I pull my mat out from its cabinet and lay it out between my sofa and dining room table. Usually there are delaying tactics of coffee-making, water-drinking, do-I-or-do-I-not-need-to-pee-before-I-start waffling. Most likely I am styled in my finest pyjamas and bed-head and further lacking a shave and a shower.
It’s not all good or joyful. Some days it’s absolutely clunky and boring and I just want to get it over with. Other days I flow and feel incredibly vibrant and alive. I always feel better afterwards.
There are no sunsets or crashing waves. Usually, there aren’t that many complicated postures. I begin with figuring out what my body needs to feel its best and the type of energy I need to generate to ground my mind and claw my way out of my neuroses. Postures, speed, intensity all flow from these fundamental questions.
Sometimes I quit half way through because I’m hungry or realise that the curry from the night before didn’t agree with me. Sometimes I work in silence. Sometimes I chat freely with my partner or jam to lite-FM on the radio.
There are glimpses of open space, of deep feeling. There are risings of energy beyond easy explanation. But fundamentally it is a necessary 30-90 minutes a day that prevents me from being an irritable, overly-emotional and irrational, annoying fuckhead.
As the days of my practice become months and years the extraordinary develops. But that’s another conversation.
By Adam Hocke
Adam has been practicing vinyasa flow yoga since 1999 and has trained extensively with Jason Crandell. He offers precise, strong, and accessible classes to physically awaken the body and develop mindfulness both on and off the mat. His teaching is down-to-earth and direct, exploring traditional practices from a modern perspective. A native of South Florida, Adam spent ten years in New York City before becoming a Londoner. He teaches studio classes, workshops and courses throughout London, and retreats across the globe. As a writer, Adam contributes regularly to magazines and web publications on yoga. Visit Adam at adamhocke.com
This Venus in Retrograde coupled with the Full Moon in Aquarius has been a doozy. And if you aren’t feeling it, good for you. But here’s the deal, we ALL are experiencing relationship stuff; whether or not we are awake to it is a whole other story.
Because the reality is this Full Moon and Venus Dance, are asking us to drop it all and be the best we can be. It’s asking us to rejuvenate and bring to light all of our shadows because in the shadow the pearl lives, and is waiting to be discovered. It’s asking us to love it all and be free from what drags us down once and for all.
Beyond that, the truth is that we are all ascending to a higher vibration of love and we can’t carry anything heavy or dense. We just can’t! So we can either keep trying to carry it, shove it under the rug, point the finger out at someone else, or we can own it and deal with it and look it square in the eye because the time is now to love it and move on.
Because here is the deal:
Relationships are can be defined as:
To others
Name it … how you “relate” in the world to ANYTHING, is a relationship.
Let me ask you, how did you relate to the whole dentist who killed Cecil? Yeah, I thought so. Or what about the banning of the word Goddess on Instagram? Or how animals are treated? Just a few zingers to remind you that we ALL experience relationship shit every single day.
Originally, I wanted to use prophetic sentences for this blog like:
Just over a week ago, I got word from my children that their father had moved in with his girlfriend and to not be surprised when they came to visit. Now, while this is not a blog about my life or my story, I want to tell you something … it brought up some very old shit. Some deeply rooted, relationship shit.
I found myself trying to figure out how I was going to hold space for them while they emotionally vomited on me (that’s part of your job description as a parent by the way) when I got home. You see, they called to give me this news while I was driving home from work and thankfully, I needed to stop at Trader Joe’s which gave me space.
But what happened next surprised the heck out of this strong, warrior mom. I was bagging my groceries and I started to weep. The weeping escalated, and soon, I was crying uncontrollably at the check out line. Poor Trader Joe’s dude, he didn’t see this one coming and neither did I.
The little sniffles turned into uncontrollable sobs once I exited the store. Which turned into wails and rants on the car ride home. I had to pull it together before I got home, but how was I going to pull it together when I had no idea why I was falling apart.
Best advice came from a dear friend. He said, “stop what you are doing, park your car and look in the mirror. Look and tell me what you see.”
And then I saw a really vibrant, kick ass Queen who has surrounded herself with amazingness, power and grace. Someone who has walked a really crazy line of truth, freedom, and love to find herself. I saw a woman who has always been in love with life even when she didn’t know what the hell she was doing.
And most of all, I saw someone who has always known who she is and what she is capable of, regardless of the stories that have colored her life.
Every relationship is a story to guide is. Every story has shaped the path, the relationships we find ourselves in are here to elevate us and that’s not prophetic, it’s the truth.
And here’s the deal…
As relationships come in and out of our lives, we get to dictate just how embedded we are in them and their stories. We get to say if they resonate with us. We have the right to say just how much we are defined by them. And then we can dictate just how much we are willing to put up with, vibrate alongside, or let go of.
And then, most importantly … and I remembered this as I watched the snot drip from my nose, my eyes bulging from my head, and my heart hurting while my gut wrenched from crying in the mirror ….
You are light. You are light. You are Divine light colored by relationships reminding you to BE that. There is only one relationship that can be cultivated, examined and elevated and that is the one you have with yourself.
Mahatma Gandhi said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Basically … do you. Period.
Byron Katie said, “I could find only three kinds of business in this world: Yours, mine, and God’s. Who’s business are you in? Be in no-one else’s but your own.”
That is where the truth in relationship lies. That’s all I got.
By Dana Damara
“My passion on the mat is proper alignment, powerful breath and effortless flow so you feel that off your mat. Your practice becomes sacred space where you arrive to find more meaning, depth, authenticity and integrity in your life."
- Dana Damara: mother, author, yoga instructor, speaker and yogini. Visit DanaDamara.com for more inspiration from Dana.
Click here to download or stream one of Dana's YogaDownload classes!
Today I’ve got a simple twist on our beloved green smoothie, and one that you’re gonna want to savour and slow down for.
Move over mason jar, we’re busting out the good ole bowl and spoon for this one.
Green smoothie bowls are delicious and the possibilities for tasty variations are endless. They pack a ton of nutrients into one quick and easy meal or snack taking less than 5 minutes to make.
This green smoothie bowl features fresh local Colorado peaches. They’re sweet, succulent and scream summertime.
I’m also newly obsessed with chlorella! Chlorella is a nutrient-dense superfood, a micro-algae similar to spirulina that super charges this green smoothie bowl to superstar status. Probably best known for helping the body detoxify, chlorella can help rid the body of harmful toxins. Chlorella is also rich in chlorophyll and is a powerful supplement known to help strengthen the immune system.
Check out the Super Green Smoothie Bowl recipe below and be sure to leave me a comment. What green smoothie bowl variations do you love? Let’s share ideas.
With super green bowl love,
Super Green Smoothie Bowl
Yield: 1 serving
Ingredients:
½ cup unsweetened coconut milk 2 TB. chia seeds ½ small avocado 1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled 2 cups fresh or frozen peaches 1 ripe banana 1 cup spinach 1 tsp. chlorella
Optional garnish: Unsweetened coconut flakes, cinnamon, cacao nibs*, banana slices, raspberries, blueberries, hemp seeds.
Instructions: In a high-speed blender, blend coconut milk, chia seeds, avocado, peaches, spinach and chlorella until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and garnish with your topping of choice.
*If cleansing omit cacao nibs and top only with fruit for good easy in easy out food combining.
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.
After you sip this delicious smoothie, try a healing yoga class with Jo or Jules:
Conscious Cleanse Detox Flow - Jo Schaalman
Heart Opening Forrest Yoga Flow - Jo Schaalman
Traditional Hot Yoga - Julie Peláez
What is Peace of Mind?
Peace of mind is best described as a mental state of being. When a person can truly accomplish peace of mind they have a sense of calmness emotionally. There are minimal, if any feelings of stress, fears, or anxieties.
So how does someone find true peace of mind?
To be quite honest there are several ways in which a person can find true peace of mind. It is simple finding something that eases the daily stresses of the mind and helps you be at peace with whatever your realities are right now. Below are just a few suggestions on how you can begin to find true peace of mind.
Remove Negative Influences - The very first step to finding peace of mind is removing from your life the negative influences that might be interfering with your outlook on life. This might mean watching less news to prevent being stressed out about negative things you can do nothing about. It could also mean removing toxic relationships from your life so that you can move forward. Or it could mean taking a long hard look in the mirror. Are you currently displaying negative behaviors that could be causing you to stress out mentally and emotionally? This could be holding grudges, unforgiving, controlling, or even comparing your life to other’s? Whatever your negatives are, removing them is the only way to move forward.
Try Meditation - Sometimes the mind just needs to be quiet. It's simply running full speed all day long trying to figure out one thing to the next. The only time it takes a break is while you’re asleep (unless you subconsciously think about things in your sleep as well). As such, meditation can be a great way to refocus the mind and simply being at peace. If you’ve never tried meditation before, there are plenty of online meditation videos to assist you in learning more about the art behind it.
Exercise - exercise can also be a great way to de-stress and find peace of mind. In fact, there are medical reports that support there is a connection between exercising to relieve stress. Exercising helps to increase endorphins which are neurotransmitters in the brain that stimulate good feelings. Exercising is also a great distraction as you’re focused on forming technique you’re not as focused on what’s going on in your life. Lastly, exercise can improve your overall mood making you feel better about yourself and life in general. Exercise doesn’t have to mean going to the nearest gym and lifting weights or running on a treadmill. Exercising can be things that include yoga, sports, or even walking around your neighborhood.
