Lifestyle and daily habits are determining factors for a longer, quality life and keeping a strong and healthy immune system. Simple things that you do, or don't do, can help keep your body strong and maintain well-being in your mind.
Here are 5 simple tips to stay healthy:
Exercise and Practice Yoga
Physically, exercising makes your immune system stronger. Even light exercise and yoga, will make you less susceptible to illness. It is known that physical activity is related to the production of brain chemicals, such as endorphins and serotonin, which increase the feeling of well-being, but for that, it is necessary to exercise regularly, not just occasionally.
Studies reveal that a even few minutes of exercise, performed at a moderate pace, produce brain chemicals that create a sense of well-being for up to 12 hours later.
The recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO) for the practice of a physical activity is to perform 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week.
Control & Reduce Stress
Stress can generate numerous health problems, ranging from depression to heart disease. Recently, researchers pointed out that stress can decrease levels of klotho, a protein that acts in the proper functioning of the body and regulates the aging process.
The ideal thing to do is to look for ways to control stress and invest in relaxing activities like yoga, pilates, and meditation. Less stress, equals a stronger and healthier immune system, so while the mental health benefits of a less stress existence are more obvious, the physical benefits of low stress are very real.
Sleeping Well is Essential
Sleep is essential for regulating metabolic functions and restoring energy. Not getting enough sleep (on average seven hours for most adults is ideal) decreases productivity, leads to a decline in memory, and affects focus.
Studies show that lack of sleep or poor quality of sleep increases the chance of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, which are directly related to the high mortality of individuals in the country.
Say Goodbye to Cigarettes
It is common sense that smoking is harmful to health, but still, many adults smoke, even though it is the biggest preventable cause of illness and premature death, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The researcher found that non-smokers live, on average, 10 years longer than those who smoke. However, all is not lost to smokers. The same group evaluated that when quitting the habit until the age of 40, the chance of death from tobacco-related diseases drops to 90%.
Eat Well
Maintaining a nutritionally balanced diet is essential for good health, in addition to helping slow aging. A healthy diet helps to maintain adequate weight and improve physical and mental performance.
A good example is a Mediterranean diet. According to studies, 30% of heart attacks, strokes, and deaths from heart problems can be avoided with regular consumption of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, seeds, natural spices, and olive oil, among others.
Experts consider that the combination of these foods provides important nutrients for the body, such as monounsaturated fats, complex carbohydrates, fibers, vitamins A, C and E, polyphenols and minerals, improving the health conditions of individuals.
A properly balanced diet should be combined with physical activity. Daily exercise not only allows you to control your body weight but also reduces the likelihood of cancer, the risk of developing depression, diabetes, heart disease and cardiovascular disease against atherosclerosis, as well as taking care of strong bones.
Get healthy right now with these FREE immunity boosting and stress reducing yoga and meditation classes.
Meditation: Release Reactivity with Geenie Celento
25-Minute Full Body Yoga with Keith Allen
Of all the five elements, the element of water most represents coolness, being in a flow state, and adaptability.
When water meets an obstacle, it doesn’t break, burn, or become stuck. When water meets an obstacle, it goes around that obstacle. It always finds another way.
When we connect with the energy of water, we also connect with the receptive, yin-energy, and the sacred feminine within. Someone with a water state of mind has less of a go-getter vibe and more of a natural attitude of acceptance.
A person with a water-state-of-mind may not seem to be striving in the traditional sense, but in the end, they get the desired result. In a way, this mindset allows one to more easily go with the flow and allow the outcome to come without chasing or striving.
If we want to experience less intense challenges in life, then we need to develop a mindset that perceives challenges differently. We need a mindset that calmly evaluates challenges and chooses the path of least resistance, like water.
People with a balanced water element tend to stay level-headed in the face of challenges. They are more creative in finding solutions to problems. They believe there is a solution to the problem and they don’t get fired up when met with hardship down the road.
Water is associated with emotions, sensitivity, receptiveness, healing, and cleansing. It is the perfect element to emulate if you are working to balance emotions and feel less stressed in the day-to-day
When we draw awareness toward the element of water, we learn to flow with universal synchronicity. You learn to trust that what is put into the world radiates like ripples. Our thoughts, energy, and subtle actions have profound effects in the real world.
We can balance the yin-like aspects of our lives to feel more in tune with our emotions. We are able to understand the ripples that we put off and that we come into contact with.
When we are in tune with the natural flows and cycles, we understand the bigger picture happening beyond the perceived obstacle. This greater perspective allows perceived challenges and obstacles to “roll off our back” more easily.
Using mindfulness, we tap into the water element and increase our connection with it on a physical, intellectual, and spiritual level.
As our human bodies are made up of at least 80% water, we can imagine that we naturally have an internal water element. Connect with this physical aspect to increase the connection to that cool, flowstate element that already exists inside of us.
As we use mindfulness tools to increase that connection, we wake up the vibration of water and let it guide us toward a gentler approach to life.
Here are a few things to try to connect with the element of water:
*Hold your hand in front of your mouth and feel the warm condensation of your breath.
*Notice the saliva in your mouth.
*Visualize your heart beating and pumping life force through your veins.
*Do a body scan to take note of any perspiration on your hands, feet, or anywhere else on your body.
*Drink a glass of water and give thanks to it for nourishing your body.
*Practice a water meditation to strengthen your connection to the element of water.
Mindfulness will connect you with the element of water in this way. It can help balance emotions and be more receptive to healing and cleansing. Adopting a water-like mindset will prepare the mind to think creatively while maintaining an attitude of acceptance. We can all use a little more of that in our lives!
By Whitney Reynolds
Whitney is a certified yoga teacher and world traveler who blogs about wellness and spiritual experiences along the way. Find more of her posts at www.moonwandering.com. Access her water meditation.
Practice this water element yoga practice, right now, from the comfort of your own home.
Water Flow Yoga with Shy Sayar
What do a person who just recovered from back surgery, a woman just cleared to return to exercise after giving birth, a triathlete, and a dancer have in common? They are all people who can do yoga.
Yoga is inclusive and accessible, no matter who you are. There is no such thing as a “yoga body.” If you have a body, you can do yoga. It’s as simple as that.
The Father of Modern Yoga, T. Krishnamacharya is credited with creating what we know as Vinyasa yoga. One of his guiding principles was "Teach what is good for an individual." Initially, he taught Hatha yoga to young boys in his school in Mysore, India. For many years, women weren’t allowed to practice or teach yoga. In 1937 this all changed when T. Krishnamacharya, admitted Indra Devi into his school. She was the first woman student and the first Western woman in an Indian ashram.
Indra Devi is credited as one of the main teachers to bring yoga all over the world, including to the United States. Just as Indra Devi changed the “rules” of who could be a yogi, in this day and age, anybody who wants to practice yoga can. B.K.S. Iyengar, another famous Krishnamacharya disciple, left a legacy of yoga focused upon alignment and breath control. Iyengar was a child with many physical ailments and he implemented the use of props, like blocks, straps, and chairs into the yoga practice to allow students to experience the poses they might not be able to do otherwise.
So, ignore the stereotypes you see on Instagram and tap into the wisdom and strength of these yoga masters. The beauty of yoga is that numerous styles and adaptations exist, so you can find yoga to accommodate any physical or perceived limitations. Today, we want to be part of the solution in providing yoga classes to encourage and welcome everyone to give it a try.
One of the many benefits of online yoga is you can do it in the privacy of your own home, without some of the insecurities that arise when you enter a public class. Experimenting with different styles and teachers can help you find the yoga classes that make YOU feel happy and joyous.
This week, we bring you classes for different body types with Dana (author of Yes Yoga has Curves), yoga for men, and all levels relaxing Yin class from Josey and breathing practice from Maria, that everyone can enjoy, regardless of previous yoga experience, or physical limitations.
1. Dana Smith - Open Your Heart
2. Robert Sidoti - 5 Best Daily Stretches
3. Maria Garre - Pranyama to Calm & Ground the Mind
4. Josey Prior - Sleeping Swan
I am happy to announce that making vegan meringue is possible! After three failed attempts, I was slowly losing hope already, but this recipe here has been working for me already several times, so I am ready to share this with you. The secret, of course, lays in sugar. I always try to reduce white sugar in my baking, and this is why my first attempts failed.
