Yoga, Health, and Wellness Articles + Recipes

 Chocolate can be quite devious, however. The sweet, smooth and creamy flavors can cast a seductive spell over us and suddenly we forget what we are actually eating. A lot of the chocolate on the market contains processed sugar, artificial flavors and hydrogenated oils. Unfortunately, these ingredients can have a negative effect on our bodies and brains.

What is one to do? Well one way to look at it is: everything in moderation. If you are going to eat it, enjoy it! Completely taking chocolate out of your diet is like taking all the goodness out of your life. Who wants to do that? Not me. So let’s compromise.

What if I told you that it is possible to make your own delicious, creamy and healthy chocolate that is super easy and fun to create. It’s a Valentine’s miracle!

This recipe calls for only a few ingredients, cocoa powder, coconut oil and honey. Cocoa powder is super high in antioxidants, full of magnesium and contains vitamins E and B. Coconut oil is known to boost thyroid function which can help increase your metabolism, energy and endurance. And whether you go with honey, agave or maple syrup, they are all much healthier options than refined sugars.

Be My Healthy Valentine Chocolate

- ½ cup Virgin coconut oil
- ¼ cup Raw cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp. Raw honey (or agave/maple syrup)
- Optional: Sea salt, dried coconut, chili powder

Over low heat, melt the coconut oil in a saucepan. Add honey and whisk together. Add the cocoa powder and mix until ingredients are combined. Pour the chocolate goodness into a heart-shaped ice cube tray. Sprinkle over of the optional ingredients and mix with a toothpick. Place in fridge and cool for 30 minutes.

Happy Valentine’s, chocolate lovers, enjoy every bite!

By Susanne Mueller



Susanne lives in Vancouver, Canada where she teaches yoga, develops corporate wellness programs, leads nutrition workshops and works with clients towards better health. Susanne’s approach to Yoga and Holistic Nutrition is to connect people back to their natural selves. When we bring awareness and listen to that piece of who we are, we naturally eat, live and act in ways that support ourselves and each other. 

Try the following YogaDownload classes today to open your heart for Valentine's Day
Belly Fire - The Place in the Middle - Roger Martin Pressman

Align and Flow - Jeanie Manchester

Like any part of your body, your feet have muscles and tendons that need stretching and strengthening. The Western habit of spending very little time barefoot can weaken them, especially if you wear constrictive or ill-fitting shoes. Fortunately, your yoga practice is a great place to work your feet.

For many students—you might have been one of them—being barefoot (or in your Yoga Paws!) in yoga is a learning experience in and of itself. Maybe you were surprised at how much harder it is to balance when you don’t have a gym shoe holding your foot in place—or maybe your ankles felt like jelly. The flexibility of your feet and ankles makes them articulate enough to roll from point to flex and handle the lateral movement of twisting and turning accompanies daily life.

The best—but not often the easiest—way to get back in touch with what your lower extremities can do is simply to think about them as you practice. Often, it’s tempting to focus on where your arms and legs are going that you lose awareness of your hands and feet. So, as you go through your next class, think about using your feet in each position—where they are, what their path is to the next pose, how they affect the rest of your body and whether you are properly aligned over them (not rolling in or out or back on your heels). Here are some poses to try:

Tadasana (Mountain Pose)


Benefits: This simple standing pose allows you to concentrate on what it feels like to have your feet aligned on the ground, and provides a foundation for more challenging foot positions.

How to do it: Stand with your big toes touching and your feet slightly turned in. Engage your inner legs from your arch to your hip. Feel all four “corners” of your feet (inside and outside of your toes and heels) in contact with the mat. Allow yourself to shift your weight until you find that point—you may favor one foot or have your weight too far forward or back. Once you find that balance point, remain in the pose for 30 seconds to one minute.

Virasana (Hero Pose)


Benefits: This pose stretches the arches of your feet and lengthens the front of your ankles.

How to do it: Kneel on your mat with your knees touching, lower legs wider than your thighs. On an exhale, begin to sit down. Use your hands to move your calves to the side and sit down between your legs. Place a folded blanket under your buttocks if you need to. Remain in the pose for 30 seconds to one minute, working to stay longer as you grow in the pose, up to about five minutes. Release.

Virasana (Hero Pose)—modification


Benefits: Rolling your toes under in this pose stretches the arches of your feet, which often get stiff after being in shoes.

