The Afterglow- Sara Jean Yoga

Mother’s Day, 2024. Feeling loved, and seen, and lucky to witness their lives every day.

Let’s do Yoga Nidra this month! I’d love to see you there 🪴🧘🏽‍♀️🌙

Feeling burned out? Over-tired? Exhausted? Join me to address this with care and gentleness.

Want to know more about this practice? Message me & I’d love to share more 🌙

Feeling burned out? Over worked? Tired? Join me to address this next weekend. 🌙

For those that need to rest.

For those that need quiet.

For those burned out.

For those that want to listen.

For you.

January brings with it a social pressure to remake, redo, restart. I have a view that is different, if I may offer it. It is shared by many others, though less popular in the culture. In January, the northern hemisphere is at its coldest, most quiet space in nature. We can follow suit. We can quiet ourselves, come inward, heal, listen. This will set the stage for the rebirth of Spring which comes in a few months. Spring is the time to utilize the energy for shift and change. Now is the time to Winter … recover from the hectic holidays. Dissolve into Stillness for an hour with me.

I’m hosting another series of Yoga Nidra in my home this month. My first is a daytime, January 12, 9:30 AM, the next will be Jan 26, 5:30 PM for those that prefer evening. I’ll post about that one also. Sign up for either or both with me to save your spot.

Merry Merry 🎅🏾🎄❄️

My heart is SO full after teaching the most amazing group of women a Winter Solstice Nidra practice. So deeply grateful for each individual who came, and the sacred space from the collective. Wow. Blown away.
Stay tuned for our next circle. 🔥
Nidra

Join me for Yoga Nidra practice
Friday, Oct 28 @ 5:30 pm

Our theme … Wintering

When I started feeling the drag of winter, I began to treat myself like a favoured child: with kindness and love. I assumed my needs were reasonable and that my feelings were signals of something important. I kept myself well fed and made sure I was getting enough sleep. I took myself for walks in the fresh air and spent time doing things that soothed me. I asked myself: What is this winter all about? I asked myself: What change is coming?
Katherine May

Link: in comment or sign up

Yoga Nidra practice with me! Friday, Oct 28 @ 5:30 pm

Our theme … Wintering

When I started feeling the drag of winter, I began to treat myself like a favoured child: with kindness and love. I assumed my needs were reasonable and that my feelings were signals of something important. I kept myself well fed and made sure I was getting enough sleep. I took myself for walks in the fresh air and spent time doing things that soothed me. I asked myself: What is this winter all about? I asked myself: What change is coming?
Katherine May

Link:

Schedule - WellnessLiving Systems

Rockies pulled out the win over Twins for the last game of the season!

(Lena and I sported our Cubs gear 💙❤️)

New newsletter and update …

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We call today “Life Day”. ❤️ 12 years ago on this day I collapsed in my home due to cardiac arrest. Jonathan heard me fall, called 911, and firefighters got my heart started again after approximately 21 minutes of it not beating. They put me in a hypothermic coma and I miraculously survived it all. There are a lot of plots within this plot line - a lot of processing and therapy since then. A lot of healing & living.

Today we celebrate Life. The gift of life - the brutal pain of life, but also the beauty that stops us all in our tracks. We celebrate how complex the human experience really is for us all.
On this Life Day I’m facing more challenges in my story. This last year for me/ us has been deeply challenging, revealing, painful, scary, healing, heartbreaking. Many of you are walking alongside me in this work and I am so grateful.

I share this because every one of us has our own truly hard path to walk. It’s both-and… Our stories with BOTH the heartache AND joy AND confusion AND fear AND laughter AND … all of it … simultaneously.

My path is unique to me and this past weekend I took time to ponder how to approach what is ahead for me. The larger picture is too much for my tender heart.

So what came to me is this - “the next right thing”. I didn’t make this phrase up of course. It’s in recovery language, books, podcasts, & Jonathan reminded me that even Anna in Frozen told us to do this. 😉 The energy of “the next thing” feels softer. This approach feels more doable, gentler, slower, mindful, yogic. What is the next thing I need to do? I can focus on that. One thing at a time.

Whatever is happening in your journey, maybe that phrase can help you step back and make it more digestible also.

Happy Life Day to us, but to you too. You’re doing a great job.
Do The Next Right Thing

*photo taken by Jonathan - Lake Michigan paddle board session for me & Lena. Truly glorious sunset 🌅

Chicago … cousins … Michigan … family … games … THE Lake … putt-putt … Go-Karts … and more.

Celebrating this dad today - these two have a bond like nothing else.

Len and I took him to see Aladdin the musical in Denver.

Camping in the back yard … 😍🙌🏾 ⛺️

Spent the long weekend celebrating my incredible niece and her graduation… .thompson we are so excited for this next chapter of your beautiful life!

