Yoga, Health, and Wellness Articles + Recipes

Fasting. It’s one word that can ignite a lot of emotions and thoughts in people, and one of them is usually fear. Simply hearing the term “fasting” might make you head out to the grocery store ASAP to stock up or call your favorite pizza place and order an entire pizza...for one. With that said, some people may feel a rush of excitement at the thought of fasting. People who are familiar with fasting usually look forward to the mental challenge, inner peace, and health benefits that fasting brings. Fasting is an ancient concept in yoga culture, a self-cleansing and self-healing practice that can help strengthen your mind, body and soul connection while improving your overall health, digestion and well-being. If you’ve never fasted before, it is inevitable you may feel scared and apprehensive about doing it. Your mind may be consumed with repeated thoughts of how am I going to do it and the feeling of lack. Lack of food, lack of food and well yeah, lack of food! It’s common to think that fasting may cause too much mental anguish and even potentially be harmful. It is important to know that for most people, fasting is safe and has a lot of health benefits. Yoga and fasting in combination enhance these health benefits. Make sure to drink ample amounts of water during your fast. Water allows the body to handle what’s going on during fasting and also reduces cravings. People who shouldn’t fast include children, diabetics, pregnant women, women who are breastfeeding and people who suffer from hypoglycemia.

Can I tell you a secret about my work as a health coach? There’s a misconception that health coaches prescribe a diet plan or exercise regime to their clients. In fact, that’s not what I’m up to at all. The reality is that most (not all) people come to me knowing exactly what they should be doing to have a healthy, vibrant, powerful life. And yet they just aren’t doing the things they know would propel them towards their goals. They are getting in their own way. So then my job becomes to help my clients not with a meal plan but with motivation, not with diet but with discipline, not with exercise ideas but with overcoming self-sabotage. Have you ever been all hell-bent and determined to change something in your life and initially attack it with passion then somewhere along the way drop it to the side, perhaps looking back at it every so often with regret or shame? Think New Year’s Resolutions. The honest truth is that improving one’s life and health takes work and often that work can be uncomfortable and unfamiliar. It can be easier to get in your own way, and not move forward towards the goals you're apsiring to. When faced with discomfort it’s absolutely normal for we silly humans to interfere with their own progress.

We all have that one place we dream about and long to go back to, whether it is home, for those of us that live life away from home, or maybe just be an unexpected place that stole your heart. For me it is definitely the latter, a tiny little island called Koh Phangan in Thailand known for its crazy full moon parties (which I still have not attended), vast jungle, beautiful water, warm people, great food, and all things yoga. It's been the most inspirational travel destination I've been fortunate enough to experience. The island place stole my heart when I first unexpectedly ended up there in 2016 before my big move to Singapore. I stayed there for a month and quickly fell in love with the community and the infinite love and ability that existed in this retreat to have whatever you desire.

There is such excitement in imagining opportunities manifest themselves. When opportunities arise and we truly believe we deserve them and our ability to create them, we can even start to see and feel ourselves experiencing them. We have the ability to imagine the things we want unfolding. We may even start to communicate to our friends that it is “happening!” Often, this approach works. However, sometimes things don't turn out exactly or even close to how we wanted them to. It feels disappointing. To move through disappointment without allowing an undesired circumstance to cause us low self esteem or despair is challenging. How did this happen when we believed in what we wanted to happen. When we were already planning our future around this! WTF?! How to overcome disappointment is possible, even when it's challenging. With a focused perspective we can accept whatever challenges life throws at us, as important, and valuable in the long run. Challenge teaches us our capacity, our boundaries, our resilience, our passion. There are many possible disappointments life can provide us; job loss, feeling rejected in a relationship, failing a test, losing our ground, death, participating in an unhealthy behavior, etc.

Some days life feels undeniably easier than other days. It’s part of being human. Ever wake up on the “wrong side of the bed”, where one thing after another seems to keep going wrong and your mood is bad and everyone is bothering you? Life can feel like a struggle on these days, instead of something we’re meant to enjoy and savor. Do you appreciate the opposite days? The days where you are in the flow and one amazing thing after another unfolds and you’re in a good mood, are happy, content, and enjoying life. These are the days we live for. Luckily, we have the power to put ourselves into a good mood and create more of these days, even on those days when we wake up in a bad mood. It’s not always by chance whether we're in a good mood or a bad mood. We have the power to create the days and moods we want. While some days feel more challenging than others, we have the power to turn any day around.

