Self Care – Self Love

Only way to be in good health and great shape and take care of others is to take care of oneself. So self care comes first. It is not evident today and was not evident with earlier generations either. Mothers and fathers have been sacrificing their health and life for the good of their children. Workers and employees have been asked to give their best to the company. In general, we have been conditioned to work and do things for others, for the common good. Taking care of oneself first is to been seen something selfish. Well, it is not. Learning a healthy and loving way to take care of oneself is the best thing parents can do or give to their children. Children learn to respect and take care of themselves, and that way better contribute to the common good and wellbeing of whole the world.

I have been learning and practising the art of self care since my burnout around 7 years ago. With yoga and ayurveda I got up from the deep bottom of it, learned caring and loving myself a little bit, learned ayurvedic way to cleanse the body and eat better food more suitable for my body-mind constitution. Then I started learning and practising modern nutritional science and integral medicine, and about 4 years ago I started supplementing and optimising my daily nutritional intake. That made a huge difference. I have been following the path and step by step it is leading me forward.

One of the holistic and integral physicians I follow is Dwight L. McKee, MD, board certified in medical oncology, hematology, nutrition, and integrative and holistic medicine.  According to Dr McKee the healthy diet and optimal nutritional supplements are essential for health and wellbeing, but there are many other things, he says. Exercise, stress management, sleep, mental attitude and emotions are matters we can take into our control. There are things like social and environmental exposure and biorhythms that have an effect on us too. Also physical and electric connections to our planet Earth have an effect on us. Think where you spend your time and how it makes you feel. And finally, Love. According to a study he sited, the biggest cause of death (in the US, but very likely all over the modern world), before the cardiovascular diseases and cancer etc, is loneliness. He also says that gratitude is a fundamental attitude for healing.

It does make sense. So, learning to take care of oneself is the biggest sign of self-love. And we need self-love to be able to receive love from others. And give love back to others.

Stay tuned for more and what is coming during the fall!

 

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Start planning 2018….

New Year – New You?

Most people are in the midst of preparing for the Holiday Season and the End of the Year 2017. Busy planning get-togethers with families, friends, loved-ones, presents, menus, where to be and with whom, . But who is thinking beyond all that? After the holiday season there is very often a void that comes, with a hang-over of some sort for many. So how about planning the beginning of the New Year already, so it does not hit as a surprise…

We have a group getting together for different aspects of New Year – New You. Get in touch if you want to know more.

 

Summer. Time over.

The Summer 2017 is almost over and it is time to get back to the normal life. For different people it is about different things, of course. For some of us it is a big change, with back-to-school routines, getting up very erly and going, or at least trying to go to bed early. Some parents take it as a relief when their children will be back to school, while the children may not be so excited about it.  And then again,  for some of us this period is merely about the end of one season and beginning of another.

When the season changes, like now from summer to fall, Ayurveda recommends cleansing of the body. This way the pitta (fire) of the summer is cleansed away and body prepared to face the vata (wind) of the fall and then later the kapha (earth, heavy moist) of the winter. With easier terms, we should cleanse our intestines and that way improve the immune system to cope with those seasonal flus and colds. If this sounds interesting to you, do take a look of this post about fall detox.

Yoga Schedule as from September: 

Wednesday evening: 19.30-21.00 @ Avenue Bel-Air 81, 1180 Uccle
Saturday morning: 10.00-12.00 @ Inspiration Yoga, rue Alphonse Renard 55, 1050 Ixelles

Fees continue the same. However, for the whole season, from September until Christmas, the special rate is 195€. It includes 15 weekly classes of 90min. For the Saturday meditation, the additional fee of 5€ per session, or 60€ for whole the season.

Office yoga and private appointments are always possible. And in case you are ready for deeper changes, consider now starting to Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life…. 

Yoga with Sandra Sabatini and Michal Havkin… 

The Early Bird rate is extended until 07/09…  click below for more information:

A weekend of yoga with Sandra Sabatini and Michal Havkin, December 8th -10th, 2017

Proudly presenting: A Friendly Approach to Our Body, Our Practice

A weekend of yoga with Sandra Sabatini and Michal Havkin, December 8th -10th, 2017

* Last Days for the Early Bird Rate (until 31/8)*

“While practising yoga do not kill the instinct of the body for the glory of the pose….. adopt a friendly approach toward it. Watch it, listen to it, observe its needs, its requests and even have fun. Play with it as children do, sometimes it becomes very alert and swift. To be sensitive is to be alive.” – Vanda Scaravelli

The weekend of yoga with Sandra Sabatini and Michal Havkin will offer us a practice that help us to be more sensitive towards our body. We will become more aware and awaken while practising. The benefits will be immense with letting go and being gentle to ourselves. The unfolding of the body will go along with the unfolding of the breath supported by slow and meditative approach.

Schedule:
Friday 08 December, 18h-20h30
Saturday 09 December, 9h30-12h30 &15h-18h
Sunday 10 December, 9h30-12h30

Registrations: katariinayogi@gmail.com

The tuition fees are 230€ for the weekend (early bird rate 210€ by 31st August)

More information: http://katariinayoga.eu/events/a-friendly-approach-to-our-body-our-practice/

Spring detox time

Spring detox time in the air…

It is still cold and moist, but spring is definitely just around the corner. Just see and feel the light, and hear the birds singing before the sunrise. And if you still do not believe it, do double-check your calendar…

If you dont take care of your body, who will?

