Category: Wellness

The Latest On Our Coronavirus Efforts

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Dear BYN Family,

Classes are running as usual for the time being, however as a space for health and wellbeing let’s continue to look after one another.
We are monitoring the evolving status of the Covid-19 situation as it develops. In this situation it is very hard to assess what the real risks are and what balance we must strike between social distancing and the activities that keep us healthy and happy. Ultimately, this will have to be a choice you must come to yourselves but regardless we should remain calm and follow the best possible hygiene practices we can. We place your safety first and foremost and have put into place following measures and policies.

Steps we have taken to keep you safe:
1. We have a scheduled disinfectant cleaning of all surfaces before class, again during class and once again after class. This includes the floors, all counters, taps and fixtures, door knobs etc.
2. We have installed hand sanitisers at the entrance to the hot room, each changing room and the front desk.
3. We conducted a staff hygiene refresher training and our staff will sanitise their hands regularly and do a thorough hand washing every hour.
4. The hot room will continue to be thoroughly disinfected between each class.
5. Juice bar produce is thoroughly disinfected with a Bio Veggie wash and rinsed before being juiced. The juice bar attendants will continue to adhere to the highest level of food safety standards.
6. We are taking measures to ensure all staff working are in good health (no fever cough or any flu-like symptoms) as well as ensuring they have private transport to and from their homes to limit any exposure.

Steps we ask you to take to keep us all safe:
1. We ask that if you or anyone you live with have any flu like symptoms that you stay away from the studio and not be offended if we ask you to submit to a touch less thermometer reading to ensure you have no signs of fever.
2. We ask that you sanitise your hands on arrival at the studio when signing in at the front desk.
3. We ask that you bring your own mat, mat towel and shower towel (even if you are on a VIP membership) as we will no longer be renting or providing mats or towels.
This is to maintain safety for both yourselves and our staff.
4. We ask that you sanitise your hands before entering the hot room and use a paper towel to open the door.
5. We ask you that you cough into paper towels/tissues provided or in the worst case your elbow/shoulder and place all tissues first underneath your mat and finally in the bins provided before leaving the hot room.
6. We ask that you bring or purchase from reception a bag to place your used mat and towel and place your mat and towel into that bag before exiting the hot room. We will not allow any wet un-bagged mats and towels in the studio space or changing rooms.

➡️ Correction classes have also been postponed until further notice.

How To Survive A 30 Day Bikram Yoga Challenge?

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30 Day Bikram Yoga Challenge

Week 1 – Embrace the muscle soreness

In the first week motivation is not a big problem, its feeling sore in places you have never felt before. 

The first week is important to get right. Don’t push yourself too hard – there are still three more weeks of Yoga ahead of you, so you will need some energy and strength towards the end to get you through. 

Survival tip: Don’t overdo it and be kind to yourself. Unless you are in very good shape, leave out other sports and give your body enough time and sleep to recover between the daily classes.

Week 2 – Push your mind

Additionally to muscle soreness from the first week, I may have to battle with inner temptation on week two. Even if everything hurts, you already know what to expect in the class and you know that you can do it.  

If you catch yourself thinking about that painful uncomfortable posture from yesterday, it’s over before the class begins. And if you hear your mind saying something like “Oh god, this awful triangle again. I couldn’t do it yesterday either. I can’t anymore. That’s too hard, it hurts”, you won’t make it until the end of the challenge. Even if it’s exhausting, you have to learn how to love it, enjoy the benefits and most importantly, stay in the present moment. 

Survival tip: Stay with your thoughts in the moment. Forget about previous classes and the upcoming postures and focus only on the present. Find a positive affirmation that works for you such as “I love Bikram yoga, everyday day I come to class it gets easier and I’m healing from the inside out”. Your body won’t do anything your mind doesn’t push it to do. What also helps to make a commitment is to simply say “See you tomorrow” when leaving the studio.  

Week 3 – Manage your time

On week three, you will be used to the soreness and will be able to focus your mind better. However, you may find you have less time to do the things you are used to, such as socializing.  If practicing yoga is not your full-time job, sooner or later, you may face a little time management problem, after two weeks you will naturally want to do something else and start to make excuses.  

Survival tip: A tactic that works is to split the challenge into weekly challenges and reward yourself for every week or each class completed. A spa afternoon, a massage, organize an evening with friends – whatever makes you feel better. 

Week 4 – Enjoy the results

This week will be easier as you can now see the light at the end of the tunnel. It may be hard as some parts of your body may still hurt and you will need to push your mind every time. 

