Yoga, Health, and Wellness Articles + Recipes

So with this New Moon, New Season, New Astrological calendar and a Solar Eclipse upon us, I have to say that EPIC TRANSITIONS is the only theme that can encapsulate this week. I’m offering up this blog a few days early so you can all buckle up and get ready. This is a big one!

This topic is near and dear to my heart because I am a long-time sugar addict.

A lot has been happening on this side of the screen and honestly, I’ve had to have a lot of patience with myself while I traverse, once again, into some new skin.

We have had freezing cold, snowy weather in Boulder this last week and nothing warms the soul like a big bowl of soup. Which brings me to today’s recipe – Thai Coconut Soup.

Spring is almost here. The grass is getting greener, the days longer and brighter and the weather is getting warmer. This change in season is the perfect time to reawaken and rejuvenate from a long winter of hibernating indoors. This is a perfect time to bring back freshness into every aspect of your life. So let's spring it on to a better way of living by clearing away all the clutter that no longer serves you and cleaning house from the inside out.

“Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.”― Pema Chödrön, The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times

How can we possibly discern what is true for us and beneficial for the evolution of our soul when we are bombarded by life? And by bombarded I don’t mean that we’ve lost control some how. I just mean … sometimes life moves at the speed of light and honestly, we start to move at that speed without knowing it, and that’s not always the best thing.

My family eats a ton of meatballs but frankly they’re all too often of the organic store-bought, pre-cooked variety. Not the best, but easy for a busy working mama in a pinch. For that reason, I’ve wanted to come up with my own homemade version and so this recipe was born.

In this last installment of the Fast & the Flexible series, we have reached the part of the body that brings the majority of people to yoga class, the hips and low back. We will address the glutes as well, but I rarely get a new client who openly complains that their butt hurts, at least not right away.

Travel is one of the hardest times to eat healthy. Your schedule is thrown off and it seems like the food options around you are all fat, salt and sugar. The good news is that better options are available in ways they never have been before. Here are my suggestions for how to keep from tipping the scale when you get home.

When brainstorming about a good recipe to share with you this week, Jo suggested lamb! As the resident vegetarian, I looked at her as if she had six heads and then took a deep breath along with the challenge.

We recently posted a class called "The Power of Our Stories" featuring LIVE music by my ol' man KenK.
 


Valentine’s Day is just a couple of days away so we thought it would be a perfect time to talk about one of our favorite topics: Radical Self Love.

I’ve done a lot of work and training around this word “manifest”. It continues to intrigue me and excite me for sure. I mean it’s such a simple word right? Manifest… “to make clear or evident to the eye or understanding.”

As a yoga teacher, I’d always known of the incredible benefits of yoga for the body, mind, and spirit. Until I was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer, however, I had no idea how much yoga would help me weather the toughest time of my life. I credit teaching and practicing yoga as vital components in my journey back to radiant health.

Imagine, if you will, waking up late, the monday after Thanksgiving, a holiday traditionally dedicated to gluttony. The pants you laid out the night before- you know, the favorite ones?- are suddenly too snug, but being your lucky pants, you have to wear them. They constrict your movement and just don’t feel all that comfortable.

Moving up the leg, this second installment of the Fast & Flexible series focuses on the quads, hamstrings and IT band. These are the muscles of the legs that provide strength and stability. The power plants of the leg, if you will.

We all have dreams. The more I chase my own, the more I find myself listening attentively to others talk about theirs. I often hear: “one day”. “I wish I could”. “My family wouldn’t understand”. “I can’t afford it”. I have been there myself. It seems we feel more secure when we put limitations on ourselves. Yet we are not realizing our full potential. How do you know until you try?

Showing up fully and living your Truth take courage. I renamed Virabadrasna (Warrior) I the Courage Warrior because its physiology is so brilliantly appropriate.

It always amazes me that as soon as the snow starts to melt, runners hit the road. Despite the fact it is 32 degrees with a brisk head wind, I see runners in shirts, no jacket and shorts, dodging remnant snow piles, pot holes and all forms of traffic to get their runs in. You runners are a very motivated bunch and apparently impervious to cold.

Just three simple words, that’s all it takes to seed your life and set it into motion. But what happens is we are bombarded by so much, much more than three little words each day.

Our theme for this week has been “who are you”. Beneath the labels, the job titles, the busyiness, the ambitious attitude, the resolutions, the sweat on your mat … who the hell are you and what do you stand for?

Whew … courage, what a word. I was told by one of my amazing teachers once that the word courage actually radiates the highest vibration when it comes to connecting with the Divine. That blew me away. It is one of the most powerful virtues, she said. Because it creates. It creates the next thing based on your decision to make a decision that best suits your development, if you are present that is.

In our physical body we experience the world. In our body we make love, hug a friend, fidget, get mad, anxious or stressed. In our body we feel a breeze, swim in the ocean, sing, laugh, dance and cry. In our body we repress emotions, hold tension, hate ourselves and love others. Although our body is the vehicle in which our spirit experiences the world, there continues to be ongoing discussion regarding Western yoga as a purely physical practice, or posture (asana) focused. I feel we need the physical practice to build the strength and flexibility to be able to withstand the nuances and complexities that are life.

I’m often asked how I can continue to drink green smoothies when the weather gets cold. This smoothie is my answer.