Dr Ingrid Yang Photo by Bhadri Kubendran

Sharing a Mindful Yoga Journey as a Mindful Life Journey

The path to a meaningful life is far from straight and narrow. My professional career began as a stressed-out prelaw student-then-attorney, before I made the career leap to yoga teacher/studio owner in my mindful yoga journey.

While stepping away from law was a difficult decision, I realized that practicing medicine was my true calling, and the place where I could contribute most to the world. Even before I entered medical school, I knew in my heart that incorporating yoga could, and would be, beneficial and integral to how I would practice medicine.

Today, in my practice, I meld the wisdom and therapeutics of yoga with rigorous scientific investigation, creating the space for deeper healing and wellness.

Now, I am a physician and yoga therapist and two-time author. I use my skills as a former attorney to advocate for my patients. I am also an advisor for the tech wellness company obVus Solutions, where I design the breathing exercises featured in the award-winning minder® posture corrector + breathing coach app, lead health coaching, and host continuing education webinars for health professionals. It is an honor and a thrill to contribute to the world in such a unique and exciting way. And I have to say, gratefully, that I love my life. But a mindful yoga journey, or any journey, was not an easy path… It never is, is it?

Dr Ingrid Yang Photo by Bhadri Kubendran

The Path to Living my Purpose

Having participated in a few different careers, I feel I am truly living my purpose as a physician, advising and educating people on their health. I started practicing yoga because I needed it on a very personal level. Along this path, I had to ask myself really hard questions at times when the “right” answer seemed impossible to find.

In college, I was a type-A go-getter in New York City, full of ambition and energy. Yet, the stress and pressure I put on myself felt suffocating. I was anxious and rigid, both physically and spiritually. Luckily, a friend recommended yoga to help ease my emotional inflexibility. Yoga taught me that I could just breathe in each moment: I did not have to prove or accomplish anything. I could just breathe and exist. I had never felt so relieved.

In my medical practice, I have found that a blend of ancient and modern healing methods have proven to be highly effective as the Covid-19 pandemic crisis unfolded in 2020. As a frontline healthcare professional, my patients benefit from a unique blend of mindfulness, breathwork (pranayama), and yoga asana in ways that counter their unique challenges. I find that these techniques greatly benefit those who are suffering and recovering from the alarming effects of the virus and help create a deeper sense of calm, which facilitates healing.

A Mindful Yoga Journey Includes Breathwork

I believe that all my patients benefit from the inclusion of mindfulness and breathwork, and have observed that people generally experience more ease in recovery, both during their hospital stay and after they are discharged home. My hope is to see more of this type of awareness introduced to the general public, which is why I’ve taken on the role of advising tech-wellness company obVus Solutions on the breathing exercises featured on the minder app. It brings awareness to the general public on the importance of better posture and breathing, two components which are crucial to helping improve overall health. My mission is mindfulness, not just in fields of medicine and yoga, but for the wellbeing of our entire population.

My path as a physician and yoga therapist has allowed me to witness how a dedicated yoga practice, when made accessible to everybody, can truly change one’s path to wellness. My latest book, Adaptive Yoga, highlights a variety of physical and physiological conditions in populations who have historically felt that their disabilities precluded them from practicing physical yoga. The book illustrates variations and adaptations to poses, which provide therapeutic comfort and increased confidence to all yogis.

To that end, I teach weekend-long trainings on Adaptive Yoga, including at Prana Yoga Center in La Jolla, for both yoga and medical professionals. A highlight of the training is that it outlines the biomechanics of altered anatomy and physiology of numerous conditions and shows how best to adapt poses for these populations. The training also provides trauma informed mind-body principles and practices, which have been shown to help those with students lead healthier, fuller lives.  I am also presenting at the Global Yoga Therapy Conference, virtually, in August.

Dr Ingrid Yang Photo by Bhadri Kubendran

Cultivating Work/Life Balance

Despite all my responsibilities, I hold a healthy home/work balance high on my wellness checklist. As a yoga therapist, I understand first-hand how important a personal yoga practice is in helping to maintain this sometimes precarious balance. I like to get away to the LA retreat staple, Terranea, to practice yoga on the beach, commune with nature, and get away for quiet meditation while listening to the ocean waves. In my free time, I also turn to surfing, where I find solace in the mindfulness and presence of riding the waves.

Dr Ingrid Yang Photo by Bhadri Kubendran

“Surfing is simply another form of yoga practice, and the uncertainties and challenges of wave-riding mimic those experienced in everyday life; we breathe and flow in each moment, and as life presents itself to us and we allow ourselves the time and space to be aware, we can see that we flow in sync with nature’s intentions.”

In all of my years working with people on yoga mats and in hospital beds, I have seen firsthand that burnout and exhaustion are one of the major causes of physical illness and disease. I believe in the restorative power of stepping away from the chaos of our daily lives and the power of mindfully setting the intention of self-care; on a physical, mental and spiritual level.

Retreats with Dr Ingrid Yang

Over the past few years, I’ve led yoga and meditation retreats in various destinations, incorporating wellness and healthy living practices on all levels. I hope LA Yoga readers will join me for either or both of two upcoming destination retreats currently scheduled: One in Portugal, September 2021, and one in April 2022 located in beautiful Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

If there is one thing that makes us feel more alive, it is travel. I find travel takes me out of my comfort zone and helps me connect with nature, as well as old and new friends. I love to experience different cultures, which is why I lead yoga retreats in different countries around the world.

Ingrid Yang

Dr. Ingrid Yang, M.D., J.D., E-RYT500, C-IAYT, is a physician, certified yoga therapist, Reiki master and an advisory board member at wellness company obVus Solutions, where she contributes her expertise to the breathing exercises featured in the minder® posture corrector + breathing coach app. When not practicing medicine, Dr. Yang leads yoga trainings and retreats all over the world, with a special focus on kinesthetic physiology and healing through posture modification, breathwork, meditation and mind-body connection. Dr. Yang has authored two books: Hatha Yoga Asanas and her latest release, Adaptive Yoga, published in November 2020.

ingridyang.com

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Photo courtesy of La Quinta Resort & Club, A Waldorf Astoria Resort

A New Version of an Old Model: Wellness Tourism 2.0

Embedded within the burgeoning $16 billion dollar a year yoga industry is a new version of an old model that has become increasingly popular: Yoga and Meditation Retreats, aka Wellness Tourism 2.0.
 
The Global Wellness Institute (GWI) estimates from the period 2015-2020, the largest projected growth sector in the five main categories of wellness (Spa, Wellness Tourism, Thermal/Mineral Springs, Workplace Wellness, and Wellness Lifestyle Real Estate), will be Wellness Tourism.
 
It is expected to grow annually by 7.5% (compared to conventional tourism’s 3.4% annual growth rate) and will account for $808 billion dollars in the United States alone by 2020. Naturally, this increase in popularity for wellness retreats can directly, or perhaps indirectly, be attributed to the rise of interest in yoga and meditation practices and retreats worldwide.
 
Just pop into any local yoga studio and you’ll see a collection of flyers for upcoming retreats. Headlines frequently read, “Join us on an unforgettable, magical, and transformational yoga journey to _____ (insert an exotic paradise-like location) where we’ll do yoga twice a day, eat yummy, nourishing, organic food, meditate and participate in other wellness-based and fun activities, and escape into a world where you can become the person you’ve always wanted to be.”
 
Sound familiar?!?
 
Whether it’s an adventure-based shamanic yoga and surf retreat in Costa Rica, a spiritual delight for the senses in India or Bali, a decadent culinary and wine get-away in Italy, or a peaceful local relaxation sanctuary at an oasis like Palm Springs, yoga and meditation retreats offer a plethora of experiences and opportunities to help people find themselves.
 
Yet, yoga and meditation retreats are actually nothing new within the field of wellness travel. They’re simply a modernized rebranding of something that already existed for a long period of time.
 

 

The History of Wellness Retreats

According to researchers Melanie Smith and Catherine Kelly, wellness retreats are “One of the most ancient forms of tourism if one considers the scrupulous attention paid to well-being by the Romans and Greeks, the quest for spiritual enlightenment of Mediaeval pilgrims, or the medical seaside and spa tourism of the 18th and 19th century European elite.”
 
Whether people retreated for health or medical purposes or for spiritual enlightenment, it can safely be assumed that this concept has been going on since Western societies became civilized.
 
Moreover, the latter falls in line with India’s storied tradition of spiritual seekers. Growing up in the Kriya Yoga tradition of Self-Realization Fellowship, I was personally raised on some of the stories of the great saints of India like Ramakrishna, Neem Karoli Baba, Mahavatar Babaji, and, of course, Paramahansa Yogananda. Yogananda-ji, author of the famed classic, Autobiography of a Yogi, often wrote about how he longed to visit the Himalayas to search for and find the Holy Ones of India’s mystical traditions high up in the mountains.
 
This type of existentially motivated tirthayatra (pilgrimage) retreat has interested many spiritual seekers throughout history. According to Richard Sharpley and Priya Sundaram in Tourism, A Sacred Journey, pilgrimage “has been an element of Indian social life since ancient times.”
 
What’s more, the Kerala region of Southwestern India has been a haven for healing people’s physical dukha (suffering) since the tradition began. It is said to be the place where Ayurveda was born at least 5,000 years ago. Centers there have provided medical escapes and extended panchakarma wellness retreats to rehabilitate people’s overall health since time immemorial.
 
Furthermore, Kerala-based Ayurvedic and yoga retreats have currently reached a historical pinnacle of popularity.
 
Thus, whether in ancient India [in the East] or in ancient Greece and Rome [in the West], the concept of a retreat, or of escaping from society for health, healing, or holiness, is deeply rooted within each of us as human beings. They’ve been an historical hallmark of self-care and wellness before statistics on these kinds of practices even existed.
 

 

The Evolution and Expectations of a Yoga and Meditation Retreat

People often have preconceived notions of a yoga or meditation retreat. These commonly include images of long-haired hippies dressed in white, eating dhal and rice and drinking komboucha, chanting all night near a nag champa incense and sage-scented fire. However, in today’s modern yoga environment, the actual picture is far different.
 
Each retreat is unique and carries a specific energy and theme. When choosing your adventure, ask yourself: What’s your ideal theme? Becoming clear on your focus, knowing the topography or scenery you’re seeking, and aligning with the details of what’s being offered are essential steps to ensure you choose the right retreat for you.
 
A number of factors may be considered when retreat decision-making.
Location: Do you like the desert, the beach, the mountains, the forest, or the open lands?
 
Accommodations: Do you prefer five-star, rustic, something in between, or something truly unique like a treehouse, an ashram, or an ancient castle?
 
Distance of travel: Do you have to fly to the retreat and spend extra time away from life or is it close enough for you to drive?
 
Excursions: Do you want to relax and practice yoga on a beach in Malibu? Have a side of yoga with skiing up in Mammoth? Or enjoy desert yoga and meditation after hiking in Joshua Tree and visiting the eco-conscious wind and solar farms? Lots of fun excursion choices await you!
 
Spa Treatments: Do you want to channel the Vedas through a Himalayan Salt Stone Ritual? Or maybe Zen out with a Find Your Zen Ritual? Maybe you prefer a more traditional massage? Or a Hydrafacial? Perhaps a Lomi Lomi, which is a Hawaiian “loving hands” massage? How pampered do you want to be?
 
Food: Do you want to eat vegetarian or vegan food while you’re away? Or maybe you want to have a sattvic (pure) or Ayurvedic diet while on retreat? Is it time for a juice cleanse? Is the food served at a food hall or in the ambiance and atmosphere of a restaurant?
 
As you can see, there are many ways to personalize your retreat experience. In Tourism, A Sacred Journey, the authors state that tourism, “Is functionally and symbolically equivalent to other institutions that humans use to embellish and add meaning to their lives.
 
It may be understood either as a regular secular ritual (the annual vacation) that acts as a counterpoint to everyday life and work, or as a more specific rite of passage, or ‘personal transition,’ undertaken at particular junctions in peoples’ lives.”
There’s truly something for everyone!
 
If you’re a Type A person, going on a Yoga adventure may be fun, but it may be more of the same Type A energy of constantly being on the go that you normally experience. Maybe a digital detox would be better? Consider asking yourself what’s going on in your life and how your chosen retreat might lead to greater balance or inner harmony for you since the time spent on retreat can, quite literally, change your life.
 

 

The Retreat Process

On retreat, don’t be surprised if your stuff comes rising to the surface, especially if it’s a retreat with deeper training involved. If you’re constantly active with life and work, when you finally have some free space, subconscious emotions may come up. Take the time and space you need in order to honor your feelings and be with yourself. For some people, this is a natural part of the process of slowing down.
 
Sharpley and Sudaram describe three stages of the retreat process:
 
Separation Stage: This is the time when people decompress and become freed or distanced from their ordinary routine as they enter the new retreat surroundings.
 
Liminality Stage: The transitional phase of entry into a sacred state of anti-structure in which the structure and order of normal life dissolve, everyday obligations cease to exist and new forms of relationships are created based upon a leveling of statuses. This can produce feelings of excitement and bonding between participants.
 
Re-integration Stage: Described as the process of returning home to everyday existence in society where the techniques and practices that were done on retreat become, as HuffPost writer Ariston Anderson calls it, “a vacation souvenir.” People return to their individual worlds with these souvenirs.
 
This is one of the greatest distinguishing features between a traditional vacation and a retreat. Travel and retreats both provide you with methods of relaxing and taking care of yourself while away. But, yoga and meditation retreats offer you tools to take home that can help you grow, both inside and outside.
 
This experience can inspire people to find more satisfaction in their lives if they stay consistent with the practices.
 

 

What the Research Says About Wellness Travel

A groundbreaking study in complementary and alternative medicine from the University of California San Francisco, Harvard Medical School, and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai sheds more light on what makes wellness travel distinct.
 
Originally published in Translational Psychology, a group of researchers analyzed blood samples of 94 healthy women ages 30-60 separated into two groups. There was a control group consisting of non-meditating women randomly selected to enjoy their vacation at the La Costa Resort in La Jolla, California, and a group of novice and experienced meditators who were instructed in mantra meditation and yoga at The Chopra Center led by Dr. Deepak Chopra’s instructors.
 