The good news is by week 4 you will see the results of your hard work. You will see changes in your body and postures, your clothes fitting better, your skin glowing. 

Your body will be more toned and flexible and will be able to hold poses you couldn’t at the start of the challenge. 

Survival tip: Grab a hot yoga buddy. No matter if you are a newbie or a pro, it helps to stick to the challenge if you have an appointment with another person. Your body is different every day, sometimes all you need to do is accept where you are and allow your mind to let go of any expectations. 

Keep hydrated! Now that you are in the swing of things, your body will be needing a lot of fluids replaced daily. As you are working out drink plain water only – a lot before class, some during class, and a lot after class. The drinks you have after class should be made with electrolytes and vitamins to help your body replace some of its nutrients after its big daily cleanse. Lemons are great for alkalizing the stomach, and fruits are great for electrolytes. 

Keep alcohol, cigarettes, stress and chemicals to a minimum. Anything you put into your body, has to come out. During a 30 Day Challenge, the body gets very good and efficient at processing its fuel, but because of the increased amount of performance required from the body, the fuel required is Premium. A well performing body cannot be fueled by empty calories with no nutrition. So make a choice, If you want to make it easiest for yourself – go the natural, healthy and nutritious way. 

How Often Should You Practice Bikram Yoga?

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That’s a good question. Deciding how much you practice really depends on what your goals are for yourself. Are you in maintenance mode or are you in healing mode? 

Maintenance Mode: If you are using Bikram Yoga to maintain your current good health, to create more strength and flexibility, to help control stress, as a moving meditation and space for your personal growth, then practicing 2-3 classes per week is enough to achieve these goals.

Healing Mode: If you want to really change your body, lose weight, heal an injured body, lower blood pressure, normalise blood sugars related to type 2 diabetes, or a myriad of other health related issues, then the more you practice the quicker you will heal your body. 4 to 5 classes per week is a good way to set yourself on the road to a healthy life style.

Don’t worry, you won’t be in healing mode forever. Once you achieve your goals, a maintenance practice  (2-3 classes per week) will help you sustain your health and wellbeing.

This is a healing yoga and a steady, even daily practice, just doing what you can in class, will help give the body what it needs to heal. The human body is incredibly self healing when given the right tools. The increased circulation, the heat, breathing, gentle stretching, movement of the lymphatic system all aid in the healing process. Even if a student can do very little in the room, there is great benefit to coming in and working your range of motion. Students can practice in a chair or on the floor, for some people just sleeping for 90 minutes in the heated room can provide great benefits. Spending time focused on yourself and letting go of everything outside the room for ninety minutes can be extremely healthy.

This is a healing yoga. Students who have an acute injury, a recently herniated disc, recovering from surgery, muscle injury etc, heal much faster by practicing more. Many students take time away from their practice when they have an issue, but this is the time to up your practice. It breaks my heart to see a student stay away during the time they should be in the room. When they return, their acute issue has often become a chronic problem which requires a longer period of time to heal.

Consistency is always the key. We all have busy lives and getting to class sometimes is hard. Making yourself a priority is important but if you are just maintaining your health and working towards a stronger more flexible body, then even if you are only able to come one day a week, if you come consistently once a week, you will see changes in your health, your practice, and your life outside the room.

What Is The Purpose Of Pain?

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Emmy Cleaves is an amazing woman.  She is the Principal of the Bikram Yoga College of India, she leads the advanced class at headquarters three times a week and her lecture on pain is one of the most memorable at teacher training.  Did we mention she’s in her mid-8o’s?  Listen up, she knows what she’s talking about!

Emmy talks about the gift of pain – without it we would destroy ourselves.  Think about it.  Pain is the message that something in the body is off (could be as extreme as your hand on a hot stove or as small as a splinter stuck in your finger).  If we ignored it, it could possibly turn into a much bigger problem (think about what would happen if you never took your hand off that hot stove)!

There is another level to pain, which is the pain that we reference in class.  Ever hear the instructor to tell you that your back is supposed to hurt?  Or that your elbows are supposed to hurt?  Our how about telling you to make sure your back hurts?  When we start improving and changing the body, there is a lot of sensation that goes on with that.  When the mind first experiences this, it often freaks out and reacts as if the body was on a hot stove as opposed to just getting a good stretch.  This is normal!  Think about the reaction your body probably had the first time you tried Camel pose.  Pretty dramatic, right?  The trick is to go slowly and breathe and slowly teach our body that it is not experiencing the agony of stretching, but the luxury of release!

