Sun Tao Studio Blog

Quinoa Recipe

Quinoa is a super-food from South America which is very high in protien and has a very balanced set of essential amino acids for human consumption. It is a good source of fiber and phosphorous and is high in magnesium and iron. The Incas considered this crop to be sacred and referred to quinoa as “the mother of all grains”. Try this delicious recipe:

Ingredients

½ medium fennel bulb

1 red pepper, cut into 4 pieces

1 red onion, cut into ¼ inch slices

1 medium zucchini, cut lengthwise into ¼ inch slices

1/3 cup olive oil, best quality

Kosher salt

2 T red wine vinegar

3 T balsamic vinegar

4 cloves garlic, minced (More if desired – I used 7!)

Fresh ground black pepper

1 ½ cups grape tomatoes, halfed

4 oz feta cheese, crumbled

3 T basil, sliced thin

1 ½ cups cooked quinoa

Directions

Rinse quinoa and strain through a fine metal filter and cook to desired consistency. Place quinoa in a large bowl to cool.

Remove the stalks from the fennel bulb. Take ¼ cup of the fronds from the stalks. Chop and reserve. Cut the fennel into quarters lengthwise and trim away core, leaving just enough intact to keep the layers together. Slice the quarters lengthwise to ¼ inch thick.
Heat a clean grill to medium high heat. Brush both sides of the vegetables with 2 T of the olive oil and season with ¼ tsp sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Grill the vegetables, flipping once, until the vegetables are tender and charred. Allow the vegetables to cool and wisk together garlic, vinegars, remaining olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss cooked quinoa with vegetables and cover with dressing. Toss and gently stir in tomatoes, fennel fronds. Top with basil … enjoy.

Don’t forget your homework!

Pillow Homework
(10 minutes before sleep)

• Loosen Back Muscles
• Correcting Posture
• Relaxing Internal Organs
• Improve Circulation
Bring Body Alignment to Natural State

CAUTION: No more than 10 minutes.

Walking Homework
(20 minutes anytime)

• Reverse Hunched Over Posture
• Recover Natural “S” Curve of the Spine
• Improve Hearth and Lung Function
• Strengthen Nervous System and
• Internal Organ Function
• Natural Weight Loss
CAUTION: Don’t make tension in you body. Don’t lean back, abdomen should not push out.

Healthy Dips

Each of these is perfect for the spring and summer..or when you want to think spring..
Mango Salsa

Use this as the base for any fruit salsa
good with fish you can substitute pineapple, papaya, peaches or apricots, basil or parsley can sub for cilantro

Combine in a large bowl:
1 small red onion,chopped rinsed and drained
1/4 cup lime juice
Prepare the following ingredients, setting aside, then add to onion mixture
1 large mango peeled, pitted and coarsely chopped
1 small red bell pepper cut into thin strips
1`/4 cup cilantro or other choices
1 clove garlic minced
1/4 cup fresh orange juice or pineapple juice
1 jalapeno ro small chili pepper finely chopped. Stir together well season with salt and cracked pepper to taste

This salsa will keep covered in the refrigerator for one day.

Spicy black bean salsa

1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 Tablespns olive oil
4 teaspoons minced chipotle chiles you can use canned
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 15-16 ounce cans of black beans rinsed and drained
11/2 cups fresh corn kernels, I use Trader Joe's frozen white corn thawed
11/2 cups chopped red onion
11/2 cups chopped tomatoes (about 3 medium)
1 cup chopped green pepper (which I eliminated because we don't like green pepper)
1 large avocado halved pitted peeled and diced
Tortilla chips

Yoga Starter Plan

You will be slowly guided through the postures of the class
Learn the modifications of poses to suit your needs
Understand important breathing exercises

In this class you will receive a firm grounding into a personal practice, increase your strength, flexibility and create a deep sense of peace

1st – Make appointment for your starter class
Next – begin your Yoga Journey in regular class

Mudras

Jnana Mudra

This mudra helps to lock in energy
3 fingers (past, present, future)
The circle of the thumb and fore finger presents the super – conscious state of Self Realization (Turiya)

Kali Mudra

We employ this mudra in certain postures in Asana practice to help facilitate the opening and stretching of the shoulders and the chest
Represents destruction and rebirth. Something old must often be discarded in order for new life, new ideas and fresh concepts to have room to develop and grow.

