Yoga, Health, and Wellness Articles + Recipes

Happy Thanksgiving from our families to yours! This is a wonderful time of year filled with gatherings of loved ones around the dinner table. Why not pick the healthiest options for your holiday spread? We wanted to take this opportunity to share some of our family favorite recipes that we love to make for Thanksgiving. These dishes are healthy, delicious, and are sure to delight the whole family. Jules, as a vegetarian, finds holiday meals frustrating since they are so frequently centered around a meat dish. So she’s come up with a hearty salad featuring roasted beets. It works well as both a main dish or side dish, perfect for the veggie lovers in your life! Looking for more healthy and delicious Thanksgiving options? Check out our Conscious Thanksgiving spread.

Chaos. For as long as I can remember, my life was fundamentally altered and eventually comforted by chaos. If chaos did not physically surround me, it was ever present within my thinking. Experiencing trauma at a young age, I survived by internalizing my pain. I had no tools nor advocate to validate my experience. This shifted my thinking into total victimization. I was engulfed with symptoms of complex PTSD and I was a tourist in a foreign city with no map. Through my adolescent years, up into my early 20’s, I had no coping skills and avoided all discomfort. My mother passed away unexpectedly January 10, 2010 and my life was forever changed. Crippled by grief and overwhelmed by the inability to face the permanence of the situation, eventually lead to my full blown addiction. After years of self medicating, unfathomable consequences, and self sabotaging I finally accepted help and chased after recovery.

Here at YogaDownload.com, we love to help make yoga available to as many people as we can, all over the globe. This week, we are thrilled to introduce our first dedicated Spanish Language Yoga Program: Yoga en Español. According to the World Economic Forum, the world’s most spoken languages are Chinese, Spanish, and English. As of 2018, that means Spanish is the second most spoken language, by roughly 437 million people, primarily in Spain, Latin America, and parts of the United States. Currently, most yoga classes are offered in English, Sanskrit, or some combination of the two. Many students find learning the Sanskrit names for the yoga asanas or postures to be a daunting challenge. Sanskrit isn’t a spoken language, only existing in written form, so it takes a great deal of memorization to learn the pose names. If English isn’t your first language, practicing yoga can be even more challenging due to language barriers.

Si estás leyendo este texto seguramente te interesa o hayas practicado alguna vez yoga. Pero probablemente sólo conozcas una parte muy pequeña de lo que esta práctica milenaria implica. Imagina que estamos en India, hace unos dos mil años, y quieres aprender sobre la práctica del yoga. Los maestros de aquella era te hubiera enseñado primero los Yamas y Niyamas, antes de las asanas y Pranayama (posturas de yoga y control de la respiración). El maestro Patanjali (No está muy claro en que año. Algunos libros lo citan en el 400 ac, otros en la era común, otros en los 300 d.c.) escribió los Yoga Sutras, una recopilación de 196 aforismos o enseñanzas. En estas enseñanzas describe lo que él llamó “8 ramas del yoga”, o guía o pautas para la práctica del yoga como forma de vida:

Stop and take a moment to consider the current state of your yoga practice. Have you fallen into a rut or are you in the process of growth? When is the last time you tried a new class or teacher––maybe one you’ve heard is challenging or different? Have you attempted a new asana lately, perhaps the one that scares you a little bit? If you’ve been practicing for a while, maybe it is time to step out of your comfort zone. The best way to become a more advanced practitioner is to continue to learn about yourself and understand your strengths and your limitations. Remember we are all different: physically, mentally, and emotionally. According to the Yoga Sutras, in the eight-limbed path of yoga, self-study is called Svadyaya and it encompasses seeking within as well as learning from texts and books. Awareness is the sign of an advanced practitioner and one of the greatest indicators of it is your breath.