This is especially important when dealing with injury.  It’s important to bring the body into the room to facilitate healing.  Heat + breath = increased circulation = faster healing time.  If you want to alleviate the pain from your bulging disc, come into the room.  If you want to get rid of the frozen shoulder, bring it in.  If you want to get your body in a better place for your next road race, do some yoga.  As you move through the series, the trick is to start to recognise what kind of pain you are dealing with.  The kind of pain that is telling you to stop?  Or the kind of pain that is experiencing something it hasn’t before?  You will learn this over time with consistent practice.  Go slowly.  Be mindful.  Practice yoga.  As Emmy says, “yoga without mindfulness is just calisthenics.”

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More about Emmy:
Emmy Cleaves took her first yoga class in 1950 from a Hindu in Beverly Hills, California. As a young war refugee from Latvia, her trajectory to that tiny locale had been at least as unlikely as his. So when she later studied under another Hindu, Bikram Chouhdury, the universality of the teachings remained clear to her. “There’s only one kind of yoga,” she says. “There are just different paths to it because we are such a myriad of people. We are all God’s experiment of one.”

Emmy was a young girl when she and her mother fled their hometown of Riga, Latvia, during the Stalinist army’s second advance on the tiny country during the second world war.When the Eastern front advanced on Danzig, the camp disintegrated and Emmy separated from her mother, was shipped off to Denmark, then back to Germany, and finally to the United States. She learned the language and eventually moved to California. Emmy was a successful businesswoman in Los Angeles by the time she attended that first yoga class. She had been pestering her jazz dance teacher for more of the slow stretching exercises he taught as warm-ups; he told her to do yoga—the first time she heard the word. “I became completely fascinated with the subject,” she says. For her, as for most practitioners, the initial attraction was physical. “But when I started learning the philosophy, it seemed like yes, that’s exactly it; that’s the truth,” she recalls,”the ethics and morality that my mother had taught me. I had always sensed that we’re not just a quantum mechanical body, that we’re multidimensional beings, and that the body is just a denser form of the many interactive energy fields. So it resonated completely with my state of mind.”

Emmy began reading books and practicing on her own. For the next two decades she sampled the relatively limited smorgasbord of yoga offerings then available in Los Angeles. “I would try a class here and there, but I was never impelled to stay because internally I never connected with anyone,” she says. The teacher has to resonate on some other level than just ‘Put your legs here’ and ‘do this’ and ‘stretch that.’”

Then at thirty five, Emmy almost died from a brain haemorrhage, which is how her father died in Latvia. The experience changed her forever. “A life threatening event like that makes you wonder what the purpose is of your survival. Why are you alive? Why didn’t you die? Emmy’s search for answers created cataclysmic upheavals in her life. She gave up being a businesswoman, divorced her first husband and began exploring meditation and yoga more seriously.

In 1973 Emmy attended a demonstration by a 26 year old yogi by the name of Bikram Choudhury. “His group consisted of maybe ten people—all ages and shapes, including a couple of kids. I was fascinated by the energy and precision of his demonstration.” At the end of the presentation Bikram jumped off the stage, walked across the room, and stuck a card in her hand. “Tomorrow. You come my school,” he said. She did.

As chance had it, in the preceding weeks Emmy had been reading Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramanhansa Yogananda, whose brother Bishnu Ghosh had been Bikram’s guru throughout his childhood in Calcutta. Ghosh, a master of yoga’s physical practices, trained young Bikram to compete in the National India Yoga Competition, which Bikram won at the age of eleven and for next three years. At Ghosh’s behest Bikram set off for the West, eventually ending up in Beverly Hills where he began reteaching Emmy Cleaves everything she had ever learned.

“We argued. We really argued,” Emmy says.“I had done yoga for a long time, none of it the way he demanded it be done.” Bikram’s methodology involves a basic series twenty six poses practiced in a 42C studio. His studio and teaching methods were different from Emmy had previously learned.“I would go into a Cobra pose doing everything right,” Emmy says, “ and he would say, ‘No, that’s not the way. The posture’s not the object; your body is the object.’I began getting very frustrated.And that heat!I said, ‘Bikram, if you’d turn down the stupid heat this room would be much more full.’He said, ‘An empty barn is better than a barn full of naughty cows.”

Emmy had had enough. It was upsetting my whole equilibrium,” she says. Her friend Barbara Brown, a pioneer in the development of biofeedback, was taking a trip to India to tour research centres and Emmy joined her. Among the facilities she visited she found yoga being used to treat medical conditions like diabetes and asthma. “Lo and behold, they did the postures Bikram’s way,” Emmy says.“I visited three of four other research centres that did the poses his way as well, with the same energy and same demand for precision.”

