plant matter 5.11
hi friends,
thank you for being here and for supporting all my things. if you are receiving this email you’ve done so in some meaningful way and i appreciate that with my whole entire heart.
i was feeling kind of de-energized about teaching yoga last week. i don’t want to be creating something that there isn’t a need for (so much free yoga online right now!), but teaching class over zoom to a bunch of my wonderful friends on sunday made me burst with sparkle rainbow confetti. i remembered why i love teaching yoga in the first place — holding space for shared healing movement (which, i recently learned, humans are evolutionarily wired to do), offering a posture, or cue, or thought that could make someone’s day a tiny bit better — it’s well worth the hustle.
if you would like to join me for a virtual flow (and i really hope you do!) find my schedule with zoom links here. and if you’re feeling generous, i would love it if you shared it with a friend or two.
if there is a specific class format / day / time / platform that you’d like to see from me please let me know! reply to this email or send me a dm on instagram.
plant matter
i’m still baking up plant-based sweets for chicago locals on a pay-what-you-can basis! email itsplantmatter@gmail.com to get your hands on some. click here for menu and deets.
not to brag but the number of people who have told me my banana bread is the best they’ve ever had is now up to five so…
links
some things that have been occupying my brain waves lately:
i’m not one to Work Out in the sense of going to the gym and like, lifting heavy objects(?) but i have been missing the physical exertion of regular dance and yoga classes, so i’ve been doing hanna brictson’s daily abs and 3x/week full body workouts on ig live, and i think i might be a Work Out person now. intentionally making my muscles work hard is empowering—who knew??
other fantastic movers to pull up on your screen: hayley, maxine, kate, amber
hewn bread (the best carbs in all the land) is open for contactless pickup. and while you’re purchasing that stone milled goodness you can order a neighbor loaf—hewn’s signature organic sourdough—to be donated to people in need at the hillside food pantry.
in other bread news: i’ve made this sourdough cinnamon raisin loaf three times now, with varying success. it’s still turning out a little too dense and flat, but i think i’m starting to get the hang of it. i found this gal’s tutorial helpful—apparently creating a ‘skin’ while your folding and shaping is critical to the rise. s/o allie kushnir for gifting me my starter baby.
i got to take part in the first round of my friend sara’s mindful business fundamentals series and i learned SO MUCH. it’s weird to think of myself as an entrepreneur, but this series made me realize i was holding myself back by not doing so. she’s got loads of other offerings and virtual events coming up.
i’m listening to this daily podcast for a dose of warm fuzzies. and this song on repeat that my friend katie just released(!!)
i love reading fiction always, and especially now. i just finished ‘nothing to see here’ by kevin wilson and started ‘in five years’ by rebecca searle. if you’re not using the libby app to check out e-books and audiobooks from your local library i don’t know what you’re doing.
i had the absolute honor of interviewing sara kiyo popowa of @shisodelicious (one of my all-time fave insta follows) for closed loop cooking. one especially potent gem:
‘i learned quite early that everything that you think is normal when you grow up in the same place is only normal in the place where you grew up, something else is normal elsewhere.’
read the whole thing here.
also on closed loop: i wrote up a guide for how i approach ‘improv baking’ for if you’re short on ingredients or just recipe-averse like me.
doing something cool that you want me to shout from the rooftops about? i will happily share. just reply to this email.
if you know someone who might enjoy words like this in their inbox, would you please share it with them? they might think it’s about composting and then be pleasantly surprised! (actually, if you want to read something i wrote about composting you can click here).
sparkle rainbow confetti,
maia