To maintain consistency between the groups, both were fed a similar Ayurvedic, anti-inflammatory diet and had similar, comparable lodging and accommodations.
 
The results? Both groups showed positive gene activity in their blood samples for specific markers related to cellular health and aging. This was measured by their regulation of the stress response, telomerase activity, and amyloid beta (A?) metabolism.
 
The greatest biochemical changes between the groups were related to measurements of stress and immune function. Novice meditators showed fewer symptoms of depression and less signs of stress for a longer period of time following the structured retreat compared to the vacationers.
 
The regular meditators showed the greatest improvements in antiviral and immune function activity of all groups; they also showed the most significant increase in peripheral blood mononuclear cell telomerase post-retreat. This measurement is predictive of decreases in diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers.
 
Overall, the study led the researchers to differentiate between what they referred to as “the vacation effect” versus the more powerful “meditation effect” found on retreat.
 
Other studies have shown similar findings. A June 2017 study published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience found that after a three-month yoga and meditation retreat, people showed increases in Brain-Derived Neurotophic Factor (BDNF) and the cortisol awakening response.
 
These are markers that signify the reduction of anxiety and depression. People also experienced decreases in inflammatory processes due to higher levels of the anti-inflammatory cytokine, Interleukin-10.
 
A 2016 study published in the Journal for Psychosomatic Research made the following conclusion, “Meditation retreats are moderately to largely effective in reducing depression, anxiety, stress and in ameliorating the quality of life of participants.”
According to current scientific research, the right kind of vacation can be good for your health.
 
What’s the right kind? Well, a Yoga or meditation wellness retreat, of course!
 

Types of Wellness Retreat-Goers

There appear to be several tourism-based yoga and meditation archetypes. These include: The Dedicated Yoga and Meditation Tourist, The Corporate Yoga Tourist, The Religious Yoga Tourist, The Ashram Yoga Tourist, and The Medical Yoga Tourist.
 
The Dedicated Yoga and Meditation Tourist: This traveler is interested in detoxing from the constant bombardment of the digital world. They’re seeking to dial down the intensity of worldly commitments (especially if they have kids). At the same time, they’re seeking new and improved lifestyle patterns that lead to less stress and more ease.
 
Often, this traveler wants to set aside their established identity in order to re-invent themselves. They may choose an instructor or studio-led retreat for 3 to 7 days. This category is also for the traditional yoga festival-goer.
 
Destinations include Bhatki Fest, Wanderlust Festivals, One Love Fest, Esalen in Big Sur, Rythmia Life Advancement Center in Costa Rica, or a retreat with their yoga teacher to a beautiful location like Hawaii, Mexico, Chile, or Bali.
 
The Corporate Yoga Tourist: Someone who works a high-stress, high-paying job will fit into this category. They need a few days to separate from responsibilities (including their cell phone!). They may go on retreat to re-acquaint with themselves, prioritize life values, and re-assess their role in society, work, and family. Often, they may seek a retreat with structure as well as free time to roam and daydream.
 
If this person happens to be in a leadership position, they may even inspire their company and/or team to include yoga and meditation programming into their annual corporate meetings. There are a number of scientifically proven benefits and advantages of a corporation offering these practices to employees.
 
These include improvements in physical health and cognitive performance, enhancements in social connectedness and leadership capacity, decreases in work-associated stress and anxiety, better quality of communication and interpersonal relationships. Other benefits are heightened strategic focus, increased productivity levels, and emotional intelligence skills like empathy, agreeableness, and self-control.
 
Destinations include properties like the 1440 Multiversity in Northern California, Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore Santa Barbara, or La Quinta Resort & Club, A Waldorf Astoria Resort, in the Palm Springs area where they have special yoga and mindfulness programming for companies that want to enhance their corporate meetings and provide additional resources and lifestyle support for their employees and their families.
 
The Religious Yoga Tourist: Yoga and religion are classically different. Yoga is a spiritual practice while religion is, well, a religious practice. The Religious Yoga Tourist, however, is typically someone with religious fervor who wants to empower their relationship with the Divine in a kind and loving way. Humorously titled ‘Homo turisticus religiosus’ by Vukonic, Religious Yoga Tourists have many avenues to explore and ways to worship depending on the denomination.
 
Destinations include church groups heading to a remote location like Questhaven Retreat Center outside Encinitas to meditate on Christ, a Jewish group sharing Old Testament values in a modern context at a place like Alpine Meadows in Angelus Oaks, Kriya Yoga devotees of all religions practicing at the non-denominational Self-Realization Fellowship Hermitage & Gardens in Encinitas, or a Buddhist group doing mindfulness practices at a Dharma Center like Spirit Rock in Northern California.
 
The Ashram Yoga Tourist: The ashram-goer typically takes to heart the meaning of India’s tourism advertising campaign, Incredible India. They may seek out longer experiences or sign up for a yoga teaching certification as part of the retreat.
 
While some of these seekers travel alone, they may also connect with other kindred spirits while on the road or even a group seeking transformation. This tourist often travels with a backpack, a trusty Lonely Planet guidebook, and even a musical instrument. In addition, they are driven by deeply profound and existential quest for liberation and soul freedom.
 
Destinations include the Sivananda Yoga Farm in Northern California, Mount Madonna in the Santa Cruz Mountains, SRF’s Lake Shrine in Pacific Palisades, the Himalayan Institute in Pennsylvania, the Omega Institute in upstate New York, the Art of Living Retreat Center in North Carolina, Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in the Berkshires, or the Parmath Niketan Ashram in Rishikesh, India.
 
The Medical Yoga Tourist: Some travelers seek healing. This person is typically looking for a peaceful, tranquil, and supportive environment that will encourage healing and recovery. This can include the Ayurvedic cleansing practice of panchakarma.
 
The Medical Yoga Tourist may be seeking relief from psychological or psychiatric challenges or traumas, treatment for autoimmune diseases, integrative medicine for cancer, or even cosmetic surgery away from home. In some situations, this traveler will choose a personally inspired retreat perhaps under the care of doctors and nurses.
 
They may incorporate yoga, breathing, and meditation techniques. The medical treatments often take place in a hospital or a nearby rehabilitation or yoga therapy facility.
 
Destinations include the Health and Longevity Institute at the Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village, Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida, Rancho La Puerta in Mexico, Miraval Life in Balance Spa at Monarch Beach Resort, The Jiva Grande Spa at Vivanta by Taj in Madikeri (India), Ananda in the Himalayas (India), or the Beverly Hills Waldorf Astoria (which offers programs to heal in luxury after medical and surgical procedures).
 
Know Yourself: Ultimately, the type of tourist you are will depend on the type of experience you are seeking. Gently investigate with awe and curiosity what your motivations are for your retreat and you’ll likely find that you fit into one of the categories above. Once you do figure it all out, you’ll be on your path to finding some fun, serenity, and/or healing. Happy travels!
 

Yoga is the Essence of Modern Wellness Travel

Yoga and meditation retreats have found their way into our global culture as the modern version of Wellness Tourism. In 2017, over 80 million people are expected to try or practice yoga in the US alone.
 
Across the globe, this number likely tops hundreds of millions. Millions more (including about 12–15% of the U.S. population) are meditators. Many of whom practice regularly at home, in spiritual centers and churches/temples, or on apps like iRest, Headspace, and Simple Habit.
 
Not surprisingly, industries like tourism, hospitality, and healthcare are increasingly integrating these supportive lifestyle practices from yoga and meditation into people’s stays. Yet, the main distinction between a typical vacation and a retreat may be that the latter not only impacts you and your inner world while you’re there, but provides you with a ‘vacation souvenir’ that will have an effect and express itself all the way down to the level of your blood and genes long after you depart.
 
The popularity of these practices continues to grow as people immerse themselves in the profoundly transformational cultures on yoga and meditation retreats. An increasing number of options are available for any type of wellness travel experience. Whatever type of traveler you are, the retreat you choose will offer you something unique, powerful, and meaningful.
 
Focusing your travel on your heart, spirit, and health can have long lasting effects. This is where the magic of the “meditation effect” is experienced. Ultimately, a yoga and meditation retreat isn’t just about the vacation experience, the tools you learn and the shifts you make help support you to become the best version of yourself in your day-to-day life.
 

Eden Goldman

Dr. Eden Goldman, D.C., C-IAYT, E-RYT500, is Director of Yoga and Mindfulness at La Quinta Resort, A Waldorf Astoria Resort, where they host 5-star teacher and studio led retreats, along with corporate retreats, and feature an Ayurvedic-inspired vegetarian menu, Manduka mats and props, an enchanting desert and mountain backdrop, 41 swimmable pools for guests, and one of the newest installations in Amanda Giacomini’s 10,000 Buddhas street art series. Professionally, Dr. Goldman is also Director of The Yoga and the Healings Sciences at Loyola Marymount University Extension and co-author of Yoga Therapy and Integrative Medicine: Where Ancient Sciences Meets Modern Medicine. He can be found online on Instagram at @dr.edengoldman

www.YogaDoctors.com

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9 Self-Care Tips to Remember When Scheduling Surgery

1. Eat Healthy-ish

“Let food be thy medicine” — Hippocrates’ centuries-old words still ring true today. During the week prior to surgery, Dr John Layke, a Beverly Hills-based reconstructive surgeon, advises his patients to hydrate, avoid alcohol and caffeine, and adopt a healthy diet.
 

Let food be thy medicine

 
Eating fewer packaged foods and more fresh produce means minimizing inflammation that can occur during the healing process. To wean myself off caffeine, I stocked up on Four Sigmatic lion’s mane and reishi mushroom elixir sachets, Beaming’s low-sugar green juices, and Tea Forté’s Sipscriptions herbal teas.
 

 
As for healthyish foods, some of my go-to’s include walnuts for omega-3 essential fatty acids, blueberries for antioxidants, apples for fiber, and kale salad topped with either an egg or vitamin-rich avocado.
 

2. Calm Your Mind

Getting a good night’s rest prior to any procedure gives the adrenal glands a break and reduces cortisol levels—one of the hormones that is part of our body’s stress response. But how about preparing for general anesthesia, something I’d personally never experienced but was scheduled to undergo?
 
Rather than crippling my mind with fear, I decided to take action. A few weeks prior to surgery, I sought the advice of yoga teacher Kia Miller, whose Kundalini practices on YogaGlo I enjoy. She recommended the following online classes: “Seven Waves Sat Nam Meditation,” “Breath to Become Fearless,” “So Hum Meditation,” and “Release and Let GO!” Practicing meditation and pranayama once a day helped to calm me down.
 

3. Take a Me Day

To curb over-thinking as my surgery date drew closer, I scheduled a pamper session at Burke Williams Day Spa in Hollywood, a one-stop shop for treatments, nail services, and blow-drys.
 

 
I am a big fan of their massage treatments. The positive creative visualization I practiced during that treatment helped immensely because prior to going under anesthesia the next day, I conjured those images and ended up falling into a deep sleep.
 

4. Dance as if Nobody’s Watching

OK, dancing might prove difficult after surgery, but don’t turn into a couch potato. “Ambulating, or moving about, as soon as possible is key,” Dr. Layke says. “Your body will secrete its own ‘pain medicine’ called endorphins.
 
This also helps patients reduce postoperative issues such as blood clots and breathing complications.” While yoga might seem like light exercise, even the simplest of practices can exacerbate inflammation (I tried it anyway against my doctor’s orders and don’t recommend it). When you’re feeling up to it, take to walking outdoors or on a treadmill instead.
 

5. Create a Healing Space

Turn the lights on, open the drapes, or do anything else that might ‘shock’ the body out of the dark hiding place patients typically retreat to after a procedure, says Dr Layke. This is similar to “sunlight therapy” which elevates the mood.
 
Invite nature indoors by bringing home a bunch of flowers or an indoor potted plant—the peace lily or Areca palm are good choices—to enliven the living space.
 

6. Invest in Comfort

My favorite prop during recovery was a wedge pillow. It helped me sit and sleep without overtaxing my back, neck, and shoulders all while reducing swelling thanks to gravity. Because bed rest meant lolling around in loungewear 24/7, I rotated a few comfortable and lightweight pieces.
 
Coyuchi makes organic cotton wraparound robes—ideal for less mobile patients—and terry pullovers that mix and match well with that all-time favorite staple: leggings. It’s true that you’ll get more wear out of dark items, but consider buying pastels and bolder colors: a pair of blue-and-red patterned yoga tights had an immediate brightening effect on my mood and complexion.
 

 

7. Stock Up on Words, Audio, & TV

Mentally, it’s always good to distract yourself by reading a book or binging on your favorite shows, says Dr. Layke. Heeding his advice, I read lots by Nora Ephron, leafed through magazines (including LA Yoga), listened to Rich Roll’s podcasts, and watched not only comedies — Silicon Valley is still a fave — but also documentaries like What The Health? and dark dramas including The Leftovers and Big Little Lies. Ironically, the latter got me through some sleepless nights.
 

8. Face Your Inner Monologue

Now is the time to take up free-writing in a journal and put things into perspective. Spending too much time looking inward made me anxious, and writing down my feelings and crazy thoughts allowed me to navigate unfamiliar terrain while facing obstacles head on.
 
In Sheryl Sandberg’s book Option B, she writes that journaling during a traumatic time became a key part of her recovery (Sandberg’s husband passed away unexpectedly). In addition, for six months each night before bedtime she made a list of three things she’d done well that day, no matter how basic the tasks were because often even accomplishing little things seemed like an achievement.
 

9. Thank Your Cheer Squad

Woe is me, right? During those seemingly endless hours of suffering, it’s easy to take support teams for granted: the surgeons, patient coordinators, husbands, wives, parents, friends; our sounding boards, need-it-now shoppers, and care givers.
 
Thanking them is important, an act I didn’t practice right away as I was too wrapped up in my own turmoil and self-analysis. But hindsight is 20/20, and it’s through the words of Marcel Proust— “Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, for they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom” — that I grow from and live by.
 

