Fudgesicles and Ayurveda

I am enjoying these last days of August with gusto. I feel the need to soak up the air, the sun and summer recipes. I am creating internal vows to continue to live a life of nature appreciation with self care rituals and natural food preparation. So, of course chocolate fudgesicles are high priority on the list. Oh, and I am preparing for another round of my Yoga and Ayurveda Lifestyle Course starting on October 26th. Learn ayurveda fundamentals, yoga for your dosha, self care techniques (dina charya) and food and ayurveda. You can get more information and register online at www.yogahaven.ca/courses

Here is my recipe:

 

IMG_3940 Raw Vegan Fudgesicle

3 cups thai coconut meat

2 cups coconut water

7-8 medjool dates

2 tablespoons raw cacao

1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder

Mix in your high speed blender and then freeze in popsicle trays. Recipe is by Lori Lee

Not the prettiest fudgesicle but the most delicious!

Summer Ayurveda Tips

1422396_10152637828656928_8734331266362547762_nAyurveda Tips for Summer

 As we spend more time outside playing in the heat I thought you could use some ayurveda tips for staying cool this summer.

 1. Eat more cooling foods – cucumber, salads, watermelon, mint, coriander…

2. Try shitali breath – curl your tongue into an o shape and inhale through your tongue and exhale through your nose. Try 10 – 15 breaths and notice the cooling effects.

3. Take time to rest between your postures to cool down pitta. Try a Sivananda, Restorative, Yin or Hatha practice.

4. Take cooler water or enjoy the cooling benefits of coconut water.

5. Enjoy abhyanga or self massage with the coconut oil which is better to use in the summer for its cooling properties.

 Here is my simple summer drink this year for cooling down.

 Watermelon Basil Cooler

1 seedless watermelon

5 or 6 big leaves of  basil to taste

a bit of ice

Blend 

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Winter 2015

winter2015

Happy New Year! Thanks so much for all your laughter, love and friendships. I am so lucky to know such amazing people that I get to teach and hang out with. Each of you inspire me in so many ways. Your passion for yoga and learning keep me growing and curious. I am so excited to have these amazing yoga teachers at Yoga Haven for 2015 for more yoga evolution. I hope that we inspire you back! You can start anytime with flex passes, unlimited monthly passes or drop in to any class at any time. Yoga Haven is the largest studio in Regina, Saskatchewan so there is no need to preregister online for any class. You can check out the schedule online at www.yogahaven.ca/schedule

Here’s to 2015!

Yogini Shakti with Lori Lee

lori yoni mudra Yogini Shakti with Lori Lee

I am excited to be offering the Yogini Shakti Course on April 6th, 2016. We will be exploring rituals, revelations, and rhythms to living a life you love. This course is half online and half live. This course is rich with direction and dripping with juiciness and vitality through yoga practice, goal setting, journaling and sharing. We will explore the energy of some mythology around the goddesses as well as dive deeper into feminine energy history (herstory) and as we see it today. Starts Wednesday, April 6th, 2016 Live meetings are Wednesdays at 8:30-9:30pm on April 6th, March 13th, April 20thth and 27th. The half live/half online course is $197 and we are now offering an online only course for $89. You can join from anywhere around the world. All classes are recorded so you can listen at your own pace. We also have a Facebook page to connect for both the live and online only participants.

Explore Shakti!

Class 1 – The Dharma – The calling…

Class 2 – The Rituals – The practice of living yoga (Karma)

Class 3 – The pleasuretarian – The practice of gratitude and pleasure.

Class 4 – Shakti Bhakti – A yoga practice with archetypes and action planning.

Testimonials

“Yogini Shakti program is a wonderful inner journey, expertly guided by Lori Lee. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about many divinely feminine archetypes and getting in touch with the mythical beings inside me! Lori Lee’s teaching is borne of her own experiences, which makes her approach to sharing this knowledge totally authentic.” – Carla Bolen Anderson

“I left every class feeling beautiful, empowered, and grateful.  Lori created a safe space to celebrate the divine feminine in all of us and begin to shed the layers that we carry around that can prevent us from fully harnessing that power.  There was a beautiful energy in learning and discussing within a community of women at the studio and online.” – Carmen Ganne (Yoga Teacher)

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Vinyasa Krama Workshop

SAY - Regina workshop poster v1 - No bleedWe are thrilled to announce a Vinyasa Krama workshop with Whit Hornsberger from Vancouver on Saturday, May 31st at 2:00-4:30p.  $45

A traditional practice, Vinyasa Krama (movement and sequence methodology) is the most comprehensive representation of Sri T. Krishnamacharya’s teachings of yogasana. Using breath as the harness between body and mind, the slow, deliberate, yet powerful vinyasas draw practitioners into an unshakeable state of one pointed focus, resulting in a deeply transformative experience.