Speak to a Therapist - There are instances in which there is simply so much going on in your life that you can’t figure out how to cope with it yourself. If this is the case, there is certainly nothing wrong with going to see a therapist. Therapists are trained professionals that can help you sort through your problems and learn how to assess things in a more constructive manner. There are therapists that specialize in just about every area of your life so whether it’s an issue in a relationship, household, or a past encounter you can get the help you need. Sometimes you can find peace of mind by simply letting it all out, and a therapist is just the person to do this with.
Get a Massage - This one will probably make you at peace just thinking about it… getting a massage is a great way to relieve stress and simply feel good. According to a blog post from Massage Table Outlet, an online vendor for portable massage tables, If your stressed due to your job, getting massages can actually make you a better employee.
Do Something Fun - Lastly, sometimes you just need to get away from the stresses of life and simply smile. To do this, you’ll want to plan something that you really enjoy doing. Whether it’s going on vacation with your family, planning a mini getaway for yourself, or treating yourself to your favorite restaurant, it is important to do something from time to time that does not involve too much thinking.
Life is certainly topsy turvy and can have your brain on overdrive. The best thing you can do for yourself is find something that will take your mind off of things. Reset the brain and find peace of mind. Whether you decide to meditate, exercise, get a massage, speak to a therapist, or be spontaneous and do something fun, you need to find some form of balance to prevent your health from deteriorating. Hopefully this has given you some ideas on how to bring a little bit of peace into your life.
By Sarah Stringer
Sara is a freelance writer who most often writes about business and health. Originally from Missouri, she now resides on the west coast. In her spare time, she enjoys maintaining a healthy lifestyle through swimming and practicing yoga
If you enjoy partaking in alcoholic beverages, Conscious Cocktails can be a great addition to your 80:20 lifestyle so you can let loose and also (hopefully) avoid the hangover.
If you haven’t yet seen our new 80:20 Lifestyle Plan, you’ll want to come check it out for more recipes just like these!! We have loads more cocktails and other delicious foods you won’t find on the cleanse.
We love the 80:20 Lifestyle Plan because you can sign up anytime to get support for living a vibrant lifestyle all year long.
In case you haven’t joined us for Conscious Cocktail hour before and are wondering what the heck that means, let us fill you in!
A Conscious Cocktail is one that upgrades your usual alcoholic beverage to one that is allergen-free, spiked with a healthy dose of non-artificial and low-sugar ingredients.
This weekend we’re featuring a Jalapeño Strawberry Margarita. Its not too sweet and just a little spicy. Can you say yum!?
This cocktail would be a perfect pairing to our Zesty Lime Fish Tacos with Cucumber Radish Salsa. It combines all the goodness of Mexican-inspired cuisine without all of the food allergens like corn and nightshades!
Some of the cleanest brands of tequila that we like are Patron and Don Julio. If you’re curious about what other alcohols we recommend, be sure to check out our Conscious Cleanse Approved 80:20 Alcohol Guide so you can start upgrading your other favorite cocktails, too!
Do you have a favorite cocktail you’d like to see us makeover for you? Leave me a comment in the sections below!
We hope you have a great weekend that is sweet and a little spicy, too.
Cheers,
Jalapeño Strawberry Margarita
Yield: 2 cocktails
12 strawberries 3-4 rings jalapeño pepper, 1/2 inch thick 2 medium limes, juiced 1 TB agave nectar* 4 oz silver tequila *use stevia or Lakanto sweetener to make it sugar free
Instructions:
In a high-speed blender, combine strawberries, jalapeño peppers, lime juice, agave and tequila. Pour the contents of blender in a shaker. Shake for 30-60 seconds to chill margarita. Strain the juice out. Serve over ice and garnish with your favorite herb.
After you sip this tasty cocktail, try a healing yoga class with Jo or Jules:
I thought it might be time for something completely different for the yoga world.
Not that there’s anything wrong with glossy pictures of beautiful people finding enlightenment on the shores of an empty beach, mostly because, I want to be one of those people. Instead of om’ing away in Bali, I had to find enlightenment at my children’s soccer fields. Then I made dinner.
Although I am a yogi, I am firmly rooted in reality. In my case that means most nights in the kitchen.
This is what has bothered me lately about yoga: many don’t seem to have the same grip on the actual, physical, genuine, material world that involves putting a roof over our heads. Or, if they do know it exists, they pretend it does not. Or, they know it exists but they still want to sell us a dream in Hawaii.
It wasn’t always this way. Ram Dass said the secret to enlightenment was to “feed everybody.” He also taught at Harvard, so he should know.
Yoga, to me, is not escapism. It’s a way to go deeper inside to gain more clarity and focus. I am able to move, breathe, channel my mind and shut out the noise to delve more deeply into the inner life. Then, and here’s the kicker, I can be more content in the real world.
I am not working “out.” I am working “in.” However, many paths will take you home.
Years ago I applied to make a video for a large yoga company. I was politely told no. I found out later I was rejected because as a soccer mom I do not look like “real yoga,” and I do not teach “real yoga,” because my suburban yoga studio was part of a chain that catered to other housewives. I guess we need to be on a beach in order to sell yoga.
Here is the point: there is no such thing as “real yoga.” In my opinion, a tattooed yogi is not better than a soccer mom yogi. An organically-clad yogi is not more spiritual than a yogi wearing expensive and possibly see-through pants. We are all following the path to self-awareness.
I am over the ‘Yoga Olympics,’ where yogis prove that their way is the right way. Why is gentle yoga better than power yoga? Why Yin and not Yang? Why do we have to conform to some view of what is right? The reality is, “real yoga” looks like many things, even making dinner for one’s children. Feed everybody, right?
Can we accept each person, clothed, naked, tattooed, large, small, round, thin, bearded, shaved, dark, light, vegan or flexitarian? Or are we going to dissolve into some kind of spiritual variation of a church, where every other kind of practice is not going to get you to the gates of enlightenment?
Yoga is not a maze on the back of the children’s’ menu, where only one route leads to the center. Yoga is a labyrinth where every path leads you to the prize within. The only thing you can do to fail, is quit. Go inside yogis, reality is waiting for you and it doesn’t require airfare to arrive.
By Michelle Marchildon
Michelle Berman Marchildon is a yogi, mother and writer trying to maintain a sense of humor in a hectic world. She’s a longtime, professional, award-winning journalist, author of The Yogi Muse Blog and the memoir, Finding More on the Mat: How I Grew Better, Wiser and Stronger through Yoga. Her book for yoga teachers, Theme Weaver: Connect the Power of Inspiration to Teaching Yoga, has become one of the fastest growing and widely accepted texts for yoga teachers throughout the world.
She’s a Featured Columnist for Elephant Journal and Origin Magazine, a Contributing Editor for Mantra Yoga and Health Magazine, and a contributor under contract to Sports Illustrated. She has also written for Yoga Journal, Teachasana, My Yoga Online and 90 Monkeys. Her wit and dry humor has earned her the title, ‘The Erma Bombeck of the Mat.’ She teaches yoga and raises her family in Denver, Colorado. Her classes are available on www.yogadownload.com and www.yogasteya.com.
We didn’t talk that much after that but I could tell the wheels were turning.
It got me thinking about the word foundation and how daunting it can be. I mean, if the Earth is spinning and the sky is infinite, are we really standing on any type of foundation?
Yes, most certainly we are. Ourselves.
I contemplated foundation for awhile before I wrote this. And I remembered a few times in my life when I had no physical foundation. Once when I was 26 and traveled to the South Pacfic for an entire year. One bag, no cell phone, no Internet. Once when I was working on yachts when I was about 30 something. Every day was an adventure; waking up in a different port, different time zone and sometimes, different country. And then this last time, when I moved to California with no foundation except a job that paid pennies when I first started.
These all definitely go down in history as the best times of my life. Totally out of my comfort zone … totally unfamiliar … totally amazing!
Foundation … security … stability, it’s all an illusion if you look outside yourself for it. Foundation is an inside job and it’s found only when you feel into the power that lives within you. It’s found when you tap into your intuition and make decisions from there. It’s recognized in tight situations when the going gets rough. It’s exemplified when you re-member your foundation is your connection to Source, to God, to your internal compass.
And sometimes, that’s all you have … but that’s all you need. Ever.
From an outside, human perspective, it’s easy to see how we can get swayed by things, or people, or jobs, or even homes to determine our foundation. But I’m telling you … the only foundation you ever need is the one you have with yourself and with God; however you define God. And to be quite honest, God has been defined many different ways throughout my life.
My foundation had been ripped out from underneath me several times in this life and I believe it was an initiation to up-level my connection to Spirit and to my own intuitive knowing. We must be reminded in the life that we need nothing but ourselves … nothing but our truth … nothing but our heart.
I get it, it’s challenging. I have two kids and I try to “create a foundation for them to feel safe and comfortable in”. And yes, I use those exact words. At the same time, they know it could change in a moments notice and not to get too attached. Perceived foundation is a dangerous game. I’d rather connect deep into my physical body, my boundless heart and my God-guided intuition. That will never go away.
And when you realize this, that you carry your own foundation with you wherever you go, you will soar higher than you can ever imagine because you re-member you have everything you need.
My husband and I are total suckers for all things summer – including grilling out. We’ve also recently been obsessed with chicken wings.
