practice Tag

May 25, 2015 In Green & Healthy Living, News, Spotlight, Yoga By Suzanne Zilkowsky

Take a Deep Breath: Expand Your Health and Vitality

Breathing is one of the most important functions of the body, and it is the only automatic bodily function necessary for survival over which you have complete control. Your body will breathe without you knowing (in case you forget!), but you can also speed up, slow down or stop breathing at will. It is the connection between our subconscious and conscious mind (the cerebrum and cerebellum respectively), and provides the oxygen required by all of your body’s cells. Ideally, your inhalations and exhalations should be of equal length. When you take a deep breath your stomach should expand, and when you...

May 15, 2015 In News, Yoga By Suzanne Zilkowsky

Yoga Helps to Quit Smoking: Roll Out the Yoga Mat

Kicking any addictive habit, such as smoking, is a tough physical and psychological challenge. For a smoker who’s ready to put down the lighter, there’s unfortunately no pure “cure” for the smoking-addiction. There are, however, unquestionably some ways to make the process more manageable than it may seem at first glance to the smoker who is contemplating kicking the habit. The practice of yoga actually provides a number of aids to a quitting smoker, in staving off cravings, in replacing the old habit with healthier and more productive ones, and in celebrating and enjoying a new, healthy lifestyle. Yoga Uses Something...

April 7, 2015 In Health & Wellness, Holistic Health, Spotlight, Yoga By Carolyn Anne Budgell

Simple Tips for Staying Mindful

“Mindfulness” is blowing up as the new hot word among neo-spiritual, new age, western, hippy, yuppy, yogi, meditators. In spite of its trendiness, mindfulness is truly such a valuable practice. One who is mindful strives to be aware of the habitual nature of the mind. One who is mindful has the desire to deepen the understanding of ones own mind. The practices of mindfulness need to be embodied and remembered in all situations. Of course, we will rarely maintain perfect and consistent awareness through all the ups and downs but we can try. A saying that captures this point is “two steps forward and one...

October 8, 2014 In News, Spotlight, Yoga By Vancouver Health Coach

Yoga: Practice How You Feel

Compare your most prevalent underlying state of being with the yoga routines you find most comfortable, and chances are there will be some parallels. Passive personalities tend to feel at home with gentle flows, while those who tackle life's issues head on gravitate towards power yoga. And the similarities can be looked at even closer when analyzing your level of comfort during specific postures. Child's Pose, for instance, is a restorative posture in which one feels safe and supported. This is so because your heart is protected, and your face is hidden from the world. It's natural to enjoy being in...

August 22, 2014 In Emotional Health, News By Vancouver Health Coach

A Practice of Emotional Wellness

There's always something to strive for, something that needs improvement or something we need more of in order for us to feel satisfied with our lives. This future-focused approach is certainly en-grained in our culture. Along with the basics of survival, we are faced with the pursuit of optimizing our existence. Everywhere you look, you will find people moving through their daily lives while  harboring a low-grade preoccupation with what isn't enough: not enough money, not enough time, not enough beautiful objects; health and image are not good enough. Guess what? Today it's good enough. Today, everything you have, are and...