Best of Wailuku, Maui

I love Maui and know it like the back of my hand. It's the one place in the U.S. that I actually don't need a GPS system...and where I never get lost. Perhaps the only place.

One favorite way to spend a relaxing day in Maui is to take a stroll through Wailuku. Wailuku offers a taste of the Old Town mom-and-pop feel before Kahului and Kihei got commercialized. It's quaint, and has a nice small town suburban feel.

I start of by taking a morning Restorative Yoga class at my favorite studio: Body Of Light on Main Street. This type of yoga allows you to rest in different poses...almost to the point of sleeping. Now that's what I call "exercise." Nah. The idea is that the body is centering itself and that the poses offer blood flow and interal organ massages.
I usually then walk across the street to Cafe Marc Aurel, a bohemian cafe and wine bar, that offers oraganic, vegetarian healthy eats. Been here many times where changing art exhibits and and live music happens weekly. I like to sit outside and have a nice breakfast to start my day. It's much easier to be vegetarian on Maui than Oahu--perhaps the hippie revolution from Paia and Makawao still leaves its marks on Maui. Cafe Marc Aurel also has flights of wine to try.

From there I walk the streets to check out the up and coming shops and places to eat on Market street. Check out Gallerie Ha for live demonstrations on conteporary art in process or Sig Zane Designs for some local fashion wear. For lunch or afternoon tea, I do recommend Cafe O Lei. Spacious, clean and quite modern change for the area (love their Kihei joint too). Then head to Green Ti Boutique for one of the best deep tissues massages by Deborah.
I'll then drive to the Iao Mountains sometimes to walk around the valley. Other times I to drive to the nice suburban track that sits high up there overlooking the valley. I love sitting at the neighborhood park and enjoying the view and moment. Could live up there.

There's the smallest Farmer's Market I've even seen on Vineyard Street. The best place for manju is at Sam Sato's. Call in your order the day before or be prepared to wait long or be turned away. There's a donut place called Dad's Donuts that has donuts with Hawaii styled fillings (mango, lilikoi, guava)
For dinner try Tokyo Tei hidden under apartments or the famous landmark, Tasty Crust for some local food. Spam and eggs. Fried rice. Shoyu spare ribs. The food there was surprisingly okay! I tried their famous banana nut pancakes. And best of all--you must must must stop by Tasaka Guri Guri (in Kahului) for the best iced treat dessert of all time!

Green Ti Boutique
40 N Market St
Wailuku, HI 96793
808.242.8788

Cafe O Lei
62 N. Market Street
808.986.0044

Sam Sato’s, Inc.
1750 Wili Pa Loop
808.244.7124
Manju pick-up: 7am-4pm

Dad's Donuts
1910 E Vineyard St/Central
808.244.3303
Body of Light
1995 Main Street, Stuite 2
808.264.8263
www.bodyoflightyoga.com

Cafe Marc Aurel
28 North Market Street/Main
808.244.0852

Tasaka Guri Guri
70 E Kaahumanu Ave
Kahului, HI 96732
808.871.4513

Athleta by Gap Inc - Online Yoga and Sports Wear

Hawaii has limited stores for yoga gear. I had to search high and low to find mats, clothing and other products for my practice. There's now a new solution...

The Gap Inc (i.e. Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime) introduces it's latest acquisition and addition: Athleta. This online store offers female clothing for yoga, pilates, hiking, biking, triathalon, tennis and other sports. I think their yoga line is the strongest and most extensive...and of course in typical Gap Inc fashion, these items will always go on sale. The best part is, they have clothing sizes for Petites!

Another store I love and that caters to Petite sizes is is Lucy. Lucy is an athelic store geared for women looking to combine quality material, fashion (clean, simple look), and affordability. (They always have sales!) Unfortunately Lucy is only on the mainland but Hawaii folks can order Lucy items online at www.lucy.com


In Honolulu, other places to shop:

Yoga Wear: Lotus Lily in Kaimuki, and Lululemon Athletica in the Ala Moana Center. Lululemon is on the expensive side, but has free classes such as "Yoga in Japanese," "Surf into Yoga," "Immunity Boosting," and "Self Defense" classes during the week/ends. Some days they have goodie bags for participants and other give aways. (check out their calendar here). Two other places I check is Nordstrom and Sports Authority (limited collections).

Yoga Mats: Lululemon (high end quality, $70), Lily Lotus (also quality mats), Birkham Yoga in Koko Marina Plaza ($20-30 range), Borders bookstore and Target (generic Giam) and Ross.

