Letting go is the hardest asana. 

This post I am dedicating to yoga, but yoga of the mind. Why «but» and not just «and»? 

_________________

In all these years of growing and growing and even more growing popularity of Yoga, there is one
big misconception about this field, and I am not speaking just about this city/country or that, I am
speaking about general yoga community worldwide. People find it easier to do physical asanas and miss other parts of the deal. It is like this «all-over-internet» - My diet is vegetable juice for breakfast, salad for lunch, light dinner and box of Oreo's in the night. We tend to start from so far away without fully understanding the root of the teaching of yoga and missing the most important part, the root of all problems, which as far as I am concerned is our Mind. I was «yoging» my body for about 15 years and was jumping all around the core, flirting with truth and with myself. I can compare that to trying open the door using not the handle, but the door's hinges. Basically, you do can make it happen but how much more energy and time it will take. And yet that's in my opinion we all are doing on all sorts of physical yoga lessons and retreats. We are like boiling pots of all sorts of emotions. We are carrying it with us and trying to calm it down, spill it, burn ourselves and others and willingly and diligently keep doing it on and on again and again. After all these years of feeding my «yoga teacher» ego with the ability of complete the most complex and advanced asanas and show it off to the world, I have noticed that some blind spots all over my body were staying numb and unstretched no matter what. Plus my migraines increased their presence in my life to the level that I could not function properly anymore. All of that literally just had pushed me to the corner and did not leave me any chance but decide to devote 10 days of life to Meditation Retreat. And at that moment I could hardly imagine myself sitting in meditation without the ability to speak, to write, to draw. But I decided to give it a try. I have found Vipassana meditation centre near New York and full of doubts went there having it in my mind as last chance to figure out health issues. Here you can read about my first Vipassana 10-day course by Goenka experience.

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On a year number «2» of my mornings and evenings Vipassana meditation experience, I am upgrading the previous article. I cannot say it was easy to maintain the practice, and I cannot say I became a perfect meditator, I cannot say meditation always brings you happiness and liberation, in fact, they are pretty rare guests of mine. I gained the moment where my migraines disappeared and my productivity got to the desired level and….. Well, I, Myself and My Big Ego decided that there is no necessity in meditation anymore. And wow-such-a-surprise, in less than a month migraines came back to reign. It was hard to get back on track and year later after my first Vipassana I went for the second round. The experience as I understand changes significantly with each time, as everything in our world has a tendency to change. And so my concept of the whole system got into some changes.

First, I now see myself as sort of instrument. Let's say Piano, as I was playing the piano back in childhood. Before making any sound, it has to get tuned. Otherwise, even if the player is good and play got learned properly, without tuning the sound will appear cranky and unpleasant for a listener and for the player himself. So for me, meditation now is a way to balance the sound of my soul and mind to hear it and produce it in a better and more understandable way.
Second, on the whole earth, only Human being from all animals is able to feel, think, have emotions and sensations, be in the epicentre of the living experience and at the same moment be a watcher, be an observer of that experience. That is the most valuable thing we have as species. And meditation helps to build strong foundation and core for stable observation skills, as from time to time we all have negative emotions, gross sensations and etc and it is definitely not easy to keep being an observer. For some people probably it can be very easy to do, not for me though. A long time ago I was reading and rereading all over again the book Transerfing of Reality by V.Zeland. The reason why I kept rereading is I simply could not get into handy one of the essential term, required for practising Zeland's theory of how to manifest your desires and create the reality you wish to live in. And it was how to be unattached to the desirable results and not to cling and crave for it. It is still kind of an oxymoron for me but feels like I am much closer to the point.
Third, meditation gives Unambiguous Sight. There is no need in magic or psychic abilities to see things and people truthfully. All you need is clear heart and mind, and calm emotional background. And the truth comes to the surface without any special efforts.

Therefore, meditation experience helps to get a better version of self. 

Physically, Emotionally and Mentally. 

I hope this review will be helpful and it will clear all impurities and misconceptions. 

May all beings be happy.

Much Love,
Aeri

XoXo

I have heard about Garcinia Cambogia for a while now and always wanted to try it. After my Food&Drink trip to Napa Valley, I gain some weight, and it was the right moment to try out this supplement.

The study says it contains hydroxy citric acid and blocks enzyme "citrate lyase." Our body uses this enzyme to make fat. It also raises levels of the serotonin in the brain, which can get you feel not so hungry. And so people take it on an empty stomach before exercises. Some extremals even take one more pill after exercise with the meal.

I made it one week every day after breakfast before my training, and I would like to share my experience.

First of all, I was sweating like crazy. Second, I was full of energy even after two- three hours of cardio. Which gave me that feeling that I can push my boundaries and do more.

After one week of a little amount food and lots of physical activities, I sprained my ankle. And not just one, but on both legs. Was it because of that supplement? Or I just did overwhelm myself?

