If you want to take your practice to the next level and grow beyond the physical benefits, here are a few things to try:
1. Let yoga be more than your workout. Yoga will help you stay fit, but if you approach your practice with only fitness in mind, you might miss all the rest. So, when you come to your yoga mat, open yourself up to all that the practice can reveal about your mental patterns, emotions and even your weaknesses. That way, you can transform them.
2. Focus less on how you look in each posture and more on how you feel. Feel your way through your yoga practice. Leave no room for ego or perfectionism. Do your best to achieve your optimum alignment and depth, but also give yourself space to be, breathe and accept where you are. Align your mind with the moment, let go of vanity and work to find mind, body and spiritual freedom in each posture, rather than seeking perfection.
3. Let your practice be more of a surrender, and less of a struggle. All too often we push and pull ourselves into a posture. We fight for the pose. Instead of pushing your way into a posture or even thinking your way through it, step back into your breath and your softness so that you can feel balanced. Give to the asana (posture), but receive from it as well.
4. Hold an intention. Donna Farhi wrote, “In truth, it matters less what we do in practice than how we do it and why. The same posture, the same sequence, the same meditation with a different intention takes on an entirely new meaning and will have entirely different outcomes.” Before you begin your practice, set an intention or devote your practice to something (anything). If you have trouble coming up with something, simply ask yourself, “What do I want from my practice today?” Know that no intention is too big or too small.
5. Find a new level of awareness. Use the asanas and the practice of yoga as a tool to see yourself (and your patterns) more clearly. Pay attention to any repetitive thoughts or emotions that come up during your practice. This will lead to awareness, and awareness leads to change.
6. Don’t give up. As the saying goes, don’t give up just before the miracle. If you feel like you want to give up for any reason—don’t. You might just be a few breaths, practices, moments or steps away from transformation. Change and epiphanies are about to happen, so devote yourself to your practice and you will get to the other side.
Best of luck my friends! Namaste.
This article has also been published in Elephant Journal.
By Jackie Casal Mahrou
For the past 10 years, Jackie has been passionately teaching and practicing yoga in Denver, CO. Believing that yoga can awaken us to the vast capacity of our hearts, minds and spirits, her intention is to empower her students to live boldly and authentically. Jackie’s classes are a combination of enlightening inspiration, graceful movement, alignment and encouragement. Through her flowing sequences and heart centered intention she creates an environment for each student to blossom into his or her greatest expression of each yoga posture, and brightest self.
And I finish with: “Until our paths cross again, may the journey be good to you. Please be good to it. Until next time, stay unapologetically you, and always, always shine on.”
It’s those few words, “Be unapologetically you,” that seem to resound the loudest.
They always have.
I’m not sure when I started to say them — let alone, when I started believing it.
The phrase isn’t “mine” by any stretch. In fact, I love how personally people interpret it. How it rings like a hymn in people’s ears. How it seems to hum in perfect tune to the heart of so many.
As early as April 2012, the mantra of Be Unapologetically You started to emerge. I wrote a piece on my blog called Please, Never Apologize for These Things.
The highlights?
Never apologize for what is true and right for you.
Because what’s right for you, I trust, is right for me too.
It’s the best advice that I can think to give — the most honest, genuine and authentic belief that I can try to embody.
Whatever I want for myself — to be whole, to be true, to live well and move as my spirit calls — is what I want for you, too.
Even if I don’t know where you’re going, or why.
Even if a choice you make seems unsure, illogical, improbable.
Deep down, I get why you’re choosing it.
In my heart, I understand why you’re called to try.
To journey. To venture. To explore.
To trust your Self and make no defense for it.
Choosing yourself is enough.
It’s always more than enough.
So, until next time…
May the journey be good to you, and may you be good to it. Stay unapologetically you. And, always, always shine on.
Read the original post here.
Dave Ursillo crafts stories. He is a wordsmith, yoga teacher and communications specialist. Dave teaches people how to choose words that change their world. His life and his work revolve around writing, self-expression and cultivating wholeness of body, mind and spirit. Learn more about Dave.
But what is intimacy if not used to politely express the fact that we went decidedly beyond third base? What is intimacy removed from the construct of the bedroom and an “intimate relationship”? Aren’t all relationships intimate? Isn’t something connecting and relating directly to you by its very nature intimate? And even then, I mean, if our slightly limited definition revolves around something going inside you-- shouldn’t food fit the bill?
Food, it seems, exists in a state of hyper-intimate and non-intimacy. On the one hand, food has been over-manufactured to the point of complete and utter taste ecstasy. On the other hand, it’s sterile, packaged and no longer alive. It’s become a product, not a force. It’s devoid of the very factors that make our relationship with it deliciously intimate: community, connection, and creation.
Meals have become solitary, snuck in as moments admist the reality of our actual lives. Food comes to us a travel-worn character, far removed from its original home and state. Our meals lack the magic of creation and the delight of cooking.
Food only exists on the physical plane. We consume it and then leave it. It’s like no-strings attached. Not the kind that is fun and playful and undefined. The kind that satisfies a need. The kind that doesn’t satisfy anything. The kind that seeks out intimacy but never leaves you satiated because the intimacy wasn’t there in the first place because intimacy can’t be found purely in the physical. Intimacy demands the emotional. Intimacy demands connection, vulnerability and presence.
We can’t compartmentalize intimacy. We can’t save it for only the relationships in our lives we feel are safe enough to validate the risk. Because intimacy is a risk. It opens us up to the possibility of being stomped on hard. It also opens us up to the awareness of our bodies and entitties we’ve been trained one way or another to ignore. Hungry: too bad. Bloated: take an antacid. Exhausted: keep pushing.
No wonder food is no longer intimate. We are no longer intimate with ourselves. And no wonder connection with another human is foreign and unwieldy-- we have trained ourselves away from connection. We sit down to a meal and disconnect again, and again, and again. We become rote disconnectors - with our food, with ourselves and with our partners.
Chronic lack of intimacy erodes the self. We become porous and insubstantial. But we are not broken. We are still there, still desiring and deserving of connection. we simply need to retrain it.
Our lives are full of relationships. We can start with any of them in order to reconstruct our capacity for intimacy. But why not start with food? We sit down to it every day, three times a day. And food is delicious. Not through manufacturing, but through nature, and through life.
Food is interesting. It is nourishing. And intimate. Or it can be.
Treat food like you would a lover.
Embrace the beauty of foreplay. Cooking is foreplay; lighting a candle is foreplay; plating on fantastically girlie plates sourced from Anthropologie is foreplay, and foreplay, foreplay is marvelous. Foreplay elevates any encounter beyond the physical. It requires intention. It requires an acknowledgment of your partner. And it requires a continuous give-and-take of receiving pleasure.
We desperately need to relish in the act of eating; otherwise it will fall flat. It won’t satiate us. It won’t nourish us. It won’t feed us. Not truly.
Just like any relationship, and like any lover, food can’t be everything. It can’t be the only place we find pleasure. It can’t be the only thing that feeds us. But if we don’t take the opportunity there everyday when we sit down to that plate - to practice pleasure, to initiate intimacy- then we will starve.
Our relationship with food doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, it will never ever be perfect. But if it is conscious, if it is intentional, and if it is intimate, we will be just fine. In fact, we will thrive.
By: Maddie Berky
Maddie is a writer, blogger, storyteller & holistic nutritionist. She is not a purveyor of answers, but an asker of questions. And she seeks not to construct the most perfect plate, but rather uncover the human siting down to that plate who is worthy and nourished and alive. Our relationship with food creates this beautiful opportunity to explore who we are and train who we want to become. It asks us to engage with these multifaceted drives of hunger and nourishment and pleasure. Can we receive? Can we trust ourselves? Can we connect - to our plate, to our body, to our partner? It is the answer to those questions that not only affects what is on our plate, but more importantly, the space we take up in this world.
In my heart of hearts, I believed that if everyone just held hands, we could make America a better place. With a cassette tape playing on the boom box, I joined the chorus accompanied by the band Toto in great hope to eradicate world hunger.
In 1995, I took a year off from college to travel in Up With People, an international musical and community service organization with the mission to “bring unity among nations.” It was a year spent with a cast of over one hundred incredible young people from thirty different countries in which we lived in unity despite our many differences. We celebrated unity, “the state of being one,” without uniformity.
The most profound and life-giving memories of that year were sitting around the dinner table with cast mates and our host families talking about our cultures, life experiences, families, travels, hobbies, global concerns, and careers. I discovered that unity was found in the word community - that comes from the Latin root communis: meaning, “common, public, shared by all or many.”Webster’s defines community as “a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.”
