“Do your Practice and All is Coming”- Sri K Pattabhi Jois.
If you love Vinyasa yoga and have wondered how it evolved, spend some time with us this week on an Ashtanga immersion and learn the foundation from which Vinyasa in the West is derived. Tap into the ancient wisdom and traditional practice of Ashtanga yoga, brought to the West by K. Pattabhi Jois, who is considered the Father of Ashtanga yoga.
Ashtanga is a sweaty, vigorous yoga system based on the eight-limbed yoga path outlined in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. Jois developed the Ashtanga yoga system when he was a student of T. Krishnamacharya at the College of Maharaja in Mysore, India in the early twentieth century. Traditionally, Ashtanga is taught in the Mysore style, which means students practice in the same room, at their own pace, with individual guidance from the instructor. Kind of like you, practicing yoga at home with YogaDownload.com.
Jois believed the entry point to yoga was through the physical asanas because those were more accessible and that discipline learned in this phase of practice was necessary to follow the eight-limbed path. Once the physical postures were mastered, he taught students pranayama and meditation as the next steps on the path to spiritual enlightenment. The Ashtanga yoga sequence is always the same series of postures linked with Ujjayi breath. Traditionally, the class starts with chanting and mantras, sun salutations, standing postures, and floor postures, culminating in Savasana.
There are progressive series beginning with the Primary series and your teacher must approve your taking it to the next level.
The eight-limbed path of Ashtanga yoga includes:
1. Yamas – the five moral restraints
Ahimsa – non-violence
Satya- truthfulness
Asteya— non-stealing
Brahmacharya— moderation
Aparigraha- non-hoarding
2. Niyamas— the five moral observances
Saucha- purity
Santosha- contentment
Tapas- burning zeal in practice, perseverance
Svadhyaya- self-study
Isvara-pranidhana- devotion to a higher power
3. Asana— Posture
4. Pranayama— Mindful breathing
5. Pratyahara— Withdrawing the mind from senses inward
6. Dharana— Concentration
7. Dhyana— Meditation
8. Samadhi— Absorption and enlightenment. Union of self with object of meditation
Are you ready to go deeper? This 9-day Ashtanga yoga immersion will help you build your practice and understanding of Ashtanga day by day. If you’re inspired by the philosophy behind the practice, dig deeper into the eight-limbed path by reading or re-reading the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
Immerse yourself into Ashtanga right now, with the 9-Day Ashtanga Yoga Immersion!
Ah, summertime here in Colorado – the weather is beautiful, the kids are out of school, and fun in the sun is the name of the game. But with all the fun, free time, summer can also be hard for us moms trying to keep our kids eating healthy. Sometimes the break from school just turns into one long holiday of eating less healthy options – hot dogs, hamburgers, ice cream, soda – until your kiddos are left jacked up on sugar, experiencing frequent bellyaches, having meltdowns from sugar crashes, and more. What’s a healthy mom to do?
As working moms in the wellness industry, we know how important it is to keep your kids eating healthy without depriving them of all the fun they see their friends having. So we go for a happy medium: healthy sweet treats! And this recipe is one of our all-time favorites.
Our Chewy Dark Chocolate Cookie Bites are the perfect balance between sweet treat and healthy snack. They’re sweetened with monkfruit, a natural sugar substitute that won’t spike your blood sugar, therefore avoiding the dreaded sugar crash. Plus, they’re high in protein from the chickpeas and almond butter, giving your little ones sustained energy for long days of playing outside.
Bring these to your next outdoor party or potluck for a kid-tested and approved snack all your guests (even the adults!) will rave about.
Since we keep chocolate off our plates during the cleanse, this is a treat you can enjoy during your 80:20 eating plan. To learn more about our 80:20 Lifestyle Program, click here.
Do you have a favorite summer or sweet treat you’d like us to give a conscious makeover? Let us know in the comments below!
With love and chocolate cookie bites,
Chewy Dark Chocolate Cookie Bites
Yield: 20-24 small cookies
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups chickpeas, canned, drained (will take slightly more than one 15.5oz can) ½ cup almond butter ¼ cup Lakanto Monkfruit Sweetener 1 TB. olive oil or coconut oil 1 tsp. baking powder 2 tsp. vanilla 2/3 cup Enjoy Life Semi-sweet Chocolate Mini Chips Sea salt to taste
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and spray with olive oil. Place chickpeas on a cloth towel. Pat them dry then place in a food processor fitted with an S blade, pulse until the “dough” is smooth. Add in almond butter, Lankanto sweetener, olive oil, baking powder, vanilla, salt and blend. Pour cookie dough into a medium bowl. Fold in chocolate chips. On a parchment lined baking sheet, drop balls of cookie dough, about a tablespoon in size. Bake for 15 minutes. Eat warm and enjoy!
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.
Enjoy a Conscious Cleanse inspired yoga class from Jo of the Conscious Cleanse in the Yoga for Detox, Vitality, & Cleansing package!
Several years ago I read something that said something along the lines of 'mastery' simply being the result of doing things you've committed to and decided you would master, even in the moments when you really don't feel like it. I resonate with this, and have often returned to the lightbulb moment this perspective gave me, on days when I do not feel like showing up on my yoga mat. When I manage to overcome the obstacles of getting onto my mat (which are usually made up excuses), almost always, I'm happy I practiced. Very seldom, if ever, do I regret taking the time to do yoga. Can you also relate to this?
The benefits of yoga are too numerous to list, and so rich for those that feel the effects of a regular practice on their well-being. Life can feel challenging sometimes, and having something to return to that brings a greater sense of peace, is priceless. I've learned that for whatever reason, the yogic combination of focusing on the breath while putting the body into these powerful shapes, has the ability to transform my thinking, and leave me feeling more relaxed, happy, and content, time and time again.
However, to reap the benefits of yoga, one must actually practice yoga. This can be the biggest challenge of all! When teaching yoga, I often tell students during the first few minutes of class, that they've already completed the hardest part, just by showing up to class.
With so many benefits, why can it still be such a battle to get yourself onto your mat? Whatever the reason might be, finding solutions to your excuses can make your yoga routine a more regular and beneficial occurence.
Here are 9 tips that make it easier to do yoga more consistently.
1. Enjoy Practicing
This might be the most important tip. If you don't enjoy yoga, you're unlikely to keep showing up. Keep trying teachers, studios, and styles until you find something you love. It's simple, we're more likely to do things repeatedly, that we actually enjoy, instead of feeling like we 'should' be doing them.
To enjoy the practice, it's often finding the right teacher that strikes the delicate balance of effort and ease for your unique body. When class is way too hard, it's easy not to want to go all the time. When classes are too easy, you can get bored and also be less motivated to go. When you find those perfect teachers for your body, where you leave feel perfectly worked, but also enjoy the process, you'll be more likely to show up over and over again.
Practicing yoga can feel torturous if you allow it to, or you can have moments when moving with your breath is nothing short of ecstatic. Remember, you get to choose. Play your favorite music, find teachers that are lighthearted, don't take yourself too seriously, and remember to make your yoga fun.
2. Join a Studio (or Online Studio)
In his book Willpower Doesn't Work, Benjamin Hardy argues that it's the environment that creates motivation and drive, not merely our own internal willpower. When we've committed to an environment where we practice yoga, like a studio, we are far more likely to show up and practice. When you have a place you go, teachers you know, and a studio fee you've already paid for, showing up on your mat becomes more second nature.
Don't have a studio you love near you? Fortunately, online studios, like YogaDownload, where I teach, are virtual studios that you can access from wherever you are, and still build ongoing practices with a variety of teachers. Technology makes accessing yoga easier than ever, and it's amazing as a teacher to read reviews from students taking class and reaping the benefits of a regular yoga practice, all over the world.
3. Take a Teacher Training
Some people go to teacher trainings with the aim to teach, while others know they don't want to teach, but go through a training to take their practice to another level. One of the main benefits of doing a teacher training is that you leave with the understanding of how to structure and sequence a full yoga class as well as much more in-depth knowledge of healthy alignment.
This information makes it much easier to actually roll out your mat and know what to do, versus having to guess how to sequence the poses.
4. Develop An At Home Practice
Similar to the tip above, having your own routine to practice yoga at home is a difference maker in the amount of yoga you do. While a teacher training can help, you might surprise yourself with how much you can piece together on your own, just from the amount of classes under your belt. Again, if you don't like to practice without a teacher's guidance, you can still develop an at-home yoga routine with online channels!
5. Create Accountability
Accountability works. Whether you make your own accountability group with friends where you set weekly life goals (and practicing yoga can be one), make a yoga group where you go to class together once a week, or make it a more casual commitment with a friend, the bottom line is telling people you are going to do something, makes it more likely you are actually going to do it.
While it's not always easy, being in integrity with our word is crucial to begin to trust ourselves. So while you might be more likely to back out of practicing on your own, when you commit to it to other people, you will be more likely to go. It can be as simple as making yoga dates with friends!
6. Teach Yoga
While this might not be a practical tip for everyone, the accountability that teaching provides, might be the reason alone that I've kept showing up to this practice for so long. I highly doubt it, but who knows, maybe if I had not begun a path of being a teacher, I would have let go of yoga a long time ago for new passions and pursuits.
Part of being a good teacher however, is maintaining one's own practice. There are definitely worse things to have to maintain, than a yoga practice, to stay on point at your job! The difference in my teaching quality when I am immersed and showing up in my own yoga practice versus when I'm not, is noticeable. If I get lazy, the fact I teach yoga to others, keeps me motivated to get back on my mat, and humbled at the never-ending and lifelong relationship to this practice.
7. Mix it Up
Some of us are creatures of habit, while others are fans of variety. Many of us lie somewhere in the middle. Doing the same things in the same place day in and day out, can begin to stifle excitement about anything after awhile.
With so many unique styles of yoga, each with their own benefits and approach, you don't have to get into a rut of feeling bored or uninspired in your yoga. Try a new style if you're feeling unmotivated. When I'm practicing at my most, my practice is a mix of Vinyasa, Hatha, Ashtanga, Hot, and Yin. It varies, and sometimes for periods, I lean into one of those styles more.
What matters isn't the style, but the fact that we practice at all. Throw in a Yin class once in a while if you need help in relaxing, you might really like it. This is again where the internet can provide many diverse options, and more and more in-person studios are offering a greater mix of classes on their schedule.
8. Set a Goal of Number of Times to Practice Per Week
Simply picking the number of times you want to show up for yoga each week, can give you the needed structure to practice more. If you've been stuck at one class per week, but know you want more, maybe pick three or four days a week to practice. If you're at zero, or once a month, even one or two practices per week has the power to make positive shifts in your life. If you practice regularly but want to take it up a notch, challenge yourself to five or six days a week, or sign up for a yoga challenge, which supports you practicing every day for several weeks to a month.
