Yoga, Health, and Wellness Articles + Recipes

Whether you celebrate Hannukah, Christmas, or Kwanza, it’s that hectic yet slow time of the year. Add in that we’re in the midst of Mercury Retrograde––the time when the planet of communication is traveling backward––and you may be feeling off your game. It’s the time of year to release expectations and attachment to how the next few weeks will unfold. According to Patanjali’s Eight Limbed-Yoga Path, the final Yama is Aparigraha which is: A=”not”, the absence of, the freedom from Parigraha=hoarding or collecting. In other words, Aparigraha means not being greedy and not attaching too much importance to possessions, outcomes, and even relationships. Yes, this concept can be confusing. In relation to the holidays, it can be a reminder not to worry too much about what you cannot control.

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that the holidays are one of the busiest times of the year! Despite our best intentions to maintain our healthy routines and remain balanced and grounded, we often find ourselves feeling stressed out. If you usually practice active, flowing styles of yoga, it might be the perfect time to slow down and focus more on Yin yoga to tide you over to 2024. Yin yoga is a quieter style of yoga that soothes your nerves and relaxes your fascia, tendons, and ligaments. Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced yogi, you can adapt Yin yoga to your individual abilities and needs.

It may sound like a contradiction to discuss flowing and stillness as co-existing, but they actually go hand in hand. Learning to still or quiet your mind and focus on your breath flowing through your body enables you to find your zone, where you stop doing and you’re simply being. When you’re able to filter out distractions, you’re able to access a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process. Perhaps you feel in the zone when you are totally immersed in a favorite activity, like running, surfing, dancing, or gardening.

You may have heard the terms flexibility and mobility used interchangeably but although they are complementary, there are distinctions. Think of flexibility as the muscle’s ability to stretch passively. Mobility incorporates flexibility but also requires strength to actively move a joint through its full range of motion. It’s important to work on both flexibility and mobility and guess what? Yoga provides a way to improve and maintain both. Mobility and flexibility provide a myriad of benefits to help you feel your best. The combination of both helps you move your body through your full range of motion, whether you’re swinging a golf club, picking up a heavy box, or flowing through chatarangua dandasana. When your muscles are tight or inflexible, they can create restriction of the joints and restrict range of motion.

Are you ready to feel energized and empowered and embark upon your day? Or do you just feel like lounging on your couch or staying in bed with the covers over your head? If you’ve been feeling stressed out or simply lethargic, yoga is one of the most powerful ways to lift your spirits and feel better. Often, we feel depleted because we are focusing on external events, or we’ve slipped into a pattern of being sedentary. This week, take some time to rebuild your strength, mentally, emotionally, and physically.

How do you usually begin your day? And have you noticed how different your day is depending on whether you start out with a ritual or start out running around? Mindset or perception is everything and is a vital concept in yoga philosophy. According to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, humans suffer because of our perception. If we can change our viewpoint, if we can polish the lens through which we see the world, we will encounter less suffering.

We’ve just survived another time change! In the Northern Hemisphere, we’re moving into Winter with shorter days and much, much longer nights. Even if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere and entering summer, you’ve experienced a change in nature, as well. We’re all connected to the earth and life flows along so much more smoothly when we align with the changes in season. Transitions are excellent moments to breathe and experience the shifts. If you usually gravitate toward intense style yoga classes because you feel like you need more work, why not try something different! We promise that a slow flow class won’t be boring or effortless.

Renowned yoga teacher, B.K.S. Iyengar based his system of yoga on proper alignment. He backed up his methods with theory that resonated not just when he was alive but stands the test of time, regardless of what style of yoga you practice. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned yogi––technique matters. There is no perfect pose, but by learning what works best for your body, you can create a yoga practice that will help you feel your best, inside and out. We all have different anatomies, starting from our bones, our joints, our muscles, and our innate ability to move. You don’t have to be naturally flexible or strong to practice yoga.

Hello fellow travelers, how are you feeling this week? Have you been consistent in your practice? Are you feeling grounded yet energized, calm yet revitalized? If you’re on the road right now or just returned from a vacation or work trip, it’s possible you’ve skipped yoga and regular workouts. You’re not alone but never fear, we’re here to keep you on track and/or ignite your desire to step back onto your mat. Part of why we created YogaDownload is for yogis who prefer to practice at home. But another part of our vision was to provide a portable platform (hello App!) so you can maintain your flexibility, mobility, and fitness when you’re on the road. And once you’ve returned home, you can press play and center yourself in familiar territory. Stepping back into your routine will have you feeling balanced in no time.

