“Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” - Nelson Mandela
Being graceful and strong when life is flowing along smoothly is one thing. Maintaining that grace during difficult times is a different proposition. We’ve learned this lesson on a global scale over the last eighteen months. Our lives are different, and we’ve all had to tap into our inner strength and resiliency, often to levels we’ve never imagined accessing.
Life is a rollercoaster and how well you navigate the twists, drops, and 360-degree loops is an indicator of your resilience. Yoga can help you empower yourself and tap into your inner resiliency and strength in such a way you can continue moving forward in your life despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Learning to bend before you break is vital.
Psychologists define resilience as the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress—such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors. That's the role of resilience.
One of yoga’s great teaching centers around impermanence––yoga reminds us that everything is temporary. Everything. Accepting this principle can aid us when we experience illness, loss, and grief. The only constant in this world is change and tuning into this universal truth helps us feel more in step with the rhythm of life and death and transformation. We’re living through a time of extreme transformation of the world and we’re all doing the best we can to adapt and live our best lives.
Yoga, pranayama, and meditation are vital tools on this winding path. By moving and breathing and focusing our thoughts in a deliberate manner, we’re strengthening our wells of emotional resilience. The power of creating this inner flexibility and strength is boundless––we can transcend external circumstances if we recognize how powerful our own spirit is to handle just about anything.
Simply put, yoga helps us cope and learn to embody resilience through all of life’s ups and downs. Nobody can escape pain and suffering. Learning not to identify with the suffering and instead to use it as a tool for growth is one of yoga’s greatest gifts. Yoga helps us tap into our inner strength, our flexibility, our acceptance that life is a dance between shadow and light.
Join us this week for four classes specifically designed to help you tap into your inner resilience––not simply to survive tough times, but to transcend them.
Be Resilient Flow with Claire Petretti Marti
Firm and Strong with Pradeep Teotia
Mindful Motion for Healing with Shannon Paige
Embodying Shakti with Jeanie Manchester
The chillier it gets the more soups and stews find a way to my table. And why wouldn’t they if they are so easy to make and delicious each time! I must admit that even though this type of food is very easy to prepare in bulk, I usually still only cook for one lunch or dinner. But this does not mean that you should cook for each separate meal. Feel free to double or triple the recipe and eat it several days in a row or even freeze it for future quick dinners. I completely understand that cooking is not something that everybody loves to do and if you are one of those people just prep ahead. It is 100 times better to have a few homemade healthy meals waiting for you in the fridge or freezer, than quickly ordering something random from the local fast food joint. Not that there would be anything wrong with enjoying a burger now and then.
Oh, and I kept the soup 100% plant-based and did not even add any vegan creams because the potatoes and beans are creamy in nature. But if you like things extra creamy go ahead and add cream cheese or sour cream of your choice right before blending.
Potato, Leek, and White Bean Soup
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves: 3-4
Ingredients:
1 tbsp rapeseed oil (or another oil you prefer for cooking)
2 celery stalks
1 leek
3-4 cups of vegetable stock (depending on how thick you like your soups)
2-3 large potatoes, peeled
1 jar white beans
Optional cream cheese or sour cream for EXTRA creaminess
To serve: toasted sunflower seeds, pomegranate, and fresh herbs
Instructions:
Chop the leeks and celery roughly and sweat them in a large pot in oil with a dash of salt on medium heat for 5 minutes. Chop up the potatoes while you are waiting for the veggies to soften.
Add the potatoes and stock to the pot and bring to boil. Simmer until the potatoes are tender and turn off the heat.
Add in the beans and any cream component if you are using it (I didn’t) and blend until you have the consistency you like. Feel free to leave in some larger junks or blend completely smooth. Totally up to you!
Before serving, make sure the seasoning is on point and add salt and pepper as needed. Sometimes I also add a squeeze of lemon or lime juice.
Serve with toasted sunflower seeds, pomegranate seeds, and all the herbs you like.
By Kadri Raig
Kadri is a food blogger and yoga teacher from Estonia. She loves to spend time in the kitchen, but most of her recipes are simple and don’t take more than 20 minutes of active cooking time. She thinks that everybody can find time to cook healthy food at home, it is just a question of planning. "I work in an office full time, teach yoga 7-8 hours a week and write a blog. So if I manage to cook most of my meals, then so do you!" Connect with Kadri and enjoy many more of her delicious healthy recipes on her website here: www.kahvliga.ee.
This week, we are thrilled to celebrate the 15th year of YogaDownload!
This site and community would not be continuing to grow if it wasn't for all of you showing up regularly on your mats from across the globe for the past 15 years! Thank for you logging in to take care of yourselves, while also supporting this global community and resource for online yoga.
As part of our celebration we would like to share our 15 top-rated classes of all time which you can access absolutely free for the next week! We've produced over 1,800+ classes since our inception 15 years ago, and your honest ratings and reviews over the years have helped us to build a library of classes to serve your body and mind's every need.
The criteria for this top-rated list: All classes have a 4.95 rating or higher and and are ranked in order of those with the most reviews.
While there are many hundreds of highly-rated yoga classes on the site, these are the upper echelon of rating scores within YogaDownload's ever-growing library of yoga classes.
Two of the classes on the list have perfect review ratings! Jackie Casal Mahrou, who still creates new classes regularly for you, has many classes on this list. Go Jackie! **To access, click on a free class and then the play now button, then create your free account on the site (or sign in to your current account)
Top 15 Rated and Reviewed YogaDownload Classes of All Time:
1. Get Up & Flow with Jackie Casal Mahrou
Rating: 4.97 rating based on 185 reviews | Released: 2014
2. Morning Movement with Kylie Larson
Rating: 4.95 rating based on 146 reviews | Released: 2015
3. Daily Decompression with Jackie Casal Mahrou
Rating: 4.95 rating based on 144 reviews | Released: 2016
4. Beginner Yoga Quickie with Jackie Casal Mahrou
Rating: 4.96 rating based on 141 reviews | Released: 2015
5. Freedom Flow with Jackie Casal Mahrou
Rating: 4.98 rating based on 131 reviews | Released: 2015
Rating: 4.98 rating based on 110 reviews | Released: 2020
7. Heavenly Hip Openers with Jackie Casal Mahrou
Rating: 4.99 rating based on 100 reviews | Released: 2014
8. Good Strong Flow with Jackie Casal Mahrou
Rating: 4.99 rating based on 100 reviews | Released: 2019
9. Quick Energy Flow with Claire Petretti Marti
Rating: 4.96 rating based on 94 reviews | Released: 2015
10. Flow for a Grateful Heart with Christen Bakken
Rating: 4.99 rating based on 93 reviews | Released: 2014
11. Sunrise Flow 1: Wake Up with Jackie Casal Mahrou
Rating: 4.97 rating based on 92 reviews | Released: 2020
12. Yoga Body Buzz with Jackie Casal Mahrou
Rating: 4.98 rating based on 84 reviews | Released: 2015
13. Love to Flow with Jackie Casal Mahrou
Rating: 4.97 rating based on 84 reviews | Released: 2014
14. Get into the Flow with Keith Allen
Rating: 4.95 rating based on 82 reviews | Released: 2020
15. Fitness 'n' Yoga: Quick Full Body Flow with Ben Davis
Rating: 4.95 rating based on 80 reviews | Released: 2017
Who wants to celebrate our birthday with us?
We here at YogaDownload are celebrating 15 years of sharing yoga online! Whether you’ve been with us from the beginning, when the yoga classes were audio or you practiced your first class this morning, we are thrilled you are here. Without you wonderful subscribers from around the globe, we couldn’t have expanded from audio classes, to streaming videos, to yoga programs ranging from meditation to power yoga, to offering one-of-a-kind yoga retreats around the world.
We credit our consistent growth and success to one simple element––YOU. When you offer feedback to us with our new programs, we listen. We strive to attract the very best teachers from around the world and deliver them to you. The variety of offerings is vast, with thousands of classes of all lengths, styles, and levels. There’s a special bond created between teacher and student, even via the screen and our teachers consistently share how happy they are to connect with all of you.
From joining in our special challenges where you receive daily classes in your inbox and a special community of fellow yogis practicing along with you to joining us in person for one of our world-class yoga retreats, you’ve co-created this community with us. We consider you our family and we hope you consider YogaDownload your yoga home.
Our hashtag, #Goyouromway exemplifies that we’re all unique, but we are all on the yogic path. Although each of us is practicing from a different location from Africa to Australia and everywhere in between, we’ve created a true lasting connection. We are all in this together!
Our founder, Jamie Kent, created YogaDownload to bring affordable yoga to anyone, anywhere in the world. Her vision was yoga accessible to everyone who wanted it, no matter your location, budget, or experience. Online yoga with us saves you time, enables you to go at your own pace with expert instruction, and choose from a wide variety of classes with new ones being added each week!
To commemorate this birthday, anniversary, and milestone, this week’s featured classes are four of the most popular and top-reviewed classes to ever grace our site. Enjoy these throwback classes, from some of your favorite teachers who still regularly produce new classes for you!
Thank you for being here!
Jackie Casal Mahrou - Get Up & Flow
Kylie Larson - Morning Movement
Elise Fabricant - Neck, Shoulders, & Back Therapy
Celest Pereira - Quicky Stretch & De-Stress
Here in Estonia, the season is slowly changing to autumn and this means loads of produce from vine ripe tomatoes to mushrooms in the forests. And of course, loads of apples. Apples are the superstar here in this breakfast bowl.
I never peel apples if I know where they are from – most of the nutrients are directly under the skin and I don’t see any reason to waste them. The other very nutritious part of the apple is its seeds, so I often eat those too. To use in recipes, I still prefer to remove the cores for smoother results.
It is also important to know which type of apples you are working with as they range from very sweet to very tart. So just have a taste before you mix the apples with the sugar and add a little less or more sugar if you feel like it. The amount given here is for medium sweet apples but bear in mind that I don’t have much of a sweet tooth and the recipe here is meant as breakfast, not a dessert. Of course, you can enjoy the breakfast bowl any other time too and if you feel that you need a dessert instead, a scoop of vanilla ice cream would make a nice addition.
The recipe itself is super simple, especially if you have some leftover quinoa waiting to be used up. Just cube the apple, mix with sugar and cinnamon, throw in the oven, and while apples are baking, prepare the rest of the ingredients. Easy breezy.
Roasted Quinoa & Apple Breakfast Bowl
Cooking time: 20 min
Serves: 1
1 cup apple cubes (if using homegrown apples, do not peel)
1 tsp coconut sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ cup cooked quinoa
1 tsp coconut oil
6-7 pecan halves
Preheat the oven to 450F.
Mix the apple cubes with sugar and cinnamon and cook in the oven for about 15 minutes until they soften a little.
In the meantime, toast the nuts in a dry pan and set them aside.
Melt the coconut oil in the same pan and warm up the quinoa until a little crispy.
As soon as the apples are cooked place everything in the bowl and enjoy while warm.
Kadri is a food blogger and yoga teacher from Estonia. She loves healthy food and cooking and for her, these two are often the same thing. Cooking meals from scratch, you know exactly what goes in it and even without holding back with sugar or fat we end up using a lot less compared to ready-made frozen stuff from the supermarket.
She does love to spend time in the kitchen, but most of her recipes are simple and don’t take more than 20 minutes of active cooking time. She thinks that everybody can find time to cook healthy food at home, it is just a question of planning. "I work in an office full time, teach yoga 7-8 hours a week and write a blog. So if I manage to cook most of my meals, then so do you!"
Connect with Kadri and enjoy many more of her delicious healthy recipes on her website here: http://www.kahvliga.ee/.
Practice Yoga for Detox, Cleansing, & Vitality now to complement this healthy recipe!
Arthritis sucks. It is the most common ailment in the United States. But just like any ailment, there are ways to ease the symptoms by eating foods that reduce inflammation.
Here is a list of seven that might help you find relief from arthrisis:
1. Green tea. Contains a natural antioxidant which may prevent cartilage from breaking down.
2. Foods with Omega-3 fatty acids. Fish oils. flaxseeds, walnuts and other good fats may help build strength and reduce fatigue.
3. Olive oil. Contains a compound that blocks the same inflammatory pathways as ibuprofen and aspirin.
4. Fruits and Veggies containing Beta Carotene. Foods like carrots, pumpkin, kale, and sweet potatoes not only help reduce inflammation but may prevent inflammation-related disorders like rheumatoid arthritis.
5. Vitamin C. Foods with Vitamin C – oranges, broccoli, bell peppers, kiwis, kidney beans, and more – may be responsible for the growth of collagen, and therefore cartilage, in the body.
6. Anthocyanins. These super powerful antioxidants inhibit inflammatory chemicals and can be found in the red and purple foods like eggplant, cranberries, grapes, plums and currants.
7. Spices. For eons, pungent spices like ginger and turmeric have been used medicinally for their anti-inflammatory properties.
If you have arthritis or are wanting to prevent it in the future, avoid these five food groups:
1. Saturated fats 2. Trans fats 3. Fried food in general 4. Refined carbohydrates 5. Foods high in simple sugars
By Elise Fabricant
Elise Fabricant is a top teacher on YogaDownload.com. She's also always at your service for one-on-one coaching. If you’re ready to make big changes in all aspects of your life, sign up for a complimentary clarity session with her from her website here.
Practice this free yoga class with Elise!
Morning Yoga Quickie 2 with Elise
“By drawing our sense of perception inward, we are able to experience the control, silence, and quietness of the mind.” B.K.S. Iyengar
Hey, does anybody out there need to relax?
If you’re waving your hand wildly, join us this week for some yoga sequences that soothe your nervous system, reduce anxiety, and lengthen the entire posterior side of your body. Forward folds are introspective postures that will help you quiet your mind’s chatter and relax.
During a well-rounded yoga practice, you move your body throughout a range of positions including forward folds, back bends, spinal rotation, and lateral movement. By choosing to emphasize forward bends in a practice, you’ll primarily cool your system down, inside and out. A few key pointers will make sure you maximize the benefits of this family of asanas and avoid injury to your lower back and hamstrings.
Alignment is key in forward bends. If you’re newer to yoga or simply have tight hamstrings genetically or from other activities, it can be tempting to force yourself to reach your toes. Uttanasana (Standing Forward Fold) and Paschimottanasana (Seated Forward Fold) are two of the most common yoga poses and they offer a wide array of benefits. Hinging from the hips as opposed to rounding in the middle back is step number one.
Please don’t ever lock your joints––if you try to keep your legs straight or lock your knees, you can injure your lower back, glutes, and hamstrings. Develop the habit of always starting with your knees slightly bent and if everything feels good, feel free to straighten. But soft knees are always an excellent option, as long as you’re experiencing positive sensation.
While supple hamstrings are great, the benefits go deeper than your muscles. Forward folds tap into your parasympathetic nervous system which controls your ability to relax and decompress. It’s easier to control your Drishti gaze in forward folds, which allows you to filter out distractions and direct your awareness inside. Some yogis find folding inward more challenging because in that position, there’s nowhere to go to escape what’s weighing down your mind or heart. Spending time in forward folds will aid you in processing emotions and ultimately releasing them.
Last but not least, spending time in forward bends compresses the internal organs. Forward bends can act as a massage of your internal organs and aid in healthy digestion and elimination. We all want to keep our energy flowing, both physically, emotionally, and mentally. If you’re ready to fine-tune your alignment and prevent injury while also soothing your soul, try this week’s classes curated just for you!
Ellen Kaye - Fine Tune Your Forward Fold
Kristen Boyle - Alignment Guru: Forward Fold and Half Lift
Patrick Montgomery - Focus on Form: Forward Folds
Jack Cuneo - Ashtanga Standing Postures
October is here! The weather is finally starting to turn a little cooler and we can feel the beginnings of the comfy fall vibes. We’re looking forward to hot drinks, warm blankets, jackets, scarves, and chilly walks among the fallen leaves.
And we’re also looking forward to all of the baking that comes with the fall and winter seasons.
We can probably all agree that almost nothing goes better with cozy sweater weather than a warm baked good.
Since pumpkin is the widely accepted food mascot of fall, we feel like this delicious pumpkin bread is the perfect recipe to fulfill all of your warm sweets cravings. This bread is full of pumpkin flavor, moist, and super satisfying.
This recipe is keto, at less than 3 grams of net carbs per serving, vegan, low carb and low sugar — a combination that’s a rare find! This is also an 80:20 recipe, (meaning a treat we enjoy when we’re not cleansing). For our community who follow our Low-Sugar Vegan Plan (found in our 14-day cleanse), this is the perfect recipe for you!
We also used a new and exciting discovery — Himalayan Tartary Buckwheat Super Nutrition Flour. This is a grain-free buckwheat flour that is low-glycemic, lower in carbs than normal buckwheat, and rich in antioxidants, prebiotics, and resistant starch — all of which give this bread a solid nutrition boost.
If you can’t get Himalayan Tartary Buckwheat flour this time around, feel free to substitute it with normal buckwheat flour if you tolerate it. It won’t be grain-free or keto, but it will still be super nutritious and satisfying.
Enjoy, and stay tuned for more pumpkin madness!
With love and warm pumpkin bread,
Jo and Jules
Vegan Keto Pumpkin Bread
¹⁄3 cup non-dairy milk of choice
⅓ cup Lakanto granulated sweetener
2 tbsp ground flax seeds
1 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup pumpkin puree
⅓ cup coconut oil, melted
¼ cup Himalayan Tartary Buckwheat flour
½ cup arrowroot flour
1 ¼ cup almond flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp allspice
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
Optional:
Top with chopped pecans before baking
Replace the spices with 1-2 tsp of your favorite pumpkin spice blend
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Leave extra parchment hanging over the sides for easy removal.
In a large bowl, whisk the non-dairy milk, flax seeds, and vanilla extract together. Let sit for 5-10 minutes, until the mixture starts to thicken. Then add in the sweetener, pumpkin puree, and melted coconut oil, whisking until the mixture is completely emulsified.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flours, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until they’re fully incorporated and smooth. The final texture should be thick and dough-like. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the mixture into the lined loaf pan and spread it evenly.
Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes before removing. Allow the bread to cool completely before slicing.