While chicken wings usually conjure up an image of the epitome of greasy unhealthy fried bar food, I’m here to prove otherwise!
Today I’ve got chicken wings seasoned with a dry rub! They are spicy, smokey, and oh so delicious. Combine these at a cookout with our Conscious Creamy “Potato” Salad and your next BBQ will be a hit for sure.
Check out the recipe below and please leave me a comment. Love chicken wings? Love to grill? Put the two together and let me know what you think.
Enjoy!
Grilled Dry Rub Chicken Wings
Yield: 4 servings
2 lbs. organic chicken wings 2 TB. olive oil 3 garlic cloves, minced 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper 1 tsp. oregano 1 tsp. rosemary 1 tsp. hot chili powder 1 tsp. sea salt
Preheat grill to medium heat. In a plastic bag place wings, olive oil, garlic, and spices. Shake to combine. Marinate for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Grease grill and place wings on. Cook for 8 minutes on each side. Enjoy hot!
After you make this yummy recipe try a healing yoga class with Jo or Jules:
Vedic astrology, along with yoga, meditation and Ayurveda, originates from the Vedas. The Vedas, meaning knowledge or wisdom, are a large body of texts intuited by the ancient sages of India to help humanity in achieving happiness, peace and fulfillment and to relieve suffering that arises along the way.
Vedic astrology has a strongly predictive focus. For thousands of years people have been going to Vedic astrologers asking when they would get married, have children and meet with professional success. All of this information can be seen from the Vedic birth chart, which is derived using the birth date, time and place of the individual. However, Vedic astrology is much more than a way to see into the future, it is a great vidya, or means to gain clarity, that is an integral part of an ancient and profound belief system.
How Does Vedic Astrology Work? The philosophy behind Vedic astrology is that we are spirit beings that incarnate into a physical body as a way of evolving ourselves toward enlightenment. The Vedic birth chart is a a map or blueprint of the karma or actions that we are likely to take in this lifetime as well as situations that will arise, both positive and negative, based on the culmination of karma or actions from past lives.
Your Vedic Birth Chart The Vedic birth chart shows us how our karma will unfold through time. It shows every aspect of ourselves: our unconscious motivations or psychology, what we love and are passionate about, what makes us feel safe and secure, what our fears are and what we desire. The chart indicates what our birth was like, what are parents are like, whether we are an adventurer or prefer being at home with a book and a cup of tea. The chart tells us if we are a teacher, an advisor, an artist, a leader, a hard worker or prefer to indulge in the pleasure of life. It is all there in the chart from top to bottom.
Unfolding Time There are several methods that Vedic astrologers employ to see what karma is coming to fruition in a person’s life, and how it is likely to manifest. One technique that is unique to Vedic astrology is dasha systems or ways of looking at planetary cycles. There are several dasha systems, however the most widely used is the Vimshottari Dasha System. Vimshottari takes the enormous amount of karma that you have created over lifetimes and breaks it down into nine planetary periods that span 120 years. The planetary period that you begin with is determined by the nakshatra (star) placement of your Moon (mind) when you were born.
While each of us goes through these cycles, each of us will experience them differently due to the house and sign placement of the planet and well as a host of other reasons such as planetary strength, and the influence of other planetary energies on the planet that we “running “ at that time. For example if you are “running” a Venus major period which is 20 years in length, relationships will be a central theme during that part of your life due to Venus’ archetypal nature. The quality and longevity of the relationships you experience during this time, will be determined by other factors. It is important to note, that a a Venus planetary period will activate other areas of life as well as relationships depending on the rest of the chart.
Another technique that is utilized by astrologers both in the Vedic and Western traditions is Gochrara or transits of the planets as they move through the constellations in relation to your individual birth chart. For example, generally speaking, if Saturn is transiting Venus in your chart, this will be a time when the relationships in your life will be tested.
If you would like to know more, please come to the Understanding the Past and Gazing into the Future through Vedic Astrology workshop on July 12th from 1:30-3:30pm. You will receive a copy of your personal Vedic birth chart and find out what planetary period you are”running” and what karma is unfolding in your life.
By Tracy Atkinson
Tracy Atkinson is a professional Vedic astrologer and coach based in New York City. She has been studying and practicing both Western and Vedic Astrology since 1991. In addition to her knowledge and skill as an astrologer, Tracy received her B.A. from Smith College and 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training at ISHTA Yoga. Her website is www.tracyatkinsonconsulting.com.
Some of the yoga cues you hear teachers give to students to get into popular poses have also become commonplace. While common cueing makes it easier for students to remember how to get into a particular pose, confusing common cues can quickly lead to chronic misalignment and a general misunderstanding of what goes where.
The Golden Rule of alignment
In general, the golden rule of alignment in yoga is to stack your joints on top of one another. What does that mean?
Stacking your joints means that your knee will almost always be right on top of your ankle, and your shoulders will almost always stack on top of your hips in the same plane (twists are sometimes exceptions to the rule).
I most commonly see knees lunging in front of ankles, which can contribute to serious knee stress and injury.
Major joints aside, the spine is the final piece of the puzzle. Except when you’re folding forward or bending backward, you want to keep your spine as upright as possible moving in the same direction as the rest of your body. If you’re hinging forward from your hips, bring your straight spine with you!
Common confusion about Chatarunga Dandasana
One of the most common misconceptions that I see in my yoga classes is about Chatarunga Dandasana, or the transition between high plank (high push-up) to low plank (Chatarunga). In some schools of thought, the yoga cue given is to lower all the way down to your belly while sticking your elbows directly on top of your wrists.
When I see students attempt this transition, I see so many potential problems.
First of all, I firmly believe that you should not, under any circumstance, bring your belly all the way to the ground. If your belly touches the ground in Chatarunga, I can 99% guarantee you that you’re losing control of your body enroute. I will also probably find a somewhat disengaged core and collapsing shoulder blades. This is a recipe for shoulder injuries. Also, Chatarunga as a pose is where your body hovers off the ground with only your hands and your toes touching the ground. At no point will your belly ever touch the ground in a true Chatarunga.
Instead of trying to touch your belly to the ground, only lower half-way down or less. In my Chatarunga Dandasana pose, I come down about 50% to my true half-way point. There is no way that I have the strength to support my body down to a 90 degree bend in my elbows without collapsing my low back and shoulder blades. I’ve been practicing yoga for a good six or seven years and I still can’t get to a true half-way – it’s okay if you can’t go half-way either.
As you lower half-way down, think about pulling your shoulder blades away from each other to either side of the room as you pull your elbows in toward each other. This will make lowering down next to impossible because your elbows will be moving in one direction (toward the midline) and your shoulders will be moving in the opposite direction (away from the midline). If you have the muscle strength (hello core and upper back), you’ll be able to lower down with control, but if not, you’ll feel like you’re going nowhere — AND THAT’S EXACTLY WHERE YOU NEED TO BE.
Over time as you continue to feel like you’re going nowhere, you’ll develop the strength you need to go somewhere. Yoga will help you build strength so that you can continue to practice until you’re 105 years old, but only if you honor and understand your body’s true limitations.
I’ll teach all about Chatarunga some more in a future post, but until then, let’s move on to another common confusing cue.
The misconception about Bridge Pose
For the longest time I was taught to reach my fingertips to the back of my heels in Bridge Pose to find proper alignment of my feet. The truth is, this is only true for some people and it totally depends on the length of your arms relative to your torso.
A better yoga cue is to stack your ankles directly under your knees. When your ankles are directly under your knees you may or may not be able to touch the back of your heels depending on the length of your arms. Don’t worry about it. If your arms are super short and you try to touch the back of your heels, you’ll end up pulling your heels closer to your body and your knees will shoot forward of your ankles. The strain on your knees will undermine the potential benefit of the pose itself.
Avoid hyperextension at all cost
Finally, another more advanced cue you might hear is to melt your torso toward your thighs in Downward Facing Dog. This cue is intended to help a student bring more weight back into his or her legs so that the spine can straighten out and the neck can release. However, the shoulder girdle is at risk here if you’re a hyperextender. As tempting as it may be to tap your head to the ground because you can, DON’T DO IT.
Yes, melt your chest toward your thighs and your femur bones toward the back of the room in Downward Facing Dog. But never lose the integrity of your shoulder joints when your shoulders are supporting so much of your body weight.
The correct alignment in your shoulders for Downward Facing Dog involves a massive amount of external rotation in your shoulders. If your shoulders are extremely externally rotated, there is no way you would be able to get your head close to the ground (without manipulating and deranging your spine), no matter how flexible you are.
A better cue from your teacher (hey, that’s you!) would be to externally rotate your shoulder blades (sometimes referred to as “hollow out your armpits”) AND THEN melt your chest toward your thighs. Now you’ll experience a deeper stretch with proper and safe alignment.
Take the seat of the teacher
As a student of yoga, it is your responsibility to inquire into the state of your body and mind each and every day. It is also your responsibility to ask questions when something feels wrong or is confusing and unclear. Hold your instructors accountable, including me!, and make us explain the why behind what we have you do. This is your practice and YOU are your body’s own best teacher.
Why should you even do Downward Facing Dog and Chatarunga? To strengthen and stretch your shoulders. But if you’re working with a shoulder injury or you don’t want to stretch and strengthen your shoulders, then you don’t have to do either of those poses.
