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Yoga + Lifestyle
In a fast paced life, it’s so easy to turn down the volume of our inner wisdom and begin soliciting external sources. In fact, we almost practice quieting this voice in favor of showing up in a prescribed way that our society and culture has told us is the “right” way to be. How can we cultivate this connection and tap into our inner wisdom?
What an incredible walk down memory lane spending the weekend in Portland! We brought our walking shoes (when we lived here we both sold our cars) and got ready to reacquaint ourselves with the Rose City. Every day we’ve wandered what feels like all of Portland, checking out the new development and eating and drinking our way through each neighborhood. In summary, Portland is still as weird as ever—if not more than before. The food industry continues to thrive. We encountered twice as many beer bars as before which is hard to imagine, but true.
About a year ago, almost to the day, I attended a Yin Yoga and Meditation training with Yoga Medicine in Peru. I've wanted to visit Peru for quite some time, and the combination of yoga training was definitely the incentive I needed to book the trip. As with most of my longer international trips, Justin usually travels with me before or after so that we can explore and enjoy together. For Peru, we decided to spend the week before the training took place exploring: Lima, Cusco, and the Sacred Valley, and to see Machu Picchu of course. Read on to learn from our lessons and plan your next trip!
I’m bringing back the VLOG this week, sharing some of my annual reflections. I always feel like my birthday is the perfect time to look back upon the past year, to review goals set out to be accomplished, log in all the learnings and think about the upcoming year. Thank you for being here and helping to create such a wonderful year. I’m filled to the brim with gratitude that this is the life I get to live.
September has always been a period of reflection for me. It's the closing down of summer as we transition into fall, and of course, my birthday is in September. This year I feel particularly reflective because I have a milestone birthday coming up this week. I'll be 35 and, as you know, have made some significant changes this year.
Goals. Some goals are long-term some goals or short-term; some goals are goals that we're not even sure why they might be goals. But the fact of the matter is that goals present themselves everywhere, regardless of your industry or lifestyle, you are usually working toward something. So, how can we more effectively work toward our goals?
If you’ve been around for awhile you may be wondering about the meaning behind YogaPlay. After nearly a decade of teaching yoga, I’ve found that most of my learning has come from a genuine curiosity in the body’s abilities. There was a time when I took my practice so-very-seriously and tried to walk the narrow path of what I thought a yogi should be and do. But somewhere along the line, I decided to throw out the rule book and walk my own path and do my very best to enjoy every minute of it.
YogaPlay was born out of a relentless desire to challenge my body within the realm of yoga and this long honored practice.
Nowadays, we are more health-conscious than ever, but this comes with its pros and cons. On the one hand, we have all the information we need to make healthier choices. On the other, there is so much information that it’s practically impossible to know what advice to follow.
When it comes to health, it pays to keep things simple. These four habits are all straightforward enough to implement and can have incredible effects on your head-to-toe well-being.
I’m often asked how to “get better” at yoga and usually I answer with some variation of practice more often. Then, after focusing for the last month on arm balances in my group classes, I’ve noticed more of my students inquiring on how to improve. So let me be super honest, practicing yoga once a week is great, really great in fact; but, the truth is, if you’re truly working toward physical gains in strength and flexibility one practice per week just isn’t going to cut it.
Read on for my recommendations if you’re hoping to deepen your yoga practice.
