Yoga, Health, and Wellness Articles + Recipes

If you have a consistent yoga practice, you’re aware of the myriad of internal and external benefits you receive, like balance, strength, flexibility, and equanimity. But did you know yoga can also help you feel more confident and lose weight? We’re not talking treating yoga like an exercise regimen to burn calories. Instead, yoga can help you cultivate a powerful mind-body connection that supports weight loss or any other physical goals you might have. When you move through a physical yoga practice, whether it is a vigorous Vinyasa flow or a mellow restorative practice, you focus on how you are feeling. Is your breath deep and steady or shallow and erratic? Are you angry, depressed, or at peace? Do you feel stagnant and heavy or light and vibrant? By taking the time to become more aware of your feelings, you can begin to process them fully instead of burying them. Emotional eating is common and many of us have made unhealthy choices like consuming fast food or too much sugar, which only masks the underlying issues for a short time.

Come on yogi, light your fire! Join us this week as we work to stoke our inner fire, to stimulate our power center, and to increase our confidence in all aspects of our lives. As you know, yoga transcends the physical, and one of the most important benefits of a regular practice is the ability to impact your subtle body and change how you feel from the inside out. Through targeted breath and movement, you can increase the flow of prana (energy) in your system and live your life feeling your best. Who doesn’t need a little boost? As you’ve probably experienced, different types of yoga classes yield different effects. Sometimes you need to quiet and calm, other times you need to strengthen and balance, and other times you need to rev up your engines. When you’re ready to manifest your desires, focus on the Manipura or navel chakra. Of the seven main chakras in the subtle body, Manipura houses the fire element. It’s the seat of ego and self-confidence, relationships with others and our boundaries, willpower, self-discipline, and it’s truly the center of our power and personality.

The series of warrior poses are the foundations of a strong and solid practice of asana. Warrior poses are among the most common poses in yoga practice, and help with balance, stance and hip opening. Warrior poses are great for nearly every type of body and skill level, are easy for beginners to get to grips with, while still being a great pose for building up strength, confidence, and feeling like, well a warrior! As we do warrior poses more and more often, it’s easy to forget the benefits they can give our minds and bodies. We’ve taken a look at some of the common variants of warrior pose, and the benefits these can give you. Warrior 1 Warrior 1 is a pose that will give you more flexibility in your hips, strengthen and tone your legs when practiced often.