Re-entry after my year abroad wasn’t easy. I quickly found myself immersed in human feelings of anxiety over a new career, marrying at a young age, dealing with finances, understanding devastating world events like 9-11, and acclimating to the stresses of life after leaving my comfortable, childhood nest. The stress manifested itself into years of debilitating back pain. In pursuit of finding relief from physical pain, I stepped into a yoga class and immediately fell in love with breath work and the conscious choice to slow down and unite mind, heart, soul and strength. The physical asana became a dance between strength and surrender, and a time to process.
On my mat, I could differentiate the “big T” truth of my original, God-given design and identity and the “little t” truths of who the world says I am. I laid in sweet savasana in that first yoga class and my teacher ended our time together with the question: “What if everyone in the world practiced yoga? How different might our world be?” It was a full-circle moment for me, “Let it begin with me.”
Fast forward to 2016 as I turn to the news on television and quickly become overwhelmed by the political, racial and cultural division within our country. In fact, the little girl who wants to believe that a human handholding chain across the world is still possible sits baffled at the inability of two presidential candidates to respectfully come to the table. My UWP year taught me to break bread with all kinds of people. And when faced with differences of opinion, to agree to disagree, but still stay at the table.
I’ve even experienced disappointment over argument in the yoga community over issues of uniformity, not unity. Whether we practice Baptiste, Forrest or Holy Yoga, we should celebrate in humility the opportunity to become peacemakers in a world full of conflict.
The root word for yoga is yuj, translating to yoke or union. Our process time on the mat should bring revelation to what ideals we are “yoking” to?
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “The reason why the world lacks unity, and lies broken and in heaps, is because man is disunited with himself.”
The real transformation of our yoga practice happens when we take the union off the mat and into the world. What would the world look like if we all practiced yoga? Let it begin with us!
By: Kristin Magill Gibowicz
Kristin started teaching yoga in 2003 and knowing that 80% of Americans suffer from back problems, felt moved to learn everything she could about the anatomy, breathing techniques to reduce stress and how to transform other’s lives through teaching yoga. Power yoga brings this exhilarating, cardiovascular yoga practice to “everyday Joes” like me. Her goal as a teacher is to share her passion and improve the quality of people’s lives. In each class she hopes to help liberate her students both mentally and physically, and leave them in a better place.” Take a class with Kristin.
Use your intuition as to what relationships you need to turn your attention to at this time, as it’s a good opportunity to nurture the relationships in your life that need the most love right now.
A close relationship to Jupiter during this lunation offer a wonderfully expansive and abundant energy, suggesting that it is a good time to pursue something beyond your wildest dreams…adventure, celebration, education or religion and spirituality. If you’ve been putting any of these off, now is the time to use this cosmic creative energy to broaden your horizons and live large.
If you really wanted to, during this new moon time, you have the opportunity to manifest what you have most desired recently. Saturn and Neptune are *just* close enough to this new moon that if you really focus, you can will what you want. Another possibility here is to use this energy for embodied awakening…now is the time for your yoga practice to thrive and work! Diligent attention to your spiritual practice has cosmic and potent effects at this time, bringing you closer to oneness…if you want it badly enough.
The sky also features a broad relationship to Pluto, which means that if you choose to, you may use this new moon energy to dig deeply into the psyche and release whatever has outworn its usefulness…old patterns, habits and beliefs are no match for a wise use of Pluto & moon energy.
This new moon holds many possibilities for your soul’s growth. It’s time to look within and balance the scales, as Libra energy thrives when our internal desires match our external reality. Cultivate this powerful Libran and new moon energy with the alchemical ritual below.
Alchemical Ritual for the Libra New Moon
As an air sign, Libra likes to take an expansive view to witness all sides of a situation, or all levels of artistic beauty. On the low side, however, that overview can lead to indecisiveness and stagnation, with others waiting on you to make a move. This new moon ritual for Libra helps to generate balance between our inner and outer realities.
Libra is ruled by Venus, so focus on creating a loving, supportive energy around you for the ritual. Anything green or copper can aid in bringing in Venusian energy. Draw an imaginary circle (or a real one with chalk, or some other natural marker) to contain your ritual and place in the center any sacred stones (jade, rose quarts or emeralds are good choices). You can also bring in elements of rose or sandalwood (essential oils, prayer beads, or live flowers), as well as a lit candle or two. Use sage, sweet grass or palo santo to cleanse yourself and the space by casting the smoke over yourself and encircling your own body three times. When you’re ready to begin the ritual, sit quietly inside the circle. Spend a few moments in quiet contemplation on the desires within you that most need to be met. Visualize what the manifestation of these desires feels like…rather than try and force a certain outcome, get into the state of being that the outcome generates. Notice how the outcome makes you feel, alleviates any tension, improves relationships, etc. Don’t plan the outcome, just feel it. Once your writing is complete, close the eyes and say the following invocation out loud:
May the energy of Libra, Venus, and this New Moon manifest my most potent desires.
Spend a few moments in quiet contemplation. Clear the mind of thoughts completely. Feel the sensation of the outcome in the body. Rather than force the outcome, invite any messages that you need to hear or experience that help you move closer to manifesting what is most alive within you.
When complete, chant Om three times, and snuff the candles. Hold the feeling of the final manifestation as you exit the ritual. Do what the messages you received instruct. The act of manifesting our desires requires both a receptivity to the manifestation, as well as the active participation in bringing it forward. When our inner desires match our outer reality, we are fully balanced and harmonized. Our life becomes a dynamic harmony that reflects our soul’s purpose.
By Alanna Kaivalya
Alanna believes Yoga is for everyone and each student can develop the self-empowerment needed to embark on a personal journey to meaningful transformation. On this principle she founded The Kaivalya Yoga Method, a fresh take on yoga emphasizing the individual path while honoring tradition. Teaching students since 2001, teachers since 2003, Alanna has written and developed teacher trainings worldwide for top studios and independently. In January she debuted a comprehensive 200hr-online teacher training with YogaDownload. She holds a Ph.D. in Mythological Studies with an Emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute, has authored numerous articles and two books: Myths of the Asanas, an accessible practitioner’s guide to stories behind beloved poses; Sacred Sound, a yoga “hymnal,” illustrating the role of chant and mantra in modern practice. Look for her third book, Yoga Beyond the Mat, in Autumn 2016.She lives in New York City with Roxy the Wonderdog.
Click Here to learn more about Alanna's 200hr Online Teacher Training with YogaDownload.com
In the physical practice of yoga, or asana, our hands and feet are arranged to resemble the petals of the lotus flower. While it might feel elusive to get into the posture at the beginning, practicing it helps us feel more grounded and is a good opportunity to work on Pratyahara, or inwardness. Try to feel from within, rather than judging and looking at what's on the outside.
When practicing Lotus pose, the key is to slowly work towards open hips and healthy knees. You don’t have to be able to sit in Lotus pose to meditate but if you want to, remember to warm up to it and listen to your body.
- Sit on the floor in Easy Pose or cross-legged. Lengthen through your spine and root your sitting bones into the earth. You can always sit on a block or bolster for spinal support. - Place your right foot on your left thigh as close to your hip crease as possible. Use your hands to assist you. Try to align your left heel with your hip joint while keeping your left ankle straight. - Do the same thing with your left foot. Keep a slight flex in the foot to protect your knee. - Rest your hands with palms facing up on your thighs in Jnana Mudra or thumb and first finger connected. Breathe deeply and begin your meditation of choice.
Remember, there doesn’t have to be a goal in meditation. Look at it more as self-exploration, finding that seat of compassion, that seat of kindness, that seat of awareness within yourself. Try it today.
While I don’t set New Year’s Resolutions anymore, I do set intentions and I’m a fan of what I call the Seasonal Check-In where you take time to reflect on your intentions at each seasonal change rather then just once a year. That means we’re at that time again!
I approach Seasonal Check-ins as a special ritual. This year, on Thursday, I’ll set aside time to do my practice, taking into account the fact that the fall equinox is celebrated for the equality of lightness and darkness (even though the for-real equal amounts of light and dark actually happens on Sunday this year — that day is called equilux (no joke)!!).
Once a few years ago, when I was still in my full-time marketing career, I wrote a newsletter introducing this idea about celebrating both the lightness and the darkness in the world. Culturally in America, we tend to ignore the darkness and pretend it doesn’t exist. This may be one reason why a tradition that historically celebrates death (Day of the Dead) turned into a fusion of fall-festival and sugar-infused, costume party in America (Halloween). Ironically, the newsletter audience wasn’t too happy about me reminding them that happiness isn’t necessarily the ONLY purpose of living.
