Yoga, Health, and Wellness Articles + Recipes

The holiday season brings with it all sorts of fun and good times, but it's also important to rest yourself for the year ahead. This time of year is always fun and exciting, but it can sometimes be hard to switch off and relax when so much is happening. But it’s important to take some time out to rest in preparation for the year ahead. Over the holidays, there are always plenty of parties and people to catch up with while you take time away from work. But it’s also a time to step back and unwind, which can be hard to do if you find it difficult to switch off. Here are our top tips to take some time to rest over the holidays...

“The holiday season is a perfect time to reflect on our blessings and seek out ways to make life better for those around us.” –Anonymous No matter what holiday(s) you’re celebrating this December, this time of year can stir up mixed feelings and create stress and tension. It’s the perfect time to step back and reflect on all you appreciate in your life and spread some joy to the people around you. We know it’s busy, busy, busy, but it’s even more important to refill your well to manage the hectic pace. If you love this time of year, perhaps you’re going to parties and indulging in tons of sugar and cocktails. If you’re not a big fan of the holidays, perhaps heavy emotions are weighing you down. Either way, you may miss your regular sessions on the mat.

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new” -Socrates How about a little ancient Greek philosophy to start manifesting change and creating the life you desire? If you’re ready to leave 2022 in the rear view mirror and start 2023 with a powerful foundation, we’ve got the perfect solution for you. Our New Beginnings–January 23 Day Yoga Challenge is designed to assist you on your path for your best year ever. December is a busy month with holidays and end-of-the-year deadlines but it’s not too busy to begin mentally preparing to launch your 2023. In fact, it’s a great time to tap into your intentions for the future. In order to move forward, it’s vital to release what’s weighing you down, so you’re free to create your ideal life. Carve out a little time and journal about this year to clarify what worked and what did not. Plant the seeds for your future by focusing on gratitude.

If you work as a manager, firefighter, nurse, police officer, or anything that is fast-paced and comes with high stakes, then you know what it is like to have a stressful job. While you may be honored to have your career and know that you are making a difference, it can still be hard to wake up every day and face another tough shift. Instead of turning to unhealthy behaviors to put your mind at ease, you should consider practicing yoga. Yoga is a great way to settle your mind and get the exercise that you need to take on each new day with gusto. To help you out, we will talk about the effects of stress at work and why you need to make a change today.

Much like for a balanced diet you need a range of different foods and vitamins, for a healthy exercise regime you should try and add variety in what you do to workout. Yoga has many benefits and is a great practice for your overall health, but it can be easy to forget the many other exercise options out there. You may want something more intense, with a higher calorie burn and work up a sweat, or maybe you’re just looking to change it up and do something that feels different from yoga. Here are our top fitness activities that will be able to provide you with anything you feel you’re not getting from yoga - as well as help you hone down your skills on the mat and make progress.

Everybody likes cookies, right? A perfect small treat to enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee. Here is a super simple and quick recipe using only the ingredients you probably already have in your pantry. The cookies will be extremely short and crumbly, so they are perfect for enjoying at home and do not like to be transported. But in a way, it is a good thing because you just need to enjoy them at home and there are more for you! In fact, don’t let yourself be fooled by the image where the cookies are pictured in a jar – taking them out several crumbled, so I recommend storing them on a flat surface, cookie rack, or a plate. Let’s not fool ourselves, they will be eaten super quickly anyhow, so no need to place them in a jar.

This week, take a deep dive with us into some classes that explore the depths of yoga philosophy and offer inspiration and insight into the yogic path. All yoga is valid and works simultaneously to benefit physically, emotionally, and mentally. Some days a juicy physical practice is what you need, other times you’re seeking a deeper message.

The recipe I share with you is an Estonian classic. Well, almost. Traditionally it is cooked with a lot of fatty pork, but my version is completely vegan. Also, the potatoes and carrots are not traditionally added here, but rather served as a side. I wasn't planning to cook this recipe, but a fridge clean-out soup, but while cooking, it got way too thick. Of course, there is always an option to thin out the soup with extra water or stock, but this time I felt halfway through the cook that maybe a stew is a better option. So, a stew type of a thing is what I ended up with and I am most likely going to eat it for a few days in a row now.