I am a dreamer. Head in the clouds, anything is possible, never settle kinda' girl. I believe that the bigger your dreams, the bigger your possibilities. Why would you want to place limitations on this short and fleeting life we have been granted? A life without dreams is like a garden without flowers. Where is the beauty? Plant seeds, create awareness and then focus on finding potential. Voicing your dream whether in words or writing, is like fertilizer, so be prepared to watch the dreams blossom into fruition. They say when the student in ready the teacher appears. I say when the seed is planted the sun will shine. If you aim for the stars even if you fall short, you will land in the clouds. From experience I know there is a much better view from the clouds than there is from the ground always looking up and wondering what if. I grew up conservative in my approach. A planner. I saved money and believed in hard work and long term effort to reach goals over time. Then I realized I was frustrated and impatient. My meticulous planning and attention to detail was preventing action.

Yoga is not only a good way to relax your mind and body, it is also being praised for improving Crossfit performance. Yoga creates more flexibility and creates more mobility, which are beneficial for the rigors of Crossfit as well as reducing the risk of injury. While the practices are different in many ways, Crossfit and yoga actually have a lot in common, so if you practice yoga, it’s can be easier to learn to practice Crossfit, and vice versa. Benefits of Yoga for Crossfit: Here are a few reasons why you should consider using yoga as a part of your crossfit training regime. Yoga has many gentle poses that develop your core which is an important part to Crossfit. Being capable of balancing and holding the body with the core is essential. When you regularly practice yoga, you promote strength, endurance, and flexibility and have a greater awareness of how to use your core effectively. You also find your inner strength which is important in Crossfit training. You practice cultivating calm, in challenging moments in yoga, and that can really help during Crossfit. Yoga can help us have more fun in Crossfit. Studies have found that yoga allows you to become more self-aware and improves your energy levels, helping you to enjoy life more fully. Sometimes in Crossfit, training and progress becomes such a focus point that we forget to be light and have fun. Yoga can help here.

Junk food is one of the greatest dangers for modern humans, but not everyone understands why, or how to stop eating it! For some, it’s easy to give up fast food, sweets, and pastries, but for many, overcoming this indulgence for a healthy diet is very difficult. Healthy eating must become not just a habit, but an integral part of a lifestyle for everyone who wants to live a long and healthy life. Why Is Excessive Junk Food Dangerous? Excessive passion for processed food and snacks is a top reason for obesity and high disease rates in different countries all over the world. Americans are the undisputed leaders in this category however. They spend more $60 billion annually on snack foods, many of it processed food high in sugar. Unprocessed foods are created by nature, that’s why human body easily digests them. The taste and consistency of natural food is supposed to easily satiate hunger. In contrast, junk food and other processed foods contain a big amount of salt, sugar, and flavor enhancers, that are very addictive and leave us wanting more. The addiction and craving of junk food isn’t only about your body; it also affects your brain. According to the latest research, abuse of unhealthy food causes addiction and affects the striatum, one of the nuclei of the human forebrain that coordinates multiple aspects of cognition, in particular motivation, making decisions, and reward perception.

It’s no secret that routines often reap high rewards, especially those in the morning. If you have done any kind of research on this matter, you know there is a long list of reasons to rise early in the morning. If the facts are all laid out in front of you, what are you still waiting for? Here’s how it all started for me. I had heard great things about organizing and prioritizing mornings. So, I decided to take the plunge and put these ideas into practice. I set out to create my own set of morning rituals and find out the truth for myself. After only a few months of implementing these changes, I figured just about anyone can benefit from waking up with the sun. In fact, busy people might just need morning rituals more than anyone else to keep their days productive. Modern life can be fast paced, ever changing, busy, and stressful. For many, we are constantly interacting with a variety of clients and multitasking to get a to-do list complete. Taking time each morning to slow down may just help those of us who are busy, have productive days and succeed. Having a specific morning routine helps you to be more organized and less stressed out, ultimately making you a better professional and much more productive.