The reality is, over the course of 365 days, 12 months, 52 weeks, 24 hours — a lot happens. A lot of that stuff is good and a lot of that stuff is bad. All of that stuff is stuff and we have to choose how to deal with it. This is the game called life. We either play the game or we don’t.
This isn’t one of those games where you get to choose to play AND only have good things happen to you. It just doesn’t work like that.
A really great strategy for playing the game of life is to move through it with as much equanimity as possible regardless of what happens. That takes skill.
The practice of yoga can teach us some of those skills. This time of year is the perfect time of year to work on those skills as we move more and more towards the darkness (the Winter Solstice marks the darkest day of the year, at the same time that it’s a celebration of a return to lighter days ahead).
Part of the practice of yoga includes reflection or self-study (svadhyaya). What makes yoga unique though, is that it also highly prioritizes taking action (through selfless service, or Karma Yoga, or through engaging in the process of Kriya Yoga, which includes self-discipline, self-study, and surrender).
So, in the spirit of yoga, I encourage you to set aside some time on Thursday, or sometime this weekend, to consider the following questions. You may choose to do a little practice — feel free to choose from any of my videos on my YouTube Channel! You may choose to focus on your breath or try some meditation. You may choose to read something inspirational or something you’ve just really wanted to read for a while. Just spend some time doing something YOU want to do, and then take some time to reflect.
I’ve been reading this book called Daily Rituals that provides a glimpse of some of the rituals and routines kept by some of the world’s most prolific creatives, dead and alive, and a common theme among them is the time they take to reflect! It’s a necessary piece of being human and being productive.
To get you inspired, here is a little glimpse at my answers to these questions:
In the past 3 months I’ve started a new job and re-comitted to figuring out where I want to go with my own business. I am not where I thought I would be because to be honest, three months ago I felt really lost and was living with a TON of uncertainty. I don’t think I even did a Seasonal Check-In in June. I had no idea where I was going to go. I was lacking motivation and direction, partly because that tends to be the nature of the summer season where we like to take a bit of a break, but also partly because of some things happening in my life that I’m unable to share at this time.
And yet, with everything going on, I’ve accomplished SO MUCH. Just the fact that I started a new job and spent some time really thinking about what I stand for as a yoga educator is huge. I spoke on a Self-Development Cruise for Women, re-developed and launched a program for Beginner’s at the yoga studio I work for and helped lead the newest round of Teacher Trainees in their first weekend of training. I’ve led other yoga-related trainings, celebrated my 1-year anniversary with my husband and travelled to Acadia National Park to soak in nature at its finest. My husband and I have also gained a lot more clarity around our plans moving forward with our lives.
Because of this I think our priorities have changed. For my Winter Solstice Seasonal Check-in last year, I set the following intentions for 2016: Expansion, Connection, Adventure, Abundance, Confidence, Self-Care. I’ve experienced a ton of expansion, connection, adventure, abundance, confidence, and self-care. I still gravitate towards those words, but I also am ready to commit to discipline, action, practice, and mastery. I’m ready to take the next step. I need these new intentions to take the next steps in my growth as an individual and for growth in my career.
I am starting with myself and my practice, re-commiting to a morning practice and ritual that will keep me grounded and inspired. I am adding in more pranayama, and studying the foundational texts of yoga. To make this happen, I’ve recently decided that I will wake up at 6am every morning even if I don’t have something until 9 or 10 or 11:00am that day. Of course, on the days when I have clients at 6:30am, I’ll wake up even earlier!
I’m also prepared to change certain things about my mindset. I’m ready to let go of my doubt. I’ve learned that I am resilient, that I have everything I need. I’ve known this all along, but now it’s time to believe it and live it.
Over the past month especially, I’ve really started to feel this shift. Whether it’s because of the season, the planets and stars, or because it’s finally my time to shine this year, I’m ready and prepared to face the obstacles ahead to get to where I want to, and know I can, be.
I hope you make the time to really celebrate how far you’ve come in the past 3 months and get excited about what’s ahead for you🙂
Namaste!
By Ashley Josephine
I started practicing yoga to stay in shape and release stress. What I learned was how to love my life. How to have faith. How to find your community of people who support you and love you unconditionally. How to get back control. Today, it is my mission to help busy Type-A overachiever women like me gain back control of their lives, live pain-free, and love the life they want to live through yoga lifestyle practices. Visit www.ashleyjosephine.com to get free yoga lifestyle tips to help live healthier, happier, and pain-free.
How do we find the place where we can just BE? Where the mind is quiet. Not that there are no thoughts, just that we are so caught up in feeling the present moment—we are still.
For National Yoga Month, we invite you to explore this mindfulness, meditation, mastery-- Welcome to your mind.
What’s your favorite activity? You know, the one where you’re no longer distracted by sights, sounds, or smells around you? For some people, complete engagement occurs when they are running or surfing. Maybe for you, it’s listening to live music, dancing, gardening, standing in the majesty of nature—whatever resonates for you. You’re no longer aware you are “doing” something; you’re simply in the moment.
What if we told you there were a way to create that feeling of complete immersion whenever you wanted?
It’s called meditation.
And yes, you can learn to find that state of dhyana or absorption whenever you want, no musical instruments or body of water needed. It might take a little work, however.
Meditation is the art of “letting go.” It is bringing the mind to the present moment; moving from the form to the formless, from boundaries to boundless. In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali describes meditation as Chitta Vritti Nirodhaha or to still the fluctuations of the mind. Often, this practice is referred to as learning to “quiet the monkey mind.” How many wild monkeys do you have zooming around in your head?
If you’ve tried meditation in the past and instead of finding calmness and clarity, you were ready to rip your hair out and run screaming from the room, you’re not alone. The good news is that meditation is a skill you can learn. It’s a practice. Cultivate a little patience and compassion toward yourself as you learn to achieve inner stillness.
Just like yoga, there’s no “right” way to meditate, no single path. Numerous different techniques abound—transcendental meditation, mantra meditation, japa meditation, Kriya meditation, meditation upon an object like a candle or flower, mudras, visualization…the list goes on.
If one doesn’t work for you, keep trying. Don’t give up.
Try one of our featured classes this week:
1. Alanna Kaivalya / Learn to Meditate: 3 Steps to Success (FREE CLASS)
Learn to meditate with ease in this instructional video with Alanna Kaivalya, founder of The Kaivalya Yoga Method Teacher Training on YogaDownload.com. In three easy steps you master the key meditation techniques and lay the foundation for the most transformative and effective practice in yoga!
2. Geenie Celento / Tap Your Inner Fire
The perfect combo, guided breath work and meditation to ignite a purifying fire and inner potency. This class is focused on building tapas-austerity, the transformative fire to release limitations and energetic obstructions. Tapas is the self-generated heat to burn off what cannot serve us, to move us beyond comfort into our greatest potential. 15 min of accessible breath work followed with 15 min of guided meditation to deepen your experience and renewal.
3. Celeste Pereira / Yoga Nidra
We are so tightly wound up in our daily lives! Relief is on the way: this yoga nidra is a soft, relaxing meditation that will help you unwind every part of yourself, on every level of your being. We will cultivate a deep state of softness that will give you a platform from which you can create positive changes in your every day life. Relax and enjoy!
4. Sibyl Buck / Restorative Meditation
Make yourself comfortable and be guided into deep relaxation and meditation. Specific language is used to help you move past the spinning movement of your mind, and into the deeper dimensions of your being, out past the temporal details of your life, which pull you out of the moment. Even if you find a lot of mental noise when you attempt meditation, combining your practice with restorative yoga will help you to arrive in the ever-present peace within yourself, deeper than the layer of mental movement that distracts you. Using props that can be found around the house, you'll create a comfortable position for your body, and release each body part individually before delving deeper. Breath techniques are used to help bring balance to the body and mind. Namaste.
This year marks the twentieth that I have made my living solely from teaching yoga. It’s hard to believe that the desperate stumble I took into yoga in my early twenties has morphed a life, replete with a family, a yoga center, and a multi-media platform. There was truly no plan. I’ve just been diligent in practice, showed up consistently, taught the best class I knew how, and it has panned out well enough so far.
Simply maintaining a steady and consistent pattern of teaching 12-15 classes per week brought with it many a boon.
For the first decade, I taught under the auspices of others. I got in just before the craze of the nineties and rode the wave of independent centers that paved the path for yoga in the west. Initially, it was either the YMCA or the hip studios that started popping up everywhere. There were no classes at the gym yet. You earned your cred on the mat. People saw you there every day. They saw your practice. Eventually, you got asked to teach. And you took every opportunity you were offered for whatever money they would give you. At least I did. I was hungry and fueled by an unexplainable drive to practice and learn.