But now, to think about it – regular meringues contain a ton of sugar too, so I am afraid that there is no good way to cut sugar from meringues anyway. So these are with white sugar too. But they are treats anyway and not meant to be eaten too often.
What I like about this recipe is that it is pretty much created out of nothing. The liquid from a jar of chickpeas is usually just thrown out anyway, and I don’t like throwing away food. Of course, most of the time, I still do not use the liquid (eating so many meringues would definitely not be good for me), so should you have more recipes for aquafaba, please share!
One thing to remember about these meringues is that they do not like humidity. Sitting on the kitchen table, they become damp very soon, so in case you plan to store them for longer than an hour, keep them in an airtight container. And if you plan to enjoy them as a part of a creamy dessert, add the meringues at the very last moment before serving, so they would remain crispy.
Vegan Peppermint Meringues
Cooking time: 2 ½ hours (15 minutes active time)
1 regular jar of chickpeas (organic if possible)
1 tsp of white wine vinegar
½ tsp peppermint extract
5 oz powdered sugar
Dark chocolate and matcha powder to decorate
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 210 F and cover a baking sheet with parchment.
Open the jar of chickpeas and drain the liquid to a larger clean bowl. You need about ½ cup of the liquid (you can call this liquid aguafaba if you want to be fancy). Set the chickpeas aside and use in another recipe. For example, prepare a nice hummus.
Beat the liquid at high speed for 3 minutes, then add half of the sugar, peppermint extract, and vinegar and beat for 3 more minutes.
Then add the second half of the sugar and beat for at least 5 more minutes, longer if you have extra time – the stronger the foam, the better the end result.
Using a piping bag (or just a teaspoon) create little clouds on the baking sheet.
Bake for about 2 hours until the meringues are completely dry. The exact baking time depends on your oven and the size of the meringues, so just check after 1 ½ hours and then keep checking every 15 minutes.
Once you are happy with the meringues, keep them in the oven with door ajar and let them cool down completely.
Decorate with melted dark chocolate and matcha powder, if you like.
By Kadri Raig
Kadri is a food blogger and yoga teacher from Estonia. She loves healthy food and cooking and for her, these two are often the same thing. Cooking meals from scratch, you know exactly what goes in it and even without holding back with sugar or fat we end up using a lot less compared to ready-made frozen stuff from the supermarket.
She does love to spend time in the kitchen, but most of her recipes are simple and don’t take more than 20 minutes of active cooking time. She thinks that everybody can find time to cook healthy food at home, it is just a question of planning. "I work in an office full time, teach yoga 7-8 hours a week and write a blog. So if I manage to cook most of my meals, then so do you!" Connect with Kadri and enjoy many more of her delicious healthy recipes on her website here: http://www.kahvliga.ee/
Practice FREE yoga and meditation from the comfort of your own home, before or after making this delicious dessert.
Have you ever heard someone say “I can’t practice yoga because I’m not flexible enough?” Maybe you’ve said it yourself!
Truth is yoga encompasses so much more than the pretzel postures plastered all over Instagram. The physical practice of postures is just one aspect of yoga and the benefits of the other parts of yoga practice are just as transformative, if not more, than the workout.
Here are 5 ways you can practice yoga right now, no mat, physical coordination, money, yoga pants, or muscle flexibility required.
The Benefit of Trying Something New
The practice of yoga is unique in that it asks us to get outside our comfort zone. But you don’t have to have a mat to do that. Try a new food or a new route to work. Start a conversation with a stranger. Do a different workout. Try a new hobby or activity.
If you’re intimidated by yoga because you’re afraid you’re not going to be able to do it right or you won’t be good at it, know that this is part of the process of the practice. Yoga asks us to intentionally show up to our discomfort.
Catalyst to Think Positive Thoughts
Part of the human experience involves wrestling with our monkey mind. “I’m not good enough.” “I can’t because…” “I’m not smart enough.” “This is stupid, why am I doing this?”
Sound familiar?
Although it may sound obvious, yoga philosophy suggests we counter those negative thoughts with the opposite: positive thoughts!
Close your eyes and repeat the following statements to yourself.
“I am enough.” “I can do this.” “I have everything I need.” “I am doing this because I deserve to follow my dreams, fulfill my wishes, and receive what I desire.”
How does that feel? Thoughts have power.
If they are negative, they’ll pull you down into a spiral of doomsday thinking. If they are positive they’ll prop you up into an energetic vortex of support.
Time for Deep Breaths
It seems so simple, but the breath is incredibly powerful. The trick is breathing with the full capacity of the diaphragm. When the diaphragm works properly, our parasympathetic nervous system switches on and we can relax.
Take a moment to check your breath. Place your hands on your belly and take a breath in. Does your belly expand out into your hands? Breathe out. Does the belly pull back in towards the spine?
When the diaphragm is working properly it will descend as you inhale. This puts pressure on the internal organs of the torso, pushing them out slightly and resulting in an outward expansion of the belly. On exhale, the diaphragm recoils back up toward the sternum, allowing the organs and the belly to return to their original position.
If this is not how you normally breathe, don’t worry. Take a few moments each day to intentionally practice breathing and see if you can get more comfortable with the belly expanding on inhale and releasing on exhale. Then notice how just 10 proper breaths can totally shift your nervous system!
Power of a Pause
We live in a fast-paced society with high expectations and little tolerance for rest. But pausing every once in a while, even if just for a second or two can do wonders for your stress levels. Part of the reason why practicing yoga postures feels so good is because it allows us to pause from our everyday activities and create space for breath. We’re given permission to slow down at the end of class when we lie down for Savasana. But you don’t need Savasana to pause.
While at work, take a few seconds to look out the window, take a couple of those deep breaths, notice how your body feels, and think positive thoughts.
Pause to make room for the way you want to feel and you might just find you can feel that way whenever you please. You just have to make room for it!
Reflect
It’s important to create space for reflection. Through reflection we can integrate all the parts of ourself that we discover in our yoga practice. You can reflect through journaling, by taking a walk, by sitting quietly and contemplating, or even in conversation with a trusted friend, counselor, or family member.
Action without reflection is arbitrary. Arbitrary action brings about unpredictable results. Intentional action, on the other hand, is laser-focused and much more likely to have an impact.
To live intentionally, you must reflect. This is the cycle of yoga. Act, reflect, release and start all over again.
By Ashley Zuberi
Ashley Zuberi trains and mentors yoga teachers to create thriving independent yoga careers. As a full-time yoga teacher with a former professional career in marketing for yoga companies and experience developing and leading teacher trainings across the US, Ashley uniquely understands how to blend the spirit of yoga with the realities of business. She is the founder of Inhale Thrive, a grassroots company dedicated to providing high-quality, affordable continuing education and networking opportunities for local yoga teachers while uniting the global yoga teacher community. She writes extensively about yoga philosophy and the business of yoga at inhalethrive.com and is currently working on her first book — a modern, thematic interpretation and teaching guide of the Yoga Sutra. Ashley is a military spouse, Ohio native, and has lived in 6 states in the past 6 years.
Start now, and practice this free yoga class from anywhere!
Head Up, Heart Strong with Christen Bakken
Sometimes in life we get knocked off center. We can begin to doubt ourselves and struggle to find ways to trust ourselves, our strengths, knowledge, and power. We can get knocked off center because of things that come up unexpectedly, or something we tried that didn’t go according to plan. Maybe a harsh word from another or ourselves that allowed self-doubt to creep in.
The causes can be endless, but regardless of any cause, any cause of imbalance always rests at home in our mind and our thoughts. It is in the mind where we can hide out in the past or false truths, instead facing the untainted present with clarity and confidence.
We can know all of this and yet still feel challenged to find the confidence to give things another try, or step out of our protective barriers.
An easy way to restore confidence is to do something you know you do really well.
Here are some easy and simple ways to spark more self-belief.
Yoga.
If Tree pose is your favorite yoga pose and you feel really balanced and grounded in it, spend time in that pose.
You can also adapt any pose to allow yourself to do it well. Hold on to a wall for support or use the wall as a prop to help find optimal alignment and balance. Try a simpler and more beginner friendly poses to do them well.
It is better to do a pose well, then struggle in a pose beyond your current capabilities and feel unsuccessful when you are trying to rebuild your confidence. Excel in simplicity and design your practice to be full of poses that allow you to shine.
Write Down & Let Go Of Old Fears.
Write down or say your fears out load. The simple act of owning up to them can give you the confidence to face and overcome them more easily.