Remember, there's no rule on how much you need to practice, so explore what number is ideal for you!
9. Be Reasonable & Gentle with Yourself
We are not robots, nor are we here to be perfect. While we might aim to show up six days a week, if you find it's not really possible with your routine at all times, go for four days to start and add on from there. What's important, is you set objectives that are attainable, even if challenging. Don't make unrealistic goals and continually find yourself disappointed over and over. Set yourself up for success instead.
The same goes for how your body feels and the intensity of your practice. If you find you're overdoing it and your yoga is actually feeling more detrimental than beneficial to your body, take it down a notch! Remember, one of the foundations of yoga is Ahimsa, which means non-harming, so always listen to your body to ensure the practice is actually benefiting you.
Conclusion: Regardless of your previous experience or preferred practice style, playing with some of these different tips can make yoga more of a regular thing for you. If you know yoga makes a difference in your mental and physical well-being, keep practicing and make showing up on your mat a priority in your life. Not only do you benefit from yoga's magic, but so can the people in your life.
By Keith Allen
Keith teaches Vinyasa & Hatha yoga and Meditation on YogaDownload. He also teaches 200-hour yoga teacher trainings in Thailand. Practice with him below, or contact him via his website or Instagram for more information on enrolling in a teacher training in the Thai islands.
Feel Amazing Flow with Keith Allen
Yoga is a practice that can be done anywhere, as long as you have a mat and a quiet space. It’s super easy to take your yoga practice outside, but have you considered taking your yoga practice overseas and somewhere international?
There are plenty of beautiful outdoor spots all around the world for you to roll your mat out, where the nature and scenery is part of the yoga experience.
Yoga is deeply symbolic of nature, from the names of many postures (Tree, Mountain, and poses named after animals), to the corresponding elements of certain poses (Earth, Air, Water, and Fire).
The yoga community is widespread around the globe, so there are special places for you to treat yourself to a purposeful and beneficial yoga travel adventure, and also bring your yoga practice into the open air.
Here are 6 exotic yoga destinations where the scenery is as potent at the practice itself and there are sufficent opportunities to take your yoga practice outdoors.
Rishikesh, India
The birthplace of yoga is found in a small town at the bottom of the Himalayas, the town of Rishikesh, India. This town is found along the Ganges River, and is a holy pilgrimage destination for those who practice hinduism. There are a wealth of yoga classes, retreats and workshops available in the town, so even if you don’t book in advance, don’t worry. Or you can even do your practice yourself, overlooking the beautiful river in the city.
There are other things to do here too, such as visiting local temples, rafting or swimming in the Ganges, or other spiritual workshops. You can also travel a little further afield to visit noteworthy destinations such as Mussouri, Dheradum, Shimla, or Dharma Sala, the residence of the Dalai Lama.
Nepal
Nepal is a place with plenty for yogis to explore, as well as other challenges (Mount Everest, anyone?). Nepal is part of the Himalayas, and it’s a very spiritual place to explore, with sights such as the sacred Kathmandu valley, amazing nature and the snow capped mountains of the Himalayas. There are plenty of yoga Ashrams for your practice, and get into those downward dogs and enjoy the majesty of the world's biggest mountains.
Thailand
Thailand is a popular destination for both travellers and yogis, with lots of yoga teachers and schools holding retreats and trainings on the Thai islands. Here is a good destination to combine your yoga practice with some traditional thai massage, to help stimulate your meridians. There are a plethora of other outdoor activities to enjoy in Thailand, such as snorkelling, trekking, surfing - as well as just relaxing on the beach.
Thailand is also a culinary destination for Thai food lovers, so your palate can be satisfied after practice each and every day you're there.
Bali
Bali, indonesia, has become a popular destination for a yoga vacation, with plenty of opportunity to practice yoga, as well as relax and enjoy the beautiful surroundings. The best places to go for yoga are Ubud, or Canggu, but there are also yoga destinations on the Gili islands, if you don’t mind a boat ride. There’s also amazing temples and beaches to explore, as well as relaxing with a massage to ease aching muscles.
Australia
Australia is one of the more modern places to embrace yoga. Yoga arrived in Australia in the 1940’s by a western yogi called Michael Volin. Spiritual places in Australia like Uluru are worth visiting on your yoga pilgrimage.
Byron Bay is also a mecca for yogis, with multiple yoga studios, farmers markets, and a general laid back attitude in a gorgeous beach time. It’s also the perfect base to explore the rainforest park of Mt. Warning, which offers the most breathtaking views of Australia.
There’s also no shortage of quality yoga in beautiful studios in the metropolitan cities of Melbourne and Sydney, if urban environments are more your thing.
Hawaii
Hawaii is a literal paradise in which to practice yoga. Many established yogis have set up studious in Maui, but there are also classes on every island.
Yoga on the beach is big here, as well as acro-yoga, and paddle board yoga, so you can find places to practice outdoors. There’s also loads of other activities such as hiking or whale watching, or simply relax on the beach and work on your sense of mindfulness.
Italy
While Italy might not be the first place to come to mind for yoga, open air villas in places like Tusacay and the Almafi Coast are becoming more popular for stunning yoga getaways. With an abundance of rolling hills, old architecture, and pristine Mediterrannean coast line, Italy is a treat for all of the senses.
The Italian way of life, where taking your time, enjoying the finer things in life, and savoring each moment, can complement a yoga trip, if becoming more relaxed is one of the goal's.
Who doesn’t want delicious Italian food and a glass of fine wine after a day of enjoying nature and practicing yoga?
And finally, anywhere!
If you’re unable to whisk yourself away to an exotic destination , you can still practice yoga outdoors and feel connected to nature. Being in nature and practicing yoga can help to replenish your energy. Spending time outside sends signals to the brain to stay alert, which can increase feelings of vigor and vitality.
The natural scenery of being outdoors can also heighten your awareness, as the fresh air helps you be more aware of your breath. Looking at beautiful scenery also helps to release endorphins, and the different aspects of being outside - cool breezes, feeling grass, hearing wildlife - can help to transform your practice into a multi-sensory experience.
Practicing yoga in a new environment also helps to increase your confidence, and help push you out of your comfort zone with your practice - especially if you’re used to working in the same environment.
Finally, the outdoors can help to boost the benefits of meditation, helping you to reduce stress and feel calm!
By Amy Cavill
Want to practice yoga with expert teachers in gorgeous Tuscany? Join now while spots are still available, for YogaDownload’s Wine, Food, & Yoga retreat!
Take your practice outside also, anywhere you want to practice in the world, with YogaDownload’s free app!
One of the greatest ways to feel connected to the world inside of you and the world around you is to step into nature.
When you spend too much time indoors or with your nose buried in your phone or computer screen, it’s easy to lose touch with how you’re feeling. Where yoga teaches us to use mindful breath and movement to tune out distractions and to tune into the present moment, stepping out into nature allows us to feel connected simply by being.
Taking your yoga outdoors to a park or the beach, where you can breathe in clean air and enjoy beautiful scenery, enhances yoga’s myriad benefits.
Being in nature reminds us that we are connected to something greater than ourselves.
Flowing through sun salutations under warm sunny skies or practicing the oceanic sounding Ujayii pranayama next to the ocean soothes our nervous system. We’re at one with the world around us.
Nature reminds us to embrace the scents of flowers, the sounds of birds and bees, the feel of grass beneath our feet, the vision of fluctuating skies, and the feel of the earth beneath our toes. Similarly, in meditation, we learn to allow the fluctuations of our thoughts without reacting to them because we know they are temporary and fleeting. Learning to flow with the current keeps us grounded in the present moment, one of yoga’s primary goals.
Even if you can’t be outside on the grass or sand, many elements of yoga help you visualize it. Several asanas in yoga are symbolic of nature, from ones embodying the elements of earth’s grounding, air’s lightness, water’s flowing, and fire’s heat.
You’ve probably heard yoga instructors use descriptions invoking the great outdoors like rooting down into the earth in Mountain Pose (Tadasana) or spreading upwards like the branches of a tree in Tree Pose (Vrksasana). Another way yoga mimics nature is by many poses named after animals like Eagle (Garudasana), Crow (Bakasana), and Tortoise (Kurmasana). When we spread our wings or hone our focus, we are pulling in the power of these wild creatures to feel connected to the universe.
Whether you can get outside or not, we’ve got four yoga practices themed and designed to remind you of the healing power of nature.
1. Pradeep Teotia - Build Your Inner Fire
2. Josey Prior - Balancing in Flamingo
3. Patrick Montgomery - Yoga for Rock Climbers: Upper Extremities
4. Denelle Numis - Element Yoga: Earth
If you’re feeling adventurous, take your phone outside and use the YogaDownload app to practice outdoors.
We'd love to see where you took your practice. Feel free to take photos and tag with the hashtag #goyouromway to share!
Here in Colorado we’re rapidly entering the dog days of summer – and it’s hot, hot, HOT outside. And when the weather gets this warm, we love to cool off with a refreshing chilled beverage. That’s where this recipe comes in!
Our Vegan Mango Lassi is a dairy-free spin on the traditional drink you know from your local Indian restaurant.
This recipe is a great alternative for those who are sensitive to dairy or vegan, since yogurt is the main ingredient in a traditional mango lassi. We like to use homemade coconut or cashew milk in ours, but you can use any non-dairy milk (think hemp, almond, or even macadamia nut).
This refreshing drink also packs some serious nutritional benefits. Mangos are a great source of prebiotic dietary fiber to keep your gut biome healthy and fed. This sweet tropical fruit is also an excellent source of vitamin C, good source of vitamins A and B6, high in antioxidants, and is a good source of potassium.
If you’re looking for a more festive drink, you can easily make our vegan mango lassi into a Conscious Cocktail by adding your favorite light, dark, or spiced rum for a tropical drink that brings the beach to your backyard.
We hope you enjoy this cooling, tropical beverage! Do you have a favorite summer recipe you’d like us to give a conscious makeover? Let us know in the comments below!
With love and vegan lassi,
Vegan Mango Lassi
Yield: 1 ½ cups
½ cup coconut or cashew milk 1 cup frozen mango 2 TB. raw cashews, soaked for up to 2 hours 1 ½ TB. lemon juice Pinch of sea salt Pinch of turmeric
Instructions: In a high speed blender, blend cashew milk, mango, cashews, lemon juice, sea salt, and turmeric until creamy. Enjoy!
Tropical Rum Mango Cocktail
Yield: 1 cocktail
6 oz Vegan Mango Lassi 2 oz rum of choice Fresh mango, for garnish (optional)
Instructions: In high-speed blender, combine lassi and rum by pulsing for a few seconds. Pour into chilled glass, and serve cold. Garnish with fresh slice of mango if desired.
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.
Practice with Jo of the Conscious Cleanse, in YogaDownload's Yoga for Detox program!