Yoga Accessories: Blocks, belts, meditation cushions, mat bags, cleaning sprays, foot and hand gear, etc. are at Lily Lotus and Lululemon. See too www.hawaiiyogastudio.com for online places to shop. If you order from Amazon.com, you can use the Mainlandgirl store on the side bar of this webpage for searches and orders of any kind. (thanks!)

Yoga Studios: I practice in the Iyengar tradition. Two studio in town for this tradition are the Silent Dance Center and the Iyengar Yoga Center. Hawaii community classes are the most affordable way to go and usually in the Iyengar or Hatha tradition. Other studios are listed at hawaiiyogastudio.com

Namaste.

Intro to Meditation - Yoga Hawaii

meditation occurs when one find the balance to be able to steady the mind and breath

this takes practice, stamina and training

for an introduction to meditation, a local hawaii studio is holding an intensive weekend series. i personally cannot do meditation for longer than 50 minutes; i die doing it. i can't imagine doing 3 long days of it. nonetheless, for those interested here's the scoop:


Friday, April 24, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 25, 7:00-9:30 a.m.
Sunday, April 26, 7:00-8:45 a.m.

$135 at Yoga Hawaii in Kaimuki
call 808.739.YOGA for details

Favorite Yoga Store – Lily Lotus

Lily Lotus is a cute boutique that sells yoga and lounge attire, daily accessories, books and other fun finds for comfi living. I stepped into the store when it first opened around six months ago; it’s where I bought my first SIGG waterbottle. I liked the selection of merchandise that was sold—trendy printed yoga bags, extra thick (and expensive) yoga mats, handmade jewelry by local artists, and hand designed and dyed organic tank tops and t-shirts made by Momi, the owner.

The outside of the store is painted hot pink (so you can’t miss it), but the inside looks minimalist with pure white walls accented with a gray lettered mantra. It’s one of the few yoga stores around, though it sells more than just yoga stuff. It a great store that I hope sticks around for awhile.

Lily Lotus Boutique
1127 12^th Avenue
Honolulu, HI 96816
808.735.3400
www.lilylotus.com

SIGG Kids & Cleaning Tablets

I’m not sure exactly what the tablets do (am I a sucker? is it just a clever money maker?), but it’s funny that I do feel like my SIGG bottle is somehow freed from bacteria build up. Maybe it's just psychological. Since I already bought and used the product I need to convince myself that it was worth the buy.

For $10 one gets 20 "Bottle Clean" tablets. All you do is fill you’re your SIGG bottle with warm water and drop in one tablet. Let it sit for 30 minutes then rinse it out. What my guess is that the tablets do, is gently bleach the inside of your bottle to aid in both possible discoloration and fight off germs and bacteria. (See my other posts to understand why SIGGs are great).

SIGGs also come in small sized bottles for kids. They come printed with fun designs and flip tops to avoid spills.

In Honolulu you can buy SIGGs and SIGG bottle cleaners at Lily Lotus in Kaimuki. (It’s fun store, particularly if you like yoga wear, locally made jewelry, or need meditation books, CDs, pillows and other relaxing home accessories.)

Where to go:
Lily Lotus (kaimuki; lilylotus.com)
Whole Foods (kahala)
REI online (rei.com)

Restorative Yoga

Restorative Yoga can help by releasing patterns of deeply held tension in the body and re-patterning the nervous system to release stress.

Myfavorite place to do restorative yoga is at Body of Light in Wailuku, Maui. We spend most of the time resting in gentle poses--almost like sleeping with your body twisted comfortably. Emphasis is on breathing, letting go of tension, and being kind to your body. When my mind is frazzled from school, work, or life this type of yoga helps to center me. Body of Light offers discounts for 5 classes, 10 classes, monthly and yearly passes. The studio offers different types of healing and restorative yoga classes through out the week. My favorites ones are taught by the owner, Elizabeth. She is nurturing, present, encouraging, patient and centered.

On Oahu, restorative yoga classes can be taken at Yoga Hawaii in Kaimuki. I've only tried their "free beginners classes" for first time visitors. It was nice to be in an actual yoga studio again and the class was actually pretty good. I will soon visit their restorative yoga classes: Wednesdays, 11am-noon (no class Oct 8 & 15).