There is a good reason for everything in a (good) yoga class. But the benefit may escape you if you’re misaligned and confused.
Listen to what your teacher has to say but more importantly learn to listen to what your body has to say.
Have a question? Send me an email!
P.S. – Right as I finished up this blog post, I thought of another major offender and controversial yoga cue – “tuck your tailbone.” We’ll explore this one in greater detail next week. It deserves a post all to itself.
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.
But what do we do instead? We try to plan it all out. We look ahead in our life, not considering how valuable it would be if we looked within instead. We are asked to “map out” the next 10 years of our life when we’re just children. We’re asked to commit to a job, relationship, home mortgage, and some other tangible thing, when we don’t know if that is really what we want… or will want in 10 years time.
We have no idea who we are, where we came from, what makes us tick, what we love or what our passions are, yet we are asked to commit to a “goal.”
We spend years and heaps of money going to college, while taking no time at all exploring the depths of our soul. We compare ourselves to other things people have done, what other people have accomplished, and try and “get to” a point in our life that is … “something like that”.
We are programmed from a very early age that we “need to know” what’s next. We “need to know” what we want, how to get it, and when it will come. And God forbid it doesn’t come the way we want, how we planned, or wrapped up in a pretty little package. Then all hell breaks loose, or worse yet, we label ourselves as a failure.
This is ludicrous.
I’ve been playing a lot with the idea of letting go of the need to know over the last couple of years. And I’ve been talking to a lot of people who are having issues with this need to know illness.
I’ve witnessed miracles in letting go, experienced joy in just BEing, and felt a sense of calm when I allowed the nothingness to take over. I’m a self-admitted Recovering Type-A, which means I may never “get over” my need to know, I just catch myself much quicker now and relax into the not knowing without fighting it.
I took a huge leap into the unknown a few years ago. Everything turned out just fine; actually, better than I could have imagined. What I want to share is: if you actually adapt “not knowing” into your daily life, you may only need to make 2-5 degree turns in direction in order to stay on “course” instead of 180 degrees leaps into an abyss.
The truth is, we have no idea what is next.
The truth is, our brain is so friggin’ small in comparison to the Universe. How on Earth can we think that we can even THINK we know what’s next? And HOW to get there? And that we have control?
Are you flippin’ kidding me?
So I say, we stop with the whole need to know and just be for a hot little minute. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t plan, or think, or intend, or manifest. What I am saying though, is that we should allow for the magic of the unknown to take hold and send us somewhere totally unplanned. That we should allow for our paths to be altered and shifted according to the Universal plan instead of our pea-sized brain.
Here’s the deal: The brain works in patterns; the Universe works in magical spirals that there are no formulas for. Magic spirals sound way more fun, dont’cha think?
Check out our Summer Salad Round Up and vote for your favorite in the comment section below.
Grilled Asparagus with Cashew Feta Summer Coleslaw Farmers Market Salad Consciously Creamy Potato Salad Cucumber Radish Salad
I also have a new recipe to share with you today and one that I hope you’ll add to your summertime salad rotation.
Check out my Mediterranean Summer Salad with Goat Cheese Feta recipe!
Love tomatoes? Love goat cheese? Put the two together and you’re going to LOVE this salad.
This tasty salad falls into our 80:20 category for two simple – and easy-to-modify to make cleanse-friendly – reasons.
First, are the tomatoes, which are nightshades and can contribute to inflammation, aches and pains in the joints. While we keep nightshades off of our pates during the Conscious Cleanse, if you don’t suffer with any of the above, tomatoes are super delicious this time of year!
Tomatoes are best when local, fresh and organic and here’s a fun fact for you:
Did you know that tomatoes have been proven to have UV protective properties?
Tomatoes are high in the antioxidant lycopene, which has UV protecting properties helping shield us from the sun. A study at Newcastle University looked at the skin of 20 women, half of whom were given 55g of tomato paste (five tablespoons) with 10g of olive oil every day for 12 weeks. The results showed that the women who consumed tomatoes were better protected against UV radiation.
Now you can protect your body from sunburn from the inside out! (Psst, and don’t forget the sunscreen too).
The second reason this is an 80:20 salad is because of the feta cheese – and what mediterranean cuisine would be complete without feta cheese?! We’re all about ditching dairy, but sometimes you need a little creamy treat. This recipe calls for goat cheese feta, which is always my pick over regular feta and usually a bit easier for most people to digest.
Do you have a favorite summertime salad? Tell me about it in the comments below and don’t forget to vote!
With summer salad love,
Mediterranean Summer Salad with Goat Cheese Feta
Yield: 2 servings
2 pre-grilled chicken breasts, diced* 1 head romaine lettuce, chopped 1 cucumber, diced 1 pint cherry tomatoes, chopped 1/4 cup fresh basil, cut into thin ribbons 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped 1/2 cup Kalamata olives, pitted 2 TB. Ume plum vinegar 1 TB. apple cider vinegar 1 TB olive oil 1 tsp. honey Zest of 2 lemons Juice of half a lemon ½ cup goat feta cheese** Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
Directions: In a large salad bowl, add chicken*, romaine, cucumber, tomatoes, basil, onion and olives. Toss and set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together vinegars, olive oil, honey, zest and lemon juice.
Pour dressing over salad and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper if desired.
Refrigerate for 5-10 minutes to allow the flavors to develop. Top with goat cheese feta**.
*Variation: Plant lovers can skip the grilled chicken in place of 1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed.
**Not a goat cheese fan? Try our Cashew “Feta” Cheese
#1 - Yoga for Weight Loss - Part 1 and Part 2 Yoga strengthens, tones and builds flexibility – but it also works to positively affect your consciousness so you can keep the weight off. That’s why these 20-60 minute flows with Dawnelle Arthur are your #1 most downloaded classes!
#2 - Intro to Yoga Taught by YogaDownload founder Jamie Kent, this class with options ranging from 30-60 minutes is the perfect place to start. Experience the incredible healing benefits and proper alignment – anywhere.
#3 - HardCORE Yoga w/ Weights Boot Camp An accessible 30 minutes to help you build up to Becca Riopelle's 60-minute HardCORE Yoga w/ Weights class with an excellent blend of toning, stretching and cardio!
#4 - Warming Heart Flow Yet another Jackie Casal-Mahrou favorite! This 70 minute flow will warm your heart in so many ways, encouraging you to seek out the joy (and the backbends).
#5 - HardCORE Yoga 2 - Balance & Flow Come to your edge. Jackie Casal-Mahrou combines flow, deep core work, single leg balancing, arm balances and handstands for a 60-minute physical challenge with grace.
#6 - HardCORE Yoga w/ Weights - Total Body Blast 60 minutes with Becca Riopelle will work your entire body, head to toe, from the front of your mat to the back. Bring a towel!
#7 - Hips, Heart, and Hamstrings If open hips and hamstrings make for an open heart, get ready to feel. Spend 50 minutes with Lisa Richards in this creative class for expansion and acceptance.
#8 - Yoga Sculpt: Holy Shoulders & Abs! Stretch, lengthen, sculpt your shoulders and tighten your tummy. Kylie Larson squeezes a day at the gym into 70 glorious, sweaty-sweaty minutes.
#9 - Interval Strength Yoga The perfect 30-minute workout to torch calories, ground the mind and increase flexibility. Get your heart pumping and feel exhilarated with Kristin Gibowicz.
#10 - Get Up & Flow Starting the day with breath and movement. Jackie Casal Mahrou’s 30 minute heart-opening series is your pick to get the energy flowing for a great day ahead.
Tuck Your Tailbone is a Confusing Yoga Cue
If you read my post last week on confusing yoga cues, you’ll remember that I mentioned at the end how tucking your tailbone is another really confusing cue.
Here’s why. There are some people in this world that walk around with anteriorly tilted pelvises. Another not so medically correct way to say this is you have a duck butt. When your butt sticks out consistently, this puts pressure on your spine and take your lumbar spine out of it’s neutral (curved) position. The muscles in your lumbar spine have effectively turned off. A yoga teacher may cue “tuck your tailbone” to adjust the anteriorly tilted pelvis/duck butt when he or she sees one.
However, the end goal of the tuck (at least when I’m teaching) is ultimately to come back to a neutral spine, which means maintain the natural curvature of your low back. It turns out it’s really hard to be neutral.
Get rid of your flat back
For those students in a class who already have a neutral spinal position, the general cue “tuck your tailbone” may cause them to tuck the natural curvature right out of their low back so that they come into a posteriorly tilted pelvis, aka a “flat back.”
I’ll be the first to admit fault for saying flat back in class all the time. What I really mean to say is neutral spine.
A chronically posteriorly tilted pelvis is no better for the low back then an anteriorly tilted one. Both put pressure on the vertebrae, especially if you layer on complex muscular movement on top of these spinal positions (core work), and both turn off the very muscles needed to help maintain stability and equilibrium in your spine and pelvis.
How do you find neutral?
Trina Altman has some great suggestions for discovering for your own body what a neutral pelvis feels like in her blog post over on the Yoga Tune Up® website about happy and sad tailbones.
In a nutshell, locate your ischial tuberosities (you’ve probably heard these referred to as your sits/sit bones). These are the bony protrusions on the bottom of your butt. If you’re really sitting on your ischial tuberosities, your sacrum will rise vertically straight up and your lumbar vertebrae will display its natural curve.