So Emmy went back to Beverly Hills and immersed herself in Bikram’s teachings and in the logic of his twenty-six-posture, ninety minute series. “The first time you do the twenty-six postures which cover a normal range of motion for just about anybody, they act as a diagnostic tool,” she explains. Even People with minimal body awareness are able to diagnose their own problem areas.Then with practice those same postures become therapeutic tools that reeducate your body and heightens the efficiency of its major systems.

Like any well chosen asana program, Bikarm Yoga is intended to tone the endocrine, lymphatic, and digestive systems, increase capillary blood flow and produce a strong, limber and comfortable musculoskeletal system.To attain the benefits of this series, though, the sequence of the postures is paramount which is why Emmy defends Bikram’s decision to copyright his method.

The efficacy of Bikram Yoga is made continually apparent to Emmy through the many therapeutic “miracles” she has witnessed in the thirty years she has taught it. What gives me such pleasure is that I am able to share this valuable thing, which has so much potential to better people’s lives and to heal whatever is not working for them,” Emmy says “That is the ultimate accomplishment of my life and will be to the end of it.”

A big thank you to Audrey Holst and Diane Ducharme Gardner for this wonderful content!

10 Reasons to Participate in the BYN 30 Day Challenge

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Challenge yourself to complete 30 classes in 30 days or 5 classes a week for 4 weeks.

We know its not easy, but committing to a regular practice is life changing and a challenge may be just the way to jump start your motivation! Signing up for the challenge is easy. Stop by the front desk to register or sign up online at https://bikramyoganairobi.com/byn2019challenge.

If you are a member you can take the challenge for free, top up if you would like to take the Transformation Challenge, or put your membership on hold.  

Once you register, for the Transformation Challenge you will receive weekly clean eating meal plans, support emails, measurement tracking sheets and access to a private Facebook/ WhatsApp group with the BYN staff, teachers and the director Karim. Still not convinced? Well, here are 10 more reasons you should join either challenge!

1.  Be Accountable

When you work with a group, or set a goal “publicly” it helps to keep our eye on the prize.  Let us know what your goals are and we will check in with you as the days go by.

2. Feel the benefits of a regular yoga practice
Use this challenge to jump start a regular practice!  The more you practice the better the results. 1-2x a week is maintenance. 3+ a week you will feel the benefits a lot quicker.  Get stronger, more flexible and reduce stress.  This practice will make you want to take care of your body more.  Because guess what? If you don’t you will feel it on the mat.  And that is okay.  This practice is not about the postures but about how you feel outside of the yoga studio too!

3. Its a great way to get started
Even if you have just started with us you can join this challenge.  Use these next 30 days to commit to the practice.  Dive in.  See what its all about.  Try different times, different teachers, different classes and see how they feel in your body and mind when you practice FREQUENTLY.

4, Create a long term habit
Once you commit to the next month, you very well may realise that you love the way it makes you feel…and why would you want to stop feeling great?!

5. Be a part of a community
You will be working with a group of like-minded people with similar goals in mind.  You will be able to see how everyone else is doing, share your frustrations, celebrate your victories…and hey, a little healthy competition isn’t a bad thing! Can you do this on your own? Of course you can, but your likelihood of success is amplified with just that bit of accountability and group dynamic!

6. Sleep better
You will.

7. Eat better
You will want to because when you don’t, you’ll feel it.

8. Take time for yourself
You deserve to take time for yourself.  And you may be surprised at how much more accomplished and focused you feel the rest of the day.  You know the routine in an airplane: you put your oxygen mask on first before you help others! Same in life.  Self care so you can be a better human in the world!

9. Feel accomplished
You know that great feeling you get when you cross something off your to-do list? There is just something about it! You will feel accomplished every time you get to check off another class that you have completed! You will be inspired by your own discipline.

10. Be a part of something bigger
People have been practicing yoga for a long time.  By practicing yoga you are part of a long lineage of folks who have found that yoga will make you feel energised and gain self knowledge.  It’s time tested.  We know it works. You will too!

For more information on the Challenge see:

https://bikramyoganairobi.com/30-day-yoga-and-transformation-challenge/

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5 reasons to replace a meal a day with a smoothie

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Smoothies have become awfully versatile over the years. In addition to being a succulent dessert and a post workout slam, they are also quite the photogenic model on social media.

But a smoothie’s talents don’t end there! The benefits contained in that blended bundle of goodness are so tremendous, that it is encouraged to replace 1 meal a day with a smoothie. That’s right, swap the eggs and bacon with a delicious blended delight and watch the magic happen.

