Whatever you might think yoga is, it is probably not quite that.  This is the beauty of it, the endless inquiry through experience that opens itself up and keeps unfolding.  Part of it is technique, creating the right conditions in the body and mind and surroundings, and that requires sincerity, discipline, and consistency.  Once you have some amount of structure and competence, a significant component of yoga involves softening and giving it away, letting things merge in ways you might not expect.

If you understand this in some way, that is good.  If you have no idea at all what I mean, that is also good.  We all experience life in different ways, depending on the particular circumstances we find ourselves in.  And instead of becoming complacent in our situation, we can continue to look inside ourselves and look outside at the complex world around us, again and again, with fresh, bright eyes.  It is all right there, but we have to remember to look.

I hope you are enjoying the summer so far, soaking up all the sunshine and adventures.  Stay in touch, and I’ll look forward to crossing paths again some day soon.

With much love,
Aleah

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Summer Garden Pesto

Growing up in Utah, my family always grew an abundance of basil in the garden to make pesto all summer, with even enough to freeze to tide us over for the winter.  This year, I have two basil plants in my patio garden that are doing quite well, so it has been a good pesto year.  (The past few years, the basil didn’t thrive, and we had to make do with arugula and kale pesto – which is quite good, and still tastes like summer.)

This is how I usually make my pesto these days:

What goes in:
Basil
Olive oil
Lemon
Walnuts
Salt
Black pepper

What to do:
Put the basil leaves in a food processor, with some olive oil and fresh-squeezed lemon juice.  Run the processor briefly until the leaves are chopped finely.  Add and grind the walnuts in, then salt and pepper to taste.  Adjust the consistency by adding more olive oil or walnuts.

I like to eat pesto with bread and salad for a delicious, fresh dinner on late, warm summer nights.  It is also obviously excellent with tomatoes, gnocchi, pasta, rice, in quesadillas, on sandwiches, or in many other settings…