Yoga continues to grow in popularity. The practice is no longer for one type of person and a new modern culture has developed around yogis and yoga studios.
Understanding of simple studio etiquette is one good example. With any subculture comes stereotypes too. While exaggerated, as they always are, they're also good reminders not to take ourselves, our image, and the hobby of practicing yoga, too seriously.
A yoga teacher has shared 6 hilarious stereotypes of yoga students that yoga teachers might be all too familiar with. Yoga is all about love and understanding in the end, so do your best not to judge anyone you might come across in the yoga studio. Remember, we are all just doing the best we can.
1. The Frequent Texter
These ones are usually Type A workaholics who strut in on the iPhones, constantly texting. Such people will be frequently checking their phones (if you let them) and usually don't want to stay for the final savasana.
Fortunately as a teacher, you have the freedom to make a simple no cell phone rule in the studio, part of the culture where you practice. If it's violated, I usually ask students to put their phones away when I see such behavior.
2. The Know-it-All
Know-it-alls can be everywhere and it’s not just a yogi thing.You will have to learn to deal with them in many jobs, and being a yoga teacher is no different.
These students will call you out when you get something wrong about anatomy or when they think they know a pose better than you. They want to share all the knowledge with the class, at whatever time, and have no qualms about correcting the instructor.
Let’s admit it, as teacher, sometimes we’re wrong and there’s nothing wrong with a little correction! If they call me to the side and point out something wrong, it can actually be appreciated if done in a polite way.
3. The Exhibitionist
Being in a yoga class can be an opportunity for some to wear revealing clothes. Some people don't miss out on this opportunity and revel in this part of going to a yoga class. There's nothing wrong with being confident and comfortable in your own skin.
Once in awhile, it can cross a line, but usually it's unintentional. Yes, I've once had to go to a student and advise him to put on some underwear because he was exposing himself in all the wrong ways. Surprisingly, he took it really well and has it's never been an issue since.
4. The Acrobat
There are the hyper-flexible yogis that can get into seemingly impossible positions and often have practices that are more advanced than the teacher. You find these students casually twisting themselves into a pretzel, just to warm up before class. These students can be pretty intimidating, to both the teacher and newer students, who might feel like they’re in the wrong class. Again, it’s not usually intentional and most of them are just in the moment.
5. The Teacher’s Pet
Teachers pets exist in yoga too! This is the student that’s always at the front of the class, following everything the teacher teaches and getting ideas pretty quickly. What teacher doesn’t love teacher’s pet though? They make this job worth it because you know at least one person in your class is taking you seriously, even if the others might not be! These are often the students smiling and nodding at every thing you have to share.
6. The Zen Student
You can spot these students from afar. They’ve probably been to Thailand, or Sri Lanka, or India, and they have a bald head and some exotic tattoo. During classes they are completely present and in the moment. These students often have their eyes closed, a big grin on their face.
They’re never showing off, they're just happy to be in the zone. They love to be a channel for the right kind of energy and frequency and spread the good vibrations throughout the class, and towards the teachers.
Yoga is all about love and understanding in the end, so do your best not to judge anyone you might come across in the yoga studio. Remember, we are all just doing the best we can.
By Serena Dorf
She is passionate about marketing, psychology, and personal development. Serena Dorf is a content writer at EssayOnTime and SuperiorPapers.
Practice yoga right now and see which student you are!
Feel Good Flow with Jackie Casal Mahrou
Getting into a yoga routine can be hard, especially if you’re not 100% sure it’s right for you.
Perhaps you’re finding yourself feeling a little stiff, or you’ve read up on the benefits of yoga, and want to experience them for yourself, but you’re finding it hard to get on the yoga mat. Putting yoga into practice and starting a new activity can be hard, especially if you need a little extra motivation to get you there. Before you say it’s not for you, and give up the idea, here’s some tricks to get started in yoga, even if you think it’s not your vibe, and make a routine stick.
Some of the benefits you can gain from a regular yoga practice include less anxiety, improved concentration, relief from pain and aches, and will also release endorphins, putting you in a better mood for the day. So if you’re umming and ahhing about starting yoga, those are some pretty great reasons to get started.
Start Short
If you’re new to yoga - and especially if you have to drag yourself onto your mat, make your yoga practice short and sweet. This is a good idea if you want to make it a part of your day to day routine. The key to building a new routine, especially with yoga practice, is consistency. If you start with a long practice, it’s going to be hard to commit to this everyday. Try 5-10 minutes at the start to ease yourself in, and practice the same time everyday to build the habit.
Balance
Balance your practice in with the rest of your daily routines. It can be tempting - especially if you fall in love with yoga practice after your first few times on a yoga mat - to go all in and focus solely on your new hobby. However, in the interest of longevity, try to pace yourself to a practice that works in line with the rest of your lifestyle and other goals, and start in a way which will allow you to grow slowly over time - instead of burning out quickly.
Try Different Styles
There are an array of different yoga practices and styles out there, so if you try one and it’s not for you, try another! It’s totally fine to switch things up until you find a yoga style that suits you. Try different classes, types of yoga, different instructors until you find something that resonates with you.
Treat Yourself to Props
If you’re able to, treat yourself and invest in some nice yoga equipment. This could be a fancy new yoga mat - non-slip is the best, or a new outfit to get you excited to start your practice. Even some nice essential oils to set your mood can be a great way to get into a new yoga routine. You may also consider buying props such as yoga blocks and straps to help you out as you get started.
Schedule it in
If you’re busy schedule is the block that’s putting you off starting a yoga practice, try to set aside a little time each day for you to get into the zone and establish a routine. Pick a time of day where you’ll have minimal distractions, and set up a timer so you can dedicate the full time to your practice - turning off all external distractions to help you concentrate.
Start Gently
Try a practice or a class that’s aimed at beginners to start, rather than jumping in feet first to more advanced practices, like power yoga or bikram. Yin Yoga or Yoga Nidra is good to dip your toes into yoga, and it will also teach you some mindful techniques. Vinyasa flow is also good to learn basic poses and postures to start out.
Don't Try to be Perfect
Many people get demotivated when they don’t excel straight away at a new hobby - but don’t let it get to you! Everyone started out as a beginner, and it can take years to gain skills and achieve advanced poses and asanas. Recognise that it takes time, and be mindful in your practice. Focus instead on feeling present, connecting your body and breath, and you’ll see great improvements over time.
Don't’ Get Down on Yourself
Being critical of yourself can also be the biggest deterrent to your yoga practice. Remember not to beat yourself up if you miss a practice, or you’re not able to get into certain poses. Be kind to yourself when setting a new routine, and you’ll find it easier to turn it into an everyday habit.
If you take on board these tips, you’ll find it much easier to get motivated to start yoga, and you’ll find yourself with a new habit in no time! Remember, it’s important to get moving no matter what your age, and yoga is a great way to do this. Stillness and stagnation, wear on the body, while regular movement and movement practices keep things. The benefits of moving benefit to your mental health as well. This week's classes, will have you moving your entire body and keeping your mind, body, and being, happy and sharp.
Ready to give yoga a try? The Beginner Yoga 101 and Yoga for Seniors programs, are execllent entry level introduction programs!
Whether you began practicing yoga yesterday or thirty years ago, your practice will evolve and change, just like your daily life transforms.
You probably don’t enjoy coloring books and the jungle gym like you did in first grade, right? In our teens and twenties, it’s common for many people to practice sweaty yoga with a variety of physically intense asanas. As you move toward the middle and later years, it’s natural to shift to gentler, quieter types of practices. This week, we’re excited to share a program designed for the more mature yogi.
In order to age as gracefully as possible, making shifts to how we show up on our yoga mat ideally would mirror the transitions in our professional and personal lives. Different concerns arise with each stage of life and yoga can play a major role. If you’re already a yogi, you know how eating well, moving your body mindfully, and breathing purposefully enables you to feel your best. Even if you’ve always been active and taken care of yourself, aging happens. Diseases, injuries, and degeneration of the mind are realities.
How does yogic philosophy and practice help the process of aging? Yogis have long believed that life is divided into four stages or ashramas. This perspective is applicable to our modern life and yoga practice.
The four stages are:
Brahmacharya or Student: ages 1 to 24 where we focus on learning.
Grihastha or House-Holder: focus on establishing our careers and families.
Vanaprastha or Retired: transition from the focus on the material world to more on the spiritual world.
Sannyas or Renunciate: focus on furthering our spiritual development.
A well-rounded yoga practice, which addresses your changing physical and mental concerns, can help you stay or become as healthy as possible. If you’re in a transitory stage of your life, it might be time to try some gentler types of yoga to find the optimum practice for you.
Yoga helps with maintaining bone strength, flexibility, mental sharpness, reduces high blood pressure, improves balance, and respiratory health.
This week’s program is a well-rounded set of intelligently sequenced classes by expert teachers. These practices will give you all the transformative physical, mental, and emotional benefits of yoga, without stressing your body too much.
Check it out and get ready to feel your best!
We L-O-V-E summer here at the Conscious Cleanse. Right now in Colorado, the weather is beautiful, the best fruits and veggies are in season, and our local farmers market always has a great selection to choose from. It’s also a great time to gather in the backyard with friends or family and enjoy some food fresh off the grill.
Unfortunately, most of the go-to grilling options are highly processed (lookin’ at you, hot dogs) or served up in a gluten-bomb bun. And if you’re a veggie eater like Jules, the options get even worse: imitation meat is frequently packed with artificial additives and preservatives, allergens like gluten or soy, and highly processed – not exactly a “health” food.
So we wanted to share one of our favorite grilled veggie recipes: Cauliflower Steak!
This recipe is the perfect clean alternative for those who don’t eat meat (and for those who want to add more veggies into their diet), but still want a grill-able meal. It’s high in protein, inexpensive, and super simple to make. Pair it with either of our favorite grilling sauces below – BBQ or Chimichurri – and you’ve got a healthy, flavorful meal. You may even convince some of your burger-loving friends and family to try it out and enjoy a veggie option!
What are some of your go-to summer cookout faves you’d like us to give a healthy makeover? Let us know in the comments below. We love hearing from our community!
With love and veggies steaks,
Grilled Cauliflower “Steaks”
Yield: 4 servings
1 head of cauliflower Olive oil Salt and pepper, to taste BBQ sauce (optional) Chimichurri sauce (optional)
Cut cauliflower length wise in ¾ inch slices. Brush both sides of cauliflower steak with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Grill 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until cauliflower is tender but still firm. Pour our tomato free BBQ sauce or chimichurri sauce over the top and enjoy.