Marina Chetner

Marina Chetner is a Los Angeles-based Australian freelance writer.

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In 1990, I was a culinary student at the Cordon Bleu in San Francisco and worked for Alice Waters at Chez Panisse in Berkeley. My goal was to study and work in France and ultimately I spent a year-and-a-half honing my craft in Paris and Provence. With all my formal education I must admit that the six tastes described in Ayurveda (sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent) found in the foods, spices, herbs and beverages we ingest were never explained nor understood from a medicinal or biological perspective—except in relation to how certain combinations of foods enhanced flavors and textures.

Fifteen years later, while attending the BKS Iyengar Yoga teacher training program, I was amazed to learn that these six tastes are directly connected to our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual balance, and they have shaped culinary traditions in India for hundreds of years.

Taste is one of the five senses – (Sight, Hearing, Smell, Touch and Taste) and in Ayurvedic philosophy taste is directly associated with the organs of perception and the five elements found in our universe.
The five elements are understood metaphorically as: Ether (Space), Air (Movement), Fire (Metabolism), Water (Fluidity), and Earth (Stability) and are further understood by 10 pairs of opposing qualities known as the Physical Gunas: hot/cold, wet/dry, heavy/light, mobile/stable, gross/subtle, solid/liquid, dull/sharp, soft/hard, smooth/rough and cloudy/clear.

For the sake of simplicity in this article we will address the relationships between tastes with the first four gunas: hot/cold, wet/dry, heavy/light and mobile/stable.

According to the teachings of Ayurveda, the body is made up of three basic energies known as the doshas (Vata, Pitta and Kapha) that govern our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual nature.

The Vata dosha is a combination of the elements of ether and air with the qualities of cold, dry, light and mobile.
Pitta is a combination of the elements fire and water with the qualities of hot, slightly wet, light, and mobile.
Kapha is a combination of water and earth with the qualities of cold, wet, heavy, and stable.

All of us have an inherent balance of these doshas, known as our constitution (Prakruti), which does not change. When the body is out of balance, we create our current state of health (Vikruti).

Imbalances can be associated with factors that include the change of seasons, our physical locations, what we ingest, and emotional and mental challenges. When out of balance, Ayurveda suggests the use of opposite actions with the five sense therapies to create harmony. For instance, if a person is feeling excess heat, coolness is introduced; and visa versa—when a person is feeling an excess of cold you would use warmth to cultivate balance.

The six tastes also play important roles in our digestion, assimilation, and elimination processes by helping to break down proteins, fats, carbohydrates, et cetera, as what we ingest moves through our systems. Long before the USDA established guidelines for a balanced diet, Ayurveda was using the Six Tastes to ensure overall balance in the meals a person consumes. Indian restaurants typically offer such a meal, known as a Thali, a large, round, metal plate with several smaller bowls in which all six tastes are served.

Here is a breakdown of each taste, it qualities and in which food groups they can be found.

Vata is cold, dry, light and mobile, so foods that are Sweet (heavy and wet), Sour (warm, moist, and heavy) and Salty (warm, moist, and heavy) are the best choices to cultivate balance. This includes supportive food choices such as grains, rice, sweet fruits, most nuts, dairy products and warmer spices like cardamom, fenugreek, and ginger.

Pitta is hot, wet, light and mobile, so foods that are Sweet (cool and heavy), Bitter (cool and dry) and Astringent (cool and dry) are recommended for quickly facilitating balance. Food choices that calm the hot pitta energy are cooler in nature such as rice, moong (or mung) beans, sweet fruits, cucumber, lettuce, bitter greens, melons, cottage cheese, peppermint, and cumin.

Kapha is cold, wet, heavy and stable, so foods with that opposite qualities that help reduce stagnation are found in the following tastes: Pungent (hot, dry, light), Bitter (dry, light) and Astringent (dry, light). Kapha-reducing food choices are low in fat and include pungent greens and warmer spices like cloves, cinnamon, and ginger.

At this point, you may be thinking that all of this information is is way too complicated, but once you understand your constitution and current state of health you can use these energetics to bring balance. The easiest way to get started is to have an Ayurvedic practitioner help you establish your constitution.

It also may seem that you might have to limit yourself to very specific foods, and while this may be true in some cases, you can also combine foods with different energetics to cultivate an overall experience of balance within a meal. For example, if you have a predominately Pitta constitution but love spicy food, balance that heat with tastes or energetics that are cool by adding a condiment like raita (a yogurt-based sauce.) People with an abundance of Vata energy who love popcorn, which is naturally dry, light, and mobile, find that they can balance its dryness and lightness with warm ghee and salt to add warmth, heaviness, and moisture.

It is optimal to choose foods and combinations that balance your constitution, but the use of spices are also supportive. One simple way to insure proper digestion, assimilation, and elimination is to incorporate culinary spices into a meal. Spice blends can be made for specific constitutions. Through Three Seasons Ayurveda I offer a Tri-doshic blend that includes all six tastes.

Turmeric is one of the beloved spices in Ayurveda

Another way to ensure proper digestion is to have a spoonful of what I call the “Six Taste Appetizer,” before each meal which allows you to ingest all six tastes in one delicious bite.

When you are getting started in your personal relationship with the six tastes, you can begin by simply noticing the different tastes as well as their effect on how you feel, all of which cultivates awareness. Try experimenting with taste and try adding some portion of all six tastes to your food. The exploration of Ayurveda is a lifelong journey. Savor it.

To help develop your sense of taste, practices in Ayurveda that can be helpful include nasya as well as tongue scraping and neti.

Jeff Perlman

Jeff Perlman is a Clinical Ayurvedic & Pancha Karma Specialist, Certified Iyengar Yoga Instructor, Certified Massage and Marma Therapist, a professional member of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association and a Cordon Bleu Chef.  He is available for private consultations. He leads annual trips to India. You can contact him at jeff@tsayurveda.com or visit his website: threeseasonsayurveda.com

www.threeseasonsayurveda.com

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LA YOGA: You’ve said that your own thyroid cancer helped you to change your life and understand the importance of wellness. What inspired the founding of Global Wellness Day?

Belgian Aksoy: A few years ago, just prior to establishing the Global Wellness Day concept, I asked myself the following question: “Health is one of the most important issues of our lives, so why do we still not have a special day dedicated to living well?” This was the moment that our story began, the story of a project we have been working on day and night for the last four years with the dream of creating a healthier and happier world.

Living well is a simple necessity for every human being on the planet. To overcome global problems such as depression and to encourage people to lead a healthier and happier life, I feel we need an inspiring beginning. The name of that beginning is Global Wellness Day.

Global Wellness Day is an entirely not-for-profit day; it is a social project created by volunteers dedicated to living well. The fundamental purpose of the day is to make us aware of the value of our lives. Even if it is for one day of the year, it is a day that helps us to help us stop and think and get away from the stress of city living and set aside our bad habits, to thereby find peace within ourselves.

Being an open to public and free of charge event, Global Wellness Day brings together exercise, healthy eating, and inner health for a social movement to raise awareness of living well throughout the world. GWD is a special opportunity to bring together the wellness world in an inspiring mission on the second Saturday of June every year.

LA YOGA: What actions do you hope people take as a result of participating in Global Wellness Day?

Wellness is the conscious development of the whole self. Embarking on a wellness journey is a process of searching for the appropriate tools to make you a healthier and happier human being, as well as discovering your own effective methods to use these tools for continued growth and development. As there is a great variety on all aspects of life, there are also countless ways to cultivate yourself on an ever-changing path of wellness.

In this context, participating in Global Wellness Day helps make people aware of that irrespective of a person’s nationality, age, size, shape or perceived attractiveness, it is wellness that is the cornerstone of quality of life.

When a person participates in a GWD event for the first time in his or her life, he or she learns that Wellness is an active process of becoming aware of and making choices towards a healthy and fulfilling life. Wellness is more than being free from illness, it is a dynamic process of change and growth.

LA YOGA: What is behind the slogan, “I say yes!” What are people saying yes to?

Today, wellness is no longer a trend; it has become accepted as a lifestyle. By saying, “I SAY YES,” people are saying yes to the philosophy of wellness that is based on harmonizing, balancing, and improving physical, spiritual and mental health through recognizing the human as a whole. The peace achieved via wellness is a mental, physical and spiritual harmony and a way of existence and living.

LA YOGA: What do you see as the role of spa treatments in wellness?

The general misconception that we are facing in all GWD-celebrating countries is to make more communities aware of the wellness concept. Today, many people still think that wellness is a luxury that can’t be reached easily. However, the primary objective of Global Wellness Day is to show that wellness is not a luxury but the right of each individual.

LA YOGA: What suggestions do you have for people to incorporate spa treatments in their daily routine?

I  recently read in one study of more than 3,300 Japanese government workers, frequency of spa and spa treatments use was linked to better physical and mental health, including better quality sleep and fewer sick days. In a similar study with German data conducted by researchers from Florida State University and George Mason University, spa therapies reduced both work absences as well as hospitalizations. Examples like this demonstrate why I believe people should incorporate spa treatments in their daily routine more often.

LA YOGA: How do people come on board to partner with GWD?

This year’s rallying cry for GWD is “Wellness for Everyone!’’ A range of cities, tourism boards, health clinics, and even national dance companies are offering workshops and classes to educate and inspire the public about the benefits of proactive wellness and mind-body fitness.

One of our partners is the Four Seasons, one of the leaders of the Hospitality and Spa industry and one of the 3,000 different locations worldwide that has committed to company-wide participation in Global Wellness Day to help guests realize that “One day can change their whole life.”

LA YOGA: What are some examples of inspiring Global Wellness Day initiatives?

Some great examples of GWD initiatives are those supported by governments around the world:

•GWD Thailand is being supported by Tourism Authority of Thailand, Bangkok Metropolitan Authority, and Thai Spa Association.
•The President of Cyprus has recently gave his support to Global Wellness Day. At the same time, GWD Cyprus is carrying out joint projects with GWD Cyprus Tourist Organization, the Governor’s Offices of Limassol, Larnaca, Paphos, Agia Napa and Nicosia.
•GWD France is collaborating with the National Association of Mayors of Touristic Cities in France. In this context, 920 Mayors in France are being informed and encouraged.
•GWD Turkey has the support of Touristic Hotel Investors Association, Turkish Heart Foundation and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.
•The mayor of Langley in Canada, Jack Froese supports Global Wellness Day.
•Aruba Tourism Association is taking the lead in GWD 2016 for all Spas on Aruba.
•Mayor of Imperial Beach in USA, Serge Dedina is ready to embrace Global Wellness Day in 2016.
•GWD India has the support of the Minister of Tourism & the Minister of Health of Maharashtra, one of the largest states of the subcontinent.
•GWD Costa Rica has met political advisors and Congresswomen recently to get their support.
•GWD Nigeria has the support of the Consul General of France, Laurent Polonceaux.

GWD is also gaining the support of schools and institutions worldwide including: CIDESCO Schools, Thuya Escuela School in Spain, Dance and Creative Wellness Foundation, American Leisure, Institute for Integrative Nutrition, Exercise is Medicine, the Day Spa Association, SpaFinder Wellness 365, Treatwell, the Global Wellness Institute, the Arizona Spa & Wellness Association, Florida Spa Association and International Spa Association (iSPA) etc.

One of our best practices over the past two years has been to receive the support of Hollywood stars such as Ving Rhames, Josh Charles, Ty Burrell, Jessie Taylor Ferguson, Mayim Bialik, Joe Morton, as well as authors including Deepak Chopra and Agapi Stassinopoulos, sports stars such as Venus Williams and Rainbeau Mars and leaders of the business world including Founder of Virgin Group, Richard Branson, Co-creator of SKYPE, Jonas Kjellberg and Wendy Kopp, CEO / Co-Founder of Teach for All.

For more information about Global Wellness Day events in Southern California and around the world, visit GlobalWellnessDay.org

Felicia M. Tomasko

Felicia Tomasko has spent more of her life practicing Yoga and Ayurveda than not. She first became introduced to the teachings through the writings of the Transcendentalists, through meditation, and using asana to cross-train for her practice of cross-country running. Between beginning her commitment to Yoga and Ayurveda and today, she earned degrees in environmental biology and anthropology and nursing, and certifications in the practice and teaching of yoga, yoga therapy, and Ayurveda while working in fields including cognitive neuroscience and plant biochemistry. Her commitment to writing is at least as long as her commitment to yoga. Working on everything related to the written word from newspapers to magazines to websites to books, Felicia has been writing and editing professionally since college. In order to feel like a teenager again, Felicia has pulled out her running shoes for regular interval sessions throughout Southern California. Since the very first issue of LA YOGA, Felicia has been part of the team and the growth and development of the Bliss Network.

www.blissnetwork.com

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Healthy, relaxed, peaceful, flexible, a layer of core strength and a generous dollop of surrender. These are some of the qualities that may come to mind when we think of yoga. Advertisements for yoga studios and clothing depict happy, beautiful, young, vibrant people doing superhuman poses. All of this suggests that yoga offers the ability to tap into the legendary fountain of wellness and vitality. Yoga has become a lifestyle for millions, a balanced form of exercise for all ages, and a sanctuary from the hurried and frazzled modern-day rat race.  

So why is it that despite the regular practice of this ancient healing art, so many contemporary yogis are faced with adrenal fatigue?

Well, first of all—take a look at the reality of our modern lifestyle. Stress is everywhere. On a scale of 1-10, a normal stress level in today’s world is a 12.

The adrenals are an integral part of our body’s stress response system. They are a pair of endocrine glands that sit on top of the kidneys. The adrenals are responsible for initiating the fight or flight mechanism that protects us from danger. This mechanism does not distinguish between various types of predators and threats we face in modern life, so it is triggered dozens to hundreds of times a day by the perceived dangers we face including (but not limited to) deadlines, debt, and traffic.  As a result, we live much of our lives in varying degrees of activation of the fight or flight response. This chronic stress creates real, measurable physiological changes that, over time, can be detrimental.  