How to do it: Kneel on the floor. Curl your toes under so that the bottoms of your toes are on the mat. Sit back on your heels. Remain in the pose for 30 seconds to one minute.

Toe Stretch


Benefits: Tight shoes and immobility can make it difficult to move your toes. This stretch can help.

How to do it: Sit down. Take the ends of your fingers and thread them through your toes. Gently move your toes for a few breaths, then repeat with the other hand and foot.

Ankle Circles


Benefits: Moving your feet through different planes of movement strengthens and stretches your ankles.

How to do it: Begin in Dandasana (Staff Pose). Bring your toes toward the ground, then out to the sides, then back toward your hips, then in to each other. Repeat five times, then reverse directions. Repeat two or three times

When you are trying to focus on your feet, it helps to envision a line of energy extending from your hip to your toes. Don’t “grip” your thighs at the expense of letting your calves and feet become disengaged. Instead, think of activating your feet. YogaPaws are also wonderful for the feet by giving you extra padding and support when doing yoga. Keeping you locked in place to spread you happy toes. :)

Try the following YogaDownload classes today to open your feet:
Hot Yoga 2 - Lauren Pech

 In yoga we learn that there is no such thing as perfect pose. We are constantly evolving. True perfection is an experience of being in the moment with a pose as it continues to evolve. It is a feeling – not a goal. Just as there is no perfect pose in yoga, consider that there is no perfect way to eat in our daily life.

Perfecting our food to better ourselves is like bringing the car in for a shiny paint job when we ought to be looking under the hood. If we truly want to be healthier and improve our diets – we need to go deeper. We need to connect with why we eat the way we eat so we can better understand our eating choices and identify our eating patterns.

I have noticed a direct correlation between how I feel and how I eat. When I am sad the reliable combo of almond butter, bananas and honey is so appealing and so comforting. During periods of feeling dull or uninspired, meals become my main focus with lots of colors and flavors in a subconscious attempt to enrich and enliven my life. When I am stressed I stand by the kitchen counter and anxiously nibble on a snack or a quick meal. However I have noticed that when I feel good, I tend to naturally choose healthier, simple foods and eat them in a far more peaceful manner which nourishes and satisfies me on every level.

Could how we eat be a reflection of how we see ourselves and the world around us? If we truly, deeply loved ourselves, wouldn’t it make sense that we would only give our bodies nourishing whole foods? If we acknowledged, accepted and loved every bit of ourselves we wouldn’t dream of just grabbing a coffee and nothing else on the way to work, or be ok with just eating chips for lunch and we wouldn’t be skipping meals in attempt to lose weight.

We need to try and trust that our bodies are incredibly wise. If you have been caught in the trap of using food to perfect yourself go deeper and connect with the root of the hunger. Work on bringing more love, peace and nourishment inside. I believe we don’t need to spend exhausting amounts of energy and brain power striving for perfection. Instead, we will see that we already embody perfection and from there we can naturally choose foods and develop eating habits that nourish who we are.

 By Susanne Mueller



Susanne lives in Vancouver, Canada where she teaches yoga, develops corporate wellness programs, leads nutrition workshops and works with clients towards better health. Susanne’s approach to Yoga and Holistic Nutrition is to connect people back to their natural selves. When we bring awareness and listen to that piece of who we are, we naturally eat, live and act in ways that support ourselves and each other. 

Try the following YogaDownload classes today to propel you to better health:
Belly Fire - Yogic Practices for Good Digestion - Katie Silcox

Twisting out Negativity and Doubt- Nancy Nielsen

As I move through my practice, I ring out my body and organs to clear out toxins. But I am also doing this same thing to my negative thoughts and feelings. When this happens, we can work through the rough patches instead of stuffing them deep down inside or having a meltdown. When we acknowledge our feelings, both physical and emotional, we can then allow them to release into our system, acknowledge them, and let them go.

When you need a quick boost, here are some awakening and detoxifying movements/postures to help you create more space and declutter any heavy feelings.

1) Twists: Twisting postures literally ring out the body and send the same message into the mind. Just make sure to keep your hips steady and your spine lengthened each and every time you twist.