Tomato Free BBQ Sauce
Yield: 2 cups
1 beet 1 TB. olive oil 1 TB. lemon juice 5 TB. apple cider vinegar 2 TB. blackstrap molasses 1 TB. fresh ginger 1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed 1 cup carrots, diced 1 cup onion, diced ½ tsp. smoked salt
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Rinse beet and trim off the leafy tops. Wrap beet loosely in aluminum foil and place in oven. Roast beet for about an hour or until soft. Remove the beet from the oven, take off foil and set aside to cool. Once the beet has cooled, cut off leafy end, peel skin off with thumbs, and quarter the peeled beet.
In a medium saucepan, heat olive oil. Add onion and carrots and sauté until onions are translucent. In a high speed blender, blend beet, onion, carrots, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, molasses, ginger, garlic, and smoked salt until smooth. Place blended ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes. Store in a glass container in the refrigerator for 7 days.
Chimichurri Sauce
Yield: 1 cup
½ cup apple cider vinegar ¾ cup olive oil 1 tsp honey 1 small shallot, minced (about 1 TB) 3 garlic cloves, minced ½ cup chopped parsley Handful fresh basil 2 TB chives, chopped 1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
In high-speed blender, combine vinegar, olive oil, honey, shallots, garlic, herbs, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Let stand at room temperature for about an hour or refrigerate overnight to let the flavors develop. Bring to room temperature before serving.
Want to be healthier and get your health back on track? Practice the Yoga & Fasting program!
Everyone feels sad from time to time. Sadness is a difficult emotion to overcome because of it's discomfort. When sadness becomes too intense and continuous, then you might be dealing with depression. While sadness is a common human emotion, it can shift into more long-term depression without even noticing it.
But, how can you know that sadness has become deeper and you are on the edge of falling in depression?
Here are ten of the most efficient tricks to help you identify and overcome the first signs of depression, so you can enjoy life more and feel happier and lighter, instead of heavy and stagnant. If you're not sure if you're depressed or not, these tips can help you get clear on whether you're just feeling low temporarily, or in a long-term cycle of unhappiness you'd like to change.
Exercise or Practice Yoga
One of the most common signs of depression is lack of energy and appetite. Regular exercise can help you fill yourself with adrenaline and keep a more positive and upbeat attitude toward life.
If you can force yourself to do an exercise you enjoy, even though you might feel low in energy and not like exercising, you will find physical activity helps uplift your mood. If you discover a yoga or fitness routine that you know with certainty, lifts your spirits, it may become easier to find the necessary motivation to do it regularly and lift out of depression.
Moderate exercise, which can keep you in a good mood, ideally would last for about 150 minutes per week. You can get creative and combine moderate aerobic with strength exercises or long walks in the park. Irrespective of the type of activity you want to try, it is very important to do it regularly and gradually increase the intensity over time.
Get Involved & Commit to Activities
Depression is a stagnant, low-energy feeling. Doing things, is an antidote to getting stuck in your head or lethargy of a depression. The best thing you can do when you feel depressed is the activities that you enjoy the most. Think of one of your favorite hobbies and start practicing it to keep the blues away.
Eat Healthy
Your eating habits and the food that you eat directly influence the way you feel. For example, alcohol, caffeine, or junk food can deepen your depression. You can overcome its signs from the beginning by having an organized and healthy meal plan. In addition, it's best to minimize the intake of sugar, which can cause both your mood and energy levels to spike and fall erratically.
This tip may be tough for some, as most of us love sugary snacks, but they are actually not helping you to get out of depression whatsoever. Furthermore, the deficit of vitamin B-12 will make depression even more acute.
Thus, the best thing you can do is eat cleanly. Natural foods from the earth, like citrus, beans, eggs, or chicken meat, are examples of natural, delicious, and healthy foods that will nourish you physically and emotionally. Moreover, omega-3 will also help you stabilize your emotions. So if you're a meat eater, eating salmon or herring can put you in a good mood.
Go Out in the Sun Every Day
A depressed person usually prefers staying indoors instead of getting out and enjoying the sun. Sunlight is very efficient in helping you overcome depression signs.
It improves your mood by increasing serotonin levels in your body. So, even though it is hard to force yourself to get out every day, force yourself to feel the sun of your skin for even 15 minutes a day if you can. Enjoy the energy you receive from the sun by taking a short walk during lunch break or very early in the morning. Furthermore, you can boost even more the sun's energy by doing sun salutations toward the sun, exercising outside, or practicing meditation techniques that connect you to the sun's vibrant, radiant, and warm energy.
Connect with People You Love (Don't Withdraw)
When you feel depressed the tendency can be to isolate yourself from the rest of the world. You can overcome depression signs by staying in touch with the people around you, that care about you, as much as you can. You might not feel like making an effort, but you can really change your mood by socializing.
Go out for a coffee with friends, who can easily get you out of isolation and negative thinking. Being around others can help you forget about your own problems. It's even better if you can spend time with people who never fail to make you laugh. If you feel it is hard to keep in touch with your friends and relatives, you can also ask for their help or seek a therapist. They'll provide human connection, someone to help you process your emotions, and get you out of isolation. You can also ask friends to check in with you, on how you're feeling to keep you accountable to do the things that help keep you happy.
Set Achievable Goals
Depression can take you into a mood when you begin to doubt about your abilities, and you feel like you are not able to achieve anything. But, depression doesn't have anything to do with your intelligence and skills. Therefore, the best thing you can do is set clear goals and prepare a comprehensive plan with milestones which you are going to achieve in the short and medium term. You should start small and celebrate each achievement. Thus, whenever you obtain a positive result, your energy and self-esteem levels increase as well.
Try Something New
Depression might appear when you feel stuck in a routine and there is nothing new to challenge you. Push yourself to try something different and focus all your attention into achieving it. For instance, if you have always dreamt to learn a foreign language, then this is the moment to do it. Whenever you challenge yourself to try something new, you will trigger some chemical changes in your brain which bring pleasure and enjoyment.
Get Enough Sleep
Most experts recommend somewhere around eight hours of sleep every night. However, when depression starts to come closer, you may deal with either anxiety and lack of sleep or oversleeping. These behaviors will do more harm to you and can take you deeper into depression. Therefore, you should force yourself to have a well-organized sleeping schedule and try to sleep for somewhere between 7-9 hours each night if you feel yourself going towards a downward spiral, and want to catch it before it's real.
Don't Let Yourself Get Overwhelmed by Negative Thoughts
Feeling powerless, weak, and thinking that only bad things will happen to you are some of the most frequent signs of depression. When you feel surrounded by this type of ideas, it is important to remember that these pessimistic attitudes are not real. They are only in your mind. So, whenever you feel that negative thoughts are holding you tight, then you should immediately replace them with balanced and positive thinking.
Accept Yourself & Your Current Circumstances
Depression is not something you should be ashamed of. It happens to a lot of people and you are not alone in this situation. Therefore, one of the best attitudes you can have is accepting it is there and you need to make some changes or some extra support. When you accept where you're at, it becomes easier to figure out ways overcome your challenges and get back to a positive mindset more quickly.
Conclusion: Dealing with depression can be extremely challenging for some. It is an illness and shouldn't be considered a character defect or weakness. Once the first signs of depression appear it is very important to take immediate action and put all your effort towards replacing negative thoughts with positive ones, in whichever way works best for you. Whether it's exercising, talking to friends, practicing yoga, or going out in nature, know the tools in your tool belt you can utilize when the going starts to get tough.
By Estelle Liotard
Estelle Liotard is a seasoned content writer and a blogger, with years of experience in different fields of marketing. She is a regular contributor in 3to5marketing blog and loves every second of it. Her passion is teaching people how to overcome digital marketing obstacles and help businesses communicate their messages to their customers. She also works at EssayAssistant where she uses her writing skills to provide professional services to whoever needs them.
Feeling low? Practice these yoga classes desgined to help lift your sadness and increase your happiness.
Yoga for Depression and Anxiety with Shannon Paige
Yoga For Depression: Flow into Happiness with Maria Garre
We’re all human, and everyone skips a workout every once in a while. And while it’s important to take some time off to rest and enjoy other aspects of your life, it can be very easy to let one skipped workout turn into two, or three, until time on your yoga mat or at the gym is a distant memory. If you’re having a break from staying active, you may wonder, how long does it take to get out of shape?
Before we go on, it’s key to remember that taking breaks from your fitness routine every now and again isn’t a bad thing!
When you exercise, especially with high impact workouts, there is a high degree of stress on the body, and all good regimes include rest days and days without workouts. There’s also the mental aspect to consider, taking breaks and focusing on other areas of your life will ensure you don’t get too single minded in your fitness goals.
That said, taking excessive breaks will cause you to lose fitness and get out of shape. But how much, all depends on the level of fitness you had at the start, and how long you take off.
If you’re a regular athlete
If you have a movement practice, five or six times a week, it’s easier to get back into it, and you may find it's slower to lose fitness and get out of shape, if you’ve been exercising for a while.
Your muscle memory will be stronger if you’ve been working out several times a week for over a year. With such strong habits, your fitness levels drop at a different rate than others who don’t work out as often.
If you’re focused on strength, most people lose strength after about three weeks of not working out, if you’re sick and taking a break. This is because your body is under stress when you’re unwell. If you’re otherwise healthy, and you’re still moving around, you may find it takes up to five weeks to notice any significant strength loss.
Muscular strength fibers appear not to change, even after a month of rest. This goes for general strength - if you’re working out specialized muscle fibers, such as ones you use for certain sports, you may notice change after just two weeks of rest.
With cardio, this kind of fitness deteriorates much faster than strength. Our heart and lungs can get out of shape much more than our muscles. Just four weeks of rest can lead to a 20% decrease of your VO2 max. This is the measurement of your maximum capacity to take in and use oxygen. However, cardio fitness is much much easier to regain than strength, so once you start working out again, you’ll see improvements.
If you’re a workout newbie
If you’ve pressed the pause button on a relatively new habit, make sure you’re not taking time out for too long. Consistency is the most important thing when you’re building up a new habit, as it is easier to lose your progress if you haven’t been working out for long.
Strength Loss
It’s slightly easier to retain strength as a newbie, and you can expect to retain the same levels of strength after as long as a three week break from lifting. In fact - you can stop for up for six months and still retain up to half of the strength you gained. For new people lifting weights and doing strength training, a lot of the strength you retain is eccentric strength - the strength used when you’re lengthening muscle fibers. It’s harder to retain concentric strength, the strength you use when you contract a muscle.
However, cardio is a little easier to lose. If you’re new to cardio workouts and take time off, you may find you’re back to square one. Studies have found that VO2 gains made over two month were completely lost after four weeks of inactivity.
There are a few other factors to consider when you’re assessing how quick you’ll lose shape after taking a break.
Age is an important factor, as older people can lose strength must faster than their younger counterparts. And if you take time off because you’re ill or have had an injury, you may lose your fitness at a higher rate.
If you find yourself taking a fitness break, you may be worried that you’ll lose your fitness and get out of shape quickly. There are a few ways you can retain your fitness during your downtime, to ensure you’ll stay in shape.
