What is your WORD for the New Year 2014?

This year I am trying something different, in addition to my numerous lists of resolutions (which I do every year). I am choosing one word to embody my goal for the New Year. And this is something you can do too! Choose one word that will represent everything you desire for 2014.

We all make lists (don’t lie, you know you do), about how we want to change, what we want to be better, how we are going to start a crazy diet and lose a ton of weight, etc etc every time we get around Dec. 31st. Things will be different this time! A whole new me! Well, I love making lists, and writing goals, it’s something I do year-round and I believe it keeps me focused (I don’t know what I’d do if I lost my planner). But this year, I want to choose one word that I can continue to focus on, again and again, to keep my eyes on the prize. I’m setting the tone for the next 365 days, and when my concentration starts to waver, or I think about throwing in the towel on my resolutions, or I think, man this is too hard, I will think back to my word.

For 2014, I choose the word “embrace” for its depth in meaning. I will embrace the changes that come in its many forms,  (and whether I like it or not), and I will also embrace what is, the things I cannot change, and the things I have no control over. I really like the idea of being more open and go with the flow, like a sailboat in the ocean. When I want more inspiration, I know I just need to embrace the change, go for it! and when some things just won’t budge (like those last 5 pounds), I can learn to embrace that too, and learn to love every part of it, and learn to enjoy the process. When you are not so stubborn, like a stick in the sand, and choose to be open and welcoming to change, it creates more space within and allows these changes that we so deeply want to occur more freely.

Your word can be anything you like, so let it be:

• Specific
• Resonate truly within yourself
• Encompass the tone you want to set for 2014
• Kind and compassionate

What is your word?

Interesting note about the artwork I chose: I thought long and hard about what I wanted my word to be, and I chose embrace. I google image searched for embrace the word, and found the picture above. After I visited the site, I learned that the girl who created this artwork also chose the word embrace for her 2013! If you want to learn more about her journey, visit her blog http://jessicasporn.blogspot.com/2013/01/looking-to-2013.html

namaste!

xoxo

Yoga Refresher for beginner’s

Do you have sore muscles? Feel stressed out? You need yoga! Yoga is an ancient meditative exercise of the mind and body. It’s the union of mind, body and soul. We find the connection, the union, through mindful thoughts, breathwork, meditation, and physical poses (asanas). There are many benefits to having a regular yoga practice, and you can start right now, for free.

Try this 15 minute yoga routine to energize yourself in the morning when you wake up. Sit by an open window that lets the sunlight in, or take your yoga mat outside, and sit in the grass. I think experiencing nature while doing yoga adds to the relaxing effects. Wear comfortable clothing.

Find a cross-legged seat (easy pose sukhasana), and sit tall with your shoulders back. Breathe in deeply, close your eyes, and try to relax the mind. This is easier said than done, so just focus on the breathing. Breathe in and out. Keep your palms open on the top of your thighs, in a gesture of openness and willingness to receive from the Universe. It’s reciprocal as well, your palms are open in a symbol of offering. What are you willing to receive from the Universe? What will you allow room for? What are you willing to give up or give away of yourself? What can you let go of today?

Set an intention for your day and for your yoga practice. An intention is your will in energetic motion. Let your intention reflect your highest Truth, and highest Divine Self. If you need help with intentions, try Louise Hay’s affirmations. Take a deep breath in, visualize your intention. As you exhale, send your intention out, energetically to the Universe.

Open your eyes. Make a commitment to deep, mindful breathing. Come onto all fours, and find cat, cow spine stretches. Inhale into cow, stretch your heart forward. Exhale into cat, round the spine, tuck your tailbone. Alternate between cat and cow four or five more times, and breathe deeply.

Find downward facing dog and stay here for ten breaths. Work on lengthening your spine upward, lifting the sits bones high, and rooting heels and palms into the earth.

Step to the top of your mat and bring your feet apart hips width distance. Hang your neck and head heavy and fold from the hips into a deep forward fold, uttanasana. Stay here for five breaths, drawing weight forward toward the toes, feeling the stretch in the backs of your hips and hamstrings. Bend your knees as needed to relieve tension in the lower back. Draw hands to hips and as you inhale, slowly roll up to standing. Hands to the heart, anjali mudra, prayer position. Anjali mudra means a sign of an offering, so come back to that intention of offering. Ask yourself, what can I give of myself today in service of others? And how can I display an offering of kindness to myself, in thoughts and deeds? Close your eyes, breathe and reflect. 5 more breaths.