Eventually, I developed a bit of skill and a following. It became a logical next choice to open my own place; to expand upon what I had established in practice. It led to my finding the resources and freedom to do things my own way. The forces that be put me in just the right place at just the right time to actually make that happen. I opened a yoga center over eight years ago and it has been a thriving venture, enabling me not only to codify my teaching in ways I never could have otherwise, but also to provide a modicum of stability that has enabled me to develop as a writer and, more recently, a podcaster.
But the scene that I came up in no longer exists. When I look around outside of the bubble I created for myself, I face a crucial impasse.
I have eighteen months left on my current lease for the yoga center. Since the lease started, my neighborhood has seen a quick shift from a network of local bodegas and art-inspired businesses to La Quinta, Starbucks, Whole Foods, Levi’s, G-Starr, and an Apple store. I plan to negotiate with my landlord in six months and I know that he likes us and will probably do his best to give us a good deal. But when commercial real estate in the neighborhood is being valued according to the budgets of corporate chains, even a good deal might be too much for the humble offerings of the sole-proprietor yoga center.
Inquiring into where the next enclave of artists may have migrated to, I can find no discernible pattern. It’s as if there has been a mass exodus and everyone just took off in all directions. Detroit, Germany, Maplewood NJ, Philadelphia, who the f*** knows? Not me. And my apartment around the corner from the center, which I secured on a rent-stabilized handshake back when, was transferred to a management company two years ago and now goes up every year so I definitely have to move my family, even if I keep the center.
Where corporate models successfully take hold of increased market share, it’s not clear whether the old-school model can compete and survive.
I followed those who came before me. I observed how they opened their own spaces, developed their teaching, and built niche platforms for themselves. Some ended up being embraced by the “mainstream” and others did not. Regardless, it was possible to make a way for yourself. But this model was contingent on having a place to settle where people desired an eclectic place smelling of Nag Champa more than the quaffed amenities of a highly designed spa. Yoga centers were places of counter culture where people came more to learn than to purchase a service.
Sometimes I wonder if such places exist anymore. I’m betting they do. Perhaps not in the cities, but in micro-communities who are happy to maintain a low profile? Or has yoga become so mainstream now that the yoga center with old-school charm that I hold so reminiscently dear, just looks like a dump without shower rooms to the new-school yoga connoisseur? And it is undeniable that the internet has changed the way people come to yoga. The income I receive from online offerings, and traveling to meet people who only know me from those offerings, has become almost equivalent to the profits I see from the center, which was always my bread and butter up until only a few years ago.
Things have changed. Now that the environment which inspired and fueled my little niche has transformed and no longer resembles the same place I originally settled, I face the prospect of either attempting to hold out and stay my ground against a stemming tide, or venture out and see if i can find the remnants of what I once knew. I can only trust that the place of knowing in myself, that which my practice has fostered, will not fail me when I need it most.
By J. Brown
J. Brown is a yoga teacher, writer and founder of Abhyasa Yoga Center in Brooklyn, NY. His writing has been featured in Yoga Therapy Today, the International Journal of Yoga Therapy, and across the yoga blogosphere. Visit his website at jbrownyoga.com
This bread turned out sooooo good, especially for the first attempt! It looks like a heavy, dense loaf, but it’s surprisingly light. The texture is very moist with a soft crumb. I also think it’s the perfect amount of sweetness. Just enough to make you feel like you’re having a treat, but not enough to give you a sugar rush.
Vegan Kabocha Cake makes two small loaves, or one standard loaf
Ingredients:
200g all purpose flour 30g kabocha flour/powder 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp all spice 1/8 tsp ground cloves
210g water 150g sugar 75g grape seed oil 12g brown rice vinegar
handful pumpkin seeds
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F or 175C, lightly oil and flour your baking pans 2. Sift all dry ingredients together in a bowl. Mix well. 3. Whisk all wet ingredients in a separate bowl. 4. Add the dry to the wet ingredients and fold until just incorporated. 5. Gently fold in the pumpkin seeds (or whatever add-ins you desire). 6. Spoon batter into baking pans and spread evenly with the back of a spatula. Sprinkle top with more pumpkin seeds. 7. Bake for 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. 8. Remove from oven and let rest in pan for about 10 minutes before turning out and letting cool on a rack. Enjoy!
Mipa is a vegan living in Seoul, South Korea. She started out running an online bakery shop and is now the founder and owner of Plant Cafe. When she's not cooking, baking, and eating yummy vegan food, she also likes to do acro yoga, go running, hiking, paint/draw and take in all the goodness that life has to offer. Check out Plant's impressive menu on their Instagram.
When the chakras are aligned, we are centered, balanced and healthy. When they’re out of alignment, illness is more apt to manifest in the body and mind. This is why it’s necessary to understand what each chakra represents, so that we can do proper chanting, pranayama and asana to support the balanced nature of each one. The root chakra, also known as the muladhara chakra, is connected to our sense of foundation and being deeply rooted or grounded. This chakra actually starts below the body by about three fists widths. Think of the root chakra as being an area of consciousness underneath you that actually inter- penetrates the ground. When the root chakra is out of balance we have issues with money and food – basically what’s needed for our survival in the world. Red is the color associated with the root chakra. Lam is its bija mantra. Meditate by chanting the sound “lam” as you visualize it healing your root chakra.) According to Alison Eaton, lead yoga teacher trainer at the Yandara Yoga Institute, “the karmic relationships associated with the root chakra have to do with your parents, your home, your sense safety, of community, and to Mother Earth herself.” The second chakra is the sacral chakra, also known as the Swadhisthana chakra. It’s located at the area of the lower abdomen, just below the navel. If your second chakra is open and in balance, you’re connected to your passions, feelings and sexuality. Someone with second chakra issues might not be able to maintain healthy sexual boundaries. The color associated with this chakra is orange and its bija mantra is vam. Allow the mantra “vam” to move through the area of your second chakras as you visualize profound healing taking place there. The third chakra is the manipura chakra, also known as the “jewel in the city.” It’s located in the stomach areas and has to do with self-esteem, self-confidence, self-acceptance and self-love. Its color is yellow and its bija mantra is ram. Chant the sound “ram” as you imagine it healing your manipura chakra. The fourth chakra is the heart chakra, also known as the anahata chakra, which moves the energy of love through your body and through your life. The color associated with it is green. Its bija, or seed mantra is yum. If you have troubles feeling love and compassion in all areas of your life, chant the mantra yum and allow yourself to give lots of hug and kisses. The fifth chakra is the throat chakra, and is also known as the vishuddha chakra. Located at the base of the throat, this chakra has to do with communicating one’s inner truth. It governs the ability to authentically express oneself freely. If you have trouble saying what you mean and tend to accommodate others rather than yourself, chant the bija, or seed mantra “ham.” You can also do camel pose to help stimulate this particular chakra. The sixth chakra, also known as the ajna chakra is found between the eyebrows at the third eye. It’s also known as the “command center.” The ajna chakra is your “6th sense,” or center of intuition and wisdom. If this one is open, you might have clairvoyance or telepathy. If you can’t trust your intuition, you’ll want to begin a meditation practice. Indigo is its color and om is its bija mantra. Chant the sound “om” while closing your eyes and resting your attention on the ajna chakra, or third eye. Last but certainly not least is the seventh chakra or crown chakra, also known as the sahasrana chakra. Also called the thousand petal lotus, this chakra connects you to the Divine. Call it God, Krishna, Buddha, or whatever you like – this is the chakra for achieving the enlightenment factor, or oneness of being. Its color is luminous violet or white light and its bija mantra is “ah.” Chant “ah” whenever you want to connect to the Divine.
Aimee is a holistic health and yoga writer who has been traveling and exploring the world of natural health and wellness, yoga, dance, and travel for the past two decades. She is the author of a self-published vegan cookbook, “The Sexy Vegan Kitchen: Culinary Adventures in Love & Sex,” available on Amazon. Aimee is a regular contributor to On Fitness and the lead writer and health consultant for the Yandara Yoga Institute in Todos Santos, Baja, Mexico.
Not sure if this is you? Check out our Sugar Sensitivity Quiz to find out.
Traditionally the Conscious Cleanse has included natural sweet treats, things like dates or Joy Balls. However if you’re a sugar addict, these foods can often take you down the wrong path.
Spiced Baked Apples to the rescue!
Not only is today’s recipe a great low-sugar option while you’re on the Low Sugar Plan of the Conscious Cleanse, Spiced Baked Apples is a healthy treat that the whole family will enjoy!