You know how you’re accustomed to powering off your phone or computer when it’s not working properly? You’ve tried everything else but sometimes the only thing that fixes the issue is shutting it down. Allow the screen to fade to black and hit the pause button before starting over fresh. Well, sometimes, we need to power off our brains, our bodies, and our hearts. Between global events and our personal lives, sometimes it is simply time for a total reset. By implementing rituals like yoga, meditation, and pranayama, we can clear out the noise from the inside out and reset our systems to better handle whatever may be unfolding next in our lives.

Take a moment and recall how you felt the last time you stood up after spending hours sitting at your desk or taking a long drive. How was your posture? How did your lower back feel? This week we’re digging into how important it is to keep your hips and legs mobile and flexible. Our lower bodies house the body’s largest muscles and our hip joints are impacted by several muscles, ligaments, and tendons. For you to move your lower body––walk, dance, run, practice yoga––the hip flexors, extensors, abductors, adductors, and rotators must be strong yet supple. The pelvis needs to be stable but also mobile. Think of your lower body as the foundation to staying physically fit.

Are you ready to feel your most harmonious? One of the best ways to achieve harmony inside and out is to align with nature. We’ve recently celebrated the Summer or Winter Solstice, depending upon where you live on the planet. The word solstice comes from the Latin word sol meaning sun and sister meaning means “to stand still.” It’s the perfect time to check in and see just how balanced you are feeling, both internally and externally. Whether you’re looking forward to longer days and more sunshine or savoring the crispness in the air as we move into Autumn, take a moment to reflect on how you are feeling. One of the beauties of practicing yoga is the ability to shift your practice on the mat to what is occurring in the world around you. Life is all about balance. Yin and Yang are opposites, just like masculine and feminine energy, light and dark, and waking and sleeping.

“The Rest is just as important as the Work” = Words to live by and why we’re offering four fabulous classes to help you wind down and get a great night’s sleep. Maybe work is hectic right now or you’re navigating some challenges in your personal life or maybe you’ve been having way too much fun! Whatever the cause, the result is you’re sacrificing sleep and aren’t feeling your most vibrant. We get it. Life happens. But the Yin is as important as the Yang! We’ve got a few tips to help you either create or resurrect an evening ritual that will have you snoozing soundly and waking up feeling ready to embrace the day.

In yoga, we focus on the intertwined physical, mental, and emotional bodies. Yoga classes targeting your core address all three. When you become truly strong and stable in your core, you’ll have self-confidence, efficient digestion and assimilation, a healthy spine, and toned abdominals. The benefits of focusing on your core run deeper than simple aesthetics and muscular strength. Your core is comprised of not just your abdominals but also your back and glutes. When you create a toned powerhouse, you’re building a girdle of strong supple muscles to support your spine and prevent back pain. Working your core is important because it impacts every movement you take from walking, yoga, sports, and daily activities.

Yoga is not only a practice for relaxation and flexibility but can also be an effective tool for weight loss. While it may not provide the same intensity as high-impact cardio exercises, yoga offers a holistic approach to weight management. It combines physical movement, breath control, and mindfulness to promote overall well-being and support healthy weight loss. Through a combination of asanas (poses), pranayama (breathing techniques), and meditation, yoga helps create harmony between the body and mind. It cultivates self-awareness, reduces stress levels, and enhances mindfulness around eating habits. By addressing both physical and emotional factors that contribute to weight gain, yoga provides a sustainable approach to weight loss.

When you’re choosing a yoga class, do you immediately avoid Vinyasa because you believe you must have a certain level of fitness and strength? Don’t be intimidated by Vinyasa Flow Yoga––there’s a class suited for your unique abilities. If you have physical limitations, are recovering from an injury, are new to yoga, or are approaching your golden years, there is a class for you. The definition of Vinyasa comes from Sanskrit and means to place in a special way. This style of class usually links the asanas to the breath in a continuous flow. The focus on breathing with the movement helps you quiet your mind and settle into sensations arising inside and out.