We become depleted by the never-ending demands of our modern lives. And the effects of long-term presence of these fight or flight hormones can lead to unwanted consequences such as abdominal weight gain, reproductive hormone imbalances, poor digestive function, anxiety, depression, and blood sugar imbalances. This happens because of a redistribution of resources. When we are in danger, the body is not worried about nourishing, repairing, rebuilding, digesting, reproducing, or balancing; it is only focused on diverting energy to the systems we need to fight or run away. Short term, the fight or flight mechanism can save our lives, and often does. But long term, chronic exposure to stress or perceived danger leads to breakdown of the major body systems we need to maintain health.   

The second major reason we are seeing a virtual epidemic of adrenal fatigue is that, in addition to the stress we are aware of, we are affected by a variety of stressors that are entirely invisible to us.

Although yoga can offer ease in helping manage daily stressors, our practice may not be enough to balance the cumulative effects of hidden inflammation, infections, toxins, and hormonal dysregulation. In these situations, you may need more than yoga; advice from a qualified healthcare practitioner may be beneficial.  

When we consider why yoga alone may not be enough for us to counteract adrenal fatigue and combat these hidden stressors, there are several additional factors that relate to how we practice. We might find them surprising. After all, aren’t we yogis supposed to know better than to allow ourselves to get burnt out? Doesn’t yoga train us to remain relaxed in the face of stress and breathe deeply when anxiety threatens to derail our heart’s noble plans? What is happening on and/or off the mat that is keeping us from managing all this stress?  

Here are some of the top reasons I’ve observed to help explain why yoga alone may not be enough to prevent  adrenal fatigue today—and why our relationship to our practice may be the most important factor when it comes to strengthening our resilience and preventing burnout.

Yoga can become just one more thing on our to-do list.  

We all know this one. After a late night followed by an early morning that involves a skipped breakfast and double latte, then a long day of checking items off a stacked list of to-dos, we opt to put off dinner and charge in 5-10 minutes late to our yoga class and then practically collapse onto the mat. Rather than staying there, we push ourselves to get up and muscle through a flow sequence, which temporarily eases tension, but all too often leaves us doubly exhausted and over-extended. Sometimes the best way to practice yoga is to say no to class. Sometimes 10-15 minutes of deep restorative poses at home after a nourishing meal and bath may be much more supportive to your tired adrenals.  

Spiritual chauvinism.  

This happens when we don’t give ourselves a break because we are so blindly committed to the transformation that yoga or another spiritual system has to offer. We think if we just do one more class, sing one more mantra, stay for one more kirtan, or hold the pose for one minute longer, we will be closer to enlightenment.  Sometimes it is the competitive edge within us that wants to be able to say we did seven 7:00 am classes this week. We push ourselves and become so attached to the form that we lose sight of the heart and soul of the practice—which is all about nourishing the Divine within us, moving with the seasons, and listening to our inner guidance. Often, we hop from class to retreat to training to festival without taking the time to integrate what we have learned. Consider whether you would benefit more from one more class or simply a moment to digest. A night off may be the best thing for your body and spirit.  

Yoga practice can become a kind of pseudo-spiritual aerobics.

With all due respect to the many schools, lineages, and techniques taught around the world, this point has been brought home to me by many a burned-out yogi. Some styles may be just the right practice for some people some of the time, but they are not right for all the people all of the time. Some classes may contribute to the hurry-up-and-do-your-yoga-and-say-namaste attitude rather than being an antidote to our stressful day.  A good measure of whether a workout is too much is how you feel after. If you find yourself exhausted not long after class, or in the following 24-48 hours after being on the mat, that particular practice may not be a good match for your adrenals at this time. Try balancing more vigorous classes with restful, restorative postures at least two or three days a week.  

Yoga can become an outward social experience rather than an inward practice.

Although the benefits of community found in class or in the studio are many and undeniable, the aspects of yoga practice that are most beneficial for the overworked adrenals are those that allow us to turn inward. After a busy day at the office or with family or clients, our stillness, silence, and inner inventory can offer the greatest service to our weary and wired neuro-endocrine systems. We are often nourished by community but just as often it requires a great deal of energy to navigate the social environment of the studio. Consider balancing your in-studio practice with a renewing and restorative home practice, where the emphasis is on creating a space for self-awareness, self-care, and stillness.  

We tend to value the yang aspects of yoga over the yin.  

In a world where the masculine energetic pattern is so frequently the dominant paradigm, all yoga can appear to be yin. But within the world of yoga, it is the yang aspects—including asana, alignment, flow, and chant—which tend to receive the most attention. If you examine most studio schedules and compare the number of yang classes to the yin and restorative…it is frequently about 10 to 1.

This is also reflected in our tendency to focus more on the physical aspect of yoga than the spiritual or psychological. For example, a class ratio of 55 minutes of asana to five minutes of savasana. The answer is not necessarily to change all the classes, but to shift your attention within each class and ensure your focus is on the inner environment as much as the external and physical. Take an extended savasana if you arrive tired or block out time after class to remain in the stillness you have cultivated. Rest between poses and pace yourself when needed, rather than struggling to keep up with a flow that seems faster than your body wants.  Most importantly, go to the restorative class at least once a week. Teachers—slow down and deepen your breath.  

Yoga can become an excuse to indulge.

This is a sneaky variation on “I just went to the gym so now I can have a large milkshake and fries with my dinner.” A regular yoga practice is essential for many of us to survive in the modern world, and we can become almost obsessive at times about making it to our class because we know what happens if we don’t. While this can be a powerful self-preservation instinct, sometimes it is a sign that the other stressful things we are doing in life require more than a few yoga classes each week to balance them out.

Sometimes we use yoga to justify not making the changes in our lives that we know we need to make. If you are eating an unhealthy diet and then going to yoga class to make yourself feel better about it, the answer is not more yoga.  If you are staying up too late at night, and then need a yoga class to fend off the irritability that you feel rising by noon the next day, the answer is not more yoga. If you go to an early morning class so you don’t feel guilty about going straight across the street afterward to order a triple mocha, you might be better off sleeping in and having a good breakfast.  

At its heart, the essence of yoga is profoundly in service to psychology and what the masters call our inner work. Because of yoga’s ability to tune us back in to our selves, our bodies, and the state of our minds and hearts, I frequently recommend yoga to people who have all of the signs and symptoms or a diagnosis of adrenal fatigue. Just as often, however, I have had to counsel people to back off temporarily and re-evaluate their relationship to their yoga practice.  

We are faced with so many stresses, visible and invisible, that at times yoga alone may not be enough. A common mistake I see among yogis is that they believe because they are practicing yoga, they are immune to health problems or imbalances. Many yogis also tend to lean away from the standard medical establishment. As a consequence, they might wait too long to seek medical advice. Taking an adrenal supplement from the health food store is great, and often recommended, but it is no substitute for taking the time for a trained healthcare professional to review your case. 

As an answer to our prayers, like a hero arriving on the scene in the moment of greatest need, functional medicine has risen in response to the crisis of modern health care. Functional medicine is the meeting place of Eastern and Western medicines, and incorporates new advances in laboratory diagnostics to prescribe lifestyle, supplement and nutrition programs for conditions, including adrenal fatigue, that are often difficult to diagnose.

In order to truly reap the benefits of a yoga practice, we need a strong physical foundation. If you recognize yourself in this discussion, consider making some of the subtle changes suggested and also consider consulting with a trained functional medicine practitioner to see if you are a good candidate for adrenal or other functional diagnostic testing.  

Dr. Eric Baumgartner, LAc practices functional medicine and acupuncture, and is the creator of the Essential Medicina product line. Learn more at: essentialmedicina.com.

Eric Baumgartner

Eric Baumgartner, LAc, is a Doctor of Acupuncture and Functional medicine who practices in Ojai, CA, and works with clients around the world via phone/skype. He is also the creator of the Essential Medicina herbal product line, featured in Café Gratitude. www.essentialmedicina.com.

www.essentialmedicina.com

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The 30Fifteen Studio is nestled in a residential neighborhood in Venice. The studio was founded by UK native Emily Tonkin, who came to the US in 2014 to share her tennis wear apparel line “30Fifteen”.  Named for the tennis score where the server is ahead but needs to stay focused on the goal it reflects the positive mindset and message Emily wants to share within the brand.

After creating a series of pop-up shops in California, Emily’s vision to grow her business was through a wellness center. Emily tells us, “It became clear to me that not only did we need to find a headquarters for the 30Fifteen brand, but also a space to nurture a community of health, wellness, fitness, and like-minded people. It’s much more than just selling clothes; we are driven by the phrase ‘Feel good, look good’.”

The studio is cozy and warm with exposed brick walls, lofty ceilings, dramatic drapes, and sunny natural light. Much like the boutique brand “30Fifteen”, which is not found in department stores, Emily wanted to create an intimacy that feels safe and inviting. She says, “LA is such a big city it’s easy to feel lonely. This city is also very transient so I wanted to offer a space where people can feel part of a community.”

Not only does 30Fifteen Studio offer both yoga and Yogalates on a daily basis, it also offers health and wellness events and workshops, as well as a wide assortment of holistic modalities and conscious offerings including massage therapy, Reiki, and angel cards. Also located on the property is “One Roof”, a shared workspace for female entrepreneurs to support ideas beyond inspiration to realization.

30fifteenthestudio.com

1336 Electric Ave, First Floor Studio, Venice, CA, 90291

By Natalie Macam, a yoga teacher who teaches locally at Agoura Power of Yoga and Malibu Beach Yoga: tigerwaveyoga.com  

Natalie Macam

Natalie Macam is a Yoga Teacher who teaches locally in Los Angeles: www.nataliemacam.com.

www.nataliemacam.com

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The penetrating aroma of essential oils has a powerful effect on our physiology and emotions, impacting every cell of our being.
There are many ways to use aromatherapy for self-healing. By using specific essential oils in combination with our yoga, pranayama, and meditation practices, we have the ability to create our own olfactory sanctuary.

What Are Essential Oils?

Essential oils are concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants. They are derived via distillation, expression, solvent extraction, or florasol extraction from plants and their various parts, including: leaves, flowers, roots, buds, twigs, rhizomes, heartwood, bark, resin, seeds, and fruits. Essential oils are often referred to as the lifeblood of the plant, as they share some biochemical structural similarities to human blood.
What makes essential oils distinct from other forms of herbs (for example, the leaf itself) is that the essential oil is exponentially more concentrated. For example, one drop of peppermint essential oil has the equivalent of the active ingredients of 26 cups of peppermint tea.
We have learned that essential oils have powerful effects on the plant itself: its life and function, its own health, and its protective mechanisms. They affect our bodies in much the same way; a growing number of clinical studies reveal benefits of essential oils such as increasing oxygen uptake by red blood cells, improving the ability of the immune system to fight infection, aiding in balance of the endocrine system and hormone production, promoting tissue regeneration, maintaining appropriate appetite, calming the nervous system, and easing pain and anxiety.

The Power of Smell

First and foremost, the effects of essential oils are found in their scent. Fragrance touches our heart and is even a magic key that opens the secret door to the chambers of our soul. The mechanism of our sense of smell is a fascinating journey to the center of the brain.
Our sense of smell (olfaction) is our most primal sense and dates to life’s origins. At birth, smell is our most fully developed sense. It is essential for animals’ survival in the wild; they use it to hunt prey and to protect themselves in turn from predators. In fact, California ground squirrels chew up rattlesnake skin and smear it on their fur to mask their scent.
As we inhale an essential oil, their aromatic molecules enter the body via the nasal passages and olfactory bulb and travel to the limbic region at the center of the brain, the group of structures that regulate processes like memory, creativity, and motivation, as well as the autonomic nervous and endocrine systems. This olfactory highway means that the scent bypasses the cerebral cortex—the conscious processing part of the brain. This is why even the faintest whiff of something evocative will instantly evoke a flash of memory, a recollection of a person from our past, or even inspire an emotional response.

Ancient medicine to Modern Miracles

Essential oils have a long and noteworthy history of use throughout the world for thousands of years. Places like Egypt, China, and India (used in Ayurveda, Siddha, and Unani Medicine) have used oils for ritual and medicine. Hippocrates popularized their use in Greece and subsequently throughout Europe. They were used in the First and Second World Wars to reduce infection and improve wound healing. Today, essential oils are being used in hospitals, nursing homes, and in hospice care for their effects on pain, insomnia, nausea, and anxiety. Their use as an adjunct to yoga is also increasing as a result of their physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits.

Essential Oils and Your Yoga Practice

Combining essential oil use with yoga practice can powerfully enhance feelings of well-being and presence. Inhalation or topical application of genuine therapeutic grade essential oils can be a powerful tool for radiant health for every major system of the body. Many yoga practitioners find that use of essential oils helps refine focus and mental clarity, deepen mental and emotional grounding, strengthen the body-mind connection, increase stamina, and reduce muscle and joint pain and tension. Yoga instructors have found that when they use essential oils in their classes, students often appear to be more alert, receptive, unified, connected, grounded, centered, uplifted and present.
Yoga instructor Vivica Schwartz of Yoga Desa in Topanga Canyon says that essential oils help her set an intention for the class and help her become more inspired about what to teach. She says that, “essential oils help calm my nerves when the day has been stressful. Before going to teach, essential oils help me transition from chaos to the Zen mind. When I use them in class I get a positive response from my students.”
Urban Zen instructor Hazel at Yogaworks says she uses different oils in her yoga classes as needed to help relax or invigorate her students. “When I drop a little oil into their hands I find it’s a lovely way to connect to the students and give back to my community. As my students inhale the oil, I see their faces become open and receptive to the experience of something new. It brings them more into their breath and their bodies.”