2) Forward Folds: With a lengthened spine, these postures can help relieve back pressure by decreasing the amount of OVER stretch that can occur in the lower back (think overstretched rubber band). Folding also compresses the organs and squeezes out toxins (like a tube of toothpaste).


3) Hip Openers: Our hips are the storage bins of our emotions. When we don’t want to deal with emotions, we stuff them away and come back to them at a later date, if ever. But the bin becomes full, squished, and tense as we crowd it. A great way to detox is to open the hips, open the bin, and let these emotions out. We also over use our hips in almost every activity we perform (from super active to super inactive) so hip openers can help release tension not only in the hips themselves, but into the lower back and knees, which connect (through other muscles) to the hips.


4) Inversions: Simple and non-taxing inversions such as legs-up-a-wall or even Shoulder Stand can bring much needed rejuvenation and recirculation into the body. When you take the pressure off of your legs and lower body, it allows fluids that can slowly accumulate in the lower body to flush back through the body, and if needed make their way out.


5) Savasana and seated meditations: These are by far this is the most important part of the practice, but often the most disregarded. Be still. Lay on your mat or take a comfortable seat. Allow the breath to flow in and out, evenly, with ease. Let your thoughts come and go, and then observe as they slowly fade. Do not judge. Just simply allow your body to rest and release, and then let your mind do the same.


If you are feeling blah, need a boost, or are just plain sad, try some of these postures to help you work through whatever it is that is cluttering your mind. As we work through our practice, we will find more ease and more space to let the lightness and love in. There is never a time that I come to this practice and feel worse afterwards. I always feel better. My heart and mind (and body if the feelings are purely physical) feels a bit lighter and clearer.

"Don't curse the darkness. Light a candle." - Ancient Chinese Proverb

Try the following classes that involve these 5 actions:

All this inspired me to expand my giving this year beyond family and friends to include those I don’t even know who are truly in need. So instead of making my shopping list, I instead made this list of organizations that we can donate to. With not much money at all, and the click of a few buttons, we can share the magic of the holidays and help those who need it most.

1. Toys for Tots - This U.S Marine Corp foundation provides toys to less fortunate kids that would not otherwise receive a toy for the holidays. You can donate toys at Toys for Tots drives, or give money by clicking here. Another route would be to host a toy drive at your holiday or work party.

2. LionHearted Kids - This is an amazing organization founded by a friend of mine, Lauren Pech, who lives in South Africa. LionHearted Kids is dedicated to supporting the emotional and pshychological healing of children and families in underserved communities in South Africa. You can donate to this non-profit, host a fundraiser, or volunteer.

3. Make a Wish Foundation - Make a Wish Foundation is dedicated to enriching the lives of children with life-threatening medical conditions by granting each child his or her greatest families and communities. This program has brightened the lives of 250,000 children, as well as inspired the lives of affected

4. Kiva - Kiva is a unique kind of charity, as your $25 donation acts as a loan to provide opportunity for those in need to earn a sustainable and lasting income. Eventually you get your money back to either keep or re-lend. You simply donate, and Kiva takes care of the logistics through their field partners and micro-finance organizations.

5. World Vision - Serving over 100 countries, World Vision is dedicated to providing long-term assistance to those affected by poverty, disaster, and injustice. You can sponsor a child, or donate money for supplies, food, clothing, and clean water.

6. Food Banks - You can donate canned and boxed food to a local food bank, host a food drive at your holiday party, or volunteer at a local soup kitchen. If you are a U.S resident, visit foodpantries.org to locate a food bank or soup kitchen near you. If you live outside the U.S, you can locate your nearest food bank by visiting foodbanking.org

There is more than enough abundance to go around. Join me in practicing the yoga of giving this year!

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.

Start practicing with Jackie's YogaDownload Classes today:

Beginner Yoga
Gentle Hatha #4
HardCOREYoga

By Jackie Casal Mahrou

Start practicing with Jackie's YogaDownload Classes today:

But every so often your teacher may throw you a curveball in class, asking you to pair up with someone and try a partner yoga pose together. And suddenly there is conversation, a spark, a fun energy that was not in the room just a few minutes prior. That’s the sound of partner yoga!

If you’ve tried it, you may already know that partner yoga gives us a constant source of yummy, effective hands-on adjustments---bringing us into a deeper expression of poses than we can take ourselves. It also teaches us valuable skills in communication, trust, surrender, problem solving and much more.