If you can keep up some form of light cardio, such as walking briskly, you’ll be able to retain your cardio fitness for longer. Body weight exercises or swimming are also good low impact resistance training that you can take up whilst on a break from heavier workouts, especially if you’re injured. This will make a big difference in maintaining your strength. Eating right will also help to avoid getting out of shape faster. This puts off any weight gain and makes getting back to exercise so much easier.
Get back in shape now, with YogaDownload's Yoga for Weight Loss program.
Here’s a mini-quiz for you: In one to three words, how do you feel after sitting for six hours either in an office, plane, car or even after an extended Netflix binge? Now, how do you feel after a long walk in nature, a sweaty juicy yoga class, or your movement of choice?
If you responded to the sedentary day with words like stiff, cranky, negative, or anxious, you’re not alone. And if you responded invigorated, happy, positive, or calm to activity, you’ve described how much lifestyle impacts your well-being.
Your level of physical activity profoundly impacts your emotions and thoughts. We all experience periods where we aren’t exercising or practicing yoga as frequently as we would like. Sometimes it’s because of injury or illness, but sometimes we fall into a rut and stop moving our bodies enough. And when that’s the case, we often feel heavy, lethargic, fuzzy, and unhappy.
According to numerous academic and psychological studies, a sedentary lifestyle negatively impacts your ability to maintain optimal health. In fact, the World Health Organization named physical inactivity as the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality. Living a couch potato lifestyle might not kill you, but it will definitely impact your physical, emotional, and mental health.
On the physical level, exercise helps keep your bones strong, your muscles toned, and your heart healthy.
Whether you choose to clock ten thousand steps a day or practice yoga regularly, you’re benefitting. Maintaining a regular fitness program helps keep your weight in check, helps balance blood pressure, and boosts your serotonin levels, and feel more positive. If you’ve practiced yoga, even for a short time, you’re aware how much physical activity impacts your moods and thoughts.
Yoga is about tuning into physical sensations and learning to listen to your body. When you’re consciously connecting your breath to your movement, you create a meditative effect where you become more aware of the sensations in your body impacting you on every level. If you’ve lost your motivation to move lately, see if you can rekindle it with one of new classes this week.
1. Pradeep Teotia - Move your Asana
2. Mark Morford - Yoga Alchemy: Coffee, or Else
3. Erin Wimert - Moving with Presence
4. Josey Prior - Hummingbird Flow: Grace and Ease
It is so simple to pick up a jar of hummus from a store. But it is almost as simple to prepare hummus yourself and know exactly what has been added. You can do everything from scratch, including soaking and boiling the chickpeas, but I usually don’t feel this is necessary.
The chickpeas from a jar, especially if I choose an organic brand, do it for me, but in case you do have extra time you can soak the chickpeas overnight and then boil until tender. It makes sense for me to cook your own chickpeas if you need a lot of them, so I sometimes do this for bigger parties, but if I am just hungry for a quick beet hummus I prefer having it in 5 minutes instead of the next day!
However, I do prefer to roast the beetroots at home. I do this quite often anyway, so I usually have leftovers for hummus too. To roast the beetroots, I wrap them in foil and bake for an hour at 200°C (about 390°F). Then I leave them to cool and rub the skin off. If you want a shortcut on roasted beetroots, you can use the boiled ones straight from the supermarket.
After you have all your ingredients ready, the actual hummus-making process takes around 5 minutes. This beet hummus is delicious slathered on everything from sandwiches to salads, enjoyed with fresh veggies or just plain!
Simple Beetroot Hummus
Cooking time: 5 minutes!
1 jar of chickpeas
1 larger roasted beetroot (or leftover pieces from yesterdays dinner)
Juice of ½ lemon
1 tsp ground cumin
¼ cup good quality olive oil
Salt, to taste
Add the chickpeas and beetroot to the blender, squeeze over the lemon juice and add most of the olive oil. Blend until smooth.
Season with salt and cumin, blend some more and have a taste. Add more of what is needed. If the hummus is too thick, you can add a little bit of water.
If ready, then serve with fresh veggies, use on a sandwich or add to salads.
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/.
Live with more energy and vitality. Eat healthy with recipes like these, and practice yoga to keep your body and mind in optimal shape. Never tried yoga before? Explore with this entry level 5-class Beginner Yoga 101 series!
You are what you eat!
Food is the fuel on which our body works. It is the source of various nutrients that are needed to ensure optimal physical function. Poor eating habits and diet can be closely associated with various lifestyle diseases and even cancer. Eating more healthy and nutritious food is one of the most simple, yet powerful things we can do to keep ourselves healthy.
It is important to eat foods rich in fibre and vitamins. By making healthier choices regularly, we can reduce the risks of cancer. Along with eating good food, other healthy lifestyle choices can help keep diseases at bay. A balanced diet is an execllent starting place and so is adding some more physical activity. Even strengthening the core of the body further empowers the immune system.
One simple first step towards a healthier life is to simply look at and assess your diet. Identify whether the foods that you are eating are fulfilling the needs of your body or not. Do your best to stay away from foods containing saturated fats and high sugar content.
While there are various causes of disease, evidene and studies continue to discover that certain foods, can increase the risk of cancer, while other foods can reduce and help prevent cancer.
Here are 10 foods that can help decrease and prevent the risks associated with cancer.
1. Soy • Soy is one of the major sources of amino acids which are needed by the body for producing proteins. • They contain good proportion of calcium, potassium, magnesium, fibre. • Phytochemicals present in soy has the potential to reduce the chances of spreading of a tumor. • Intake of soy also helps in regulating the growth of cell and destruction of cancer cells. • Eating soy based foods promotes the intestinal system and reduces cholesterol.
2. Flaxseeds • Flaxseeds are a rich source of protein, fibre and omega 3 Fatty acids. • They contain lignans, which gives the flaxseeds their antioxidant and estrogen properties. • Helpful in preventing breast and prostate cancer. • High fibre content boosts metabolism and prevent constipation. • Source of Alpha-Linolic Acid (ALA), which is a type of Omega 3 Fatty acid. ALA is not produced by human body. Hence, flaxseeds fulfil the requirement of ALA needed for the systems of the body. • Nutritional values of flaxseeds are also helpful in treatment and preventions of chronic diseases, cholesterol, heart diseases.
3. Carrots • Carrots are good source of fibre, Vitamin K, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2 and Vitamin B3. • They are beneficial for cardiovascular health and keep the heart healthy. • Carrots get their anti-cancer properties from polyacetylenes. • Antioxidants in carrots helps in reducing the risks associated with cancer and cardiovascular diseases. • They also contains beta-carotene, which protects cell membranes and decrease the growth of cancer cells. • Regular intake of carrots improves digestive health and controls blood pressure and diabetes. 4. Green Tea • Green tea is known to be the healthiest beverage and contains ample amount of nutrients required for boosting the systems of the body. • A healthier alternative to regular tea and coffee, it improves digestion and assists in fat burning. • Green tea contains antioxidants in abundance and can play an important role in prevention of cancer. • Antioxidants in green tea reduce the damaging cells of the body and hence control the production of cancer cells. • Including a cup of green tea can prove to be beneficial in maintaining the overall health. 5. Turmeric • Turmeric is known for its medicinal and healing characteristics. • Curcumin gives turmeric it anti-inflammatory properties and is one of the most bioactive ingredients in turmeric. • Turmeric can slower the pace of angiogenesis and hence, controls and decreases the growth of cancer cells in the body. • Anti-oxidants found in turmeric boosts the immune system and gut health. • Intake of turmeric in required proportions is helpful in preventing risks associated with brain diseases. 6. Onion and Garlic • Onion and garlic are not only used to enhance the taste of the food but also has medicinal properties. • Including onion and garlic in the routine diet increases the infection fighting ability of the body. • They are great sources of healthy sulphur compounds. • Garlic contains compounds known as saponins which shows anti-tumor activity. • Onion and garlic reduce tumour growth and restricts spreading of tumor to various parts of the body. 7. Citrus • Citrus fruits like oranges, lemon, limes, grapefruit etc. are abundant in Vitamin –C. • Being good source of fibre, they provide enough roughage to the body which helps in improved bowel movements. • Citrus fruits helps the body to absorb necessary nutrients and increases the production of red blood cells. • Citrus fruits contain Nobiletin and vitamin C which have antiangiogenic properties reduces the growth and spreading of tumours. • The water content in the citrus fruits keep the body hydrated and keeps the bodily functions work properly
8. Spinach • Known to be a superfood, spinach is one of the natural energy boosters. • Spinach is a rich source of iron, magnesium, potassium and calcium. • Like Flaxseeds, Spinach also contains ALA which controls the glucose levels and stress induced changes in patients with diabetes. • Intake of Spinach helps in managing diet and maintain a healthy weight. • Chlorophyll present in spinach is helpful in blocking and reducing the production of cell growth. • Abundance of Vitamin- A, helps in growth of tissues and also contributes in maintaining healthy hair and diet.
9 Grapes • Resveratrol, a phytochemical found in grapes is known for its anti-cancer properties. • Grapes are rich in Vitamin C, Vitamin K and antioxidants which help prevent chronic and heart diseases. • Grapes has anti-inflammatory properties which block the production of cancer cells. • Grapes are abundant in compounds that help enhance retention power of memory and uplifts mood.
10. Broccoli • Broccoli, coming from the cabbage family, contains dozen of nutrients. • Broccoli contains significant amount of Omega- 3 Fatty acids which give anti-inflammatory properties to it. • It is also a powerful antioxidant with significant concentration of vitamin-C. • High level of calcium and Vitamin K also helps in maintaining good bone and heart health. • Broccoli is suitable mainly in prevention of breast and uterus cancer, due to its immune boosting characteristics. • It also has properties which decreases estrogen which is one of the causes of cancer in the body.
By Garvita Arora
Dr. Garvita Arora is a qualified dental surgeon and an avid writer. With 500+ articles and medical blogs, she has written on a variety of topics, which have been of immaculate interest to her readers. Exploring new domains, she has now collaborated with CancerBro as a guest writer and is immensely dedicated to her work.
If you're on your way to getting healthy again and recovering from cancer, practice Yoga for Cancer Recovery, from cancer survivor, yoga teacher, and author, Claire Petretti Marti.
Yoga for Cancer Recovery 2 with Claire Petretti Marti
In some ways, each family of yoga postures has their own unique personality and set of benefits. While there are countless poses and variations, there are some overarching categories of yoga poses, or families, and they include backbends, twists, inversions, balancing poses, arm balances and forward folds, amongst others. These groups of postures each have their own set of benefits physically, psychologically and energetically.
Each family of poses make us feel a different way.
You will feel quite different leaving a class where you've done predominantly twists, versus a yoga class designed around arm balancing. Physically, you'll work certain parts of the body more and energetically, each pose also has a unique effect on our mind and mood.