Not All Oils are Created Equally

You may have attended a yoga class where the teacher lovingly offers a few drops of an essential oil, like lavender, chamomile, or clary sage for you to enjoy during savasana or meditation. While these scents wonderful for enhancing relaxation, in my experience, many oils being used are unfortunately of poor quality or are even synthetically altered.
Not all essential oils are created equally. According to Kurt Schnaubelt, PhD, of the Pacific Institute of Aromatherapy, more than 98% of the essential oils on the market are adulterated, meaning they have been synthetically produced so they won’t deliver their full benefit and could even cause more harm than good. Using only genuine, pure, therapeutic grade essential oils is important for receiving their full benefit

Guidelines for Safe Use of Essential Oils

Since essential oils are potent therapeutic agents, before using them in a yoga class or other setting, first ask if anyone has any allergies or specific health conditions like pregnancy, epilepsy, high or low blood pressure, or if students are taking medications like certain blood thinning agents. Although the side effects of using essential oils are minuscule, there are precautions to take into consideration. In addition, some people may have strong emotional reactions to specific oils based on their life history.

Essential Oils Basic Guidelines & Safety Precautions 

1. Always have pure, vegetable-based oil on hand in the event of discomfort or skin irritation (including accidentally wiping eyes). Never flush essential oils with water; as this will exacerbate the irritation. Use a fatty vegetable oil such as olive or almond oil on the affected area. The fat in a vegetable oil will bond to the essential oils to soothe irritation or discomfort.

2. Store essential oils in a cool location with the lids fastened tightly.
This helps oils maintain potency. Essential oils are volatile substances, which means they will eventually evaporate if the bottles are left uncovered. Ideally, essential oils are kept in amber or blue colored bottles to protect them from any contact with sunlight, since direct sunlight decreases their potency.

3. Treat them like medicine.
Essential oils may smell better than any medication you’ve ever taken, but they are still powerful substances and need to be respected. Learn about your oils and their effects.

4. Do not use oils containing menthol, such as peppermint, on the neck of children under 30 months.

5. Know your oils.
Learn the specific contraindications to individual essential oils. For example, some oils are phototoxic, meaning they may cause a rash or dark pigmentation on skin exposed to direct sunlight within three to four days after application. Most citrus oils fall into this category as well as others. In addition, become familiar with which essential oils are best avoided during pregnancy or other conditions. Our collective information about this is still growing; gather information from a few reputable sources before making an informed evaluation.

6. Keep oils away from the eyes.
Some essential oils irritate the eyes (remember to use a fatty vegetable or nut oil on a tissue and dab into the affected eye to reduce irritation).

7. Remind pregnant women to consult their health care professional before using oils.
An expert opinion is essential; some oils are problematic during pregnancy while others are especially beneficial for pregnancy, childbirth, new mothers, and infants.

8. People with health conditions do well to know their own cautions and contraindications.

9. Keep essential oils away from open flames, as some essential oils are flammable.

(For a list of oils and their cautions, read this article online at: layoga.com.)

How to use Essential Oils

The Inhalation Method
Place one or two drops of essential oil on your left palm, then slowly and gently rub the oil in a clockwise motion three times with the fingertips of your right hand. (We emphasize putting the oils in the left hand first, as in many energetic healing art modalities the left side of the body is considered the receiving side.) This process will spread the oils evenly on each hand. Then, bring your cupped hands slowly towards your nose until they are about one to two inches away and inhale slowly and deeply. You can also put a drop of essential oil on a round cotton cosmetic pad. The scent of the essential oil will last for hours, sometimes days, students can take them home to anchor their post-yoga-class bliss.
Diffusion
A cold air or cold water diffuser is an effective method of using essential oils. (Avoid potpourri burners that use a candle, as the heat from the candle will denature the delicate molecular structure of the essential oil.) I recommend diffusing citrus oils like grapefruit, lemon, tangerine, lime, or orange. These oils have an uplifting yet mild scent that also helps reduce airborne microbes.
Topical Application
Essential oils can be placed under the nose, on the back of the neck, on the lower back, chest, or belly. For those concerned with skin sensitivity, essential oils may also be diluted with carrier oils, like coconut, sesame, olive, jojoba or a blend of these fatty oils. Before distributing essential oils to your students, please remind them to avoid touching their eyes and explain the use of vegetable carrier oils to reduce irritation.

Tracy Griffiths is the author of the Aroma Yoga® DVD and Aroma Yoga® On Line Teacher Training. She has trained certified Aroma Yoga® instructors and offers workshops locally and around the world. Tracy is also the co-author (with Ashley Turner) of the reference Aroma Yoga®: How to Use Essential Oils in your Yoga Practice. Tracy and her team will be offering classes and exhibiting at the Moksha Festival July 11-12 in Downtown Los Angeles mokshafestival.com. For more information, visit aromayogaguide.com.

Tracy Griffiths

Tracy Griffiths, BCPP, LMT, CAC is the co-owner of the Life Energy Institute and a Board Certified Polarity Practitioner Instructor. She is the creator and author of Aroma Yoga®, a blend of conscious movement, breathing exercises, and chakra meditations combined with therapeutic grade essential oils. Tracy leads the essential oil therapy component of the Urban Zen Integrative Therapy (UZIT) program and believes wellness should be easy and accessible to everyone: aromayogaguide.com.

www.aromayogaguide.com

The post Aromatherapy and Yoga appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Photos by David Young-Wolff

Before she became a yoga therapist or even a fitness and wellness professional, a friend asked Kathleen Ross-Allee to substitute teach for her aerobics class, even though at the time, Kathleen was a fitness enthusiast with no experience actually teaching fitness. Her argument, “You’re an actress right?  Pretend it is a role you are playing,” convinced Kathleen to just do it.

What began with a spontaneous “yes” revealed Kathleen’s passion for helping people regain their health and fitness commitments—and led to a subsequent change in career path. Kathleen began training people and became an ACE certified personal fitness trainer. She started studying yoga in the 1990s, first with Jasmine Lieb and Erich Schiffmann; yoga influenced both her personal practice as well as the way she worked with individuals in her fitness business, Leen Bodies. Words from Kathleen’s late father, a university professor who would read Greek mythology in the evenings, “Once you stop learning, you stop living,” influenced her passion for education.

She enrolled in the 200 hour teacher training program at the Center for Yoga on Larchmont and in 2001, she completed the training, joined the center’s staff, and interned with her mentor, Fred Miller. When Liberation Yoga opened, they asked her to join the staff. There she taught Gentle Yoga and developed and continues to teach a free Yoga for Parkinson’s class in the garden studio, supported by the studio’s owners Christine Burke and Gary McCleery, along with generous donations from her network of friends, family, and students.

Becoming a student in the Yoga Therapy RX Program on campus at Loyola Marymount University (LMU), under the direction of Larry Payne, felt like a natural progression and being on a college campus felt like home for her. There, Kathleen’s fellow student, kindred spirit, and business partner Alison Crowley were inspired to find their own niche to implement yoga therapy in the community. In 2007, they launched The Yoga Prescription with a focus on supporting people through the recovery and healing process in dealing with cancer, even after treatments have concluded or after the medical establishment has seen evidence of remission. Kathleen and Alison believe that healing continues long after treatment is over. Through The Yoga Prescription, the duo and their trained yoga therapists and assistants teach a total of 42 monthly classes throughout Los Angeles. While many of these specifically address the concerns of cancer patients and survivors, they also offer classes for people with Parkinson’s disease and other conditions. Their vision is to see these programs “become permanently placed in these wellness centers and hospitals side by side with Western medicine as a viable source of recovery.” Their model is influenced by their certification in the Yoga Therapy RX program which trains students in the practice of integrating yoga therapy with modern medicine; as well as their continuing study with Jnani Chapman, RN, in Chapman’s Yoga Therapy in Cancer and Chronic Illness Training (YCat).

No matter the title of what she is teaching, Kathleen says, “I design each class to meet the needs of my students. I am able to do that no matter what the situation is.” She does this by choosing sequences based on what is presented to her in the room. Kathleen holds the following intention for working with her students, “In the time they spend with me, something can happen that will allow them to have a different perspective on their day.”

As a teacher, there are times when she draws on lessons from her acting background. She is comfortable presenting in crowds, groups, or at the front of the room. And she prepares for her classes with the same attention she would dedicate to script analysis as an actor. She combines this preparation with the ability to both be spontaneous with and to pay close attention to her students, as though they are her scene partners. In class, “It’s constant improvisation, she says.” In addition, Kathleen believes being a teacher and a yoga therapist also includes a commitment to ongoing education. She lives the advice given by her father that guides her: keep learning to keep living.

Between teaching private clients, daily classes, volunteering whenever she can, and serving as the Managing Director of the Yoga Therapy RX Program at Loyola Marymount University, Kathleen is a heartfelt workaholic. She even admits to it, “I am officially a workaholic, but I insist that it’s only in the best sense. I love and am passionate about all of the work I do.” Kathleen even enjoys the driving which is a necessary part of the life of a nomadic yoga therapist in Los Angeles. “The drive home at night allows me to decompress before I see my husband. And I just sing Broadway songs all day long!” She finds time for balance with a membership at Burke Williams, a standing Saturday morning Fryman Canyon hiking date with friends, and a husband who keeps her accountable to personal and social commitments. Somehow she also fits in cuddle time with her friends’ pups.

When this show tune singing compassionate yoga therapist is asked for the advice she would give potential students of yoga therapy, she offers, “To learn and absorb from those who have preceded you. To ask questions. To embrace what comes your way. When you are open to what comes your way, then you will serve the needs of the people who are seeking you. And in this way, you will have found your authentic voice.”

It sounds like advice that Kathleen could have given her younger self, the one who was acting and working at the Gaucho Grill on Ventura when she said yes to a random request from a friend asking if she could sub her class. Kathleen was open to what came her way.

For more information on Kathleen Ross-Allee and The Yoga Prescription, visit: theyogaprescription.com

For more information about Yoga Therapy RX, visit: http://academics.lmu.edu/extension/programs/yogatherapy/

Jessica Malloy is a freelance writer torn between the California Coast and Kentucky Countryside. Aside from Yoga, she spends as much time as she can in the sunshine rock climbing, water skiing, and traveling. Check out her newest adventure on narrowhips.com

Jessica Malloy

Jessica Malloy is a freelance writer torn between the California Coast and Kentucky Countryside. Aside from Yoga, she spends as much time as she can in the sunshine rock climbing, water skiing, and traveling.

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Mother’s Day Specials at Exhale Spa

Sunday May 3 – Sunday, May 10

One way to nurture yourself, your mother, grandmother, daughter or anyone in your life is through a spa day. The Exhale Mind Body Spa locations in Los Angeles are offering spa treatment specials if you spa or take class with your mother, grandmother, Aunt June, motherly mentor, or someone else who qualifies. Both locations offer luxurious treatment rooms, nurturing steam and sauna, lounge areas, and more for the ultimate inner escape in the city.  Try one of the following options for a treat for two:

Bring your mom to class for free when you two take class together.

Take 25% off spa treatments when you two receive 60-minute spa therapies on the same day.

The Mother’s Day specials are in effect in all of the Exhale Mind Body Spa locations: spa treatments at the Loews in Hollywood and the Fairmont in Santa Monica and classes in Hollywood, Santa Monica, and Venice. For more info, visit: exhalespa.com.

Chakra Crystal Mists by I Am

For the mother may not have time for the spa but that has everything except for an instantaneous reset button, I Am Enlightened Creations offers a set of Chakra Mists that combine the spiritual and the sensual in a portable spray bottle. There’s one for each of the seven chakras and with names like I Am Peace (for grounding the root chakra), I Am Powerful (it’s time to feel the fire of the solar plexus), I Am Intuitive (to open the third eye), and I Am Enlightened (to connect us to the crown), you can gift someone a set to suit every day of the week.

Produced in the powerful vortices of Sedona, combining essential oils, gem essences, and gold ormus, these alchemical mists can instantly transform a moment from harried to happy. For more information, visit: thinkiam.com

The Neshama Project

For those who want to lend a hand and keep it close to their hearts, Rachelle Tratt has created The Neshama Project, combining mission and message through the  Hamsa necklace series (and other meaningful jewelry items). The Hamsa is a symbol representing the Hand of God, or Universal Spirit, a way we can literally keep a hand always close to the heart. A portion of the proceeds benefit a variety of nonprofits worldwide. theneshamaproject.com

Gorgeous for Good 

In her latest book, Gorgeous for Good, New York Times best-selling author Sophie Uliano offers a 30-day program to support transformation from skin to soul. For those who need an extra nudge to nurture, Sophie offers motherly advice that spans a wide range of topics, including meditation techniques, recipes for food and beauty (we love her DIY coffee cellulite scrub), tips for healthy eyelashes, and more. We want to gift this to every women in our lives, especially after hearing Sophie’s five characteristics that make women beautiful:

1. Sense of purpose.

2. Passion for something.

3.  Sense of humor.

4. Generosity.

5. Authenticity.

For Mother’s Day and beyond, remind everyone you know that they are gorgeous for good. sophieuliano.com

Felicia M. Tomasko

Felicia Tomasko has spent more of her life practicing Yoga and Ayurveda than not. She first became introduced to the teachings through the writings of the Transcendentalists, through meditation, and using asana to cross-train for her practice of cross-country running. Between beginning her commitment to Yoga and Ayurveda and today, she earned degrees in environmental biology and anthropology and nursing, and certifications in the practice and teaching of yoga, yoga therapy, and Ayurveda while working in fields including cognitive neuroscience and plant biochemistry. Her commitment to writing is at least as long as her commitment to yoga. Working on everything related to the written word from newspapers to magazines to websites to books, Felicia has been writing and editing professionally since college. In order to feel like a teenager again, Felicia has pulled out her running shoes for regular interval sessions throughout Southern California. Since the very first issue of LA YOGA, Felicia has been part of the team and the growth and development of the Bliss Network.

www.blissnetwork.com

The post Celebrating Mothers appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Spa Review: Island Mud Treatment at Paradise Point Resort and Spa, San Diego

If you can’t find a mud pool, head for the spa.  Paradise Point Resort and Spa in San Diego offers a Hawaiian-inspired Island Mud Treatment using ingredients sourced seasonally from mineral-rich clays.  Following an all-over dry-glove exfoliation, your therapist will paint layers of warm mud from toe to toe, before cocooning you in a wrap.  While your feet are massaged, the mud does its magic, supporting detoxification and renewal of the skin.  After showering, you’ll feel rejuvenated thanks to the salt and mineral infusion.  What’s more, your skin will feel and look more taught.