This workshop includes in-depth discussion of Vinyasa Krama methodology and history, asana, pranayama and meditation practice, therapeutic applications and insight into the traditional teachings of the father of modern yoga, Krishnamacharya.

$45  Register Below!

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Bellyfit Classes

We are excited to be offering Belly Fit with Kristy Apodaca.

This class creatively combines cardio that’s inspired by belly dance, bollywood and african dance, then we add pilates and yoga-based conditioning for all major muscles. Full of spirit! This class requires no previous experience. From the beginner to the seasoned athlete, Bellyfit is accessible to any woman looking for a fun, full body workout. This is a complete mind, body, spirit practice.

We start March 14th for 6 weeks. $66 for 6 sessions. (No Class on Friday, April 18th for Easter) Register below…

$66 for 6 session

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Ayurveda Tips for Winter

Ayurveda-Treatment-in-KeralaAyurveda means the science of life. The seasons have a great effect on us. In the beginning of the winter months we move into the vata phase or a time when the airy aspect of the universe is dominant. Vata season brings dryness and cold. It can also be a time of erratic movement. In Ayurveda we focus on the term “like increase like”,we want to bring in the gunas of the opposite quality so we can balance out the vata elements. We can start to imagine what will bring in the qualities of warm, moist, and slow. We want to have a special ritual or routine for each season to help bring our doshas (elements) into balance. The seasonal ritual or routine is called ritucharya. We also have a daily self care practice called dinacharya. Having a self care practice that grounds and connects us to the present moment is a vital part of yogic health and vitality.

We want to use this time to strenghten the dhatus or 7 tissues (plasma, muscle, fat, bone, reproductive fluid, blood and bone marrow/nerve). With these practices we can build dhatu health and ojas (our immunity, vitality, and juiciness).

1. Move –  Start your day off with movement to avoid the stagnation and congestion we can have in the winter months. Yoga, walking, rebounding and biking are great ways to wake up the body.

2. Nasya  – Use a small amount of sesame oil or olive oil inside the nose. This is an important practice to avoid the dry nose from the forced air and extremely cold temperatures. There are different types of nasya therapy. This is simply applying oil to the finger and inside the nose for lubrication, stress and even eye, ear and nose health.

3. Abhyanga – Self daily oil massage for muscle nourishment is an amazing ritual. Apply the warm oil all over the body. A good way to apply the oil is in a circular motion over joints and round areas like the stomach and straight strokes for your arms and legs. Use a good amount of oil. Sesame oil is great for winter as it has warming properties. Coconut oil is better used in the summer for its cooling properties. If you have a tendancy to over heat perhaps use a more neutral oil like sunflower or grapeseed oil. Use organic oils only and try a test patch to check for allergies. Warming and decongesting essential oils can be added to the base oils (sesame, sunflower) to help bring more heating properties. Think  black pepper, rosemary, cardamon, ginger, juniper, ect. Use only a couple drops with your base oil(sesame). This practice has changed the way my muscles feel in the winter. My body has  sense of cohesiveness and deep nourishment with this practice. Try to let the oils penetrate for a least 15 minutes before your bath or shower, or leave on for a few hours for a luxurious treat.

4. You are what you eat – Eating at the same time each day is great for balancing your nervous system. We want to be eating warm nourishing foods. Watch that you are not over doing the heat with too much cayenne pepper or ginger and hot spices as these can be very drying. Use warming herbs like cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, cumin, basil, nutmeg… Avoid ice water, ice cream, too much cold food and heavy dairy. Choose root vegetables, stews, and soups with aromatic herbs. Use your mortar and pestle to grind your spices and enjoy the smells of nature in this time. Our digestive fire (agni) is strongest in the winter, tap into that internal warmth we create.

5. Taking steam – A great way to bring in humidity into the air is a humidifier. You can also use kettles or boiling water in a pinch. There is also the practice of steam showers or swedana treatments that use herbal steams or a steam after abhyanga massage.

6. Cover your ears and neck for protection in the windy winter months.

Most importantly diving into the winter months with a self care practice you can sustain with a sense of play and curiousity and most importantly a keen sense of intuition and self inquiry. Enjoy the increasing light.

Join me this April 2014 for more Ayurveda and Yoga with the Yoga Lifestyle Course. Our Yoga Lifestyle Course Starts April 1oth, 2014. For more information or to register go to www.yogahaven.ca/courses

Happy Winter!   –   Lori Lee

 

 

Partner Yoga

Partner Yoga Poster_webI am excited to be offering a partner yoga workshop on Saturday, February 15th at 3:30-5:30p. The class will be a blend of partner yoga, thai massage, and acro yoga in one. We will focus on a sense of play or leelah (lila). Remember to smile during your practice of yoga. Life can be serious, so lets enjoy our breath, enjoy the way our bodies move and enjoy each other. The workshop is on Saturday, February 15th at 3:30-5:30p. $25 per person or $50 per couple. This is your chance to play with your lover, friends and family. I love sharing the practice of yoga with everyone and with partner yoga we can get a sense of our oneness as we move and groove together. Registration below.

