It’s my birthday week! And in honor of my birthday week, I thought I would celebrate…well…me! And I couldn’t think of a better way to do that then writing about a few of my favorite things.
Some of the things I talk about in this post are not specific to yoga, but more “wellness”. Part of this is because I don’t JUST do yoga. I run, I cycle, I lift weights, I hike, I kayak, I live my life and enjoy moving my body many ways! But the other part of this is that I think it’s important to note that major aspects of wellness can apply to multiple forms of exercise and movement.
Style of Yoga
Vinyasa. I love flowing a little bit faster through my poses. I tend to focus primarily on strengthening (emphasis on core) and postural stretching during my practice and when creating flows for my classes. Even though vinyasa is my favorite style, there are definitely days when my body needs to slow down and do some gentle hatha yoga instead.
Poses
Podcast
Nike Trained. The host, Ryan Flaherty, explores sleep, nutrition, mindfulness, and various aspects of overall health while interviewing people of a variety of backgrounds. I love learning about how other people approach training and wellness. Even though I don’t always agree with everything talked about, I enjoy learning about it and gaining exposure to a variety of topics.
Books
Yoga-related book: Mindful Yoga, Mindful Life: A Guide for Everyday Practice by Charlotte Bell. I can honestly say that this book is one of the reasons I got consistent with my yoga practice. Well, this book plus horrible back spasms 😉 One of my patients told me about this book and I’ll always be grateful for it! Charlotte gives you exposure about the limbs of yoga in a way that the average person can relate to. Although I focus on the postures and the breath with teaching yoga classes (and during my personal practice), learning more about the limbs of yoga gave me a greater appreciation for this form of exercise.
Wellness-related book: High Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That Way by Brendon Burchard. Brendon talks about six habits that lead to increased success. I’m all about reading self improvement books and this one was informative and motivating.
- Runner-up: 26 Marathons: What I Learned About Faith, Identity, Running, And Life From My Marathon Career by Meb Keflezighi. I highly recommend this book to all my runner friends. What I love most about this book is the key lessons Meb states at the beginning of each chapter that he learned from each race. Even though his lessons are learned from running, I find that each lesson can be applied to other sports and life in general.
Equipment
I love my yoga equipment! Check out the blog post I wrote here.
Water Bottle
Just like the majority of the population, I struggle with drinking enough water during the day. Having a bottle that I enjoy using really helps with my water intake! I got mine on Amazon and can be found here.
Shoes
I transitioned into Saucony Kinvara last year after my husband (who is also a physical therapist) told me multiple times to switch into Kinvara vs my loved Nike Free to help with my over-pronation. I have now completely transitioned into Saucony! I wear Saucony Kinvara for running, cycling, walking, and while doing errands. I wear Saucony Peregrine for hiking which I also love and highly recommend if it works for your gait! I’m always barefoot for yoga.
Music During Yoga
None! I never listen to music/sounds while doing yoga. I enjoy using my yoga time as quiet time since I spend a large percentage of my day conversing with other people. I also think this helps me be more mindful of my breath and overall form.
Yoga Research
International Journal of Yoga (IJOY). I like to be evidence-based in what I recommend to people, and IJOY makes this possible. You’ll notice that I reference this journal often in my previous blog posts, and that’s because they have published a variety of well-written, high-level research for a variety of topics.
emPOWER wellness 
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