Its in the hiding and denial that makes it hard to face what we need to confront in order to grow and evolve.
If you write down any old fears, you can also use a satisfying ritual of ripping up the paper or burning it, to symbolize the release of those fears.
Use Mantras and Affirmations.
Use positive affirmations or mantras verbally or in writing to remind yourself to believe in yourself always, and embedding this self-belief more deeply into your subconscious and reality. Leave notes on your fridge, desk, or mirror, so every time you go past that it, you are told, that you are powerful, and you can do anything.
Repitition and reminders will brain wash you into belief. Everytime you doubt yourself say I can and I will, or something similar in positive affirmation. Replacing negative thoughts with new positive words works over time, and soon the affirmatiosn will win the battle and these affirmations will be your new reality.
Use Ahamkara Mudra, I do, self belief, to build energetic belief.
Write a Letter to Yourself Praising Your Strengths.
Keep it handy so that you can read at anytime needed.
Spend Time With People Who Fill You With Confidence.
Prioritize time with people who are not afraid to tell you how amazing you are.
Explore these different ideas to remind yourself that you are worthy of loving, believing, and trusting yourself. Have fun an experiment with what works best for you, and these practices will increase your self-belief.
By Amy Booth
Amy is a yoga and pilates teacher and personal trainer in Brisbane, Australia, where she runs a cute riverside studio and a personal training business. In addition each year she runs yoga and hiking retreats.
To find out more: Website: www.ambertreeyoga.com.au Instagram: @ambertreeyogaandretreats Facebook: Amber Tree Yoga and Retreats
Practice yoga for more self-confidence, right now!
Cultivate Your Confidence Flow with Claire Petretti Marti
Freedom with Forrest Yoga.
The practice of yoga is an individual experience, whether you practice alone, with YogaDownload.com, or in public classes. Always remember there is not one path––there are many. It’s key to find the style and teacher that resonates with you. We’re all different and that’s the beauty of yoga: there is a style that is perfect for everyone.
This week, we are thrilled to highlight and share Forrest Yoga with you. We’re offering nearly ten hours of yoga in four two-hour live workshops so you can immerse yourself into this powerful, vigorous healing practice. The program description will explain the four pillars of Forrest Yoga, but we’d like to share more about the creation and evolution of this system.
More than forty years ago, Ana Forrest recognized the need for a deeply healing and spiritual form of yoga practice to move away from the disconnection to the land beneath us and the spirit within us. Forrest teaches that in order to truly heal through yoga, we must dig deeper and be willing to release that which no longer serves us emotionally, spiritually, and physically.
The four pillars of Forrest yoga may not sound different than other forms of yoga to which you are accustomed: Breath, Integrity, Strength, and Spirit. You’ve probably heard about all of these in yoga class before, but Ms. Forrest weaves in elements of Native American medicine, ritual, and an intensity level with the practice designed to help you break through your own personal barriers and transform to your highest self. In Forrest Yoga, you are consistently reminded that you are working on healing.
Forrest Yoga places great emphasis on slowing down and holding the asanas longer than you may be accustomed to in Vinyasa, Ashtanga, and other flowing forms of yoga. Holding the poses longer aids not just in building physical strength, but also forces you to feel the emotions that arise when you remain in an uncomfortable position longer than you’d like. Another focus of each and every class is intense core work, not simply to build better posture, a six-pack or be able to hold arm balances, although you’ll receive these benefits. The focus on the core hones into your Subtle Body and Navel Chakra, the center of ego and self-confidence.
An essential component of the Forrest Yoga system is Ana Forrest’s Spirit Pledge to Mend the Hoop of the People. This pledge refers to the cry of the Lakota Medicine Man Black Elk, who lived through the shattering of the spine of his people. Describing the grieving & desperation he saw around him, he said, “The Rainbow Hoop of the People has been broken.” The Rainbow Hoop refers to people living harmoniously just as the colors of the rainbow lie side by side. The people he speaks of are all the inhabitants of Earth; animals, plants, mountains, and humans. Then as they heal and mature, they discover what they can do to help heal our planet. Veganism is another lifestyle Ana chooses to support her work and transformation.
Ana believes her system of yoga is for everybody and can be adapted and individualized to fit any person’s needs.
Her system fluctuates, as we and the world around us changes. If you’re ready to dive deep and experience a transformative practice, join us with this challenge!
During these cold, wintery months, it can be hard to get excited to eat a cold salad. That’s where this recipe comes in!
Developed with award-winning chef Gabe Kennedy, our Warm Shiitake and Pine Nut Salad is the cure for your winter blues. This salad is the perfect cold-weather salad – it’s warming, delicious, and hearty enough to keep you feeling fuller longer.
The nutritional stars of this recipe are the shiitake mushrooms – these unassuming fungi are packed with superfood properties. They’re high in B vitamins and contain all 8 essential amino acids. They also help support immune function, can aid in weight loss, and contain phytonutrients that support cardiovascular health.
The other stars of this salad are the amazing flavors! The balsamic vinegar provides a lovely sweetness, the pine nuts add the perfect amount of crunch, and the arugula adds a sour tanginess – all combining to create a flavor profile that is earthy, grounding, and comforting.
We hope you enjoy this delicious warm winter salad! It’s hearty and filling enough to be enjoyed as is, but can be paired with grilled chicken breast, salmon, quinoa, or wild rice as desired.
Do you have a favorite dish you’d like us to feature a clean recipe for? Let us know in the comments below!
With love,
Warm Shiitake and Pine Nut Salad
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients:
6 large handfuls arugula 2 cup Shiitake mushrooms, sliced 2 TB olive oil 1 shallot, minced ½ red onion, minced ¼ cup balsamic vinegar 1 TB honey Juice of ½ lemon ¼ cup pine nuts 2 TB fresh chives
Instructions: In a sauté pan over medium heat, add 1 TB olive oil, and once hot add the mushrooms. Let sit for 90 seconds and then remove from the pan.
In the same pan add shallot and red onion and sweat for a minute. Next add the balsamic vinegar and honey, and reduce until it’s a light glaze. Add the mushrooms, pine nuts and remaining 1 TB olive oil back to the pan, season with salt, pepper, lemon and chives. Lightly toss the mushrooms with arugula and taste. The arugula should wilt slightly from the heat of the mushrooms.
If you liked this recipe and would like to learn more about the Conscious Cleanse, we invite you to join our online community! As a welcome-gift, we’ll send you our Taste of the Conscious Cleanse Free eCookbook, a collection of more of our favorite recipes!
We also share new recipes, free live calls with us, and more healthy lifestyle tips, plus let you know when our next group cleanse is coming. Welcome! We’re so glad you’re here.
Jo Schaalman and Jules Peláez are co-authors of the book The Conscious Cleanse: Lose Weight, Heal Your Body and Transform Your Life in 14 Days, a best-selling, step-by-step guide to help you live your most vibrant life. Together they’ve led thousands of people through their online supported cleanse through their accessible and light-hearted approach. They’ve been dubbed “the real deal” by founder and chief creative director Bobbi Brown, of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, beauty editor of the TODAY show.
We’re just wrapping up another Group Cleanse and as we transition into our 80:20 eating, we know we’re not the only ones looking forward to reintroducing a warming caffeinated beverage into our morning routines.
Our morning cup of coffee is one of the hardest things for many of us to give up during the 14-day cleanse, so we wanted to create a healthy take on this beloved energizing drink.
We’ve come up with the perfect way to up-level your morning cup of joe – Adaptogenic Coffee Creamer!
This creamer is packed with superfood properties and adds the perfect amount of creamy goodness to your favorite coffee.
The real star of this recipe is Lion’s Mane – an adaptogenic mushroom that can help support memory and brain function, helps mental sharpness and clarity, and according to some studies, it might help prevent dementia or alzheimers.
MCT oil provides extra energy and helps stabilize blood sugar. MCT stands for medium-chain triglycerides, which are dietary fats that are more easily absorbed and your body is able to turn into caloric energy right away. Adding cinnamon adds sweetness and helps support healthy blood sugar levels. Note: if you haven’t had MCT oil before, make sure you start out with the lower suggested amount. If you notice any digestional issues, consider decreasing the amount of MCT oil you’re using.
This creamer really does do it all!
Blend with or pour into your favorite clean coffee (look for organic, shade-grown, single bean coffee blends – we like Kicking Horse Coffee) and you’ve got a deliciously creamy adaptogenic latte!
