The Minimalist Yogi

I believe that every morning has so much potential; early morning is a powerful and sacred time for personal ritual and practice that can carry you through your whole day. But also, a good nigh sleep makes for the best mornings; when I am well rested I feel that I am more in tuned with the start of the day, more grounded and connected.  Establishing a morning ritual, or routine can make each  morning less unpleasant and more exciting, over time and slowly these practices  can become ingrain. Every morning I like to dedicate at least 6 10 minutes to  yoga, depending on the day I am leaving the house be it at 5:30 am or 7am, I  modify the sequence to accommodate for the day. On days where my morning starts  at 4:50 am I dedicate at least 5-6 minutes of morning to a Surya Namaskara A  and B, or a simple flow that integrates it simple sun salutation. Whereas, on  days where I have leave late in the morning I dedicate at least ...

Exploring this flow for while now, I've done some version of it, but still not completely satisfied, but here is a version I've done yesterday. Majority of this flow consists of hip openers which has a lot of benefits. According to San Francisco vinyasa teacher Stephanie Snyder we hold stress and negative emotions—such as fear, guilt, and sadness—in our pelvis. For this reason alone, Snyder believes it’s particularly important to do poses that move prana (life force) through  that area.  But before going ahead trying the flow few things to keep in mind, take your time with opening your hips, because hip ligaments are strong, and DON'T PUSH yourself. Be aware of your breathing and and your knees. If you have any knee issues like I do modify the poses, props to help you as you can see that I use a yoga block while doing the split to protect my knees. Lastly, before starting you might be a little tense depending on when was your last practice, so lubricate your join...

Happy hump day everyone! today I had my first day of summer course of Political Science; which I thought was going to be a a whole class, but instead we just talked about the course' objective, and the importance of partisan government. So, my hump day is very lay back.  Lately I've been challenging myself and trying to advance my yoga ability by trying poses that i find challenging or difficult to accomplish. So far everything is going good, one of the biggest challenge has to be doing a headstand; which I am close to conquering perhaps in another month with more practice I'll be able to do it. One that I found annoying to do was the Peacock pose mainly not because it's difficult to do, but because it literally hurts your stomach and arms. Regardless I think it's one of those easy poses that any person is capable of doing.  Here are some of the poses that i've been trying lately. Also here is a video of how to do the peacock pose.  How to do Mayurasa...

                        Its the last day of the tofu challenge and I must say I am still craving more tofu!!! regardless I think this challenge really delineated how a simple ingredient such as  tofu can be made into many delicious and beautiful dishes. This last dish was a last minute thing that I did after coming from a yoga class and feeling like I haven't eaten anything for days. Its really simple and it took less than 30 minutes to cook. Also if you guys have any ideas for challenges let me know, give me the key ingredient and i'll make magic out of it.  Ingredients:  -1 firmed tofu  -1 red tomato (seedless)  -3 green onions - 1/2 tbsp mustard seeds  -1 tbsp salt  -1 tbsp  grounded  tamarind  -1 tbsp olive oil  -2 tbsp balsamic vinegar  -Spinach Steps:  1. Chop or dice vegetables and tofu into squares or desirables shapes.  2. Preheat ...