Yoga, Health, and Wellness Articles + Recipes

This salad was inspired by those gorgeous, colorful Bollywood flicks that offer a feast of singing, dancing, and romance. I love Indian food, as it was my first real introduction to all things curry. Only much later did I learn that turmeric, a typical curry spice that gives curries a yellow tint, has tremendous antitumor and anti-inflammatory properties. And to think, I loved it just for its taste! Here, I was hankering for a swirl of flavors with an Indian feel. The chicken makes a great starting point because it’s full of protein and amenable to all sorts of accessorizing. In this case, the apple and raisins play delightfully off the curry spices.

You may have heard that yoga is the fountain of youth and this week, we invite you to dive in with two well-respected, popular, and lovely instructors, Desiree Rumbaugh and Michelle Marchildon. They have teamed up to create a program designed to encourage you to feel your best at any age. We’re thrilled to introduce a new series of videos and a book, Fearless After Fifty: How to Thrive with Grace, Grit and Yoga.

The most important astrological events of the year occur in August — two eclipses light up the sky and call us to delve into our psyche to reap the rewards of deep spiritual work. Eclipses conceal and reveal what might be otherwise hidden in the shadows. Despite the discomfort usually caused by looking into the psyche, shadow work is a necessary process for catalyzing true and lasting transformation. This August, you are presented with the opportunity to harness the energies of the cosmos, surrender what no longer serves you, and recreate yourself in the light of the newly eclipsed sun.

You can be whomever you want. You can do whatever you dream. You are capable of living a life without limits. There’s a caveat, however: you need to start trusting your inner voice and releasing limiting beliefs and habits.

Who doesn’t love a yummy buddha bowl? Warm, nourishing, versatile, and packed with goodness, one bowl meals are a staple when we’re just not sure what else to cook up for dinner. Plus, they’re a great way to use up any leftover veggies, meats or grains that you have in the fridge.

I spent my first two years of yoga avoiding Warrior III. Then, I spent another year avoiding it. Finally, after avoiding it for an additional 15 years, I’ve made it a mainstay of my practice. What can I say? I guess it takes me a while to warm up to things that expose my weaknesses, knock me off balance, and frustrate my ego. I have to admit, I actually like it now.

Wanna sneak away for a quick, passionate session? Just the two of us, and your yoga mat.

Eggs and vegetables, what a formidable combination! Well, perhaps "formidable" is a strong word, but it's certainly a combination that can't be beaten! As a person that often meal preps her breakfasts for the work week, any combination of eggs and vegetables in my belly leads to me having a better morning. If I eat anything with too much sugar - I've been known to be a bit heavy handed with my overnight oatmeal's maple syrup pours in the past - I definitely feel that quintessential 11 a.m. crash so many folks talk about. A breakfast with eggs and vegetables definitely helps me stay steady and focused until lunchtime. Protein and vital nutrients, for the win!

Harry Potter yoga, goat yoga and now-- aqua yoga? The latest trend in yoga, Aqua Yoga adapts the principles and movements of yoga to a water environment. The water provides buoyancy and will let you concentrate more on strengthening and stretching your body rather than struggling to balance yourself. Practicing yoga in water also relieves joint and bone stress. If you have ever experienced difficulty in holding a yoga pose correctly, you will be surprised by how you can just float into that position under water with grace and ease.

On July 23rd, the new moon in Leo encourages us to take stock of where we can infuse more playful energy into our lives. If we’ve gotten too serious, haven’t taken a break in a while, or have forgotten to smell the roses, use this new moon energy to clear out the “serious” in favor of the “fun.” Commit to finding balance in your life, and release any workaholic tendencies that were illuminated earlier in the month by the Capricorn full moon.

Yoga teachers will tell you that arm balances just might be the most feared or most loved part of class. Why do some people jump, no pun intended, at the chance to take flight on their hands and go upside down while others use the opportunity to sneak out to the bathroom?

One of the primary intentions in yoga is to center your mind and become grounded in the present moment. In our daily lives off of the mat, it’s easy to become mired in the past and controlled by memories, patterns, and fears. Also, in our Western culture, the focus on the future, on doing, on achieving, on getting somewhere or buying something, pulls us out of the now. Yoga teaches us to focus on the present moment.

On a hot, summer day sometimes all you want is a heaping scoop of cold ice cream. You know what I’m talking about. It’s that sweet, creamy goodness that takes you back in time to when you were a carefree kiddo, covered in sunscreen, running around with your best buds looking for trouble. Ice cream is like summertime in a cone. Insert, nice cream. Nice cream has the same dreamy ice cream flavor, but with zero refined sugar, dairy, preservatives, high-fructose corn syrup and gluten. It’s just whole fruit blended with a little plant milk and topped with more goodies.

