Recipes to Nourish: Holistic Tips to Keep Your Family Healthy

Recipes to Nourish: Holistic Tips to Keep Your Family Healthy: It’s that time of year again, the end of summer is approaching and the cold and flu season is around the corner. People are headed back-to-school, holidays are approaching and the commercial industry starts bombarding stores with processed candy and desserts. 

Nutrition is the key to health.  When the season changes and people start consuming large quantities of sugar-laden foods, immune systems weaken and become overworked.

Boosting your immune system is important if you want to stay healthy.  A healthy immune system will lessen your chances of getting sick.  If you do get sick, the duration of illness will not last as long and you will recover quicker. 

Now is the time to plan for the season change.  

 

Holistic Tips to Keep Your Family Healthy...  continue reading

 

 

Check out this blog with some wonderful tips for the coming winter months!  

We love to share these special Gems with you when we find them!  

 

Hope it helps to keep you healthy & strong, and full of energy for your Yoga Practice.  

 

We look forward to seeing you soon at ASHTANGA YOGA VICTORIA. 

Love, Light, Peace.

Jeff & Harmony

For those of you who may be a little nerdy about Food, Health, Yogic Diet...
PAY ATTENTION!
This video is adds some incredible insight into our modern problem with food & how we metabolize sugars! 
It is something everyone can learn from. 
Enlightening.

One Year Later...

So, here we are... One Year Later.

A New Look... A New Year....

It is a tad shameful that it has taken us a full year to write a blog post about what we've been up to, and all that has happened... BUT hopefully after reading this post you'll understand how blogging about life may not have been on the top of our priority list (hard to believe I know!)

Life has suddenly become very full and yet sweeter then ever before!

It's our half year intention (we can have those right?-!!) to become much better at blogging about all the joy, love, excellence, challenges, struggles, growth, and everything else in between - ALL that comes with fully LIVING and leading a reflective and 'examined life' (enough to make even Socrates proud).

So here goes... the short & sweet version of the year as it has passed since we returned from India last summer!

Hang On - this is might get a little crazy...

Back in December 2010 we said a fond "Farewell" to The Shambhala Center, which was our home and landing spot since we arrived here in Victoria in the summer of 2009. We feel so fortunate for their kindness and support, and will definitely miss many things about their lovely Meditation Center!


We found a NEW and beautiful HOME in the heart of Old Town Victoria!

Market Square is a gorgeous heritage site that was built in the late 1800's when the city of Victoria was a hub of activity. It borders the trendy "LoJo" fashion district, and being only one block away from China Town, it is one of Victoria's oldest landmarks.


Finding the right location was Not an easy task... and once we found it... we had a LOT of work to do... this kept us busy right up until the New Year...

We officially opened our doors on JANUARY 1st, 2011... and despite a few minor glitches, everything unfolded pretty smoothly!

Classes began, and slowly but surely more students began to appear!

Meanwhile... while all this business was going on with finding and building a new Home for our growing Ashtanga Yoga community in Victoria, I (Harmony) was busy growing someone else!!


Still in early January, we were putting everything together, welcoming students into our new space...


...and hosting a Grand Opening party the second week of January!

During our Grand Opening Event on January 9th, lululemon and all the wonderful staff there made Jeff an Ambassador! Wow! We feel so blessed to be connected with such a phenomenal organization! THANK YOU.


At the same time, we were also expecting another kind of "ambassador" to arrive any day - The Captain of our Future Generation!!

Two weeks later, on January 29th - Jediah Om Douglas - came into this world to Light Up our lives! Daring us to Change, to become more Real, to get more Messy, and to Expand in a whole new direction.

Thus Begins "7th Series"...

February and March go something like this:

sleeping - what? practicing - what? eating - what? teaching - what? thinking - what?
WHO AM I?
How did this happen?? - WHAT? (Oh Right! - that's how! - seems like a long long time ago...)
Hang In! Hold On! There is a light... I can see it... almost through... pop! ouch! ahhhhh....

and finally... Sweet Surrender

And although we'll be the first to admit that we're still working through this whole new dimension of being a mother, a father, a family, we are starting to feel a little more comfortable in our new roles as parents and partners on this path of life long learning and loving.

Lots more to say on that front... but we'll save it for another day!

Two months later, Jediah gets a friend - Aya Rae! Sachiko Walton, our friend and fellow student, and AYVic teacher has a beautiful baby girl on March 26th.

In April... Jeff went to Calgary and taught at The Yoga Shala, and to Banff to help with a workshop that our beloved Teacher - Sri O.P Tiwari - was teaching. It of course was snowing in Calgary and Banff... but it was also snowing here in Victoria!