Jo Schaalman and Jules Peláez are co-authors of two books The Conscious Cleanse: Lose Weight, Heal Your Body and Transform Your Life in 14 Days, a best-selling, step-by-step guide to help you live your most vibrant life and their brand new The Conscious Cleanse Cookbook! Together they’ve led thousands of people through their online supported cleanse through their accessible and light-hearted approach. They’ve been dubbed “the real deal” by founder and chief creative director Bobbi Brown, of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, beauty editor of the TODAY show.
Working out every day to get toned can be hard, and not everyone's first priority in life. However, doing yoga can be a great, low-impact way to tone your body and look fitter. And there are a few ways that you can complement your yoga practice to help you get toned up.
Mixing it up
Most fitness trainers agree that you should add variety to your workout routine. Doing the same things day after day won’t help you to get toned any quicker. Listen to what your body needs and mix up yoga and stretching with more intense workouts and lifting to create a good balance between your workout. This will help you develop a more well-rounded fitness base, and prevent injuries from overuse, as well as keeping things fun and less boring!
Walk more
One of the easiest and best ways to get your body moving? Walking! Unlike some more hardcore workouts like Hiit or metabolic training, walking gives very little additional stress to the body, which actually results in a higher ratio of fat burning. This is due to the fact that low-intensity workouts like walking rely far more heavily on fat reserves, instead of stored carbs for completion. Another bonus? Walking removes deep abdominal fat first. Just remember to wear comfy shoes that are supportive also!
Set realistic goals
Try to make a specific plan with smart goals that are both realistic and attainable. Motivation to work out can be hard, but making a plan and sticking to it is the best way to ensure results. Good things come to those who preserve! Don’t set unrealistic goals, like promising yourself to workout six or seven times a week, for a long time. Instead, try to start with something easier to manage, like two or three times a week for 30 minutes. This will make it more likely for you to reach your goals and will build confidence, a sense of accomplishment and add to your newfound motivation.
Take the stairs
All fitness experts agree that taking stairs can provide a great workout for your body. Try to skip the lift and take the stairs whenever possible, but also you can use the steps in your house for exercises like calf raises. This involves stepping onto each step and dropping your heels, then raising them as high as you can and dropping again. This is a super-easy way to exercise your calf muscles, which helps with other workouts like running and cycling.
Workout in the morning
Life often gets in the way of working out, and we often have every intention of exercising or hitting the gym at the end of the day or after work. It’s also really easy for us to think our way out of it, and can just sit at home watching TV instead. The solution is to work out in the morning before your brain can talk your way out of it! By the time you’ve actually woken up, you’ll be halfway through your workout, and enjoying the endorphins.
Try just a few minutes a day of high impact exercise
High intensity interval training can have a huge impact on your body in a small space of time. Why not try just doing a few minutes of intense exercise, by setting a timer on your phone and doing things like squats, jumping jacks, pushups, burpees or jump squats? Or try spinning for a few minutes at a time to get your heart rate up and your muscles working. This will boost your endorphins before you know it. Try this a few times throughout the day.
Starting Slow
Try something slower and double before jumping into hardcore workouts. This will make your workouts less intimidating and easier to do. For example, try Yin or Hatha yoga before an intense Vinyasa workout. This is perfect for newbies and people recovering from injuries.
Stretch Stretch Stretch!
We can often neglect stretching, but flexibility can help to prevent aches and injuries and can be easy to incorporate into your day-to-day life. Stretching can also improve your posture, which can tone your shoulder muscles. For example, a chest stretch can elongate your pecs and make you look more toned. It’s also important to stretch if you sit for most of your day, in an office for example.
Boxing
One of the best and easiest ways to tone your upper body is to start punching. If you grab hand weights and use them to punch out in a straight line, you can tone up your chest and shoulders. Try to do it for 60 seconds without stopping at a time - or even better, go down to your local boxing gym and hit the bags.
Don’t skimp out of the protein
Increasing your intake of protein can help to sustain muscle, especially during weight loss. When you lose weight quickly, it can be easy for your body to lose muscle mass, which can affect the toned look you might be going for. Leucine in whey, animal protein and dairy products can have a direct effect on muscle mass to prevent loss.
If you’re thinking about getting toned, this week's classes support strength, flexibility, and weight loss. Yoga and yoga-fusion classes can help tone your entire body and also help burn fat. While yoga is about self-acceptance, there is also nothing wrong with using your yoga practice for specific goals.
“A healthy body is a platform for flourishing a healthy mind.” - Pawan Mishra
We only get one body in this lifetime, and we have a responsibility to take care of it to the best of our ability. Some days, yoga is spiritually focused, taking steps on the path to enlightenment through meditation and mantra. Some days yoga satisfies the need to work through complicated emotions or break some unhealthy thought patterns. And some days, yoga can be purely focused on getting strong, lean, and powerful.
As global citizens, we’ve all spent the last eighteen months with limitations on our usual activity and movement. If you’ve spent so much time on your couch that you’ve worn a booty-shaped groove in it, you’re not alone. Living through a pandemic has left most of us with a surplus of tamasic or heavy, solid energy.
Physically, that can manifest as bloat, excess weight, and general lethargy.
Mentally, you may be experiencing a lack of clarity, confidence, and motivation. And, emotionally, you may feel detached or weighed down by unprocessed emotions. We hold our thoughts and feelings in our tissues and when we exercise more vigorously, we can release stagnant energy.
This week’s classes feature vigorous practices, more focused on core strength, breaking a sweat, toning muscles, and burning off negative energy. Consider how good you feel after a challenging hike, run, swim, or bike ride. We’ve all heard of the runner’s high (even if some of us haven’t personally experienced it.) You can attain that same euphoric feeling on your yoga mat. Also pushing yourself physically requires mental discipline––often it is our brain that pushes us to keep at it, despite physical discomfort.
Challenging yourself physically benefits your lymphatic, digestive, and circulatory systems. Burning off calories while releasing toxins not only boosts your energy but also makes you feel stronger and lighter. If you’re focused on doing one more repetition or staying with it one more minute, you’re also clearing your mind of toxic thoughts. Release the state of stagnation and step away from emotional negativity. This week, use your yoga practice to burn off what is weighing you down on every level. Use your physical intention to garner all the yogic mental and spiritual benefits too.
Robert Sidoti - Weight Loss Routine
Claire Petretti Marti - Pilates Yoga Fusion: Advanced
Ben Davis - Fitness 'n; Yoga: Exercise Your Body
Erin Wimert - Meet Me At The Barre
It’s officially Fall in Colorado, and we’re already feeling the pumpkin madness. Enter the Pumpkin Spice Green Smoothie!
Below is a savory-sweet and spicy green smoothie that we’ve been enjoying as an afternoon snack. Think nostalgic and warming healthy snack for you and your kiddos. You could even give it to your kiddos as a nutrient boost pre-trick-or-treating next month!
We love the transition into Fall, but we recognize that it’s the season that we’re faced with tough decisions. The temptations start to roll in with the cooler weather and long list of holidays.
So what do we do when faced with sugary treats?
Do we indulge our sweet tooth at every turn? Or is it possible to fill our tanks with something delicious, hydrating, and nutritious, and actually stave off awakening the sugary beast?
Yes it is!
Get your fill of pumpkins while they last. It’s as nature intended. We’ll be rolling out pumpkin recipes all season, so there’ll be no shortage of options for you to try out!
Enjoy and here’s to a healthy Fall.
With love and lots of pumpkin spice,
Jo & Jules
Pumpkin Spice Green Smoothie
Yields: 1 quart
1 cup unsweetened vanilla-flavored almond milk 1 cup filtered water 1 cup plain organic canned pumpkin (unsweetened) (or fresh pumpkin) 1 banana 1 cup frozen mango 1 tsp. cinnamon 1/8 tsp. nutmeg 1/8 tsp. allspice 1-inch fresh ginger 2 cups spinach
Directions: In a high-speed blender, combine almond milk, water, pumpkin, banana, mango, spices, and spinach until creamy.
Holding on to negative emotions like pain, stress, and anxiety sometimes can’t fix anything. Remembering the past and bad things over and over can’t change what has happened, and wishing things were different can’t make it so. Most of the time, especially when it comes to past events, the best thing to do is to accept what you’re holding on to and let go. If you hold onto the past, you are hindering yourself from growth and creating a stronger sense of self, based on who you want to be.
Painful emotions can be strangely comfortable if you are used to holding onto them and letting go of pain and negative emotions can be hard and uncomfortable. However, there are some things you can do to help yourself let go and move forward.
Accept other people for who they are
Part of letting go and moving on is letting go of expectations and the idea of who you think people are, and accepting who other people are in this moment - this includes accepting ourselves! Accepting that things and relationships might not always go as you planned, and being okay with that, will improve your relationships with others. Try to practice gratitude, appreciation, and trust with the people in your life.
Don’t invest in expectations
Expectations can make us stuck and struggle with letting go because they make us afraid of different outcomes. Accepting that there are no guarantees in life, and there’s nothing we can do to get the outcomes we want when other people are involved helps us in letting go. When expectations aren’t met, it’s important to respond rationally, which can involve setting boundaries and letting go.