Mindfulness refers to a state of consciousness characterized by acute awareness of the present moment. The state of mindfulness can help individuals become more aware of their emotions, thoughts and health. Mindfulness originated in Buddhist tradition, but the principles of mindfulness and meditation have been incorporated into modern psychiatric treatment since the 1970s. The state of mindfulness is primarily learned through time spent in meditation. By focusing on breathing and posture, individuals can learn the ability to enter a state of calm observation. This process allows them to gain improved awareness of external stimuli, as well deeper insights into their own feelings. Furthermore, research shows that mindful meditation can help heal damage to the brain caused by substance abuse. Learning more about the benefits of mindful meditation therapy is a huge advantage for those considering addiction treatment.

We all get stuck in a rut from time to time—even yoga teachers. In fact, the question that comes up most frequently in the group of teachers that I mentor is, “How do I keep my practice and teaching fresh?” After all, it’s hard to inspire and connect with your students when you’re feeling stale. The first thing to remember is this: All relationships, vocations, and passions go through different phases. If things feel a little lackluster from time to time it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you or your relationship to yoga. Try not to go crazy if your practice and teaching feel stagnant. Acknowledge and allow the feelings. And when you feel ready try these simple tips for getting back to what matters most.

I absolutely love hummus. The best hummus I ever had was in Istanbul. It was the perfect smooth consistency with just the right combination of lemon and garlic. I'll never be able to top that, so I decided to try a checkpea-less hummus. I used zucchini - mostly because I had a bunch on my countertop, but also because I knew it would blend up well in the food processor. Combined with the lemon, nutritional yeast and tahini, it was a hit at my house as we chowed down while catching up on Suits.

A number of long-time yoga teachers are deciding to stop referring to what they teach as yoga. In the past, the term yoga represented a freedom to explore and discover truths outside western cultural norms. Now that yoga has largely become a western cultural norm, fueled by the advertising prowess of a multi-billion dollar industry and challenged by scholars questioning appropriation, public perception has been shaped in ways that have made the word yoga seem limiting. However, the teachers are the only ones who hold the power to define what they do, not scholars or the industry.

When summer rolls around, yoga practice can fall by the wayside — the longer days mean we spend more time outdoors, we travel, those of us who have kids deal with changing schedules. So, to keep you inspired, Jason and I are doing a six-episode summer podcast series!

The Capricorn full moon on July 9th, presents us with an opportunity for clarity on our career path. It asks us if we merely want a job…or a calling. Passionate Pluto sits directly next to this full moon, inciting the inner questions regarding whether we are truly fulfilled by our work, whether is serves our highest good, and whether it is allowing us to transform or is keeping us small.

“Summer time and the living’s easy” …Sublime’s song Summertime

This morning I really wasn’t planning on making anything overly fancy. If I’m going to be honest I really just imagined myself making a nice bowl of oats and leaving it at that. However, as soon as I turned on last nights recording of Vice (a documentary series that is probably the best thing on TV at the moment) I figured I would be in the kitchen for a while so I may as well mix things up a bit and step away from my usual oats. So instead, I began chopping up some nuts, and fruit and quickly realized that what I was going to end up with was something exciting and created possibly the most delicious breakfast I have ever made!

You might be thinking, you already go to the gym, so why should you include yoga into your exercise routine, isn’t that just for relaxing? Although it is a fantastic way of finding some headspace and letting go of any stress in your body, yoga can dramatically improve your gym workouts. The perfect partner to any type of exercise, whether it’s cardio or weight training, it can boost your performance in the gym and enhance your overall fitness. The word itself actually means ‘union’, so think of yoga as the perfect union between health and fitness.

What does freedom mean to you? Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Does freedom need to be granted to you by a higher power? Or, can we cultivate a sense of freedom from the inside out by shifting our perception, by working to release fear that weighs us down and prevents us from living our life to the fullest?

Students who love Ustrasana praise the pose for the way it opens the shoulders, chest and upper-back. And, they’re right. Ustrasana is hard to beat when it comes to extending the thoracic spine. Students who loathe Ustrasana invariably complain about discomfort in the neck and lower back. They’re also right. It can be tough to do Ustrasana without creating excessive compression in your lower back and neck.

Today’s recipe is cleanse-friendly and can be easily modified to stay within the guidelines of Purification. Simply omit the olives if you want to be a purist–or keep them in and consider them part of what’s easing you off of your Purification.