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
Begin embracing your serpent energy with the following YogaDownload Classes:
By Julie Peláez and Jo Schaalman
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 consciouscleanse.com.
Download a class from Jo and Jules today!
Connect to Core - Jo Schaalman
Hot Yoga Detox Class - Julie Peláez
This dish is a surefire hit for any super bowl party. No one will ever guess it’s healthy and can be your little secret. Don’t expect any leftovers when you take your casserole dish home. Here’s the deal about the creation of this recipe . . . I’m seeing maple and bacon combinations everywhere – especially on donuts! I’m certainly not suggesting you serve donuts and try to call that healthy. But this alternative could set that craving straight. WARNING! Donuts aren’t good for you – but this recipe is!!! WARNING! This recipe is really addictive. Just have one serving. You can always make it again. WARNING! Your family will ask you to make it over and over and over again. Before you get the recipe, let’s talk a minute about the ingredients... Sweet Potatoes: These orange little babes are packed full of nutrients (in addition to being nature’s candy). Vitamin C helps with immune health and with collagen building. Say hello to sexy youthful skin. Bacon: I know, to anyone who doesn’t eat Paleo, this probably sounds like a dirty word. While I don’t recommend a daily bacon habit, I do think it’s important to discuss bacon and what to look for. Most bacon is packed with toxins you do NOT want in your body. Here is what to look for: nitrate and nitrate free - Uncured. Buy ORGANIC and pasture raised when it comes to your bacon (all meat actually, it’s higher on the food chain). Bacon bonus: it’s high in choline which improves your memory, smarty pants. Cranberries: These tart little ladies are naturally high in fiber and low calorie. Ingredients: 2-3 pounds of sweet potatoes, cubed 1/2 pound of bacon, uncured-organic-nitrate & nitrite-free 1 tbsp dried rosemary, chopped 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/2-1 cup dried cranberries 2 tbsp Grade B Maple Syrup Directions: Wash the sweet potatoes really well. You can peel if you prefer, but I like to leave the peel on to increase the fiber and nutrients. Plus it’s less work and I just call it “rustic” style cooking. Cube the sweet potatoes into about 1 inch pieces for faster cooking. Toss the sweet potatoes in the olive oil and chopped rosemary. Spread out on a shallow baking sheet or even a pretty casserole dish you can serve it in. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. While the sweet potatoes are roasting in the oven, cook the bacon on the stove-top. Over medium heat, cook the bacon until it is lightly crispy. What does that mean? You can crumble it and non of the fat is still squishy…but it’s not blackened yet. This doesn’t take long. Do NOT add any oil or grease to the pan. Set the bacon aside on paper towels so the fat can drain off and it will cool. Once cooled, chop the bacon into bits. After the 25 minutes of baking the sweet potatoes, remove from the oven and mix in the bacon bits, cranberries and maple syrup. Transfer to a serving dish. Serve and enjoy. Believe me, everyone will enjoy this. If you are vegetarian, simply omit the bacon and this dish is still just as delicious! Click here for a free copy of Jessica's popular eBook Sugar Free Treats. In fact, it’s full of recipes that could be excellent for your Super Bowl festivities. May the team you’re rooting for win!
By Jessica Wyman
Connect with Jessica at: Websites: www.JessicaWymanWellness.com www.HotMamaNutrition.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/JessicaWymanWellness www.facebook.com/HotMamaClub
This article has also been published on the Cozy Orange blog.
By April Laliberte
Energy Infused Yoga
Chakra Awareness Meditation
Facebook: www.facebook.com/JessicaWymanWellness www.facebook.com/HotMamaClub Click here for a free copy of Jessica's popular eBook Sugar Free Treats
Solar Flow 2 - Lisa Richards
By Celest Pereira
Celest is a trained dancer and martial artist with a BS in Physiotherapy and over 10 years yoga practice. Celest completed her Yoga Teacher Training in India in 2009 and has been teaching full time since then. Witnessing her classes really begin to buzz with increasing numbers of regular students she founded CITYOGI, a website aimed to make yoga more accessible to the city professional. Celest's greatest passion is to teach Vinyasa Flow Yoga. She has classes in top yoga centers in London, such as Triyoga and Evolve and regularly takes groups to exotic locations for yoga retreats.
