Yup it happens. We try to be as mindful and in the moment as we can, but sometimes even the most careful of us can get an injury. Sprains and strains are two very common and different forms of injury.  As yoga practitioners it is very wise to know how to work with your body while you are healing from an injury.

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Here is a basic recipe that you can modify to create your own granola from your favourite ingredients.

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As you go to work or spend some time walking around your community, you may notice some seasonal sprouting. That’s right it’s Movember once again. It’s the time of year when men from around the country don their beautiful faces with a proud patch of hair to raise awareness for men’s health.

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I love the fall, when the cozy sweaters and scarves get unpacked, the leaves crunch underfoot, and the slightest of chills touches the tip of your nose. But more than anything, I love the fall because it signifies the return of turkey season.

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No longer content to just put a garden gnome in their photos and call it original, snap happy people around the world have started a new fad called planking, and it really is taking the world by storm.

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Fall is upon us and the air is getting crisp – a great time to start transitioning your meals away from the expansive, raw summer foods to more warming, grounding foods. This lentil chili fits all the bills – it is hearty and nourishing, has spices to warm you up from the inside, and has a great mix of textures and colours. It does take an hour to make, but requires very little actual work, so throwing a pot on before you are hungry is the best idea. The best part is that chilis and stews like this taste better the next day after the flavours have had time to marry, so it makes a great office lunch!

Props can be an invaluable part of any yoga practice – from the beginner to the advanced practitioner. They can help make challenging poses more accessible, modify certain poses to support injuries, improve balance, flexibility, and range of motion. Using props can help your practice progress, as they allow you to stay longer in some poses, encouraging a deeper opening; they can help improve the quality of your practice in easing you into proper alignment and keeping you there. However, due to the nature of our mobile, come-to-you approach to yoga, we are not able to provide props to our corporate yoga clients. There are a number of ways you can make your own yoga props out of things you already have in your office or at home to support your yoga practice. Try these tips:

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Our last (gasp!) long weekend of the summer is fast approaching and many people are getting ready to send summer out in style. For our corporate clients, Labour Day is especially pertinent as it was initiated as an opportunity for workers to campaign for better working conditions and pay. Employee rights have come a long way, and today we use labour day as an excuse to have a long weekend, take a late summer trip, or rest up at home with friends and family – and although the majority of us are incredibly content with our work situation, an extra bit of free time goes a long way! In the name of taking your yoga off your mat and into your life, how can you bring an element of gratitude into this long weekend? Direct your focus towards those gifts you may otherwise take for granted – maybe a coworker who brightens your day, a supportive supervisor, the fact that we no longer have to fight for basic rights in the workplace. And in order to stay mindful rather than letting the weekend speed by in a blur, can you consciously connect to how you choose to use this extra time? As we transition from summer to fall, it is easy to get caught up in how quickly the time has gone, but bring the focus back to your breath and this moment. Smile lots, laugh lots, and enjoy!

….Can be pretty hard to come by. Especially in this expansive season, when the sun calls us out to play and keeps us both moving and awake. Getting to bed on time, and then getting to sleep in bed, are not as easy when the days are long and the weather is warm, but our body, mind and spirit still require that we get adequate rest in order to function properly.

Good sleep is restorative. It releases hormones not produced in our wakeful state that slow down the aging process, support a healthy immune system so you are less likely to get sick, and reverse some effects of chronic stress. Fortunately, there are a few easy changes you can make in your routine to encourage a more productive rest.

- Keep the bedroom sacred: Using the space in which we sleep for other purposes sends mixed signals to the brain. We start to associate the bedroom with work rather than rest, making it really hard for our mind and body to make the transition to sleep mode. Reserve your sleep space, especially your bed, for quiet and peaceful activities that encourage relaxed and restful feelings, so that when you crawl into bed at the end of a long day, your brain also knows its work is done.

-Unplug. As in everything: Make your bedroom dark, turn off all the lights and the T.V., and consider replacing or relocating bright digital clocks. Even look at cell phones, computers, or other electronic devices that are putting off any light and sending out signals. The pineal glad, which produces the sleep hormone melatonin, is incredibly sensitive to light and will stop production if you are exposed to light. If you use the washroom in the middle of the night, try to do so without turning lights on.

-Regulate your schedule: Keeping a regular bedtime and a regular time to wake up will help your body transition to a more natural regulation of sleep/wake cycles. Ideally go to bed at a time you feel tired so that you aren’t tossing and turning, but not so exhausted that you have made yourself overtired. Rather than sleeping late on days off, try an afternoon nap to pay back any sleep debt, but keep it to early or late afternoon so as to not disturb that night’s sleep.

The quality of our waking ours hinges so much on how we sleep at night, so help yourself feel more productive, alert, and energized throughout the day by focusing on rest. You may be amazed at how great you can feel!

Its easy to see and feel the benefits of yoga on the body, strengthening and lengthening muscles, and making everything generally work better. We have some often overlooked and regularly overused muscles that tend to get left out of our yoga practice: the eyes. This becomes particularly important to most of our corporate yoga clients, who may be dealing with poor office lighting or long hours looking at a computer screen. While the idea in a yoga class is generally to keep the eyes soft and refrain from straining, there are in fact yogic exercises that can be done to help maintain and even build better eyesight. And because, who wouldn’t want to learn yoga from Paul McCartney, we’re including this youtube video for you to watch and learn. This would be a great way to spend a few minutes each day, wether you start your day with the eye exercises, or do them throughout your workday. If you spend long hours on the computer, remember to also look off into the distance at least every 15-20 minutes for a minute to give your eyes the chance to refocus. Remember, whether you struggle with vision problems or not, the muscles in our eyes are fragile and important, so ensure you are caring for them appropriately!