As you inhale sweep arms up to the sky, saluting the sun, in a physical gesture of gratitude to life. As you exhale, swan dive forward with your arms out to either side and fold deeply, uttanasana. Step back into downward facing dog. Repeat this cycle from forward fold, to saluting the sun, and downward facing dog, five more times to complete your sun salutation.

As you finish your cycle and come back to downward facing dog, stay there for five more breaths, then drop to your knees and find a seat, back into Sukhasana, easy pose. We started in the pose and we will end our practice in this pose. Close your eyes, revisit your intention and make a commitment to practicing your yoga in thoughts and in action for the rest of your day. Bring hands back to the heart, anjali mudra, and bow your head, in honor of the divine light within you. Namaste. 

Gratitude

© Ruslan_kokarev | Stock Free Images &Dreamstime Stock Photos

Well, I survived Thanksgiving and all of its gratitude-talk :). As a yoga instructor, and as someone who takes lots of yoga, I hear a lot about the importance of being grateful, and I heard this message even more so during November. But now November is almost over, and we are moving into December. Ah, Christmas. So what happens to our constant reminders of being grateful now that it’s no longer Thanksgiving? I imagine that our thoughts will now be consumed more by holiday shopping, presents and getting together with family during this Christmas season. I wonder what would happen if we all continued to remind ourselves  to be grateful for just one month longer. What if we reminded ourselves of all the amazing gifts we have been given, if we reminded ourselves that our lives are precious, and that we are truly blessed. What would happen? I think the more awareness we build about our life’s blessings, and the more time we take to say “thank you” would only create more space in our hearts and in our lives to receive more of the good. I like the good, I need the good, so I continue to say thanks, and I keep constantly reminding myself that life is good, love is good, and that I am good.

The Dalai Lama says, “Everyday, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others; to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others. I am going to benefit others as much as I can.”

He says it best, so I really can’t add to this message, but that is what I am trying to say. So be good, and receive good.

XOXO

TPH

Day 4 – Yoga Bootcamp

Hi yogis,

We are more than halfway through the first week of Yoga Boot Camp. Thank you for your hard work. How is your journaling going? Have you been doing the 60 minutes of cardio work on your off days? How are you feeling? If you have 15 minutes to give yourself today, can you find a pretty place, maybe at the beach, your backyard, wherever, and just sit? Sit and breathe.

Cross your legs. Close your eyes. Open your palms up on top of your knees, like you are holding two imaginary tennis balls. And start to breathe, deeply and slowly. Imagine your breath is the color of electric blue light, and it flows in and out of your mouth. While you inhale, the light glows bright at the base of your spine, by your lower belly, and travels up your front side, through your chest, into your throat, and to your lips. And exhale, visualize the electricity flowing freely past your lips, and back down your front side, lingering at the base of your spine. Inhale you see the light reabsorbed, travels up, and exhale, out the mouth and back down again. Keep with your breath, and silence your thoughts. That outside chatter. Shhh…. Quiet. As you focus your breath, your mind follows in the silence.

After breathing in this way for 5-15 minutes, (however long feels comfortable to you), get out your journal, and without thinking too much, write the first thing that pops into your mind.

These are your private thoughts. However, You can choose to share them with me, and your teammates after class tomorrow. Either way, keep writing.

~Namaste~

Day 3 Yoga Boot Camp

Hi everyone,

So we are on Day 3 of Yoga Boot Camp. By now, you should have purchased your notebook for journaling, and hopefully have begin to evaluate your diet. If you need a refresher, revisit the first post for Yoga Boot Camp: http://theprettyhippie.com/2012/02/06/introduction-to-yoga-boot-camp-4-week-dietlifestyle/

Yesterday for Day 2, you completed 60 minutes of cardio. I think it is fun to break up the cardio into 20 minute sections, 20 minutes on the treadmill, bikes, stair stepper, elliptical machines , etc. This cardio work is going to be important throughout these next four weeks to keep our metabolism burning hot and allow you to to achieve the fat loss you desire. So to recap, Monday and Friday nights at 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM, we will be hitting the weights in class, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays you  will do 60 minutes of cardio work. Wednesday nights at 5:30 PM  to 6:30 PM attend my yoga class, and also Saturday mornings at 9 AM to 10 AM. Give yourself Sunday to rest and relax from working out, and spend some time outside in the sunshine if possible. I think Sunday would be a great day for you to journal about your experiences for the week, and also plan out your recipes for following week. Let me know if you have any questions about the diet plan I laid out for you.