Start letting in love in with the following classes from YogaDownload:
Robyn Parets is a journalist, editor, yoga teacher, and owner of two yoga-related businesses: Breathe Joy Yoga studio and Pretzel Kids, a trademarked children’s yoga brand. She also blogs about yoga, business and life in general and can be found at awayfromom.net.
“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 www.danadamara.com
Okay, we may be a little biased here, but we think that a YogaDownload gift certificate is the perfect gift for any yogi or yoga-curious person in your life! Bonus: between now and December 25th, you’ll get a gift certificate for yourself for half the purchase price of the original one for free!
Who doesn't love a good board game? Split Decision isn't your average board game, though. Forcing players to decide betweem "two equally plausible answers to eerily difficult questions," hilarious bewilderment is bound to ensue. $24.99 is a small price ton pay for such fun. Click here for Uncommon Goods' last-minute shipping options.
The yoga mats were rolled by the chimney with care, In hopes that there'd be 20 minutes to spare. The children were nagging, not going to bed, While visions of Wanderlust danced in my head. With hubs in his yoga pants and I in mine too, We were deeply in need of our Inner Guru. When up on the roof there arose such a blast, You’d think Shiva Rea was giving a free class! And what to my wondering third eye should I see, But Santa himself, breathing in Ujjayi. His hands placed in mudra, he looked so serene, Sitting in Lotus, right under the tree. “Santa!” I exclaimed, “how can this be?” “I came to align your chakras,” said he. He rose up to standing (His pants were see-through, He must have bought them last year at lulu). We rolled out our Mandukas and lit our inner flame, And he whistled and shouted each yoga pose name. “Now up dog, now down dog, now to chaturanga! On cobra, on cat/cow, on parsva bakasana!” The prana was flowing, my worries were gone, My mantra, “I am grateful,” carried me on. Santa, it seemed, was a wonderful mentor, The yoga was helping me come back to center. “Your practice need never be out of your sight, YogaDownload is with you, all day or all night.” And I heard him exclaim as he drove off in his sleigh, “Merry Christmas to all, and to all Namaste!”
Get grounded for the holidays with these YogaDownload classes: Gratitude Flow - Lauren Pech Ground into Essence - Alex Cordoba Gentle Hatha 5 - Deep Release - Jackie Casal Mahrou
I don't see an inherent flaw in any of that logic. None of the above is false; we do live in one of the noisiest and most stimulant-laden cultures in all of human history. It's true that most people have to seek and cultivate peace and quiet, as peace and quiet are diminishing experiences in a world of progress, technological revolution and pervasive social media. Defining Savasana in terms of stillness and peace is perfectly valid, but it would be a shame not to examine the final pose in an asana practice a bit further. Like various philosophical and religious theories, different schools of yoga offer unique theories on how to exist happily and effectively in the world. Individual yoga teachers might offer thousands of varied examinations of the practice and value of Savasana. The more apt examinations likely come from personal experience, which I find is the most authentic source of information for students. (Shri K. Pattabhi Jois famously said Ashtanga yoga is 99% practice, 1% theory.) Recently I delighted in the arrival of a new personal experience of Savasana in relation to the Asana practice. This fresh perspective is a different take on three main components of Asana practice: intention setting, asanas, and savasana. Intention setting as a vessel of your light Consider that the initial intention-setting in yoga can act as a symbolic vessel for the unique light of the student's being. Most yoga lineages agree on the inherent existence of this light, meaning light and goodness is the crux of humanity. You don't have to earn it or become good enough for the light; it just exists like you do. Through an intention- a setting of purpose by the student in the first few minutes of practice- the student can channel their particular light. Of course, we don't know this to be true for certain, but choosing the theory of inherent goodness can provide a valuable shift in perspective. Poses as a system of symbols To further this line of thought, the poses can act as physical symbols through which students can channel their intention. On an overarching level, the poses can become symbols which represent how students wish to exist, physically and mentally. Do you want to stand confidently in the world? To me, that's about being willing to own and take up space. You might try getting