So what is the secret behind smoothie greatness? How can you improve your smoothie-making skills? What ingredients should you use to maximize your smoothie experience?

Whether you’re new to smoothies and simply looking for the motivation to try, or you’re a smoothie master searching for some new ideas to blend with your own, you’ve come to the right place to get all your questions answered and more!

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WHY DRINK SMOOTHIES?

Maybe you’re comfortable with your eating habits. You like your granola, your sandwiches, your pastas and you have your occasional salad. Why switch it up now?

Smoothies can improve your health, your lifestyle and overall well being. And that’s just the beginning. I could go on all day listing the advantages! However, as you probably don’t have all day to weed through all there is to know, I will limit myself to the top 5.

#1. GET YOUR DAILY REQUIREMENT FOR FRUITS AND VEGETABLES IN ONE GLASS

Depending on your age and gender, you should be getting about 2 cups of fruits and vegetables a day. In today’s world full of fats, fried foods, salts, grains, meat, etc., achieving this goal can be harder than it seems.

But it becomes a lot easier when you can mix and match a couple servings in the blender and let them slide smoothly down your throat. Fresh produce you don’t even have to chew through and you can check the fruits and veggies right off your daily list!

#2. FAST AND EASY

We’ve all experienced kitchen disasters. Pork chops left long enough in the oven to bake to a blackened mess. Chicken soup so salty no amount of extra broth could save it. Carrot cake that’s a little more like carrot pudding than it was supposed to be.

But when the whole point of a recipe is to be a mess of ingredients blended into a delicious meal, you really can’t go wrong! You chop, you throw the ingredients in, you press go and viola! You’re good to go.

#3. PROMOTES WEIGHT LOSS

Most meals typically hit high on the calorie intake scale. This is why replacing one meal a day with a fruit-and-veggie-filled smoothie is a great way to get all the needed vitamins, minerals and fats and keep things low on the calorie scale!

Also, since your blender has already done half the work your body normally does during the digestive process, your body will thank you with a healthy digestive system and you can direct that extra energy towards other things!

#4. IMPROVED IMMUNE SYSTEM 

As much fun as it is to stay in all day watching Netflix from your pile of tissues, no one likes a cold.

You can keep sicknesses at bay by strengthening your immune system with blended fruits and vegetables high in vitamin C. And the money you saved from not having to pay for cough drops and doctor visits can be used for your smoothie ingredients!

#5. ENERGY SUPPLY

Food is fuel for the body. And the best kind of fuel is healthy carbohydrates, which you can get from the fruits and veggies in your daily smoothie!

Healthy carbohydrates can help regulate your energy as you need it throughout the day, which can help get rid of those mid-afternoon crashes.

GREEN VS. FRUIT VS. PROTEIN SMOOTHIES

Now that we’ve talked about the benefits, lets get into the technicalities of a smoothie. No two smoothies are the same and each one speaks to specific needs. Some common smoothie types are green smoothies, fruit smoothies and protein smoothies.

GREEN SMOOTHIES

Green smoothies are a combination of leafy greens and fruits. They are also generally dairy free with juice or water as the liquid base.

A green smoothie is a great choice of daily blended delight, because dark, leafy greens are about the most healthy things you can find on earth. Although you can get your greens in salad form, you’re a lot more likely to consume those much needed portions when they can be sipped instead of crunched.

FRUIT SMOOTHIES

Fruit smoothies have a liquid base of water, juice or milk, mixed with – you guessed it – fruit! This smoothie can be a meal replacement or an afternoon energy boost, but most often it’s a tasty offering to satisfy that sweet tooth.

If you’re looking for an smoothie for your daily routine, this may not be your best choice. Because fruits contain so much sugar, fruit smoothies can give you more than your wanted calories and also spike your blood sugar. But if you’re looking for a healthy dessert option, then a fruit smoothie is definitely the way to go!

PROTEIN SMOOTHIES

A protein smoothie is a blend of fruits and veggies high in protein. It’s also common to add a protein powder to give it an extra boost. This is a great option for a meal replacement, because protein is a lot of what your body looks for in a meal.

A great time for a protein smoothie is right after a work out. Your body can use the help rebuilding muscles, which they need protein to do. Protein smoothies are also a great option right before bed and right after you wake up. Your body could put the protein to good use by building up for or recovering from those 8 hours without food!

HOW TO MAKE THE PERFECT MEAL REPLACEMENT SMOOTHIE 

1) Pick Your Greens

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First thing’s first; you need a few good handfuls of greens. If you’ve been blending for a while, you probably have your favourites, but if you’re just starting out, consider a mild green like baby spinach or collard greens.