Don’t limit yourself
It’s easy to stop ourselves from trying new things and setting new goals, by thinking that we can never achieve them. If you open your mind and believe in yourself, you can achieve things you never thought possible, and let go of the limits that were holding you back.
Realize you can’t change others
Realizing that the only person we can change and control is ourselves, is a huge step in the right direction of letting go. Don’t waste your time and energy trying to change someone else, and don’t try and please everyone else before yourself.
Only worry about your own opinion of yourself
Try not to be worried about what other people think about you, and try not to let this control your actions. When you prioritize how you think and feel about yourself, you’ll start to live by your own values and beliefs, and will start letting go of the need for approval from others.
Let yourself make mistakes
It’s totally okay and normal to make mistakes. It’s okay! Try to learn from mistakes and not take yourself too seriously. If you say or do the wrong thing, it only means that you’re human, and if you beat yourself up too much you’ll start repeating past mistakes.
Accept the past
Accepting the past and the way things have gone will help you to live in the present moment. When you stop wishing things were different and focusing on changing the past, you’ll start to make decisions today that will help you achieve your goals.
Do things that scare you
Fear can hold us back and hinder us from letting go. Fear closes our minds to possibilities for the future and gets us stuck in our comfort zone. Fears can make us doubt ourselves and make us stuck in our comfort zone. If you make steps to move out of your comfort zone, fear will subside, and you’ll start to grow.
Express yourself
When you share and express your thoughts and feelings in a rational way, it helps you to find your voice and become more confident. Communication with others over boundaries, what’s working and what’s not working is a great way to stop yourself from bottling up your opinions. Expressing yourself and finding yourself is a great way to move on from the past and let go.
Allow yourself to feel negative sometimes
Some occasions call for negative emotions. Stress at work, breakups, grieving, or anything that makes you feel bad, call to feel negative and it’s important to acknowledge these feelings. Bottling up and ignoring negativity can make you feel worse for longer. Loss and bad events can be hard to live through, but it's okay to allow yourself to feel sad. Let yourself feel your emotions, and go through the process so you can start to let go and move onwards in your life.
Forgive others and yourself more easily
Not being able to forgive others makes us resentful and can keep us stuck in the past and unable to move forward in our lives. When you forgive others, you do it for yourself, not for anyone else. That can be a great way in itself to let go and forgive.
When you start to let go of things that are holding you back, you start to experience yourself and life in a more positive way. You’ll realise that you’re your own person, and not your past, pain or emotions. Negativity around ourselves and others, and negative self talk can get in the way of us becoming who we want to be. Letting go gives you a strong sense of self, and allows you to learn and grow in life.
By Amy Cavill
Practice the 7-Day Yoga for Anxiety Relief Immersion to help you let go!
One of the most profound gifts we received from our consistent yoga practice is a shift in perspective. We learn to experience life in the present moment without clinging to the past or the need to attach ourselves to an outcome. Attachment and aversion are two sides of the same coin and vital yogic principles that can teach us to release what is no longer serving us in order to be our best selves.
Our bodies are storehouses for life experiences––the good, the bad, and the ugly. We often shape our inner narrative and make choices for our future based upon our emotional wounds. Sometimes it is more comfortable to hold onto the painful stories, like a tough childhood, a horrific break-up, getting fired from your dream job, or losing a friend. The same concept applies to our triumphs and joys. We hold a lifetime within our tissues and sometimes, these things become what in the Yoga Sutras Patanjali called Kleshas or the fundamental obstacles to yoga and Samadhi.
Patanjali called these traumatic responses that get encoded in the brain as the root of suffering or Avidya. Avidya is the inability to seeing things as they truly are or mistaken perception. It is seeing things through our lens of experience and wounds. If we can learn to shed the layers obscuring our personal lens through yoga, we can find contentment.
With our individual lenses, we can often start to believe that unless X or Y result occurs––I get that job or marry that person––we cannot be happy. Attachment to outcome is often one of the greatest causes of human suffering. But what does detachment mean?
Detachment or letting go doesn’t mean you don’t care. It means letting go of the belief that life should proceed in a certain way because it’s what you want or think should happen. Detachment is surrendering to the outcome. If something is an obstacle to becoming present, let it go.
To attain a state of yoga where you are choosing where your thoughts go, Yoga Sutras 1.12-16 further describe how it takes practice to learn to be present. You increase presence through:
(1) abhyasa—effort or practice and
(2) vairagya—relinquishment/detachment--- the willingness to let a phenomenon arise without reacting to it.
Letting go and living in a state of yoga is an accumulation of every effort we make throughout the day. Choosing to let go is a way to establish new patterns and when we do something differently, we become different.
Working on our inner selves on the yoga mat is an excellent foundation for creating a life where we can stop clinging to the past and release attachment to the future. Nothing is permanent and can be as beautiful and liberating as holding on or creating something new. Try these classes focused on letting go today.
Jackie Casal Mahrou - Inner Strength Flow 1: Feel It All
Jill Pedroza - Flow & Flight
Kylie Larson - Flow & Let Go
Here is a hot recipe for you. And if I say hot, I mean really hot. But then again you can regulate it down a notch if you don’t like heat. I love heat and here is my recipe for homemade hot sauce I prepare every time I happen to have too many chilies. Chilies are powerful antioxidants and I personally feel they just make me happy!
I did not give you a type of chilies OR the type of vinegar I use in the recipe, because this formula of a recipe really works with all different kinds of chilies and different kinds of vinegar in my experience. If you are not a lover of extreme heat, opt for milder chilies like long red ones or green jalapenos maybe. If you like heat, make sure you throw something spicier in too, or make the whole sauce out of scotch bonnets or bird's eye chilies. Habaneros have an awesome fruity taste and also quite a bit of heat. So, it is up to you and your taste buds.
The same goes for vinegar. I have tried the recipe with white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, and also rice vinegar. All work wonderfully. Only do not use the very strong 40% vinegar used to marinate mushrooms or cucumbers for winter. This would be too strong and will not work here.
Once you are done with the hot sauce, just store it in clean jars in the fridge. It is good for at least 2 months. Probably longer, but I really haven’t managed to not eat it for longer 😊. Also, do not throw away the leftover pulp. Instead use it in curries, chilies, and any other foods that require heat. Just be careful as this is even spicier than the actual sauce with all the seeds in there.
My favorite way to eat the sauce is with scrambled eggs and avocado on rye toast. Or crisp up the cauliflower-like in this recipe here and use the hot sauce. Eggplant is another delicious option. And if you eat chicken, then grilled chicken wings tossed with this hot sauce. Yum!
Homemade Hot Sauce
Cooking time: 1 hour
½ pounds fresh chilies
1 cup of vinegar (see notes)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
Chop the chilies roughly removing the stems but leaving the seeds in (we want the sauce to be HOT and full of flavor).
Add all the ingredients to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer on medium for 20 minutes, then remove from the heat.
Let cool slightly and blend with a stick blender.
Put the mixture through a fine sieve. This step is quite time-consuming. Just let it drip and lightly push down with a spoon now and then. It might also be necessary to reblend (if you feel there is still too much flesh in the seed and skin mixture) and put it through the sieve again.
Store the sauce in clean jars or bottles and drizzle over everything!
A high heel shoe puts your foot in a plantarflexed (foot pointed downward) position, placing an increased amount of pressure on your forefoot. This causes you to adjust the rest of your body to maintain your balance. The lower part of your body leans forward and to compensate for that, the upper part of your body must lean back to keep you balanced.
This is not your body’s normal standing position. The normal s-curve shape of the back acts as a shock absorber, reducing reduce stress on the vertebrae. Wearing high heels causes lumbar (low-back) spine flattening and a posterior (backward) displacement of the head and thoracic (mid-back) spine.
A plantarflexed foot disables you from pushing off the ground with much force. This causes your hip flexor muscles in your legs to work harder to move and pull your body forward. If your hip flexor muscles are chronically overused, the muscles can shorten and contracture can occur. If a contracture occurs, this could lead to flattening of the lumbar (low-back) spine and back pain.
When wearing heels, the knee stays flexed (bent) and the tibia (shin bone) turns inward. This position puts a compressive force on the inside of the knee, a common site of osteoarthritis.
High heels limit the motion and power of the ankle joint. The calf muscles are shortened because of the heel height. The position of the ankle may also cause a shortening of the achilles tendon which increases the pull of the Achilles tendon where it attaches on the back of your heel bone and may cause a condition called insertional Achilles tendonitis.
Wearing a 3 1/4 inch heel increases the pressure on the bottom of the forefoot by 76%. The increased pressure may lead to pain or foot deformities such as hammertoes, bunions, and neuromas. The narrow, pointed toe box that is often found in high heel shoes also causes damage such as corns, callouses and blisters. Things need to be in alignment. It is recommended that you only wear high heels for special occasions and even then only a heel height of 1 1/2 inches.
The friends and clients of Elise who regularly wear heels are being challenged to wear only flats for one month and to chronicle the difference in their bodies. See how you can be involved in the challenge, too!
Elise's course Revive: 30 Days to Vitality, Health & Ease
Along with teaching for YogaDownload, Elise works one-on-one with clients around the globe to help them up-level their energy, turn their new healthy behaviors into habits that last, and discover how best to express their gifts to the world. Elise nurtures her creative streak by producing online courses on a balanced, purposeful lifestyle. Along with giving massage to Denverites, Elise also teaches group yoga classes in central Denver. Elise feels blessed to be able to combine her love of travel with her work by taking yoga and health coaching to workshops and retreat centers around the world. Connect with Elise on her website.