bigger in Warrior II, or creating more space across the whole practice by filling your body with breath. Want to be vulnerable but strong? Maybe in a heart opening pose, you decide to root your legs with such strength that the vulnerable opening of the heart is inextricable from your power. I could go on and on. Constantly creating the physical stance the student desires to embody can allow her to finally bust through unconscious physical habits. Many yoga teachers offer the convincing theory that interrupting unconscious physical patterns can help people rework unconscious mental patterns. Interrupt those unconscious physical habits, rework them...sounds like growth to me. Again, I don't want to say that I know this theory is true; how can teachers of any philosophy prove it's right through and through? Too often it seems teachers seek to prove the veracity of yoga's teachings. Proving the truth of my viewpoint seems a difficult/exhausting business to me. I would rather highlight the efficacy of choosing a system of theories- also known as stories- that serve to elevate me to my highest effectiveness and happiness in the world. The theories I've applied to intention setting, asana and savasana have served to help me feel more conscious, aware and confident. Savasana as a humble surrender Here's where it gets complicated. Lately I've been thinking that savasana is not just one more theory of relaxation or one more method to be calm so we can exist in a certain way. Savasana can also mean "death of the practice" or "death of the pose." Interesting. I sometimes think that savasana is actually the temporary death or surrender of all theories, philosophical understandings and methods (yoga included) of discovering answers to those ubiquitous human questions. Questions like: Why am I here? How do I best exist here? How do I prove that I know how life works? What's the best way to be the best person I can? Is it possible savasana is not a time to strengthen the lessons of asana practice, but to surrender all your efforts? Savasana can also be the act of bowing humbly to the mystery that exists. It's the physical symbol of telling the Universe: "Yes, I did that yoga practice and exercised the theories I've been suspecting are helpful to me; I did my very best. But I also get there are some things I don't know. Whatever's out there, however this existence thing works, I bow to it. There are questions I don't even know how to ask. Daily mysteries unfold around me that I could not possibly perceive. So I'm dipping into mystery and letting it carry me for a bit." Because at the end of the day, will you ever really prove those theories are 100% true? Probably not. Does it have to be scary that we don't know all the answers? Maybe not. It might take some practice approaching mystery. How about five to ten minutes of practice every time you do asana yoga? In Brida, Paulo Coelho says, "We don't look for an answer, we accept, and then life becomes much more intense, much more brilliant, because we understand that each minute, each step we take, has a meaning that goes far beyond us as individuals." Is it possible that pumping the brakes on the answer-seeking mechanism of yoga could help us see the brilliance of life more profoundly? Running from mystery is intellectually exhausting. In my experience, it takes up a lot of energy to pretend I know all the answers. So these days I'm taking all of that value and beauty I found in asana yoga, and I'm surrendering even that for a few minutes. Approaching the undercurrent of mystery that I constantly sense and saying to it: okay, sure. For a few minutes a day, you and I can be friends. By Claire Heywood
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. “
“Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” - Socrates It is the disease of Doing, known by some as the I’m-So-Busy Syndrome. Before you close your laptop in disgruntled dismay that this epidemic is not a “real” physical ailment sweeping across the world and killing millions, let me assure you that it is. It costs lives in the form of stress-induced heart disease, it costs peace of mind, and it costs happiness. We seem to believe that our lives have more meaning, more value, perhaps more virtue, if we are in a constant state of busy-ness. In some circles, being “so busy” has become something to brag about, albeit in a whiny way, as though being busy and disliking being that busy is proof of a person’s worth. But what would happen if we all just paused when we felt the need or felt compelled to? What would happen if we stopped to take ten deep breaths a few times a day, or spent a day off actually doing nothing or practicing self-care rather than running around keeping busy? What would happen if we did not view busy-ness as a glorified state of