These two greens provide ample amounts of vitamins and nutrients, which will keep your immune system buzzing, but tend to blend up almost tastelessly with other ingredients.

2) Pick Your Fruits

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Again, if you’ve been blending for awhile, you know what you like, but if you’re just starting out, consider a few low sugar fruits that taste delicious, but won’t spike your blood glucose. (A steady blood sugar is the key to all-day energy,)

A few low sugar fruits include: Strawberries, raspberries, green apples, lemons, limes, blueberries, and melon.

Use about 1 – 2 servings of fruit in your smoothie (a serving is about a half cup of smaller fruits, or one whole medium fruit like an apple or orange).

Even though bananas aren’t typically classified as “low sugar,” they make a great, creamy base for smoothies (and also provide magnesium and potassium), so consider having a few frozen pieces of banana on hand to add to the mix!

3) Pick Your Protein Supplement

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Protein powder is one of the easiest, quickest ways to increase the amount of healthy protein in your smoothie. If you’ve never used protein powder before, we recommend starting with an organic, Hemp protein. Hemp protein is one of the easier protein powders to digest, blends well into most smoothies, and is often low in fat and calories.

Start with one tablespoon of hemmp protein, and slowly increase to two tablespoons (or one full scoop) depending on your tastes and energy levels.

If protein powder isn’t for you, consider adding three tablespoons of nuts (cashews and almonds work great), a half cup of plain, unflavoured greek yogurt, two tablespoons of flaxseed or hemp seed, or a half cup of rolled oats. While these options aren’t as low in fat and calories as hemp protein, the fat they do contain is good-for-you fat, and works to keep you satisfied for hours.

4) Pick Your Superfood

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At this stage, you should pretty much have everything you need to turn your green smoothie into a meal replacement, but there’s no harm in adding a teaspoon or two of your favorite superfood!

Superfoods like moringa powder and maca root powder are great additions if you want a little extra energy.

Camu camu or baobab powder are fantastic for boosting the antioxidant and vitamin C content.

Cacao, lucuma and cinnamon add a touch of sweetness without any extra sugar, as well as a pop of anti-inflammatory goodness.

Green algae like chlorella or spirulina will help boost your immune system.

Whatever superfood you choose, start with a teaspoon, and then add a little more over time depending on your personal tastes.

If you’re new to the world of superfoods, we sell Organic Superfoods from Mynawiri, the Kenyan Superfood Company that includes Spirulina, Moringa, Baobab and Neem powder.

5) Choose your liquid

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What do you want to use as liquid for your meal replacement shake? Good, old fashioned clean water is always an option! If the ingredients you add are flavorful and creamy enough, then sometimes water will do the job just fine. If you’re looking for something a little more dense than water, then we would suggest the following:

  • Almond milk. Preferably unsweetened. If you have some time on your hands, you can even make almond milk yourself!

  • Coconut milk. You can get this from a carton like almond milk, from a can, or the best option would be to make your own by blending the coconut flesh with the coconut water. Go for unsweetened versions, with as few fillers and additional ingredients as possible.

  • Hemp milk. Seems to be trending these days and is a good, nutrient-rich option.

  • Flax Milk. Contains a similar nutrient ratio as almond milk and tastes just as good. Opt for unsweetened if possible.

  • Coconut water: Another great option that is rich with electrolytes and great for hydration.

How much liquid should you include in your smoothie? Generally 1-2 cups is plenty, but you can always add more if needed for consistency.

Blend everything together.

How eating healthy makes you feel better about yourself

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Yoga consists of more than bending, twisting and turning yourself upside down. Many yogis study the eight limbs of yoga as a guide to a living a meaningful and purposeful life. Although this eight-fold path offers strategies to teach you how to manage your physical and mental energy, it doesn’t go into much detail about how to feed your body. The sage Patanjali codified the eight-fold path in the Yoga Sutras — but it was written at least 1,700 years ago. Needless to say, a lot has changed — including how we eat.

Ultimately, a yoga diet plan means being mindful in your choices and selecting foods to help you feel most connected to your yoga practice. Your diet should provide you with ample energy and nutrients; some practitioners also choose a diet that matches their moral commitment to yogic teachings and respect for the planet and its beings.

General Rules to Live By

If you eat a cheeseburger, fries, pizza, milkshake or pint of beer before you practice, chances are you’re not going to feel great. You don’t have to swing your meal pendulum so far in the other direction, though, that you subsist only on kale, green smoothies and raw walnuts. Think of your yoga diet as consisting mostly of fresh, unprocessed foods that are nourishing and satisfying.