I had a lot of time for thinking "why" during my recovering period and did some research; I have read a lot of articles about this supplement. And here what I highly recommend to those of you who goes "hardcore" like me.

1) Always hydrate yourself! You should ideally put back as much water as you spend sweating. Buy good water with electrolytes or make your own but this is an essential part. With your sweat, a lot of minerals go out from your body, and you have to replace it.

2) Do not over exercise. Even though your brain(with a high level of serotonin)  will tell you that your limits are unlimited, it is not. Always follow your exercise plan.

3) Do not take it you have the deficiency of iron, if you take any pain medicine if pregnant or nursing or if you have kidney or liver problems.

Be well,

Aeri

xoxo

Everyone knows, there is something magical in travelling. Preparing the luggage, discussing the route, picking up the hotels to stay and restaurants to enjoy the food. Though sometimes you want to «go with the flow » and pick places following your gut. Especially with such a tool as Yelp with many other people's reviews and photos of the places and meals.
And our trip was exactly like this.

We spent in San Francisco couple of days with my friend who used to live there. And it was love at first sight. I will never forget this feeling when I saw for the first time in my life New York where I live now. It was like big fire in the chest, under the skin and in the heart. It is that feeling that you cannot describe, and they call it Love. With SF was the same. It is very complicated and multi-edging city, with scary and ugly areas and with amazing and majestic at the same moment. People mostly have the different experience about this city as I understand, and it makes San Francisco even more magical.
By the way, flight with Delta was very comfortable, seats in Boing 767-300 were superb and by the end of the flight, I did not feel any muscle aches. We took our small Pomeranian with us, and he went through six hours flight nicely and without any problems.

In short, here I will put the link for places to eat that we enjoyed our stay in SF.

If you are close to Marina area - Tacolicious and Mile's Drive-in.
If you are near Japan town, I would highly recommend State Bird Provisions.
If you like BBQ-

And so, after spending enough hard time biking up&down on the SF hills, we headed off to the south. I checked Yelp in the case of beautiful places for a breakfast on-the-way and have found Los Gatos. It was full of people( at 715 am on Saturday), and we had to wait for about a half an hour. The portions were huge( we took to go all leftovers and finished on the lunch) and everything was delicious. The atmosphere there is very retro. As an interior designer, I can say that all the furniture, lighting, and even wall's paint was like from another generation. But it gives to this place charm and uniqueness.
When we came to Monterey, first of all, we checked in Monterey Tides Hotel. I have read all reviews right before, and it was very controversial. Some people said that the experience was horrible, they felt like the hotel by itself and area around was under construction. But some people had the exquisite experience. So we decided to risk and stay there one night. The Hotel is located right on the waterfront. We got room 222( my favorite number and I always feel little happier when it comes to my life) and also we had the view right in the Pacific. We were not so lucky with the weather as it was cloudy and windy but the pool was open and water there was warm. It was a lot of people on the beach, so we did not feel like we are all alone. And the whole experience reminded me Normandy France, area near Le Mon San Michele.
Must-have to visit in Monterey is, of course, Aquarium. I have been in Aquarium in many different cities and countries, but this one is unbelievable. Go!
If you like wine tasting and meet this greyish weather a little depressing you should get the wine tasting passport in Carmel-on-the-sea for 65$( 90$ worth) and start your preparation for a dinner three-four hours ahead. Carmel is the beautiful, cozy town with a lot of galleries and excellent restaurants( from easy to very chic).
On the next morning, I was eager to find famous local sourdough bread and it was not so easy as it seems. But we finally did it. And stuff made splendid Sandwiches in Pavel's bakery( the oldest one in town). Again the portions were huge, so I could eat just half( which was very convenient for my husband who finished it later on during our hiking).
The next two attraction points of this area are for wild nature lovers and hikers.
First one is 17-Miles Drive(Pebble Beach). This area is well known for its luxurious Resorts and Golf fields. Yelpers are very controversial about it, but I think it is worth visiting. Yes, it is a lot of gorgeous houses and closed for public visiting spots. But they have most of the white sand beaches open to visitors and much more. Such as Shepherd's Knoll, vista points that give a grand view of Monterey Bay and The Santa Cruz mountains; Spanish Bay; Bird Rock; Cypress Point Lookout and The Lone Cypress; etc.

And the last thing I would like to mention here is Point Lobos, State Natural Reserve, «…the greatest meeting of land and water in the world» Francis McComas. I don't know about «the Greatest» but for sure one of the best. Thanks to Point Lobos Foundation for keeping this area as wild and untouchable as possible. I was the witness to a very funny situation: I was sitting near the trail and enjoying the view when the family passed by me. The kid asked parents: this bird is fake? And everybody starts to laugh. Because that bird was too beautiful and too natural, it was too peaceful and perfectly framed in this amazing mother nature. This situation is very reflective of what is happening in the whole world( by that I mean Earth of course) right now. We are in that period when there are less and less not touched places by human hand like this. And we should make the very strong effort to keep it as much and as long as we can. I highly recommend the movie on this topic, How to Let go of the World and Love all the things Climate can't change directed by HBO.