The day Jeff returned, he went in early to practice (as he always does) and the whole 2nd Floor of Market Square was filled with smoke! Holy Smoke?-!
He looked around everywhere, but couldn't find the source... so he called the Fire Department and Saved The Day!!
There was FIRE in Green Cuisine... and (thanks to God's Grace and Jeff's good timing) it didn't get out-of-control.

All this - just in time for Sri O.P Tiwari to arrive in Victoria, and bless our studio, and give our students the privilege of receiving his darshan.

The week long workshop was a great success! Tiwari taught pranayama in the mornings, we chanted together, and had a lecture with questions & answers in the evening...


It was a beautiful time with The Master. Having his presence in our space gave it an extra special boost of energy and prana. Having his presence in our lives gave Us a little extra special boost of love from the Guru.

We are so grateful to have had him here with us.

He is a living breathing example of True Yoga: "the science of experience and the art of living" and holds a lifetime of experiential wisdom within.

We humbly bow, and give pranam to his blessed feet.

Om Sri Gurubhyo Namah


This was the start of an incredible Teacher Training program that carried on through May and June and into the beginning of July.

What a great group of students we have learning and practicing with us!

We are so blessed by their presence every day!


And Finally... as we celebrated Canada Day... Chuck Miller joined us at Ashtanga Yoga Victoria to share his knowledge and 40 years of practice experience!

Students came from all over Canada, and the United States to join in this special intimate workshop with one of the living legends of the Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga system.

We feel so fortunate to have be able to bring him here to Victoria to bless our space and spread the deeper teachings of this practice to our students and everyone who came! It was a real pleasure and joy to have him here! Salt of the Earth!


And after all that... it's time to put our feet up!

...at least for a few weeks anyway before we head off to Calgary and begin teaching our FABULOUS Ashtanga Yoga Training Program at The Yoga Shala Calgary!

Back to West Coast Living!

We are back to Victoria - back "home" - and oh how good it feels to have a "home" to come back to... and one that is so stunning at that! Lucky Us! We've been visiting the ocean every day, and enjoying the intrinsic beauty of nature, just taking it all in - it's been a sweet return to this island paradise.

The air is clean, the sea breeze is refreshing, the sun is shining, and the food is fresh, nutritious, and delicious! We feel so blessed to be able to call this place "home".

We've returned from India with a new certification to teach at a more advanced level, which was the main purpose for our visit to Mysore.

In addition to this however, we were blessed with the opportunity to reconnect with many colleagues and dear friends, with whom we shared and learned as we reinforce the strong bonds in the international community of Ashtanga Yoga practitioners and teachers.

In a way our time there was a bit of a "graduation."

A time to reconnect with the lineage of this tradition, and to have Sharath express his full confidence in our ability to transmit the teachings of this practice, and to go on teaching what we have learned with full authority.

Now that we are back, we will focus on continuing to build and educate the growing community of Ashtanga Yoga Practitioners and Seekers here in Victoria with deep gratitude and humble sincerity for all that we have had the blessing to receive!

Om Sri Gurubhyo Namah Hari Om!

Mysore - Week 3

It feels great to be practicing in Guruji's Shala again. The energy of the space is just so full of life, and the practice is always a little more intense. Even though we are missing Guruji's presence very much, Sharath is doing a great job in guiding this dedicated group of long-term students and teachers. He loves telling stories about Guruji, which are always sweet and keep us smiling.

Last Friday Sharath bought Dosa and Idli for everyone in the course for breakfast. We all enjoyed the delicious Indian breakfast outside the shala. Yum!

It was a very spontaneous little breakfast picnic! What a great surprise & treat!

After practice we enjoy drinking fresh young coconuts! They are so refreshing and such a great way to cool off after a hot and sweaty practice! It is wonderful to be surrounded by so many friends from all over the world, and sharing in this very special time of practice with them.

After each Mysore Class Sharath will give a talk and opens a time for questions. Some days the focus is philosophy & pranayama, other days it is about the asana practice and adjustments, but each session is different and is a great way to have any of our "doubts" of concerns answered.

All of the students are doing a great job at teaching and adjusting. There is lots of feedback and more learning from each other as well. It is great to have such a close community of practitioners to connect with here.

Even though we miss having Guruji Standing in the door, waiting to say "next" or graciously smile as we bow to touch his feet in gratitude after the practice, Sharath is doing a great job of keeping his spirit alive and passing down the lineage of this tradition as he learned it from his beloved grandfather.

In Loving Memory of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois.