Fit Yogis "lean mean fantastic machines"!!

People keep asking me: "but yoga - how does that make you fit? Isn't that just a bunch of stretching". 

My reply is:

 "SURE a lot of yoga is stretching. Nevertheless, a completing a series of power yoga postures will help in stretching and strengthening your body, change your body and relaxing and calming the mind."

This is POWER yoga peeps :) The name says it all!!!  It's a challenge  and we are working our buns off in these class. LITERALLY,  melting that fat off of us, getting out those toxin and transforming our bodies in to "lean mean fantastic machines". How great is that!

So, you are thinking, how does this power yoga stuff work and how is in different from the other style?

Power Yoga is the Western form of Ashtanga Yoga. Power Yoga is one of many forms of Yoga, which has the same potential of following a laborious full-body workout while promoting mental stability and concentration. The yogic techniques have been modified so as to make them more lively, energetic, and appealing to those who want an emphasis on fitness.

So yep it's true - power yoga poses are not as easy as other yoga styles and require a higher level of cardiovascular fitness and strength. Baby steps to greatness there are lots of modification to each pose so we can take it slow too working our way up to the more intense poses. In the end, your body results are amazing! & how great does that feel!
 

According to the Yoga Journal: "Power Yoga Benefits:

• Increased muscle tone and strength
• Enhanced stamina and physical endurance
• Correction and improvement of posture
• Flushing out of toxins from the body
• Improved mental awareness
• Increased ability to concentrate and focus
• Easing of stress and tension
• Alleviation of aches and pains caused by tension and stress.
• Relaxation of the body and mind.
• Improved joint flexibility and movement

Power yoga also helps in warming up the body. This helps not only in achieving a higher state of awareness but also in eliminating unwanted and harmful bacteria from the body. Since power yoga focuses on the synchronization of the body and mind it helps in allowing an individual to attain a higher levels of awareness and inner strength. Power yoga has also been used as a training option by many athletes and sports people."


So if you are looking for some zen, but want a full body workout then I guess you best grab your water bottle and see me in class :)

Namaste!

love Tara

Best Foods to Eat Before a Yoga Class

So are you heading out to do a yoga class with me (Tara Leigh)? But wait... are you feeling hungry. Doing exercises on an empty stomach isn't a good idea; especially not to my (Tara Leigh's) power yoga class. It's a physical class that you will need energy for. But wait...aren't you not suppose to eat a lot before yoga 'cas the poses can make you feel sick to your tummy if you are too full?

So what do you eat?

Here are EIGHT so great nutriuos suggestions:

1) Apples:  

Yep,  apples are great to eat before a power yoga class! I'm a big fan of apples! They hydrate, give a little NATURAL sugar jolt, and they clean your teeth! They are also a great source of vitamin C, and contain fiber, which can help hold you over until after you've finished your yoga class.

2) Almonds:

I have little bags of almonds and nuts with me everywhere I go :) I even have some in the glove box of my car :P Grab a handful of almonds before class to help boost your energy and starve off hunger. Almonds contain vitamin E, potassium, and magnesium, which means you'll have plenty of stamina to stay in boat pose (just be sure to eat them plain and unsalted to maximize their energizing benefits).

3) Oatmeal: 

Lets make it fresh though not from packages :) Half a cup of oatmeal makes a good, light pre yoga practice (class) snack. You want something that burns easy and will keep you tied over till the end of your class but won't make you like you are too full of food while practicing.

4)  Pears: 

Most of our experts agreed that fruit is a great pre-yoga snack, but the type of fruit you eat is also important. The low acidity level of pears make them a smart selection for a pre-mat  (yoga class) snack. Plus, pears are high in fiber, which means they are more likely to keep you satisfied until your next meal.

5) Bananas:

No surprise here, potassium-rich bananas make a great pre-workout snack, and they are great for yogis too. Potassium works with sodium to help keep your body properly hydrated, making this snack super a-peel-ing before that power yoga class that will have you sweating!

6) Dried Apricot: 

I love that these are an easy snack to toss in your bag! Dried apricots contain natural sugars to help boost your energy! The are also low in acid which is easy on your tummy before a yoga class too! 

7) Melon:

Melon is a water-rich fruit that is also low in acid that can help you stay hydrated and energized during your power yoga poses.

