As summer winds down and our new school is in session, we can use this time for a fresh start and revitalization in our personal lives. It’s the perfect time for both experienced yogis to rededicate themselves to their practice and for beginners to set up a yoga routine. Whether you're adjusting your schedule this month or thinking about picking up yoga, we have some helpful advice to ease you back into joyful movement with confidence. ​

1. Start Slow and Be Patient
One of the most important things to remember when returning to yoga is to start slow. Your body may not be as flexible or as strong as it once was, and that's perfectly okay. Focus on basic yoga poses to increase your confidence without feeling overwhelmed. 
2. Set Realistic Goals
Setting specific, achievable goals can provide you with direction and motivation. Instead of aiming for a 60-minute daily practice from the get-go, consider setting a goal like practicing 10 minutes a day. Celebrate small victories and consistency! 
3. Create a Dedicated Space
Set the mood for your practice by creating a dedicated yoga space at home. Roll out your mat in a quiet corner, dim the lights, and personalize your space with asses? Consider registering for Markham Yoga’s free online community yoga classes. 

It's no surprise what we eat has a significant effect on our daily lives. We have often heard the term "we are what we eat."
 

• Eating healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats helps our brain work well, keeps us full of energy and happy.
• Foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, like fish and nuts, can lower feelings of depression and anxiety. This will also help us stay calm and keep our minds clearer.
• Diets with high refined sugar and processed foods can cause quick changes in blood sugar (the spike and crash), making us feel grumpy and tired.
• A healthy gut, supported by a healthy diet improves our mood by affecting brain health leading to an overall better mental health.

Overall, choosing good, healthy foods will make us feel better and happier every day.

Specific yoga poses targeting the hamstrings can alleviate tightness and improve flexibility. The hamstrings are the three muscles that run along the back side of your thigh, connecting your pelvis to your knee. Many people have tight hamstrings as a result of repetitive movements or poor posture.
There are a lot of ways to end up with hamstring tightness. Sometimes it just comes down to anatomy. Regular stretching, even beginning in childhood with activities like dance and gymnastics, helps, but most people don't do enough to maintain their flexibility.

​Ayurveda and Yoga: How to Practice Yoga and Balance your Dosha?
Yoga and Ayurveda are both key factors in improving our bodies physical and spiritual status. Ayurveda focuses on balancing our natural energies called doshas, by using herbal treatment, yogic breathing, and diet. Yoga awakens, and restores our physical balance, by using physical movement to create a flow of energy throughout. In combination, we can advance into a profound physical and spiritual journey.
Identifying and understanding one’s unique ratio of dosha’s is crucial in helping ensure they are balanced. Our three doshas constantly fluctuate and can be different for every individual, thus making every person’s path towards health different.
The Dosha’s are made up of five elements:
● Vata: Air and Space
● Pitta: Fire and Water
● Kapha: Water and Earth

Once a person can identify and focus on their unique combination, then they are able to pair this with a focused yoga practice. Studying and understanding Ayurveda and Yoga together will promise an empowered and enlightened physical and spiritual journey.

Vata: How to Practice Yoga
Vata represents the space and air elements, which governs our ability to walk, breathe, and
most importantly assist with how our bodies intake food (eliminating waste, distributing
nutrition …etc.). The home for Vata is in our colon. An imbalanced Vata will result in
constipation issues.
Using our yoga practice to focus on stimulating the colon and finding ease in our back and
pelvis area will ensure we are grounded, and relaxed.

• Standing Poses: Tadasana (Mountain Pose)
  
• Vrksasana (Tree Pose)
  
• Utkatasana (Chair Pose), will promote stability and trust.
• Forward-bending Poses like Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend Pose)
  
• Paschimottanasana (Seated Forward Bend Pose)
  
• Janu Sirshasana (Head-to-Knee Pose), calms our nervous system and restores stability in our vata dosha.
  

Pitta: How to Practice Yoga
Pitta represents the fire element but does have some water, as well. Pitta helps generate warmth, thus assisting with how our body digests food, encourages clarity, and reduces inflammation. The home for Pitta is in our small intestine. Introducing calming poses will help calm their intensity, and ensure they release tension.

• Seated poses, such as, Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle Pose)
  
• Siddhasana (Accomplished Pose)
  
• Virasana (Hero’s Pose)
  
• Forward bends  and inversions such as, Halasana (Plow) Pose)
  

Kapha: How to Practice Yoga
Kapha represents the earth and water elements. The home for Kapha is in the stomach and chest. It is in the mucus lubricating our joints, and organs, providing us with sustainability and enlightenment. Balancing kapha promotes harmony and warmth, however, when imbalanced can produce a tendency to be close-minded, physically lazy which could result in excess weight gain. Steering our yoga practice to alignment-based is very beneficial to assist with balancing kapha. Making sure one builds their practice slowly and gradually to avoid sudden high-intensity workouts is key.

• Inversions such as Pincha Mayurasana (Headstand and Forearm Stand)
  
• Backbends, Urdhva Dhanurasana (Upward Bow Pose)
  
• Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (One-Legged King Pigeon Pose

Knowing your Dosha type and understanding a few simple poses can have a lasting effect on your own personal wellness and really 'deepen' your personal experience in yoga. 

Learn more about your dosha type in our Ayruveda Workshops this year.
November25th, 2022
December 3rd, 2022
February5th, 2023
​Email us to inquire. 

​Our society is built on convenience, and one thing we take for granted is how we eat. It’s much easier to open a can or run to the local fast-food place to get a meal, especially if you are constantly on the go. Often, we balance this off by picking up a colourful fruit or vibrant fresh looking veggie to toss into our bhudda bowls or as a side. Did you know that those 'fresh' produce items can often be worse than a tin can of pineapples? (ok, maybe not, but has it's share of pesticides!
One thing is for sure, what we eat certainly has an impact on our body’s performance – physically and mentally.