Island Mud Treatment, $130

paradisepoint.com

Marina Chetner

Marina Chetner is a Los Angeles-based Australian freelance writer.

The post Spa Review: Paradise Point Resort and Spa San Diego appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Relax overlooking the Pacific Ocean at the Island Spa Catalina in Avalon.

Just a 15-minute helicopter ride, an hour ferry ride, or a leisurely sail from Long Beach rests the beautiful paradise Catalina Island, a popular getaway now made even more appealing thanks to the new 15,000-square foot Island Spa Catalina. Located in the historic El Encanto building in Avalon, the pièce de résistance of the gracious space is its top-floor vista deck overlooking million-dollar views of the Pacific—the perfect spot to relax with a glass of champagne. That is, if you can tear yourself away from the two-story Silver Peaks treatment suite—the most luxurious of the nine treatment rooms—after a Sage Stone Purification Ritual or a massage, facial, or body treatment of your choosing. The spa also offers a wellness café (Encanto Cafe), a welcoming courtyard, and a soaking pool.

A short walk down the promenade, the Descanso Beach Club is readying for its spring 2015 debut. Like the spa, it is owned by the Santa Catalina Island Company. The club’s centerpiece is the 13,000-square foot clubhouse; this is an integral part of an ongoing $8 million renovation. On the ground floor, Descanso Fresh, a gourmet espresso bar and ice cream shop, will serve fresh-made pizza, bakery goods, ice cream, and coffee drinks. Waterfront presidential beach cabanas furnished in teak with a refrigerator and flat-screen TV are available for rent. Start planning now for that summer soirée!

Island Spa Catalina
877-778-6454
163 Crescent Ave, Avalon, CA 90704

Marina Chetner is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles.

Marina Chetner

Marina Chetner is a Los Angeles-based Australian freelance writer.

The post Island Spa Catalina appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

An enthusiastic Ayurvedic practioner, Chandanni Miglino believes that what you put on your skin feeds the body. Her new line of beauty products contain organic oils and aromatic essentials oils. Chandanni’s signature Face Grace Moisturizer nourishes the skin with organic sesame and almond oils along with essential oils of lavender, bergamot, calendula, and rosewood. Fall asleep with it on your skin and wake up renewed. For more information, visit: chandanni.com

Felicia M. Tomasko

Felicia Tomasko has spent more of her life practicing Yoga and Ayurveda than not. She first became introduced to the teachings through the writings of the Transcendentalists, through meditation, and using asana to cross-train for her practice of cross-country running. Between beginning her commitment to Yoga and Ayurveda and today, she earned degrees in environmental biology and anthropology and nursing, and certifications in the practice and teaching of yoga, yoga therapy, and Ayurveda while working in fields including cognitive neuroscience and plant biochemistry. Her commitment to writing is at least as long as her commitment to yoga. Working on everything related to the written word from newspapers to magazines to websites to books, Felicia has been writing and editing professionally since college. In order to feel like a teenager again, Felicia has pulled out her running shoes for regular interval sessions throughout Southern California. Since the very first issue of LA YOGA, Felicia has been part of the team and the growth and development of the Bliss Network.

www.blissnetwork.com

The post Face Grace – Pure Skin Care appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

SkinAgain – Vegan, Gluten-free and Cruelty-free Skin Care

SkinAgain founder Sherrie Berry developed the formulations for her line of skincare products out of personal necessity. A 2006 chemical explosion left her with severe burns on her face, neck and arms. Today, she has beautiful skin. What she calls functional skin care – the focus of her company – is a result of combining all-natural botanical ingredients and soothing extracts with the maximum percentage of functional ingredients allowed in cosmetics. In the SkinAgain line, the lotions and cleanser are vegan, gluten-free, paraben and sulphate-free, and cruelty-free. They are blended with the power of positive intention, enhancing their healing effect. The lotions are: Youth (anti-wrinkle and brightening), Clear (blemish control), Vanish (scar and cellutite), Relief (sensitive and anti-redness), and Rescue (sunburn, bumps). Our team tried the Rescue, which rehabilitated the skin after severe burns, and Clear, to freshen the skin- and we’re believers! Learn more at: skinagain.com

Felicia M. Tomasko

Felicia Tomasko has spent more of her life practicing Yoga and Ayurveda than not. She first became introduced to the teachings through the writings of the Transcendentalists, through meditation, and using asana to cross-train for her practice of cross-country running. Between beginning her commitment to Yoga and Ayurveda and today, she earned degrees in environmental biology and anthropology and nursing, and certifications in the practice and teaching of yoga, yoga therapy, and Ayurveda while working in fields including cognitive neuroscience and plant biochemistry. Her commitment to writing is at least as long as her commitment to yoga. Working on everything related to the written word from newspapers to magazines to websites to books, Felicia has been writing and editing professionally since college. In order to feel like a teenager again, Felicia has pulled out her running shoes for regular interval sessions throughout Southern California. Since the very first issue of LA YOGA, Felicia has been part of the team and the growth and development of the Bliss Network.

www.blissnetwork.com

The post SkinAgain to the Rescue appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Spa Treament Review of Dermalogica BioActive Peel

In any season, sometimes what our skin needs most is a bit of a refresher. Dermalogica’s BioActive Peel is a botanically based version of a chemical peel to revitalize the skin. The benefits include clearing inflammation (including from acne), reducing the appearance of fine lines, fading hyper pigmentation – generally smoothing the skin by literally peeling away roughness and old skin – and making skin camera (and everyday) ready.

My therapist’s calming hands and gentle touch alone were therapeutic when she gently applied the four-step system.  She checked in with me carefully while the enzymes were active on my skin – the tingling indicated that they were having the desired effect.  The peel’ active ingredients include pumpkin, papaya, lactic acid, trichloracetic acid, and salicylic acid; this is stronger than the average facial.  I particularly enjoyed the soothing provided by the final step: calming botanicals including cucumber and green tea leaf extract.  She carefully explained the aftercare regimen and send me home with instructions and products.  I did experience some expected peeling (addressed by the Dermalogica products) and I noticed freshness and a new shine to my skin.

BioPeel is available with a trained therapist at select spas, salons, and Dermalogica concept stores, including the flagship on Montana Avenue.  A series of three to six treatments is recommended; I observed a difference after my first one.  dermalogica.com – Felicia Tomasko

Felicia M. Tomasko

Felicia Tomasko has spent more of her life practicing Yoga and Ayurveda than not. She first became introduced to the teachings through the writings of the Transcendentalists, through meditation, and using asana to cross-train for her practice of cross-country running. Between beginning her commitment to Yoga and Ayurveda and today, she earned degrees in environmental biology and anthropology and nursing, and certifications in the practice and teaching of yoga, yoga therapy, and Ayurveda while working in fields including cognitive neuroscience and plant biochemistry. Her commitment to writing is at least as long as her commitment to yoga. Working on everything related to the written word from newspapers to magazines to websites to books, Felicia has been writing and editing professionally since college. In order to feel like a teenager again, Felicia has pulled out her running shoes for regular interval sessions throughout Southern California. Since the very first issue of LA YOGA, Felicia has been part of the team and the growth and development of the Bliss Network.

www.blissnetwork.com

The post Dermalogica BioActive Peel Review appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Most women, if they are honest, will tell you they have had a moment or two when a little extra moisture during intimacy is a good thing.

Why Use Organic Personal Lubrication

It’s not a popular topic of conversation, either at the watercooler or over tea, but a woman’s… er…private parts are tender and sensitive. Many factors effect the level of moisture a woman produces on her own, including hormonal cycles, age, dehydration, diet, mood, medication, or plain old individuality. Whether it’s out of necessity or a sense of adventure, there are many options for healthful organic personal lubrication.

There has been an array of clever advertisements recently for personal lubricants, and I noticed a giant display at my local pharmacy where I pick up my prescriptions. It seems that lube has become de rigueur. In 2012, the World Health Organization issued an advisory note regarding the safety of commercial personal lubricants for both vaginal and anal intercourse. Their research found that the chemicals (including preserveratives) can cause damage to these delicate tissues, increase risk of bacterial infection, and growth of yeast.

Furthermore, the very thing that is commonly being used as humectants—glycerol and propylene glycol—actually have an overall drying effect. The science is compelling and supports my general philosphy that if I wouldn’t put it in my mouth, I shouldn’t put in any other orifice. And since I eat mindfully, opting for organic foods and avoiding chemicals whenever possible, I decided to explore alternatives to what’s on the big display at Walgreens. I started looking for organic personal lubrication.

Finding Organic Personal Lubrication

My favorite two products are Aloe Cadabra and Foria. Aloe Cadabra is 95% organic aloe vera. What makes more sense than that?! I put aloe on burns, cuts, and rashes for immediate soothing, using it as a lubricant is a no-brainer. The folks at Aloe Cadabra, located just up the coast in Ventura, are extremely knowledgeable and passionate about their product. It comes in a variety of scents and flavors and actually feels quite like the real thing (if you catch my drift), which is lovely and natural feeling.

Foria comes straight from Topanga and it is magical. It’s more than a lubricant; it is an adventure. To a base of organic coconut oil, the geniuses at Foria have added cannabis oil. The results has been call “Viagra for women.” It’s exciting, intense, and is becoming wildly popular. Available throughout California, they are now launching in Colorado.

Organic Expeller-Pressed Virgin Coconut Oil

I use coconut oil for everything. Basically I moisturize my entire body, inside and out, with coconut oil. I use it for oil pulling, massage, removing my eye makeup, and moisturizing my skin and nails. I use it to heal my digestive track by cooking with it. So it stands to reason that it is my all-time favorite personal lubricant. It’s water soluble and absorbs beautifully into the skin. It smells and tastes divine. It’s alkalinity is good for vaginal tissue and reduces bacteria and yeast. In fact, I use it for general maintenance of such areas even outside moments of intimacy. There are many brands to choose from. I prefer the cold-pressed variety because it maintains it’s coconut flavor and scent.

Foria

Foria is a revolutionary, all-natural, sensual enhancement oil, design thoughtfully for women of all ages. The visionary creators have blended a combination of liquid coconut oil and lab-tested cannabis oil from local California-grown marijuana. The prorietary formula draws on the historical use of cannabis as an aphrodisiac.

Foria 10ML $44. Foria 30ML $88.
foriapleasure.com

Aloe Cadabra 

Simply the first personal lubricant that’s all natural and contains 95% organic aloe vera. Aloe Cadabra also contains Vitamin E to soothe and nourish while lubricating. It’s pH balanced for a woman’s body, certified organic, and completely edible. Aloe Cadabra absorbs into the vaginal tissue, so there is no gooey, sticky mess. It supports the body’s natural healing process by carrying vitamins and nutrients to the skin, and helps restore vaginal moisture.

Available in Tahitian Vanilla, PiñA Colada, and peppermint tingle flavors, Lavender Scented, and Unscented. 2.5oz. $9.95
Aloecadabra.com

Homemade Essential Oil Love Serum

6 Tablespoons of your favorite Organic Oil as a base
(Coconut, Almond, Apricot, or even Olive Oil)

3-4 drops each of:
Lavender Essential Oil
Geranium Essential Oil
Ylang Ylang Essential Oil
Peppermint Essential Oil

Lavendar calms and relaxes the nervous system. Ylang Ylang is a natural aphrodisiac. Geranium supports healthy hormone function. Add the peppermint if you are looking for a tingly sensation. This oil not only makes an aromatic personal lubricant, but doubles as a massage oil.

Homemade Cornstarch and Water Lube

8 oz. cold water
4 tsp. cornstarch

Whisk cornstarch into water in a saucepan. Gradually bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Once the cornstarch has reached a certain temperature, the starch molecules will burst and mixture will become thick and viscous. At this point, it’s done. Pour into wide-mouth glass jars for future use. Make sure to cool thoroughly before use. Refrigeration not necessary nor recommended.

Zoe Kors

Zoë Kors is a writer, speaker, and coach. She is the founder of The Big Libido, Pussy Project, and other programs which cultivate a women’s rights, empowerment, and self-expression. Zoë is the former Senior Editor and Creative Director of LA Yoga Magazine and Origin Magazine. She is a certified Co-Active Coach and has a thriving private practice. Zoë’s work reflects her extensive study of Tantra, Zen Buddhism, meditation, yoga, breathwork, and other Eastern disciplines, which she blends with more process-oriented modalities of Western psychotherapy and Co-Active Coaching. http://www.zoekors.com

www.zoekors.com

The post Keep it juicy…naturally. Exploring Organic Personal Lubrication. appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

A healthy heart begins with insightful nutritional choices. This health continues with the inclusion of healthy heart habits such as calming the mind through meditation, opening our heart to love, and exercising. However, making wise decisions at the table is an important place to begin. If we do not make wise decisions on our plates, the benefits of these other practices are harder to fulfill.

The X Factor of Phytonutrients

Plants utilize the energy from the sun and through extraordinary processes, create the vital nutrients that support the metabolic needs of our body. In addition to the major classes of nutrients (including fats, carbohydrates, and proteins), plants contain the X factor known as phytonutrients. These chemical compounds provide the bright colors of fruits and vegetables. They also offer clues as to their beneficial functions. Here are five foods whose phytonutrient content makes them healthy heart powerhouses.

Pomegranate for a Healthy Heart

The bright red phytonutrients in pomegranates provide this fruit with a similar color to oxygenated blood. Many studies have been conducted on the cardiovascular benefits of pomegranates and a 2014 review in Advanced Biomedical Research found that it can help prevent high blood pressure, high cholesterol and inflammation (Zarfeshany, 2014). For best results, eat the fresh pulp with seeds as the seeds contain fibers and healthy fats; watch out for added sugars found in processed juices.