"Is there one thing that you know you could be doing that would have a big impact on your health and your life that you just don’t do consistently?” This is one of the questions I ask in my initial Health Coaching Discovery Session. when I was once asked this question a clear and simple answer almost screamed in my head: DRINK MORE WATER. Hydration is something I know the benefits of, and talk to clients about on the daily. So why is it so hard for me to make it a habit? Especially in the midst of cold winter days, my tendency is year for a hot cup of coffee (and later a smooth glass of wine) rather than a glass of water. These tips to stay hydrated make it easier to have to remember to drink water and make it more second nature. Lately I’ve been nothing less than obsessed with habit change (loving this book), and the why and how of creating new habits to support overall life goals. I’m leaning that in order to introduce new habits – like drinking more water – one must keep in mind the overall benefits as motivation, and also to set up cues and rewards to make that habit stick.

The combined effects of the biochemical process that occur in your body on a cellular level are called metabolism. They make it possible for you to digest food, think, move and perform all the functions of a living being. Your metabolism is the powerhouse that keeps your body going. Genetics have a large role to play in determining your metabolic rate. But eating right can also speed up your metabolism naturally. The metabolism boosting foods I’m sharing in this article will not only help you burn fat, but they can also keep you healthy in the long run. So, be sure to regularly include them in your diet! Chili peppers Chili peppers are abundant in capsaicin, a chemical compound that has several beneficial properties. Studies have found that this compound gives chili peppers the ability to boost thermogenesis, which is the process by which calories are turned into heat to use as energy. Chilies have the potential to boost your metabolism rapidly and also have high doses of vitamin C, so it is a good idea to add these to your meals.

Here are 10 common mistakes to avoid to have beautiful skin and keep your skin healthy.​ 1. Trying to hydrate with sodas or energy drinks. How these drinks age your body and why avoiding them will keep your skin healthy: As the years go by our bodies literally dry up from the inside out. Our skin just can’t continue to retain moisture like it used to back in the day when we were plump infants with juicy flesh that stored water like desert succulents. Diet sodas and energy drinks may quench your thirst on the spot but they don’t hydrate your system and help have beautiful skin in the long run like good old H2O does! Why? Because they are jam packed with artificial flavors, sugars, chemical preservatives and acidifying agents that can lead to cancer, heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, tooth decay, organ stress and lowered immune system. What you can do to make a change: DRINK WATER, DRINK WATER, DRINK WATER. Drinking water is the true fountain of youth! It is all your body needs to stay hydrated and the easiest way to have beautiful skin. How much water should you drink? A good rule of thumb is to drink between 64 ounces and 0.67% of your body weight per day. For example, if your body weight is 150 pounds, then you need to drink anywhere between 64 ounces and 100 ounces (0.67% x 150) of water per day. Read more about hydration hacks here. 2. Getting too much sun exposure without SPF. It is common knowledge that ultraviolet (UV) rays is harmful to your skin because it damages skin fibers called elastin, which makes your skin stretch and sag like a dry old rubber band that you use tie a bunch of mail together. What you can do to make a change and keep your skin healthy and beautiful: THINK SUN KISSED NOT SUN DRIED!

As a modern fast-paced life continues to accelerate, health issues are also increasing. Modern life of today can be surrounded by a lot of both physical and mental health issues. For many, adopting yoga has become essential to maintain a balanced and healthy life. Yoga is an ancient practice that provides complete health care and purification practices are an integral part of it. Along with practicing yoga asanas, pranayama, and meditation in the morning, yoga offers wisdom and detoxification techniques to kick-start the day in the best way possible. Body cleansing techniques, called Kriyas, cleanse the physical body deeply and make for a healthy morning routine. Here are the three three most vital Yogic Detox Techniques (Kriyas) for your healthy morning routine: 1. Jala Neti - Nasal Cleansing