Feeling a little unchallenged by your yoga practice? Perhaps you’re finding that you can do each pose without struggle, and you’re finding it all a little tedious. It’s time to shake up your practice! With yoga there’s always more advanced variations, or different ways to change up your routine. While you might have seen some advanced yoga poses and instantly thought you’d never achieve them, if you’re finding yourself in a yoga rut, giving yourself a more difficult pose to aim for is a great way to bring some purpose back into your practice. Here’s our run down of some trickier poses to aim for, whether you’re a master yogi, or a relative beginner. 1. Eka Hasta Vrksasana - One Handed Tree Pose

It’s that time of year – sweet treat time! Over the next few months, it’s likely that you’ll be attending holiday parties, cookie exchange, or just have a hankering to do some baking. And, as you know, we’re on a mission to enjoy life while making it healthier. So our cookie recipe today is low sugar, but also nut, seed, grain, dairy, egg, and gluten free. My 2-year-old daughter is allergic to all of the above, so I’m continually looking for ways to make something that she’ll love, as well as any of her friends. That’s a tall list of no-no foods, so finding a flour that checks all of those boxes has made my life so much easier. The secret ingredient in our Raw Cookie Dough Balls is tigernut flour, which is not a nut but a small root vegetable. This little tuber is chock-full of fiber, protein, magnesium and zinc and has a slightly sweet and nutty flavor.

Depression can be enfeebling, and it is not in any way the same thing as being unhappy. Being unhappy can often be connected to a reason that we can trace, but depression is not the same. Many times we cannot determine it back to its cause; it is like swimming in dark water. A feeling of hopelessness sinks in and all the things that we used to enjoy no longer interest us. Depression can cause severe impairment in our daily life. It affects not only our mood but also various other aspects of our life like low energy levels, sexual dysfunction, insomnia, lack of concentration, high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes and so on. A chronic case of depression may require someone to see a therapist. However, if detected at an early stage, there are several ways by which one can come out of it on their own and fight depression before it becomes overbearing. Here are 5 powerful ways you can fight depression!

We don’t know about you, but sometimes if we don’t have time for a full yoga practice, we find it is easy to skip it altogether. Often life becomes hectic and you simply can’t make it onto the mat as frequently as you’d like. Don’t throw in the proverbial towel, instead shift your perspective to seeing how a quickie practice is better than none. We’ve got some great classes to help you squeeze in some yoga on your lunch or workday break. Even a few minutes a day will help you maintain your flexibility, strength, and mental focus. Depending upon the type of work you do, you may need to counteract the effects of sitting at a desk for hours or standing on your feet. Here’s what a quick break can do if you’ve been sitting too long: open up your spine from tailbone to crown, loosen your shoulders, and release your hip flexors. Sitting for long periods can compress your spine and leave you vulnerable to back pain. If you’ve re-read the last sentence on the document you’re working on five times and it still doesn’t make sense that means you need a break. In as little as five minutes, you can change how you are feeling and find clarity.

While we hear a lot about how yoga is great for winding down and relaxation, you may not know that yoga can help productivity. Yes, yoga is a great escape from our busy working lives, but there are many ways that practicing yoga can help us get more work done, increase concentration and send your productivity levels soaring. Here’s 10 ways yoga can help productivity at work. Yoga Relieves Stress Stress is one of the major factors that can affect your health and work productivity. When we’re feeling stressed we sleep less, any illnesses or physical conditions can be exacerbated, and our mental health suffers too.

When someone mentions meditation to a very active student, this is the usual reaction: “I could never sit still and do nothing.” If that’s how you feel about meditation, then that’s exactly why you need it! Throughout your studies, you can be subjected to more stress than you ever anticipated. You get one class to take after another and one paper to write after another. In between studying and friendships, it could feel like you can’t get time for yourself. Meditation will give you that time. Even if it’s just for 10 minutes per day, meditation helps you calm down and learn more about yourself. There are tremendous benefits of meditation for students. Still not sure? Check out this list of 7 real benefits you’ll get from meditation, especially for students!

Halloween is approaching and many of us will dress up like vampires and ghouls, work to scare people, celebrate the horror genre and watch scary movies. What are you afraid of? Well, besides that scary clown who may or may not be hiding underneath your bed? On a more serious note, have you examined the concept of fear and how it impacts you? Fear is a necessary part of life. If we didn’t have healthy fear of dangerous activities like jumping off cliffs or walking down dark alleys in sketchy neighborhoods, we might get injured or worse. One of the biggest human drives is to protect ourselves from pain and loss, but sometimes we hold ourselves back because we are afraid of being hurt. According to Patanjali, the author of the Yoga Sutras, the biggest fear we face is the fear of death, referred to as abhinivesha. In theory, all our fears stem from this all-encompassing one.

