Help! My pants are shrinking

It's funny, no matter which pair of pants or shorts I put on in the morning, they are quite a bit looser than the pair that I take off at the end of the day. Weird, rigth?

I am experiencing some serious summer bloat. But the summers over you say? Not here in Korea! I swear some of the hottest days are yet to come.

Where does bloating come from?

Sodium! I dont' even like salt. Well, that is to say, I NEVER salt my food. So where is all this sodium coming from? I'll tell you

Soups
Condiments and sauces
Processed Foods
Fast Food - obviously
and....dairy products..blurgh

Some of these I'm guilty of, but for the most part I feel like I eat fairly consciously.

What can I do to battle the bloat?

The obvious - stay away from salts.
Drink lots of water - which I do... I'm talking like at least 3-4 litres of it just while I'm at school.
Eat more fiber
Eat more tropical fruit. Pineapples are supposed to be good. This I can handle.
Chamomile tea is said to help.

Readers. Does anyone even read this blog aside from the mother and her lovely sisters? Readers, do you have any tips on how to keep me from having to unbutton come 3:30pm?

Going on Savasana

I'm sitting here at my desk counting down the last 1 hour and 45 minutes until I am free! Time for vacation. Time to sit on the beach, read, sleep in a tent and just be. I. am. stoked!

Mike and I fly into Jeju tonight and then we have two weeks ahead of us to really just go with the flow. We have nothing booked, no plans, just straight up aimless wandering. Oh ya baby.

While we're away I will be taking a break from blogging, as I'll be living primarily out of a tent. Taking a bit of a savasana from reality. Savasana as a pose is intended to rejuvinate body, mind and spirit. And that is exactly what I am after.

My plan is to read. The books I have packed are:

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - which I am a third of the way through and am in love with

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Sidartha

My plan is to do yoga. I am taking my mat along with me and look forward to down dogging on the beaches of Korea.

My plan is to write. I just picked up this cute little journal that I plan on filling on the daily with anything and everything.

My plan is to relax! And not just a physical relaxation. But a relaxation of the mind. I have yet to really discover the power of meditation but I know that I am in need. My mind does not stop. Ever. And the things that go on in there, well I don't even know where they come from. I plan to make a conscious effort over the next two weeks to really quiet the mind.

And that's it! Full on super lax vacay!

shoooooool's out!

It's here, finally! Vacation!

Another semester, my third here, has come and gone and this is what I've learned.

* Kids love to sing! Any song that they know the words to they will belt out. And this isn't just the young ones, the 6ers love such classics as "The Pizza Song" just as much as the first graders. Whenever I have an extra 10 mins to kill in class I know that I can rely on the gift of song.

*Pinching helps. Things here in Korea are much different in the education system than back home. One of the main differences is that teachers are allowed to discipline the kids in any way they see fit. I have mixed feelings on this. I do not by any means actually get physical with me kids. However I have found that a little pinch on the arm along with a sly smile goes a long way to get a kids attention.

* Kids love stickers. I mean love stickers. And they don't even have to be fuzzy, smelly or shiny. Just plain old blue and red circle stickers and kids will do what you ask of them.

* Kids think I understand Korean. And rightfully so, I have been here for quite a while now and should know more of the language. I don't. So they go right on telling me about their day and about what that little boy just did to that little girl and who I should be getting into trouble. It's adorable. And the younger they are the more they have to say. And the more they have to say the more I just smile and nod a pretend to understand.

Reading over this I realize that for all you "real" teachers out there I may be going against every rule in the book. But....what can you do? This is just the way it's done here. :P

~peace and hugs

Sat Nam

I did a Kundalini yoga session on Thursday after school and just today the stiffness has subsided. This was by far the hardest yoga practice I have done. Lots of movement. Repetitive movement that just keeps going and going way beyond when you think it's time to stop. The instructor kept saying that this is a principal of kundalini yoga; to continue each movement past when the brain says it is time to stop. In doing this we take our practise out of the head and into the heart. And so, on and on we went.

I found it tough to get started but once I closed my eyes and allowed myself to go inward, my body started to loosen and I began to really get into the flow of it all. A delicious little practise that I will definitely revisit. It woke me up and left me feeling freeer in my body.

Throughout the session the instructor used the mantra Sat Nam. This is a new mantra to me and I love it.

Sat - Truth
Nam - Identity

Sat Nam - the truth is my identity and I call upon the eternal truth that resides in all of us. Chanting this mantra is said to awaken the soul.

Lovely, right?

I began to bring this mantra into my breathing

Inhaling Sat, exhaling Nam.

I do love the true meaning of this mantra, however I have to say that by disconnecting that Sat from the Nam I felt that I gained a deeper, personal connection to Sat Nam

Inhale the truth, exhale the ego.

As I went through this practise, all 67 sweaty minutes of it, I focused on bringing in the truth. My truth. The eternal truth. Any truth. And letting go of the ego. Breaking down the things that I identify with that in some way or another have come together and formed this dam of attachments that is restricing the flow of Truth.

And this, I have to say...awakened my soul.

And so for the time being as I go through the day repeating Sat Nam every so often I am going to stick with my tweaked version of it.

Inhale truth
Exhale ego

~India hasn't patented mantras yet have they?~