Where to go:
Body of Light
1995 Main Street, Suite 2-O
Wailuku, Maui
808.264.8263
www.bodyoflightyoga.com

Yoga Hawai, Kaimuki
808.739.YOGA
www.yoga-hawaii.com

Back to Healthy Living

Now that Whole Foods Market is in town and I’m back to practicing yoga on a weekly basis, Hawaii is starting to feel a bit more like home. I do wonder if I’ll return to being vegetarian again. My vegetarian kick ended the day James took me to eat at Rainbows as a “welcome” to the island. Yup, I learned that two scoops of rice is too much carbs for one meal and that panko fried chicken steaks and beef patties with a sunny side egg on top (Loco Moco’s) are no way to stay healthy in Hawaii.

A couple weeks ago I was getting dressed to go to the Pearl Ultra Lounge for a birthday party. The scary thing is that I couldn’t button my blouse…nor could I fit into any of my pants--any. I'm not exaggerating--I spent 40 minutes going through several creative outfits and finally had to settle on wearing a black dress..because it was the only thing that could fit my waistline. “What the heck happened?!,” I wondered to myself. Hawaii happened…and for me that meant too much ono food here and a lack of nice planned-community-walking trails for daily exercise. The great thing about living in Irvine is 1) Trader Joe's was ½ a block away 2) my yoga class was a 2 block away 3) Irvine hosts the second largest Whole Foods in the nation after New York 4) there are grass lined cement walking paths and biking paths everywhere in the city and 5) the feeling of open space, green scape, pink sunsets, happy people, and safety abound. It’s a great “quality of life” type of city to live in.

But back to Hawaii. It’s nice out here but for different reasons. The people are great and the pace of life is slow. People aren’t materialistic here and it lends to a much more simplified style of living. It’s refreshing to live this way and I’m glad that I’m here.

My $2 Yoga Class

It's so good to get back to practicing yoga again. I was pleasantly surprised by the rigor of the class I'm taking--at $2/class I didn't know what to expect. Surprisingly I found that I was tired after only 1/3 of the way done of the 1.5 hour class. This class is no introductory level class--it is quite intense. The students are already familiar with the poses and the teacher pushes us hard and fast. I was pleasantly surprised and know that I will return week after week. The instructor is trained in Iyengar, the school of yoga that I was trained in so this was an added plus for me. My body will be sore tomorrow, I’m sure, but it hasn’t felt this good since I was practicing in LA.

For more info see: State of Hawaii Adult Education Classes – Kaimuki High School

Yoga classes are usually the first to fill up. Participants line up at 7am in the morning on the first day of registration to ensure enrollment (registration starts at 8am). People in Hawaii are nuts in this way, but I guess when resources are limited people get eager!

Free Yoga & Pilates Classes

Although on the expensive side, I like the fabric and quality of the clothing at Lululemon Athletica at the Ala Moana shopping mall. It's one of the few apparel companies specifically inspired by the practice of yoga itself.

The Scoop: Free weekly yoga or pilates classes in the store!
When: Every Sunday, 8:30-9:45 a.m.
Where It's At: 1450 Ala Moana Bovd, #2406 (downstairs in the new Nordstrom wing)
808.946.7220
www.lululemon.com

$2 Yoga Classes & $4 Photography Classes

One can't find a better educational bargin in the state.

When I enrolled in last spring's Yoga class, the registrar noted that no where else will you find a yoga class for just over $2 per session. "Hmmn, that's true," I thought to myself. Most studios in LA, New York and Honolulu charge an average of $15 per session. For the $2 price, however, you'll have to practice your asanas (poses) in the High School library rather than in mirrored studios with hardwood floors--if you can bear this amibance and appreciate the short drive to your neighborhood school, the class is certainly worth it.

This Fall I plan to take the Introductory and Applied Photography classes (each $40 for 10 weeks, 2 hrs/class). I've been told that these classes fill up by the first day. I enrolled for a photography course with the UH's "New Media Arts Program" last spring--it was expensive and the teacher was lousy. The Hawaii Community School for Adults begins their enrollment this Saturday, so get there early!

Other Classes That Piqued My Interest:
Massage ($20) - 5 wks, 2 hours/class
Meditation ($39) - 10 wks, 2 hours/class
Foot Reflexology ($20) - 8 weeks, 1.5 hours/class
Yoga ($30) - 12 wks, 1.5 hours/class
Golf Fundamentals/Intermediate ($45) - 10 weeks, 2 hours/class

Hula, Hawaiian Language, and Ukulele are other classes unique to the region. Next season I might consider taking the Voice or Painting class!

For More Information:
Website: www.kcsa.k12.hi.us
Fall 08 Registration: August 9-22
Spring 09 Registration: January 10-23