Have you ever felt like you are living a Shakespearean play within, conflict and drama a plenty? Romeo and Juliet taking duel inside, the battle of head and the heart? Where courage challenges consideration to a duel and thought stabs thrill in the back? At heart, I am all Romeo, full of passion, love and extremes. Loyal to a detriment, I’m often tempted to act foolishly in defense of those I do love dear. This is an example of the heart winning over the head. Oh, the angst and drama that overtakes my life, where it would be all too easy for my heart to throw away any logical order that exists in my life, and insteads leads me on spontaneous adventures and lust inspired indulgences. Life would be fun and fabulous. My heart sometimes guides me to just ignore the dose of danger waiting in the wings. Many times however, I do give thanks to the dear Juliet who lives in my head, which keeps me level and sane. As independent and loyal as Romeo, she is thankfully more capable and self assured.

As yoga continues to become more and more popular worldwide, the demand for teachers increases. Even though it can seem the world is full of yoga teachers, yoga continues to grow in popularity and there are always newcomers to the practice who need help and guidance if they are to improve their yoga practice or begin one. That means there's plenty of opportunities for you to get out there and get work as a yoga teacher! You may be the perfect person for the job, but you might be up against a huge amount of other people who want it too. While some studios hire based on many criteria, which can include an audition class and assessment of your actual teaching, don't underestimate the importance of your yoga teacher resume. Your resume needs to show the reader that you're the person that's worth bringing in. Here are 7 tips on how to craft the best possible yoga teaching resume.

The advantages of meditation are plentiful. According to one recent article, there are 76 different benefits to meditation. Now that’s a lot of advantages! The thing is, it could have a million advantages and that wouldn’t make any difference if you didn’t actually know how to meditate. And the truth is, very few of us do know how to meditate. I don’t know if it’s because our modern lifestyle, or that as people we are just naturally disposed towards it, but a lot of people who are beginners and try meditating give up because they don’t have the right mindset. That’s a shame – especially considering how useful it is. For that reason, here I’ll detail five different ways that you can get into the right mindset for meditation, so that you can succeed and make meditation part of your life, or even simply feel more present and meditative while moving throughout your day.

So many of us feel stressed, fatigued, rushed and short on quality time. There are consequences for living in an overstimulated society. Sensory overload can negatively affect our physical and mental well-being. It’s vital to practice methods to reduce overstimulation when possible. Meditation can help your brain get away from the habit of excessive multitasking. For many, learning how to meditate, and where to start if you're a beginner, is the ideal next step in giving your brain some relief and vibrancy. First, it’s important to understand what meditation is. You will find many definitions but they all have a common theme; meditation is what you do with full awareness. You do not have to be seated a certain way in silence to learn how to meditate in a correct or perfect way. You might be walking or engaged in a task or hobby. If you're a brand new beginner, you don’t even need to involve of whole new set of skills, do something that is familiar to you that requires your full attention. I must also address what meditation is not. It is not about stopping all thoughts or creating a “blank mind.” Thoughts will arise and the key is to allow them to come and go without judging or clinging to them. You are actually observing the activity of your mind.

We all need an occasional boost in mood and energy! Try these 5 foods for an almost instant energizer to your mind, body, and soul!

So by now I’m starting to get really clear on what’s going on, and not surprisingly it is related to all of the yoga teaching I preach on a daily basis. I suppose we all have a slightly different reason and inspiration for teaching or practicing yoga, but for me a focus of my classes are often what we learn when we come up against our edge. The past few months have been about more than just abstaining from alcohol, or shifting the need for comfort onto other things. I’m starting to realize it’s actually about me not wanting to get uncomfortable. More specifically, not moving out of my comfort zone. So I numb myself, and it doesn’t really matter if it’s alcohol, or shopping, or staying super busy, or gossiping to put the focus on other people and not me.

Who doesn’t love the sight of beautiful, lustrous hair? Don’t you want it to shine like those in the commercials? I bet you do. It might be possible to relate to some bad hair habits we have inculcated in our routined life. Getting rid of these can help you maintain your hair’s beauty and glow. Improper hair care habits such as over usage of chemical products and careless handling of wet hair can negatively impact your hair. Many people often fail to realize the importance of maintaining hair until the moment they start to realize it’s beginning to fall off. Here is a list of 10 different things you’ve been doing wrong the whole time, that you can prevent to maintain good hair!

