Yoga, Health, and Wellness Articles + Recipes

One of the things I love most about my mom is that she was never one to follow a recipe. If she didn't have a particular ingredient that a recipe called for, she'd sub for something similar, get creative and put her own little twist on it by adding a completely unrelated ingredient or just skip it. There were definitely some duds in the mix but more often than not, she came up with some awesome dishes.

Roses, chocolates and teddy bears aside, you don't need another person to validate love this Valentine’s Day (though we’ll take the box of chocolates). Today, we challenge you to roll out your mat and write a love letter to yourself. Take fifteen minutes to celebrate everything that makes you whole, even the messy parts. Write them down and see them for what they are: regular human qualities worthy of love. Then, through today’s asana practice, celebrate that self-understanding. Embrace your shaking legs, sweaty mat and experience the fullness of who you are.

I’ve had anxiety since college and have been lucky enough to use therapy as a tool for managing it. As such, I’ve learned a lot about how anxiety manifests in my life and how to recognize as well as soothe it.

In our day-to-day lives, it’s all too easy to get caught up in what others want for us. Well-meaning or not, these “other voices” can stick in your head, and if you’re not careful, you won’t be able to recognize your own, at least not as readily. By now you probably know that yoga is about the process of listening to your wisest self. It starts by hearing our bodies— hearing the knee that is out of alignment, stopping yourself from forcing a joint that just won’t bend that way. But eventually, that act gives way to a deeper listening, one where you can hear your own, deepest wants.

The full moon and lunar eclipse in Leo on February 10th, 2017, is the culmination of the powerful eclipse energy from September of 2016. If you look back over the last five months, surely you see tremendous transformation and shifts to the status quo that come to a peak with this exciting lunar eclipse. Eclipse energy usually lasts for around 6 months, as it’s the reflection of our unconscious and unconscious drives and gives us a chance to reset and renew the emotional contents of the previous six months. This is an opportune time to recalibrate your inner and outer relationships, and make sure that what you put out to the world comes from an authentic place within you, as the effects of this eclipse last through the next eclipse cycle in August.

Let’s face it. Nothing says Super Bowl like chicken wings and cheese dip. But if you want to beat the bloat and the hangover on Monday morning, stick with us. When it comes to healthy Super Bowl snacks, we’ve got you covered!

This sequence focuses on stretching the muscles around the whole circumference of the hip joint. It’s great for relieving tension that can accumulate from long periods of sitting or standing and it’s also incredibly grounding. I like to do it after traveling or just at the end of a long, intense day. Spend 5-10 breaths in each pose (or longer if you’d like) and do both sides before moving to the next pose.

Are you awake? Or, are you going through the motions without really paying attention? Sleepwalking through life? When’s the last time you took the time to assess where your time and energy are flowing? Or not flowing, as the case may be.

Do you know that peaceful feeling you get from being around someone who is calm and isn’t bothered by a thing? Who doesn’t sweat the small stuff? I love me some drama-free people. People who don’t take themselves too seriously, stay calm, don’t freak out, who speak less, reflect more, and use some good ol’ common sense. If you know what I’m taking about, You have experienced the drama free-zone.

What is discipline, really? Discipline is a tricky little devil. Ideally, it can be the fire that gets us on the mat so that we can strip away the illusions and misidentifications that cause us to suffer. As Iyengar explains, “wood must be heated to ignite it and bring out the hidden fire within.” Not so ideally, it can also be a confusing agent of self-hatred and punishment. When we commit ourselves to a disciplined daily practice (and since there is no need to preach to the converted, we know this has benefits) we can also be mistakenly committing ourselves to a desire to achieve aesthetically based fitness goals and an addiction to the ability to perform complicated party-trick asana. When I miss a practice or feel that I’ve just sort of lazily stretched for an hour, a niggle in the back of my mind warns that perhaps I’ll soon slip back into adolescent pudginess and its maelstrom of related emotional entanglements if I don’t step up and get myself back into shape. I have to remember that there is a balance of health to be maintained between body, mind, and heart – which of course are fundamentally intertwined – while on the sometimes difficult and circuitous path of yoga. A path that we hope leads us through a life liberated from cycles of suffering.

A sedentary person also termed a couch potato, is someone that leads a lifestyle with irregular or no physical activity. Couch potato's spend most of their day sitting watching TV, working on a computer, reading or playing video games. Excessive sitting contributes to many chronic health issues including anxiety and preventable causes of death.

You’ve been talking about yoga for years. You’re going to try it. Soon. Tomorrow. Next week. But, you’re too busy, too tired, too inflexible…fill in the blank. Maybe you are scared of yoga—that you won’t be good at it, that everyone will laugh at you in the back of class trying to figure out what in the world is happening.