The posterior tilt conundrum
Consider this situation. You sit at a desk all day long, or at least most of the day. When you sit in a desk chair, we often slump back slightly and come off our ischial tuberosities. This causes a posteriorly tilted pelvis, which lengthens the muscles around our lumbar spine. Over time, these muscles can become permanently lengthened, causing low back pain.
The obvious counter to this common issue is to strengthen those muscles and one great way to strengthen those muscles is through core work. BUT, most core work is taught with a posteriorly tilted pelvis to protect the low back, so you continue to lengthen those lower back muscles while strengthening muscles around the front side of your body and hips to stabilize and cement in your chronically posteriorly tilted pelvis.
You can see now how that posteriorly tilted pelvis ends up not being so great for your core work or your daily sitting and how “tucking your tailbone” too far into a posteriorly tilted position is no better then your duck butt.
The beauty of a neutral spine and pelvis
It’s most common to hear a teacher cue “tuck your tailbone” in Chair Pose and other squats when it’s easy to let your butt stick out as far as you can. It’s not that sticking your butt out is bad, but the point of yoga exercise is to lengthen your spine and create space rather then compress and compromise your vertebrae.
Finding a neutral spine and pelvis will also help you find more freedom in your Mountain Pose, Lunges and standing pose where you want to lengthen your spine to find more stretch.
Once you’re able to find a neutral spine and pelvis in your yoga poses, you’ll experience an overall lengthening and strengthening effect across your entire body. You’ll move more efficiently and you’ll notice that the weird chronic pains you’ve been experiencing for years will slowly (or suddenly) disappear.
I spend so much time on alignment because when your body is aligned correctly, you open up the door to so much more ability and ease of movement. This creates a happy feeling in your body, mind, and soul and is the beginning of so much more enjoyment. Sounds like a good deal, huh?
I had spent much of my life in a constant fear of abandonment. A childhood perception that gave away my power with each person I blamed for not having been there for me when I needed them the most. I even created situations to fulfill the prophecy that I was unworthy of anyone sticking around. However, the moment that everything changed was when I realized the only person who had abandoned me was myself, everything shifted.
I began a process of what the yogi’s call svādhyāya, or self-study. Why did I do this? What was it serving? What was the payoff? At first, this process seemed fruitless as the ego tried to shift the blame externally. Staying in presence with the awareness that the abandonment was mine alone and truly facing it with a curiosity akin to childlike wonder, I was able to go a little deeper into the needs that resided within the actions.
Being willing to be courageously honest with myself, what I discovered was that I replicated the first time I felt like I was not safe to be fully me. If I showed up in my full brilliance, people I relied on to love and protect me shut down. I thought it was my fault. It felt horrible. My mind mad a little map in my head so I could try to avoid feeling like that again. The problem with that is my soul needed to be free in order for me to be fully me.
I needed to feel safe, accepted, and loved. Yet, I was searching outside of myself, rather than loving and accepting myself, believing in my deepest wisdom, and trusting myself and my intuition. Realizing this, my svādhyāya deepened. What would it take for me to love myself? Trust myself? Accept myself?
First, I had to be aware of what I was feeling. Good or bad, right or wrong, I simply had to acknowledge it and observe it. What was beneath the surface of that feeling? Was there a need not being met? Was I projecting or deflecting for other needs and emotions?
Next, I had to take my power back. I was responsible for my feelings and how long I wanted to stay emotionally attached to whatever I was feeling in the moment. If a situation or person triggered me, I’d take a moment to explore it and decide if I wanted to stay angry, frustrated, or sad. If I did, I knew there was something more to explore. If I did not want to stay attached, I had to decide what I did want to feel and take some inspired action to get there.
Finally, I started focusing on what I thought was “right” rather than “wrong” about me, building on successes rather than focusing on failures, and seeking ways to iterate on anything that wasn’t working. That included relationships. I taught people who to treat me. That meant re-training some people and letting others go. It meant teaching me how to treat myself, too. I could no longer make poor choices or have negative self talk and unrealistic expectations and expect to feel anything other than poor.
I still practice svādhyāya on a regular basis. These changes take time and are layered. there’s always more to explore and uncover. I find the process is easier and faster now, almost second nature. I am far more balanced and happy, accepting and loving of myself. The fear of abandonment is gone because I was willing to get to the root and lovingly dig it up and remove it.
By Wendy Reese
Wendy Reese is a lifestyle strategist who specializes in whole being, author, and RYT-500 with 13 years of teaching experience. You can find more and do the free 7 day lifestyle detox at www.wholebeinginc.com/detox Visit www.wholebeinginc.com/detox
Try one of following YogaDownload Classes:
Foundations of Yoga - Jackie Casal Mahrou
Quicky Stretch & De-stress - Celest Pereira
Among grassroots yoga professionals, the prevalent trope on the proliferation of yoga teacher training amounts to predictions of end times. That acquiescence to the fallacy of a 200-hour standard has resulted in cookie-cutter certificate factories that are quickly destroying any remnant of authentic yoga. Hordes of unqualified teachers with dubious credentials are being unleashed upon an unknowing public, causing injury and sullying the name of an ancient and sacred tradition.
Or if you read any number of mainstream media outlets, you might think that yoga teacher training is a plausible way out of your terrible office job. A way to become your own boss and make a living off the healthy lifestyle that we all crave. All you need to do is complete your yoga teacher training, nail some impressive poses on Instagram, and you’re good to go.
Important to note that only sixty years or so ago, there were no group yoga classes.
An overwhelming majority of people who currently practice yoga have come to it by way of a drop-in group yoga class. But what many don't realize is that this is an entirely modern format for yoga. In the not so distant past, there was no such thing. And if you wanted to learn yoga then you had to seek out a teacher and convince them that you were a worthy student. Not everyone was welcomed in. You had to prove that you were serious about wanting to learn.
As the mountain has come to the marketplace, so the teacher/student dynamic and context for yoga practice has greatly changed. Folks don't consider going to yoga class as a learning experience necessarily. They go to "get their yoga on." Not any different from going to the gym to exercise or a dance club to get your groove on, except sometimes there is like some meditation stuff thrown in. But you can find classes without that if you're not into it.
Nowadays, yoga teacher training is where people are going when they want to actually learn yoga.
When I first came to yoga in the early 90's, the people who became yoga teachers were the ones who showed up to class more than anyone else. After about two years, your teacher would turn to you and say: "You are ready to teach. Next week, you will cover my classes." And you were a yoga teacher. And you were ready because you had invested your time and energy with consistency and shown yourself to have a grasp of the practice that you were passing on.
Things have changed since the requisites for being a yoga teacher were diligence and commitment over time. That is why so many old-school practitioners scoff at the idea of 200 hours. But I wonder if it's really possible to learn yoga in the same way when the groups are so much larger, the music is so much louder, and the practice caters so much more to market forces.
Fact is, people are more inclined to throw down thousands of dollars for a yoga teacher training course than they are to simply show up to class on a regular basis.
There is no doubt that the advent of a 200-hour standard for yoga teacher training has diminished the process by which someone comes to assume the role of being a yoga teacher. No longer does one have to demonstrate the same sort of self-determination and fortitude to make it happen over time, while meeting the demands of daily life and without any clear hoops to jump through. Consequently, the title of yoga teacher does not carry the same weight or mean the same thing.
At the same time, for those earnest students who wish for a more in-depth understanding of yoga than those drop-in group yoga classes are providing, yoga teacher training is where the real learning about yoga is happening. Where people decide to take it more seriously. And, for better or worse, the time and money investment is often what makes it seem real for people. Of course, there are any number of ways that 200 hours can play out. Some programs are more credible than others. But I don't think there is any way we can roll back the clock. Accountability rests entirely with those whose signatures are on the certificates.
There is a larger question about what is happening in all these group yoga classes. If you run the numbers, two years of unlimited yoga classes costs less than most yoga teacher training programs. This assumes that attending classes will actually facilitate someone learning the skills of practice and coming to understand their purpose. It is not uncommon for someone to attend classes regularly for years, or complete yoga teacher training for that matter, and still feel ill equipped. For all the money and effort people spend on yoga, we ought to expect more.
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
“Nice move, dude,” was my first thought. Followed immediately with “where did you pick that beauty up from?”
To my surprise he had actually made it himself!
Now I know better than to question his baking skills, as he was raised by the queen of baking. Every year on Thanksgiving, he participates in a pie baking contest between him and his two younger brothers. They each have their special pies – apple, pecan and pumpkin. Yes, all three boys are impressive bakers and quite the catch.
Recently I put Adam’s pastry skills to good use and asked him to make a fruit tart for my sister’s baby shower.
True to form, Adam went back to his roots and made a gorgeous fruit tart. When I saw this work of art I just knew we had to share it with our 80:20 community. It is truly to die for!!
Now some of you are looking at the ingredients wondering how is this a splurge for the 80:20–it’s so healthy! To start, it does have eggs. But the other more subtle differentiator is explained by Jules’ favorite mantra about fruit, “eat it alone or leave it alone”. With this tasty dessert that mantra gets tossed aside in the name of 20%. Also, It’s dessert so you might enjoy it after a big meal (and just deal with some gas and bloating!) or get really clever and have dessert as an appetizer. Yum!
Please let me know what else you’d like my handy dandy husband to make over in the dessert department. I know he’d love the challenge.