Not a coffee fan? This creamer is also super tasty with matcha, chai, or black tea.
Adaptogenic Coffee Creamer
Yield: 4-5 servings
2-3 TB. MCT oil ½ cup pecans (soaked in water for at least 4 hrs) 1 ¼ cup filtered water 1 ½ tsp. Ceylon cinnamon 4 tsp. Lion’s Mane powder 1-3 drops liquid Stevia (optional)
In a high-speed blender, combine MCT oil, pecans, water, cinnamon, lion’s mane, and stevia (if using). Blend until smooth.
To make adaptogenic coffee: Add ¼ cup creamer to 12-16 oz. of your favorite coffee, brewed hot or cold. Blend coffee and creamer in a high-speed blender until combined. Store unused creamer in an air-tight jar in the fridge for up to 7 days.
Want some yoga to go with your morning? Try the 2-Week Morning Yoga Program to make yoga and this delicious superfood coffee creamer, part of your morning routine!
Often times we hear the saying, “what goes up, must come down.” As someone who’s had their fair share of traumas, this phrase has been real throughout my healing journey. I call it, doom and gloom energy.
It is a fear around things being good, and then not enjoying them when they are good, because you’re too busy waiting for what is going to go wrong and screw it all up!
As I have explored this and still explore this within myself and clients, I have come to realize that yes, Newton was on to something when he said "what goes up, must come down", but no, what goes up doesn’t always need to come down with a crash landing. Transitions from one chapter or experience to the next, can be relatively smoothe and peaceful.
Rather than a Newtonian approach, what if we looked at this concept in terms of airplanes. Airplanes go up and down, and most often this is done gracefully. Maybe there is a little turbulence or landings that can have you white knuckle your arm rest, but overall flying is usually a safe and efficient means of transportation from the ground, to the sky, and then back to the ground.
Do airplanes crash? Sure, they occasionally blow up and things go wrong with engines. Planes also need small repairs or to thaw out, which can cause delays before take off. These can be pretty synonymous with our own lives.
Yes things can, and sometimes do, go wrong, but overall things tend to be consistent, or no worse than a delay and reroute.
Every time we start something new, and enter into a new phase in our journey, we take off. The fear we experience mid air tends to be the worst part. What if I crash down?
However, what if you get bumped into first class and lose sight of the landing because you’re too busy enjoying all the amenities the flight has to offer instead?
By Angela Droughton
Angela Droughton is a Spiritual Counselor and Mindfulness Educator.
Practice this Free Meditation class to cultivate more ease right now!
“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down 'happy'. They told me I didn't understand the assignment, and I told them they didn't understand life.”
- John Lennon
Each and every one of us has the capacity for true joy and happiness, despite prevailing circumstances surrounding us. We each deserve happiness! Sometimes, when life events challenge us, we can become weighed down with worry and anxiety and dis-ease. If you’re too focused on the past, which cannot be altered, you can sink into depression. If you’re too focused on the future, you can become anxious.
Learning to ground yourself in the present moment is key to happiness.
Of course, living in the present moment doesn’t mean you’re oblivious to the journey that brought you here or prevent you from planning for and anticipating the future. But learning to fully embody every moment as you experience it is where joy occurs. Yoga helps us focus on the present through attention to breath and focus on mindful movement. Physical, emotional, and mental stress manifest in the body and weigh down your mood and ability to experience happiness.
One of the many ways yoga creates the potential for happiness is focusing on Pranayama or mindful breathing. Learning to breathe deeply can regulate blood pressure, decrease stress hormones, and activate the parasympathetic nervous system or your relaxation response. Paying attention to your breathing helps quiet the monkey mind––you know, those repetitive thoughts circling your brain. Anxiety subsides and mood elevates simply by controlling your breathing.
When you add the physical yoga postures to your mindful breath, you begin releasing the feelings trapped in your tissues. Simply moving your body in different ways creates change from the outside in. Emotional stress tends to sit in the hips, so hip openers not only make you feel less stiff, but can also help release unprocessed emotions. Opening your heart and shoulders relieves mental anxiety and encourages stress to fade away in addition to creating better posture and a healthier spine.
This week's classes all share one focus: creating more joy inside and out.
So, roll out your mat and release what’s weighing you down. You’ll feel happier while you’re practicing and that feeling will stay with you off the mat. What are you waiting for?
1. Erin Wimert - The Art of Allowing
2. Christen Bakken - The Conditions for Joy
3. Jackie Casal Mahrou - Happiness Flow
4. Maria Garre - Beat the Winter Blues Namaskara
Fear of failure vs. fear of success. In writing it looks clear, sure plenty of people understandably have a fear of failure, but looks ridiculous why anyone would have fear of success.
And yet it is common. I for one can put both hands up to say success terrifies me way more than failure. In fact, I sit quite easily with failure. Perhaps it’s because my self doubt convinced me a long time again that I would fail, so then if and when it happens I am prepared and I can say “I knew this would happen!”
The saying whether you “believe you can or you can’t, you are absolutely right” rings true.
Success by comparison confronts feelings of worth. “Do you deserve this?’ For many, answering yes to that is a challenge.
Of course the answer is a definite yes. If you are a good person, you put in the hard work and commitment, then you most definitely do deserve all the fruits of your labour. If talent plus effort equals success, then maths says it’s time for you to enjoy the celebrations.
Matters of the vulnerable heart relating to worth and acceptance though are not as black and white or factual as mathematics.
Maybe we were told as a child we were not good enough, often in a completing unrelated and unimportant matter. Perhaps, we have tried numerous times at similar endeavors only to meet multiple failures. It could be that we have taken something on that statistics say our chances of success are slight. Regardless of the cause, known or unknown, being human can go hand in hand with doubting yourself.
I am no zoologist, but I am pretty sure other animals don't have “you can’t do this” playing through their head on repeat as they hunt prey. Based on survival of the fitness, I believe a predator goes in with confidence and conviction or else they place themselves in grave danger. A stalking lion, taking two steps forward and one doubtful step back in approach, gives it’s victim time to see and hear it coming. It also allows time to laugh comically at the feline cha cha and then either escape or counter attack.
Give your mind a reboot with the 14-Day Meditation Program, suitable for all levels!
Before you go out and grab a box of conventional chocolates, you’ve got to check out this recipe. Our Vegan Chocolate Truffles are the most decadent, mind-blowing, rich and creamy chocolate truffles we’ve ever tasted! And trust me, we’ve had our share of chocolate.
Store-bought chocolates unfortunately come with additives, preservatives, and lots of processed sugar, leaving you with a nasty sugar crash and an upset stomach.
These truffles are guilt-free and won’t leave you with a sugar crash, plus a gift of homemade treats always means so much more than those bought from the store.
This recipe uses raw cacao, which is naturally high in essential minerals like magnesium, chromium, iron, zinc, copper and manganese, plus it is the one of the highest natural sources of antioxidants. The roasting process used to make traditional cocoa destroys these key nutrients by changing the chemical structure, so using raw cacao makes these little truffles packed with extra superfood power.
These treats have another secret superfood ingredient: maca powder! Maca is a Peruvian root known for its ability to help balance hormones, stabilize mood, manage stress levels, enhance strength and stamina, and increase energy and endurance.
We hope you enjoy this delicious sweet vegan chocolatey treat! Let us know what you think in the comments below.
For more healthy chocolate treats, check out our Mexican Haute Chocolates, Chocolate Almond Butter Cups, Lemon Balls, and Salted Date Caramels. Yum!
With love and chocolate bliss,
Vegan Chocolate Truffles
Yield: About 30 truffles
½ cup coconut oil, warmed to soften ¼ tsp. Himalayan crystal salt plus a pinch for garnish 2 tsp. vanilla extract ¾ cup maple syrup 1 cup shredded coconut 1 TB. maca powder ¾ cup raw cacao powder, divided
In a high-speed blender, blend the warmed coconut oil, salt, vanilla extract and maple syrup. Add the shredded coconut slowly and blend until smooth. Add in the maca powder and ½ cup of cacao powder and blend until thoroughly combined and there are no more chunks of cacao powder. Transfer mixture to an airtight container and place in the refrigerator to harden, at least 2 hours.
Spoon heaping tablespoons of the mixture and roll into small balls. If the mixture sticks to your hands and you aren’t able to roll it easily, put it back into the refrigerator for a little longer to achieve the right consistency.
