Cooking > Meditation. Especially when it’s a PEANUT SATAY that sets you up for a week of stress-less meals. Because when the point of meditation is to free the mind and live in the present….that’s cooking. At least in my book. So ya know what? No longer am I going to try to “practice” meditation when….maybe it’s not for everyone. If you’re looking for other ways to find mindfulness, read on for a few thoughts…and a recipe for a ZOODLE PAD THAI that will keep your mind off meal prep all week long.

When I first tried mediation, I thought maybe I’m just not “good” at it. Or maybe I need to “practice” more. See, I’m not someone who likes to sit still. And generally, my mind is going a mile a minute and my husband might even claim that “multi-tasking” is my middle name. I don’t lose sleep over it, but like a lot people, I could stand to put my phone down more often, focus my full energy on the task at hand and live more in the present. The thought occurred to me this weekend though, that maybe stillness isn’t the only answer to achieving a meditative state. Maybe, like so many things in life, mindfulness can be achieved in a multitude of different ways. One of those, for me, is cooking.

You might be familiar with mindful eating (savoring the taste, textures, smells of your food, truly enjoying the experience and nourishing your body), but mindful cooking is next level euphoria. It’s being present in the process and changing you perspective from cooking as a chore to cooking as an opportunity to get creative, an opportunity to do something good for you and your family, an opportunity for meal prep to free up your time for the rest of the week. That sense of calm after meditation, is exactly how I feel during and after cooking.

This revelation that meditation doesn’t have to be a cookie cutter definition, actually came to me after taking a Soulctivate class at Soulcycle. If you’re familiar with Soulcyle, you’re probably imaging the traditional high cadence dance-a-thon that made this cycling studio a cult favorite. Soulactivate, in contrast, is a high intensity interval class that encourages you to push yourself to your limits for short bursts (imagine 50 strangers on bikes, red lights blaring, sprinting with all their hearts and some literally screaming out loud) followed by complete motionlessness. It’s a bit animalistic and entirely freeing. Everyone is living in the moment, shutting out everything else. And isn’t that the whole point of meditation? To free the mind and live in the present? So for me, cooking is mediation. Motion is mediation. And meditation, doesn’t have to have one definition.

Here’s a few thought starts for how you can find that meditative state:

1.) Cooking as Mediation
2.) Movement as Meditation
3.) Art as Meditation
4.) Music as Meditation
5.) Stillness as Meditation

The freeing part is also knowing that you can choose your definition. And if cooking is your meditation of choice, or you’ve just been waiting for that amaze ZOODLE PAD THAI recipe, you’ve come to the right place. Get the much-awaited recipe below so you can whip this up and zen out the rest of the week.

ZOODLE PAD THAI with PEANUT SATAY
Makes: 1 mason jar of thai peanut sauce and countless meals!

Ingredients:
Thai Peanut Sauce
– One 13.5 oz can of full-fat, unsweetened coconut milk like Thai Kitchen
– 1/4 C of red curry paste like Thai Kitchen
– 3/4 C natural, creamy and unsweetened peanut butter like 365 Everyday
– 3/4 C coconut sugar (or white refined sugar)
– 2 T apple cider vinegar
– 1/2 T salt
– 1/2 C water

Additional Ingredients
– veggie noodles of choice (zucchini, butternut squash and carrot are great choices!)
— protein of choice (hard-boiled eggs, tofu and chicken are fantastic options!)
— optional fresh veggies (sliced bell peppers, diced carrots and snow peas as shown)
— top with crushed peanuts and cilantro for extra texture and flavor

Directions:
Step 1: Make the sauce by adding all of the ingredients to a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Whisk until it comes to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat to low and allow to simmer for another 3-5 minutes whisking sporadically to ensure the bottom does not burn. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
Step 2: Cook the veggie noodles by placing in a large saute pan with a drizzle of olive oil. Heat for 3-5 minutes over medium heat until desired doneness.
Step 3: Assemble the pad thai by distributing the veggie noodles to individual serving dishes, top with as much sauce as you’d like and add protein along with additional veggie and toppings of choice. Enjoy!

Want more ways to use this THAI PEANUT SAUCE? Check out this THAI RAINBOW BOWL or these THAI TOFU TACOS.