Follow a few guidelines when designing a diet to match your yogi lifestyle:

  • Choose foods that are light and easily digested

  • Eat a majority of your foods lightly cooked or raw

  • Go for stable cooking oils and fats, such as coconut oil or clarified butter (ghee)

  • Be conscious of the ingredients you’re putting into your body

  • Stop eating when you feel satisfied, but not stuffed

     

Is Vegetarianism Required?

Some yogis take the directive of ahimsa, or non-harming, to mean eating animals is forbidden. Ahimsa is one of the niyamas, a moral teaching of how you interact with the outside world that falls under the first limb of yoga. Yogis, as a whole, are often conscious about the environment and modern factory farming, and may refrain from eating animals to support their moral beliefs.

A yoga diet doesn’t have to be vegan or vegetarian. Some well-known yogis, including the late B.K.S. Iyengar, felt strongly that a vegetarian diet supported a yogic way of being. Other more modern yogis, including Bikram Choudhury and Ana Forrest, feel that honoring your body’s needs should come first and foremost. If you find that giving up meat leaves you listless and nutritionally deficient, you must consider the harm you’re doing to yourself by denying certain foods.

Ultimately, the choice to eat meat is one you must make on your own. If you feel connected to vegetarianism or veganism and it helps you feel as if you’re taking the principles of yoga off your mat, then by all means — eat this way. But, don’t feel like you can’t be an authentic yogi if you eat otherwise. Just be mindful in your choices; that is the definition of a yogi.

If you do choose a vegetarian diet, ensure you still get plenty of nutritious foods and all necessary nutrients, including calcium, protein and omega 3 fats. It’s possible to avoid animal products, but not eat a healthy or energy-supporting diet. Chips, cereal bars and soda may be vegetarian, but they aren’t going to maximize your practice. Beans, nuts, soy protein, fresh vegetables, whole grains, seeds and fruits are nourishing ways to support a healthy vegetarian body.

A Typical Day

Every yogi is different in constitution and belief, so no one diet works for everyone. However, foods to include that maximize your energy, facilitate healthy digestion and provide optimal nutrition are:

  • Fresh leafy greens: spinach, kale, watercress, chard

  • Fresh vegetables: zucchini, broccoli, tomatoes, green beans

  • Fresh fruit: berries, apples, citrus, melon

  • Plain nuts: almonds, walnuts, macadamias

  • Vegan protein: tofu, tempeh, seitan

  • Vegetarian protein: eggs, dairy

  • Whole grains: brown rice, barley, quinoa

  • Healthy fats: coconut oil, avocado, flaxseed oil

If you do choose to include meat and poultry, select humanely raised options.

Breakfast might include whole-grain bread with peanut butter and fresh strawberries; at lunch, have a large green salad topped with seared tofu, sunflower seeds, avocado and olive oil dressing. Dinner options include corn tortillas wrapped around black beans, onions and green peppers. In between, snack on nuts and dried or fresh fruit.

Defining Healthy Eating

Healthy eating is often equated with dieting, but the two are different. A healthy diet includes all the food groups, doesn’t feel like deprivation and should be sustainable for life. To improve your diet, replace refined grains with whole grains such as brown rice, oatmeal or whole-grain bread. Opt for low or nonfat dairy products, choose lean cuts of meat and include fruits and vegetables in every meal. Avoid foods that are high in fat, sodium and sugar. Become familiar with your body’s cues. Eat when you are hungry, not because you have a craving. If you’re unsure if it’s just a craving, drink a glass of water and wait 10 minutes before you eat.

Turkeys and Tryptophan

A lot of chemistry goes into the maintenance of a positive mood. An amino acid called tryptophan helps your body produce another compound — serotonin — which plays a role in restful sleep and a stable mood. Tryptophan is found in protein foods including cheese, poultry, eggs, fish, meat, soy products and milk. Tryptophan is an essential amino acid, meaning you have to get it from your diet. Iron, vitamin B-6 and riboflavin are also necessary for tryptophan to work properly.

Steady Energy

You rush out the door and forget to eat breakfast. By noon, you are hungry and shaky and feel irritable, confused and anxious. You are experiencing symptoms of hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar. Your body and your brain rely on a type of sugar called glucose for energy. When you eat irregularly or make poor food choices, your blood sugar spikes and crashes and you feel miserable. Eating regular, healthy meals and snacks will give you all-day energy and will help elevate your mood.

