Top 5 Things We Loved about Long Island, NY

1.  Getting to spend time with family:  our son, soon-to-be daughter-in-law (and her wonderful family!), and our grandson.  Since we live so far away from them, this month-long stay was a luxury that has spoiled us getting to see them so much!

2.  The  Vineyards.  Out of the 60 some-odd vineyards on the North Shore, we were able to visit a good number of them.  The off-season timing of our visit to New York worked in our favor, as many times we were the only visitors in the tasting rooms and were able to enjoy many long conversations with the vineyard owners and staff.  Our favorite vineyard, by far was Castello di Borghese Vineyard.  They have the most wonderful Cabernet Franc as well as a luscious White Pinot Noir.   On our last visit there before going home, we got to meet the owner of the vineyard, Bernard, whose thick Italian accent was a delight to hear.

  

3.  The ocean.  We took advantage of our month-long stay to visit as many shoreline hiking trails as we could.  My favorite was Inlet Pond Preserve, right here in Greenport.  At the beginning of every sunny, warmish day, I would say to Fred, "Let's go back to Inlet Pond!", he would respond, "What is it with you and Inlet Pond?".  "It's just sooo pretty!" I would respond!

Montauk Point 

Shadmoor Preserve

Inlet Pond Park

4.  The parks and preserves.  There are tons of places to hike on the Long Island.  We hiked at Arshamomaque Preserve, Inlet Pond Preserve (twice!), Mashomack Preserve, Montauk Walking Dunes, Montauk Point, and Shadmoor Park.  

Inlet Pond Park

Walking Dunes of Montauk

Inlet Pond Park

Mashomack Park and Preserve

Arshamomaque Preserve

5.  The friendly people of Long Island.  Everywhere we went people were so friendly and welcoming to these two Arkansans.  The staff, teachers, and fellow classmates at NOFO Wellness in Cutchogue made us feel like we were natives.  There was one lady in Spinning Class who said she has a cousin who lives in a town in Arkansas with a lot of lakes and in an area called "The Highlands".  We said, "Hmm, we live in "The Highands", in a town with a lot of lakes".  Turns out the cousin actually lives in Bella Vista, AR too!  The folks remodeling the apartment above where we were staying were also great!  They were more than willing to help us out with anything we needed.  The friendly, family-owned shops and restaurant owners were to fun to visit with.  It turned out that even though quite a few attractions were not open yet in April, we were fortunate to see the North Shore as most natives to the area know and love the area.

What's Your Dosha?

In reading "Misadventures of a Garden State Yogi", I've come to the chapter "Ayurveda Revisited".  According to the The University of Maryland Medical Center (http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/ayurveda-000348.htm) Ayurveda is considered by many scholars to be the oldest healing science.  Ayurveda is a holistic approach to health that is designed to help people live long, healthy, and well balanced lives. The term Ayurveda is taken from the Sanskrit words ayus, meaning life or lifespan, and veda, meaning knowledge. It has been practiced in India for at least 5,000 years and has recently become popular in Western cultures. The basic principle of Ayurveda is to prevent and treat illness by maintaining balance in the body, mind, and consciousness through proper drinking, diet, and lifestyle, as well as herbal remedies. 

According to Ayurveda a person is a blend of three different proclivities, or doshas.  The three doshas are:  vata (ether/air), pitta (fire), and kapha (water/earth).  Each person is a blend of these elements.  So I took the short questionnaire to determine what my dosha is, and it seems that I am primarily vata (ether/air) - basically prone to be scatterbrained and wishy-washy.  To balance these proclivities in a vata dosha, Ayurveda recommends that I need to keep warm, eat warm and moist foods, take it easy on beans (difficult for a vegetarian!), avoid caffeine (oh no!!), white sugar (oh dear!), and processed foods, relax, spend lots of time in nature, and keep a regular routine (and actually LOOK at your calendar and to do list).  It seems that this 5,000-year-old practice may be right on the mark with my nature.  The biggest thing for me to reduce is caffeine, as I love teas and coffee.  Also, sugar - can't stand my coffee unsweetened.  

This morning I took a Yoga class from a local studio in Greenport, NY called Stirling Yoga (http://stirlingyoga.com/).  This studio teaches Ashtanga Yoga.  I have practiced primarily Hatha Yoga. Really there was very little difference between the two styles - just a slightly different Sun Salutation series.  I loved that there were blankets to sit on during the introductory breathing focus and for Savasana (final relaxation).  Toward the end of Savasana the teacher used what I think was a Harmonium to sing/chant a bit in Sanskrit (this was wonderful!).  Then he read a short reading and finally chanted something in Sanskrit and had the class repeat it.  I have no idea what it meant, but I felt great!  Although I thoroughly enjoyed this class, at $18 per drop-in, I'll probably stick to my unlimited plan at NOFO Wellness Center  for the month of April.  

Namaste', 
Carrie