8) Greek Yogurt. 

YUM and they sell it at RAMS and the Horsford's IGA in town! As long as you aren't vegan or don't have any problems digesting dairy, a little yogurt can make a good pre-yoga snack option. Try a small serving of Greek yogurt for a protein-rich snack that is rich in lactose, a naturally occurring sugar that will give you sustained energy.

So choose your favorite snack and I will see you in our  yoga together :) Can't wait!

Enjoy! Namaste!

love Tara

Rainy Day Bliss.

It's been raining non stop here in Nevis all night to all day long now. My living room is flooded and  my bedroom roof has sprung a leak. We have lost power ~ then got it again ~ lost power  ~ and now thankfully have it again :) But still rain rain rain! 

What’s a yogi to do to keep their spirits up you ask? A specialized yoga practice, of course! "Lets turn those frowns upside down" :P

Here are five energizing mood-boosting poses from Tara Leigh Yoga You!

Lets kick it off with a downward facing dog.

Honestly – how many times in a day do we get a chance to stretch out like this? And how fun is it to hang your head upside down. Doesn’t it make you giggle a little thinking of all the time you swung from tree branches as a kid (at least, if you were a kind like me – bit of a tomboy with pigtails and scrapped knees :P Shhh! Don’t tell my husband he thinks of me as a “city girl” and that for me the idea of camping it going to a hotel without room service. Ha-ha) Anyway, downward dog yogis! Lets get to it!!

Downward facing dog

This pose circulates blood to the head and stretches the back. Start on all fours, with hands directly under your shoulders. Curl your toes, take a breath, and, as you exhale, press into your hands, lifting your hips back and to the sky. You will look like an upside down V (kind of) Holding the pose for five breaths, keep your spine straight (bending your knees if need be – if you have back issues then you are 100% doing this pose with bent knees) and your weight resting evenly between the legs and arms.

From downward dog lets get some real strength into us by transitioning into Warrior 11. In yoga we all warrior set out on the crusade of healthiness and wellness. Yes, sounds cheesy, but cheesiness brings a smile to our face and smiling is the best mood boaster ever! So lets go warriors!

Warrior II

This pose increases leg, back, and arm strength. Standing at the top of your mat, step your right foot back about 4 feet and turn it 45 degrees to the right. Turn your left foot slightly in the front foot faces forward. Adjust your torso so that it faces to your right (hips square to the side of the room), inhale, and raise your arms out, shoulder blades wide rolling the shoulder down the back, palms down.  Exhale, bending your left knee until your thigh is parallel to the mat. Switch sides.

*** Reminder: shoulders and ears don’t make good neighbors so lets keep them apart :P Relax your shoulders down your back releasing any tension.

Now my warrior yogis, are you feeling strong? Then lets get you to a seated position on your mat and into a boat pose :)  We are going to work on achieving those washboard abs for the next day when that sun will shine again :)

 

Boat Pose

This pose builds core strength and creates heat in the body. Start seated: legs together, knees bent, feet planted on the floor. Holding the back of your thighs, rock your weight back so it rests between the sitting bones.  With your chest raised to the sky to prevent the back from rounding, lift your feet, knees still bent, keeping your lower back drawn inward. Inhale and extend your legs. Let go of the back of your legs, and extend your arms out parallel to the floor. Hold here for at least 5 breaths. Take a break and repeat. If you would like to tale a straight leg boat or a psoas boat in between to spice it up like we do in my power yoga class please do. What ever makes you smile!

***Reminder: Do you want killer abs – the BEST by far workout for your tummy to tone those muscles is laughter! So eat right, exercise and laugh away any access weight. Why not make it fun!

How do you feel? Want some more. How about we open that heart and chest a little on this gloomy weather day. It may be raining outside but that doesn’t need to affect your sunshine on the inside :P 

Bridge Pose

This pose opens the heart and chest. Lie on your back with feet planted close to your buttocks, palms on the floor. Breathe in, and, as you exhale, press into your feet to lift your tailbone. Clasp your hands together underneath you and walk your shoulder blades closer together so your weight rests on your posterior shoulders and feet. Lift your hips upward. Hold this pose for 5 breaths and then come down slowly vertebrae by vertebrae for a health happy spine. If you would like to do another set of bridge please do! 

