Posts In: yoga

A Guide to Alternate Nostril Breathing

The fall season brings with it a shift in weather, and for many, an increase in stress and allergies. It’s a time when we seek harmony within ourselves to maintain overall well-being. One effective way to achieve this balance is through the practice of Nadi Shodhana, also known as alternate nostril breathing.

What is Nadi Shodhana?

Nadi Shodhana is an ancient yogic breathing technique that helps align your body and mind. It’s particularly useful during the fall season, as it promotes relaxation, supports respiratory health, and reduces stress. This practice is simple, yet its benefits are profound.

How to Practice Nadi Shodhana

Follow these steps to practice Nadi Shodhana:

Step 1: Find a Comfortable Space

Step 2: Relax

• Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths to relax. This prepares you for the practice.

Step 3: Position Your Hand

Step 4: Begin the Practice

Step 5: Repeat

• Continue this cycle for several rounds, focusing on your breath and maintaining a calm, steady pace. Ensure that each inhale and exhale is of equal duration.

Step 6: Finish

• When you’re ready to finish, end with an exhalation through your left nostril.

If you prefer, here’s a link to an easy Nadi Shodhana practice.

The Benefits of Nadi Shodhana

Nadi Shodhana offers several benefits that are particularly relevant in the fall season:

1. Balancing Energy: It helps balance the body’s energy, making it especially useful during seasonal transitions.
2. Stress Reduction: Nadi Shodhana calms the mind, reduces stress, and promotes a sense of inner peace.
3. Respiratory Health: The practice supports respiratory health, which is crucial during the fall when allergies can be problematic.
4. Cognitive Clarity: It enhances mental clarity and focus, helping you stay sharp and productive during busy fall days.

Incorporating Nadi Shodhana into your daily routine can help you navigate the challenges of the fall season with poise and balance.

As we step into the fall season, it’s essential to nurture both our physical and mental well-being. Nadi Shodhana, with its numerous benefits, can be a valuable tool in achieving this balance. Take a few moments each day to practice this ancient technique, and you’ll find yourself better equipped to face the seasonal changes with clarity and inner harmony.

1. Ayurveda and the Harmony of Nature: Ayurveda revolves around the belief that our inner balance is intricately connected to the external environment. Each season corresponds to a specific dosha, or energy type, with fall being associated with the Vata dosha. To stay in harmony with nature, Ayurveda suggests adapting our habits and dietary choices to align with these seasonal shifts.

2. Post-Summer Toxin Cleanse: Summer often brings indulgences that can lead to heat accumulation and toxin buildup in the body. Excessive sun exposure, irregular eating patterns, and dehydration can disrupt our internal equilibrium. A fall detox serves as a valuable reset button, helping us flush out these accumulated toxins and paving the way for a healthier, grounded season ahead.

3. Building Resilience and Nourishment: Unlike extreme fasting or harsh cleanses, Ayurvedic fall detox practices focus on nourishing and fortifying the body. This approach strengthens our immune system, enhances digestion, and bolsters overall vitality, preparing us for the colder months.

4. Vata Balancing Act: The fall season often brings Vata imbalances, which can manifest as anxiety, insomnia, digestive issues, and restlessness. A well-designed fall detox tailored to balance Vata can bring calmness to the mind, soothe the nervous system, and instil a sense of inner tranquility.

5. Savouring Seasonal Fare: Ayurveda places great emphasis on eating seasonally. During the fall, warm, nourishing foods like soups, stews, and root vegetables take centre stage. Incorporating Ayurvedic herbs and spices such as turmeric, ginger, and cinnamon can further enhance the detox process and promote well-being.

6. Mind-Body Synergy: In addition to dietary adjustments, Ayurveda highlights the importance of mind-body practices like yoga and meditation. These practices ground us, reduce stress, and deepen our connection to the season, making them essential companions to a fall detox.

7. Personalized Approach: Ayurveda acknowledges that every individual is unique, with distinct constitutions (Prakriti) and imbalances (Vikriti). For a tailored detox plan that suits your needs, consulting with an Ayurvedic practitioner is advisable.

The change of seasons is again upon us. Kids are back to school, the days are getting shorter and cooler, animals are preparing to migrate or hibernate, and the trees are dropping their leaves. It’s time to release the heat of the summer and ground ourselves so we move into the fall and winter seasons feeling grounded.

Fall is the time of year to slow down and fall back! Fall is a depleting season; cool, dry, light, windy and rough, and an ideal time to go inwards. The efficacy of our immune system reduces, and a detox strengthens us so we can combat colds, allergies, digestive disturbances, and weight gain, all effects characteristic of winter.

According to Ayurveda, cleansing without replenishment is naturally depleting. Since fall is already a depleting season, the detox part is minimal (just enough as needed by each person) and rejuvenation is the most important part of the routine.

In the Vibrant Fall Detox, we will look at how you are feeling and customize a program that aims to create balance and nourish you, using the principles from Ayurveda as our guide. If you are interested in learning more, click the link below to find out more and join the detox! It is only 12 days and you will feel amazing!

Are you ready to feel AMAZING!

Join us for the Align and Shine Challenge starting January 1 – 15. We will be challenging ourselves with four simple things:

1. Drinking Warm Water: Sipping warm water through the day keeps you hydrated and energized.
2. Daily Movement: Incorporating 10 minutes of a beautiful cat cow yoga practice to warm up your system and burn off some of that stagnant winter energy.
3. Wim Hof Breathing: This warming and energizing breath practice is an amazing way to decrease stress, and calm the body and mind.
4. Cold Showers: Adding 15 seconds to 1 minute of cold water to your regular morning shower will lower inflammation, warm your body and get you going for the day.

