An Ideal Day in Betton Hills



What is an "ideal day" for you?


 At Leslie Hanks' Yoga Unlimited Studio and Yoga Gardens, an ideal day is composed of Leslie's favorite ingredients: an abundance of fresh garden herbs and vegetables, Ayurvedic recipes, students of Yoga and Ayurveda, graduates of her Yoga Teacher Training and Ayurveda school, and longtime friends who practice at the studio. Leslie's home is fashioned in such a way that she can demonstrate preparations of Ayurvedic cuisine while students listen, smell, and share stories of their grandmothers' recipes, of their own garden riches, and of what has and hasn't been working for them in the kitchen and in their broader lives.

 When dishes have all been prepared, poured into serving bowls and garnished, we set the table together in a circle on the floor, laying out linens and silverware, ceramic plates and accoutrements, and then the dishes themselves. From every seated position there is a view through one of the surrounding windows of the house onto the extraordinary gardens, filled with birds and birdsong.
 Leslie says a special grace that reminds us all that every single dish begins with  a seed sewn, a tender commitment to that seed and its nurture, and many rays of sunshine.
After the fulfilling experience of taking time to taste every nuance of each dish in the company of friends-in-yoga, we take a walk through Leslie's gardens and out to the neighborhood and beyond. Leslie calls this walk the "Poetry of the Landscape." It begins in silence, offering a chance to pay attention and to discern what is growing. On the return we name the plants we recognize. We deepen our commitment to take none for granted and to do what we can to nurture and preserve this exquisite natural landscape.

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