Kale and Dark Leafy Greens

With their low calorie count and packed nutrient profile, kale and other leafy greens are nature’s gift. Elements found in kale have been shown to favorably influence cholesterol profiles and high blood pressure in a study published in Biomedical and Environmental Sciences (Kim, 2008). For some, the raw leaves may be hard to digest; this can be solved by massaging kale with lemon and olive oil or by cooking kale and other greens with ginger, mustard seeds, or black pepper.

Whole Oats and a Healthy Heart

Whole oats have been identified by the FDA as a cholesterol-lowering food. Incorporating whole oats daily is a good plan according to a 2014 review in the British Journal of Nutrition (Thies, 2014). Oats contain the soluble fiber beta glucan. A review of studies published in the American Journal of Epidemiology has found that dietary fiber is correlated with lower risk of health issues (Yang, 2015).

One Ayurvedic recommendation for a hot breakfast is congee, or warm cooked grain. Soaked and slow-cooked whole oats with spices such as ginger and cinnamon and soaked dried fruit are full of fiber and support the day ahead. Oats are surprisingly high in protein (more by dry weight than egg whites). Therefore, oats offer a rich plant-based protein that includes an array of other essential nutrients.

Legumes

Evidence has emerged that higher consumption of red meat in women has been linked to cardiovascular disease. Some of this evidence can be found in a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine (Pan, 2012). Through time, we have learned that plant-based protein interventions are effective in lowering plasma cholesterol concentrations (Ferdowsian, 2009). From an Ayurvedic perspective, legumes such as red lentils or mung beans are among the easiest to digest.

Rich in fiber, legumes also provide food for the essential bacteria in our gut, our microbiome. Soaking, sprouting, and slow-cooking legumes with cumin, coriander, fennel, and ginger can decrease the digestive concerns experienced by some people when eating beans.

There is a Reason to Season

Many cultures around the world have used spice blends for added flavor to meals. Each spice has a diverse spectrum of active phytonutrients that have complementary and overlapping actions. For example, the addition of spices such as ginger, cinnamon, black pepper, turmeric, and/or coriander assists in preserving heart function. This is written about in a study published in Current Cardiology Reviews (Vasanthi, 2010). Studies have even shown an inverse correlation between garlic consumption and progression of cardiovascular disease. One example is published in the Journal of Nutrition (Rahman, 2006).

The Synergistic Effects of Food

To protect your heart on a long-term basis, a good general rule is to ensure that your plate is half-filled with fresh fruits and vegetables. And while no one food is a magic potion, each bite has a synergistic effect with all your other dietary and lifestyle choices to create the foundation for a healthy heart. The average heart beats over 2.5 billion times throughout the course of our lives. And through wise decisions, we can give this dear organ the resources to perform its loving task optimally.

Siri Chand Kaur Khalsa, MD MS

Dr Siri Chand Khalsa MD MS trained in internal medicine and has an ongoing interest in nutrition and Ayurveda. She has a primary care practice in Phoenix and writes additionally for her blog: luminousfoods.com.

www.luminousfoods.com

The post 5 Foods for a Healthy Heart appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Mitchell has now tapped into the same discipline that brought him success on the football field and applied it to his present career as a nonprofit leader, mindfulness and yoga teacher, and inspirational speaker. He’s traveling the country sharing his story  of a journey from paralysis to wellness. It resonates with Mitchell’s audiences that range from youth to veterans, senators and congresspeople, and professional athletes. While he longer dons the 59 jersey to play coliseums as an NFL player, his next play involves taking his message to coliseums—this month specifically to the LA Memorial Coliseum. On January 31, where he is spearheading the Mindful Living Health Expo & AltaMed 5K. (He’s partnering with AltaMed, the nation’s largest community health center and his own nonprofit Light it Up Foundation.)

In addition to the Mindful Living event, Mitchell has partnered with the Wanderlust Festival in 2015. He’ll be speaking in multiple cities at Wanderlust festivals and for Wanderlust 108—one-day urban events throughout the country.

LA YOGA sat down with Keith Mitchell, 59, to discuss the realizations and confrontations that arose from his extraordinary transformation.

LA YOGA: What was your emotional experience when you were paralyzed?

Keith Mitchell: It was a tragedy mentally. I went from physically capable to helpless, instantly. It’s unheard of, especially as that alpha-male gladiator sports character. When you’re helpless and vulnerable, you need assistance to do everyday things. Asking for help was something I was not accustomed to. Naturally, you go through states of depression, anxiety, and think the weirdest thoughts. I was trying to understand why it happened, and certain things were just not adding up or making sense at the time.

LA YOGA: Is that when you were introduced to yoga and meditation?

KM: In the hospital, someone suggested “conscious breathing.” With conscious breathing, I realized that we have to heal ourselves. I got into reading books like The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm and listening to Alan Watts, it was like a yoga practice of the mind. As these books expanded my mind, I started the process of healing which allowed me to go further into my yoga practice. I started studying with some amazing teachers and my yoga practice kept building. This period of my life was gearing me up for the work I am up to now, because I needed that time to heal physically, emotionally, and psychologically.

LA YOGA: Do you find similarities between yoga and meditation practice and your athletic career?

KM: I think of meditation as being in the zone. I like to live life in the zone where there is no good or bad; it just is. When I played football, my most amazing games were when I was in the zone. To live life in the zone is when everything feels like you got the playbook right.

Your meditation is your playbook. Stillness nurtures the soul. I like to be in that zone when I’m focusing and then when I’m functioning in the world.

The world is going to hit you with all kind of things, so if you’re not in that so-called zone then you’re going to have a more reactive personality. You’re going to have more of the fight or flight mechanism, instead of a state of calm.

LA YOGA: Who are your yoga influences?

Keith: Well, my biggest nonliving influence is J. Krishnamurti; I’ve read a lot of his books. My living teachers are Tracey Rich, Ganga White, Chinook Wusdhu in Dallas, and Dana Baptiste, who is a good friend and teacher of mine.

LA YOGA: How do you approach teaching yoga to athletes?

KM: As an athlete, you’ve built up a lot of trauma within the body, often a traditional yoga practice is not going to be necessarily the best fit for a person who has all that trauma housed into their bodies. I really enjoy working with athletes and figuring out which style of yoga will be of most benefit. It’s important build them up instead of break them down.

LA YOGA: What have you learned teaching youth?

KM: Young people are going to be the next leaders of the world. We can get these guys into practices that create a more conscious flow in the development of our world. I had an opportunity to lead a group of kids ranging from ages five to 10 who were living in homeless shelters with their family. Later that night, I received a call from the teacher who was with them at dinner, and they told me that all the kids around the table were saying when I grow up I want to be this or that after I worked with them. I had goosebumps to hear them talk like that.

LA YOGA: What do you wish you knew as a youth that you know now as a result of yoga?

KM: If I knew then what I have learned from the practice of yoga, I feel I would have made me a better student and individual. Maybe I wouldn’t have made some of my mistakes so terribly; I would have made them gracefully.

LA YOGA: What can we expect at the Mindful Living Health Expo & 5K?

KM: We are going to take over the whole grounds of the LA Coliseum with the most amazing yoga teachers in the country. The Mayor, the City Council, and the LAPD is coming. We are going to have a whole day focused on what mindfulness feels like.

I want the day to be like first time I got on the yoga mat and came out of savasana thinking, “What the heck was that?” When we have that realization, we realize we want it more.

For more information on Keith Mitchell and his projects and teaching, visit: KeithMitchell59.com and follow Keith on Intagram: keithmitchell59; Facebook: keithmitchell59; Twitter: k_mitchell59

For more information about the Mindful Living Health Expo & 5K, visit: altamed.org/5K

Staff Writer Lakshmi

The post Keith Mitchell: From NFL Linebacker to Mindfulness Coach appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Pregnant and Alone

The fantasy: Discovering you are pregnant, excitedly revealing the news to your husband and eventually your family and close friends, then having your loving spouse massage your feet and fulfill your midnight cravings. This is a scenario that populates many a woman’s dreams. There may even be a little romanticizing and forgetting the true pains and massive weight gains that come along with all the joy.

But, what if you’re one of the 41% of expecting women, according to the CDC, who are unmarried or without a partner? Or maybe you’re married or even in a committed relationship, but your husband’s lack of enthusiasm and involvement makes you feel like you’re doing this on your own?

You are not alone. In fact, I share this story. I’m 37, single, and pregnant. Although I did freeze my eggs last year, this baby isn’t the result of one of those embryos. After nine months of living together, my boyfriend and I decided to split up. Two weeks later I found out I was pregnant!

I have always wanted to be a mom. And while the situation was anything but ideal, I knew that this was my time, and I couldn’t wait to throw myself feet first into it (as is my MO in everything), thrilled to experience all the highs, lows, and crazy emotions that came with nurturing a life within my body.

Despite the fears, incessant nausea, excitement, and other conflicting emotions, I was instantly awash with a feeling of knowing, calm, and confidence unlike anything I had ever experienced. My priorities shifted overnight, from pushing myself in all areas: work/fitness/lifestyle… to a balance-seeking mom-to-be whose baby has an impact on every choice and decision.

Within weeks, I moved from my four-blocks-from-the-beach cottage with impossible parking and little living space, to a house in Mar Vista with a driveway and backyard. While my career as a freelancer was often lucrative, month-to-month income was inconsistent, and, as a mom, consistency was key. So, I started looking for salaried employment that I knew I could depend on.

It quickly became very apparent to me that responsibility as a parent does not start the day the baby is born, but the day you find out you’re going to have a baby.

Once my headspace, and much of my life, shifted, a new awareness unfolded in front of me. Though I did live alone with no one to rub my feet, to fulfill my bizarre cravings for meatballs, or to tell me that everything was going to be ok during those many sleepless nights plagued with worry, I was encircled by an amazing community of friends and family. Many of these supporters had previously just been acquaintances, and now were there to support, love, and nurture me. And, for the first time in my life, I allowed myself to be taken care of. Because you know what? I couldn’t “do it myself.” As much as my life up until then had been driven by that exact mantra, I had to accept and also ask for help.

Allowing other women to be there and do for me at first felt foreign. My knee jerk was to say, “No it’s ok, I’m fine.” But, I found that so much of my energy was being pumped into growing this baby that I honestly didn’t have it in me to continue to be so fortified all the time. And, it was refreshing, almost liberating not to have to be.

That doesn’t mean that pregnancy has been easy. It hasn’t. I spent much of the first trimester lounging in bed and watching TV, so exhausted, physically and emotionally, that doing much else sapped me of all residual energy. I cried a lot, was nauseous 24/7, slightly freaked out when the number on the scale started to leap up, and honestly felt sad and bad for myself that I had no one to share this time with. This was the time that I had fantasized in my mind as being beautiful, romantic, loving, and sweet. It has been hard reading books and articles that mention how important the husband’s role is when it comes to anything, from being a sounding board to lifting heavy things, and hundreds of little daily needs in between. But, life isn’t always what you thought it would or should be. Life is what you make of what it turns out to be and finding the beauty and bliss within it.

“Not Your Mama’s Pregnancy” is my new monthly column about the reality of pregnancy—the pains, gains, fears, firsts and thrills. It’s not just for single pregnant women, but all pregnant women, and, in fact, all women in general. I’ll talk about fitness, beauty, style, travel, nursery needs, and mom-to-be must haves.

But, more than anything else, this column is about how to be a strong, empowered woman! As a lifestyle coach, I have had so many clients who ended up not having children because they “didn’t want to,” but really it was because they weren’t in the ideal relationship and didn’t think they could do it on their own. And that’s truly a devastating thing. These are women who have done everything else on their own, but were imprisoned by the societal expectation that having a child requires a husband. But, that is no longer the truth. Sure, you might want a man. But you don’t need a man. What you do need, however, is a community of friends and family who fortify you when you’re weak and celebrate with you when you feel that first flutter of a kick. Because you are never alone when you are going from “me to we.”

Staff Writer Lakshmi

The post Not Your Mama’s Pregnancy appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

“I need a vacation from my vacation.”

We’ve all said it; we’ve all felt it: the blanket of exhaustion that unfurls upon our return from what was supposed to be a relaxing vacation, the disorientation tinged with melancholy that always seems to take us by surprise. Imagining and fantasizing about a trip is energizing. Researching and planning is exciting. But as months of anticipation turn into weeks and then days of preparation, the logistics of extracting ourselves from our busy lives loaded with responsibilities can be daunting and leads to a phenomenon that I have come to call, “the pre-vacay crescendo.” Work, kids, packing, dogs, mail, passport, newspaper—whatever your particular moving parts—putting them all on hold for a while takes considerable energy, and the days and hours leading up to departure inevitably feel like a mad rush to get it all done. I often find myself saying, “I’ll relax when I’m on the plane.”

But, is this scenario really inevitable? Must every vacation be bracketed by depletion? Is it possibly to have a truly restorative vacation? When a colleague handed me a press release about Rancho Bernardo Inn’s new Wellness Rooms, it sounded like a perfect laboratory for an experiment. One of Southern California’s most renowned spa resorts has taken several guest rooms near the spa and refashioned them with a focus on wellness. Each room was adorned with calming lavender scented candles, house-made body scrubs, neroli water spray, in-room yoga mats, exercise balls and fitness DVDs, plus a 15% discount on spa treatments and exclusive access to the exclusive spa pool. I booked a room, packed a bag, and headed down the coast.

The word vacation comes from the Latin root vacare— to be empty; free. As I drove the nearly two hours from Los Angeles to San Diego, I emptied myself of all the things that usually demand or capture my attention, so I was free to be present in my exploration of personal restoration. I did my little “presenting practice” of systematically taking inventory of my physicality and the accompanying sensations, repeating each observation twice, like this: “Hands on the wheel. Hands on the wheel. Wrists relaxed. Wrists relaxed. Elbows gently at sides. Elbows gently at sides. Butt in the seat. Butt in the seat.” By the time I hit the 405, I had left my life behind and was making a list of what typically gets in the way of a relaxing vacation. Here’s what I came up with:

Failing to Downshift

Like it or not, most of us move at mach speed through our very busy lives. We are required to be master multi-taskers. With our devices perpetually in our hands, our attention is almost always fractured. It’s practically not a choice anymore; it’s what we must to do—who we must BE—in order to function effectively in our fast-paced, hyper-stimulating, über accessible, urban world. Without realizing it, we tend to maintain this energy level even when we could be slowing down. Vacation is a time to get off the Autobahn and take the scenic route.

