Tara

NEW Video: Happy Memorial Day!

Permalink
15

Lets be real folks, yoga is super important for overall health, focus, clarity, connection, inspiration, and intuition, and so many more benefits and expansiveness, but when it comes to our entire health, it doesn’t matter how many hours we spend meditating or in Warrior 2, if it doesn’t change the way we eat for the better, our quality of life suffers. I’ve gotten super into experimenting with whole foods, cooking, preparing, juicing, blending, and simply paying more attention to not only what I consume, but where the foods come from, and the energy that is involved in the whole process.

We’ve all experienced the following events.

1) Eating something not-so-good for ourselves, like a greasy pizza, french fries with weird oils, over processed desserts, you name it, we’ve eaten it, right? Unless you were born in an ashram and stayed there, and never snuck in a bag of M&M’s, you feel me right? Â I snuck in M&M’s to an ashram just a few years ago because I wasn’t sure if they would have any chocolate at all, and committing to a weekend sans chocolate was NOT something I was prepared to deal with. You can read more about the story of my chocolate crash, and how I met my husband (he had back up chocolate, how fortunate for him) on page 6 of Slim Calm Sexy Yoga. (my first book)

I digress, we’ve also (hopefully) experienced situation

2) A nice calm day/night at home, peaceful state of mind, spontaneous inspiration to prepare healthy, nourishing food. Our intuition guides the preparation and we end up with a gorgeous, delicious, nutritious meal that was a satisfying meal and an expansive experience.

Now, I challenge you, think back to the last 7 days of your life. Have you had more of the first or second types of eating experiences? If you are leaning towards the first, lets try to bring us all more towards the second. Once you get in the habit of the second, you’ll get addicted to feeling great, expansive, and energized all the time.

I present a challenge for all of us for the next 7 days. I’ll participate too. Lets keep track of our meal experiences and make a tally. Now, I know… you’re busy! You have a job, a life, a family, school, etc. You can’t be at home and prepare every meal followed by a hot bath, 30 minutes of meditation, and 20 minutes of journal writing. Me either! But we can attempt to bridge the gap between both experiences and draw ourselves further into sustainable energy and radiant health.

A few tips for us all to keep in mind.

1) Avoid eating while looking or working on the computer or watching TV.

2) Grocery shop, farmers market shop, whatever you got that’s your best bet, go there, get the good stuff, greens, veggies, quinoa, tea, almond milk. You know what to do.

3) Daydream about preparing and cooking.

4) Turn your mind off from time to time. Just for these 7 days, see if you can peel yourself away from your thoughts a little more than usual. Step away from the computer when you are done with work. Avoid the TV as much as possible, and make just a little time for yourself to be quiet each day.

I’ll report back! Keep me company in the 7 Day Healing Through Whole Foods and Calm Mind Challenge!

xo

Tara

Original Article

Strength in Ease

heidifuelsforflight:

Before I had the good fortune to discover Strala I was of the very miss-guided mind set that it wasn’t a good yoga practice if I didn’t sweat my body weight (being someone who is always cold this is not easy to do) and leave feeling absolutely exhausted and perhaps wake up the next morning sore. Harder equaled better.

As this was how the practice of yoga was initially presented to me, it didn’t occur to me that it could be any other way. I actually thought that yoga, and the peace of mind that the physical practice brought, could only be obtained through punishing my body and beating myself to a pulp.

Not surprisingly, I sustained multiple injuries in my practice when it was still very new: pushing my body beyond its limits, not listening to what it was saying, ignoring pain over and over again. In the community I was in, injuries were practically worn like badges- proof that you were a seasoned, dedicated, even “hardcore yogi”. And then one sad day, I was being “adjusted” by an instructor with whom I had been practicing for years, when I heard the two loudest, most sickening pops, followed by the feeling of fire in my right hamstring. Well, that stopped me in my tracks; literally- two out of the three hamstring muscles had been torn. I was pretty much immobile for a while. My ego, that I was convinced I didn’t have, took a pretty big hit. I could barely walk, much less do down dog or warrior one.

So, I slowed down. I took one breath at a time. When my body felt like it was ready, I started going to Relax classes, taking it slow. Very gingerly, after months, I tested out some Strong classes, and came to see first hand what I always say, hear, read and write about: it is the how, not the what. It didn’t matter what class I was taking or what pose I was doing, what mattered was how I was approaching each moment in each class: listening to my body, and moving accordingly. Strala provided me with the space and environment to do so: never pulling me or asking me to push beyond my personal limits.

Much to my surprise, the more I took a less aggressive approach and came at every moment with ease, the stronger and more capable I became physically (I like to think mentally as well.) All of a sudden, things that I had once put effort into became very easy, requiring little to no effort at all. The less I pushed and forced, the more I became open to receive. The more I continue to seek out the ease, the stronger I become.

Have you experienced either side of this? Have you pushed yourself beyond your limits? How have you learned to let go and allow things come without force? If it sounds crazy (or maybe even lazy) to you, try it out sometime: find the strength in ease!

xx.

Heidi

heidifuelsforflight

Permalink
34

NEW Video: Summer Time Yoga Routine!

Opening up the front of the body and the mind. Backbend.

Quick Yoga Abs… Enjoy!

Yoga for Leaner Legs. Enjoy!

Yoga to Open the Hips and Back

Yoga playlist for Beginners! Share with friends and family that for some reason haven’t got into a regular yoga routine yet! Deep breaths and enjoy!

morning yoga with Deepak. rise and shine! after we take this picture for twitter Deepak says to me, “what’s the point of doing yoga if you can’t share it with the world!” good one right?