Forward bends, also called forward folds, are yoga postures where you hinge forward at your hips. There are many forward folds, both standing and seated, that are commonly practiced in various forms across all styles of yoga. Common forward folds in yoga include, Paschimotanasana, Uttanasana, and Prasarita Padotanasana.
What makes these poses unique? Let's take a closer look at these postures and their power.
There are certain effects that forward folds are better at achieving, than any other type of yoga pose. Let's take a look at why this family of yoga poses is special.
1. Open the Entire Backside of your Body
Physically, forward folds stretch, strengthen, and benefit the entire backside of your body from your heels to your scalp. The back of your legs, the back of your back, and the back of your neck and head, get the spaciousness and release they crave, when you spend several breaths in a deep forward bend.
While backbends open the frontside of your body, forward bends open the backside and generally create length throughout. Physically, this improves posture and helps you stand taller. Your back is the receptive side of your body, so opening here can make you more receptive to the things you desire to receive in life. Treat yourself and bow inwards toward yourself in these potent yoga poses.
2. Take a Look Inside
Energetically, forward bends are about looking inwards. You can see this symbolism, by simply looking at the shapes. You literally gaze in, towards yourself, when practicing a forward fold in yoga. These are all postures where you're also looking inwards and your mind has a chance to examine itself.
The personality of forward folds, is introverted.
Poses like backbends are more extroverted (think about the body opening and expanding, versus folding in). Their cooling, calming effect, complements the sometimes chaotic pace of modern life where we're often responsible to attain to things outside of ourselves like family, work, and home space, to name a few.
3. Calm Down: Anxiety relief
Forward folds calm you down. They are cooling, reduce anxiety, and have a calming effect on the mind. If you ever feel stressed out or anxiety is getting the best of you on a given day, give yourself even 1-minute to relax into a forward fold, and you may feel a welcome reset.
Your nervous system gets a soothing effect from a forward fold. Remember to take deep breaths while practicing these bends to combat anxiety and create space for more calm.
4. Relieves Back Pain
Back pain in the lower back is often caused by tightness in the hamstrings. Opening both your legs, and your back, in these yoga poses has double the effect in preventing and alleviating back pain. Even one forward fold per day, can make a massive difference in healing your back pain.
If you suffer from back pain, be sure to keep your legs engaged and strong while performing a forward fold, to most effectively release your hamstrings and lower back. If you feel tight in your legs and lower back, be patient, go slow, and use props, like blocks, to support you as your body is ready to open into these shapes.
5. Healthier Organs
Various standing forward folds are partial inversions (seated ones generally are not). These are postures where the head and heart are in a position lower than the hips. Going upside down and reversing the flow of gravity on your most vital organs, gives them an energetic flush and can increase their vitality. The heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, and intestines all benefit, from having gravity reversed on them, via an inversion.
The simple forward fold, Uttanasana, is a perfect pose to take 5 breaths in, and give your organs a boost in their efficiency. To emphasize this benefit more than the effect on your legs and take a more passive approach, bend your knees for a ragdoll expression of a forward fold.
6. Throat and Neck
Neck pain is becoming more common in the age of computers, driving, and texting. Relaxing your head and neck in forward bends, creates space in the neck and brings it back into optimal alignment. Putting your body upside down, gives your head and neck a chance to lengthen and unwind.
7. Patience
Progress in forward folds, takes time. Sometimes a very long time!
If you feel like you've been practicing yoga for years and can barely touch your toes without struggling, you are not alone. Your body opens at the pace it wants to. Forward folds teach us to be patient, and enjoy the journey. Breathe, be patient, and relax more into postures, instead of trying to force yourself. Being patient can make life more enjoyable, so yoga's a good place to start practicing this trait.
8. Getting Comfortable in Discomfort
The lessons from practicing yoga poses, are often fitting metaphors for life. Forward folds are not always the most comfortable poses, but reap tremendous benefits.
Sometimes to grow in life, we need to make ourselves uncomfortable. Sometimes, scary things like a new job, a new relationship, a big move, or anything else that puts us outside of our comfort zone, can feel unwelcome at first, but end up being the best things we could have done.
Getting uncomfortable and leaning into the unknown in life, is sometimes a recipe for change, adventure, and progress. Same with spending 10 breaths in a deep forward fold that doesn't exactly feel comfortable. It might not always be easy, but you may discover new things about yourself in the process that have true value.
9. Reduces Wrinkles
Inversions reduce wrinkles in your face by reversing the flow of gravity. While your skin is technically an organ and related to benefit #5, this benefit is so good, it deserves it's own category. Since forward folds are partial inversions, spending time with your head upside down, is your fountain of youth and will keep you looking younger.
Whichever of these benefits excites you the most, know that even one forward fold per day has the potential to create positive change in your life. Find out for yourself, and practice yoga for your legs, hips, spine, and mental health.
Keith is a teacher on YogaDownload.com and teaches yoga internationally. Connect with him by practicing his yoga and meditation classes on YogaDownload, or connecting with him on Instagram or his website.
Practice forward folds and hip openers right now with Keith!
Hip Opening Heaven with Keith Allen
In yoga practice, as in life, it’s vital to create a healthy foundation if you want to be strong.
Without a fortified and solid base, it’s impossible to progress to higher levels. Consider if a skyscraper or even a two-story building is built without properly preparing the soil beneath it: any shift in the earth, excess of rain, or other changes can cause the structure to collapse.
Just like an architect plans a safe, strong building that will withstand the test of time, yogis need to create strong bodies, resistant to injury, from the ground up. A good yoga instructor will teach standing yoga poses beginning with the position of the feet and legs. Without the feet in proper alignment, the knees can be stressed, the pelvis misaligned and the spine compromised. Standing poses are excellent for creating strong flexible legs and creating the proper balance of stability and mobility in the hips and pelvis.
Beyond the observable physical benefits of more powerful muscles, stronger bones, and healthy joints, yoga benefits the subtle body, or the blueprint of our physical body. Seven main chakras, part of the Nadis or energy channels running throughout our system, are located along the spine. Focusing on the lower body benefits the Root or Muladhara Chakra.
Located at the base of the spine, Mulahdhara is associated with the element of earth and satisfying the basic needs such as food, shelter, safety, family––survival. If basic needs aren’t handled first, it's easy to remain stuck in a pattern of simply surviving, as opposed to progressing and elevating yourself to your highest potential.
How can you worry about enlightenment when you don’t know where your next meal is coming from or where you’ll sleep tonight?
Strengthening your legs and hips has the corresponding benefit of creating a strong, balanced root chakra. Letting go of stress and tension tied to your lower body will not just increase your physical strength, but will also help you resolve unresolved emotional issues.
Try one or all of this week’s classes and flow into your most powerful self.
1. Dana Hanizeski - Iyengar Yoga: Deep Release for the Hips and Legs
2. Becca Riopelle - Legs for Days
3. Christen Bakken - Hanuman: Leap of Faith
4. Ellen Kaye - Align & Flow: Hanuman Flow
These type of cakes are often called vegan cheesecakes, or you can call them simply strawberry cakes, because that’s what they are.
The preparation of this vegan cake is relatively simple, but you need to be patient because you need to wait for the cashews to soak and then the cake to set. You also need a very good blender to get the consistency nice and smooth. Once you have the cake ready, you can just keep this in the freezer and thaw it whenever you have unexpected guests or merely overwhelming feeling that you want something sweet. And as far as the sweets go – for the cake it is healthy too!
Vegan Summer Strawberry Cheese Cake
Serves: 6 people
Cooking time: 20 minutes active time + chilling
For the base:
3.5 oz almonds
3.5 oz prunes
For the filling:
7 oz cashews
7 oz fresh strawberries
2 oz cacao butter
1 oz agave syrup
Fresh strawberries, to serve
Start the recipe by soaking the cashews the night before. If you are in a hurry, use hot water and soak them for at least 30 minutes.
For the base, crush the almonds. It is simple to do with the stick blender. Then add prunes and pulse a few more times until you have a coarse crumb.
Push the mixture to the bottom of one larger or 6 small tins and set aside for now.
Melt the cocoa butter with agave syrup. On a warm day, the sun might be enough to melt them. If not hot enough, heat them on low heat.
Crush the strawberries in a blender. Drain the cashews, add them to the blender and add them to the blender with melted cacao butter and agave. Blend until you get a very smooth consistency.
Pour over the base and let set in the freezer for at least 4 hours.
Before serving, let the cakes slightly melt and serve with fresh strawberries.
Enjoy some yoga before or after enjoying these delicious strawberry cakes!
I remember the days when I was working in an office for 40+ hours per week. I would be completely exhausted in the evening, and know I needed a good night’s sleep so I could rock at life the next day.
Since I felt too tired for evening activities much of the time, I would pop on some Netflix and binge out on my favorite TV shows, which would lure me in, and the next thing I knew it was 1 AM when I needed to wake up at 6!
Sound familiar? I’m pretty sure most of us have been there.
Well I’ve got to tell you what I've discovered through many of my own struggle days. My nighttime routine makes all the difference!
Think about it. At night, after work, how do you usually feel? How do you go to bed in the evenings? What are you doing for the hour leading up to your bedtime?
The more I think about it, the more I think we're really just grown up babies. We work well with a routine and a regular bedtime.
Babies can't just go straight to bed and be expected to go to sleep. Just imagine if you gave a baby a screen and said, "Go to sleep when you're done watching YouTube okay?" What a nightmare that would be! That baby would never go to sleep, and would be very cranky the next day.
Since we're like grown up babies, I guess that means we need to be bathed before bed, and lulled to sleep by a bedtime story, lullaby, or something of the sort. Doesn't sound so bad actually.
Come to think of it, I do like to bathe before bed, rub myself down with some yummy moisturizer, and then go to sleep with a literal bedtime story (so glad those are back!) Could it be that easy? That we just need to go back to the crib days?
Want to know how to simultaneously revert back to an infant, while parenting yourself beautifully? I thought so!
I recommend starting in your journal.
Write down all the things you could choose to do during your nighttime routine that would set you up for success the next morning. I'll give you a list of ideas, and you can pull from the ones that resonate with you the most. Perhaps you want to start with one thing that appeals to you first, and go from there.
Come up with a consistent time for your evening routine
You can shape your evening routine in many ways, but for some, the consistency of performing their evening tasks at the same time each night is the most important thing. What time would you like to start in order to maximize results? No worries if scheduling isn't your jam, just come up with a game plan that feels comfortable for you.
Make your morning life smooth & easy
Some ideas:
Lay out the clothes you’d like to wear
Pack your bag
Prepare what you’ll eat or drink for breakfast and/or lunch
Schedule in priorities (perhaps 3 goals for tomorrow)
Plan your self care for the morning
How can I make tomorrow morning the most pleasant and inspirational experience for me?