 Ah! So, are you feeling awesome? Lets calm our system and give it some love by coming into child’s pose for a few breaths.

Child's Pose

This pose lengthens the spine, stretches the tops of your feet, and relaxes your body.  No rainy day blues in this body! Starting on your hands and knees, arms underneath your shoulders, pull your hips back so your buttocks rest on your feet and your torso on your thighs. Keep your forehead on the mat and let gravity help you sink into the pose.  Want to make this pose more active? Shift your arms to the left and right for a deeper oblique stretch.  Working the oblique muscles brings healthy function to the lungs creating more space for fresh air to get into our system. More air in our system means cleaner blood! Cleaner blood means more oxygen to the heart and brain. More oxygen to the heart and brain means more happy energy. How great is that!

So get rid of that rain shower sadness and pump up the happiness on your yoga mat!.

Enjoy! Namaste!

Love Tara

Say it! See it! Feel it! Be it ...and it will be so!

Say it! See it! Feel it! Be it ...and it will be so!

Have you ever sat in a quiet moment at the beginning of a yoga class, ready for an intense and very necessary practice only to be thrown for a loop when your teacher asks you to set an intention for the class? Don't let it stress you out!! That's NOT why you are here on your mat ready to workout!

Reasons why, as yoga teachers,we ask our students to set an intention at the start of class is that: it can be very helpful in giving you that extra something to focus. Yoga is tough - the mind wonders and we need to stick to our breath. An intention can help keep us present. Sometimes I suggest to my students  to dedicate their practice to someone or something outside of yourself, which is another really nice way to increase the positive flow of energy.

So yes, all that sounds nice, but here you are ready for your workout and you are a blank canvas when it come to where to start for setting an intention! I mean, whats the "best" intention to set" ???  Picking the "perfect intention" that's a lot of pressure!!

BREATH my yogi! Deep breaths in and out through your nose! You can tailor your intention to whatever your particular need is that day. For instance, if you are feeling vulnerable one day, you might challenge yourself to be strong and fierce, and thereby encourage yourself to go after a tough pose you are wanting to achieve (ie getting into the crow pose and holding if for 5 breaths). Or you might remind yourself to be gentle with your body if you have an injury or just need to take it easy.

Say it! See it! Feel it! Be it ...and it will be so.

Still confused as to what is the "right" intention like cookie monster in a room full of cookies? Which is the perfect cookie? Well,  as they said in the "Five Year Engagement"  “There is no perfect cookie, just pick one and take a bite!”.

Intentions are similar to "perfect cookies" and don't need to be complicated either!

It makes me laugh when I think of the ways I use to try to set an intention sometimes - I would make it so complicated! I sit there and think to myself:

"My intention is to be healthy–no, happy!–umm.. or should I bemore mindful? Or wealthy! Wait!... Is that selfish? Maybe I should be a vessel for world peace? Or dedicate my practice to orphans.. Yeah! Orphans! But what about the cancer patients or the burn patients...only bad people forget the burn patients? Am I a bad person?… and so it goes.. and then I realise - it doesn't need to be SO COMPLICATED all the time!!

Here are great examples of some of the purest and most simple intentions for your yoga practice.

Say to yourself:

1. Chill out! Life isn’t stressful unless you let it stress you out. So, my intention is to just chill out for the next  75 minute and RELAX for a change.

2. Be OK with where I am right now, and realize it’s the perfect place for me. My best is good enough!

3. Fill up, take care of myself, and emerge refreshed and energetic. No more running on fumes.

4. Turn inward–if only for a few moments.

5. Take the lessons I learn on the yoga mat and apply them into all the other areas of my life.

Yoga is an amazing physical practice. In my power yoga my students are seeing that muscles tone and stretch, core strengthens, hard work pays off. While yoga offers very significant health benefits, yoga has the capability to go so much deeper. Setting an intention will help us get there but should never stress us out. The key here is connection with intentions. What this does is connect your physical practice to what you are doing to the why you are doing it in a body-mind-spirit manner.

Just know that an intention can be a simple, beautiful truth about you and why you practice. It doesn’t have to cure illnesses to be all overly meaningful or worldy effective. Setting your own intention is a great way get even more in tune with your own body and its individual needs.