Diverse Diet

The Mental Health Foundation reports that two-thirds of individuals who claim to have no mental health problems eat fresh fruits or fruit juices every day. Fewer than half of those who reported mental health problems enjoyed fresh produce. Similar trends were seen with vegetables, whole grains and meals made from scratch. Although you can’t blame mental health issues on diet, there does seem to be a correlation between eating well and overall positivity. To promote good mental health, the Mental Health Foundation recommends a nutrient-dense diet focused on whole foods. Avoid processed and packaged foods as much as possible.

Energy for Enjoyment

Eating well gives you the energy you need to take care of other aspects of your life such as professional development and family relationships. A healthy diet may improve your mood simply because you are able to derive more pleasure from life. With a well-fueled body and mind, you’ll also be better equipped to deal with the inevitable stresses of life.

 

Bikram Yoga Diet Plan

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Started in the 1970’s by Bikram Choudhury, Bikram yoga or Hot yoga is considered to be one of the most intense forms of yoga present. The Bikram yoga routine consists of 26 postures or yoga asanas performed in a room heated to 105 degrees for over ninety minutes.

The principle behind the practice of Bikram yoga is that the heat increases the detoxification of the body through excessive sweating that takes place.

Since warmer muscles can burn more calories, Bikram yoga is an excellent type of yoga for weight loss. A single session of Bikram yoga can burn up to a whopping 600 to 1500 calories. Needless to say this amount will depend upon how much effort you put into each class and how strong your poses are.

In order to maximize the benefits of Bikram yoga, a diet change is recommended (though not imperative). If you want to see results faster, it would be better to change your diet for hot yoga. While there is no specific Bikram yoga diet plan, there are general guidelines about what to eat before and after a Bikram yoga class as well as what food is beneficial when practicing this form of yoga. These include:

  • Eat several small light meals throughout the day instead of three heavy ones.

  • Make sure that your meals consist of some form of protein and whole grains to keep energy levels up.

  • Keep your consumption of fatty foods, caffeine, refined sugar and dairy products to a minimum.

  • Many people insist that their digestion changes after practicing Bikram yoga for a while. Spicy foods and junk foods now sit heavily in the stomach and are no longer as enjoyable as before making weight loss and calorie control a whole lot easier.

  • What you can eat before a Bikram yoga class differs from person to person. Some people feel more energetic in class if they have eaten a small nutritious snack or some fruit an hour or so before class. Others insist that they can only practice on an empty stomach or if they keep a gap of four hours or more between their last meal and their yoga class. After a few sessions of your own, you will know what works best for your body.

  • Bikram yoga tends to make you ravenous. After a class it would be better to keep on hand some healthy energy boosters such as nuts or a banana or some fresh fruit or vegetable juice.

  • As you continue your practice of Bikram yoga you will become more attuned with your body and begin to differentiate between actual hunger pangs and eating out of boredom or for emotional reasons.

  • A lot of people believe that Bikram yoga demands a vegetarian diet. This is not true though you may benefit from switching to leaner meats such as chicken or turkey over beef or pork. The main goal of a Bikram yoga diet is to provide the proper nutrition and help the body maximize its capability.

  • An ideal Bikram yoga food plan would involve meals that are unprocessed and devoid of harmful additives and other chemicals. Try to buy mainly organic produce and include lots of fresh fruits and vegetables into your diet.

  • The most important addition to any Bikram yoga diet is water. It is absolutely necessary to drink at least two to three liters of water a day to stay hydrated and balance out electrolyte levels in the body. Some Bikram yoga teachers encourage students to drink at least a liter of water before a session.

Bikram Yoga Diet Tips

  • For the best results, try and make at least three classes a week or ten classes a month. Bikram yoga teachers insist that this is the minimum amount of sessions needed to reap the benefits of this dynamic yoga. If you can do more classes, aim for five days a week and watch how your body gets transformed. These classes have to be complimented with a proper diet recommended by your yoga practitioner.

  • Keep in mind that weight loss with Bikram yoga is a gradual process and therefore you will have to keep to the diet for a longer time.

  • Always consult your doctor before beginning Bikram yoga classes or any diet plan. The rigors of Bikram yoga may not suit everyone and it is better to get the all clear from yoru doctor before committing to any number of classes.

Bikram Yoga Diet Benefits

  • Burning between 600 to 1500 calories per session

  • Improving the lymphatic system and helping flush the body of toxins

  • Improving metabolism and making weight loss easier

  • Lessening unhealthy food cravings

  • Treating any digestive problems

  • Building muscle tone

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