Pranayama

Benefits

Prevents Aging
Promotes Cardiovascular Health
Breath Rate is Stabilized and Reduced
Enhances Mental Clarity
Negetive Mental Qualities Diminish in Course of Time
Boosts the Immune System
Improves Functioning of Vital Organs & Glands

Precautions

1. Pranayama should not be practiced in haste
2. Pranayama should not be practiced when the lungs are congested
3. Pranayama should not be practiced immediately after meals
4. During pranayama the breath MUST NOT BE FORCED OR STRAINED
5. For other specific precautions, ie: blood pressure, pregnancy, serious illness… Please consult with your Yoga instructor

‘Having established a firm, steady posture, one then regulates the life force (prana) by natural voluntary suspension of the breath after inhalation and exhalation – this is pranayama’ ~ Pantanjali

Tai Chi Benefit

Tai Chi Boosts Efficacy of Antidepressant Therapy in Older Adults

July 25, 2010 – Adding an abbreviated version of Tai Chi to antidepressant therapy with escitalopram improved resilience, quality of life, and cognitive function in adults with major depression 60 years and older, according to a new research conducted by the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.
“Fewer than half of elderly depressed patients respond to first-line antidepressant pharmacotherapy,” said Helen Lavretsky, MD, when talking about her research. “There is some information in the literature about the benefits of Tai Chi in older adults, but this relates to their balance and their physical functioning. We wanted to see whether Tai Chi would be helpful in improving depression.”

The study recruited 112 adults with major depression and treated them with 10 mg of escitalopram daily for 6 weeks. The 70 subjects who partially responded to escitalopram continued to receive 10 mg of escitalopram per day. In addition, they were randomly assigned to receive either 10 weeks of Tai chi Chih for 2 hours a week or to a lecture on health education for 2 hours a week. “Tai chi Chih is a shortened form of Tai Chi that has only 20 movements and is easier to remember over the course of 10 weeks,” Dr. Lavretsky explained.

Most of the patients (62%) were women, and their mean age was 70 years. The patients were evaluated for depression, anxiety, resilience, health-related quality of life, psychomotor speed, and cognition.

Both Tai Chi and health education patients showed similar improvement in the severity of depression, with mean Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression scores of 6.0 in both groups, Dr. Lavretsky reported. However, subjects in the Tai Chi group showed significantly greater improvement in resilience than did subjects in the health education group. The Tai Chi group also had better health-related quality of life. “Patients who were in the Tai Chi arm had a greater resilience to stress, and I thought the improvement in cognitive measures, such as memory and executive function measures, with Tai Chi was particularly impressive,” Dr. Lavretsky said in an interview.

“I’m in Los Angeles, so people tend to like alternative medicine interventions,” she added. “The limiting measure was the degree of arthritis that patients had. The patients who were in the education group liked that intervention, too, but it was very interesting to me to see that this gentle form of exercise had these superior results. Even C-reactive protein levels in the Tai Chi group were improved.”

This study was funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. It has been presented at the American Psychiatric Association’s Annual Meeting in May and then at the New Clinical Drug Evaluation Unit (NCDEU) 50th Anniversary Meeting in June.

Fresh Vegetable Spring Rolls

Enjoy this very light and delicious recipe which is so easy to make. Great for when your friends or family gather together. Can be made a day ahead of time (keep refrigerated) or prepare the ingredients and let everyone make them together as you eat.  

Fresh (Vietnamese) Vegetable Spring Rolls

Ingredients:

• 1 package rice paper wrappers  – You can get this at any asian market (comes in a round plastic container)
• 1 head green leaf lettuce
• 1 bunch cilantro (leaves and tender stems)
• 1 bunch mint (leaves only)
• 1 carrot, julienned into thin strips or use a peeler
• 1 cucumber, julienned thin
• 1 package mung bean sprouts or any sprout will do
• 1 package very thin, round rice noodles (vermicelli)
• Optionally, add fried tofu (chilled) or boiled, peeled shrimp (chilled)
• Serve with peanut butter sauce or fish sauce (egg roll sauce)

 

Preparation instructions:

 1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the rice noodles for a minute, then drain them and rinse in cool water.

2. Wash and slice the vegetables and lay them neatly in a large dish or bowl. You’ll need a plate for wrapping the rolls. The lettuce leaves should be sliced into manageable strips, and discard any of the cores that are too tough or crunchy. The mint and cilantro leaves can be left whole or coarsely chopped.

3. Fill a large bowl with hot water to soften the rice paper wrappers. Submerge a single dry wrapper in the warm water completely. (You have to soften and wrap the rolls one at a time.) For the first few, tap the wrapper with a wooden spoon and feel as the wrapper softens and begins to turn transparent. Once the wrapper is very supple, gently lift it out with both hands. It will get sticky quickly, so take care not to let it fold in on itself – if it does, just dip it in the water again. Tap the wrapper on the inside edge of the bowl to get off any excess water. Place the wrapper flat on the plate.