Dust finished truffles with the remaining ¼ cup of cacao powder and enjoy! Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.
We’ll also be sure to share new recipes and healthy lifestyle tips. Welcome! We’re so glad you’re here.
Have you ever felt out of balance: bloated and cluttered, without a clear mental focus?
Yoga can help you lighten up and feel more energized and productive. Louise Hay, best-selling self-help author, connects all physical symptoms in the body to underlying emotional causes, and says weight-gain or excess weight, is symbolic of clinging to what no longer serves us.
A regular yoga practice doesn’t simply make you look lean and flexible, but also helps you feel that way from the inside out. Don’t worry, we’re not here to tell you to strive for a “yoga body” like the images splashed all over social media.
Yogis come in all shapes and sizes. Yoga is for every body and there’s a style and type of practice that works for each individual.
But sometimes, despite our best efforts, we feel heavy and lethargic and our ability to concentrate diminishes too. Life sometimes feels beyond our control when major transitions occur, like job changes, relationship shifts, and dramatic world news. In yoga, this state is a surplus of tamasic or heavy, solid energy. Even if we are doing our best to take care of ourselves, external influences accumulate and can leave us feeling heavy inside and out.
By engaging in more vigorous activity on the yoga mat, you can dislodge whatever is weighing you down––physically, mentally, and spiritually. Active styles of yoga help kick your body into self-cleansing mode and stimulate your digestive, circulatory, and lymphatic systems. It’s vital to remove toxins from your body.
Certain postures encourage the release of waste and toxins, which may be slowing you down. Try twists to enhance liver and kidney function and stimulate your digestion.
Forward folds are excellent to compress your abdominal organs and encourage elimination. Inversions reverse the flow of fluids from the feet and legs toward the heart.
Seventy-five percent of our immune system is located in our gut. If we’re filling our bellies with processed chemical-filled food, we not only gain weight, we compromise our ability to combat disease. Combining nutritious, balanced meals with dynamic yoga postures is an excellent way to feel and look your best.
Say goodbye to bloat, stagnation, and emotional negativity. The more energized you feel, the more you’ll want to maintain a steady routine of yoga and wellness to contribute to your well-being.
These classes will help you feel better and more confident in the skin you’re in and help you uncover your most buoyant, luminous self. You deserve to feel your best!
Claire Petretti Marti - Nothing but Core 4 (FREE class)
Ben Davis - Fitness 'n' Yoga: Super Flow
Pradeep Teotia - Deep Sweaty Detox
Kylie Larson - Yoga for Weight Loss: Bun Burner
Yoga has a lot of benefits, from the physical to the mental. But did you know it can also boost your self confidence?
Body confidence is something everyone should have. It helps you to be happy in life and with yourself, and be proud of yourself and the body you inhabit. Body confidence is believing in yourself, and not having self-doubt about your image. Yoga is one of the best ways to boost your body confidence.
Here’s the ways in which it can improve how confident you feel in your body. Some may surprise you.
Yoga Boosts Your Focus
When you concentrate on your breathing while attempting challenging yoga poses in your practice, you’re increasing your focus and honing your attention on one thing. When you do this, you’re also clearing your mind of self-doubt or negative thoughts about yourself - and you just think about breathing, balance and posture. Working on your focus boosts your body confidence, stripping away all the bad thoughts and letting you be single minded in your goal - and helps you push your body further in what it can do.
Yoga Relieves Stress
Working through your yoga practice is a great way to relax and release stress and tension. Deep breathing, and concentrating on your breath (as well as imroving your focus!) can bring more oxygen to your brain, keeping you calm and fighting those pesky stress hormones. When you’re calm, you’re more likely to feel confident about yourself and your body!
Yoga Makes You Feel Empowered
Working hard to achieve and master difficult yoga poses can be hard work, but when you reach your goal on the mat, you’ll feel empowered and strong. Through strong movements and practice, you can trigger feelings of power and control within your body, helping to increase your self confidence. Knowing what your body can do and seeing improvements week after week will make you feel like you can do anything!
Yoga Increases Self-Awareness
Practicing yoga facilities a deeper connection with your inner self. This can help you feel more at peace with yourself, and also increases your self-awareness. Having a connection with your inner self can help you realize your full potential, of what you and your body can do. This self-awareness is a huge step on the way to complete self-acceptance - which is crucial in feeling confident.
Confidence comes from that deep understanding of who you are, what you want, and what you need, and accepting this! During yoga practice, you’re focused on yourself, and there’s rarely time for comparison - to either other people or other versions of yourself. Yoga helps to shake off your ego and any comparison, and helps you to understand and appreciate all you’re capable of.
Yoga Increases Mindfulness
Taking the time to practice yoga means taking the time to be in control of your headspace and help to quieten your mind. During our busy day to day lives we can have so many thoughts racing through our heads, and it can be hard to listen to them all - this can cause us to be stressed and lose confidence in ourselves.
Yoga can help to give you the space and time to clear your head of all those unnecessary thoughts and just focus on the things that are important, or even to clear your head completely. Practicing this kind of mindfulness consists of acknowledging each thought as it pops up, and just as easily letting it go, allowing your mind to be clear. This can help you feel calmer, less stressed, and can also help to quieten any of those negative thoughts that can be sabotaging your body confidence.
Yoga Improves Your Posture
Standing up straight and having great posture has an immediate positive effect on yourself and body confidence. And yoga is perhaps the best exercise to improve your posture. When you hold yourself higher, you feel more confident in your daily life. Yoga does wonders for your alignment, through stretching, twisting and bending - and also can improve your strength and flexibility. This will help you feel confident and comfortable in your skin.
Yoga Improves Self-Love
Yoga is a way of taking care of yourself and your body, it’s an act of self care and promotes that nurturing feeling towards yourself. Practicing yoga can help you to recognise everything that your body is capable of, and helps you to feel proud of it and thank it for everything it does in your day to day life. Yoga also helps you to recognise your growth, and how much you've improved as you move through your yoga journey. It requires self improvement almost constantly, and when you finally reach a hard pose you’ve been working towards, it’s hard to feel anything but admiration towards yourself. This type of growth needs self-acceptance and self-pride to achieve, so you’ll feel more confident the more you progress.
Yoga Improves Your Physique
Let’s not forget, yoga is a type of exercise, and with all exercise - it will help to tone and improve your physique, helping you look and feel better. Yoga is unique in the way it focuses on your breathing, which helps more oxygen to go to your muscles - giving them more energy to boost your exercise benefits! Why not try our yoga for weight loss programme, to help you reach your fitness and body goals - and feel great about yourself at the same time?
We hope we’ve given you some motivation here to get on the mat and start feeling great about yourself! Body confidence is something everyone should have, so by taking some small steps to do something great for yourself and your body, you’ll be on your way to confidence in no time!
By Amy Cavill
Want to feel confident in your skin? Practice the Body Positivity Yoga Program with Dana Smith, author of Yes Yoga Has Curves!
Yoga reminds us that having a human life is an awesome opportunity! It does not matter if you are physically beautiful, or materially rich. Yes it’s a nice bonus, but what we do with the life we are given is up to us. While each of us have a different set of circumstances, we all have some capacity to create inner freedom.
The superficial is not important to the yogi. The connection to cosmic consciousness is what's important. Through the practices of yoga the body will be its most beautiful, yet as yogis we are most interested in how we feel in our inner world. Higher states of consciousness which are possible through yoga, create a greater sense of connection to ourselves and the world around us and these benefits are far greater than any vanity benefits of the practice. Life is limited, so take good care of your body so you can become conscious and be present for the adventure of your life as much as you can.
Yoga allowed me the consciousness to remember that my time in my body is limited. It is something I remember, as I give thanks each morning when I awake from sleep. It is what inspires me to explore, and gives me the strength to be myself in the world and enjoy my time here.
Yoga can also make us conscious enough to be braver. I value courage. It’s not about being perfect. It’s about self-awareness. It’s about the journey of the practice, the art of showing up. Albert Einstein told us that to create the reality we want we must match the frequency of the reality we want. It is actually very simple. Everything is simple when you break it down. Everything you have done has led you to this moment.
In yoga we get the opportunity to go within and connect with ourselves. We don’t have to go through anyone else to learn more ourselves through yoga. And we must get to know ourselves, if we are interested healing, health, and enlightenment. We must heal to experience enlightenment. Be brave, face the darkness, and face the light, by consistently showing up on your yoga mat.