existence, but rather viewed the act of connecting with the breath, with quietness, with the essence of life, as respectable and praiseworthy instead? The chores would still get done – arguably more efficiently because we would actually be more grounded. Work would still be completed – arguably even better because our minds would be clear and our bodies rested. Relationships would still be intact – arguably even more intimately because we would have more quality energy to give others. I know because I’ve spent the last few weeks actually listening to my mind and body’s needs, giving both whatever they needed in the moment. Imagine that! I ate when I was hungry, exercised when my body wanted to move, wrote when I felt creative, socialized when I felt the need to connect with others, worked hard when my mind was active, cooked when I felt the desire to get in the kitchen and cook, took deep breaths when I needed solitude. And lo and behold, what happened? I lost ten pounds, I did work efficiently and well, I did all the chores I needed to do, I was anxious less often, and, best of all … I feel really, really radiant and centered — inside and out. Yes, of course we all have to work, to get out of bed earlier than we may like and stick to a schedule that keeps us going for long hours on end. And then many of us come home to needy children who deserve every iota of our care and attention. But around and within that, we do have moments of flexibility – seconds, minutes, hours, or even days off when we can listen to what we really need from life – whether it be to do absolutely nothing, to play, to work, to create, to cook. The bottom line is, we don’t have to be so busy all the time. In fact, being “so busy” is just an excuse to feel important. Our mental and physical health reap endless benefits when we slow down, pause, and actually enjoy life. We will actually be better workers, parents, friends, spouses, and people when we make every effort to get out of the mindset that busy is good, and finally cure our disease of Doing. Now go make a cup of tea or coffee … and just sit there for a few. It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. – Henry David Thoreau Those who are wise won’t be busy, and those who are too busy can’t be wise. ― Lin Yutang
By Anitra Lahiri
Anitra Lahiri is an avid Yogi, Yoga Instructor, mother, and writer who strives (and often fails!) to infuse all aspects of her life with Yoga philosophy and practice. Her Yoga blog, Under the Lotus Tree, is for anyone who simply wants to live a healthier, more meaningful life.
Bhakti Flow - Lauren Pech Quick and Easy Yoga for Busy You - Elise Fabricant
Ingredients 3 medium size portobello mushrooms, chopped 1/3 cup plus 3 TB olive oil 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar 2 cups pecans 1 tsp Himalayan sea salt 2 tsp fresh thyme, finely chopped 2 TB fresh rosemary, finely chopped 1 tsp fresh sage, finely chopped 1 cup celery, diced 1 cup cauliflower, chopped 1 1/2 cups carrot, shredded 1/2 cup currants Directions: Marinate chopped portobello mushrooms in olive oil and balsamic vinegar in covered glass container in the refrigerator overnight (or at least for 2 to 4 hours). In a food processor, pulse cauliflower until it has a rice like texture, with no large pieces. Place in a large mixing bowl. Next combine pecans, sea salt, thyme, rosemary and sage in a food processor until it becomes a fine texture. Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil and blend again.
Transfer nut mixture into mixing bowl of cauliflower and combine with a spoon. Add in the marinated mushrooms including a drizzle of the marinade. Stir in celery, carrots and currants until well combined. Adjust the wetness of the stuffing by adding more or less marinade. Please check out our website at consciouscleanse.com for more recipes, and feel free to leave comments in the box below.
Pumpkins are full of vitamin C and vitamin E, as well as other antioxidants and minerals that will brighten and soften your skin. You can make this mask in no time at all. Here's how:
Ingredients
• 1 cup of pureed and cooked or canned pumpkin • 1/2 teaspoon of Coconut Oil • 1 teaspoon milk or yogurt • 1/2 teaspoon honey
How to
1. Mix together ingredients in a bowl.
2. Apply generously to clean face.
3. Leave on for 10-15 minutes while you rest and relax (avoid putting on eyes).
4. Remove with a warm washcloth.
Now feel and enjoy your super soft and revitalized skin! Make it a tradition to repeat this every Fall if not more often.
By Jackie Casal Mahrou Jackie Casal Mahrou is a yoga instructor on yogadownload.com and teaches Hatha, Vinyasa, and Restorative Yoga. Through her teaching and writing, she hopes to inspire as many as she can to live with grace, joy and gratitude. Read more about Jackie at yogadoesit.com.