 FOMO

“Fear of Missing Out” is a term I only recently heard. I wasn’t late to this party; I just didn’t know what the fete was called. We are blessed to live in the Land of Opportunity and we like to make the most of every one of those opportunities. When it comes to vacations, Travel Channel and TripAdvisor have brought the world into our homes and heightened our awareness of all the extraordinary places to visit and experience on the planet. I often find that in planning a trip, I make an impossibly long list of everything I want to do and see. Self-imposed pressure to not miss a thing is a roadblock to my relaxation.

Guilt Schmilt

I’m not sure what it is about our society—or maybe it’s just me—but it seems like we feel guilty when we relax. Productivity is paramount, and with everyone manifesting all over the place, it can be tough to give ourselves permission to drop out of the production line. I am sure every European takes the customary month of August off without a shred of guilt. It’s time to let ourselves off the hook. Our kids, co-workers, and pets are fine without us. And if they are not, they are developing coping skills.

Staying Online
Unplug. For realz. Enough said.

Arriving at Rancho Bernardo Inn with my commitment to wellness at the forefront of my consciousness, I pulled up to the valet, grabbed my bag, and handed him my keys. My plan was to slow way down and evaluate every choice by it’s alignment with my wellness. After an easy check-in, I dropped my bag in the room and headed to the spa. On the wellness-scale, a “Heaven and Hops” treatment is a no-brainer. My therapist oiled me, massaged me, scrubbed me with crushed grape seed and olive oils, slathered me with barley and hops, and wrapped me like a burrito in warm towels. When my muscles were the consistency of pudding, and my mind was sufficiently empty and free, she showered me, stuck a pint of craft beer in my hand, and then led me to my own private poolside cabaña where I stayed all day. I read a book. I took a dip in the pool. I had the pool boy bring me a salad. I watched the birds. I finished the book. I drank water. I watched the butterflies. I relaxed. Here is what I didn’t do: worry about paying bills, check my email, think about the freelance gig I was trying to land, wonder if my son was having a good day at school, try to figure out what snacks to bring his soccer game that weekend, wonder why that guy I met the other night hadn’t called yet…you get the idea. I was successfully present to what was happening in the moment.

Back at my room, I unfurled the provided yoga mat and saluted the setting sun, falling into a slow yin practice and pranayama. With each inhalation, I felt the pull to go do something: to get dressed and check out the scene at the lounge, to try one of the restaurants. With each exhalation, I let the restless energy go. It’s not that going out would have been relaxing, quite the opposite. But in that moment, with the limited time I had, what served my wellness most was stillness. I ordered in, drew a bath, and ate dinner in bed with a movie.

The rest of my stay looked exactly the same. Checking out, I found myself longing for more time. The post-vacay melancholy was making an early appearance. So I used my drive home wisely by developing a strategy for a graceful reentry. It comes down to these two things:

1. Take a day or two to fully integrate (with a longer vacation, three or four days). In other words, go easy on the productivity and manifesting. Take care of business and let the chores go. Or, do some laundry, but order in dinner for a couple of nights.

2. Identify a peak moment of the vacation and define what made it powerful. Use that as a basis for ritual in daily life. For me it was the experience of being swaddled like a baby during my spa treatment. As a (blissfully) single woman, I rarely have the opportunity to be held. I forgot how therapeutic it can be to have the nervous system calmed by gentle constraint. Since that moment on the treatment table, I have climbed into bed under heavy blankets to get the same effect.

What I learned in my experiment is that, indeed, it is possible to have a truly restorative vacation. I’m not going to lie… I will often choose to have a whirlwind vacation filled with sightseeing by day and bar crawling by night, soaking in as much local culture as I can absorb—the kind of vacation that leaves you physically drained but even more mentally and spiritually full. But, after seeing the restorative effects of slowing down, turning in, and simply choosing wellness, I am much more likely to schedule in some downtime during such a trip with some stillness in the midst of perpetual motion. And I will always make a plan for a mindful reentry.

8 Essentials for a Truly Restorative Wellness Retreat

1 Sleep According to the CDC, sleep deprivation has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. Sufficient sleep is the foundation of wellness. Use your wellness retreat to catch up and to feel what it is like to experience a full night of sleep.

2 Stillness Taking the opportunity to slow way down will disengage the sympathetic nervous system, allowing you to reprogram your brain. Meditate, soak in a hot tub, take a sauna, lie in a hammock, and let your brain unwind.

3 Movement Just as we tend to lack mental stillness in our daily lives, we also tend not to move our bodies enough. Go for a run, play golf, take a yoga class, or swim laps. Moving your body gets the blood pumping, increasing oxygen to your organs, including your brain.

4 Read Let your mind travel from its everyday focus, along with the rest of you. Whether you choose a novel, a magazine, or the sutras, expanding your intellectual world can offer a healthy respite from your mental chatter.

5 Nature Intrinsic to wellness is balance. Connecting with the world around us reminds us that we are one small part of something much greater than ourselves and puts our own struggles into perspective.

6 Nurture There’s a fine line between self-care and self-indulgence. Make choices that promote your wellness. Moment-by-moment presence will help connect with what you really need for your own care and restoration.

7 Nourish Eat clean. You know what makes you feel good and healthy. Everyone’s system is unique. Listen to your body and choose well. And hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.

8 Gratitude “Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” —Eckhart Tolle

Staff Writer Lakshmi

The post The Art of a Truly Restorative Vacation appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Golden Sol provides many opportunities for seva, or selfless service, in and out of the studio. They have currently partnered with the Downtown Women’s Center to bring yoga, meditation, and self–care to women who have struggled with homelessness. “We have a phenomenal group of teachers and students ready to work with these courageous women who face the dangers and sorrows of living on the street,” says co-owner Amy Golden. In order to offer additional support, Golden Sol is collecting goods to donate to the Center and will provide monthly workshops.

The studio shaped by Marisol Rascon and Amy Golden has created a space welcoming to everyone, where students are known by name and the environment inspires loving-kindness.

Golden Sol, 4446 Ambrose Ave, Los Angeles, 646-320-1318

Amy Gartenberg

Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Amy Gartenberg moved to California August, 2012. She is an elementary school teacher and a recent graduate of the 200 hour teacher training program at Yogis Anonymous in Santa Monica (yogisanonymous.com). She is the founder of the blog C’est California Vie (cestcaliforniavie.com) where you can find workouts, healthy recipes, and daily musings. Find Amy running along the ocean, hiking the canyons, or practicing at one of LA?s stellar yoga studios.

The post Golden Sol Creates Om in Los Feliz appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Change was needed. I had recently retired a multi-decade tobacco addiction and gained twenty pounds in two months when my metabolism came to a screeching halt without the nicotine. A friend of mine had dropped twenty-five pounds in twenty-six days on the Jennings’ RealMecleanse. Cautiously committed, I met with the naturopath who created the cleanse to get the skinny on how to loose some weight fast.

“Naturopathic medicine is something that some people still don’t know about,” Dr Kelly Jennings tells me during our consultation in an upscale production office in Santa Monica. Miles away from her practice in Portland, Oregon, this naturopathic doctor is calm and disarmingly vibrant with a focused compassion… the poster girl for wellness.

As a naturopathic doctor and licensed acupuncturist (abbreviated ND, MSOM, LAc), Jennings looks at health though a broad lens, assessing and evaluating my health and well-being with a comprehensive intake and review of my past medical history. She does this with practiced precision…and a contagious smile. “Naturopathic medicine? It is four to six years of medical school, with all of the subjects typically taught in a conventional medical school such as anatomy and physiology, neuroscience, immunology, and biochemistry, then add on to that training in homeopathy, botanical medicine, hydrotherapy and, for many students, including me, Chinese medicine,” she says.

Just under the social skin the doctor is all business as she cuts to the chase breaking down the protocol for her RealMEcleanse; a metabolic enhancement and weight loss cleanse that utilizes hCG (human chorionic gonadotrophin). It’s all good fun until she drops the following bomb, “500 calories a day maximum,” she says. Though initially alarming, I found that I was never hungry during the 26 day period on the protocol and dropped 20 pounds with minimal exercise. The hCG acts as an appetite suppressant.

Dr. Jennings has been working with a variety of cleanses with exceptional results over the last decade in her practice at Urban Wellness Group in Portland. This group of holistic physicians focuses on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease with a focus on natural health. She assures me that this particular cleanse was the right cleanse for me. It was safe, given my history, and would stimulate my metabolism so I’d lose weight while doing it.

I’d done the research on other hCG diets and thought they seemed a little extreme. The many important distinctions between Jenning’s cleanse and others gave me the confidence that this was responsible and right for me: Others involve injectable hCG which I wasn’t interested in taking. The RealMEcleanse uses homeopathic hCG drops taken orally plus it’s a vegetarian/vegan friendly, medically supervised process that addresses any potential side effects and maximizes weight loss.

hCG is human chorionic gonadotrophin, a glycoprotein hormone produced in pregnant women by the placenta. It acts on the hypothalamus, signaling the body to release stored fat into the bloodstream where it’s used by the cells for nourishment. Coupled with decreased food intake, taking hCG forces the body to use the mobilized fat that is now circulating in the bloodstream to fuel the daily metabolic rate. The best part is that it preferentially stimulates the release of abnormal fat stores in the body and does not affect structural fat and muscle tissue. All this means that people on this regimen predominantly lose fat in the stomach, hips, thighs, buttocks, and upper arms.

I’d read that hCG was extracted from the urine of pregnant women, which, although a little disturbing, wasn’t an issue for me. I was focused on weight loss and wellness and the magic of hCG. I opted for the homeopathic oral preparation.

During our initial consultation, Dr Jennings completed a full medical intake including a review of my past medical history. Her thorough evaluation made me confident that I wasn’t doing anything reckless. At the end of the program, her final consultation focuses on helping people develop a sustainable long-term eating program. Mine was individualized for my particular constitution and incorporates foods that I like to eat. She also offers additional detox support to help boost metabolism and support fat cleansing during and after the process. And, though I didn’t require it personally, the availability of 24 hour/7 days a week medical supervision would have been helpful for any questions or concerns that emerged during the cleanse.

When I was cleared for take-off, I entered the wellness matrix through the RealMEcleanse portal on a Monday morning. I was good to go, although still concerned about the 500 calorie a day restriction, I committed to a twenty-four-day cleanse motivated by the promise of losing weight. Although I entered this plan with the primary motivation to lose weight, the experience led me to consider the broader implication of wellness in general as a lifestyle. I recommitted to my Yoga practice and was now seeing a future with new healthy possibilities.

I had somehow been seduced into wellness. At least the idea of wellness. Wellness as a framework for personal motivation. That and the promise of losing a pound a day, which is exactly what happened over the next month.

The RealMEcleanse protocol is: six small meals at two hour intervals daily combined with hCG drops before all but the last meal of the day. Two of the daily meals are 100 grams of protein and 40 to 60 calories each of vegetables. Other meals are fruit or bread sticks.

As part of the agreement Dr. Jennings was available for bi-monthly phone consultations. She also made herself fully available by email in the case that anything came up during the course of the cleanse. The benefits of her expertise and experience were essential for making a dietary lifestyle change as opposed to a crash diet. I already knew from experience that those types of diets would only lead me back to where I began in a month or two.

A few days into my first 500 calorie per day cleanse I began to understand the journey was not just about changing my relationship to body fat. The challenge and the opportunity presented involved a psycho-emotional purge as well as an expanded awareness of my emotional eating habits. My hands automatically reached for things I couldn’t eat… so I didn’t. The subsequent emotional upheaval that followed clearly mapped out what I’d been doing with food: Food I didn’t like and wasn’t hungry for but still ingesting. The pattern was glaring. As the fat drained from my cells, the process became more than physical.

I could see the pounds melting away. I felt at home in my body again. And what had been stored in my tissue was being expressed in another way. It was coming through my senses as emotion. I was now processing what I had inhaled in a cloud of smoke and then stored in my fat cells from the subsequent weight gain when I quit smoking at a rapid pace.

Though it’s usually advised not to exercise during the process, Dr. Jennings encouraged me to continue my burgeoning Yoga practice. I showed up every other day at the new YogaWorks mega-plex in Tarzana. The convenience of the studio right next to Whole Foods was a big help in the first week as I became oriented to the protocol. I shopped for the following day’s food before my Iyengar level 1 & 2 class.

During the RealMEcleanse I lost twenty pounds. There were a few days I didn’t lose any and a couple I gained a pound. I could probably have lost a few more but I repeated some meals, which is not advised.

What happened over the course of the process was something much more valuable and lasting than temporary weight loss. I taught myself how to eat for optimum efficiency in a way that benefits my overall health. My body, now cleansed, has a new understating of high performance digestion.

The things I’m interested in eating now are good for me. The idea of putting sugar, wheat, and dairy into my system is not something I’m compelled to do. It’s not a conscious decision but rather an internalized function that doesn’t require thought. I’m no longer reaching for things that I really don’t want to eat but only served as an emotional suppressant. For me, the RealMEcleanse is a super conscious, lasting systemic dietary education.

For more information about Dr. Kelly Jennings and the RealMe Cleanse, visit: urbanwellnesspdx.com/jennings. She can also be reached at her clinic (503) 445 – 9771 for individualized consultations.

Sam Slovick is a regular contributor to LA YOGA Ayurveda and Health Magazine (among other publications) and the author of the current LA Weekly series, PAVEMENT: found atblogs.laweekly.com/informer/pavement. His website is: samslovick.com.

By Sam Slovick

Sam Slovick

Award-winning journalist, documentary director and long-term LA Yoga contributor Sam Slovick is the director, writer and producer of the Radicalized documentary, currently working on the Kirtan Road Dogs documentary.

samslovick.com

The post Seduced Into Wellness appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.