Enjoy one of Elise's amazing yoga classes now!
Open Your Heart to Gratitude with Elise Fabricant
According to eastern health sciences going back decades, every living being is alive and functions because of the life force (or pranic) energy that is circulating throughout their bodies - through channels known as Nadi channels.
Nadi channels follow the same path around the body as our sympathetic nervous systems. There are so many energy channels that are flowing around our body, connecting every part of our bodies to each other.
Ayurveda sciences and yoga make use of these channels connecting our bodies and flowing energy to harness the power of prana energy. Prana energy can flow seamlessly around our bodies when the Nadis are strong and clear. But if we have blockages in our Nadis, energy flow can slow and ebb, leading to health issues and complications.
Certain types of yoga, especially Hatha types of yoga, talk about the balance of the sun and the moon energy in our bodies to achieve a balance between the mind, the body, and the soul. When performing yoga asanas, hand gestures (or mudras), pranayamas (breath control) and binds and locks, these energies can build up and flow up the body along the spinal cord, merging with the main Nadi, or the Sushumna Nada at the third eye chakra, which is located between the eyebrows.
When this happens, the Sushumna Nadi can create a force that opens all the chakras together towards the Sahasrara Chakra, which helps to lay the path towards enlightenment. This is one of the major goals for many people who practice Hatha yoga.
How many Nadis are there?
According to yoga texts, there can be at least 72,000 nadis that circulate energy around the human body - but this number can be as high as 350,000! It’s impossible to single out each individual Nadi - however there are 14 important Nadis and 3 main Nadis.
The 14 Important Nadis consist of:
1. Alambusha Nadi
This Nadi helps to bring energy to the organs and parts of the body that eliminate toxins and waste. It goes all the way up the body to the mouth.
2. Gandhari Nadi
The Gandhari Nadi begins at the Muladhara Chakra, at the base of the spine, and ends up at the Anja, or third eye, chakra. This provides energy to your left eye!
3. Hasti Jeeva Nadi
This Nadi provides energy to our arms and legs, and begins again at the Muladhara chakra and the end of the spine, and ends at the Manipura Chakra, which is behind the navel.
4. Ida Nadi
The Ida Nadi begins at the Muladhara Chakra and then, ends at the left nostril, and is said to activate the left brain. This can promote feelings of emotion and love, as it brings lunar and cooling energy to the brain.
5. Kuhu Nadi
This Nadi begins at the throat and ends at the genitals, and brings energy to this area.
6. Payaswini Nadi
The Payaswini Nadi begins at the right side, and flows up the body to end at the right ear.
7. Pingala Nadi
Said to promote perception and analysis, the Pingala Nadi begins on the right side and ends at the right nostril. It’s also known as solar, or heating energy.
8. Pusha Nadi
Beginning at your Muladhara Chakra, and ending at the third eye Chakra, this Nadi provides energy to your right eye.
9. Saraswati Nadi
This Nadi powers your mouth, tongue and throat. It begins at the Muladhara Chakra and ends at the Vishuddhi Chakra, which is located at the base of the throat.
10. Sankhini Nadi
Bringing energy to your left ear, this Nadi begins at the Muladhara chakra and ends at the Ajna chakra.
11. Sushumna Nadi
Again, beginning at the Muladhara Chakra, this Nadi ends at the crown of the head at the Sahasrara Chakra, this Nadi is the central Nadi that flows prana to the other Nadis around the body.
12. Varuna Nadi
This Nadi brings energy to the whole body through the nervous system. It begins at the Muladhara chakra and ends at the Anahata chakra.
13. Vishwadhara Nadi
Providing energy to the digestive system, this Nadi begins at the Muladhara chakra and ends at the Manipura chakra.
14. Yashaswini Nadi
Finally, the Yashaswini Nadi brings energy to the right limbs, through the Muladhara chakra and ends at the Manipura chakra.
The Three Main Nadis
Out of these 14 important Nadis, there are three main Nadis, which are Ida, Pingala, and Sushumna. Ida and Pingala are said to be the two major energy pathways, flowing either side of the main nadi, the Sushumna nadi.
The Ida Nadi is known as the passive left channel, and also the lunar energy channel. It represents feminine energy in the body, which is the passive, yin energy of the body. Flowing on the left side of the main nadi, it deals with mental energy, and is linked to the moon. People who have dominant Ida energy are said to be nurturing and intuitive.
The Pingala Nadi is known as the active right channel, and also the tawny energy channel. It represents the masculine energy in the body. It is the active and young energy channel of the body. Flowing on the right side, its energy compliments the Ida Nadi. Linked to the sun, Pingala energy makes us creative, and confident.
Sushumna Nadi is the main nadi, and passes through the center of our spines. This nadi represents the balance between all the sets of energy in our bodies, when we balance this energy we can awaken higher consciousness.
Geenie Celento - Sri Vidya Yoga
Life Force Project - Gentle & Accessible Yoga: Subtle Body Awareness
Alanna Kaivalya - Energetic Awakening: Understanding the Nadis
If you’ve been practicing yoga for any length of time, you’re aware the practice works in ways that aren’t linear, aren’t clear-cut, and aren’t often explainable. Even though yoga is a science and a philosophical system, its benefits go much deeper than what can be seen by the naked eye. Yoga impacts us on the level of our subtle body, which expands beyond the Western understanding of anatomy and physiology.
Each of us is made up of three bodies: the gross or physical body (Stula Sharira), the subtle body (Sukshma Sharira), and the causal body (Karana Sharira). The physical body consists of what we can touch and see: our muscles and skeleton. It forms the Annamaya Kosha, the coarsest of the five sheaths. It is vital to craft a yoga practice which benefits our entire system.
One way to visualize the subtle body is as a blueprint of our physical body. Energy channels called Nadis carry energy throughout the body, like electricity through a machine. The Sushumna Nadi runs along the spine from Muladhara (Root) Chakra to the Sahasrara (Crown) Chakra. Two other primary Nadis, the Ida and Pingala, flow through us in spiraling energy centers known as chakras. In Sanskrit, chakras mean “wheels of light.”
When we practice yoga, we impact our body, our mind, our emotions on the deep level of the subtle body. Different asanas and pranayama impact the way we feel, not just in our muscles and bones, but in our life perspective. Different asanas and combinations of asanas enable us to feel differently from the inside out.
For example, Dhanurasana (Backbend) is a challenging posture that strengthens and opens the spine, shoulders, and legs. This position stimulates your Anahata (Heart) chakra and opens your Visshuda (Throat) chakra and is energizing and uplifting for mood. Forward folds like Paschimottanasa (Seated Forward Fold) are more introspective asanas where you open the muscles of the posterior chain of your body while quieting the nervous system. So, if you need to lift your mood, try heart openers, and if you need to calm or soothe your soul, fold forward. Understanding how asanas can balance out the energy within you can help you stay healthy in every level of your being.
You'll have a chance to explore these various yogic systems of your body in this week's classes. Savor the joy in knowing you are changing your thoughts and emotions by stepping onto your yoga mat. There’s no need to understand all the intricacies of the subtle body (unless you want to!) in order to garner all the benefits. Happy practice!
Chickpeas are one of my favorite ingredients. They are extremely versatile, they work well in curries, vegetable patties, salads, and even in desserts. To be honest, sometimes I eat them straight out of a jar. Not often, but it does happen in some busy times when I don’t even have time to shop for fresh produce. Fortunately, I am quite good with time management and these times do not happen often. Besides – I don’t think that 10 minutes to prep a full meal is that much and this is about how long this simple recipe takes. If you are good with knives you most likely only need 5 minutes to make the salad. But even the most inexperienced cooks should be ready with the salad in 10 minutes.
The secret to this recipe lays in the sauce. The combination of tahini, lemon, and yogurt is irresistible with just about anything and I often use it as a dip for fresh cucumber.
To make a full meal out of it, chickpeas are a wonderful addition. Feel free to swap out any veggies you don’t like or just add in more different veggies – peppers, radishes, or anything else you fancy. For tomatoes, I am very lucky to have several relatives who grow their own, so I have a wide variety of different colors and sizes to play with right now. If you only have regular red tomatoes, just use those. And in case you wish to make a bigger batch ahead of time go ahead and do it, but keep the tomatoes and cucumbers separately and mix them in right before eating as otherwise they make the salad watery.
Filing Chickpea Salad with Tahini Dressing
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Serves: 2
1 tbsp tahini
Juice from ½ lemon
½ cup Greek yogurt
Salt and pepper, to taste
3 spring onions
A small handful of fresh coriander
2-3 small cucumbers
2-3 larger tomatoes
14 oz of chickpeas
Instructions: Start from the sauce – mix tahini with lemon juice and a tiny bit of salt to loosen it up a little. Then mix in yogurt and season with salt and pepper.
Chop up the onions, coriander, tomatoes, and cucumber.
Mix the chickpeas, chopped veggies, and the sauce, have another taste to make sure the seasoning is on point, and share the salad with a friend!