The post Cooking as Meditation appeared first on The Shooks Life.

Some days you go to the gym and eat salads, Sundays you eat Fruity Pebble cookies and don’t put pants on. You gotta nourish to flourish, ya know?

It’s another SMonday…that time when it stops feeling like Sunday, and starts feeling like Monday. All that weight and baggage can be heavy. And so there’s a reason we call it “Self-Care Sunday”. But what about all the others days of the week? Are we treating ourselves like sh*t day in day out? What if we practiced a little more positivity, a little more self love and care…each and every day of the week? In this week’s post, I’m sharing some of my favorite practices for adding a little more positivity to every day. Because you deserve it!

What spurred all of this yearning for a bit more self-care was a healthy dose of madness this month. Starting a new role at work, while playing double duty with my old role, annual review season and selling our house had me brimming with businessness and yearning for…less. Less noise, less negativity and less of the stuff that wasn’t adding value to my everyday. So I made a choice. To not get lost in the madness. To not get overwhelmed. And to focus on a practice of positivity. Here are my top 5 tips. I hope this helps bring a bit more joy in your day as we face a new week and new month.

Top 10 Tips for Living a Life of Positivity….Every Day of the Week

1.) Write Yourself Love Letters: Nope, not the kind that you silently passed to the boy (or girl) next to you in middle school. The kind that set the tone for a kick *ss day. Notes like, “I can do all the things” or “Everything always works out for me.” I like to put post-its at my desk as a reminder that “Hey, I got this!”. Or, you can use these little love memos as the labels for your daily alarm (as shown above). Who likes to wake up to, “Alarm”?That just gives me all the heebies jeebies. Wouldn’t it be so much better to wake up to, “I am in charge of how I feel today.”? Heck yes!

2.) Limit Social Media: It can be so easy to get lost in comparisons or feel so dang depressed when you look at everyone living their best life on social media. News alert: your friends aren’t doing exciting things 24/7. To give yourself a reality check, think about either 1.) taking a few days off social media 2.) restraining from immediately scrolling through your social media apps as soon as you get up or 3.) limiting your time spent on social media each day. The new Screen Time and App Limit features on iOS 12 are pretty cool. You can see how much time you’re spending on certain apps and also set limitations. Once your limit is reached, the app is blocked on your phone. Check out on these features here.

3.) Get Inspired Through Podcasts: There’s a reason you shower every day and a reason to practice positivity each day. All that negativity can build up and needs to be cleansed on the daily. I often find that I start a lot of books and never finish them. So I’ve turned to podcasts, which I can listen to during my daily commute rather than getting lost in emails or social media. Some of my favorites for empowerment, inspiration and entrepreneurship are: TED Talks, Courage & Clarity, She Did It Her Way, The Turnaround and How I Built This.

I also just started using Audible so that I can listen to books. I simply never get around to finding the solitude to read a book in hard copy or lose my spot because I never use bookmarks, so this has been a game changer. I just listed to “How Will You Measure Your Life?” and highly recommend. Plus, I heard you can share books with friends on Audible, so if anyone would like to listen to this book, let me know!

4.) Let Go of All That Excess Stuff: I’ll admit. I’m a hoarder. I just always think there will be a use for something down the road! Like those scrunchies from middle school that are making their way trendy again! Selling our house has been a bit of a godsend in nudging me to JUST LET GO! Physical clutter can lead to mental clutter so I’ve made a practice of picking one room each weekend to purge. And already, I’m feeling the levity. So where does all this stuff go? I’ve either donated the clothing or, I’ve been using two apps: letgo and OfferUp to make a little side cash on things that weren’t providing me much value anyway.  We literally sold a bag of rocks. There’s someone out there who will pay $5 for anything – anything!

5.) Express Gratitude: The real secret to having it all, is realizing what you already have. Each night for the past week I’ve said thanks for 3 things that brought happiness to my day. No matter how small. Like, I found a parking spot so I wasn’t late to my 6 a.m. fitness class like I was last week. Or how lucky I am that when I get home late at night, my husband has dinner waiting. It would be easy to grumble about working late. But when you frame it in a positive, it washes over the negativity. If you keep a journal, write down the 3 things that you’re grateful for each day. If that’s not your jam, say it out loud. There’s something about writing it down or saying it out loud that gives it more lasting meaning. After all, feeling gratitude and not expressing it, is liking buy a present and never giving it. Gift yourself gratitude and see just how great every day truly is.