Check out the recipe below and be sure to leave us a comment. Are you a sugar addict? Let us know if this treat tames your sugar beast!
With love and sweet treats,
Yield: 4 Servings
4 Pink Lady apples, cored and cut into 1” chunks (you can use your favorite variety!) 1 ½ TB. coconut oil ½ tsp. cinnamon ¼ tsp. nutmeg ¼ tsp. ginger 1 star anise pod 3 sprigs fresh rosemary Pinch of sea salt
Instructions: Heat your oven to 375 degrees F. In a medium sized bowl place apples, coconut oil, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, star anise, rosemary sprigs, and sea salt. Toss together until the apples are well coated with the coconut oil and spices. Place mixture on a sheet tray and spread the apples so they are not touching. Put the tray into a warm oven. Roast until caramelized and tender, approximately 25 minutes. Remove the rosemary sprigs and the star anise. Serve and enjoy!
Jo Schaalman and Julie Peláez are co-authors of the book 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. Together they've lead 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.
To learn more about “Jo and Jules” and to download a free e-cookbook for a sampling of the delicious food served up on the Conscious Cleanse, please visit their website.
Conscious Cleanse Detox Flow - Jo Schaalman
Heart Opening Forrest Yoga Flow - Jo Schaalman
Traditional Hot Yoga - Julie Peláez
In the end, however, we’re all on the same path— just with distinct approaches. The key is finding one that resonates most with you and simply enjoying the journey. It is the path that you wish to follow, perhaps even feel compelled to follow.
Balancing polarities is what yoga is all about. That is, the essence of hatha yoga can be to simply build awareness to finding what style of yoga works best for you.
In regard to yoga practitioners, influential hatha yoga teacher T.K.S. Desikachar states:
"…they are all dealing with the same thing, and are only looking at them from different perspectives. If we really follow ONE direction in yoga as far as we can go, then it will lead us along ALL the paths of yoga".
We’re in this together!
For examples of practices on different ends of the yoga spectrum, try Hot Yoga Detox Class by Julie Pelaez or Jackie Casal Mahrou’s remastered Gentle Hatha 1: Sweet Surrender.
Delving to a deeper level, we utilize Pranayama to refine our energetic patterns. Pranayama or breath control works from the inside out, just as asana works from the outside in to draw our polarities into equilibrium. Harness your prana or energy with Shy Sayar’s Mastering Balance.
Numerous channels called nadi flow through our bodies and provide the entrance and exit for energy. The Sushumna Nadi or the central channel running up the spinal column, and the Ida and Pingala Nadi are the three primary nadi we focus upon in our quest to free Prana from the base of the spine where kundalini energy resides and create an environment where it can freely flow through the Sushumna nadi.
Ida Nadi passes the left nostril, represented by Ha and the cool energy of the moon and Tha represents Pingala and the hot energy of the sun. The nadi meet at six points on the spine recognized as the Chakras. Through our practice of hatha yoga, including physical postures and breath work, we’re uniting the Ha and Tha Prana and balancing ourselves.
To create space in your spine for a strong Pranayama practice, try Neck, Shoulders & Back Therapy by Elise Fabricant.
Remember, we’re all heading in same direction—choose the path that resonates for you today!
“The link between yoga and Ayurveda is prana, or the life force. Yoga is the intelligence of prana seeking greater evolutionary transformations, while Ayurveda is its healing power…” ~ Dr. David Frawley
I was first introduced to Ayurveda in the 1990s when Robert Svoboda would come twice a year to Yoga Works. For my body, taut from a daily tapas practice of third series Ashtanga, learning about “Rasayana” or as Robert put it “the path of juicing up” was revolutionary. I didn’t know my ayurvedic dosha or constitution so I wasn’t aware of how much a challenging intense practice that I loved was also creating imbalances in my body and life. Even though I practiced Ashtanga in a meditative way, it was the same series practice all-year round no matter what was changing in my being or life.
In my sincere yogic intention of going deeper in the asanas as a form of internal purification and realization, I was also burning up my ojas – one’s juiciness, luster, longevity, and happiness. As I looked around the room and in my own mirror, I would notice that other practitioners could do amazing asanas but didn’t always look very healthy. Even my teachers looked older than they were and some women were losing not just their body fat but their menstrual cycle too. I was flexible in practice but often felt stiff afterward. It occurred to me that the yoga that I loved so much as a path of freedom for me, was also limiting and imbalancing if I continued without changing. I was going deeper in my practice but my juice was evaporating – literally my female voluptuousness, luster and even my sweetness was going dry. I was one intense and imbalanced pitta-vata, but a very dedicated yogini. Ayurveda offers insight to living and practicing a more balanced yogic lifestyle; the Ayurvedic lifestyle allows the yogi to maintain juiciness!
Through Ayurveda I also learned about how our life-force could be used to move in harmony and to help see imbalances in the body. I began to explore in my own practice and teachings, how to embody and move from these underlying movements of prana in order to be more connected to our instinctual intelligence. This radically changed my teaching and was the source for the evolution of what I offer today as Prana Vinyasa Flow which is based on embodying the pulsations of prana within an asana and in the changing rhythm of the day, week, lunar cycle and seasonal flow. From doing a set series which I loved, I now offer pathways of over 40 namaksars and lunar-solar practices that give the tools for a person to change with the seasons and what is needed for balance. In working with Ayurveda teachers, I introduced Living Ayurveda in our teacher trainings and a path were yoga teachers can become living ayurveda consultants. We offer retreats to Kerala every year to receive Ayurvedic treatments and study in a complimentary way to yoga. In this way, Ayurveda was a huge shift in the way that I experience and offer yoga.
I wish I had learned about Ayurveda at the beginning of my yoga journey before I burned up the ojas that I did. But I am grateful for the wisdom teachings and life practices that came at just the right time for I do feel more connected to every aspect of my life.
These were the key shifts for me:
Ayurveda has changed my life because ayurveda has become a way of life. I am getting juicier as I appreciate my ojas and healthy body fat as the sign of vitality. I hope I am getting sweeter as I learn to bring the healthy sweet taste as a vital part of nutrition for a smiling Pitta dosha person. I appreciate change and embrace the seasonal cycles and I am still very much a student of Ayurveda in the process of refining. I feel every yoga practitioner can benefit from the wisdom of Ayurveda particularly as our daily life rhythms become more fragmented.
Ayurveda is the yoga of life – may all beings be happy and juicy.
Shiva Rea, prAna Ambassador
Shiva Rea is the founder of Samdura Global School for Living Yoga, a pioneer of Prana Vinyasa®, and the catalyst for the Global Mala Project. Her latest book, Tending the Heart Fire – Living in Rhythm with the Pulse of Life is a book of 108 meditations, healing wisdom for embodying the power of our energetic heart.
Here is an ancient short cut for you, practiced by monks the world over, it is called the “Mahamantra” or King of meditations in Sanskrit.
Mahamantra: Making a sound gives the mind something to focus on, so that it is not wandering far and wide. The sound literally drowns out all thought! The vibrations of the sound resonate in the body, with the effect of quieting down the mind. This very rapidly leads to an intense silence within. When you stop the sound, the body/mind/spirit connection as in suspended animation, and quite relaxed.
Find a location where you will not be disturbed, where you can make noise and not distract others or yourself. Sit comfortably with your back straight either using a chair or, if you wish, in the Classic Lotus position. Proceed to hum intensely by making the sound of the letter M - almost like a bumble bee. Just Mmmmmmm. Make this sound long and loud. Approach making the sound as though you are working out. Do it with intensity and focus. If your mind wanders away, bring it back to the sound. This “workout” approach keeps your attention engaged. If your mind disengages, hum louder! Drown out those thoughts with the sound!
Do the sound meditation for 10- 20 minutes, and then sit quietly with soft music playing in the background. Relax to the music.
This meditation can cut through mind noise like a knife through warm butter and render you peaceful, relaxed and in quietness in a very short time. Variations on this meditation include changing the sound to a Huuu sound. The Huu sound resonates differently and many people report that the pitch changes automatically as they do it. This attunement to the sound/energy flow, gives a feeling of oneness with all.
Martyn Williams is a record-holding extreme explorer, author and successful entrepreneur. He is a yoga teacher and practices natural and Ayurveda healing. To learn more, check out his site, Haritaki.org.
Whatever your beliefs, there’s a universal premise that yoga is a process of turning inward. Of getting quiet so you can truly be present. Of finding your brightest inner light or—gasp, even achieving Samadhi or enlightenment.
This ancient practice of yoga has been around for about 5,000 years or so. There’s a mind-boggling amount of information on yoga. Opinions. Texts. Traditions. Philosophies and schools and styles of yoga have proliferated, especially in the last few decades in the West.