It’s the season to be spooky, even in your yoga practice! The good news is, you can get the heebie jeebies right from the mat. Some of your favorite asanas are inspired by some rather haunting ideas. Don’t be surprised - yoga is about the balance of opposites: solar and lunar, hold and release, and of course, light and darkness. So we’ve put together a sequence of the creepiest, crawliest postures to get you exploring your spooky side. Here are the 7 scariest yoga poses to get you in the mood for Halloween! 1. Cat Pose: arch, hiss and strike fear into the heart of the superstitiously inclined.

Happy Autumn (and happy Spring for our friends in the Southern Hemisphere)! With the school year well under way here in Colorado, we wanted to share a recipe that is a great go-to when you don’t have much time. As working moms with little ones, we know how hard it can be to make sure your family gets a nutritious dinner while trying to juggle all your other responsibilities. That’s where this recipe comes in! This stir fry is healthy, delicious, and best of all, can be on the table in less than 30 minutes. This recipe is also super versatile – it can be easily modified to use whatever veggies or protein you have on hand. You could even make it vegetarian or vegan by substituting the turkey with quinoa or cauliflower rice and omitting the fish sauce. So many possibilities!

“Also, I could finally sleep. And this was the real gift, because when you cannot sleep, you cannot get yourself out of the ditch–there’s not a chance.” ― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love One of the most agonizing states I know is the purgatory of insomnia, when I am desperate to sleep but still my mind and body hold me captive in the waking world. If the Centers for Disease Control statistic that one in three adult Americans are not getting enough deep sleep on regular basis is right, you may well know this particular agony also. Sleep, so seemingly simple, continues to allude many of us. Why does sleep matter anyway? As Liz Gilbert says, we must sleep well enough and long enough in order to stay out of the “ditch.” Here are some of my favorite practices and tips to set myself up for good sleep.

Do you know anyone who couldn’t benefit from cultivating more patience? We’ve become so accustomed to moving at a breakneck speed in life, from speeding down busy highways to accessing any type of information on our phones in nano-seconds that we rarely hit the pause button. Often we translate that hectic pace into our yoga practice. While a juicy Vinyasa flow class is wonderful for many reasons, if you are out of balance, this type of Yang or active practice can actually exacerbate feelings of impatience, anxiety, and anger. Sometimes when life is moving too fast, the best thing you can do is slow down to equalize out your energy. Enter Yin Yoga. What is Yin Yoga?

If you haven’t tried Yin Yoga the classic “what are you waiting for?!” question comes to mind. Yin Yoga can be described as a treat to the body, a slowly moving meditation, a way to connect with what’s really going on internally. When I do a lot of cardio and strength training workouts, Yin Yoga is my sanctuary. If I am not that active, Yin Yoga is a relaxing time where I can check in with how my body is feeling. So, what exactly is Yin Yoga? Let's take a look at this unique and healing practice! Yin Yoga is influenced by the philosophies of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Yin poses are created with the intent to improve the flow of chi, the subtle and invisibly energy that some believe run through the meridian pathways in the body. Whenever there is an excess or lack of chi, the body is said to become unbalanced. Yin poses are working with meridian lines to help circulate chi throughout the body and release stagnant energy to help the body function optimally.

Fall is finally here and pumpkin season is upon us! This time of year, it seems like EVERYTHING is pumpkin-spiced! So why not take advantage of the flavor for your skincare routine? We’ve developed a non-toxic Pumpkin Facial Scrub that is not only great for your skin, but will leave you smelling like sugar and spice and everything nice. Besides being the flavor of fall, pumpkin has many hidden benefits for your skin! When used topically, pumpkin can help brighten dull complexions, is full of antioxidants, and has anti-aging properties. Sugar gently exfoliates dead skin away, while avocado oil and coconut oil help to moisturize and cleanse your skin. Honey is antibacterial, which can help acne-prone complexions, and cinnamon can help increase blood flow and plump skin. (Note: If you have sensitive skin, make sure to spot test this scrub on your arm before using on your face.)

