Yoga, Health, and Wellness Articles + Recipes

We, humans, live in an age of physical and mental stress. Body inactivity, past ailment, and genetic traits make our bodies lose flexibility and strength. Mild to chronic health problems are the consequence. Yoga is one of the top ways to de-stress and rejuvenate the body to wellness and immunity. This physical practice is world-famous since times immemorial. With yoga cities getting back to the new normal, fitness rainbow is brightening up for health and strength seekers. Let us look at the world's most popular places to take your yoga practice to new heights.

While a lot of people could definitely improve their posture, you might think that it’s going to be a hard and arduous journey to a straighter spine. However, it can be the small things that you might not notice that are actually causing your bad posture. Luckily, once you notice these behaviors, it becomes very easy to change and adapt, and improve your posture. Here are some of the ways you could be hurting your posture, without even realizing it. Slouching

Excellent posture not only keeps your physical body healthy, but also provides the foundation and support you need to maintain emotional and mental balance. Yoga will help you find proper spinal alignment to stand tall and feel your best inside and out. Over the last thirty years, we’ve grown more sedentary as a culture. Many of us spend hours each day sitting, which is the number one contributor to back pain, poor posture, sluggish digestion, and mental fog. To counteract hunched shoulders, tight neck muscles, and lower back pain, take the time to step onto your yoga mat and perfect your posture.

Mindfulness is a stress-buster that’s becoming more popular, and for good reason. Practicing mindfulness in your day to day life can help you be more relaxed, happy, and kind. For many, their work-life can be a source of stress. It doesn't need to be and for those fortunate enough, work is something that brings joy. Whether it's work or other things in your life that cause you stress, it's important you do your best to reduce the effects of stress. Stress can kill. That’s no overstatement — it’s true. Mounting stress increases your blood pressure and releases cortisol into your bloodstream. You can become more prone to heart attacks and strokes. But you don’t have to let chronic stress defeat you.

There are two types of people - those who like peppers and those who hate them. I am definitely a pepper lover, and enjoy them in every shape, color and form - raw as a snack, stuffed and baked (my favorite filling is lentils with seasonal veggies), and in salads and wok dishes. In today's recipe, red peppers are used as one of the sauce components, and the result is simply fascinating. The sauce is reminiscent of romesco, but since my version is whipped up to taste, using the ingredients I had at home (which means that half of the ingredients used for authentic romesco sauce are replaced) I don't dare call it fancy names. I believe calling it roasted pepper and almond sauce paints a good picture of this sauce.

If you're feeling like you're stuck in a rut do not worry. We all have our moments, you're never stuck, and there are things you can do, on any given day, to turn the momentum around. This is not a post to disregard or invalidate whatever you may be feeling, but rather to encourage you not to get stuck there and keep doing your best to stay bright and optimistic. Ready to turn things around?

Are you ready to mix up your week with some new workouts that will enrich your yoga practice? We’re excited to share a 6-part bootcamp from Erin Wimert, YogaDownload.com’s top barre teacher, that will have you shaking, sweating, and smiling. If you’re not familiar with this total-body fitness class, barre is a challenging workout that combines elements of classical ballet barre, Pilates, and body-weight exercises. But don’t worry: no dance experience needed. 5 reasons to integrate barre into your routine:

This warm salad is a nice nutritious main meal that, in my opinion, does not need anything else, but for meat lovers, it can also be served as a side next to meat or fish. I occasionally do eat fish and meat, but I never add it to this salad myself. The carrots, avocado, and seeds are filling as they are. The dish is approved by omnivores, and even my boyfriend who never likes vegetables (and weirdly enough is a vegetarian) is always happy to eat two portions of this one. The creaminess of the avocado, crunchiness of toasted seeds, and earthiness of carrots combined is a perfect plateful for a little chillier summer night. Like many of my recipes, this salad uses a ton of coriander. If you are one of those who don’t like it, feel free to substitute for arugula. But if you have only tasted coriander for a few times, I recommend to give it another go as it is one of those flavors that needs a little getting used to. I remember when it wasn’t my favorite, and today I add it to almost every recipe!