The graceful gifts of yoga include the attainment of higher consciousness, health, abundance, love, and harmony. Yoga naturally yields all attributes of yogam - which means good luck in Tamil. Yoga, in the Western sense, spearheads this awakening, even if it is considered a simple exercise for health benefits and fashion, instead of a spiritual discipline; the taste of a drop of honey will eventually lead to the honey pot of higher consciousness.
The body is an effective tool to lead the mind towards the inner core of realization. By yoga, we refer to various styles of “Hatha” yoga as practiced in the West – the sequences of physical postures and the inner journey created through this practice. If you're newer to yoga, we recommend utilizing simple practices like traditional Sun Salutation sequences to experience the teachings below.
Below are some of the more esoteric benefits, lessons, and secrets of the teachings of yoga:
1. Yoga is a journey through breath and consciousness: “Ha” and “Tha” of Hatha yoga mean the intertwining of Sun and Moon energies of the breath. Hatha yoga is in reality the journey of consciousness through breath. The right breath is the Sun and the left breath is the Moon. The sages call these two breath streams the inner rivers through which we ride through awareness. By being aware of our breath in its Sun and Moon energy, we are able to utilize the natural currents of the breath via yoga. To swim along with the predominant breath and to stimulate the Sun breath and the Moon breath equally enables us to flow with the inner currents of the mind and consciousness. To know breath and the source of breath is to know life, death, and our spiritual immortality. Harnessing breath, we can awaken to the wisdom of our spiritual self.
2. Yoga awakens gratitude: Our consciousness begins from each cell and each cell could owe its existence to our parents. One of the initial steps of awakening consciousness is to acknowledge our Father and Mother in gratitude, both literally and symbolically. Through the first round of Sun Salutation, we utilize the asana sequence of the left to visualize and express gratitude to our Mother – the Moon breath. Likewise, we utilize the sequence of the right to visualize and express gratitude to our Father – the Sun breath. By acknowledging our Father and Mother (as in thought, dedication, and gratitude) who are the seeds that created our body, and who are part of the thinking process we possess, we shift our body consciousness and field of energy.
When we are thankful and grateful to our parent’s unconditional love from the moment of our birth, we are able to vitalize every cell of our body into a state of wellbeing. Moving towards higher consciousness begins with gratitude. Focusing on gratitude can pave the way to the present moment and this is where the yoga practice begins.
3. Yoga activates the root chakra: The success of the inner journey, Kundalini awakening, and journey to higher consciousness relate to the strength and power of the root chakra. The root chakra, once activated through yoga, holds the key to the wellbeing of the body in physical reality, as well as in the spiritual essence, and this creates a strong foundation of harmony. The root chakra (Muladhara) can be activated through the bandhas (the inner lock, called the mulabandha), visualization, and mantra. The Muladhara is our inner foundation.
4. Yoga with mantra can be powerful: The mind and thoughts are vibrations. Mantras are vibration-inducing resonances that shift and transform the frequency of the mind in order to generate thoughts that are more aligned to the energy within the mantra. When we recite mantras throughout our yogic sequences, our breath entwines with the mantra to unravel the higher energies of consciousness within the mantra.
Each chakra or energy center can be activated through the mantras, through breath, and through our awareness. Awakening our inner fire, the Kundalini, we utilize our daily yoga to transform ourselves. When we do yoga simply as a physical exercise without awareness of the sacredness of breath, we are more likely to injure our bodies and not receive the amazing and beautiful benefits of yoga.
5. Yoga activates your Third Eye: All rituals and disciplines lead to the supreme state of being still – the attainment of the vibrant stillness of meditation. This stillness within happens when we find our center. By practicing yoga, we awaken the inner fires that lead to vibrant stillness.
This surge of bliss initially is like a nuclear explosion rushing above the crown chakra. A yogi can direct the explosive energies of the crown chakra towards the third eye to harmonize this inner fire with focus. This third eye focus takes us to the seat of the universe – the magical space that is the meeting point of source and human. Awakening the vast energies within ourselves through breath, asana, and the grace of mantra, we rise to the seat of consciousness, to the third eye.
The third eye is where we can experience samadhi – a state of awareness that exists while being absorbed in meditative oneness. In bringing all the focus through the third eye, we can focus on the energies of bliss, manifested as wisdom and super-normal strength in our physical realities.
The objective of yoga is the attainment of the awareness that you are a spirit having a human experience, or in more practical terms, to be able to bring source energy into your present physical reality moment to moment.
Much of the Hatha yoga styles we have in the West are beautiful hybridizations of the traditional yoga practiced in India, but with a focus on the needs of pro-active modern individuals and directed more towards the body than towards the mind.
6. Yoga can connect you to the five natural elements: The yogi understands that the human body contains all of the universe and Earth. This connection relates to the five elements — Earth, water, fire, air, and ether (the void, space, and infinity).
The yogi understands the divinity and energies of each of the five elements. Each element represents one aspect of the universe. Once this is understood mastery of consciousness can be attained. So in our daily yoga, awareness of our inner journey through the elements paves the way toward wholeness and connection with the outer world.
The body is represented as the earth element. Water represents our fluidity, life force, and our intellect. The fire element represents all the various fires within our body, from digestion to thinking processes. The air element represents our breath, the air we breathe, and our prana. Ether, the infinite void element is our experience of the meditative state. The experience of the element of infinity is bliss and joy.
7. Doing yoga nude (only when appropriate and if possible!) can be powerful: While the idea of practicing yoga in the nude may sound alarming, for a yogi, wearing minimal clothing means practicing in our natural state. Digambara, the sky-clad one, is another name for Lord Shiva, the supreme yogi. Practicing yoga in the nude enables us to integrate the five elements as one body, one being. It can be extremely liberating. If you have the opportunity to practice somewhere private, in nature, it can be extra powerful.
8. Walking, dancing, cycling, and running complement yoga: The yoga practice we do comes originally from the sages who lived in the wilderness of caves and mountains in India. Every day they walked and climbed up hills. Most temples and shrines in India are located up in the hills to facilitate such pilgrimages. Their daily Hatha yoga practice complemented their walking, and their food intake was minimal or optimal.
In our society, we consume far more calories than we need and are exposed to huge blasts of stress energies. Many live without the need to walk on a daily basis. We can transcend this environment by including skipping, walking, dancing, running, and/or cycling to complement our daily yoga practice. I recommend including any additional activity that gives more joyfulness, as joy paves the way to daily discipline.
9. Do your own daily yoga: Utilize a yoga studio or online classes as you would use a walking stick. Yoga classes are for us to learn sequences of asanas, but this is not a substitute for your daily yoga practice. Your daily yoga practice with or without a yoga studio is important for your daily inner journey in its practice, learning, wisdom, and experiences.
There is a deeper wisdom that stems from the yogic perception of time. When we commit to our own daily practice that does not rely on anyone else or other circumstances (such as a yoga studio), we begin to step into a realignment of our 24-hour cycle through the gift of yoga — that of timelessness. Practicing yoga is a powerful form of worship and a journey into timelessness. Each day consists of 24 hours of day and night that limit us. When we step into timelessness just once a day through yoga, we reflect life as though we are the Sun; the Sun does not experience night or day, and so the mind ceases to be limited by the perception of diurnal change.
10. Yoga is tantric: Tantra comes from the pre-vedic teachings of South India, from the Dravidians. The worship of Lord Shiva and Goddess Sakti and its associated yogic teachings was called “Tantiram”, the roots of tantra. Tantiram is to unite source with our human reality through the wisdom of joyfulness. Tantiram wisdom teaches that the root chakra, the Muladhara, holds all the power in our journey towards realization and the journey through consciousness after waking up. The root chakra holds the key to the inner journey.
When we tread the yogic path, we realize the vastness of ourselves; we are like an onion, layered in realities, from the roots all the way to the crown – realities to unite with source. The core of tantra is the experience of orgasmic bliss within each and all layers of reality that we can enhance through our daily yoga. When we awaken to the wholeness of yoga, we transform our primal energies of sex, sensuality, and survival instincts into evolved potent thoughts of manifestation. Our daily yoga is a tool of transforming and evolving through the embrace of wholeness.
By Nandhiji Yogi
Nandhiji is a Siddha Yoga Master, humanitarian & visionary awakening humanity through mystic wisdom, community and service. He is an artist, award-winning, ecstatic chant musician, author and teacher- representing the path of the Liberated Siddhas.
Want to practice yoga for its array of spiritual benefits?
Every person needs to rest. Even the computer, at which you many eight hours or more per day, periodically needs to be recharged. It is important and valuable to know which are the best ways for you to switch gears switch between work and productivity mode into rest and leisure.
With many working from home, the lines between work and home life are blurring. Smartphones that allow us to be in touch 24 hours a day and constantly trying to notify us can make it more challenging to switch out of work mode and into leisure mode. Do you still remember those distant days when the work was not urgent?
While work can seem urgent and like the top priority, it's important to remember that friends, family, children, hobbies, and your life are urgent and important too.
We're not meant to have a 24-hour workday and there's no proof that this will make our lives, well-being, or career better. The key to happiness is balance.