Why is it so hard to shift perspective or consistently practice? What is your relationship to change?
Nature teaches us to accept and embrace change. More time connecting with nature reveals to us that shifting perspectives and moving through change is natural, and it is something all life experiences. Change is not something to fear, it is something to celebrate. When we experience change we get to learn something new.
We create our own challenges when we resist change. Usually challenges are a measure of our resistance to change, and our resistance to show up to the present moment, especially if it is uncomfortable.
Yoga should be approached humbly, because once conscious it is harder to go back to unconsciousness ways of being. Yoga is becoming popular because it heals us. It heals our relationship to our body, mind, relationships with one another, and our relationship with all life, by uplifting our consciousness.
It doesn’t matter how old you are, what the current condition of your body is in, you can begin the practice of yoga right now. Now is always the right time to do your best. Do your practice of yoga, on and off the yoga mat. Make the connection to the mystery available within each asana. There is a teacher in each pose and the teacher is you.
For example, when we go upside down in poses like Downward Facing Dog, we literally shift our perspective up side down. We are purposely taking unconscious action like the breath, the movement of our body, and our thoughts and making it all conscious. These is a transformative shift of perception by putting our bodies into these shapes, that goes far beyond just the physical benefits. They shapes literally change our state of consciousness.
Transformation takes time. Putting it all together takes time. Don’t get ahead of yourself, don’t rush, or be in a great hurry. Stay in the moment. The moment contains the experience you need to have.
Live this moment fully present. It is the way to get to the next moment. Nature is patient. Don’t forget we are connected to nature. The increasing your consciousness takes nurturing. Engage naturally. A farmer knows the seed will not grow to her plea of now. She just is now and nurtures the moment to grow her garden.
By Shannon Connell
Shannon is a certified Jivamukti, Power, Yin, Hot Yoga, and Mindfulness Meditation Instructor, Usui and Karuna Reiki Master Teacher, and Registered Psychotherapist. She honors the interconnectedness between All-beings and All-things and is passionate about participating and supporting her community in physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. You can visit Shannon and learn more through her website, www.shannonconnellhealth.com.
Practice FREE 25-minutes of yoga right now to lift your consciousness
If you google the word “chakra,” the first six images you see share the idea of chakras being seven energetic vortexes located on a person’s body, that correspond with regions of the body physically, spiritually, and energetically.
You will also see that all six images consistently show the seven chakras are all the same colors in descending order from the crown chakra to the root chakra:
Violet Crown Chakra
Indigo Third Eye Chakra
Blue Throat Chakra
Green Heart Chakra
Yellow Solar Plexus Chakra
Orange Sacral Chakra
Red Root Chakra
As someone who has been looking at chakras, or psychically reading chakras, within both myself and others, for seven years, what I see and have seen, rarely ever seems to correlate with the status-quo concept of each chakra having a predetermined color. Often I see chakras as having many colors.
Another observation I have made over the years is how different we each respond to various frequencies, and that every person is as unique as the colors that make up their chakras. For instance, I notice if I set my first chakra to a bright red color, as seen in the images that show up in the search results, my body doesn’t feel well, tension arises in my stomach, and anxieties around “responsibility” start to create an uneasy and anxious feeling.
When I notice this, I pause, and ask myself, “What color feels right for my first chakra, because red just isn’t it.”
My body responds with an image appearing like a paint sample, and I immediately see a soft, buttery, daffodil yellow. I proceed to switch my first chakra from bright red to daffodil yellow, and immediately notice the difference physically. The tension lightens up and feels like a wave of relief and a quick transition from the prior physical state I experienced.
Often times, various triggers throughout the day or week might affect us in a very real and physical way, and these experiences result in our body telling us something. A common knee-jerk reaction to feeling something unpleasant, such as I experienced when setting my Root Chakra at red, is to go unconscious, and then become comfortable with that uneasy feeling. What if triggering experiences are something to simply become aware of and check in with. Maybe neutralizing ourselves in a triggered state can become as simple and playful as switching the color on a paint palette?
Angela Droughton is a Spiritual Counselor, Mindfulness Educator, Psychic, Minister, and the creator of Mother Sparkle. Find out more by visiting her page at www.mothersparkle.com.
Practice this FREE Meditation class to balance your chakras, right now!
Do you trust your intuition? Take a moment and consider the last few major decisions you made in your life.
Did you feel secure following your initial instincts or did you second guess yourself?
Learning to believe in your intuition and perceive your world clearly is one of the greatest benefits of a balanced Ajna Chakra or Third Eye. The Ajna Chakra is the sixth of seven main Chakras running along the Sushumna Nadi, an energy channel mirroring the spine. Nadis are part of the Subtle Body, a blueprint of the physical body.
The Ajna Chakra is located between your brows and roughly corresponds to your pituitary gland, the master gland of the endocrine system known as “Command Central.” Command Central governs the hormones and the other glands in your body. The Ida and Pingala energy pathways that carry the quality of active and passive energy and govern sympathetic and parasympathetic activity connect at the Ajna Chakra. Equilibrium is key.
When you are out of balance, you can be plagued by the inability to make decisions or a fixation on your way being the only correct path. Other ways you can ascertain if your Ajna Chakra is imbalanced is when you cannot connect to your life’s purpose, you’re plagued by insomnia, or you’re generally anxious.
When your Ajna Chakra is balanced, you trust your insight, you embody self-awareness, and the path forward is clear. The Ajna Chakra is said to be the location of our higher self and also where we see the divine in all beings. You'll also have a stronger ability to create the vision of your future with a clear Ajna chakra.
An excellent way to quickly connect to your intuition is through Balasana (Child’s Pose). When you press your forehead to the earth and feel that connection beneath you, it helps stimulate your Third Eye. Take a few minutes breathing comfortably in this position and when you return to a seated position, take a few minutes for seated meditation to focus upon clarity. This week's classes have a connection to your third eye region of your body, which includes your head and neck, and will help balance your sense of intuition. Enjoy!
1. Jackie Casal Mahrou - Morning Manifestation Meditation
2. Claire Petretti Marti - Yoga for Clarity
3. Dana Damara - Chakra Flow Series 6: Ajna Chakra
4. Elise Fabricant - Yoga for the 6th chakra
This recipe doesn’t need many extra words. It is a straightforward bowl of noodles, mushrooms, and vegetables, covered in a delicious sauce. I used carrots, broccoli, spinach, and spring onions, but there are no rules – use whatever you happen to have. Pak Choy would be beautiful instead of spinach I also imagine zucchini and radishes working very well instead of the veggies I used or maybe even extra. If I had had coriander leaves, I would have definitely used them.
For noodles, I have left you a choice, because almost any noodle would work here. This time, I used egg noodles, but I have often also used soba noodles (which are delicious cold as well) and rice noodles. And in case you are not so keen on consuming too many calories, I suggest giving almost 0-calorie shirataki noodles a try – they don’t have a lot of flavor, but with this miso-coconut sauce they work wonderfully.
Coconut-Miso Noodle Bowl with Shitake Mushrooms
Serves: 2
Cooking time: 15 minutes
5 oz fresh shitake mushrooms
1 small broccoli
Couple of handfuls of spinach leaves
½ lemon
3 ½ oz noodles of your choice
1 carrot
2 spring onions
1 cup of coconut milk
3 tsp of miso paste
Salt
Oil for frying
Instructions: Slice the mushrooms and fry in a drop of oil until they are crispy. Season with salt. Then set aside.
At the same time, bring a large pot of water to boil, season with salt. Cut the broccoli into florets and simmer until it is barely tender.
Cook the spinach in the same pan you used for mushrooms. Only one minute to let the spinach wilt is enough. Season with some lemon juice and salt. Again, set aside.
Check how the broccoli is doing. If it is tender enough, lift it out and place the noodles to the boiling water. Follow the packet instructions here.
Now add miso and coconut milk to the pan, season with salt. In case you like your sauce on a thinner side, add some boiling water from the broccoli/noodles.
Slice the carrots and spring onions as thin as you can, lift all the ingredients to the bowl and enjoy.