Often the question arises whether what you are practicing on the mat is truly “yoga.” Some people claim that their yoga is the “true” yoga and everything else is not yoga. Whose path is the right one? Is there a right one? If the end result is that you uncover your best self, you shed the layers weighing you down and shine bright, isn’t that actually the “right” path for you?
Who cares what anyone else is doing? Preaching? If their way doesn’t resonate with you, you won’t benefit, right? You’ll be resisting, judging, withdrawing from this practice that doesn’t touch your heart. What’s the point?
And, asana, the physical postures, are a part of yoga—don’t be ashamed if you enjoy the physical aspects of a sweaty, challenging practice. It’s all a part of going inside. One day a sweaty class, the next a quiet meditation—whatever works for you!
So, whether today that means adding some butt-kicking to your practice like Becca Riopelle’s Hardcore Yoga with Weights—Thigh Blaster or Ben Davis’ Fitness’n’ Yoga + Weights= Exercise Your Body, do it!
You get the point? We here at YogaDownload.com are celebrating the emotional and mental benefits we receive when we push our physical bodies to the limit. Try Blair Bradley - Strengthen, Tone & Stretch or Dawnelle Authur - Qi-Flow: Body Ability to step outside of your comfort zone.
So, the toughest part of your yoga practice today is choosing what resonates for you: have fun!
Here are this week's class descriptions:
Dawnelle Arthur / Qi Flow: Body Ability
"Your body will get better at whatever you do or don't do. If you don't move you will get better at not moving. If you move, your body will allow more movement." -Ido Portal
The QiFlow movement method “wu wei” is a practice in effortless action, strength, beauty and FLOW. It’s a method that constantly evolves and expands as I explore the movement world outside of yoga.
Ben Davis / Fitness ‘n’ Yoga + Weights: Exercise Your Body
Fitness 'n' Yoga + Weights: Exercise Your Body fuses yoga with general components of fitness and is designed to give you a full body workout. This class contains an exercise sequence that consists of 15 chaturanga push ups, 30 seconds of eagle crunches and one minute of squats. In addition to the exercise sequence, there is a warrior 3 balancing series and a warrior 2 flow. Get ready to sweat as you exercise your body!
Becca Riopelle - HardCORE Yoga with Weights - Thigh Blaster
This class will tone every part of your thighs - front, back and in between! Get ready to sweat and work your quads, hamstrings and glutes in this 30 minute thigh blast. You won't regret it, but you WILL be feeling it the next day...ENJOY!
Blair Bradley - Strengthen, Tone & Stretch
In this class you will warm up your body with 15 minutes of yoga and then add weights to build strength and endurance. Be prepared to challenge yourself and find your edge in this fun and quick 45 minute workout.
I have spent the last three years immersed in writing about the syncopating power of heart rhythm in creating individual and collective states of flow whether we are in stillness or in motion. I researched the world’s spiritual traditions from the Judeo-Christian to Sufi culture, and across the traditions of yoga from the Vedas to early Tantras and found a universal vision of a “heartfire” or the energetic heart. Despite several hundred years of a limited concept of the heart as purely a cardiovascular pump, western science is returning to an understanding of an energetic heart and can now measure the electromagnetic field of the heart which not only extends beyond our body but has a central role in creating individual and collective flow (Heart Math Institute).
When we come together, the electromagnetic field of our heart begins to “sense or read” the heart rhythm of each other. This happens naturally as heart rhythms either begin to syncopate together to create a sense of “coherence” or “dissonance” between people, i.e. harmony or resistance.
Through the process of writing my latest book, “Tending the Heart Fire – Living in Rhythm with the Pulse of life”, I have begun to see how practical and effective the techniques of yoga are in accessing the energetic heart not only in creating internal flow but in collective flow. I began to understand meditation is the syncopation of our three primary rhythms – breathflow, heartrhythm, and our brainwaves. We these rhythms are in synch, we are at our highest state of functioning – individually and collectively and our heart organ literally serves as the rhythmic conductor always trying to bring us into a state of harmony or “yoga”.
The shadow side of human nature in approaching life as a competition effects the yoga room, teachers and studios. Within the “business of yoga”, we need ways to cut-through this tendency of separation and subtle dissonance. Creating community and drawing upon the practice of yoga in collective flow is one of the smart and most rewarding ways of sustaining your classes and studios.
In 2007, I started the Global Mala Project to connect the larger community of practitioners beyond any one school or style of yoga to practice forms of a “mala” or 108 for UN International Peace Day to raise consciousness and funds. From large-scale gatherings in Newark, NJ and Washington D.C. to over 40 countries around the world, the Global Mala has continued as an open process that any yoga teacher-studio can join in your own way as a free event or in a regular 1.5 – 3 hour class or as a fundraiser to support any organization that connects to your community.
Since leading yoga mala (108 Surya Namaskar, meditation cycles, mantra) practices all over the world in the last two decades, I have experienced some of the most profound collective experiences in these 1-3 hour Yoga Mala practices of unified breath. The activation of the collective energetic heart may sound corny but it is a palpable energetic shift that raises consciousness and community.
I encourage you to activate community and join Global Mala on September 25, which is also International Peace Day or at any special time of the year to bring a shift in your teaching community. Whether you bring teachers together in one studio or amongst many, you will feel the support and renewal of the heart of yoga when the news of the day is often so disheartening. We must massage the dissonance that is so easy to reinforce and draw upon the power of yoga practice for the revitalization of our energetic heart – individually and collectively. May we our inspiration keep the inner fire of our practice, teaching and studios in vitality.
This article was originally published on Yoga Alliance.
Shiva Rea, M.A. is a yogini firekeeper, sacred activist, global adventurer and leading innovator in the evolution of prana flow yoga, transformational vinyasa flow integrating the tantric bhakti roots of yoga, Krishnamacharya's teachings and a universal, quantum approach to the body. Shiva is known for bringing the roots of yoga alive for modern practitioners in creative, dynamic and life-transforming ways and for offering the synthesis form of prana flow out in the world. Shiva is the creator of Prana Flow Yoga, Yogadventure Retreats, Yoga Trance Dance for Life, Moving Activism for 1,008,000 Trees, the worldwide Global Mala Project, Yogini Conferences and E2: The Evolutionary Edge Tour. She writes for Yoga Journal, Yoga Plus Joyful Living, is the author of award-winning CD's and DVD's, and contributor to many publications and features
Anyway. Oatmeal. Alone, it's bland and boring. But add the fixings seen here and it is suddenly transformed into a dish to look forward to. The blueberries and cranberries give it enough sweetness that, in my opinion, you don't even need the traditional maple syrup sidekick.
Ingredients for Perfect Oatmeal
2c water
1c oatmeal
1T flax seed
1T pumpkin seeds
1T sunflower seeds
1T shredded coconut
a handful of blueberries
a couple dried cranberries
Directions for Perfect Oatmeal
Put the water and oatmeal in a pot and bring to a boil. Stir, bringing the heat down significantly, and continue to stir for about a minute or two. Immediately transfer into a bowl, add the toppings.
PS- Overnight steel-cut oats, pumpkin pancakes, and a green smoothie.
Candace Cabrera Moore is an entrepreneur who believes nothing is impossible. She is an international yoga instructor who runs luxury yoga retreats, healthy living blogger, and author of Namaslay. She is passionate about modern yoga, delicious food, and living your absolute best life. After a very long battle with Lyme disease, she is so grateful to have her health back, and that was the inspiration behind founding YogaByCandace, a modern yoga lifestyle company that creates weekly yoga and hiit workouts, and curates Mantra Box, a seasonal discovery box program that supports small business.
A healthy note: For the fruity bowls that don’t have yogurt, toppings are key. The nuts and seeds offer a balance of healthy fats and protein in addition to the carbohydrates from the fruit.
For each recipe, the how-to is the same: add the ingredients together in your blender and whiz away. The consistency will be thicker than a smoothie but not as thick as ice cream. Add your toppings and you’re good to go!
