Cheap thrills

I am so not one for kitchen gadgets. Like most people out there I have had my share of useless kitchen gadgets and for me in all honesty most of them really are are useless. The fanciest thing in my kitchen is my crockpot (which has been pumpin' non stop for about a month now with this cold)!

One day out of the blue I picked up these two things from London Drugs (which was really unlike me). I am not a fan of shopping to begin with, and useless kitchen stuff is about the last thing I'll buy. But to my delight I have been using both of these items every single day! One is a milk frother (under $5). And the other is a rice cooker ($14). The rice cooker is something that I would have deemed completely useless (although I do have a girlfriend who swears by hers). And now I can see why!

I love it and it makes every single type of rice and whole grain perfectly (and it steams veg too). It shuts off automatically too. I just wanted to share because I am using both of these things every single day, and both of them together are under $20 bucks. Yup, cheap thrills :)

Zen Meditation-the basics

One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people can be. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, “How was the trip?

“It was great, Dad.” “Did you see how poor people can be?” the father asked. “Oh Yeah” said the son. “So what did you learn from the trip?” asked the father. The son answered, “I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.”

With this the boy’s father was speechless. Then his son added, “Thanks, dad for showing me how poor we are."

Just be kind

Every 5 minutes it seems there's another study touting the effects of yoga..

The most recent one is yoga and happiness ♥

Researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine investigated whether yoga or walking made people happier and the answer was Yoga.

People who practiced Yoga 2-3 times per week reported being happier and much less anxious than those who walked for the same length of time. And the science backed them up completely. The yogi's had much higher levels of mood boosting chemicals in their brains too.

Those of us who practice yoga regularly always find these studies entertaining. We feel the effects of our yoga. I'm thrilled that medical science is discovering what we have all known for years (and the ancient yogi's have known for literally thousands of years). It is nice that it can all be confirmed in a lab or by a fMRI machine these days. And it is really lovely the way that yoga is moving more and more into a clinical setting as well. That makes me so very happy as yoga truly is self care of so many levels.

I love my yoga and I do love my walking too. I recommend the best of both worlds. Walk to yoga!

P.S. registration is on for both The Roundhouse and Mt Pleasant classes so let's do it up!

Do you volunteer?

Do you volunteer? Over the holiday season or throughout the year?

Pretty much everywhere you go this time of year you can see people giving of their most valuable commodity. Time.

Speaking as somebody who has volunteered pretty much my whole life I can tell you that everybody wins. Not only the person/people you are giving the time to, but you too benefit. Hugely. I'm not exaggerating in saying that it might just be one of the most valuable experiences of your life.

If you give of yourself, good on ya!

And if you don't you should do yourself and the folks in your community a favour by giving of yourself. There is only one you. And the world needs us! All of us.

We all have causes we believe in and topics that interest us. And we all have skills and ways of helping unique to us. Everyone can benefit! I almost feel guilty volunteering. Nothing makes you feel better! It adds such a richness to your life. I believe it releases endorphins too. And from a karmic stand point you can't go wrong. We will all need help in this life and thats a fact. So why not help?

I have an array of organizations I love to help but the two biggest are The Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada (website here), including their BrainWAVE Program ( website here), and the one and only Shanti Uganda Society (website here). *Both of which are always looking for volunteers!

If you ever had any questions for me or wanted to be pointed in the right direction feel free to contact me, anytime at yoginilori@gmail.com I'd really love to help you get started. You will not regret it!

Happy holidays and namaste xo

Did you know?

The winner of the 2007 NYC marathon was the mother of a 9 month old baby.

Isn't that amazing? I heard it mentioned the other day and it is just so inspiring.

All you moms inspire me so. You are all so truly amazing.

Thanks for being in my life. xo