Happy birthday to my amazing mom. Her unconditional love, support, listening ear, friendship and enjoyment of life are just a few of the things I treasure about her. I’m so grateful for you mom. As an adult I see all the countless ways you sacrificed to raise us and do your best to provide a safe, stable home for us. I’m so grateful for the ways we’ve grown even closer over the decades. Thank you for loving me so deeply, especially this past year as I needed my mom a lot 😉. We love you and celebrate you on this special birthday!!!

☀️ Colorado beauty

A friend left these for me before I taught a yoga class today, so I found them as I was setting up … I’m so grateful for all of you helping me through this season. No words can express my love 🌻

*Flowers from

I am lactose intolerant (as many Celiac’s are) and drink a LOT of nut milk. Have you ever made it?

Pecan Milk is one of the easiest to start with because you don’t even have to strain it like other vegan milks.

Recipe:

1 cup raw pecans
2 cups water

Blend in a Vitamix for 1 minute

Add 2 more cups of water, a sweetener you like (dates, maple syrup, stevia, honey), pinch of salt, & flair (you could add cinnamon, cocoa or nutmeg)

Blend 1 more minute and then enjoy!

Chile Verde 💚
*beautiful pottery by Jonathan 🥣

(with pulled pork from the crockpot I made earlier this week. You could use chicken also)

Sautéed 🧅 onions
White 🫘 beans
(Add any other veggies you wanted)
1-2 cups of salsa verde

Spices: cumin, coriander, oregano, garlic

Toppings: avocado, cilantro and cheese if you wanted

(GF) Nut- Free Lunchbox Bread 🍞

from cookbook “Eat What You Love”

This bread is SO good! It uses yeast so it has an amazing flavor and chew. There is something so satisfying about making a yeast dough and watching it successfully rise.

It happens to be nut free along with gluten & dairy free; coconut and arrowroot flour provide the texture and flavor. Tip: you can use tapioca flour in place of arrowroot if it’s easier to find (usually much cheaper).

Perfect on a snowy March day in Colorado ❄️

Pulled pork in a crockpot - so easy! What to do with leftovers?

Sautéed frozen hash browns. Season as you wish.

Top with pulled pork, kimchi, cilantro and BBQ sauce.

Lemony creamy pea soup - perfect for Spring.

Soak raw cashews in hot water for several hours or overnight. The cashews will add a gorgeous creaminess to this or any soup you make! I use this trick a lot thanks to

Grab a big bag of frozen peas. Sauté your Onion in oil, add garlic, any spices or herbs * you like. Add the peas to the pot, your seasoning (that’s salt and pepper), broth or even water, and cook until soft.

*I like dill, tarragon or basil personally. The soup tastes great with just garlic and lemon also and that’s what I did today.

Drain the cashews and add them to a powerful blender. Add the pea mixture & grate lemon zest 🍋 and some juice into the blender until smooth and enjoy! You may need to add liquid to make it how thick or thin you enjoy your soup.

I ate this with Roasted Salmon and it went great together.













sorry I know you hate the peas 🤪

Meat sauce leftover idea #2:

Roasted Zucchini Melts

1. Cut your zucchini in half, and then cross-hatch them with a knife. Add oil, spices, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper. Heat your oven to 400 degrees F. Place them cut side down on the well oiled baking pan. Bake on one side then flip and get the hatch side nice and golden.

Top with sauce and (vegan for me) cheese.

Bake until cheese is melted.

(I put a little hummus on this and loved it.)

Meat sauce repurpose #1 : PIZZA 🍕

I make my own crust with Tapioca flour, coconut flour, and almond flour. Oil the pan really well because the crust will get nice and crisp, yet chewy in the center.

Top with the ready made meat sauce and (vegan) cheese. Sometimes I add pepperoni or other meat. Adding fresh tomatoes or herbs is ideal & what I do all summer when I have a garden growing.

Yum!

I cook. And bake. A lot.

So here’s the start of posting about such delightful things 🥂. May they inspire you to cook or enjoy someone else cooking for you. 😉

They’ll all be gluten free & dairy free. And incredibly yummy.

Up first - meat sauce. So versatile… I make it a thousand ways. This was traditional Italian style. Ground meat of your choice (omit for vegetarian or vegan), 🧅 onions, garlic, Italian herbs (fresh and dried), canned tomatoes 🥫 - 1 large can of whole tomatoes smashed, and 1 large can of crushed.

Tips on how I change up the flavor by adding one of the following : capers, olives, peppers, bacon, squash, greens, sun dried tomatoes.

Upcoming posts about how I use it outside of traditional pasta sauce (Lena’s favorite)👸🏾

School Spirit Day - “Dress up as your future self day!”
She wants to be a teacher 👩🏾‍🏫 🤓

Jan 27th Yoga Nidra Evening


Sign up online (just click on their instagram page - link is there) to reserve your spot.