Remember:

 Say it! See it! Feel it! Be it... and it will be so.

Enjoy. Namaste

love Tara

Not feeling "Hip" enough??

Not feeling "Hip" enough??

Are you feeling a little immobile this week or bogged down?  Tired or emotional? Doing hip-opening yoga practice will help everything in your body move more easily.

Hip-openers are some of my favorite of poses. As everyday people, we tend to store emotional trauma and stress in the hips causing an unknowing clenching of the muscles. Opening poses can help release this tension and really lighten your mood. 

Tight hips are also very common because most of us sit at a computer all day, keeping our hips in a flexed position. The non-use of hip joint will cause shortening and shrinking of the hip flexor and decrease the ability to fully extend or straighten in the hip area. This can lead to lower back discomfort due to the shortened muscles across the front of the hips affecting the pelvis, which in turn affects the position and movement of the low back. Hip-openers can be really beneficial to your mental health, aid in good functional standing posture alignment, and aid in yoga posture alignment. How great is all that!!!

So what are good hip opening poses? Here are three of the ones I would like to suggest today:
 

The 1st  pose that is perfect for tight hips is Pigeon Pose, or Eka Pada Rajakapotasana in Sanksrit

Benefits: Opens the hip joint. Is a significant stretch for opening the buttocks, gluteals and piriformis muscle, which is very helpful for sciatic problems. Opens hip flexors. Helps relieve low back pain and stiffness.

Start on your hands and knees, with your hands aligned under your shoulders and your knees below the hips. Move your right knee forward, hugging it into the right wrist. Keep your right thigh parallel to the sides of your mat. Sweep your right shin and foot toward the left side of mat until the foot is directly below left hip. Lengthen your left leg back toward the back of the mat until it is straight and your toes are untucked. Once you have established yourself in this position, make sure that your hips are squared off and walk the hands or fingertips back in line with the hips. Take a gentle back bend for length, and lower both sides of your pelvis toward the floor. Your hips will have a tendency to lean to the right, so ensure that you keep your hips level to benefit fully from the stretch. If you cannot even out the hips, a blanket or prop can be placed under the right hip to equalize. As you inhale, extend your torso and spine. As you exhale, walk the hands forward and fold your body over the front right thigh until you can rest on the forearms and maybe release your head and neck until the forehead touches the mat. The sensation in this posture can be overwhelming at first and that is why it is important to continue breathing as your settle into the pose. If you experience pain, always back off just slightly to get to a place where you can breathe easily into the stretch. Stay in the modified position for several breaths, and with each exhale try to get a little bit closer to the final pose. Move on to the other side when ready. 

other variation of this pose looks like this:

My 2nd suggestion is Happy Baby Pose or  Ananda Balasana in Sanksrit

 

 

Benefits: Releases the low back, stretches the hamstrings Come to lie on the back on your yoga mat. Next bend the knees into the chest. Open the knees, bringing them towards the armpits. Stack each ankle directly over the knee, so that the shins are perpendicular to the floor. Flex the feet. Hold the outer edges of the feet at you draw the knees towards the floor. Rock softly back and forth side to side to give your spine a little massage. As I was telling my students in our Sunday power yoga class, if you would like to make baby sounds in this pose it is perfectly acceptable :P

From being a baby lets try out being a Lizard :) Lizard lunges or Utthan Pristhasana in Sanksrit will target your hips and hip flexors.

Benefits: Opens hips. Stretches the hamstrings and thighs.

Begin in Downward Facing Dog. Step your right foot forward between your palms keeping your hands on the floor. Lower your left knee to the mat, and release your elbows to the floor as well. Either rest your hands on the ground or bring your hands together in prayer position. Continue to squeeze your right knee toward your body and gaze forward to encourage your hips to lower toward the floor. After five breaths come back onto your hands. Tuck your left toes and step your right leg back. Either switch legs by stepping up the opposite leg from a plank position (like how we do in class) or take a vinyasa (exhale as you lower inhale cobra or  Upward Dog, then exhale to Down Dog), step your left foot forward, and repeat this pose on the left side.

Hope this three poses have loosened you up. Let me know if you would like to explore more hip openers. Have an amazing rest of your day. Stay hip

Enjoy. Namaste!

love Tara