Join our VIBRANT COMMUNITY of thriving individuals who will support you, keep you motivated and help you to align and shine so you start the new year right!

Click the button below to learn more.

15 days to feeling AMAZING!

Are the Holidays stressing you out?

A lot of people have been asking me about my workshop on Managing Holiday Stress with Ayurveda and Yoga.  If you weren’t able to join me last week, I will be running this again – virtually this time on Friday December 16th, from 12-1pm. 

In this workshop we will go into specific tools and techniques you can use right away to manage your stress, now, through the holidays and beyond. 

Workshop Highlights
In this 60-minute session we will dive deep, combining the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda and Yoga with what we know about stress from western science to:

• Uncover What Stress Is and Is Not
• Discuss the Consequences of Excess Stress
• Understand the Mechanics of Stress
• Learn How to Recognize Stress
• Give you some tools to manage stress now, through the season, and beyond.

Register now to avoid disappointment! Spaces are limited.

To register for this workshop, click the link below.

Workshop

Register for Manage Holiday Stress Workshop

While the holidays should be a time of joy and peace, for many of us they can also be stressful. Planning gatherings, visiting family, buying presents, worrying about budgetary constraints, battling holiday traffic—it can all add up!

But what if instead of getting swept up in the tide of the season, we instead initiated habits now to help eliminate the discomfort we’ve come to accept as normal at year end – exhausted, bloated, broke?

It’s entirely possible to sail into the New Year grounded and healthy and partake in all of the celebrations and beautiful traditions that give the season it’s meaning! Yoga and Ayurveda offer a wealth of simple, easy, natural ways to take the edge off stress around the holidays and beyond.

Workshop Highlights

In this 90-minute talk we will dive deep, combining the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda and Yoga with what we know about stress from western science to:

• Uncover What Stress Is and Is Not
• Discuss the Consequences of Excess Stress
• Understand the Mechanics of Stress
• Learn How to Recognize Stress
• Give you some tools to manage stress now, through the season, and beyond.

This in-person workshop will include breathing practices and a 20-minute guided Yoga Nidra session. We recommend wearing comfortable loose-fitting clothing.

Spaces are limited. Register early to avoid disappointment. This event will sell out!

Register for Manage Holiday Stress Workshop

Dates:

• July 28 @ 5 pm
• August 9 @ 2 pm
• August 18 @ 12:30 pm
• August 21 @ 10 am
• September 12 @ 7:30 pm

DOES THIS SOUND LIKE YOU?

• You want greater energy.
• You want to live well nourished.
• You want to feel well rested.
• You want build healthy habits.
• You want to experience ease, flow, and thrive.

If you said yes to any of these, THIS FREE TALK IS FOR YOU.  

In this one-hour talk functional nutritionist, Rani Glick Wellness and I will show you how to design your habits. Combining the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda and Yoga with western science and functional nutrition, we will show you how you can live with vibrant health and happiness.

Then we will dive deeper to give you some tools to start your journey to vibrant living. 

This will be an informal talk where no questions are considered “silly”. We will share and learn from one another.

FREE TALK HIGHLIGHTS:

• Key habits for living a life of ease and good health
• Learning how to align your habits to the universal rhythm
• Learn how to feed your brain and lower your stress
• Understand why habits are essential for success
• Tips on how to start and maintain lasting habits
• Habit evolution guidance and practice

Click below to get your free tickets:

It’s time for a reset! Feel vibrant, happy, and resilient in 2022 by aligning with the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda and Yoga to build healthy habits for life.

Date: Wednesday December 8, 2021
Time: 7–8:30 pm

January 1 might feel like an arbitrary date upon which to build a new outlook, and in some cases a new life. But this celebration has deep roots in history. After the Winter Solstice, a time of equal day and night, our days stretch out longer and extend further. Our bodies feel this transition – even in our modern world of artificial lights, shift work, and alarm clocks. So, January is a good time to put in place new rituals and add some healthy practices to familiar routines.

Join me in this 90-minute talk that will combine the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda and Yoga paired with behavioural science to learn how to build healthy habits to help you shine – inside and out. In this talk we will dive deep to give you some new tools and techniques to start your journey to a healthier, happier, and more vibrant life.

Click below to register and get your FREE tickets:

https://www.eventbrite.ca/x/manage-holiday-stress-with-yoga-and-ayurveda-tickets-210124476967

According to the Canadian Cancer Society, it is estimated that in 2020 27,400 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 5,100 women will die from this disease.

Friends, join me this Sunday, October 18th from 2-4 pm ET at a virtual fundraiser to raise awareness and funds for Breast Cancer. I’m proud to be leading a yoga class as part of this event.

As part of this event:

• You will hear from inspirational women and a cancer survivor who uses art to heal.
• Take part in Zumba & Yoga sessions.
• Enjoy performances from talented dancers and singers

Registration for the event is FREE!! To reserve your ticket visit: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/breast-cancer-fundraiser-virtual-event-tickets-124766791833?aff=ebdssbeac

To visit the fundraising page and make your donation please click on the link below. https://support.cancer.ca/site/TR/IFE_QC_Event/IFE_QC_General_?px=13583097&pg=personal&fr_id=27161