Simple Strawberry Bowl 3/4 cup frozen strawberries 1/4 cup ice 1 pitted date 1/4 cup of rolled oats 1 cup coconut milk
Toppings 1/2 cup strawberry slices 1/2 cup banana slices 1/4 cup of sliced almonds 1 tablespoon chia or flax seeds
Matcha Green Tea Bowl 3 teaspoons of matcha powder 1/2 banana 1/2 cup whole milk organic yogurt 1/4 cup ice 3 pitted dates 1 cup coconut milk
Toppings 2 tablespoons shredded coconut 1 tablespoon cacao nibs
Tropical Mango Smoothie Bowl 3/4 cup of mango 1/4 cup ice 1 pitted date 1/4 cup of rolled oats 1 cup coconut milk
Toppings 1 1/2 tablespoon hemp seeds 1/2 cup blueberries
By Andrea Ferretti
Andrea Ferretti and Jason Crandell are a husband and wife team who have been teaching, writing about, and living their yoga for nearly two decades. Andrea is the former executive editor of Yoga Journal and is now creative director for Jason Crandell Yoga Method. Jason is an internationally recognized teacher known for his precise, empowering, down-to-earth approach to vinyasa yoga. They live together in San Francisco with their full-time boss, Sofia-Rose Crandell, age 3. To read their blog or to learn more about Jason's upcoming teacher trainings, please visit their web site www.jasonyoga.com
Sifting through everything you’ve been taught, trying to understand what is real, what is true, and what is ready to be left behind. Maybe you’ve followed your intuition on an adventure and it hasn’t led anywhere you thought you’d ever be. Maybe you’re not sure what is real right now.
And while it may seem dark at times, the way may feel obscured, you may wonder if you’ll ever “arrive” or simply wander aimlessly and fruitlessly for the rest of time.
But love?
You are not lost.
You have already arrived. There is nothing to fix or change. Your path is exactly as it needs to be in this moment. You get to choose for you how you experience where you are.
Sometimes we come to the mat, to a teacher, to a retreat, to a book seeking answers. And sometimes we leave only with more questions.
The process of being you, the practice of seeking, is not a practice of discovering answers.
In this becoming, this unfolding of your life, you are not lost.
You may be asked to dig deep. You may be asked to come up with better questions. You may be asked to turn away from everything you thought you knew.
And at the end of the day, you are not lost.
You can not do it wrong.
You are exactly who you are, and whether you feel it or not, everything you are searching for is already inside you.
Your path is one of remembrance. A continual setting out and returning to your self. The self you already know. The self that feels like home.
Keep wandering. Keep searching. Keep taking detours and following your curiosity. It will lead you to wonders and experiences and pure magic.
And at the end of the day, it will always lead you back home. To yourself.
Equal parts earth mama, mermaid, and magic glitter, Kate Marolt is an embodiment coach, speaker, yoga teacher, and founder of Unbound Living. Kate is a fierce advocate for women’s empowerment and wisdom, and with over 1000 hours of training in yoga, fitness, energy, philosophy, spiritual practices, and emotional processing tools, she is uniquely placed to guide you back into alignment, integration, and wholeness. Kate is dedicated to helping you understand your body’s messages and inner wisdom so you can feel ALIVE, joyful, and free to be exactly who you are, inside and out.
To engage your senses, you must pay attention to the textures, smells, sounds, and the colors you experience while eating, as well as how your body responds to these things. The eating experience involves more than just of taste. Pause for a moment after placing some food in your mouth and allow your body to respond in different ways.
Repeat this process continually as you are eating your meal and you will notice that eating slowly becomes a new experience entirely, one in which you are in control. It will certainly take time to engage all of the senses in the proper manner, but the end result is well worth it. Even boring, healthy food can become a new and interesting experience.
Slow It Down
Slowing down the eating process is usually a good idea, but it doesn't mean you have to come to a near halt. However, you must remember that eating is not a contest of speed, but rather a time to enjoy flavors, sounds, sights, and textures. If you take the time to eat slower, then the body has more time to gauge its level of hunger. This means you will know when you are full rather than eating through the moment. Some families find fun ways to slow down their meals. One possibility is attempting to eat meals with chopsticks. This can be fun for adults as well as children and it helps slow things down to reduce the likelihood of overeating.
Of course, you may not want to spend every meal trying to figure out how to eat with chopsticks. There are other, more practical, techniques you can use to slow down the meal. Another idea for slowing down the eating process is setting down your utensils after each bite. Focus less on moving on to the next bite and more on how your body is responding to what you are consuming at that very moment.
Finally, if you know you are going to have a shorter time for your meal, then use that as an opportunity to plan a smaller meal. For example, if your lunch break is only ten or fifteen minutes, then there is no need to bring a large meal. Practice mindful eating with a smaller meal.
Silence Is Golden
Life is full of plenty of distractions throughout the day. It is best to remove as many of them as possible during meal times. One very common distraction during meals is the television. This directly interferes with mindful eating. It makes it difficult to focus on the meal and the various sensory responses.
Instead of watching television while you eat, try to find ways to enjoy your meal with as much silence as possible. Of course, this may not always be possible. It is even more difficult if you have children. You don't necessarily need to spend every minute of the meal in complete silence. After all, that might get pretty boring, even when practicing mindful eating. Try instead to set aside small portions of time, perhaps a few minutes here and there to focus on silence and eating.
Don't Ignore Flavor
It was mentioned earlier that the various senses are important, not just flavor. That isn't to say the flavor is not important. As a matter of fact, it may be one of the most important parts of the meal when practicing mindful eating. The flavors come alive when you slow down the eating and take time to actually enjoy them.
Learn Your Foods
Mindful eating is all about creating a relationship between yourself and the food you eat. That might sound crazy at first, but soon you will realize that foods have their own personalities. These personalities are created through a combination of textures, flavors, smells, and so forth. You can even take your relationship a step further by planting your own vegetables or creating your own bread. There are many different ways you can learn and understand your food that goes beyond just eating the food.
Learning how your food is made and where it comes from can help you experience it and enjoy it on an entirely new level. It is also one of the final steps in mindful eating. Eventually, these steps will allow you to shift your focus to how you eat and how your body responds rather than just what you eat and how many calories it has. Before long, you will be savoring every bite while feeling stronger both physically and mentally.
#GoYourOMWay – like you always have, and send postcards from the path. Just in time for National Yoga Month, we’re introducing a new hashtag that we hope will be part of this community for a long time to come. From peace in the mountaintops to chaos in your living room, share anytime you have the freedom to take yoga anywhere. This month, it could win you up to a year of free Yoga Download!
#GoYourOMWay Giveaway
From tropical sands to suburban supermarkets, where do you practice when your own private yoga teacher is in your headphones?
When: September 1 – 30
What: You could win a grand prize One Year Unlimited Elite Membership to YogaDownload, and four winners will receive a One Month Elite Membership, one every week in September.
How: Instagram a new photo from your practice tagging #GoYourOMWay and @yogadownload
But wait, there’s more. To get National Yoga Month started right, we’re also introducing 4 new classes from yoga’s top teachers, YDL favorites and exciting up and commers to help you #GoYourOMWay.
Here’s what’s new this week:
Mark Morford / Absolution Flow - Breathe Yourself Awake
One of the most highly sought after yoga teachers in the US makes his Yoga Download debut – and you’ll get more then absolution.
Rob Loud / Let’s Get Twisted
A flow that will turn your world around. Detoxifying revolved poses that steadily increase
in complexity to balance life’s push and pull.
Kaiyan Reuter / Kindness Channel: No Fuss Restorative Yoga
A relaxing class with personality to soothe the nervous system, ease your muscles and joints, and prepare you for the next leg of your journey.
Cher Aslor / Forrest Yoga for Happy Heart and Hips
See why Cher Aslor is one of the most downloaded teachers on YDL – with sequences to open you up and get you flying.
The new moon coupled with a solar eclipse makes this lunation powerful enough…its energy and intensity having lasting effects for us, so the importance of cultivating its energy for the highest benefit in our lives cannot be underestimated. It brings out all the qualities of Virgo: tapping into our initial wounds, calling us to heal ourselves, asking us to take care of our bodies and pursue optimal health, all while tending to the importance details and messages throughout our life. This is no small feat for anyone on a normal day, let alone with the focus of the powerful new moon and eclipse.
This cosmic event has other factors that intensify its significance as it makes an important aspect (known as a T-square) with Neptune, Saturn and Mars. These energies all collide asking us to channel Virgo’s power and attention to health and healing through practices of transcendence and spirituality (yoga, anyone?). There is tremendous pressure to do this right now, coupled with the willpower necessary to get it done. If ever there was a time to reignite your self-healing practices on a physical, mental, spiritual or psychic level, the time is now. Even better if you can reassert your energy into a practice that heals you on all those levels.
Interestingly, during this very intense time, there is also very smooth support from perhaps our most challenging planet, Pluto. As the archetype of death and resurrection, Pluto’s energy asks us to seek transformation on the deepest levels possible; to turn over things we’ve repressed, or ignored within our shadow. Pluto ultimately wants us to be self-aware, allowing all that is dark to fall away. During this new moon and eclipse, take time to surrender what is no longer needed, and do the depth work necessary to get real with yourself and transform what is underneath the core wound. Like a splinter left in the body, the surface wound may heal, but underneath it will fester. Until we get to the source of the wound and resolve the central issue, we are not completely healed.