Put yourself first today…and every day. Self love isn’t selfish. It’s necessary each and every day. Let’s do away with Self-Care Sunday and make every day a celebration.

Have additional thoughts on living with positivity? I’d love to hear them! Feel free to comment below or send me a message.

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“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around every while in a while, you could miss it.” Bueller? Anyone? Anyone?

After a hectic two weeks of workshops and travel, I was swimming in a bottomless abyss of emails. Rather than continue to tread water, I hopped out of the endless pool of email to take a chill pill. Quite literally, at Chill Meditation + Massage in River North. The studio opened in Chicago about a year ago and hosts yoga as well as mediation classes that offer a bit of stillness in an urban oasis just down the street from the Merchandise Mart.

I’ve always been one to fight stillness – with the mindset that stillness means you’re not moving forward, progressing, driving towards your purpose. So needless to say, meditation was not my jam and even the thought made me a bit twitchy with anxiety. But, I’m also a big believer that the most uncomfortable situations offers the biggest opportunity for growth. So, here goes nothing with this meditation massage studio.

Given my angst about mediation, I chose to do a combo yoga + meditation class so I could at least flow through some of the jitters before sitting in silence. When I entered the studio, I was immediately welcomed and offered some relaxing tea to enjoy before class. Once I was settled, Darrell, the general manager, gave me a tour of the space, which included the retail space upfront filled with reads about finding calm and fun swinging chairs, a tranquility room with loungers and a flowing fountain for relaxation pre/post class, a dimly lit yet airy yoga room with mats and head rests already laid out, as well as a few curtained spaces for chair or table massages.

I enjoyed a bit of peppermint tea while I waited and since I’m a bit challenged to just do nothing, I chatted a bit with Darrell. I mentioned my meditation angst and that I couldn’t fathom completely shutting off my brain. He had some helpful advice that meditation isn’t about stopping. It’s about pausing to take in the moment. Your brain is like a spring, so it’s near impossible to just stop, but we can slow down the vibrations, allowing thoughts to flow in and out of our mindset. When we choose to rejoin the rhythm, we enter back into the story with intention – whether that be an intention to be more present, calm, understanding, loving, etc. I thought to myself, “pausing, I can do”.

The yoga plus meditation class was 30 minutes of restorative yoga, followed by 20 minutes of guided meditation and 10 minutes of, basically savasana. Rajni, the instructor, led us through something similar to sun salutations to warm up our bodies and build awareness of the present moment and how our bodies were feeling. As she phrased it, “we build heat from within so we can purge our bodies of everything that is unnecessary.” It was just the right amount of movement to feel worked and open to the next stage of stillness.

During the guided meditation, we sat upright on pillows with eyes closed as Rajni shared some mantras about breath and accepting the fact that stories might flow in and out of our mindset, but to let them pass through. I breathed a mental sigh of relief. I wasn’t the only one who was fluttering between restful meditation and my to-do list. It was more restful vs to-do’s though. The time flew by – though my feet did start to fall asleep towards the end. I was sitting cross-legged, so perhaps I’ll try another pose next time.

Following the class, I indulged in a quick 20-minute chair massage. The meditation massage studio offers an express recharge package for $50 that includes 1 class plus a 20-minute massage. Jose, my massage therapist, was fantastic. Despite the fact that we were in a curtained area vs separate room, I really didn’t notice my surroundings. And it was just the right amount of time to loosen up the constant stress that I hold in my shoulders.

While I feel like I “cheated” a bit by taking the yoga + meditation class, I left feeling much more grounded and open to the idea of taking a full 30-minute meditation class when I come back. Notice the phrasing “when I come back”. It’s active language like this that sets you motion to act. While I’ll always be an action-oriented person, I hope that I’ll have a little less angst, and a little more patience, next time I’m behind a slow-walker on the sidewalk.

Happy National Meditation Month. Take some time to accept the pause, knowing that it’s not setting you back, it’s clearing away the obstructions so you can run that much faster in the direction you choose.

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