4. Put a little of each filler item into the wrapper. You should create a little oblong mound of filling items just to one side of the center of the wrapper on the side closest you. It may take one or two to get the quantities just right.

5. Wrap the roll up by taking the edge closest to you and flipping it up over the little mound of filling. Gently roll the filling up until you’ve just past the halfway point, then pull the sides in and roll it the rest of the way.

6. Dip into your favorite sauce and eat – Mmm Mmm

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Sun Tao Studio Tai Chi Program

Tai Chi has been practiced in China for centuries as a martial art, as exercise, and as a means of improving the flow of internal energy within the body. Because of Tai Chi’s emphasis on correct form and feeling each movement, it is practiced very slowly and gently. Completely non-impact, yet involving the entire body, Tai Chi promotes strength, stamina, and flexibility, while tempering the joints of practitioners. Because the whole body moves as one, Tai Chi cultivates the link between mind and body, enhancing balance and coordination. Practitioners develop confident ease of movement.The Taoists felt that stagnation was the cause of disease and aging. Nature moves unceasingly, and movement prevents stagnation. Tai Chi was developed as a martial art/movement and breathing system that exercised all the joints and major muscle groups while circulating the chi, the internal energy. It is this circulation of the chi that prevents or mitigates disease and debility.

 Tai Chi is performed slowly, evenly, and thoughtfully, with the emphasis on continuity of movement without break or pause. The Chinese use the metaphor of pulling silk from a cocoon: pull steadily, and the strand unravels; pull too fast or too slow, and it breaks.   

Throughout the form, the body remains soft and relaxed, as if suspended from the top of the head and the joints like a puppet. The mind is centered on each movement, assessing the alignment and correctness of the form, focusing on feeling the flow from substantial to insubstantial in each movement, fending off distractions. Breathing is through the nose, slow and even, inhaling during contractions, exhaling during expansions of the form.

In Tai Chi you’re always moving, but always under complete control. There’s no overextension, no wasted effort. The whole body moves as one, with the body parts balanced in circular movement. Always moving, always rotating, always transforming into the opposite–the leg that bears the weight becomes “hollow” (weightless), the hand that was above circles below, while the other hand circles up to take its place. It’s not just hand, arm, and leg motions: the movement is controlled by the waist, and the hand, arm, and leg motions lead or follow the turning of the body. The weight shifts continuously, evenly and under complete control throughout the form, coming to rest briefly but completely on one leg or the other as the next element of the form unfolds.

As a martial art, Tai Chi uses the theory of “four ounces of strength against a ton of force” to repel the opponent without the need of force against force. Tai Chi uses the opponent’s own energy against him, while the Tai Chi practitioner exerts little or no force controlling the opponent. Where the opponent attacks, you become “insubstantial”; where the opponent is weak you attack.

Warm up and circulation exercises:  We will practice specific exercises before each class to prepare the body and mind for energy training. These exercises loosen the joints and help to promote proper circulation of energy throughout the body.

Basic Tai Chi Principles: Learn the basic building blocks of proper Tai Chi, below are the basic principles, other will be introduced as we progress.

1. Sinking shoulders
2. Drop elbows
3. Sink energy to Gong Myung (Second Chakra)
4. Head resting on shoulders
5. Empty / Full – Yin / Yang
6. Lower & Upper body move together
7. Use mind power not force
8. Move continuously & evenly
9. Harmony between internal & external
10. Relax

Basic Tai Chi Movements: First we will begin with proper stances, leg, and arm movements; as well as how to flow from one posture to the next without creating tension in body and mind.           

Introduction to feeling Energy:  Tai Chi is a series of internal martial art movements performed very slowly and deliberately.  A lot of the benefits are lost, without feeling the energy of these movements. We will experience and practice how to develop the sensations of energy.

Yang Style 14 form: This very basic form is easy to learn and will introduce you very gently into the world of Tai Chi. Of course any new movements especially performed slowly will be a challenge the first class. But, anything worth learning needs a period of orientation. Also we can develop our brain as we progress through our new experiences.

Chi Gong (basic form): A basic Chi Gong energy accumulation form will be introduced. This will add a new element  to our practice and help to prepare our core and the hip joints for the 24 form.

Energy accumulation postures:  Through various static postures we are able to develop a strong lower body and core, circulate internal and external energy and make a profound improvement in our overall health.

