Butternut Squash Soup and Water Salutations
Last week, during the Tuesday morning class, we focused on the Katonah water salutations to open up the sacrum. Between the colder weather and the furnace not yet being functional, I thought it would be good to turn up the heat a little from the inside. After class, I used some of the butternut squash that I got from my friends garden and made my first soup of the season.
I am neither a green thumb nor a good cook. But I aspire to be both.
A year or so ago, I found a recipe from my favorite place for nourishment: Feasting at Home by Sylvia Fontaine. I’ve made her butternut squash soup so many times now that I don’t need to follow the recipe. I roast the squash, sauté onions and garlic, add broth, and blend until smooth. But no two batches are ever quite the same. Sometimes I add a touch of coconut milk for creaminess, or curry for warmth. Sometimes I leave it rustic and chunky, with extra herbs from the garden. It’s a perfect way for me to eat more vegetables and remind myself that nourishment can be simple, warm, and imperfect.
This year, a friend’s garden was so abundant that she shared her harvest — squash, plums, pears, grapes, carrots, and kale. The exchange itself felt like stepping into an ancient river where people share and receive as a practice.
In our class today, the side winding, stirring, and breathing reminded me of the warm, nourishing fall soup I was going to make. The same processes are at play—the slow, chemical transformation through heat, attention, and time. Yoga, like cooking, is a practice of following a recipe and then adding what’s needed, not to have the same experience every time, but to have an experience. One that pauses the repetitive thoughts and makes space for the new to emerge.
At the same time, the yoga world feels like it’s boiling over again. Another scandal in the Ashtanga community: a charismatic teacher, another betrayal of trust. It’s the same old pattern — power masquerading as wisdom, spirituality tangled with manipulation. I keep bumping into posts about it because I’m still connected to people from those days. I think about what post-lineage yoga might look like, what a post-capitalistic yoga might become.
Maybe it looks like this— yoga in living rooms, vegetables shared between friends, warmth, community, and practices that connect. Maybe it’s in the small revelations of finding your knee in your armpit, or your fingers woven behind your head, realizing that joy comes not from perfection but from relationship — with your body, your community, your food, your life.
So as you ladle soup into your bowl tonight, consider it a meditation: a recipe for joy that you can always adapt, amend, and make your own. (And share your favorite soup recipe in the comments!)
Supplies for Butternut Squash Soup and Water Salutations
immersion blender of some kind, I have a really old Cuisinart, but my hand-held thingy works better
one large butternut squash, 1-2 whole garlic bulbs, onion, pepper, really whatever else you might have
broth of any kind
space on a floor
a body
a learner’s mind
A very quick demonstration of the Katonah Yoga® water salutations.
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Maybe it looks like this— yoga in living rooms, vegetables shared between friends, warmth, community, and practices that connect. Maybe it’s in the small revelations of finding your knee in your armpit, or your fingers woven behind your head…