestry of life experiences there is an urgency to share my story with the reader. This book is about dispelling the myths about yoga being only for the young, fit and flexible as well as that one has to become a Buddhist/Hindu or that one will be converted into a different belief systems in order to benefit from yoga. I want to encourage and inspire other people, to step out of their comfort zone and try something new -  that weird thing called yoga - then see for themselves how their lives will almost miraculously change. This is my personal inspiring story how it all started, how it helped me through some of the most difficult times in my life, leading me to taking yoga teacher training (at the time only to advance my own practice, never wanted to be a teacher ), to becoming a vinyasa yoga teacher and loving it; I started in my 20ties, sustained my practice through my pregnancies, to now being in my 50ies and feeling young, flexible, alive and vibrant and still teaching 8-9 classes per week. The last two legs of my yogic journey are very exciting! Based on my 30 years of experience practicing and teaching yoga I developed my own yoga clothes line (OmShanti Yoga Wear) which is based on organic/sustainable soy/cotton/bamboo material and the design is semi-custom, tailored to the specific size/shape/need of the yogini wearing it. The reviews speak for themselves. The highlight of my career of course is this book that has captured me for a long time now and I am very excited to finally being able to actually writing it. This book is a testimonial of my personal life story, development and transformation through the practice of yoga with all its components, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually.It is a story from the early beginnings and discoveries through the life saving benefits of yoga during some major challenges in my life to my personal journey of becoming a certified yoga instructor. Throughout all chapters I am sharing yoga success stories from some of my students who never believed that yoga was for them only to discover that in some instances it turned their lives around 100%.

 (read more)

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Living-an-Inspired-LifeA-personal-journey-of-transformation-through-yoga/177861362265874

Soul Connections - Part 2

While talking to a close friend last night I realized that there is a part 2 to my earlier email about Soul Connections – (thank you my friend -  for inspiring me to delve into this topic a little bit deeper)

Soul Connections Part 2

Very few people have the privilege and honor to have a deep soul connection to another the way I described earlier; but those who do know exactly what a profound feeling of trust, love and belonging emerges from it.

Those very special friendships that we have need to be cherished, nourished and celebrated even if we do not live close, see each other on a regular basis or even talk for years in some instances. I KNOW that some of these very sacred connections in my life will be there forever and the moment we do reconnect we pick up exactly where we left off days, weeks, months or in some cases many years ago -  it is as if we just had spent time together yesterday. There is a deep knowing, understanding and yes, a  “soul connection” that make this possible. I believe that some of us are connected on/at  a different level of frequencies where time and space don’t exist, where we realize that all there is is the present moment that is to be lived, loved and utilized to its highest and best ability.  SSP