Tag: Yoga Journal

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A Yoga Practice for the Summer Solstice @Yoga_Journal

Yoga Journal

@Yoga_Journal
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Looking for a practice for the summer solstice?

Your Step-by-Step Guide to Flowing Through Surya Namaskar A

If you only have 10 minutes to squeeze in your practice, flow through this ancient series of yoga postures, commonly known as Sun Salutations.

AUGUST 13, 2021

It’s been said—and memed—that “Movement without awareness is exercise. Movement with awareness is yoga.”

It’s easy to aspire to the latter. (Don’t we all?) It’s not always easy to achieve it, though. Especially when you’re taking yourself through your practice without a teacher cueing a sequence. Or when you’re desperately trying to cram 10 minutes of your practice in as your weekday meeting marathon looms.

There’s actually an ancient yogic antidote specifically designed for those mornings. It’s a series of yoga postures known as Surya Namaskar A, more commonly known as Sun Salutations. This set sequence of postures dates back more than 2,500 years to a time when ancient cultures revered the sun. Salutations are believed to have been regarded as a literal salute to sunrise and were perceived to ready the body for all that would happen during daylight. (Had they only known about Zoom…)

This sequence of postures is essentially a series of prescribed motions that begins and ends with Tadasana (Mountain Pose). The poses take you through all manner of stretches, forward folds, and backbends that build heat and happen in a rhythmic cadence that’s aligned with your breath. The start of an inhale initiates your transition from one pose to the next, followed by a lull in both the breath and body as you come into the pose, with the beginning of an exhale acting as a cue for your next transition. Breath, movement, and stillness fall into a rhythm. The trajectory of the sequence, like that of its namesake star, has a predictable arc and is cyclical, making it easy to become quietly absorbed in the looping repeated motions. A moving meditation.

Photo: Baleika Tamara

You may already be vaguely or intimately familiar with Surya Namaskar A but haven’t committed the poses and their order to memory. That’s OK! We lay it all out for you here. Less thinking. More flowing.

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Flexible and strong hamstrings are key to a healthy, happy yoga practice @Yoga_Journal

Flexible and strong, hamstrings are key to a healthy, happy yoga practice. Here’s what you need to know in order to lengthen and strengthen these muscles.

Get to Know Your Hamstrings: Why Both Strength & Length Are Essential

Flexible and strong, hamstrings are key to a healthy, happy yoga practice. Here’s what you need to know in order to lengthen and strengthen these muscles.

Get to Know Your Hamstrings: Why Both Strength & Length Are Essential

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Go To The Wall @yogajournal


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Ever feel like your alignment in poses is *slightly* off? ⁠
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In this piece, Jenny Clise (@jennyclise_) explains why you should head to the wall (yes, really). If you’re a teacher, a wall can serve as a second teacher in the room, helping students understand the correct alignment of the pose. ⁠
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Even if you’re not a teacher, you can use a wall to work on mastering the sensations and positioning in each of these key postures.⁠
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Click the link in our bio to read about how a wall can transform these 8 poses!⁠
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Is salad on the menu for lunch? Make it your best one ever with these five tips:@Yoga_Journal

5 Steps to Seriously Superior Salads
Apply these tried-and-true cooking tricks to salad-making, and you’ll be making the best veggie-packed dishes ever.
July 31, 2021 Ivy Manning






Your go-to bowl of greens may be a good salad, but is it the best salad? Some of the best cooking tricks can be applied to salad-making. Here are five game changers that will help take your salads to a new level.
1. Season it
We season everything else, so why skip your salad? A pinch of coarse sea salt and a few grinds of pepper enhance the flavors in salads, too. But don’t stop there! Spices can amp up the natural sweetness of vegetables both raw and cooked. Try this homemade toasted spice blend on salads to turn a ho-hum salads into the best salad with grilled shrimp, sprinkle nutritional yeast on slaws for a savory boost, or herby-tart za’atar blend on a cucumber tomato salad with feta.
2. Underdress
Err on the side of underdressing your salads. You need less dressing than you think, and you can always add more, but you can’t remove dressing from a soggy salad. As a general rule, add ½ tablespoon of dressing, gently toss, taste, and add more until the ingredients are very lightly coated. Another option for chronic over-dressers, pour out small amounts  of dressing (about 1 tablespoon per person) into a small ramekin and dip your fork into it before each bite of undressed salad.
3. Hands on
Toss your salads with your hands in a large bowl, this helps coat all the ingredients with seasonings and dressing and it’s gentler on tender greens. If you’d rather not get your hands dirty, use kitchen tongs to even toss things together.
4. Balance textures
Try to choose a balance of elements – fluffy leaves, creamy elements like avocado or cheese, crunchy items like nuts or seeds, something substantial like roasted squash, meat, seafood and juicy/crisp elements like apple, tomato, or celery.  And remember, we eat with our eyes, so arrange elements artfully for a more satisfying meal. Click here for a handy chart on how to build a well composed, best salad recipes ever.
5. Herbs are salad leaves, too.
Herbs are a mainstay of salad dressing, but they are also delicious by themselves tucked into leafy salads. Fresh, tender herbs like basil, cilantro, dill, basil, parsley, and mint blend right in with lettuce plus they add little pops of fresh flavor that are unexpected and make salads more interesting. Make sure to remove any tough or stringy stems…concentrating on the juicy leaves instead.
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Red Bean, Onion and Coconut Rice.@Yoga_Journal

red bean & cocnut rice

Red Bean and Coconut Rice

This colorful rice plate is a great stand-alone dish or the perfect base layer for another protein.

The sweetness of the onion and the coconut milk complements the saltiness of the rice, so ensure you season this dish well. You can use red onion if you want a sweeter flavor and add a couple of finely diced fresh green chilies along with the onion, if you’d like more heat. The rice gets a beautiful pink color from the red kidney beans that looks pretty served with a mixed green salad, such as lettuce and sliced avocado.

See also Tias and Surya Little’s Elemental Bowl Has Everything You Need for Optimal Vitality

  • Duration
  • 4Servings

Ingredients

  • 1 large onion, finely sliced
  • 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 1 1/4 cups basmati rice, washed and drained
  • 1/2 x 14 oz. can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
  • a big handful of fresh cilantro, finely chopped (stems and all)
  • scant 1 cup coconut milk mixed with the same amount of cold water

Preparation

Heat 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil in a heavy-based saucepan and fry the onion and garlic on high heat for 3–4 minutes, then reduce the heat to medium and fry for a further 2 minutes, or until soft.

Add the rice and fry for 30 seconds, without stirring too much, then add the kidney beans, cilantro, and some salt and black pepper to taste.

Pour in the coconut milk and water mixture. Bring to a boil, then stir the rice once and cover. Reduce the heat to the lowest setting and simmer for 12 minutes without lifting the lid.

Remove from the heat and leave the pan, covered, for a further 5 minutes to allow the rice to finish cooking in the steam.

Remove the lid, fluff up the rice with a fork, and serve hot.

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Excerpted from Indian in 7: Delicious Indian Recipes in 7 Ingredients or Fewer by Monisha Bharadwaj, Kyle Books 2019. Reprinted with permission.