If the balance shifts way too far toward work, then there is a great risk of emotional burnout. Thus, the ability to smoothly move from solving work issues into relaxation, rest, and laziness, will help you not only maintain mental health but also enjoy life and its diversity. Here's how to learn to switch between work and rest quickly.
Meditate or Exercise After Work
Even some professional athletes go through some kind of meditation activity after a competition that helps them to recover from the main activity and let it go. Take this life hack into service, because it is suitable not only for professional athletes but also for ordinary people. Yoga can be a good option too. You can even find suitable online meditation and yoga classes that will fit your time and mood.
Moving your body will help shift gears also. Go to the park, practice yoga, or get off the bus a couple of stops early to walk. You will be surprised by the results. Turn Off Your Cellphone
While your phone is on you might regularly get notifications that grab your attention at an instant. You can put it into airplane mode or turn it off to help you switch off after work is up to you. No one will arrest you for not checking your email after work hours.
When you are driving home or on the subway, the best thing to do with your smartphone is to listen to relaxing music, a funny podcast, or a good audiobook.
Create a Ritual
Taking a bubble bath every evening, preparing dinner listening to your favorite albums, or going to the gym right after work. These habits not only have a positive effect on your body but also help you relax and shift from work to life. Even watching TV helps to take a breath and abstract from the hard-working days. Just don't overdo it and waste the entire evening thoughtlessly switching between channels and plunging deeper into your thoughts. And by the way, leave your phone and laptop charging in another room - you don't need them all of the time.
Use Your Commute as Decompression Time
If you have to sit in traffic, put on your favorite music, recite affirmations, or an inspirational podcast. If you take public transportation, reading is a simple way to give your brain a rest during your commute. It's even possible to meditate on the train. While commuting hours can sometimes feel like a waste of time, but if you utilize these hours to benefit your well-being and shift into and out of work mode, these can be valuable hours in your day.
Be Realistic About Your Worries
Ask yourself, when was the last time something terrible, irreparable, and urgent happened, while you were having fun with friends, reading a fairy tale to a child, or just watching a movie? Let's be honest, our worries are usually unfounded.
The decision to work at night and constantly monitor your tasks is usually a person decision, sometimes out of good motivation, but oftentimes out of fear and guilt, and rarely a requirement of your boss. Of course, there are circumstances when you really need to work overtime, but such situations are not every day. If you're in perpetual workaholism, maybe you haven’t found an interesting hobby to do, you need to control everything, or you want to get excessive approval from superiors.
You have every right to devote some hours in the evening to relax, without feeling guilty, but it has to be your conscious choice. Find what works for you to let go of any workday stress, and shift into leisure mode and can be more present for your loved ones and yourself.
By Angela Johnson
Angela Johnson is a skilled content writer who writes articles on topics like HR, business, education, self-growth, and many others.
Need yoga after work? This yoga challenge for busy people program is for you!
The challenge begins on October 4th! The seasons are shifting, and it is the perfect time to align with nature and release whatever is weighing us down. If you’re feeling stagnant or heavy in your mind, heart, or body, we’re here with a 3-week plan to make it easy to hit the reset button. As a global community, we’ll practice a variety of yoga classes designed to detoxify and destress.
In the Heart of Yoga, T.K.S. Desikachar wrote that one of yoga’s primary functions is to help burn off the “rubbish” or toxins that can build up in our systems. Whether that means learning to shed a series of repetitive negative thoughts, recover from heartbreak, or lose a few unwanted pounds, the practice of yoga provides a framework for us to release extra baggage and shine our inner light. Sometimes life simply bogs us down and a periodic challenge or program can help set us back on track.
Each time you step onto your yoga mat, you have the opportunity to grow stronger, more flexible, and more balanced. Yoga is the time when you can practice self-care and tune into your center. Ask yourself if you are feeling your best or if some aspects of your current life no longer provide you joy. Our needs and desires evolve, so learning to let go of the past and open to the future is vital to feel our best. If we aren’t operating at our optimal levels, we can’t fully engage in our life.
By combining various physical postures like twists, forward folds, and inversions, you’ll stimulate and enhance digestion and elimination. Gentle compression gets your blood circulating efficiently and encourages toxins and waste through your lymphatic system. If our body feels heavy and sluggish, our minds and hearts experience a parallel sense of stagnation.
We can’t claim that joining our 3-week all-levels challenge will fulfill your life on every level, but if you join us, you’ll be planting the seeds for a life where you shine your brightest. Physically, you’ll feel lighter, stronger, and more supple. Mentally, you’ll experience more clarity of thought and intensity of focus. Emotionally, your mood will improve and you’ll be able to truly tune into your personal power.
For many of us, the real challenge is just showing up on the yoga mat every day. Now all you need to do is press play and have the daily class choices and daily inspiration delivered directly to your inbox every morning. Just press play!
Sign up for this challenge, HERE!
Berries are loaded with phytonutrients that prevent cell damage that comes with aging. Studies show that people who eat 2 cups of berries a week experience less mental decline compared to those who don’t. Berries are also known to enhance your immune system and limit your chances of developing Parkinson’s. For those who are looking to lose weight, try to consume 2-4 cups of berries a week. The cayenne and turmeric also help increase fat metabolism which is necessary for weight loss. This healthy smoothie is the perfect replacement for a mid-morning snack; it tastes delicious and will keep you full during the day. Get yourself into the habit of making a healthy smoothie every morning. They are quick and simple to prepare. If you don’t have them in the morning, try having them sometime during the day with a side of something light like a salad or sandwich.
Berry Blast Smoothie
Cup of berries (frozen or fresh)
Cup of leafy greens
Teaspoon of pumpkin/sunflower seeds
Pinch of cayenne/turmeric
Unsweetened rice milk
By Zyana Morris
Zyana Morris is a passionate health and lifestyle blogger who loves to write about prevailing trends.
Want to get better posture with yoga? Try this program!
Depression is not easy to live with, but there are things you can do to help you feel better about yourself. Depression makes it hard to do what you need to do to start feeling better, though. It can drain your energy, drive, and hope. Overcoming depression is not quick or easy, but it is possible.
Here is a useful list of tips for depression and things you can do to help you overcome it, and feel good.
Don't listen to sad music: Listening to sad music won't help you fight depression. A lot of people are drawn to sad music when they're depressed because it validates their thoughts. This can be good for a short time but can keep you in a depressed state if overdone. Ditch the sad music and you'll find yourself feeling better.
Talk to people: If you are depressed, you should discuss your feelings with someone. Be it a medical professional or just a close friend, getting things off your chest can help a lot.
Exercise: One of best ways to beat depression and kick the blues is to become active and exercise. It is not a quick fix to the problem of depression but it is an ongoing way to make life better and gives you something to look forward to. Not only does it release stress, but it makes a person feel better about themselves and gives you some control over your life. It can also help prevent depression from returning.
Yoga: Yoga can help with depression and anxiety significantly.
Be mindful of your language: Try your best to avoid the words "depression" or "depressed" in your vocabulary. While very real, the words "depression" and "depressed" have a lot of extra baggage attached to them and can actually worsen the feelings of hopelessness. When you are upset, say "feeling down" instead. It's easier to think of it as raising your mood levels than battling depression, even though that's what's happening.
Don't accept negative thoughts as factual: In your battle against depression, challenge your negative thoughts. One of the by-products of depression is putting a negative spin on how you see yourself, your future, and situations that you encounter. If you are like many people who suffer from depression, you are a perfectionist and hold yourself to standards that are impossibly high. Permit yourself to be less than perfect and quit beating yourself up if you don't meet the impossible standards you have set for yourself. Negative thoughts will cause depression to become an endless cycle.
Aromatherapy: There is tremendous power in scent. Having a few pleasant-smelling candles burning throughout the house can help you to feel better very easily. One of the best scents for evoking pleasant thoughts is vanilla, although any scent that you like will work.
Be kind to yourself: Do not blame yourself for your feelings of sadness when you have depression. Often times, people think that depression is their fault, when in fact, it is something that is beyond their control. The blame they put on themselves just ends up making their depression symptoms get worse and lowers their self esteem.
Use herbs for support: If you have depression but you do not want to take an anti-depressant, you may want to think of trying an herbal remedy, such as St. John's Wart. Studies have proven that certain herbal remedies are just as effective, if not more effective than prescription anti-depressants. Consult with a doctor before taking herbal remedies.
Groom yourself: A simple tip that is easy to do if you are depressed is to keep yourself clean and groomed. It is easy to sleep a lot and feel too lazy to take a shower when you are depressed. However, staying clean is important to remaining healthy and keeping your spirits high. Just the simple act of brushing your teeth or shaving will improve your mood. Within minutes, you will feel better.
Set goals for yourself: An important way to deal with depression is to make sure that your goals and expectations are realistic. This is important because you are setting yourself up for further depression and disappointment if you are longing for something that is not possible. Be sure to share your wishes and desires to keep yourself in check.
Eat enough: Eat three meals every day when you are feeling low, but don't overdo it. When you are depressed, it may cause you to lose your appetite, but if you don't eat you will feel lethargic, less motivated, and even more down. Your body will not be able to function correctly if you're not taking in enough calories daily. When you eat the right kinds of meals, your body has better energy.
