Inspired: Smile and Pass it on

Joann at sunrise in Azinhaga, Portugal

Our first submission for our Inspired section was submitted by Joann Greeley. This is fitting, since I cannot think of anyone who could be more inspiring than a woman who chooses to take on the male dominated profession of an electrician, is a community volunteer,  a Yoga Teacher Trainee, and a passionate pilgrim who recently finished her second walking pilgrimage of the Camino de Santiago.  Here is her inspired moment:

Loving Kindness Meditation

Loving Kindness Meditation is an absolute must-have addition to all the Valentines Day chatter about cards, chocolate and candlight dinners. As yogis, this meditation practice is the essence of what we strive to achieve in our practice whether we are sweating through postures or sitting in contemplation. We learn to forgive, be kind, and compassionate toward ourselves and from there experience how easy it is to then extend this practice beyond our sphere of existance into the rest of the world.

Many studies have been done on meditation and while all types of meditation are now known to have numerous types of postive impacts on your physical and psychological well-being only one kind of meditation has been shown to increase the level of happiness in your life; Loving Kindness Meditaion.

The Dali Lama has written much on this topic. He admits that this is not completely a selfless practice, that we reap benefits of our own as we learn to love the world around us, but states beautifully that if we are to be selfish then then we should be wisely selfish, practicing a philosophy of life that makes the world a better place as we make our own lives happier and more satisifying.

And if this were not enough of a reason to practice loving kindness meditation, studies now show that the positive impact of this kind of meditation persists in the long term.(Michael A. Cohn, University of California San Francisco & Barbara L. Fredrickson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2008). In this study, 15 months after participation in a loving-kindness meditation study, those who continued their meditation practice were found to continue to feel very positive emotions in their daily life, however, even those who had stopped meditating felt more positive than a control group that had never begun the meditation practice. What is so significant about this is that feelings of happiness from certain events such as getting a great job or buying a new car dissipate rather quickly while feelings of happiness from loving kindness meditation endure. So let Valentine's day be your motivation to beginning a loving kindness meditation.

The next step is to allow this love to expand to include everyone in your close circle of family and friends, one at a time, or as a group. You can mentally repeat, "May they be healthy, live happily, and may they love one another and themselves." Pause here and then expand your loving circle to include, aquaintances, strangers (This would include neutral people, the person who serves your coffee or unknown faces in far away locations, for example), again repeating, "May they be healthy, live happily, and may they love one another and themselves." Next, move on to include those who have hurt you in the past, those for whom you find it difficult to feel compassion in daily life, and again repeat the loving phrase written above. This step helps us better understand why Buddha described love as being the best armor. When we love those who are unkind to us, we remove the damaging impact that their behavior has on our lives and well-being. We cannot control how other people act. We cannot always understand what motivates them to do what they do, but we can control how we respond. If we feel loving-kindness towards those who do not treat us well, we remove their power to injure us and we stop the perpetuation of this behavior and energy.

Once you have allowed yourself to sit immersed in loving-kindness for a period of time, visualize this feeling being released from your heart center to fill your whole body. Do a body awareness sweep. Smile at your feet and send love to them. Move up your body repeating this process until you have spent some time on each part of your body. Continue to do this until you feel full of this emotion, flowing completely into love, loving yourself unconditionally. This initial step can sometimes be difficult. There can be resistance to sending love to oneself. If you experience this, you may need to spend some time identifying and releasing feelings of unworthiness, replacing them with loving acceptance. Giving the practice some time to blossom in your heart will eventually allow you to overcome any feelings of self-doubt or negativity. This may not happen immediately, but with practice, you will remove this initial hurdle and be ready to systematically develop loving-kindness towards others. This is a key part of the process. When we feel genuine love and acceptance for ourselves we open the door to an unlimited source of love and kindness that can then be effortlessly shared with the world.

And finally, for as long as you feel comfortable simply be with this love, sit with this love and breathe with this love. Repeating this practice even for just a few minutes daily will allow you to cultivate these emotions more easily and in a shorter period of time. Happy Heart Opening.

Cocoa is packed with natural antioxidants which we all know are good for the heart. So be kind to your heart this Valentine's Day and eat high quality dark chocolate to keep your heart in top shape for the month of love!

Try these yummy biscotti yourself with a cup of piping hot tea or  package them in clear cookie bags with red ribbons as a tasty, made with love, Valentine's day gift.

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup unsweetened dark cocoa poweder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp sea salt

6 tbs butter (unsalted/room temp.)

3/4 cup cane sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1-2 100g bars of organic fair trade Chocolate (70% cocoa)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a mixing bowl mix the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder & salt). Use a stand mixer to beat the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add the vanilla and eggs and beat for another two minutes. Then slowly add the dry mixture to the wet mixing it in gradually. Mix in the chocolate bars, crushed into large chip pieces.

Place the dough on a work surface and knead until chips evenly distrubuted. Divide the loaf in half and take one half roll it into a 12 inch cylinder. Flatten the cylinder until it is about 3/4 inch high and the whole piece is rectangular shaped. Carefully place onto the baking sheet and sprinkle with sugar. Repeat with the second half of the dough.

Bake on the center rack for 25 minutes (until just slightly firm. They will spread and crack a little). Remove from baking sheet and cool for 20 minutes on a cooling rack. (Don't turn the oven off!)

Cut each log of biscotti with a sharp knife into 3/4 inch thick slices. Stand the slices up on the baking sheet  arranged with spaces between each slice. Now bake your biscotti again for 10 minutes before once again putting them on a rack to cool.

Yeild: 

Makes about 30 biscotti.

In addition to the above chocolate sensation go to our previous newsletters for chocolate recipes that will have you licking your lips and your fingers this Valentine's Day.

Chocolate recipes from previous newsletters

Click this link to last year's February inspired  chocolate fondue recipe. Not only is it tasty but it is the ultimate social dessert for chocolate lovers of all ages.

Click this link to find our Chocolate Medallions recipe. Like this months biscotti, a great idea to make and give as Valentine's day gifts.