Handstand is a pose that might seem unattainable or impossible at first sight. However, with persistence, technique, and patience, anyone can learn how to do a handstand with time. Learning to engage the shoulders, core, and arms properly, will increase and build steadiness over time. From there, handstand becomes easier to refine. They key, in practicing and integrating these simple tips, is patience. Anyone who takes the time and is patient, can learn how to do a handstand, regardless of how hard it may seem in the beginning. Here are 5 simple and concise tips for learning how to do a handstand:

​In yoga, students are often sharply divided about inversions. Some people can’t wait and approach headstands or handstands with joyous anticipation. Other practitioners choose that moment to take a sip of water, rest in child’s pose, or otherwise avoid getting their heads below their hearts. We believe as long as inversions are practiced with safe alignment and modifications if needed, there’s a pose appropriate for almost everyone. What is an inversion? It’s any asana where the head is below the heart. So, Downward Dog, Legs up the Wall, and standing forward folds count. More dynamic inversions include Headstand, Handstand, Shoulder stand and Forearm Stand. Of course, if injuries or other physical limitations exist, some of these postures may not be appropriate. People who have suffered a stroke, have neck injuries, heart conditions, high blood pressure that isn’t regulated, or glaucoma may need to modify or skip some asanas. Why inversions?

Time comes for us all, and while getting older is a natural process that’s fully embracing, you may want to fight certain signs of aging. Whether it’s physiological changes such as slower movements and decreased mobility, or something more superficial, like those wrinkles around the eyes, everyone has a different concern about getting older. You might be wondering what the best way to fight signs of aging are, or just want some advice on how to stay healthy and active in older age. We’ve put together some key tips to fight signs of aging, from what you use on your skin, to what you do to stay active, and even how to keep your brain sharp. Here are 12 essential tips to fight signs of aging, broken down into 4 important categories!

It’s finally starting to feel like fall here in Colorado and we could not be more excited to share this autumnal recipe with you! When the weather starts to get cooler, it can be hard to find salads and veggie-based dishes that feel warming and filling. That’s where this recipe comes in! Full of roasted root veggies, it’s hearty enough to keep you going all day long. However, the real star of this dish is the delicata squash! Delicata squash is high in fiber, which can help normalize bowel movements and lower bad cholesterol. It’s also high in vitamin A, which helps eye health, and immunity-boosting vitamin C.

While there are many ways to be a powerful yoga teacher, here are some common traits of the truly excellent yoga teachers. A teacher loses their power when they become self-absorbed and the solid teachers know this. As teachers we must get over our selves and show up to serve others. We must truly embody and practice yoga to teach yoga authentically. Here are 7 key traits of the best yoga teachers: 1. Presence To be a powerful yoga teacher, we must be focused and present while teaching. How can we inspire our students to show up to the moment if we are distracted? As teachers of yoga we must breathe for and with our students, we must set the rhythm, the energetic tone, and hold strong in presence. 2. Adaptability

Are you curious about how yoga can protect and heal your body? Why strength is just as important as flexibility and how understanding the way physical postures impact your muscles, joints, and bones can help you develop a practice that lasts a lifetime? We are and we’re thrilled to present internationally acclaimed expert yoga teacher, Desiree Rumbaugh’s new five class all-levels yoga series for you this week, Strengthen, Protect & Heal. Take the time to gain a deeper knowledge of your yoga foundation and learn to appreciate your practice on a new level. Strengthening your muscles through practicing weight-bearing yoga asanas like Warrior series, Triangle and Tree Pose will help support healthy joints. Creating strength will protect your knees and shoulders from injury that could occur if you are stressing the joints too much because of weak quadriceps or deltoids. Stable joints are happy joints.

I was first introduced to yoga 15 years ago in high school by a gym teacher who was a true believer in yoga’s healing ability. She offered yoga class as an alternative to more mainstream physical activities and I’ll try anything once so I decided to see what it was all about. At the time I was more into competitive sports and this was...different. I’m saying different in a sarcastic tone because it felt odd, uncomfortable and a bit “woo-woo”. Every class the teacher would praise yoga for all of its physical, mental and spiritual benefits. I didn’t necessarily doubt her but I wasn’t connecting to anything but the clock to signal class was over. After that semester was done, I didn’t think I would ever try yoga again. But a few years later curiosity led me to another yoga class. If at first you don’t succeed try again, right? Well, nothing had changed and I was sure this was my final attempt. Fast forward to a few more years later and I found myself at a yoga studio yet again. Third time is a charm? Yes...third time is a charm! It was like a light from above shined down on me and something finally clicked and I felt the healing power of yoga. I began to practice yoga regularly and I got it. I got the appeal, I got why people swear by it and really, I just got how yoga is holistically healing on so many levels. Yoga is one of those things that it may take awhile to “get” but once you do, you really do. Although it’s not always easy to articulate what yoga does for me personally, I know it’s an integral piece of the puzzle needed to stay healthy, strong and happy.