Be still, meditate, and breathe. Map your plan the night before, and queue up guided meditation, music, or bath oils. Exercise is always an excellent plan for self care. A nice shower, self massage, affirmations, free form journaling, and diffusing essential oils are also ideas.
Bedtime Journaling
Journal in the evening. Write down 3 ways you made a positive impact today or 3 things you’re grateful for.
You could also visualize and write how you’d like tomorrow to go. You can go down to the tiniest detail. What will you wear? What will happen? Who will you meet? Where? How will you feel? What will you eat? How will it taste? How will you celebrate your victories?
Winding Down
Here’s where you prepare your body and mind to have the most restful sleep. Do something relaxing like taking bath or drinking tea. You can also diffuse your favorite nighttime oil, light a candle, or do some yin yoga. Meditation is also an excellent wind down ritual and can help you have better sleep.
I’ll give you an idea of what my evenings look like:
At around 8 or 9:00 I start to think about tomorrow.
I put my 3 top priorities for the following day in my calendar.
I meditate and write down a free flow of grateful moments.
If I’m on top of it, I’ll lay out my clothes and pack my bag.
I’ll decide what I’ll eat for breakfast the next day and make sure I’m prepared for it.
I do some gentle stretches while reviewing what went awesomely about today.
After all that, I pop some lavender oil in my diffuser, turn on my sleepy time meditation and prepare to dance with the stars. I’m ready to hit the hay and am super excited to wake up in the morning with a fresh sense of inspiration and purpose.
I notice a night and day difference when I take the time to do my evening routine.
It’s like I wake up a different person, without the stress and ready for a smooth sailing kind of day. In the end, you are the one who knows best what you need. Trust yourself and remember that you deserve to have sweet dreams and happy mornings.
Your Soul Therapist,
Dia Michelle Smith
If you feel like you could use a revamp on your evening (or morning) rituals and want some support and guidance toward your inner inspiration you can schedule a free consultation with Dia!
Treat yourself to meditation with Dia or some evening yoga!
Yin Yang for Inspiration
Embracing Impermanence: A Death Meditation
Decluttering and adopting a minimalist lifestyle is a great way to bring calm into your life. However, deciding to become more minimalist is a lot easier than actually doing it!
It’s not as easy as simply decluttering - minimalism is a lifestyle change that can affect all aspects of your life.
Here’s our top tips to start on the minimalism trend. Have fun with exploring these. Remember, there is no correct way to be a minimalist. It will look different for everyone, so be open in finding the lifestyle adjustments that work best for you.
Get clear on why you want to be a minimalist
Make a list of all the reasons why you want to become minimalist. This can be anything - not just decluttering. Perhaps you want more free time to spend with your loved ones, or you want less stress as it’s starting to affect your health. Put it all down on a paper list, even the more outlandish and out there reasons. This will be your motivation when you’re finding things hard, or want to stop. This list will help you remember the things that are important to you.
First step to declutter: one of each thing only
The first step to declutter is to get rid of anything in your home that is duplicated. You don’t need two of the same things! This goes for books, kitchen equipment- literally anything in your house that there is more than one of. Put all the additional items in a box hidden away - if you haven’t had to go back and retrieve anything for over a month, you can get rid of it.
Introduce clutter free zones.
One area at a time, choose a zone that will be your clutter-free zone. This can be any area - your bedside table, a dresser drawer, or your kitchen table. Try to keep it clutter free at all times. It will become easier as time goes on, and you can introduce more and more zones, until an entire room is clutter free - next will be your entire home!
Travel light
On your next vacation, try to adopt the minimalist lifestyle. Pack your bag usually, then try to take out half of the things. A good way to do this is to pack for half the time that you are going away for. Remember that you can wash your clothes if you need to when you run out of things to wear. It will feel great to carry a smaller bag.
Try a capsule wardrobe
Try to declutter your wardrobe by trialling a capsule wardrobe. A good way to adopt this is to try to dress with only 3 items for 3 months. This includes clothes, shoes and jewellery, so it can be hard if you’ve got an overflowing wardrobe full of different outfits. However, scaling down your outfit choices can actually make your life easier, and you’ll find you have more time in the morning with less options to choose from.
Meal plan
Setting a meal plan is a great way to take the stress out of deciding what to eat last minute, and walking around the supermarket feeling overwhelmed by options. Set a meal plan, and try to limit it to a few choices that you can alternate by day and meal. This makes planning your food much simpler, and you’ll find you have more time to focus on other aspects of your life.
Cut down on TV
As well as being a good distraction from other things in our life, watching too much TV can actually encourage you to buy more - through advertising between programs. Try to cut down on how much time you spend in front of the screen. The average person can spend up to 24 hours a week watching TV - that’s a whole day! Try to limit yourself to an hour or two a day in the evenings. Watch shows that you actually want to watch rather than just sitting and watching anything!
Replace instead of add
Try to only purchase new items if you’re replacing something that’s too old or broken to use anymore. This will help you in maintaining a minimalist lifestyle, and to keep your possessions down. Think about everything you own that you’ve only used or worn a couple of times, and other things you could have done with that money when you are tempted to splurge on new possessions. By only replacing broken things, you’ll get use out of the things you own, rather than them gathering dust.
Buy experiences instead of things
Try to spend your money on experiences that will enrich your life, rather than physical possessions. This could be holidays, nice dinners, anything that you can spend your money on that will make you feel good, without adding clutter to your home. This is also a good mindset to have when purchasing gifts for people - what experiences could you give them instead of things?
Yoga is also an excellent minimalist experience, as all it requires if your body and your breath. Taking some time to practice yoga is a great way to appreciate the things you have, and not think about what you want. If you're in the Northern Hemisphere and it's peak summertime, life might feel more energetic and social, and we hope you're enjoying it! Use this week's classes to find balance and ground, take time to reset, and restore yourself. If it's mid-winter for you in the Southern Hemisphere, embrace this more introverted and restful time of year. Treat yourself to less to accomplish, more rest, and lighter yoga practices.
Add yoga meditation to your life to also de-clutter your mind and body, in your pursuit living more minimally and aware.
Tranform Tension into Vitality with Geenie Celento
Slow Yoga Reset with Jackie Casal Mahrou
It’s universally acknowledged, that life feels too busy these days. While technology, growth, and progress are the way of the world, the acceleration of the daily pace of life can be exhausting. Between work, family, and fun, we’re often juggling a zillion tasks a day in order to “get it all done” or check off the boxes on our to-do lists.
Slow down for a moment and see how you feel right now. Are you peaceful, joyous, and focused or frazzled?
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra1.2, Citta Vritti Nirodha, is the premise around which the entire Yoga Sutras are built. Yoga is all about calming the fluctuations of the mind or about learning to direct your attention where you want it to go. In our daily life, if we are slaves to the cult of “busy,” we’re at the mercy of distractions and lack of focus.
Stepping onto your yoga mat is the first phase of eliminating distractions and slowing down those crazy thoughts careening around in your head. When you can slow down and leave the rest of the day behind for even a little while, you’re refilling your well and soothing your nervous system.
Depending upon where you live, you’re probably experiencing a different level of speed. If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere and school’s out for summer, life might feel more energetic and social. Slowing down for your yoga practice will help you reset and restore and enjoy the longer days.
If you’re on the other side of the world, hunkered down for winter, your days are shorter and the evenings are longer. A slow practice complements this more internally focused time of year and aligns how you are feeling with the season.
Regardless of where you are, your yoga practice can create balance.
This week’s classes will help you focus on what’s important to you and refresh your state of mind.
1. Elise Fabricant - Therapeutic Ball Rolling
2. Jackie Casal Mahrou - Slow Yoga Reset (FREE class)
3. Shy Sayar - Water Flow Yoga
4. Caitlin Rose Keney - Yin Yoga for Stress Relief
We love a fresh start. Any chance we can get to clear out the old and bring in the new is an opportunity to celebrate. After all, that’s what cleansing is all about, isn’t it?
Recently I’ve found myself organizing and refreshing just about everything I can get my hands on…all my tax receipts are all in order (hooray!), my kitchen knives are all sharpened, I’ve donated a large box of toys and books that my kids are no longer interested in, I bought a bunch of new bins and have taken charge of a messy closet…and let me tell you, it feels good! Really good!
Can you relate?
This year things have been different and I’m 100% certain it’s because I gave myself the gift of doing a 10-day juice cleanse. Before I go on, let me pause and say that drinking fresh pressed green juice for ten straight days is not for everybody, but I’ve been living the Conscious Cleanse lifestyle for nearly a decade, and to me this was a lovely way to truly nourishing myself. It wasn’t easy but it did remind me just how powerful I am, especially when I fully commit and set my mind to something.
So it got me thinking that it’s the small choices we make every day that shape our lives and make a difference when it comes to our health! Ultimately that is what we hope to teach in our 14-day whole foods cleanse – to teach people the basics about eating fresh, nutritious, life-affirming foods and less of the junk (insert caffeine, alcohol, sugar, gluten, etc) that slows us down.
So in case you’re having trouble revving your engine, consider that it’s not all or nothing and instead of swearing off all the bad crap in one fell swoop (which usually doesn’t work), try simply adding in one or two healthy things.
Need some ideas?
My tried and true favorites to get the fresh start feeling today are:
1. Start the day with warm lemon water.
2. Drink more water…ideally your body weight in ounces.
3. Drink a green smoothie.
4. Do 1-2 days of Conscious Purification (read more in our book on page 113) consuming only fruits and veggies.
5. Try a fresh pressed green juice (try my new favorite recipe below). Don’t have a juicer? Don’t worry! Fortunately there are juice bars popping up all over, so find one near you at the Pressed Juice Directory. Just be sure what you’re buying and drinking is 100% all organic.
With love and fresh starts,
Fresh Start Green Juice
Yields: 1 quart
1 head celery 6 stalks kale ½ bunch parsley ½ cucumber 1 lemon, peeled 1 (3-in.) piece of ginger 1 pear or few drops of Stevia for sweetness
Directions:
In a juicer, combine celery, kale, parsley, cucumber, lemon, ginger and pear or Stevia for sweetness. Pour into a large glass and enjoy!
Want some yoga to complement your juice for a fresh start to your morning? Try the Rise and Shine Morning Yoga program!
It’s been studied that meditation helps improve well-being physically, mentally, and emotionally. For me, it feels like meditating connects me to the parts of myself that are powerful and clear, and lessens the parts of myself more prone to struggle.
However to get the benefits of meditation, one must actually mediate.
The form, format, duration of one’s meditation is less important, than the action and consistency of actually meditating. You don’t have to be on a certain cushion, or in a certain place at a specific time of day, to make this practice a consistent and powerful part of your life.
