Yoga, Health, and Wellness Articles + Recipes

I was first introduced to the sankalpa during my 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training program during a Yoga Nidra practice. This practice forever changed the trajectory of my life. By listening to my teacher guide me into a state between consciousness and unconsciousness, I was able to create my sankalpa by crystallizing what my heart’s true desire was and begin to allow it to manifest and unfold in my life.

I’ve spent many an evening, after a long, hard day doing these poses in our living room while family life happens around me. That might mean that my daughter is jumping on me, or that there’s an occasional sports newscast on in the background. My evening wind down practice isn’t pristine (and yours doesn’t have to be either), but I still find it incredibly helpful to spend a few minutes on self-care in the evening. It provides a buffer zone that helps me relax so that when it’s time for sleep, my mind isn’t buzzing and my body isn’t calling out for more attention.

I recently graduated from my 500-hour advanced teacher training. The experience was an intense and deep study not just of yoga but also of myself and my relationship with yoga. As I’ve shared with some of you in my classes, it seems that we are always just beginning our journey – the moment we identify an end-goal is the moment we stray from the very path that will help us achieve it. Some of you have encouraged me to share some of what I wrote in my lengthy 7,600+ word final exam essays. As I went back and reviewed what I wrote, I found the perfect piece to share with you today. There are so many times I reference the Yoga Sutras in my blog posts, but I’ve never really talked through them in a full dedicated post, so now is the time!

Sometimes life is about a collection of details. Flecks of gorgeous sprinkled throughout the day. We can get lost in the macro of things, and we miss it. It being the details. It being the smell of cinnamon and honey that lingers on your skin after making granola. It being that surprising crunch of millet between your teeth even though you know it’s there, even though you know it’ll be crunchy. It being the magic of creation. The magic of watching ingredients meld together into something unique, something yours. It being the connection with your food, the connection with your body, the connection with the world.

Any time you can get to the gym is great. However, some times may have more benefits than others. Below are four reasons why exercising in the morning may be the best.

Spring has sprung and all throughout yogaland, studios are hosting “detox flow” workshops that emphasize deep twists and side bends. And, no doubt, the vast majority of these workshops will declare that you need to keep your pelvis “stable” when you twist in order to keep your lower back and sacroiliac joints safe. Although the word “stable” in this context is slightly misleading, teachers are trying to keep their students from turning their pelvis when they rotate their spine. This is the way I taught twists for over 15 years — adamantly no less.

Vinyasa Yoga is one of the most practiced styles worldwide, indeed, according to a survey by the Yoga Journal, it is the most popular style amongst yogis. So, why is it that there seems to be some confusion about what Vinyasa is? Is it a style? A sequence? Or is it just a technique? And what exactly does it mean when a teacher says “take a Vinyasa”?

There is so much pressure to get into the best schools in order to receive the highest education. We work ourselves into exhaustion so we can make as much money as possible to pay off school debts and afford luxurious homes. These supposed paths of lives are followed in the hopes of “enjoying” ourselves on the weekends but deny ourselves activities that truly make us happy. In fact, most people are so stressed from the pressures of achievement that they are still thinking of work on their time off and can’t find enjoyment because the mind is so distracted with the pressure and stress of having to be ‘successful’. That sounds like a trap we blindly walk into. And for the majority, it looks like that trap has been accepted.

It’s estimated that about 9% of the American population practices yoga. Most of them are women, but the practices is slowly gaining popularity with the male species among us as the yogic path becomes more and more necessary to live a full and balanced life in these stressful modern day times. But shouldn’t everyone be practicing yoga? Here are 5 compelling reasons why the 9% should become 100%!

How would you feel if you allowed yourself to seek all that you wanted? What would it feel like to want, free of societal filters and expectations? What would happen if you stopped the incessant cycle of self-sabotagement?

What on Earth!? It happened: the idea was born, the perfect studio space emerged, the lease was signed, the walls went up, the floor went down, and the collaborators gathered. Even the smallest of the pre-opening details were somewhat thrilling; as we stepped forward in the creation of Earth, our new yoga studio in Boulder, Colorado.

About a year ago I started practicing yoga on my own. Before, I was never one to practice alone. After all, why should I stay home and practice by myself when I can go to YogaWorks? You might be one of those people who also doesn’t want to miss out on the social vibe of public classes, and I don’t blame you. Or maybe you don’t feel like you know enough of yoga sequencing and alignment to be on your own. In that case, you can either take mental note of what you see in class and replicate it, or read up a sequence online. Even though safety is still priority, if you are looking for a simple, solid home practice you can figure a few poses out work for you specifically and get all the benefits of a self-imposed structure.

Summer solstice was on Monday, complete with a beautiful strawberry full moon (something I was informed of after the fact and apparently this strawberry stuff only happens once every 70 years!). Solstices and equinoxes are important to me because they signify a change in season. Just as Mother Nature changes throughout the seasons, so do human beings. Now is a good time to contemplate how your routines, practices, and needs are changing as we officially enter summer.

If you practice vinyasa flow yoga, the reality is you’re going to spend a lot of time bearing weight on the delicate structures of your hands and wrists. The problem is that this is not their intended function. For example, when was the last time, save a social media campaign, you walked to the grocery store on your hands? As the action of weight bearing through the hands is a bit unnatural, it can potentially introduce discomfort, pain, and even injury into your yoga practice.

About a year ago I shared an article about the Ayurvedic perspective on circadian rhythm. In it, I shared how different times in the day have different qualities associated with them, thus making certain times more appropriate for specific activities.

Like all livelihoods, teaching yoga comes with challenges that can lead to burnout if they’re not managed. Here are five essential tips to help you manage the stresses of teaching yoga so that you can savor your career and guide your students without crashing and burning.

At first, the idea of writing might seem as daunting as yoga is to some people- How do you start? Are there any rules? What exactly do you do? There are always these unsure moments when you try something new. Think back to the first time you were given a mat to unroll onto the ground and step onto bare feet. The setup that once felt so foreign might become a native part of how you begin your yoga practice now.

Today, I’m offering up another video for you post-travel. If you forget to stretch during the trip itself, at least take some time to decompress afterward with some yoga you can do in bed.

For many, it is has become important to distinguish between “asana,” or the performing of postures, and yoga. Both those who are inclined towards yoga as a fitness regimen, and those who embrace it as more than just exercise, find it necessary to clarify the intent and purpose behind their practice. This compartmentalisation, while convenient and often useful, brings with it a dilemma, the resolution to which determines what is actually possible with yoga.

Ancient yogis came to construct a worldview where they appreciated the world as viewed through the lens of karma – as actions that were meaningful because they could be accounted for. One might say that one of the primary goals of these ancient yogis was to know what could and what would happen next.

Yoga is for everybody. But, not every yoga posture is for everybody—including Chaturanga Dandasana. For many practitioners, the pose is simply too demanding to be done with safe, stable alignment.

A few weeks ago I was at a networking event for executive women when I heard a phrase that I haven’t heard for a while (it wasn’t a yoga term…!).

Hey Guys, I hope you’re doing amazing wherever you are right now and focusing on crushing it before the Summer Holidays (or Winter for my Southern hemisphere peeps). Today I decided to give you guys some very cool Productivity Tips as this is another thing people always ask me about…”Hayley, how do you get so much done when you’re so busy?”

Last week I got the amazing opportunity to help assist a workshop at a corporate event, where my fellow teacher and I were tasked with teaching people yoga you can do at work.

The Yoga Sutras say that our movements should be steady and sweet – and they’re right. But that doesn’t make it easy.