With fruit and tart love,
Vanilla Custard Fruit Tart
Yield: 8 servings
Crust
¾ cup walnuts 1.5 cups almond flour 3 tablespoons coconut oil 2 tablespoons maple syrup 1 egg ¼ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon baking soda ¼ teaspoon cinnamon ½ teaspoon vanilla Custard
3 cups berries of choice ½ tablespoon gelatin, unflavored 1 tablespoon water 1 cup almond milk ¼ cup maple syrup 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped and bean reserved 3 egg yolks 1 cup coconut cream (from a cold can of coconut milk)
Instructions: In a small bowl, combine gelatin and 1 tablespoon of water to soften.
In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, warm the almond milk, vanilla bean seeds and shell for 2-3 minutes.
In a separate bowl, whisk the maple syrup egg yolks. Pour the heated milk/bean mixture into the bowl while whisking.
Return the mixture to the saucepan for 2-3 minutes. Whisk mixture in saucepan. Pour in the soft gelatin. Whisk until gelatin is dissolved. Continue to heat for 5 minutes until custard has thickened. Pour custard into a bowl. Place a piece of plastic wrap on top of the bowl so that skin does not form. Chill in refrigerator for 5 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a food processor with a s-blade, grind pecans until it becomes a coarse flour. Add almond flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, coconut oil, maple syrup, egg, and vanilla and pulse until a ball of dough forms.
Press the dough into a tart pan with removable base. Using the palms of your hands press the dough to the bottom and sides pan. Cut a circle of parchment paper. Press it onto the bottom of the crust. Fill bottom with pie weights*. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the weights and parchment paper. Bake for another 5 minutes. Cool the crust while you make the custard.
Remove custard from the fridge. Pour the cup of thick coconut cream from top of 1 can of coconut milk. Using an electric mixer, whip the custard until thick and creamy.
Spread the custard into the cooled pie crust. Chill the tart for an hour to let the custard set up.
Arrange your berries in a circular pattern. Keep in the fridge until ready to serve.
Anyone ready for a little detox retox?
Giving up alcohol for two weeks is a big deal for many, especially if it’s something that’s habitually been a part of your lifestyle.
So how do you incorporate alcohol back into your diet and 80:20 lifestyle in the healthiest way possible?
This is where the Conscious Cocktail comes in!
A conscious cocktail is one that upgrades your usual alcoholic beverage to one that is allergen-free, spiked with a healthy dose of non-artificial sugar-free ingredients.
Today we’re featuring a twist on a recipe from our book. If you’re cleansing or simply don’t indulge in alcohol, try the cleanse-friendly version of this cocktail by simply omitting the vodka.
Need help finding a gluten-free vodka?
Try Blue Ice Potato Vodka or Ciroc Plain Vodka.
Happy Friday! We hope you have a glorious weekend.
Bottoms up,
Kiwi-Tini
Yield: 1 cocktail
1 cup seeded and chopped watermelon 1 kiwi, peeled 1 pitted date ½ cup ice 1 kiwi slice or lime wedge, for garnish 2 oz. gluten-free vodka
Directions: In a high-speed blender, blend watermelon, kiwi, date, and ice on high until smooth. Add in vodka and blend on low briefly. Pour into your favorite martini or cocktail glass and garnish with either a kiwi slice or lime wedge.
I could really use a new Mercedes. POSITIVE, POSITIVE, POSITIVE. I have a Mercedes. I own a Mercedes. I AM a Mercedes.
The concept is simple…want a new car, a new job, a new husband? All you have to do is think about it!
At the age of 17, I was pretty intrigued by this notion, as well. But then I discovered that the Law of Attraction and manifestation is a little more complicated.
Positive thinking wasn’t exactly a new concept to me when I read The Secret. My mother taught me about the power of positive affirmations way before there were best selling books about it. We’d “positively affirm” our way out of head colds and tough exams and bad days. What was new to me was this concept of manifesting physical things that were outside of myself simply by just telling myself that I had them. So I figured it was worth a shot, and went to work visualizing, thinking, and feeling a brand new white convertible. Unless you count a 2-day rental in Los Angeles three years later, this particular manifestation didn’t go very far.
Since then, I’ve learned a thing or two about manifesting for reals. And it’s worked more times than I count. Here’s how you can do it too. Step 1: Put The Secret down. Step 2: Continue reading this post.
Keep yourself healthy — physically and emotionally
Like everything in the Universe, we are all operating at a certain vibration. And so are our thoughts, our attitudes, and our emotions. The higher our vibration, the more open we are, and the easier it is to attract what we desire. Like a beacon of light in a dark sea.
Everything we “consume” on a daily basis affects our vibration for better or worse. And our bodies tell us that. Junk food makes us feel like shit. An all-day Orange Is The New Black binge, while totally worth it, will likely lead to some level of lethargy and a sudden lack of motivation. As physical beings in a 3D world, we’re operating at a pretty low vibration by default. The key is to find a good balance between high(er) vibes and our daily lives in order to manifest what we desire.
Eating fresh food as much as possible, practicing gratitude and compassion, staying in the moment, rolling out the yoga mat now and again, and surrounding ourselves with people who genuinely make us feel like an awesome human being, are just a handful of the easiest ways to keep the vibes high.
Manifest out of love, not fear
On a scale from low to high vibrations, fear (the fabric of all suffering) would be the lowest and love (the fabric of all being) would be the highest. Fear is the foundation of narcissism, jealousy and feelings of inadequacy. Love is the foundation for passion and compassion, contentment, gratitude, and so on. Manifestation is not just about thinking or saying something with affirmative words, it’s about having a positive, love-based intention.
The Law of Attraction says like attracts like, right? So if you want a Mercedes because Fred has one, and you can’t possibly let him have a nicer car than you, because otherwise Susie might start sleeping with Fred instead, then you’re manifesting out of fear. You’re not open nor are you ready to receive. If anything, you’ll get your car, but you’ll also get more fear along with it. And Susie will continue to do whatever she damn well pleases.
To me, the Law of Attraction is simply two or more entities operating at a similar vibration. Your vibes attract your tribe, yo. So if there’s a particular person or circumstance you want to manifest, you not only have to raise your own vibration, but they also have to be on that vibration. So here’s something to chew on: as you begin to raise your vibration with all that daily yoga and kale, what you thought you wanted to manifest might not be what you want anymore. Because that object or person of your previous desire is now operating at a lower vibration than you. It’s like when you start exercising five days a week and are suddenly less interested in Doritos.
And that brings me to my next point….
Look at the deeper meaning of your desires
In my last year of college, I wanted to write for Cosmopolitan Magazine. And if I couldn’t do that I wanted to go to Uganda to report on rebel conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa. Two completely different life paths and interests. And also both quite difficult (although, I did get a meeting with Cosmo! *pats self on back*). But if you zoom out a bit, you can assess what it is I really wanted out of life. I wanted glamour, but I also wanted to get my hands dirty. I wanted stability, but I also wanted adventure. I wanted to do something fun, but I also wanted to do something impactful.
If you told me five years ago that I’d end up doing PR for an Indian music app, I would have been very depressed. (This was before Silicon Valley was cool.) But right here in the now, I couldn’t be happier with my current work situation. Sure, I’ve evolved to have dreams and goals beyond this job, but it certainly offers me everything I wanted five years ago, and most of what I still want now. The evolution of dreams is part of the growing process.
The point is that often times it isn’t the specific things you want, it’s a feeling or a lifestyle. So look at it from a broader perspective. Figure out what excites you on a deeper level, and work on manifesting that instead.
Or what if…
Ok, here’s a mind fuck: what if “manifesting” is nothing more than our intuition telling us what’s already on the way?
Mind blown? Yeah, mine too.
From my iPhone with love…and stardust.
xoT
I’m Teresa. I’ve moved more than 15 times in 8 years. I’m the publicity siren for an Indian music app, among other things. I like cities — namely New York and Mumbai. I like to say that my childhood dreams of being a professional dancer have manifested as an ability to dance between two worlds — the conventional and the magical. I can move with the shakers, but I wander with the dreamers. From high rises to sunrises, from shareholders to shamans, from five stars to shooting stars — I see it all, and I love it all. My mission in life is to merge these two worlds. This blog is just the beginning.
Send nice words to tb@teresabigelow.com. Or you can find me on Twitter and Instagram.
Erich Schiffmann teaches that “yoga is a way of moving into stillness in order to experience the truth of who you are. It is also a way of learning to be centred in action so that you always have the clearest perspective on what’s happening and are therefore able to respond most appropriately.” He continues,”when you experience yourself in stillness – that is, when you give your undivided attention to experiencing the truth about you – you will experience the conflict-free, calm, dynamic peace of perfectly centered abundant life energy.”
The use of yoga in this way for me is very simple and specific. I practice vinyasa flow yoga, moving at a moderate pace so each movement is conscious and therefore not powered by mindless momentum. I breathe in rhythm. I match repetitive movement to breath. I hold static shapes while maintaining an internal energetic movement and rhythm. When I hold to the discipline of this practice for a period of time, I begin to break through the layers of mental noise and physical tension and touch into what Chogyam Trungpa refers to as ‘basic ground.’ This is the “fundamental state of mind, before the creation of ego…[where] there is basic openness, basic freedom, a spacious quality; and we have now and have always had this openness.” I do not create space, I do not make myself more flexible in body or mind, I work through barriers that prevent me from experiencing the natural state of openness.