Kadri is a food blogger and yoga teacher from Estonia. She loves to spend time in the kitchen, but most of her recipes are simple and don’t take more than 20 minutes of active cooking time. She thinks that everybody can find time to cook healthy food at home, it is just a question of planning. "I work in an office full time, teach yoga 7-8 hours a week and write a blog. So if I manage to cook most of my meals, then so do you!" Connect with Kadri and enjoy many more of her delicious healthy recipes on her website here: www.kahvliga.ee.
Practice some FREE yoga before or after enjoying this delicious recipe!
25-Minute Full-Body Yoga with Keith Allen
Cholesterol has important functions in our body, but too much can cause harm. With proper nutrition, we stay healthy and have cholesterol under control and in balance.
The cholesterol is a lipid insoluble, which, when excessive, is responsible for some cardiovascular diseases. This lipid performs important functions in our body, such as vitamin D manufacturing, sex hormone production, and participation in cell growth and regeneration.
Types of Cholesterol
Good cholesterol and bad cholesterol are the two different types of cholesterol.
Good cholesterol also called HDL (High-Density Lipoproteins) is good for the body and protects it because it collects all the bad cholesterol deposited in the blood vessels and is then cleared out by the liver.
Bad cholesterol also called LDL (Low-Density Lipoproteins), deposits in the artery walls, making them narrower, which makes it difficult for blood to pass through and may lead to clogging of the artery. This kind of bad cholesterol is associated with overweight, poor diet, diabetes, high blood pressure, and smoking.
Genetics is the determining factor for the presence of excess cholesterol. A person may have a high-fat diet and their LDL level may be low because the liver can properly eliminate excess cholesterol. Already people who have a balanced diet may have a high LDL level because the liver cannot excrete fat well. For this reason, it is wrong to say that only obese people have high cholesterol.
Both HDL and LDL are part of our body, and 70% of good cholesterol is synthesized, while 30% is acquired in food. There are foods that in addition to fighting bad cholesterol also raise the level of good cholesterol in the blood, being allies of people who suffer from excess LDL.
Here are some foods that really work to reduce cholesterol.
Fiber
Consumption of soluble fiber found in oat bran, beans, peas, citrus fruits, and apples reduces the level of LDL in the blood.
Strawberries and Cherries
Strawberry and cherry fight free radicals, which makes the cardiovascular system work better.
Red Grapes, Apples, and Broccoli
Consumption of red grapes, apples, and broccoli help to increase good cholesterol because they each contain a large amount of quercetin, a flavonoid widely found in the vegetable kingdom, with antioxidant activity and free radical removal.
Purple and red fruits also have anthocyanins, a substance also antioxidant properties and important benefits to the circulatory system.
Eggplant
The eggplant, because of its high fiber content, helps in reducing the fats that cause health issues. It is rich in flavonoids and antioxidants, substances that hinder the formation of fat plaques in artery walls.
Olive Oil
The olive oil and avocados have monounsaturated fat, very beneficial to the heart, and increase the level of good cholesterol and lower bad cholesterol levels.
Sardines, Salmon, and Tuna
Sardines, salmon, and tuna are foods rich in omega -3, which inhibit platelet formation and blood clotting, preventing cardiovascular disease. Also, its consumption enables the control of cholesterol and triglycerides.
Combat bad cholesterol by implementing these foods into your diet and maintaining common sense at mealtimes. Avoid consuming saturated fats and trans fats, use vegetable oils for cooking, and avoid eating red meat, especially fatty meat.
By Sumiya Shaw
Practice free MEDITATION right now to also keep your heart healthy and reduce cholesterol.
Release Reactivity with Geenie Celento - FREE Meditation
If you can do every pose in a yoga class effortlessly, you're in the wrong class. While it's important to be content with where you're at, it's just as important to keep growing, evolving, and pushing your boundaries. It can be easy to get complacent even in yoga, doing the same poses with the same teachers. However, you may be scared to take the plunge, and are wondering how to move from beginner to an intermediate yoga class.
Here’s our top tips on how to move up in your yoga practice.
Be Consistent
The first step in moving up from beginner’s yoga to intermediate classes is to be on your yoga mat consistently. At the start, your yoga practice is likely to be more sporadic as you get used to your new hobby. You’re probably more likely to practice more often as you’re more excited to hit the mat - however a few weeks in and you may have to drag yourself a little to get in your practice. The key to moving into an intermediate practice is to stick to a consistent routine - and sticking to it no matter what! This can be going to a class in the mornings, doing an at-home online class, whatever works for you is the best. When you push yourself to show up and practice, is when you start to progress into the next level up.
Try New Things
When you’re a beginner in yoga, just getting through the class and trying the basic poses is probably enough to keep you busy and satisfied. Learning the correct posture and placement is key when you’re just starting out, as well as learning to pay attention to your breath. Taking on too much too soon can be overwhelming, so just sticking to the basics is key. However, once you’re ready for a more intermediate practice you are ready to learn more and try new things. So kick yourself out of your comfort zone and start to learn more about yoga practice, from how your body and your breathwork together, to learn about energy flow through to the philosophy behind yoga.
Ask Questions
When you first start practicing, you may just believe absolutely everything you hear - after all, it’s all new to you! When you start to get your grips with the practice of yoga, it’s time to ask intelligent questions - while still being open-minded. Perhaps you can try different types of yoga to see different perspectives or try a different studio or teacher to test out different styles of teaching. You may even try workshops of yoga retreats to open your eyes a little more. Asking questions and trying new things is the first step in discovering the yoga style that is shaped around your needs.
Build Your Core Strength
Having a strong core is fundamental in intermediate yoga practice. This is the most important physical difference between beginner and intermediate. The core is essential, not just as one muscle in the center of the body but as layers of muscles protecting your abdominals. You should be able to engage the different muscles in your core, and a stable core will allow your to advance in your yoga positions and try things like handstands.
Be Patient with Yourself
When you first start out, you’ll either believe you can do anything straight away, or you might doubt your ability to ever progress and advance in your practice. Stepping up to an intermediate practice, you begin to learn that everything will come together in it’s own time - and you’ll begin to be a little more patient with yourself. Difficult poses never happen overnight, and it takes a lot of practice and discipline to master harder poses. Being patient with yourself also means understanding that everybody is different, and there might be certain poses that you’ll never be able to master.
Breathwork
When you’re a beginner, you’re probably struggling to keep up with the movements of each pose, and trying to focus on not falling over! As you become more advanced, you’ll realise that breathing right is vital in everything you do and every way you move - paying attention to your breath helps you to move through each practice and maintain balance and stay concentrated. There are a number of breathing techniques you can start to practice as you move up in skill, to help you find expansion in your inhales, and stability in your exhales.
Meditate
If you’re moving up to intermediate practice, you’re looking to benefit your mind as well as body. Give some time and attention to your meditation practice, as this will help to progress your yoga practice, and improve your concentration and focus, as well as help you feel more calm off the mat.
Ready to move on up? So this week, we've brought you intermediate classes, some going into more advanced postures, to keep you engaged and inspired on your yoga journey. Just as in life, it's good to level up sometimes, and soar to new heights. Enjoy!
Rocket Yoga 3: The Happy Hour with Carson Calhoun
Hop on Up with Angela Kukhahn
It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and the seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But, there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power. - Alan Cohen
You’ve probably heard that how we show up on our yoga mats is a reflection of how we show up the other twenty-three hours of our day. This week’s classes will encourage you to check in and evaluate whether it’s time to up level your practice and step out of your comfort zone or if you are right where you are supposed to be today.
Okay yogis, it’s time for a little reflection and self-assessment. Take a few moments to ponder your yoga practice over the last three to six months. Make some allowances for the holiday season, but be honest with yourself. Have you settled into a comfortable routine––too comfortable a routine? When is the last time you had a breakthrough in your yoga or meditation practice? Are you fully present for your practice or have you found yourself in autopilot mode, where you’re simply going through the motions as opposed to continuing to grow?
When you’ve developed a yoga routine that works for your schedule and your lifestyle, sometimes it’s easy to become complacent and that’s when you need to remind yourself that Patanjali wrote in the Yoga Sutras that the path of yoga is simple, but it isn’t easy. We’re not suggesting you need to let go of your favorite classes and teachers, we’re just suggesting you make sure you aren’t growing stagnant. Yoga is a path to find clarity in the mind. Our practice activates and elevates our brain waves and our nervous system. We need to keep growing, inside and out.