Whether you’re looking to relieve tension or increase your upper body strength, yoga can help. Focusing on your upper body in yoga will improve your posture and help with circulatory and respiratory function so you feel stronger and more open, inside and out. Over the last few years, there’s a new term called “tech neck” or “smartphone neck.” If you work long hours at a computer or stare down at your phone all day, your shoulders round forward and your neck grows tense and stiff from remaining in an unsupported position.

What’s your go-to when you need to lift your mood and shift your mindset? Call us biased but we believe yoga is one of the best ways to balance your emotions. The most powerful benefits of a regular yoga practice are intangible: a more positive mindset, a sense of lightness, and an ability to remain calm under pressure. Whether you want to feel relaxed or feel invigorated, yoga profoundly impacts your nervous system. Asana, pranayama, and meditation can lower your blood pressure, regulate your heart rate and reduce cortisol levels, which will simply help you feel happier.

Whether you suffer occasional back pain or are recovering from an injury, yoga is an excellent modality to keep your spine healthy. Spending time giving your back some love will ease pain, relax tight muscles, and help maintain excellent posture. This week we’re featuring some great new classes to do just that.

Ready to feel revitalized? One of the best ways to reach peak physical, mental, and emotional health is with HIIT workouts. We live busy lives and on the days when you need both a workout and your yoga practice, fusion classes allow you to have it all. This week, we’ve got four energy packed Yoga + HIIT Fusion practices to help you feel your best. If you’re not familiar with HIIT, it is one of the most time-efficient calorie burning and muscle building workouts around. High-intensity Interval Training is composed of short periods of high intensity exercise to increase your heart rate alternated with low resistance exercise to allow your heart rate to recover.

What yoga class would be complete without giving your hamstrings some love and attention? While most practices contain hamstring stretches, this week’s classes are specially designed to focus on creating strong, supple hamstrings. First, a quick anatomy review: Your hamstrings are comprised of three muscles running down the back of your legs from the hip to the knee joint. They are the biceps femoris, the semimembranosus, and the semitendinosus. The biceps femoris is located on the lateral/outer part of your leg and extends your hip joint and helps bend your knee. The semimembranosus is the middle hamstring and flexes your knee joint, extends your hip joint, and medially rotates your hip and lower leg. The semitendinosus is located between the other two muscles with similar duties to the semimembranosus.

Do you know that feeling, the one when your mind and body are working in perfect synergy? It’s in those moments you’re living fully in the present moment. Your thoughts and your actions are aligned and you’re the strongest version of yourself. This state of being is ideal but it takes practice and discipline to settle your busy brain. You’ve probably heard the expression “quiet the monkey mind” in yoga. Visualize your mind as a windowless room with a troop of wild monkeys in play mode––zooming around, bouncing off the walls, babbling and distracting you from finding a sense of calm. If you allow the mindless chatter to take over, you’ll have a tough time finding your mind body connection.

Who is ready to create a little bliss from the inside out? Sometimes creating a sense of Santosha or contentment is as simple as slowing down for some self-care. Life is all about balance and Yin yoga is the perfect practice to soothe your soul, create more mobility in your joints, and balance your internal organs. This quieter style of yoga will help you feel fantastic emotionally, mentally, and physically.

Some days you feel like focusing on backbends, some days you want to open your hips, and some days you want a step-by-step class to master your handstand. Plenty of specialty yoga classes will help you narrow your focus and pursue specific goals. Some days, however, you want a practice that’s going to address your head to toe health: enter Full Body Yoga! While there are numerous benefits to focusing on a single body part or seeking a particular feeling like serenity or vitality, one of yoga’s magical benefits comes from its ability to be a complete solution to feeling your best. A well-rounded yoga practice focuses on flexibility, balance, and strength––inside and out.

Who has tight hips? Or maybe the better question is who doesn’t have tight hips? Everything from sitting to running to handling emotional stress contributes to stiffness in the pelvic area. No matter why your hips are tight, yoga can help. And what’s so powerful about hip openers is that when you create an opening in your body, you also create an emotional release. On the physical level, hips include connective tissue and some of our biggest muscles––the glutes––and the psoas muscles in the front of the pelvis. The psoas is the only muscle that starts in the front of the body and finishes in the back body.