And to be fair, this is quite hard to stick with. Particularly with some tough postures thrown in that require more than just an attitude of ‘letting go.’Of course, there is value and need to rest, but before I get to that point, I need some fire and heat. Perhaps I lived in New York too long, but a practice for me that only focuses on softness, letting go, and embracing love and joy is gonna leave us pretty ill equipped when life throws shit in our faces. We also need to up our ability to meet challenge.
So, I practice and teach poses that make me sweat, that are complex, that require discipline and endurance. I challenge myself to find the breath, the focus, and ultimately the softness within often strong challenge. As Pema Chodron instructs, “to stay with that shakiness- to stay with a broken heart, with a rumbling stomach, with the feeling of hopelessness and wanting to get revenge – that is the path of true awakening. Sticking with that uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic – this is the spiritual path.”
My yoga practice is tough and demanding because that’s a major component of the experience of life and we need processes to work with and through it. And as Ani Pema teaches, it is often in the darkest places where ‘things fall apart’ that we have the opportunity to ” let the energy of the emotion, the quality of what we’re feeling pierce us to the heart” and awaken compassion and kindness.
Chogyam Trungpa continues that “when you don’t punish or condemn yourself, when you relax more and appreciate your body and mind, you begin to contact the fundamental notion of basic goodness in yourself.”
All of this is not going to happen in a single downward-facing dog pose. However, it is the cumulative effect of this type of practice that for me helps me deepen my meditation practice, enrich my experience of life, and prepare me to manage and reduce my suffering through life’s inevitable pains and griefs.
As I lie down in savasana and my experience of body begins to dissipate into the mat and the space and people around me, I have a taste of the basic ground of openness, the basic goodness of myself and others, and I can meet my day and whatever it may bring.
Chakra means wheel and symbolizes the swirling energy located in each of these centers.
Each chakra has an associated location, color, and quality.
Here you will learn the basics on how we can use asanas (postures), meditation, pranayama (breathing), mudras (gestures), chants, and affirmations to help balance the first three chakras.
Working with our subtle energy can have profound impacts on the health of our mind and body. It can help us recognize and find freedom from unhealthy belief patterns and habits as well as provide us with more energy and awareness in how we think and act.
And honestly this is just scratching the surface! Give it a try and see what is revealed to you.
1. Muladhara Chakra/ Root Chakra
Muladhara means base of support. This is our center for security, stability, and connection to the earth. When out of balance we can feel insecure and out of touch with life.
Location - Base of the pelvis and spine
Meditation - Sit or lie comfortably; visualize a swirling ball of red energy glowing stronger and brighter as you breath. Evoke feelings of stability, groundedness, security and connection to the earth. If you like imagery, you can also imagine you are growing roots down into the ground.
Chant - Lam (like the ‘a’ sound in llama). Take time to pronounce all three letters fully and repeat at a comfortable pace for a minimum of 2 minutes. Feel the vibration resonate down into the base of your pelvis.
Chinmaya Mudra (Embodiment of Knowledge)
This gesture directs breath, awareness, and energy to the base of the body allowing us to slow down our exhales and feel more fully embodied and stable.
Affirmation - Kindly repeat to yourself “I am grounded, stable, and connected”.
Asana
Tadasana - Mountain
Utkata Konasana - Goddess
2. Svadisthana Chakra/ Sacral Chakra
Svadisthana means one's own dwelling place. This is our center for creativity, embodiment, pleasure and ease. When out of balance we have difficulty going with the flow, our creativity is diminished, and we will likely have repressed deep seated emotions.
Location - Hips, sacrum, and sexual organs below navel
Meditation - Sit or lie comfortably; visualize a swirling ball of orange energy glowing stronger and brighter as you breath. Evoke feelings of creativity, sensuality, wonder, openness, and ease. Welcome pleasure, passion, and the ability to go with the flow.
Chant - Vam; take time to pronounce all three letters fully and repeat at a comfortable pace for a minimum of 2 minutes. Feel the vibration resonate into your low belly and sacrum.
Svadisthana Mudra (Inner Dwelling Place)
Energy & nourishment from the universe flows in the left hand and is directed into the right hand. Receive a warm flow of nourishment and a feeling of deep satisfaction and contentment.
Affirmation - Kindly repeat to yourself “I am a creative and passionate being and I welcome pleasure into my life”.
Jathara Parivartanasana - Revolved Abdomen
Salamba Baddha Konasana - Supported Bound Angle
3. Manipura Chakra/Solar Plexus Chakra
Manipura means city of jewels and is considered to be our power center and the seat of our digestive fire. This is also where we develop a healthy relationship to ourself and others. When out of balance we may distrust ourself and others and develop an unhealthy ego. When balanced we are able to remain calm even in times of distress and display a healthy amount of self-esteem and self-respect.
Location - Solar plexus between navel and rib cage
Meditation - Sit or lie comfortably; visualize a swirling ball of golden yellow energy glowing stronger and brighter as you breath. Evoke feelings of will power, trust, healthy relationships with people and the world, self esteem, and self respect.
Chant - Ram; take time to pronounce all three letters fully and repeat at a comfortable pace for a minimum of 2 minutes. Feel the vibration resonate in the space between the navel and rib cage.
Vajra Mudra (Diamond)
This gesture directs breath, energy, and awareness to solar plexus and enhances feelings of empowerment, determination, and vitality.
Affirmation - Kindly repeat to yourself, “I am courageous and confident standing in my power”.
Ardha Matseyendrasana - Half Lord of the Fishes
Phalakasana - Plank
By Jennifer Meek
Jennifer Meek is a Certified Yoga Teacher (RYT 500) specializing in Yoga Therapy for common conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and back pain. Utilizing her 25 years of movement experience as a dancer in combination with the tools of yoga and mindfulness she teaches people how to tap into their innate potential for health and happiness. Read More from Jennifer at jennifermeek.com
Healthy mac and cheese is here!
We’re so lucky to live in Boulder, where our choices for healthy and nourishing food is readily available. When we met Christine Ruch, owner and chef extraordinaire behind Fresh Thymes Eatery, we felt an instant connection. Not to mention that Jo and I have both been obsessing over the food from Fresh Thymes for some time now.
Inspired by her own experiences living with celiac disease and multiple sclerosis, Christine knows all about how real, nourishing food can make all the difference in your health. For years, she has effectively managed both of her conditions with clean eating and a cheerful outlook (seriously, this lady knows how to laugh), so now she proudly credits her improved wellbeing to the power of good nutrition.
Christine was nice enough to share with us Fresh Thymes’ recipe for vegan mac and cheese with cashew cream sauce so you can enjoy the down-home deliciousness of healthy homemade mac and cheese too.
This dish is a perfect replacement for the traditional dairy-based mac and cheese out there. Not to mention it’s very kid-friendly. They’ll never miss the boxed stuff again.
When I make this for my family, I make the kiddos and hubbie brown rice penne pasta from Tinkyåda and make myself kelp or raw zucchini noodles. Add to that some sautéd mushrooms and greens and you’ve got one healthy family-friendly dish.
While this recipe definitely falls into the 80:20 category, it can be modified pretty easily to be cleanse-friendly by simply omitting the nutritional yeast in exchange for a few simple tweaks (see below for details). When you’re not cleansing, the nutritional yeast gives it that “cheesy” flavor and an extra hit of B vitamins and protein.
Check out this easy and delicious vegan mac and cheese dish and be sure to leave me a comment below. Does this satisfy your mac attack cravings?
With love and creamy goodness,
Fresh Thymes’ Mac and Cheese with Cashew Cream Sauce
Yield: 4-6 servings
1 small white onion, chopped 2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped 1 TB. olive oil 1 cup cashews, soaked for at least 1 hour 2 cups water 2 cups coconut milk ½ cup nutritional yeast* 1 lemon, juiced 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. garlic powder
Directions: To make the sauce, warm a sauté pan over medium heat adding the olive oil, onion and garlic. Sauté until translucent. Remove from heat and allow it to cool.
Meanwhile, in a Vita-Mix or other high-speed blender, add cashews, water, coconut milk, nutritional yeast*, lemon, salt and garlic powder. Then add the cooled onion and garlic.
Turn blender on, gradually increasing speed to high. Blend on high for 3 minutes, or until the sauce is creamy and no bits of nuts remain. Taste for seasoning.
Prepare your noodles by following the directions on the back of the package. Options are brown rice noodles (for 80:20), kelp noodles or make zucchini noodles using a spiralizer.
Place the amount of sauce you would like in a saucepan and warm, adding noodles as desired. Season with salt and pepper to taste and enjoy.
The sauce makes more than you need for 4-6 servings and will keep for up to a week refrigerated.
Option to serve with sautéd spinach and mushrooms.
*To keep this 100% cleanse-friendly, omit the nutritional yeast and add extra 1/2 onion, 1 garlic clove and 1/2 lemon juiced to recipe. Serve with either kelp or zucchini noodles.
Men benefit just as much from a regular yoga routine as women. Here's how:
Yoga alleviates pain and injury.
Most men come to yoga with injuries and pain, particularly in the back, knees and joints. Yoga uses controlled movements, expert alignment, biomechanics and breath to open your body efficiently while minimizing the risk of injury.