In more ways than one, the COVID-19 pandemic has completely changed our sense of normal. These days, more people find themselves working remotely as the virus continues sweeping across the globe, forcing many establishments to shut down their offices. Most children are staying at home as well and logging on for their classes rather than catching the school bus. There are also fewer opportunities to get out and socialize with friends and family. This means that many of us are stuck at home all day long. Unfortunately, all this time spent inside can lead to increased issues with your health.

Iyengar yoga is a type of yoga that was developed by B.K.S Iyengar - and also named after him. He was one of the people who was partly responsible for bringing the modern practice of yoga to the Western world. B.K.S. Iyengar was born in 1918 in Bellur, India. B.K.S. Iyengar practiced yoga for over 85 years, but began his study under his guru, T. Krishnamacharya - also sometimes known as the Father of modern yoga. B.K.S Iyengar brought the practice of yoga to the western world in the 197’0’s and wrote the book Light on Yoga, which has been a book many yoga students across the world have studied for generations. Iyengar yoga is identified by being similar to the classic Hatha yoga traditions, but with lots of attention on the technical alignment and proper posing. This helps keep the mind drawn inward, but also connected to reality.

“If the foundation is firm, the building can withstand calamities. The practice of Yoga is the foundation, so that the Self is not shaken under any circumstances.” – B.K.S. Iyengar With the world in a tumultuous state these days, it’s more important than ever to fortify our inner strength and foundation. Iyengar Yoga is an excellent path to create more stability. Along with Pattabhi Jois, B.K.S. Iyengar was one of the two most famous students of the Father of Modern Yoga, T. Krishnamacharya. Both teachers are credited with bringing their interpretation of the Eight-Limbed Yoga Path to the West. If you love Vinyasa Yoga, thank Ashtanga Yoga founder Pattabhi Jois because Vinyasa flow is a derivative of his style. Iyengar went in another direction.

It’s peach season here in Colorado, and it wouldn’t be summertime in Colorado without some fresh peaches from our local farmer’s market. In honor of one of our favorite stone fruits, we thought we’d share a recipe today that is just ‘peachy!’ Nothing says summer more than biting into a fresh, juicy peach, and this green smoothie recipe is the perfect way to use all those perfectly ripe peaches that start popping up in local farmer’s markets this time of year. Peaches are a relatively low-sugar fruit, so they won’t spike your blood sugar and leave you crashing in a few hours. Peaches are also high in dietary fiber to help keep you regular, and a great source of immune-boosting Vitamin C.

ife begins and ends with you. It is all too easy to use time to rattle off numerous reasons why life is harder, tougher, sadder or more challenging for you. Why waste the time though! We each have the same 24 hours in our days to make use of. You and you alone get to choose how you will spend them.

If you’re familiar and like to play with the manifestation and the law of attraction, make sure to dedicate time and energy into manifesting how you want to feel, who you want to be, and how you aspire to carry yourself, as much, if not more, than solely focusing what kinds of external things you desire. If you’re not familiar with manifestation, it's essentially using visualization techniques to attract experiences into your life. This article and this program will give you a greater understanding of what this is, and how you can use the power of your mind to attract what you want into your reality. And while it's wonderful to use the power of your mind to attract things that can enhance your life, like a beautiful home, a loving partner, nice clothes, or a car you love, lasting happiness always comes from something within.

Are you living the life you’ve always dreamed of or do your intentions and goals seem out of reach? In order to manifest our dreams, first we must be clear about what we want. What we focus on expands, so discover what you truly desire and direct your attention toward it, with energy and intention. If you are new to meditation or haven’t meditated in a while, one of the first things meditation teaches you is how distracted your mind is. Usually, we have the same series of thoughts circling on repeat in our brains. If we can learn to quiet the distractions and focus our attention toward what which we wish to manifest in our lives, we can take the first steps to our ideal future.

This recipe is absolutely beautiful and even my partner, who is vegetarian, and at the same time, definitely doesn’t like cauliflower, is a big fan. I am confident that once the food is served nicely, it tastes better too, so today I put on my artist-glows and set a beautiful plate – something that I usually don’t do at home if it is only two of us eating. So maybe this is what made the difference, but for me, this recipe is delicious in any shape or form! I especially like that if the cauliflower is roasted like that in the oven, it keeps the structure and integrity of cauliflower. Of course, it is nothing similar to a real steak, but in my humble opinion, it is better! Paired with the silky smooth mash and topped with dukkah, pomegranate, and coriander, it is a very nice dish that I would happily even enjoy dining out (but since it only takes a little over 30 minutes to cook I still rather prepare it myself).