 

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Prenatal Yoga

prenatal-yogaWe are excited to be offering prenatal yoga.

We will work physically to keep our bodies strong, yet supple, working to widen the pelvis, lengthen our side bodies and support our backs during the trimesters of change we experience over the course of a pregnancy. We will not only  be making room for the babies in our bodies but also in our minds and spirits, as we prepare for the bridge of birth and the transition into motherhood or motherhood of more children (for those already experienced mamas). In class there will be a strong focus on breath work in light of preparing for a calmer birth experience.

Brenda Feuerstein

Brenda Feuerstein 2013We are thrilled that Brenda Feuerstein is coming to Yoga Haven on November 29th, 30th, and December 1st, 2013.

Full Weekend Price – $145 plus GST

Friday, November 29th, 2013

6:30 PM – 7:30 PM Book Signing – “The Matrix of Yoga” by Georg and Brenda Feuerstein (copies will be available)

8 PM – 9 PM Yoga Nidra – Yoga Sleep/Yoga Nidra is a deep yogic relaxation for deep transformation. The term Yoga Sleep is applied to a particular yogic practice and the state of deep relaxation it promotes. As a practice, Yoga Sleep can be defined as systematic psychosomatic relaxation by means of visualization and passive aural receptivity. In other words, this technique employs the mind’s innate imaginative capacity in order to achieve both physical and mental relaxation and it uses the sense of hearing (evolutionary, one of the oldest senses) to receive highly selective stimuli.. Thus, Yoga Sleep requires an outside source of “input,” such as an actual person quietly guiding the visualization process or an electronic recording giving the same directions. It is not possible to practice Yoga Sleep on one’s own, which is the major difference between it and meditation. – $25 plus GST

Saturday, November 30th

9 PM – 11 AM – The Practice Of Love – A unique offering of a gentle and loving approach to self inquiry, asana, pranayama and mantra recitation. All levels of experience welcome. – $30 plus GST

2 PM – 5 PM – The Yoga of Living – This workshop will focus on the first two limbs of Yoga – the yamas and niyamas – which are ethical precepts that encourage us to view our relationships to others and towards ourselves. We will explore how to integrate them into all aspects of our lives through self-inquiry, dicussion and journaling. – $65 plus GST

7 PM – 8:30 PM – Talk about the Georg Feuerstein’s Memorial Fund – Freedom Program which brings Yoga philosophy courses and meditation programs to people who are incarcerated, in addiction recovery programs and all support staff, as well as the upcoming Free to Love youth initiative. Learn about the programs and how you can become involved in positive change in your community. Free Talk. Donations for the projects are accepted.

Sunday, December 1st

9 AM – 12 AM – Mindfulness Meditation Mini Retreat – Mindfulness Meditation Retreat introduces practices that help us acheive deeper levels of insight into who and what we are, while promoting peace in our daily lives. By focusing moment-to-moment awareness on body sensations, feelings and thoughts, we begin to experience for ourselves the impermanence of all conditioned phenomena. Minfulness meditation, and the greater wisdome and equanimity it brings, helps us to relate to life with less fear and clinging. – $40 plus GST

Brenda is open to private consultations in the afternoon for anyone who is interested in dicussing their spiritual practice or are looking at forming spiritually based community projects. Donation based.

Brenda Feuerstein is an internationally celebrated Yoga and meditation teacher as well as the author of several books and articles on yoga, meditation, spiritual activism, spiritual partnership and dying and grief. She is currently working on a documentary about her late husband, Georg Feuerstein’s contribution to Yoga in the world as well as writing two books and a distance learning course for personal transformation.

Brenda serves as director of Traditional Yoga Studies and as the chief tutor of all TYS distance learning courses and mentorship programs and is a Yoga teacher, trainer, workshop presenter, retreat leader, and motivational speaker for events worldwide.

She most recently started the Georg Feuerstein Memorial Fund which will bring yoga philosophy courses and personal transforamation course free-of-charge to people who are incarcerated or in addiction recovery programs along with several other programs to help staff and support staff. The memorial fund is also working on the development of youth programs that embrace the yogic lifestyle through nature-based learning.

Brenda Feuerstein has co-authored, with her late husband, Georg Feuerstein, PHD., The Bhagavad-Gita: A New Translation, Green Yoga, Green Dharma and The Matrix of Yoga and has authored Yoga Nidra/Yoga Sleep (audio), The Yoga Sutra from a Woman’s Perspective and Dying into Love. (forthcoming)

Brenda can be reached through her website at www.traditionalyogastudies.com and by email at tyslearning@sasktel.net

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