“It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.” Alan Cohen Now, we’re not suggesting that by mixing up your yoga and exercise routine you’ll transform your life, but it’s a start! We show up on our yoga mats the way we show up in our daily life. It’s easy to fall into a rut and repeat the same workouts, practice with the same teachers, or walk the same route.

Autumn is a perfect time to enjoy hot meals and a slightly spicy bowl of steaming soup is just a wonderful meal to have right now. So warm and comforting. Loaded with the goodness of fresh vegetables and I also added in some edamame beans to load it with even more protein. I enjoy the texture edamame beans bring to the soup. So good!

Healing takes courage, and we all have courage, even if we have to dig a little to find it. - Tori Amos. Life is a meandering journey filled with highs and lows, twists and turns, and during difficult times, it can feel unbearable. We all experience pain and suffering––it’s inevitable. We also enter this lifetime with Samskaras, or shadows of past pain and suffering. For example, an emotional trauma suffered as a child that was never fully processed can show up as pain in the hips and lower back. Yoga offers a way to deepen your awareness of your subconscious emotions and process them.

Physical healing is often very straight forward, we rest, we take medications, and follow doctors orders. Emotional healing on the other hand, can be a tricky journey that can be hard for many people. People look for emotional healing after all types of trauma, and growing after these types of trauma can be hard, in fact, we might never be the same as we were before.

Do you ever feel like you are losing focus or having trouble thinking clearly? If so, it may be the result of stress and burnout, and these factors can contribute to the condition often referred to as brain fog. This mental fuzziness can be frustrating, especially when your focus needs to be on your life, work, and family. The good news is that you can remedy this issue by staying active and practicing yoga. Today, we will talk a bit about the reality of brain fog and how you can use yoga to clear your mind and get back to life as you know it.

Are you ready to feel passionate about your life, right now? If you’ve been feeling lethargic or in a rut, here are three ways yoga helps you stoke your inner fire. 1. Improve Your Digestion: Yoga and pranayama techniques can literally stimulate your internal organs, which helps your digestive system operate at ideal capacity. In the Heart of Yoga, T.K.V. Desikachar says in order to operate at our optimum levels we need to burn up “the rubbish.” When we focus on working our solar plexus or core, it helps us to digest, assimilate, and eliminate our food efficiently so we feel energized. When our gut is healthy, our prana or life force energy flows freely.

As you know, I love gardening and friends gave me two chili plants for my birthday this year. One of them is the habanero, and I don’t even know what the other is, but it has fruits very similar to the habanero. Surprisingly it turns out that they are both super spicy – so spicy that I ended up cooking 15 times more hot sauce than I intended as the batch started with was so super spicy, I was not able to eat more than a drop. And I love spice! So now my fridge is basically filled with hot sauce and not much of anything else fits in there anymore. I guess my future is spicy. And if somebody invites me to a birthday party, you better believe that the gift is going to be in a nice bottle of hot sauce. For you, I calculated the more reasonable amounts as nobody needs a ton of hot sauce.

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika, a seminal text on yoga, states that “when the breath wanders the mind is unsteady. But, when the breath is calmed, the mind too will be still, and the yogi achieves long life. Therefore, one should learn to control the breath.” The practice of controlling or extending your breath is called Pranayama, one of the eight limbs of yoga. In Sanskrit, the word Pranayama consists of “prana” and “ayama”. “Ayama” means to stretch or extend, and “yama” means to regulate and direct. Prana is life force or energy that consists of the three gunas, or nature’s building blocks.

When you think of yoga, you probably think of exercise, relaxation, and stress relief. These are all good reasons to practice yoga, but there’s another benefit. Yoga can also do wonders for your immune system. So, how does yoga help, and what techniques can you use to bring balance to your system? Let’s talk about the science behind your immune health, and seven powerful yoga poses for boosting your immunity. Yoga Reduces Stress When you’re under stress, the effects aren’t restricted to your mental health. Your physical health also suffers. To date, there are more than 300 peer-reviewed studies that show that prolonged stress reduces your immunity.

Meet my new obsession – the acai (pronounced “ah-sigh-ee”) bowl. As you probably know by now, I’m a HUGE advocate of the green smoothie! I especially praise them as the breakfast of champions for their unwavering ability to deliver a ton of nutritional punch into the first meal of the day. They also keep your digestive system from having to do a ton of work first thing in the morning, essentially allowing the digestive tract more time to rest. More rest means more efficiency, which translates to more of the gunk coming out of the backend. Back to my new obsession.