A quick summary of Yoga Diet:

Breakfast: Smoothie, Fresh Juice, or a small serving of HEALTHY grain, protein and fat, like a bowl of oatmeal, an egg, and some fruit.

Lunch and Dinner: Make these meals light! Healthy salads of mostly vegetables and a lean source of protein like a chicken breast, a piece of fish, etc. Add in a healthy fat like 1/2 avocado, olive oil (for salad dressing), or some nuts/seeds.

Snacks: Make snacks small and light. Try eating a bowl of berries in between meals, a handful of nuts (avoid peanuts), or a piece of toast with almond butter.

Ladies, stay between 1500 to 2000 calories. Men, 2000-2500. Of course, if you are running ten miles a day, and lifting weights in your own time, you will need to eat more healthy calories, but I trust you already have that part covered if that is the case.

I would like you all to journal tonight or tomorrow about the following:

• What are your expectations from this Boot Camp?
• What are your fitness goals?
• How will you feel/look when you accomplish your goals?
• What are your major challenges to achieving these goals?
• What are your strong points when it comes to fitness and working out?

I really believe that journaling often throughout this process will give you a clearer understanding of what you want and your goals. By defining your true desires and also your perceived challenges, together we can start to outline the path to your success. If you would like to share these journal topics with me and your teammates, stay for the optional fifteen minute discussion after Friday night Boot Camp. In this safe environment, you can feel free to talk about things that are on your mind without worry of judgment or negativity. I like to keep things positive in my class and around me!

Keep up the good work! See you tonight!

~TPH~

Introduction to Yoga Boot Camp – 4 week Diet/Lifestyle

Hi everyone,

Thanks for coming to read this post. You will be able to find all of the information you will need to complete a four-week Yoga-Inspired Diet and Lifestyle change. I will provide to you recipes you can use for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, and also several recommended snacks throughout the day.

I want you to read all this information along with the recipes and decide what you can incorporate into your existing diet. I don’t think you should completely change your diet overnight. Making sudden changes in your diet, (particularly if your normal routine is drastically different than the one I suggest), can cause some discomfort, physically and mentally.

TIPS TO INCORPORATE NEW DIET:

If your current diet consists of a lot of processed foods like cookies, crackers, bread, cereal, lunch meat, soda, desserts, sugary coffee, etc. (the list goes on and on), I recommend slowly removing these types of foods from your diet completely, and replacing them with healthier options. For example, if you like to eat a bagel slathered with cream cheese in the morning and a Caramel Frappuccino, replace these with healthier alternatives. Instead of a bagel, have a bowl of steel-cut oats with a sprinkle of Stevia, a pinch of salt, cinnamon, and topped with a handful of fresh blueberries. By replacing your bagel with steel-cut oats, you are still getting a serving of grain, but one which is less processed. A bagel has almost zero nutritional value, and is essentially empty calories, so avoid processed breads. Start easing away from sugary coffee. If you love coffee in the morning, try drinking it black, or sweetened with Stevia. Stevia is a natural sweetener and should become your best friend over the next month. Stevia is derived from a plant, whose sweet leaves are 300 times sweeter than sugar. Stevia has zero calories and when consumed, has hardly any effect on glucose levels. This is SO important! Did you know when you consume simple carbohydrates like white potatoes, sugar, bread, desserts, crackers etc. it spikes your  glucose levels, which affects your blood sugar levels and increases insulin production? Without getting too scientific, it is vital to know that eating refined sugars is very unhealthy and will lead to energy crashes and even Diabetes. So let’s try to wean ourselves away from Sugar, and replace it with Stevia, a much healthier option. Also, I highly advise against using all artificial sweeteners. They are really, really, bad for your health, and I would rather you eat real sugar than fake sugar. Or better yet, just use Stevia and don’t worry about it.