Step outside of your comfort zone: Making an effort to get better might make you uncomfortable and people will often stay depressed because it's comfortable. Attempting to fix your problems may be temporarily uncomfortable but it can lift you out of your depression.
Eay healthy: Freshening up your diet can relieve symptoms of depression. Take a look at your pantry and avoid junk foods and other foods high in sugars and fats. Replace these with healthy foods that offer your body good nutrition. Giving your body the right fuel can allow you to increase your focus on the important things in your life.
Go into nature: A great tip that can help you out of your depression, is to simply spend more time in nature. Nature has amazing healing qualities when it comes to depression. Being out and about in nature will help lift your mood and get you out of your deep depression.
Sleep well: Make sure to get at least 8 hours of sleep every night, and no more than 10 hours. Many times people who are depressed will have sleep problems like insomnia or sleeping too much. Every evening do activities that are calming and relaxing and plan out a sleep schedule for yourself.
As you can see, it is possible to make a huge dent in depression with some lifestyle changes. Feeling better will take you some time, but you can get to where you would like to be if you will make positive choices each day and have the support of others.
By Andy McCoy
Want help feeling and sleeping better? Yoga for Better Sleep and Yoga for Healing.
Diabetes is one of the most common health disorders among people irrespective of age, gender, and ethnicity. Also, it is increasing exponentially over time and has been a never-ending challenge for medical experts throughout the world. In medical terms, diabetes mellitus is a type of metabolic disorder. It involves an increase in sugar or glucose levels in the blood due to insufficient secretion or failed usage of insulin in the pancreas.
While there are many factors that cause diabetes, your improper diet and a sedentary lifestyle can make it a chronic condition. If left untreated, diabetes can become a serious threat to life as it results in the damage of vital organs of the body such as the heart, pancreas, kidneys, nervous system, blood vessels, etc. Also in many cases of alopecia areata, there is a definitive connection between diabetes and hair loss.
While most people seek allopathic treatments for diabetes, one can also help with the condition by making a few changes in the lifestyle. One such amazing lifestyle practice to keep your blood sugar levels normal is Yoga. This ancient practice, which involves synchronized body movements with your breathing, not only boosts the blood circulation and stimulates your organs, but also enhances the metabolic activities in your body. This eventually promotes the chemical activity within the body cells that benefit diabetic patients.
Here are some of the most effective yoga asanas that help you prevent a sudden increase in blood sugar levels and keep it under control.
Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose)
Lie down on your abdomen by keeping your legs straight.
Place your palms beside your last rib cage with your fingers facing towards your head.
Now, lift your trunk and head slowly with the support of your palms. Take a deep inhalation while you do so.
Try to arch your neck gently and look upward.
Make sure that your abdomen and toes are pressed on the floor.
Try to hold yourself in this position for 5 seconds with normal breathing in the beginning. You can extend the duration to 30-40 seconds with regular practice.
Then, drop your chest slowly and gently on the floor. Rest your head and arms on the floor.
Benefits: Bhujangasana is highly beneficial for diabetic people as it stimulates the internal organs while stretching the spine. It helps to tone the reproductive system and boost heart functioning. Also, it helps in relieving constipation problems and acts as a mild therapy for asthma patients.
Dhanurasana (Bow Pose)
Lie down on your abdomen.
Slowly, raise your both legs along with your torso backward.
Now, extend your arms backward and hold your feet with your palms.
Try to pull the feet towards your head slowly as much as you can while you take a deep breath.
Hold in this bow position for 10-20 seconds and then release yourself to the starting position slowly.
Benefits: Dhanurasana helps in strengthening the pancreas and regulating insulin production, which in turn benefits people with high sugar levels in the blood. Also, it helps in resolving digestion problems, backache, sinus, cold, and cough symptoms.
Viparita Karani (Legs Up The Wall Pose)
Sit 3 inches away from a wall while you face the wall.
Lie on your back slowly while you swing your legs upwards along the wall.
Bring your tailbone towards the wall gently such that your thighs rest against the wall comfortably.
Make sure your legs are held straight onto the wall while your feet are positioned perpendicular to the wall on your heels.
Hold yourself in this position as long as you can while you take deep breaths.
Benefits: Viparita Karani enables proper lymphatic drainage. It evens out blood circulation and controls stress hormones in your body. This eventually reduces high blood sugar and blood pressure within your body. Also, it helps in fighting pain or inflammation related to your back and hip.
Ardha Matsyendrasana (Sitting Half Spinal Twist)
Sit in a straight position while keeping your legs outstretched in front.
Bend your right leg and place your right foot on the outside of your left knee. The toes of your right foot should face forward while you do so.
Now, bend your left leg and position your left foot close to your right buttock. The outside edge of your left foot should be in contact with the floor.
While you keep your spine erect, grab your right foot with your left hand firmly.
Place your right hand behind you and twist your trunk, shoulders, and neck towards your right side.
Hold in this pose for 10-20 seconds and return to the initial position slowly.
Now, repeat the pose on the other side.
Benefits: Ardha Matsyendrasana helps in stimulating the abdominal organs and lowering blood sugar. It helps in boosting your immune system. Also, it is very useful to relieve tension, stress, and breathing difficulties.
Paschimottanasana (Seated-forward Bend)
Instructions: Sit down and stretch out your legs straight.
Bring your hands up over your head with fingers pointing towards the ceiling.
Slowly, bring down your hands and touch the toes with your fingers while your knees are maintained in a straight position.
Hold yourself in this position for a minute with normal breathing.
Benefits: Paschimottanasana balances the insulin levels in your blood and thus helps in controlling diabetes. It helps in weight loss and lowers blood pressure. Also, it helps in relieving anxiety and stress disorders.
Halasana (Plow Pose)
Lie down on your back by keeping your legs straight.
Slowly, lift your legs perpendicular to your abdomen and keep them together and straight.
Raise your buttocks gently by applying thrust on your arms.
Now, continue to bend your spine slowly until your big toes reach the floor over your head. However, do not force your toes to touch the floor.
Keep your spine as straight as possible with the support of your arms.
Now, try to interlock your hand fingers slowly.
Tuck your chin in the center of your collar bones and hold in this position for 5-15 seconds while you take deep breaths.
To release from the pose, lower your spine gently and position your legs vertically. Then, bring your legs down to the floor slowly and relax your body.
Benefits: Halasana is tremendously beneficial to prevent sudden spikes in blood sugar levels. It helps in stimulating thyroid glands, enhances blood circulation, and combat stress. Also, it is useful to deal with GI tract disorders and insomnia.
Savasana (Corpse Pose)
Instructions: Lie down on your back by resting your arms at your sides and keeping your legs straight.
Keep your palms facing upwards and your feet drop open.
Now, close your eyes and relax your body as well as mind.
Keep your breathing normal and let your body feel heavy and relaxed on the ground.
Stay in this asana for 5-10 minutes.
To release yourself from the pose, start with gentle movements such as wiggling your toes and fingers to bring awareness to your body.
Then, roll to your right side slowly and lift yourself into a comfortable seated position.
Savasana should be the last position of your Yoga practice for the day.
Benefits: Savasana helps in cooling down your body and brings ultimate calmness to your body and mind. It is great for people dealing with most of the health ailments including cardiac problems, respiratory problems, high blood pressure along with diabetes.
Yoga is one of the best gifts from our ancient sages to stay healthy and fit by bringing harmony to your body, mind, and soul.
By Soumya Taylor
If you want to give your overall health a good boost, the Yoga for Detox program will help!
This week is all about reminding yourself that true wellness begins with a stable foundation. Establishing alignment from the ground up is key to being stable and powerful––inside and out. Whether both feet are planted on the earth or you’re balancing on one leg, you are building strength and fortifying your mental and physical awareness. Yoga classes focused on standing asanas help you embody a sense of profound connection with yourself and the world around you.
Physically, standing poses cultivate proper posture, including aligning your bones and joints from the feet to the crown of your head. Standing asanas from the simple Tadasana or Mountain Pose to the more complex Virabhadrasana or Warrior poses and to Vrksasana or Tree pose, develop both muscular and bone strength. Whenever you’re practicing standing yoga poses, you’re also working your joints through their full range of motion, enhancing mobility and flexibility. Standing poses assist in building core awareness and power, which are required to maintain excellent posture and prepare the body for deeper poses.
These active asanas benefit mental and emotional health through an emphasis on regulating breath and focusing your gaze. Filtering out distractions and concentrating on a single point of focus, encourages calmness and clarity in our minds. If you fail to focus when you’re balancing on one leg, you’ll topple over. Even in poses like Trikonasana or Triangle, you may have wobbled and had to continually work to achieve a sense of balance and peace. Cultivating self-discipline on the yoga mat creates mindfulness, which is key to remaining steady regardless of external circumstances.
Standing poses remind us we are connected to the earth beneath our feet and the vast world around us. Comfort exists in reminding ourselves that we are an integral part of nature. These steadying postures help us feel more alive by allowing our energy to flow freely, our circulation to improve, and our awareness to deepen. When we focus on these active standing postures, we create a sense of physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Try this week’s yoga classes at home and experience a renewed sense of stability.
Michelle Smith - Stand Tall Like The Trees
Patrick Montgomery - Focus on Form: Standing Poses
Dia Draper - Get Up, Stand Up