Spiritual teacher, Eckhart Tolle likes to remind whoever is listening that we are not our thoughts, nor are we our emotions. We are the awareness behind these two. However, amid the chaos of life, we can often forget this simple yet powerful statement and allow our thoughts and emotions to run wild. A wild mind can only lead to an imbalance in mental wellness. Anxiety, depression, and panic attacks are some of the negative mental states we can experience when mental wellness is inexistent.

The second chakra, also known as Svadhisthana, or sacral chakra. This chakra covers the region of the reproductive organs and lower abdomen and back. As an intuitive, I see this as the emotional center of the body. This is the chakra that stores the information around how we are feeling, and what is going on for us emotionally.

"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within." -Elizabeth Kubler-Ross True happiness and beauty come from within and yoga is a powerful tool to help you shine your own light. When the external world feels heavy or hard, it can be easy to forget all the light and strength inside of us. Yoga reminds us our light is always there––we may have to work to shed the layers of darkness to uncover it, but we have the ability to choose positivity, no matter what. We create our own calm within any storm.

One of the staples of the Conscious Cleanse eating plan are great big meal-sized salads! When the weather heats up, standing over a hot stove to cook a meal is not ideal. So we wanted to share some of our favorite summertime salad recipes with you today! We love salads, but it’s easy to get tired of the same old salad day in and day out. The best way to keep coming back for more greens is to get creative with the salad dressing and toppings! All these salads use flavorful dressings plus unique and tasty toppings to upgrade your summer salad experience. This brand new recipe that’s exclusive to our online cleanse program. That’s right – if you become a Conscious Cleanse On Demand member, you’ll get access to recipes that are available just to YOU!

The first chakra is the chakra that most reflects the physical body; also known as the root chakra, or Muladhara. Energetically speaking, the root chakra contains the information that codes how we take care of our physical bodies, what set of experiences have created assistance and resistance to being in our bodies, survival information, safety information, fight, or flight information, and our connection to our mother. Whenever we feel that things are no longer in alignment with us, or could use some mending or transformation, the first chakra tends to be the best place to go within and get curious.

​If you’ve been feeling a bit down recently and are in need of a mood boost, it can be easy to veer towards those vices which might not necessarily be the best for you. That’s not to say there’s not a time and a place for a bit of junk food, or a glass of wine, but one thing you can do everyday to help boost your mood is practicing yoga. Building a healthy habit of practicing a little bit of yoga each day can help to improve your mental and physical health, as well as make you feel happier. Here’s a few more reasons why doing yoga everyday can help you.

Do you ever wish you could pull the plug and reboot your life the way you can reboot your computer? You know those days when your phone or laptop go haywire and you waste hours with minor fixes, but nothing works until you perform a full restart? 2020 has been characterized by dramatic shifts and some unwelcome and shocking changes impacting every single one of us. This week consider committing to a complete reset for your body, mind, and heart with our special Reset Refuge 7-Day Gentle Yoga Immersion with Elise Fabricant. Yoga is one of the most powerful tools we have to navigate the ebbs and flows of change. By concentrating on building our strength and balance from the inside out, we are better equipped to handle whatever comes our way. The definition of “Hatha” is Sun-“Ha” and Moon-“tha.”

Summertime weekends are our favorite times to dedicate to family – we love gathering together with our families for a big hearty breakfast or brunch before embarking on all those warm-weather outdoor adventures. That’s where this recipe comes in! Jo’s daughter Ilse LOVES these pancakes – they’re the perfect special weekend brunch treat. They’re super easy to make and take less than 15 minutes of prep and cook time. A great recipe to whip up for a weekend breakfast in bed or laid-back stay-at-home brunch.

Want to fire up your yoga practice? Here’s how to do yoga with resistance bands. Build your strength with this complete list of yoga poses with bands. Resistance bands can be added to any work-out. They’re an easy way to incorporate a challenge into your exercises, and you can use them in many different ways. Resistance bands make your muscles work just that little bit harder, so you get more work-out for your time spent. And resistance bands are portable – pop them in your yoga bag, and you’re good to go.