If you must eat cereal in the morning, try Kashi’s GoLean. (Avoid the crunchy flavor). Have a little protein with this meal, to A) Prevent your glucose levels from spiking (because of the cereal’s carbs) and B) Keep you feeling fuller longer. Scramble an egg to go with the cereal. To replace lunch meats with less-processed alternatives, look for meat that is preservative-free (Nitrates Free), or cook your own chicken breast or lean pork, turkey cuts for sandwiches. Replace your white bread and wheat bread for a 9-grain bread which has a lower glycemic index. Try Ezekial 4:9 sprouted grain bread. As far as cookies, crackers and dessert goes, there aren’t a lot of healthy alternatives that come to mind. If you are craving sweets, have a bowl of strawberries, blueberries and mango. Avoid crackers and cookies!

Drink LOTS of purified water. If you have the funds to purchase purified drinking water (reverse osmosis is the better way to filter your water) then please drink only purified water. Tap water has lots of unhealthy chemicals, so it is best to avoid it. I recommend drinking a glass of water for every hour that you are awake. I bet you didn’t know this (I just learned this recently myself), the human body can only process about a glass of water per hour, so if you, like me, tend to chug all your daily allowance at one time, you have to stop doing this. You will pee out most of it without absorbing it, and there goes all your expensive water. Drink one glass per hour – you will be better hydrated and you will feel lighter, more energetic and clear-headed. Try it out!

WHEN YOU HAVE CRAVINGS:

It might be hard at first to rid yourself of sugar cravings, but trust me, once you get it out of your system, you will have more energy than ever! Our body does not need sugar or simple carbs, at all. If you do have cravings for something you know will not serve your body (fast food, sugar, desserts, refined carbs), I want you to take a 5-minute break, leave the kitchen, and reflect on why you are making these diet changes. Get your journal out, and answer the following questions:

1. Am I hungry, or just feeling bored?

2. What was I thinking about before I had this craving?  – Pay attention to your thoughts, your internal dialogue. Most of us have emotional connections with food, and these are not always the healthiest! Write down whatever comes to mind.

3. How will I feel if I stay strong and stay committed to my diet? How will I feel tomorrow?

4. Is the “cheat” now worth the energy crash I will have later?

And take a walk around the block, listen to some fun music, and call a friend. Distract your thoughts and you will probably free yourself from that food craving. Come to Yoga, meditate, or go hiking outdoors. All of these things will make you feel better, more relaxed and less likely to cheat.

JOURNAL YOUR DIET:

I want you to write down everything you eat, down to the smallest nibble, because each nibble adds up. Be honest in your evaluation, the only person who has to see this is you, and interestingly, we tend to underestimate the true amount of food we actually eat in a day. Women, you should be consuming roughly 1500-2000 calories a day. Men, 2000 to 2500 (more if you are very active). These calories should be coming from lean protein, complex carbohydrates, legumes, and healthy fats (avocado, olive oil, coconut oil, nuts, seeds).

AND YOUR THOUGHTS:

I also want you to take 15 minutes at some point each day, and reflect on your thoughts and feelings. You can write about whatever you want, but if you would like some ideas, feel free to write about your successes throughout the day, things that are challenging you, any questions you have, etc. Find a comfortable place that you can write, somewhere sunny, quiet and isolated. I personally like to go somewhere very beautiful, like the beach, or my backyard, and meditate within nature. Turn off your TV and telephone. It is good to be alone with your thoughts and away from others. Let this be your “YOU” time, where you can reflect, vent, and recharge. You will find that, over time, your thoughts and feelings will become elucidated, and you will start to make connections with your pattern of thoughts and your pattern of behavior. Our thoughts form our perception of our life, and the way we perceive things to be is necessarily our reality. In other words, if you believe your life to be ONE way, it IS that way. If I think good things always happen to me, if I believe I have willpower, if I think that I have a healthy relationship with others, chances are that these perceptions are the same as my reality. So I encourage you to journal every day, and I believe you will start to become more aware of your inner voice, and you will understand how this inner voice is affecting your emotions, moods, and behavior. Pinpointing this inner dialogue will help us determine our relationships with food and exercise, and ultimately, help you create new behaviors.

Thank you for reading all of these tips to get started. Read the Recipe Posts I will put up soon to get ideas for changing your diet and let me know if you have any questions.

~TPH~