Yoga, Health, and Wellness Articles + Recipes

It’s estimated that about 9% of the American population practices yoga. Most of them are women, but the practices is slowly gaining popularity with the male species among us as the yogic path becomes more and more necessary to live a full and balanced life in these stressful modern day times. But shouldn’t everyone be practicing yoga? Here are 5 compelling reasons why the 9% should become 100%!

How would you feel if you allowed yourself to seek all that you wanted? What would it feel like to want, free of societal filters and expectations? What would happen if you stopped the incessant cycle of self-sabotagement?

What on Earth!? It happened: the idea was born, the perfect studio space emerged, the lease was signed, the walls went up, the floor went down, and the collaborators gathered. Even the smallest of the pre-opening details were somewhat thrilling; as we stepped forward in the creation of Earth, our new yoga studio in Boulder, Colorado.

About a year ago I started practicing yoga on my own. Before, I was never one to practice alone. After all, why should I stay home and practice by myself when I can go to YogaWorks? You might be one of those people who also doesn’t want to miss out on the social vibe of public classes, and I don’t blame you. Or maybe you don’t feel like you know enough of yoga sequencing and alignment to be on your own. In that case, you can either take mental note of what you see in class and replicate it, or read up a sequence online. Even though safety is still priority, if you are looking for a simple, solid home practice you can figure a few poses out work for you specifically and get all the benefits of a self-imposed structure.

Summer solstice was on Monday, complete with a beautiful strawberry full moon (something I was informed of after the fact and apparently this strawberry stuff only happens once every 70 years!). Solstices and equinoxes are important to me because they signify a change in season. Just as Mother Nature changes throughout the seasons, so do human beings. Now is a good time to contemplate how your routines, practices, and needs are changing as we officially enter summer.

If you practice vinyasa flow yoga, the reality is you’re going to spend a lot of time bearing weight on the delicate structures of your hands and wrists. The problem is that this is not their intended function. For example, when was the last time, save a social media campaign, you walked to the grocery store on your hands? As the action of weight bearing through the hands is a bit unnatural, it can potentially introduce discomfort, pain, and even injury into your yoga practice.

About a year ago I shared an article about the Ayurvedic perspective on circadian rhythm. In it, I shared how different times in the day have different qualities associated with them, thus making certain times more appropriate for specific activities.

Like all livelihoods, teaching yoga comes with challenges that can lead to burnout if they’re not managed. Here are five essential tips to help you manage the stresses of teaching yoga so that you can savor your career and guide your students without crashing and burning.

At first, the idea of writing might seem as daunting as yoga is to some people- How do you start? Are there any rules? What exactly do you do? There are always these unsure moments when you try something new. Think back to the first time you were given a mat to unroll onto the ground and step onto bare feet. The setup that once felt so foreign might become a native part of how you begin your yoga practice now.

Today, I’m offering up another video for you post-travel. If you forget to stretch during the trip itself, at least take some time to decompress afterward with some yoga you can do in bed.

For many, it is has become important to distinguish between “asana,” or the performing of postures, and yoga. Both those who are inclined towards yoga as a fitness regimen, and those who embrace it as more than just exercise, find it necessary to clarify the intent and purpose behind their practice. This compartmentalisation, while convenient and often useful, brings with it a dilemma, the resolution to which determines what is actually possible with yoga.

Ancient yogis came to construct a worldview where they appreciated the world as viewed through the lens of karma – as actions that were meaningful because they could be accounted for. One might say that one of the primary goals of these ancient yogis was to know what could and what would happen next.

Yoga is for everybody. But, not every yoga posture is for everybody—including Chaturanga Dandasana. For many practitioners, the pose is simply too demanding to be done with safe, stable alignment.

A few weeks ago I was at a networking event for executive women when I heard a phrase that I haven’t heard for a while (it wasn’t a yoga term…!).

Hey Guys, I hope you’re doing amazing wherever you are right now and focusing on crushing it before the Summer Holidays (or Winter for my Southern hemisphere peeps). Today I decided to give you guys some very cool Productivity Tips as this is another thing people always ask me about…”Hayley, how do you get so much done when you’re so busy?”

Last week I got the amazing opportunity to help assist a workshop at a corporate event, where my fellow teacher and I were tasked with teaching people yoga you can do at work.

The Yoga Sutras say that our movements should be steady and sweet – and they’re right. But that doesn’t make it easy.

A few weeks ago, I learned that I had been doing a yoga pose wrong for the entirety of my time practicing yoga. It took about 7 years for anyone to tell me otherwise, so I want to share the knowledge with you here today so that you can be an informed yoga practitioner.

I picked this topic because honestly I stood in awe after the event we did on Mother’s Day for my non-profit, Girls Elevate. It came to me before the event … for days leading up to it actually. But I was preparing a thank you note to all the people who were there after the event, and I was in awe of the support that came so easily. And then when I looked at that list, I realized that all those people were there in service with their gift, their passion, their purpose, their love of …whatever it was they were offering up.

Befriend yourself If we are concerned with self-improvement or cultivating physical disciplines, we can be quite hard on ourselves, especially when things aren’t going as well as we’ve hoped or planned. Off the mat, there are sure to be times we disappoint ourselves, failing to live up to some ideal expectations. Instead of chastising or punishing yourself, or suppressing behaviours that you think are beneath you, can you instead be kind to whatever it is inside of you that is calling out for help? Can your kindness be unconditional? When your thoughts dive into dark places, instead of wishing you were feeling something else, can you listen, befriend yourself, and see what you may need to feel better?

Sometime within the last year, a friend of mind asked about a nagging ankle injury. He had just recently gotten into yoga but wasn’t sure if yoga was helping or hurting his ankle recovery. Specifically, he wanted to know how you know when you need to strengthen, stretch, or rest.

I haven’t even begun to try and process Prince’s death. I can’t seem to find the middle ground between dancing and crying. The day he passed, I listened to his music until I fell asleep. Before sleep came, I scrolled video after video, article after article … I couldn’t get enough. My eyes were bloodshot I was so tired.

Ever wondered what the difference is between a yin class and a restorative class? Or maybe you even wonder what this yin yoga is in the first place! Yin yoga is a relatively new “form” of yoga that has become popular in the past decade or so. While the practice itself has always existed, the practice as it’s offered today in studios across the world has evolved. Today I’d like to offer you my perspective on the yin practice and give you a little experience.

Backbends are demanding and invigorating. They require a combination of flexibility and strength that can vary from person to person. They require patience and preparation. Often our ability to backbend in big and deep ways can be limited by muscular and soft tissue tightness across the front of the hips, around the numerous connections of the spine itself, and across the front and back of the shoulders. Here are three warm ups focused on stretch and release of these regions to help you deepen your backbends.

“Calm mind brings inner strength and self-confidence, so that’s very important for good health.” ~ Dalai Lama