It’s easy to get grumpy. We live in a culture of “get more!” and “look good” and “get more likes on Instagram!” When we’re in a hustle-hustle life, we can often feel like we’re constantly falling short. Our culture’s cult of celebrity and the shininess of social media makes it harder than to stay grounded […]
Greetings from Berlin! Week 4 of our 52 weeks of health: no sugar. You can take this as strictly as you want: anything from “I won’t eat the cool whip directly from the container,” to “no sugars at all, including simple carbs like sugar, pasta, wheat…” Choose your spectrum of health! Too much simple sugar […]
Meditation.We’re gonna make this really accessible. At least two minutes a day. Meditation has shown to be incredibly beneficial for your mental state and for stress. Getting into the practice of mindfulness is a relatively low hanging fruit in the health world. We just have to shut off the monkey mind (“one more thing to […]
“Don’t it always seem to go… that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone?” – Joni Mitchell If you’ve lost the ability to get a good night’s sleep, you can attest to this (Joni Mitchell never lies). No one appreciates sleep more than someone who is having trouble getting it. The reasons behind […]
I hear the term “self care” thrown out there a LOT. In fact, I use the words “self care” frequently myself! Self care has the potential to help us sustain our health and our relationship to ourselves. But what is “self care” really – and how do we practice it? I want to take a moment […]
Swedish death cleaning: döstädning: cleaning and de-cluttering before you die My friend was moving across the country. In preparation for her move, she was sorting her possession into two piles: what would be moved, and what would be sacrificed to the Salvation Army gods. She sighed and blew her hair out of her face as […]
I pray before meals. I was raised a dutiful Protestant in the great, puritanical state of New Hampshire. I went to church, participated in singing and bell choirs, and crushed on the boys in my youth group (ah, Derek!). However, my family was more spiritually oriented than strictly Christian. My dad used to joke, “I’d […]
We have a cultural habit of high productivity and effort, and many well intended people end up burnt out or grappling with restlessness. Over time, even the most “advanced” or seasoned yoga practitioners must re-learn the importance of staying present. If you often feel like you’re walking one pace faster than you physically can, perhaps […]
Have you ever wondered what will improve your sport performance or prevent sport-related injuries? Doing more of our desired activity may seem like the obvious answer. For example, if we want to improve performance in swimming or running, then to do more swimming or running would improve our performance in both respectively. However, while that […]
Many people have heard that yoga reduces stress, but there’s real science behind it. Of course, any time you increase the heart rate (like with a few chaturangas), your body releases endorphins, which is the driving force behind that famed “runner’s high and a natural stress reducer. However, yoga taps into stress relief on a […]
Managing a love-hate relationship with wheel pose Wheel was always one of the poses that came easily to me in yoga. Despite my internally rotated hips limiting me in hip openers, I could do wheel and I could go as high as I wanted. However, as my yoga practice progressed through the years, I began […]
Last month we took a look at the effects that sitting for long periods of time can have on the body. I shared a simple yoga sequence to help alleviate some of the pain points many people experience from repeatedly sitting at a desk all day. I’ve taken this a step further and have put […]
You feel heavy, dull, tired. Maybe it’s gray outside (or, if you live in the pacific northwest, maybe it’s been gray and dark for weeks). Perhaps a life event (sickness, heartbreak, lethargy, indecision) has you feeling the terrible weight of emotional gravity. I get it. Having struggled with bouts of depression since my early twenties, I […]
My client Julia called me yesterday in despair. “I promised to make big changes in my life this year. I was so excited and motivated on January 1 ! Now only 2 weeks later I’ve basically thrown them all out the window.” In the past year, Julia had been under a lot of stress and […]
The journey to work starts the moment you step out of bed. I’m not going to tell you to do a 5-10 min “wake up” workout. I know that is a not a sustainable practice for most people who work full time. It is a far better idea to begin with small activities that will […]
Overcoming addiction is singlehandedly the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. Through addiction and recovery, I learned more about myself than I ever thought possible. I learned that my mind was highly susceptible to outside influence, and that’s something I desperately needed to change. My painful road to addiction In the prime of […]
This is for all the desk jockeys out there. You know who you are. Your days are spent in front of a computer – you’ve likely got tight hips, a sore low back, rounded shoulders, neck pain, wrist pain, overall poor posture, and soreness – and you know that your posture is taking a hit. […]
You may have heard, sugar sucks for you. Sugar has been linked to obesity and bad cholesterol, which has been linked to an increased chance of cancer. And while researchers are usually cautious about drawing a direct link between your sweet tooth and a cancer link, they have gone so far as to indicate that sugar […]
Health-conscious readers, check it out! Skin products – makeup, body care, sunscreen – can be a sneaky source of toxins and chemicals. And here we are, applying them directly on our skin! In a nutshell, the US only bans 30 toxic chemicals from skin products; Beautycounter bans 1500. One of my long time friends Ashley […]
I hear this question a lot as a physiotherapist. The people who ask me this question range from the skeptical gym rat to the seasoned yoga enthusiasts. Generally speaking, my answer is yes! In a 2016 review, yoga was found to be effective in reducing pain and disability, can be performed safely and may improve […]
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