The ancient time-tested practice of yoga can assist one in sustaining healthy and dynamic intimate relationships. Developed and fine-tuned centuries past, yoga can help us to achieve the highest forms of intimacy with ourselves, which will make us more ripe to experience this in a relationship with another. Relationships sometimes take work, and sometimes working on ourselves is the most effective way to make your relationship work better. The yogic path advocates integrity and a kinder approach to life, both on and off the mat. These qualities are allies in having harmonious partnerships and meaningful friendships in life. Yoga increases one's consciousness, which can transform one into a better person in certain respects. Yoga encourages us to turn to our inner self and assume responsibility for who we are, the way we feel, and how we show up in the world. For many people, this translates into a lesser sense of entitlement and lesser need for drama in their lives. Our attitudes and mindset about conflict and handling disagreement, also have an opportunity to evolve as a result of yoga and meditation. When disagreements arise, which they always will in intimate relationships, the residue of one's yoga practice, can assist them in not succumbing to anger, or dwelling on what's not perfect about their partner.

This is where meditation can be a great asset. Just taking time to pause and separate yourself from your own mind. Observe your thoughts as they come and go without attachment or judgement. Get curious, watch yourself think. It can also be extremely helpful to have a coach to help tease from your the deep, dank thoughts and beliefs that haven’t shone themselves to you in some time. When you start to clearly see your thoughts that drive your feelings that create your actions, you empower yourself to make the decision whether or not you actually want to change. Maybe, when push comes to shove, you actually don’t? But trying to change from the action level alone without this behind-the-scenes sleuthing will be most likely frustrating, and perhaps even futile. Instead, look into the big WHY you’re doing or not doing something. It may take a bit of reverse engineering.

Give some thought to the relationships in your life. Is there one that stands out? Is there a partnership you can pinpoint as the most important? Who has made an imprint on your heart and soul? Is it a partner? A parent? A best friend? A spiritual guide? It’s normal to forget about the relationship which you didn’t technically sign up for but the one that will last an entire lifetime. It is your relationship with yourself. It’s arguably the most important relationship to stay aware of, and put love into. You make a choice to stay committed to yourself, by getting out of bed each morning. But sometimes we are neglectful of this relationship to ourself, and can simply sleep walk or auto-pilot through our waking hours. But, you have an ability to go above and beyond the most basic commitments to yourself and merely going through the motions. You have the ability to put love, attention, nurture, and care, into how you treat and show up for yourself. Emphasis on this relationship with yourself, and cultivating healthy self-love, has the ability to change your life for the better.

Yoga tells us that karma is certain. Every thought, word, and action has a vibrational energy that consciously, or unconsciously, creates our reality and experience. In simplest terms, this is karma. Einstein told us that the Universe is curved, supporting Newton’s Law and the Law of Karma, that everything will eventually, and inevitably come back to us. You don't have to believe in past lives or anything esoteric to understand karma. It's the idea that everything we do, or think, has a reaction and a result. It's a simple law of cause and effect. The lessons of karma have an important role for our evolution. It guides us like a treasure map to journey into the mysteries of who we are and what we desire. However, not all experiences of our karma feel good. The challenges we’ve faced like a “bad” relationship, job, illness, addiction, etc. are a result of our karma, and are actually guiding us. The guidance leads us to know with certainty what kind of relationship, job, lifestyle, or behavior we want. Karma can remind us that we deserve the best that we can imagine for ourselves, and if things aren’t going so good, it’s time to change.

Lately I’ve seen a growing trend in wearing feathers, headdresses, tribal prints and tattoos. However, as these things become more chic, I hope no one loses sight of the true heritage behind them. Although it may be nonsensical to compare ourselves here and now to how we were as a species hundreds or thousands of years ago in some places, there is an important essence of acknowledging where we have been, and those who came before us, to understand where we are going, especially for those living on lands previously by an ancient culture. We have the power to admire, implement, and benefit from the traditions and spirituality of Native Americans (and other indigenous cultures from around the world). For many tribes, their deep and spiritual connection with the land in which they lived, is profound, and can teach us a great deal about our own connection with the earth.