“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” - Corrie Ten Boom, Clippings from My Notebook Did you realize that fear exists only in the future, not in the present moment? Maybe you’re scared to attempt your first handstand or fear what might happen when your rollercoaster car teeters at the the peak above an enormous hill right before it drops. Perspiration pops up on the back of your neck, butterflies flit around in your belly, your pulse kicks in your veins in the seconds before you do something that scares you. But, when you’re balancing on your hands or screaming and laughing on the ride, you are not afraid. You’re simply experiencing.

Worrying happens to the best of us. We all will endure stresses in our lives, whether it's through work, our personal lives, our relationships, or even just irrational intrusive thoughts. This worry can get into our brains and can make our day-to-day lives and daily tasks that little bit harder. It would be great if there was some kind of off switch we can press to turn off these worries, but stopping or reducing worry is a little bit harder than that. However, there are habits that you can bring into your day-to-day life that can help your worries to slip away, freeing you to focus on the positive and productive things in life. Set Yourself Worry Time

Every summer I organize a few yoga brunches, where I host my friends with a fun yoga class at first and then feed them. These corn pancakes were a part of the brunch table last time and they were a hit. The yoga class part was a fun one too as after around 60 minutes of the class that was planned to be 75 minutes it started pouring, so we needed to cut the savasana (something I have never done before), and instead of enjoying a picnic ate in my living room. Luckily there is nothing that a nice brunch table doesn’t fix, so no harm done. But I still don’t recommend cutting savasana! The fritters are super moist thanks to the fresh corn, crispy (stay crispy too, for a relatively long time), and flavorful from the onion, chili, and coriander. They work wonderfully as part of a brunch table spread, but if you wish you can also serve them as a fancy appetizer plated up on a pretty plate with avocado puree and pico de gallo.

Aparigraha is about non-attachment. This is not a vow to live in poverty, but more of an invitation to be satisfied with what you have and avoid excess and perpetual dissatisfaction. There is abundance in the spirit of Aparigraha. A person with a lot of money who steals from others and is constantly worried about not having enough is not really rich in the truest sense of the word. Yoga teaches us that our greatest satisfaction comes from within. In many modern societies, there is tremendous emphasis on acquiring more and more trappings of excess materialism. Having nice things and living comfortably is wonderful, and Aparigraha isn’t about denying ourselves the nice things in life - but about not becoming greedy.

Do you love celebrating birthdays, anniversaries and other milestones? Marking important occasions with rituals and celebrations is a great way to express gratitude for what’s meaningful in your life. This week, we hope you’ll join us in celebrating 16 years of YogaDownload! We appreciate our global community of yogis, that would be you by the way, and wouldn’t be here today without your consistency and dedication to yoga. One of the ways we’ve distinguished ourselves over the years is by consistently bringing you fresh content every week. As part of our celebration, we are featuring throw-back classes from some long-time YogaDownload teachers who have been with us from the beginning and are still creating new practices for you. The teachers you love and appreciate return to the studio over and over because of you.

All cocktails don't need to be served cold and all tea does not need to be just tea. So you are free to decide if you wish to call this drink a warm cocktail or next-level tea, it is delicious either way. Truth be told, I usually don't like adding anything that contains calories to my drinks. Alcoholic beverages are an exception, but I never drink milk, juice, or lemonade if I am thirsty, and I never add any sweeteners to my hot beverages. But I needed to create a hot cocktail for an event and just serving tea did not cut it, so I experimented a little and am super happy with the result. Rooibos has a nice warmness to its taste, and mango with passionfruit complements it well. At the same time, Aperol, which is a super nice summer drink with sparkling wine, gives it slightly bitter notes and it all balances out to my liking. It is not going to be my go-to drink while reading a book late in the evening, but I am definitely serving it as an aperitif at my next autumn dinner party!

I’ve had Thai food on my mind lately since the weather is cooling off and Thai food adds some extra heat when it’s cold outside. I find the deep flavors in Thai dishes to be so comforting and grounding. I spent time several years ago playing around with Thai-inspired recipes in anticipation of my honeymoon adventures in Thailand. I wanted to create some healthy crave-worthy recipes full of those refreshing, sweet, and zesty flavors.