Trying a different practice can help you evolve physically, emotionally, and mentally. This week, consider pushing your boundaries and trying something new or different, at least one time. Deepening your practice doesn’t necessarily mean a more advanced physical posture. Just know that striking a pose doesn’t necessarily correlate to a deeper practice. Advancing your practice can mean a more attentive mindset with your pranayama and your intention or pushing yourself a little harder when you’ve been on autopilot.
When we step into an uncomfortable situation and breathe through it, we’re creating change, inside and out. We’re growing each time we try something new. By working toward something outside of your usual patterns, you will create change. Just as in life, it's good to level up sometimes, and soar to new heights. Enjoy!
1. Josey Prior - Flow into Side Crow
2. Claire Petretti Marti - Quick Energy Flow 4
3. Carson Calhoun - Rocket Yoga 3. The Happy Hour
4. Angela Kukhahn - Hop on Up
This salad has been a hit on many occasions, very suitable for potlucks, as a side dish when the barbeque season starts again, and also a very simple weeknight dinner that takes less than 30 minutes to make and is likely made of only cupboard ingredients. I always have sundried tomatoes, capers, and mustard in my fridge – they take any boring meal to a different level and do not spoil quickly.
Since most of my recipes start with ‘Peel, dice, and slice an onion’, I obviously also have onions, and if you have seen an Estonian person in your life, then you surely know that our most common food is potatoes.
Disclaimer about the potatoes – my grandparents really do eat potatoes almost every single day – they (both over 80 years old) grow their own and store them over the winter. My potatoes mostly come from them too, but since I am a real spice and salad lover, I probably only have them once a week or so. But most of Estonians are more similar to my grandparents.
Back to the salad. It is one of the simplest, hearty, and delicious salads out there. Versatile, since it is good both warm and cold, and also works well as a side dish should you be a fish or meat lover. If I were you, I would prepare a double batch, eat some of it for dinner, and use the rest for office lunches over the next few days.
Hearty, Healthy, & Delicious Potato Salad
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Serves: 4
2 pounds of potatoes
2 medium red onions
About 20 sundried tomatoes in oil (with the oil)
3-4 tbsp capers
3 tbsp full grain Dijon mustard
1 tbsp lemon juice
Peel the potatoes and cut them to about 1-inch cubes. Place in a pot, cover with water, season with salt and boil until tender. The cooking time depends on the exact size of the cubes, but just to be sure to check them in 10 minutes and react accordingly. Most likely, they take about 15 minutes to get tender.
At the same time, peel the onion and slice as thinly as you can. Squeeze the lemon juice over the slices, season with salt, and give the slices a little 30-second massage between your fingers. This step helps to draw out some bitterness from the onions and make them milder.
In a big bowl mix together sliced sundried tomatoes with about 3 tbsp of the oil from the jar, capers, and mustard, and finally the onions.
As soon as the potatoes are tender, drain them, and then let them steam on the stove without a lid, so they will be dry. Add the potatoes to the rest of the ingredients (or go crazy and just add the rest of the ingredients directly to the pot), carefully mix everything, taste and add more mustard, salt or lemon, if needed.
Serve warm. The salad is also delicious cold, but I doubt you will have any leftovers.
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Ayurveda is the sister science of yoga, and has been used for thousands of years to heal the body. Ayurveda uses many ancient techniques, including herbs, panchakarma, and identifying the doshas in a person by taking their pulse and asking them a series of questions. Especially for postpartum moms, there are certain herbs used in Ayurveda specifically to increase breast milk. In addition, Ayurvedic herbs benefit mothers by also helping them balance their hormones and helping them with any post-partum depression. Unfortunately, many women experience post-partum depression, among many other not-so-pleasant symptoms coming after giving birth. Luckily, we have amazing Ayurvedic herbs to help!
Here are a few herbs every Mother should add to her diet: Shatavari
This ayurvedic herb is also known as wild asparagus and has many benefits. In Ayurveda, Shatavari has many amazing uses, including:
Turmeric
Our favorite herb for curries, golden milk turmeric lattes, and teas. This herb is a super-food with many benefits for not only new Moms, but everyone. Not only does it help reduce inflammation, therefore disease, throughout the body, but it has galactogenic properties which help mothers increase the quantity and quality of their breastmilk.
Turmeric also has so many additional properties to assist you postpartum, such as:
You can add turmeric to your diet whether in a lactogenic protein powder shake, a golden milk latte, or simply ingesting it in pill form. Fennel
Fennel, coming from the carrot family, is an herb indigenous to the Mediterranean but has become widely used across the world. Another great herb to incorporate for Moms, given their galactogenic properties and phytonutrient content. Fresh fennel provides more gentle support while fennel seed is more potent.
Additional benefits include:
Moms, give these herbs a try and notice the physical, mental, and emotional benefits!
Brooke Nally
Brooke is a freelance writer who has been traveling the world for about two years, teaching yoga everywhere she lands. Find her on instagram @brookenally.
This article was originally published on LoveMajka.
Curious about Ayurveda or Yoga for New Moms? Be sure to check out these two yoga programs!
The start of the year is a time for resolutions - and many people’s resolutions will be to work out and exercise more - perhaps even get into a yoga routine! However, it can sometimes be hard to find the motivation to keep going, especially towards the end of January when it’s cold and dark, and the motivation you had on the 1st of the month is starting to wane. However, the best way to keep going with your yoga practice is to start a routine. Thinking about giving up? Let us remind you of some of the benefits of yoga, and give you some tips to get into a regular routine for 2020.
Need some inspiration to get into your yoga routine for 2020? There’s a wealth of benefits that practicing yoga can supply. As well as the expected, such as physical health and fitness, there are also some more unknown benefits.
Yoga can help improve your self-awareness. Yoga can translate to the word ‘connection’, and it's easy to use the practice as a way to connect to yourself a little more. Being more self-aware can help to benefit your relationships, your work life, and your friendships.
Yoga can also instill a sense of community in you. You can make friendships and join a like-minded community when you regularly attend a yoga practice, so if you’re feeling a little bit lonely it can be a great place to form connections and friendships. The mental health benefits of yoga are amazing. Starting a regular routine can be a great way to improve your mental state, and help you to be happier and cultivate a stronger, confident state of mind as well as improve your fitness levels.
Finally, another little known benefit of practicing yoga is to improve your productivity. Having regular practice can help to improve your levels of productivity. This is a great thing to strive for, and can make vast improvements to your 2020!
Now that you know some more of the benefits of a regular yoga practice, you might want some tips to get into a good routine this year.
Here’s some easy ways to get into a good yoga routine this year.
Start short
If you’re just getting into yoga, a 90-minute session on the mat maybe a little bit more than you can chew. Starting with shorter, more manageable practices can be a better idea if you’re working on getting yoga a part of your regular routine. The key to building out a new routine is consistency, so trying it out a few times a week is key - even if it’s only for a few minutes at a time.
Get it in your schedule
If you have a busy schedule, it can help to set aside a specific time each day where you can get on the yoga mat. Think of the times of day where you have little to no distractions, set a timer, turn your phone off and dedicate the entire time to your yoga practice.
Fit it around your existing schedule
While you might be signing up for 5 classes a week when you first get started, you might find this unsustainable once all of life’s pressures add up. Finding the right balance that works with your current life is the best way to avoid burning out a little later down the line. Think about your lifestyle and goals and practice at a pace that is good for you, and that you can build upon over time.
Get the gear
Investing in some good quality yoga equipment can be a good way to get into a new routine. Using a good yoga mat and some props can help to make your practice easier and can help to keep you in place and to keep your body stabilize.
Start with a gentle type of yoga
Start with a type of yoga practice that’s best for beginners. Try Yin yoga, or Yoga Nidra, or something that uses deep relaxation alongside mindful techniques. Vinyasa flow is also good to work on stretching and getting used to the postures.
Try different styles
Once you’ve got a handle on the beginner classes, try different styles to find the one that resonates with you. There are lots of different types of yoga out there and lots of different teachers who have different teaching styles. If you go to one class that’s not to your taste, try another.
Finally, don’t judge yourself
It can take time to cultivate the mindfulness and posture that you see in your yoga instructors. Take time to learn the skills needed, and don’t judge yourself if you don’t progress as fast as you thought you might. Remember it’s all about feeling present and connecting your body and mind. Treat yourself with kindness and compassion when you start your new routine.
Don't wait, and dive in now with the 5-Day Power Vinyasa Flow Bootcamp to get you started on your consistent yoga routine!