And so back to our post, the full trail in Point Lobos is about 3,5 – 4 hours. And if you have this time to spend on you should do. Must-have!

Thank you so much for reading, I hope it was interesting and helpful.
And next travelling post will be about Mono Hot Springs in Yosemite Park.
Stay tuned, subscribe and feel free to ask me any questions about our trip.

Xoxo,
Arie.

WWW.AERIANECOHEN.COM

The story behind Ketubah.

Ketubah - is the beautiful and mystique word, it is Jewel of Judaism tradition, and it hides so many exciting moments and insights.

«It is considered an integral part of a traditional Jewish marriage, and outlines the rights and responsibilities of the groom, in relation to the bride.» Wikipedia.

Sounds good, no?

The first time I have heard about this was two months before my wedding. I am half Jewish( my mother and my grandmother was jewish) and my husband is also jewish by his mother. That's mean that there was no such a big tradition follow in our families. For example, I 've learned that I am jewish right after my one year intense interest in Judaism and Kabbalah so my grandmother had decided explain to me and to other family members why I have such a desire to learn more about it. And in center that I used to attend at that moment my friend asked me when I told her that we are getting married: «Are you going to buy Ketubah?» Well, my blood had burned right away and with round eyes I have asked her «What is that? Where I can find it? Why I have never heard about it?» And that is very typical for me, when I have such an interest in the beginning, that is going to be long love!

And so if you already my reader, you alreafy know that I am interior designer with huge and neverending love to art. The last couple of years I was concentrating more on creating art. And from the very beginning I felt in love in the idea that I can create Ketubah for my own wedding by myself. And even though me and my husband were thinking in the beginning to buy something ready( as we were running out of time), me personally did not like any design that I have found on the internet. And that is how the idea was born to create it by myself. And as a creative person, I got the idea very easily and quickly, I made my research about how-to make it, what kind of tools to use and in one week our Ketubah was ready.

I enjoyed the process so much that I decided to create another one and then another one. And so my husband suggested me to sell it. And that is how I built my shop on Etsy.com and from that moment I am taking one order in 1-2 months as I papercut it by hand. One of the most important thing for me is to create it with good vibrations and to put there as much Love as I can. Therefore I created my own ritual of creating it, with a particular prayer before and after my work and listening special music.

I know that Ketubah mostly is using for traditional Jewish weddings. But here I am, half Jew, having not traditional or even half traditional marriage. And yet I believe that is wonderful when Husband is giving to his Bride a beautiful document. Document where he promises whatever he wants to guarantee and give his word to take responsibility for his their future. And in my opinion this moment is so important, this moment makes their union much stronger, much more conscious and unique. So I think as soon as Hamsa( jewish symbol) became world famous sign to banish negativity, why not every brooms would make this present to their brides on the weddings as well?

Ok, so My Mission is to spread it to the world! That's what I am doing!

PS On the photo one of my Ketubah. Go to ETSY.COM and contact me in case of purchasing your future customizable Ketubah.

I am going to be doing this blog about a year now, and I have never tried such a type of the blog post as FAQ or Frequently Asked Question. I am challenging myself from now on for the next week or so to write more posts, and the first thing I membered who asked me lastly about me or my lifestyle was How I Stay in a Good shape and health. This is one of the most comfortable topics for me as now I am very sure about Do and Don't about food, and here I share my routine.

First of all and the most important thing is to follow the QQ-rule. 

Quantity and Quality. 

You can eat whatever you want( if you don't have the allergy to some products or something like this) if you will eat the exact amount that fills out your stomach and let it digest easy and fast. Yes, of course, you should avoid combining meat and bread, or another dangerous combination is potato with meat. I don't eat meat (or very rarely and occasionally like once a year or so) and I follow this concept that you can eat meat but only if you will be able to kill that animal( that is somewhat «new» paleo way of eating which is very controversial and has it's own followers and haters). If you are still on your way to perfect weight, I would suggest using waist trainer as it will tight your stomach and will not allow you to overeat. But then later on when you will stabilize your weight it will not be necessary. Link to the article about Waist trainer here.

So, first was quantity. Second Quality. Yes! You are what you eat, and I was always saying eat. If I know that the product is not okay, or meal contains harmful ingredients I will definitely not eat it. Even if I will be hungry as hell.

And as an additional kind of rule, the Timing! Yes, it is crucial to let your gut work with food and do not put anything else there at least next three or better four hours while it is completely digested. Otherwise, you just putting to much work for your stomach and food is digesting not properly. And this is one of the causes of excessive fat in the body.

And even when you are following all the rules properly, give yourself a break sometimes! Once a week or two make a Cheat day and eat whatever you want and how much you want. Celebrate your weekly effort because that will give you motivation for the next week.

Take care,

Aeri.

xoxo