Meditation with your pet may be especially beneficial

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Have you ever tried meditation with your pet?  Taking a few minutes a day to sit quietly with them may not only improve your practice and its rewards, but it may also help calm energetic pets.

Choosing to meditate with your pet can also give you extra motivation if you seem to have difficulty getting yourself to sit still. Animals have a natural way of living in the moment. And it’s a great way to spend quality time bonding with your furry friend.

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Let us know if you’ve benefited from meditation with your pet!

Complete Breath Standing mini-lesson with Lee

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For this mini-lesson we will pay attention to The Complete Breath Standing. The room should be well ventilated and quiet. Soft, gentle music playing in the background is okay.

It is strongly advised to never practice on a full stomach. Please wait at least 90 minutes after having eaten a full meal. And always be sure to check with your physician to make sure these exercises are okay for you.

Complete Breath Standing

Let us now begin. Standing with feet together, slowly raise your arms while simultaneously inhaling and lifting your heels to stand on your toes. If you have trouble standing on your toes you may keep your heels down. Continue the inhalation, and raise your arms until your hands touch overhead. Hold to the count of five.

Hatha Yoga standing breath modifiedSlowly exhale as you lower your arms and rest on the soles of your feet. Continue a deep exhalation until your abdomen is contracted entirely. Allow yourself Continue reading →

Back to Yoga

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Namaste. Back to school, back to work, back to eating healthier, back to the gym, back to yoga. So you got away from it all. But perhaps you got a little further away than you had planned. No need to worry. Every day is a new day to embrace and start fresh.

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Pick it up and put it down

As with many things, sometimes the hardest part is just getting started, or in this case restarted. Often, all it takes is Continue reading →

Alternate nostril breathing – A mini lesson with Lee

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Not only can yoga help relieve tension, a common trigger of headaches, but specific yogic breathing exercises can help target the head area.

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What is a headache? A headache is a pain anywhere in the overall head area, often concentrated above the eyes, above or behind the ears, in the Continue reading →

Yoga Design Lab Combo Mat review

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People often ask us “what’s a good yoga mat for hot yoga?”. There are a number of options, and much of “what is good” depends on personal preferences. But the main thing you want to look for is a mat that has a good grip when wet (or you could use a yoga mat towel over an all purpose mat).

There are indeed mats that are made especially for hot yoga. We recently tried out the Combo Mat by Yoga Design Lab and it really fits the bill. Even better, Yoga Design Lab is a company that prides itself on “blending fashion-forward design elements with innovative functionality and bio-renewable consciousness.”

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Yoga by design

First off, the company has definitely earned the right to have “design” in its name, as the mats themselves are quite aesthetically pleasing. These are some of the most Continue reading →

Going to the mat for homeless cats!

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Yoga with felines is “cat”ching on! By now we’ve all seen the cute pics and viral videos from around the globe of cats jumping in on our downward dogs. Perhaps kitties are trying to remind us that they are just as good for our soul as yoga is!

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With so many cats in need of good homes, it’s an important reminder indeed. In an effort to Continue reading →

Donate yoga mats for kids!

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Yoga isn’t just for grown-ups you know! Kids can reap all the benefits as well. The organization Yoga Foster is helping this happen in public schools.

Yoga Foster is a non-profit organization with a mission to empower public school teachers with yoga resources to make happier and healthier classrooms.

Their goal is to provide kids quality, accessible yoga directly in the classroom, during Continue reading →

Yoga for recovery from addiction – Mel’s story

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My name is Mel, I am 32 and I’m a mum to George, three, and Harry, one. I work full-time as a writer and I have been a fervent yoga practitioner for ten years. Nowadays, it is common to read about the many benefits that yoga bestows on our physical and mental health, but back then, it was my last hope, for I had just finished a stay at rehab and I had already had two relapses one month later.

Yoga for recovery from adiction

When I was a child, ‘conflict resolution’ was basically non-existent in my home. When Dad passed away, Mom raised my sister, Evelyn and I, desperately struggling to pay the bills and Continue reading →

Reclining Pose Video for Back Tension

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If you have a job that requires a lot of sitting, this stretch could be for you. LA-based yoga instructor Vytas Baskauskas demonstrates his reclining pose in this quick video to help relieve stress and tension built up from a long day.

What you’ll need is a yoga strap (or a long belt form a robe, etc), and a yoga block (or a rolled up towel). This pose can provide stretching and relief in the hip and leg muscles as well. As always, we suggest consulting with your physician before taking on any physical activity that is new to you.