Safety and alignment are the absolute first priorities in yoga. Yoga demands that you do not push beyond what you are capable of doing safely. Clear physical landmarks and attention to the breath prevent you from pushing past your limits. There's always a variation or modification to keep you safe while still progressing and challenging yourself. Within the first month of a regular yoga routine, you will alleviate your pain and injuries – beyond that, yoga will help take your health to a whole new level.
Yoga keeps your body fit, flexible and strong.
Many men say, “I'm not flexible enough to do yoga.” That is like saying, “I'm not strong enough to lift weights.” The poses are powerful and specifically designed to open and strengthen your body efficiently. Yoga will make you more flexible, light and in many ways stronger than any other exercise – without wrecking your body! With patience and steady practice, you will become more open than you've ever imagined.
The right combination of strength and mobility is key, whether you're a professional athlete or just trying to age gracefully. You will tone and strengthen muscles that you didn't know you had. The small muscles in your back that have been deteriorating from that desk job will be getting a long-awaited wake-up call. With a commitment to yoga, you will be a lean, mobile, strong and physically fit yoga machine.
Yoga will provide the fun challenge you crave.
Yoga is more than just sitting around, humming and talking about your feelings. As a former collegiate wrestler, I can honestly say that some yoga classes are more challenging than any workout I've ever done. It will be humbling at times, but worth it. You will learn how to challenge yourself without being competitive. Competition will result in injury. Most men come from a strong athletic or business-minded background, where competition is fierce. Yoga teaches you to challenge yourself intelligently and completely without being overly aggressive. Learning new poses and noticing real progress is addicting! The light-hearted, compassionate attitude in yoga will help you to not take yourself too seriously, even while you're sweating it out.
Yoga will help improve diet, sleep and overall health.
Once you're feeling the physical benefits of your yoga regimen, you naturally begin to shift your diet and sleeping patterns. You will no longer want to eat a pint of ice cream or stay out late on a weeknight knowing you're doing these healthy things for yourself. During yoga, you will notice your mind is so focused on what you're doing that it is impossible to think about your job, bills or anything else. You find yourself fully in the moment, and that complete focus puts your mind at ease. Afterward, you will feel grounded and relaxed. The combination of your body and mind feeling fantastic is a recipe for practical, healthy lifestyle changes.
The whole point of yoga is to live your life to the fullest. Whether you love to run, fish, golf, play basketball, travel or play with your kids without hurting yourself – yoga will help you do the things you love better and longer. While the yoga poses are fun and a strong tool, they're not the point. What matters is that when you feel great, you are able to truly savor life.
Yoga improves your performance and relieves stress.
In the trenches of the workplace, sports arena, family reunions and even the grocery store, you will face many challenges. Yoga trains your mind to be grounded and calm, especially while in the fire of stress. Why would anyone want to put themselves in a challenging yoga pose, hold it and be asked to stay calm and breathe deeply? Because on the battlefield of life, you will be challenged far more than you will on your yoga mat. However, by practicing to stay grounded in very uncomfortable situations, physically and otherwise, you train yourself to be at your best when it matters most.
Yoga is the fountain of youth.
Between all the physical, mental and overall health benefits, yoga will make you feel better and younger than you could have ever imagined. This only happens after you commit to a regular yoga routine. Anything worth doing will take patience and time. Yoga communities consist of the young and old alike who want to better themselves and live more vibrantly. You become the company you keep. When you surround yourself with people who willfully open their bodies and minds, you become more youthful and open to trying new things.
By Jake Panasevich
ERYT-200
Drawing from over seven intensive trainings, Jake Panasevich threads the most beneficial practices from different modalities into a unique yoga experience for inflexible, stressed, over-worked regular Americans. Jake is a yoga and wellness mentor and teacher to a large, committed group of beginners and advanced students alike. With a strong wrestling, coaching and writing background, Jake inspires students to get committed, get stronger and learn to love life and flourish in it.
Jake works with:
Guys who want to live healthy and pain-free Former athletes who are tight and injured Those who want to avoid surgery and expensive alternatives to yoga Those who love to be challenged in a way that supports them
Visit www.yogawithjake.com to get motivated, feel great and get committed!
Even so, it’s vitally important for our hips to stay happy day in and day out. I also don’t know anyone who genuinely loves hobbling around with tight hips.
Why do we have such tight hips?
Well, for a variety of reasons. If you work at a desk and you sit all day long, this contracts your hip flexors, which tightens everything up around your hips.
On the other side of the coin, if you’re an athlete who runs or engages in any type of high intensity workouts, then you’re also tightening up the hip flexors and the rest of your hip muscles.
Since the beginning of time, it’s been hard to fit in significant stretching to counterbalance all the strengthening and so the hips (and many other muscle groups – hi shoulders and hamstrings) – lose out.
Pain vs Sensation
If you ever take my yoga classes, you’ll hear me talk about sensation a lot. Because the hips are so tight, it’s likely you’ll feel a lot of “sensation.” I use the word sensation because it’s neutral, and there’s a reason for that.
In yoga, it’s important that we lean into sensation regardless of whether or not we label it as “good” or “bad” in our minds. With that said, there is a very real difference between sensation and pain.
If you ever feel sharp, shooting sensations that truly hurt, back off of your stretch. That’s no bueno.
However, if you’re feeling extreme discomfort but you can still comfortably breathe, stick with it! This is where true transformation happens.
Emotional Release
The energetic and physical body converge around emotions. When we are unable to express emotions and we “keep them in” or “stuff them inside,” they have to go somewhere. While that emotional storage shed is different for every body, the hips seem to have a lot of vacant room for stuffed emotions and so this emotional baggage settles in our tissues. You may have heard the phrase before “the issue is in our tissues.”
When you’re stretching the hips, like really getting in there deep, you’re opening up the locked doors to these emotional storage sheds and allowing everything that’s been stuck inside (perhaps for decades) to finally be gone. During this process, it’s natural to experience all those emotions as they’re on their way out of your body. These emotions aren’t going to go peacefully, that’s for sure, just as you wouldn’t appreciate someone knocking on your door and telling you it’s time to leave.
This is why many people will experience sudden anger, sadness, jealousy, etc. when doing deep stretching in the hips (same goes for shoulders & chest). Allow this to happen rather then trying to stuff it back inside! It’s time to let the squatters go.
Be patient
You’re unlikely to have significant emotional release from today’s video as it’s short and semi-sweet, but I put it out there as a milestone to be aware of. The truth of the matter is, it will take a long time to get your hips all stretched out if you’ve been working through tightness for years and years and years. Our bodies don’t change overnight.
While today’s short practice is a fabulous start, I encourage you to come back to it daily, or at least a couple times a week. (Ok, I know it’s 10 minutes and not 5, but your hips deserve it.)
Practice moving around every now and then if you find yourself sitting for long hours at a time.
If you’re practicing high intensity workouts, take the time to stretch when you’re done.
Preventative measures can go a long way in helping you avoid the super tight hips you’re now trying to unwind.
Let’s make a pact together right now to not make it worse and commit instead to making our hips happy!
Click HERE to watch the "Happy Hip Stretches" video
Many people get dragged down by the weight of negativity, scarcity, anxiousness, fear, and jealousy. When we focus on what we do not have, when we fixate on the past, or continuously yearn for the future we miss the multitude of gifts that are bestowed on us in the present moment.
Lakshmi’s prosperous energy is within each of us. To actualize this energy is to connect with your power of love, confidence, and gratitude. This energy manifest as those times you feel rooted on your path, confident, and strong. You smile at strangers and selflessly assist those around you. When you connect with your Lakshmi energy you intuitively recognize when you give fully, you receive fully. Although we all carry this Lakshmi energy within us, one of the easiest ways to cut off the prosperous energy is to take things personally. When we take things personally we give our energy to a metaphoric black hole. As a result we are left feeling empty, lost, unloved, and not good enough.
Taking things personally begins in childhood. Whether it was when a friend didn’t play with you, you weren’t chosen first, or you weren’t invited to a party. As kids our feelings were always getting hurt. And as adults, nothing has changed. Most adults, on some level, still care what people think, how they are perceived, and how fair life treats them. Many of us take it personally when we get passed over for a promotion, a facebook post doesn’t receive many likes, or a friend doesn’t reach out. Yet to take things personally is to snuff your inner spark.
To take things personally is an energy waste…and a great opportunity to step back and look at how you ultimately view yourself. How we internalize the actions or words of another person to heart is a reflection of how we feel about ourselves: scrape the surface to discover where you feel a sense of lack. Sometimes these feeling are deep rooted in childhood events and sometimes they come from a failure to commit to a project, an idea, or a person.
Lakshmi asks us to be mindful of every experience. In the present moment we learn what triggers our sense of lack, our fears, and feelings of not belonging. We identify the mental fluctuations and bodily sensations that occur by giving power away. When we are aware of our triggers, how our body responds to feelings of lack, and what it does to our mind frame we can begin to cultivate the power to remain steady, rooted, and unaffected by world around us. To continuously connect with the Lakshmi energy within, is to continuously strengthen your inner grace, sense of self, and an abundant life.
By Kimi Marin
Kimi has a master’s degree in literature and loves to combine the power of stories with yoga. Her Yogic Lore workshops are a fun combination of stories, asana, meditation, and mantra. Kimi was featured in Origin Magazine’s Inspire Series and was the featured ambassador for Ahnu Footwear June 2013. Visit www.kimimarinyoga.com