So if you’ve ever wanted to try partner yoga, grab a friend or loved one and try these five simple partner yoga practices:

 1) Back-to-back Seated Meditation:


Sitting back-to-back on the mat in Easy Pose (Sukhasana), lean your body forward and scoot your hips back until you can feel the base of your spine meeting your partner’s sacrum. Without leaning your weight onto your partner’s back, sit straight up and let your shoulders lightly rest on your partner’s own shoulders. If either of you feels leaned on, hinge forward and repeat the search for that firm sacral connection at the base of your spine, then sit up tall again. Sit for a few minutes, allowing your breath to be steady and smooth, perhaps coming into rhythm with your partner’s own breath. Feel the simultaneous act of giving and receiving support, and grounding effect as you prepare to move with your partner.

 2) Child’s Pose / Backbend:    


Have your partner come into a comfortable Child’s Pose (Balasana) with arms extended in front on the floor. Allow them to settle into the pose for a few breaths, then walk behind them and rest your hands on their lower back right above their hips. Slowly press their hips down towards the floor, tractioning their spine and further opening their hips. Then carefully sit down on their hips facing away from their body, keeping your knees bent and feet resting on the floor. Carefully lie down on their back, letting your head rest back slowly, checking in with yourself and your partner to make sure you are both comfortable. Next, extend your legs long onto the floor, letting your body weight rest on your partner’s back. For a deeper shoulder and chest stretch, your partner can hold your wrists or hands and gently pull your arms into a nice stretch. To release the pose, take your hands onto the floor and slowly slide your hips down to the floor. This final traction should feel very nice on your partner’s lower back. Switch partners and repeat the pose.

3) Low Lunge:


Begin with both partners coming into Downward Dog facing each other. Inhale your right leg into the air, then exhale step forward between your hands, aligning your right knee over your heel. Lower your left knee to the mat, sliding it back until you feel a comfortable stretch in the left front thigh and groin. Inhale your hands up to meet your partner’s hands. Pressing into their palms will bring your pelvis slightly closer to the mat and deepen the stretch for your hip, groin and thigh. Breathe for 5-8 rounds here and switch sides.

4) Partner Pigeon Pose:


 Again, start with both partners in Downward Dog facing each other. Inhale your right leg long, exhaling as you release your right knee to the mat into Pigeon Pose. Take a moment to adjust your body in pigeon, making sure both hips are even. Once both partners have found stability in their own body, strengthen your core, inhale your arms overhead and bring hands to touch. Press into your partner’s hands and upwards, bringing the stretch into your shoulders and chest. With your core strong and your arms active, enjoy pigeon in a very different way than you’ve ever felt before. Stay here for 5-8 breaths and switch sides.

5) Wide Leg Forward Bend:


Sit facing your partner as you both bring legs wide preparing for a Wide-angle Seated Forward Bend (Upavistha Konasana). One partner brings their feet to rest on their partner’s ankles (usually this is the person with less flexibility in their legs). Both partners take a moment to inwardly rotate their thighs and find their sitting bones on the mat, sitting tall. (If the lower back is rounding at all, find a blanket or pillow to sit on to help maintain a straight spine.) Extend your arms in front and grab your partner’s wrists softly. Both partners inhale together, and exhale as one partner slowly folds forward and the other partner leans back. Both partners keep their arms long, spines straight and collarbones wide. Communicate with your partner when you’ve found a deep stretch and stay here for 5-8 breaths. Inhale up together and switch to the opposite side.

Take a moment to conclude your practice together in silence, finding a few minutes in Savasana before you continue with your day. Remember to give thanks to your partner for their support and honor them for their presence. Namaste.

Looking for more partner yoga? Click here for a 60 minute partner yoga vinyasa flow video, designed for all levels of yoga experience.

By Amy Baglan



Amy Baglan is a registered yoga teacher and the founder of YogaDates, a national series of yoga events for singles and couples based in Denver, CO. Each day she works tirelessly to spread love, passion and the power of yoga---especially partner yoga---to people around the world. Amy left New York City to pursue her passions a few years ago and never looked back. She studied Ashtanga yoga in India and fell in love with Thai massage in Chiang Mai, Thailand before gratefully calling Colorado her new home. She is also a certified Principle-Based Partner Yoga teacher and licensed massage therapist.