So this recipe is freaking awesome. I totally don’t mean to toot my own horn here, but I was rather ambivalent when constructing it, and thus my mind was blown when I actually tasted it. Granted, I realize that I could be setting myself up for failure here, as you now have extremely high expectations, and when juxtaposed to my low expectations, who knows where your reaction will end up landing. It doesn’t matter though, because this recipe is yummy no matter your expectations, AND it’s the perfect intro to fall dish, AND it’s super easy, AND it can be sweet or savory. I’m calling this a win.

I’m going to share something straight-up and simple that’s transpiring for me lately. Here goes: As the working mom of a preschooler with a husband who travels constantly, I can say that unequivocally, it’s my practice that keeps me sane and balanced. (Can I get an “Amen!”)

This week we celebrate freedom and the right to live the lives of our dreams. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an incredible inspiration for all of us, as exemplified in his iconic “I have a dream” speech. His courage and bravery to fight for the rights of all people resonates today and for all time.

Known as the “queen” of all yoga postures, Shoulderstand is packed with healing and restorative benefits for your mind, body and spirit.  Shoulderstand is indeed the queen, or mother of asanas. As a mother strives for harmony and balance in the home, this asana strives for harmony and balance in the human system. It can be seen as a panacea for most common ailments. In Sanskrit, Sarva means “all” or “entire” and Anga means “organ” or “body part.” Translated, it means “full body pose” because of all of the many benefits for the entire body.

After logging on to write this post, I was awakened to the very sad reality which is that it has been over 2 months since I have posted anything - I'm terrible, I know. However, I firmly believe that this recipe will cause you all to forgive my lack of dedication of late, due to it being undeniably delicious.

I recently received an e-mail for a personal essays project. I was so excited that I responded with my pitch: “I was thinking about writing about how my anxiety has made me a kinder person. While I can't always control how I feel, It makes me think twice about other people and the struggles they might be going through.” I was so glad when I heard back that I would be able to share my experience, but now comes the tough part, writing this. So here goes nothing.

Full disclaimer: when it comes to the morning, I’m a coffee first kind of guy. Yoga is a close second. But, it’s second nonetheless. It wasn’t always this way, but nothing is permanent. So, if you’re like me and you prefer some liquid inspiration to get yourself on the mat first thing, don’t judge yourself. Once you’re ready, here’s a solid, get-up-and-go practice.

Raw, vegetarian, 80/10/10, paleo, pescetarian- call it what you want, it seems there’s always a new diet to jump on board with that will ‘change your life.’ These innovative ways to eat have revolutionized the way that we live. From sourcing our ingredients locally, choosing organic or abstaining from meat, every day we make a choice about what to put in our bodies regardless of the label.

A yoga retreat provides the perfect health and wellness balance to travel the world, eat delicious food and deepen your yoga practice. 62% of 36 million of American practitioners of all levels have the desire to go on a yoga holiday, reports the 2016 Yoga Journal study.

What does success mean to you? How do you align your values, your intentions, and your priorities to achieve the life of your dreams while being your authentic self? To create success with a yogic mindset, try meditation to clear your mind and allow your deepest dreams and desires to rise to the surface. Rather than focusing on the object of your desire, meditate to quiet the chatter in your mind and surrender to the process of discovering your true intentions and dreams. Are they personal? professional? health-related? We’re all different and at any given time, certain areas of our life shift to the forefront.

For many years, the practice of yoga was learned by dedicated students taught by their guru. Students learned yoga from one teacher or lineage and then either taught those same teachings or continued to study and live life. Today, when we read texts about how to learn yoga, you will always find a statement about the importance of finding a teacher. Presented as fact, this statement leads aspiring yoga practitioners to believe they indeed need to find their “guru.” An ideal of the guru is romanticized and categorized in the minds of many as an “if-then” statement — if I find a guru, then I will become enlightened. The problem with this dichotomy is that the student becomes disempowered by the notion that she can never find success on her own. Students are unable to progress in the true practice of yoga when this idea of the guru guiding practice becomes all-encompassing.

I'm going to take you back to an Italian-American family on the east coast (mine) in the 1980s…those were the days when carbs where king and fat was the enemy. What did we eat back in those days? Do you remember the nation’s obsession with Snackwells and pasta? Well, we ate lots and lots of pasta.

Question for you: Do you have any healthy habits you are trying to create this year? Or maybe some you would rather not have by the end of the year? (Like eating an entire jar of almond butter because you forgot to eat lunch or just... because?)