Virgo’s new moon implores us to heal and take care of ourselves. Through our spiritual practice, through depth and shadow work, and by being honest with ourselves, we set the stage for a brand new layer of truth, health and leadership to take place in our lives. Alchemical Ritual for Virgo New Moon As an earth sign, Virgo is a lover of life experiences. Grounded and practical, Virgo enjoys when things are organized, when communication is clear and when health is optimized. At its best, Virgo is in service to others. On the low side, however, this easily turns to martyrdom when Virgo serves others and neglects itself. This new moon ritual for Virgo helps to realize the importance of self-care while strengthening its sense of worthiness, making it an even more powerful servant of love and selflessness.
Virgo’s ancient ruler is Mercury, but its modern ruler is Chiron. This newer addition to the astrological slate bolster’s Virgo’s energy with his powerful ability to be a healer and mentor. This is the role that so many with Virgo energy gravitate toward, and so Chiron is a welcome addition to Virgo’s planetary rulership. To enhance this energy in your ritual, gather sparkling stones like chalcedony, or perhaps a shiny silver vessel and place them in the center of your ritual space. Bring in the earth element in some way, either by filling the silver vessel with dirt, placing a plant nearby, or do the ritual outside. Eucalyptus or Lavender essential oil can be used to anoint your throat chakra before and after your ceremony. Use sage, sweet grass or palo santo to cleanse yourself and the space by casting the smoke over yourself and encircling your own body three times. Light a few candles and dim the lights. Sit in the center of your space and place the hands on the ground. Connect deeply to earth energy and call forth the healing wisdom it offers. Feel the energy moving into your seat, your legs, your hands and up through your body into your heart and throat. Coordinate the breath with the flow of energy. When you establish a consistent current, meditate on the question: What needs to be healed right now? Your answer is not trivial, and it will likely come quietly and simply. Any running dialogue is not from the heart, but from the ego, so listen closely to the answer from the heart. Once you receive your answer, choose one stone or talisman, hold it firmly in your right hand and say the following invocation out loud:
Chiron, show me the path of greatest healing, and Mercury, let follow that path clearly.
Spend a few moments in quiet contemplation. Clear the mind of thoughts completely. Feel the sensation within the heart, and allow for the invocation to sink in and begin to show you your path. Allow any symbols, sensations, emotions or energy to arise and continue to quietly witness all that happens without judgement or thought.
When complete, place your hand on your heart and chant Om three times. Place your hands in prayer at the heart with the stone inside and recognize this talisman that you have now charged with the energy of your heart’s desire. Snuff the candles and place the talisman somewhere prominently enough that you are reminded daily of the path to your heart’s fullest expression. This ritual creates a connection between you and your highest self, and allows you to walk forward on a clear path of healing for yourself and others. By Alanna Kaivalya
Fact: I’m not a seasonal eating stickler. You can be one if you live in CA. And in fact, I think all dogmatic seasonal eaters are CA natives…Yeah, if freaking everything grows in your garden all year round it’s a breeze to eat seasonally. Way harder when there’s snow on the ground for 5 months out of the year. But, a little snowfall doesn’t mean that we should totally disregard consuming locally and seasonally when possible. Why not rock a little modern convenience and crafty old-schooler fusion when we can?!
Part of season eating has to do with what actually works for our bodies energetically from season to season. Besides those champs actually being in season, there’s a reason you can’t get pumpkin out of your mind in the fall months. Winter squash is beautifully grounding and warming. After the slightly flighty heat of summer, we need that. And that energy travels into winter, when all you want to do is cozy up with some stew versus sip a green smoothie chalk full of pineapple and fruity goodness. In spring, as we start to shed our winter layer - for sure - now we want that bright, clarifying, and detoxing energy from greens and citrus and possibly in smoothie form. Then as we battle the heat of summer a light salad and soem sugary fruit helps to combat that heaviness.
Flush grocery stores are lovely. But they can be yet another force in our life pulling us away from what it is our body actually wants. The cacophony of fruitastic choices available tends to drown out our body giving us the old nudge that perhaps something else would be a more nourishing choice. As we start to shift into fall, and the best season ever (aka: the season of the pumpkin) take a moment to pause as you shop. What’s in season? What had to travel a freaking cross-continental marathon to get to you? And what does your body actually want? Sometimes that is absolutely berries in December. Go for it. But often there’s a beauty to that finite resource that is seasonal food. When it’s there it’s damn good. And when it’s not you miss it but you know it will be back. Like true love. Or perfect lulu pants. Whatever works for you.
Now onto the jam! I don’t know why I’ve always found jam so terrifying. Perhaps it’s because canning itself intimidates the pants off of me. Granted, I’m often in booty shorts, so that’s not much pants to scare…But, canning aside, getting down with some jam ain’t that hard. And it’s a great way to use the peaches that are getting riper and riper due to one's overly enthusiastic support of the CO peach industry…
This jam is just a base. Change the spices. Add some whiskey. Go crazy!
Paleo Peach Jam Ingredients
4-6 ripe peaches (I used 4 honkin’ ones and it was plenty!) juice of 1 lemon zest of 1 lemon 1t cinnamon 1/4 c coconut sugar aggressive glug of whiskey (optional)
Instructions
At the root of it, it is all the same. Be done. Get to the end. Get to the reward, the result, the finish line. Check it off the list.
Where does that sense of urgency come from?
It is a thought, yes. But, I feel it. I feel the lack of patience in my body. I feel the desire to be somewhere other than right here, right now. I feel the anxiety in my pulse. I feel the nervousness in my cold hands. I feel the future pulling at my presence.
What will I do next?
My mind begins to plan. I plan because I want to fill up the uncertainty of the future. It makes me uncomfortable not knowing what is going to happen next. I want control. I want the illusion of control. I want to feel like I have a grip on my life.
As my mind slips into the future, less of my energy is directed into whatever it is that I am doing in the present moment. I am not completely here. What does that mean for the present? What are the implications of not living fully in the now?
Again, even now my handwriting becomes just slightly sloppier than it was when I started because I am pushing to be finished with these words. I begin to wonder anxiously:
What if someone is trying to get a hold of me? I should check. I should check my phone. I should check my email. I should check my Facebook. I should text my friend back. I should go see what my Mom and Dad are doing in the other room. What time is it? It’s already (now)!? I should get going. I should shower, get dressed, make food, eat food, do my laundry, write, work… go somewhere, anywhere.
Anywhere, but here.
Anything to not be here. Anything to not be doing this thing that I am doing right now. It’s too much. It is too hard. To just be. To be here now.
That is where my urgency comes from. It comes from my refusal to immerse myself in the present moment. It comes from my longing to be somewhere other than right here. It comes from my aversion to accept this moment for what it is and ultimately myself for exactly who I am.
I want to be ahead of myself. I want to be better than I am. I want to be further along. I want to have already achieved the goals I have for my life—myself. I do not want to bother with the process.
I end up living my entire life like this—moving from one moment to the next—making my way down the infinite list of things to do, just trying to get to some end that doesn’t exist. I end up bored, passionless, and wondering, what can I do next? What is next?
I am racing towards death because I am too afraid to be fully alive.
What is next? How about, what is now?
If I redirected all the energy that I spend planning, worrying—trying to just get this moment, this task, over with so that I can move on with my life—and put it towards being present, enjoying the thing that I am doing, focusing on now, what would my experience be like?
What if right now the thing that mattered most to me was how each letter I wrote looked on the page? If each stroke of my pen was my work of art, a manifestation of my very being? What if the sound of my pen on the paper was a symphony—rolling bursts of aural consonance and harmony as my thoughts are born into existence in this physical realm?
What if I wrote with my whole body instead of just my hand? If each word moved up from the earth through my feet, passed through my belly, poured through my heart and exploded out my fingertips?
What would life be like then? What would be my experience? Without the urgency. Without the anxiety. Free from the fear of uncertainty. Free from fear itself.
What if every moment were the most important moment of my life? If every breath was the most important breath I had ever taken? If every choice I made was one between life and death?
Well, it would be just that. It would be how things truly are. It would be now.
By: Ross O'Brien
Ross is a writer, poet and creator of #subtleprovocations or transient states of being, still-framed in thought. His yoga journey started in 2010 and he has been practicing vehemently since then. Currently, he is pursuing a Masters degree in Psychology, while working on obtaining his YTT certificate at Wild Moutain Yoga.
Read more of Ross' writing on his Instagram.