Unfortunately, many don’t meditate because of a lack of time, or not having enough alone time. Luckily, you can meditate more easily than you might think in some unexpected or public places. Oftentimes, you can do it discreetly without anyone noticing!
While certain places may be easier to meditate in than others, it’s very possible to drop into a powerful meditation in the park, on an airplane, or sitting in a waiting room. Don’t let your location stop you from fitting even a few minutes of meditation into your day! The tips below will help you learn how meditate more, regardless of where you are.
Here are 6 tips to get good at meditating anywhere (particularly in public)!
1. Sunglasses
If you do not want people noticing you meditating, sunglasses are your best friend. These can make meditating on a park bench or train, simply make it seem like you’re just sitting there or thinking. If you’re sitting in a public place, with sunglasses on, people usually cannot see your eyes, and have no idea they are closed.
Sunglasses can also feel like your security blanket and allow you to go deeper into your meditation, without having to worry that you’re standing out or concerned that you’re being judged (although anyone who judges someone for quietly meditating, is missing out, in my humble opinion). Still, sunglasses take other people’s input and energy out of the equation of your personal meditation journey. Also, upon opening your eyes after a powerful meditation session and re-entering the public space you’re in, sunglasses make the transition a little gentler.
2. Headphones
Headphones can make the biggest difference from being focused on the outer world versus tuning inwards toward a meditative state. Sometimes, the moment you have to meditate is in a loud place. Overhearing construction noises, someone’s conversation about what they ate for lunch, or a baby crying, can make it incredibly difficult to find your inner zen. Ambient music is my go to, and takes me from my sometimes chaotic surroundings, to a place of internal peace.
There’s also an abundance of apps and guided meditations to choose from, that you can access with headphones. My favorite combo to get into the zone in a public place is combining tip 1 (sunglasses) with tip 2 (headphones).
3. Remember that Even 5 minutes of Meditation is Powerful
Sometimes we have moments to meditate out in the world, that may be briefer than we think are worthwhile. Remember, even 3 deeps breaths or 5 minutes of meditation, can make a massive difference in your day! If you only have a few spare moments, it’s still beneficial to meditate.
For many, meditating consistently for a few minutes (or even seconds) per day, is more powerful in the long run, than practicing meditation once every month for several hours. It’s making meditation a regular part of your life that matters, so remember, the effort to meditate, is worthy, even if it’s not for as long as you’d like.
4. Public Transportation is a Perfect Meditation Opportunity
Often when we’re on the go on buses, trains, or planes, we spend time listening to music or reading. All too often, this time is spent mindlessly looking at our phones or doing nothing. Meditating during travel time, can turn your commute into the most potent and transformative part of your day.
On trains or buses, having a general idea of how far away your stop is can help you relax and drop in without worrying you’ll miss where you need to get off! Using headphones (and sunglasses) here can also make your meditation discreet and focused. I’ve meditated a lot on New York City subways and love to meditate flying on planes, during times I might otherwise just be sitting here.
5. Keep Touch With Your Belongings
In busier spaces or on public transportation, you’ll be able to relax more into your meditation if you’re physically touching your stuff and don’t have to worry about theft. The main reason for this tip, is the security of knowing your belongings are safe, which allows for a deeper meditation, free from worry and not on high alert!
Crime rates vary drastically around the world, but if you’re in a place that you’re visibly meditating, you’ll want to be sure to keep tabs on your backpack or belongings. You don’t have to hold tight, as even having your bag against your leg will allow you to feel if anyone tried to take it. Luckily, I’ve never had to come out of meditating in a public space because of theft, but again, it’s the ability to relax for a nice meditation session, that is the benefit of this tip.
6. Care Less What Others Think
Simply letting go of insecurity about another person seeing your meditating, is sometimes all you need to feel comfortable enough to calmly meditate in a place you may be visible to others. There is nothing to feel bad about for meditating, and not giving energy to worrying about what others think is liberating (whether in this instance or in general in life).
While sunglasses are useful in making yourself discreet, there’s nothing wrong with visibly and shamelessly meditating. For some, it’s harder to drop in knowing others can see them, but I’ve gotten more comfortable over the years, meditating on beaches or on planes when it’s possible others can see me. Caring less, allows for deeper meditation, which allows for more amazing benefits of meditation. Furthermore, meditating openly might inspire someone else to do the same when they feel like it.
Of course, some places and moments in time are more suited for meditation than others. You might have your favorite meditation spot, that gets you into the zone. That said, be flexible on where this powerful practice can transpire and use these 6 tips to meditate more, regardless of where you are!
Practice meditation with Keith now, from anywhere!
Meditate & Cultivate Calm
Manifestation & Visualization Meditation
Yoga has been said to have a wealth of health benefits, one of which is it’s detoxifying ability. But can yoga really help you to detox your body, through twisting poses and deep breathing?
The answer is yes - but not alone. Your body already has its own detoxification system running and in place, and practicing yoga can only help this along. However there are some myths the come along with talking about yoga and detoxing, but here’s how yoga practice actually aid detoxification.
As with all physical exercise, yoga will help the body’s natural detoxing systems function the way they’re supposed to.
These natural detoxing systems consist of the body’s lymphatic system and blood flow, and digestive organs. The lymphatic system and blood floor work to continually deliver waste products to the liver, kidneys, and other digestive organs. This waste and other toxins that your body absorbs, such as air pollution, then gets filtered and eliminated through bodily functions such as urine, sweat, waste and breathing out.
It’s believed that yoga twists aid in your body’s natural detoxification process. This belief began with the foundation of Iyengar Yoga, which teaches that twisting poses create a squeeze and soak action - in that when you compress your organs in a twist, you squeeze out waste, and when you release the twist, fresh blood flow is delivered to your organs, kind of like wringing out an old dirty washcloth and refreshing it with clean water. This idea can also be applied to how the spine reacts to yoga twists. Your spine is made up of vertebral twists, and over time, gravity and old age compress these disks, causing them to lose their moisture. Twists will increase circulation to the vertebrae, making your spine healthy.
The Iyengar concept of the squeeze and soak, is an easy way to explain the way twists stimulate our organs. When these organs are stimulated, this kick starts our natural detoxing process, metabolism and rate of excretion.
Twists also do stimulate our circulatory systems, releasing tension in the spine abdomen, and ribcage. They also allow us to sweat - another natural detoxing function.
Creating heat is another technique used in yoga to aid detoxification. Sweating is the body’s second detox system that backs up our organs. Whenever the liver and kidneys are unable to filter out toxins, they are stored in fat cells. However sweating helps to release toxins - a study found that sweat contains heavy metals like lead, mercury and arsenic. This isn’t to say you can just ‘sweat out’ a particularly unhealthy night - anything you consume will still go through the body’s digestive system. Sweating also helps to maintain healthy skin, releasing endorphins and prevent overheating.
These detoxing systems naturally occur in the body, and do not need external stimuli in order to perform properly. However, a regular yoga practice can aid detoxing and allow the system to run more efficiently.
Other things you can do to aid this include, limiting high at odds and alcohol, to maintain a healthy liver; drinking lots of water to aid the digestive tract, limiting chemicals in external products that come into contact with your body, and taking part in regular expertise.
Poses that help detoxification in the body include:
Wide Legged Forward Bend
The folding motion in this pose compresses the belly, which will help move digestion on. This pose also encourages circulation, aiding detoxification.
Revolved Chair Pose
This is a deep twist that aids digestion as is slightly compresses the kidneys, liver and spleen - key organs which filter out toxins. This pose also stimulates the heart and improves circulation.
Three Legged Downward Dog
This is also a great pose to aid detoxification. As you hold your head below your heart, and lift your leg up in the air, blood is encouraged to circulate throughout your body. This pose is also great for a mental detox, as it releases stress.
Revolved Triangle Pose
This pose stretches out and opens the chest, lungs and shoulders, helping to increase lung capacity. The revolved motions stimulated your digestive organs and circulation too.
Half Lord of the Fishes (Seated Spinal Twist)
Finally, a traditional spinal twist. which will help to massage your internal organs, encouraging them to filter out toxins.
If you’re on the detox train, and are looking for further ways to aid your body’s natural detoxifying process, cutting out alcohol is one of the easiest ways to help your body detox. Over 90% of alcohol is metabolised in your liver, and when you drink excessively, this can have an adverse effect on the organ - limiting it’s capability to filter out toxins.
Getting a better night’s sleep can also help, as while you’re asleep your body works to remove toxins. If you have less sleep, your body has less time to perform these functions. Seven to nine hours a night of sleep will help your body to detox.
Drinking lots of water will also speed up the removal of filtered waste from your body.
Want to kickstart your detox process with yoga? This week's classes focus on twists, and will have you wringing yourself out from the inside first, and have you rejuvenated to start anew.
Practice the Yoga for Detox, Cleansing, & Vitality program to kickstart your body's cleansing systems and enjoy twists!
When you’re feeling heavy, congested, or blocked, nothing helps you rejuvenate as quickly as a few cleansing yoga twists.
How can simple yoga postures help you clear your mind and get your digestion and circulation flowing? Twists help restore and maintain your spine’s range of motion, improve flexibility and mobility, and encourage your liver and kidneys to work at their optimum levels. All of these benefits combine to help you clear out what you no longer need and create space for what you do want.
Physically, our spines are designed to work in three different ranges of motion: front to back (sagittal plane), side to side (lateral plane), and rotation (transverse plane.) The odds are you don’t do a lot of twisting throughout the course of your day. Ignoring this vital spinal movement can lead to imbalances in your muscles and connective tissues and create back pain and general stiffness and loss of range of motion of your spine. Twisting more frequently encourages a healthy spine, supple muscles, and massages internal organs.
Twisting is an important component in preventing back pain because it helps lengthen the muscles and connective tissues surrounding the spine, which keep the joints mobile and healthy. Twists come in all types of varieties and sometimes more gentle versions are appropriate for those who have experienced back pain while more advanced versions are great for those with normal spinal rotation. Regardless of what type of twists you practice, you can reap the benefits of a healthier spine.
When we twist, our organs are compressed and when we unwind, we’re encouraging fresh oxygenated blood to flow more freely. So although it may not be accurate to say twisting detoxifies your system, it definitely aids in the process. Twisting feels invigorating and wakes up every cell in your body. When we feel these benefits, it impacts our mindset and emotions too. Twist can wring out stagnation, and calm your anxiety. More than seventy percent of your immune system is in your gut, so keeping it healthy and flowing is key to vibrant health.
How we feel physically is intrinsically woven into how we feel mentally and emotionally.
A well-rounded yoga practice emphasizing twists will leave you feeling refreshed, rejuvenated, and ready to go! Try this week’s classes and see just how invigorated you feel on every level.
1. Keith Allen: Twist & Flow
2. Elise Fabricant: Yoga for Better Digestion
3. Celest Pereira: Twist it Out Detox Flow
4. Rob Loud: Twists & Binds