Push Hands (basic): Pushing Hands is a gentle partner form of sparring in which we practice balance, movement and harmony. Here we practice a single hand push hands.

Yang Style 24 form: The 24 posture Simplified Form of tai chi chuan, is a short version of Yang style tai chi composed of twenty-four unique movements. Many of the movements have already been practiced in the previous 14 form. There are added hand movements, stances and some kicking elements.

Chi Gong (intermediate form): Here we learn a simple yet powerful Chi Gong form that anyone can follow. This form will continue to strengthen the lower body and is very calming as we bring our energy and focus to our core.

Push Hands (intermediate): Here we practice a two handed push hands form.

Tai Chi form terminology:  Now we will learn the terms for each Tai Chi movement in the 24 form.

Energy Movement (free style): This is a dynamic free style energy dance in which you follow your own movements as you follow the energy sensations. Your body instinctively knows what movements it needs to heal and rebalance, so we will just let go of our imposed limitations and enjoy the movements.

Yang Style 40 form: This longer form is for more advanced students and will enable us to go deeper into this dynamic moving meditation.

Push Hands (intermediate cont.) Here we practice a two handed push hands form combined with foot movement.

Chi Gong (advanced form): This is a energy circulation form in which we practice circulating our energy through our girdle meridian channel.

Tai Chi Sword: The Sword should be practiced after at least one year of Tai Chi training. Only then will the body be able to feel comfortable with the sword. Keep checking if you are adhering to the principles of Tai Chi at all times.

• Know your weapon well, understand the different attacking parts of the sword.
• Play with the sword every day, let it become part of you.
• Perceive the sword as a tool and not an decorative object for hanging on the wall.

In Sword practice, one should focus on calmness in movement. The mind is as calm as the lotus pond, a clear surface to reflect the inner feeling of the form.

The body should float like the boat, gently among the lotus blossoms as not to damage any of the delicate petals.  Move with grace and purpose.

Push Hands (advanced):  Here we practice a two handed push hands form combined with more dynamic hand and foot movements.

Yang Style 108 form : This is the long form of Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan and through this form you will master all of the techniques an be able to practice in a deep meditative state as your body strengthens, your mind calms and your spirit and brightens.

24 Form Terminology

1. Commencing (Qǐshì), Preparation, Beginning
2. Part the Wild Horse’s Mane (Yémǎ Fēnzōng)
3. White Crane Spreads Its Wings (Báihè Lìangchì), Stork/Crane Cools Its Wings
4. Brush Knee and Step Forward (Lōuxī Àobù), Brush Knee and Twist Step
5. Playing the Lute (Shǒuhūi Pípā), Strum the Lute, Play Guitar
6. Reverse Reeling Forearm (Daojuan Gong), Step Back and Drive Monkey Away,Repulse Monkey
7. Left Grasp Sparrow’s Tail (Zuo Lan Quewei), Grasp the Bird’s Tail
   1. Ward Off (Peng)
   2. Rollback (Lu)
   3. Press (Ji)
   4. Push (An)
8. Right Grasp Sparrow’s Tail (You Lan Quewei)
9. Single Whip (Danbian)
10. Wave Hands Like Clouds (Yunshou), Cloud Hands, Cloud Built Hands, Wave Hands in Clouds
11. Single Whip (Danbian)
12. High Pat on Horse (Gao Tan Ma), Step Up to Examine Horse
13. Right Heel Kick (You Dengjiao), Separate Right Foot, Kick with Right Foot
14. Strike to Ears with Both Fists (Shuangfeng Guaner)
15. Turn Body and Left Heel Kick (Zhuanshen Zuo Dengjiao)
16. Left Lower Body and Stand on One Leg (Zuo Xiashi Duli)
    1. Single Whip Squatting Down, Snake Creeps Down,
    2. Golden Rooster Stands on One Leg, Golden Bird Standing Alone
17. Right Lower Body and Bird Stand on One Leg (You Xiashi Duli)
18. Shuttle Back and Forth (Yunu Chuansuo), Fair Lady Works with Shuttles, (Walking Wood), Four Corners
19. Needle at Sea Bottom (Haidi Zhen)
20. Fan Through Back (Shan Tong Bei), Fan Penetrates Back, Flash Arm
21. Turn Body, Deflect, Parry, and Punch (Zhuanshen Banlanchui)
22. Appears Closed (Rufeng Sibi), Withdraw and Push, as if Closing a Door, Apparent Close Up
23. Cross Hands (Shizishou)
24. Closing (Shoushi)