Detoxing the body twice a year is practice in Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine. It is being proposed more and more also by so-called modern medicine, from doctors and nutritionists practicing integral medicine, holistic medicine and nutritional medicine, etc approaches that consider the body as one complex mechanism where the intestine is the base for the health.

Why should you detox or cleanse? Do you feel tired or stiff or crappy or do you suffer allergies? These are just a few reasons to cleanse the body. For more insight, do click here for my last blog on Spring Cleaning.  In addition, the video here below shows different intestines. NB some images are shocking.

Sunday Workshop: Yoga and Spring Detox on 12 March

Spring is the time for detox, getting rid of the old and preparing for the new  This should be done inside and outside to prepare your body and mind for the new season.

On Sunday 12 March, join us for this workshop on Yoga and Spring Detox. We’ll practice yoga to support the digestion and cleansing of the system.

You will also learn about different ways to do the cleansing in the body and intestine. A Spring detox group will start soon. If you decide to join the group, we will talk about modalities.

Read here more and register. 

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Soup a day keeps the doctor away…

Increasing the amount of vegetables and fruits on your meals is a simple way to lighten the daily plate. Choosing organic produce maximizes the benefits to your body and digestion. You do it to be healthier, right? The pesticides, herbicides and other toxic stuff in our food are harmful, and not only keep the vitamins and minerals from not assimilating into the body, but they also kill the enzymes and good bacteria in the fresh veggies and fruits. We need these enzymes and bacteria to keep our intestines healthy. Increasing the share of vegetables on the plate is also detoxifying for the body. The vitamins and minerals help our digestive tract and whole body to cleanse and get healthier.

Juicing is a delicious way to maximize the intake of veggies and fruits. It is not the only one, however. Many people have difficulties digesting raw vegetables and fruits. Have you ever noticed gas and bloating after having a salad, especially during the chilly and windy days? Do you get a runny nose the day after having eaten raw vegetables? For people with digestive troubles, allergies, intolerancies etc, like myself, raw veggies and fruits may cause more harm than benefits. In these cases, the best way is souping.  It is so simple to eat up a kilo of veggies as a soup.

Veggie soup a day keeps the doctor away… I challenge you to make a soup a day for a month and see what happens. You are very welcome to give related feedback here below.

Two soups, almost same ingredients:

2 broccolis
2 stalks of leek
4-6 carrots
1 big or 2 small parsnips
turmeric powder, cumin (jeera) powder, coriander seed powder, fenugreek
chunk of ginger
black pepper
rock salt or sea salt
water
coconut oil
fresh herbs of your liking (basil, parsley, coriander, mint..)

How to proceed?

Wash/rinse the vegetables. Peel the parsnips, stalks of broccolis
and carrots, if needed. For carrots, sometimes just a scrub is enough. Chop or slice the veggies. Boil water.

Parsnips-leek-broccoli

In a mid-size pot, heat a tablespoon of coconut oil and add the 1-2 teaspoons of each curcuma, jeera, coriander seed powder and a dash of fenugreek, and chopped ginger. Heat the spices 1-2 minutes on med-high temperature to bring out the aroma.

Add the leeks first, toss around until they soften a bit, then add parnisps and toss around with spices. Cover the pot with a lid and allow simmer about 5 minutes.

Last add the broccolis and toss around so that all the pieces get a covered with the spices, maybe for a 1-2 minutes. Last, add hot water, just to cover the veggies. Bring to boil and then simmer about 7-10 minutes.  Puree to make a creamy soup or leave into chunks. Garnish with fresh herbs and enjoy.

Carrot-leek-broccoli soup

In a mid-size pot, heat a tablespoon of coconut oil and add the 1-2 teaspoons of each curcuma, jeera, coriander seed powder and a dash of fenugreek, and chopped ginger. Heat the spices 1-2 minutes on med-high temperature to bring out the aroma.

Add the leeks first, toss around until they soften a bit, then add carrots and toss around with spices. Cover the pot with a lid and allow simmer about 7-8 minutes.

Last add the broccolis and toss around so that all the pieces get a covered with the spices, maybe for a 1-2 minutes. Last, add hot water, just to cover the veggies. Bring to boil and then simmer about 7-10 minutes.  Puree to make a creamy soup or leave into chunks. Garnish with fresh herbs, and enjoy.

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Count the energy, not the calories

After the busy holiday period there is very often need for time to calm down and lighten the menu from delicacies and treats to something easier to digest. Some people choose to do a period of diet or even detox.

The conventional diets tend to consist of simply eating less and maybe moving more, doing heavy sports. Most of the times these diets fail. Those extra kilos or pounds do go away for the time of less eating, but they return very fast after the eating goes back to normal. Additionally, during that diet many people tend to feel tired and crappy, even get unwell and catch virus. The first reason is that the body needs energy to move and function properly. If you start to move more, your body requires more energy. If the body does not have the energy it needs, it goes on savings mode, holding on to the kilos.

Secondly, calories really do not equal energy. We can be eating and counting calories, but these calories may be empty. The real energy that our body needs comes from good real nutrition; macronutrients (fats, carbs, proteins, fiber..) and micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, enzymes…).

Instead of calories, we should be counting nutrition, vitamins and minerals, that is where the real energy comes from. So, switch for a short period from carbs to an overload of organic veggies and see and feel the difference. The recommended daily dose of fresh veggies and fruits is minimum of half a kilo or about one pound, so an nice megadose would be close to one kilo, or 2 pounds.

Count the energy, not calories

Fruits and veggies are low in calories, high in vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, and fiber. Experts suggest that we eat 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables daily. When you are detoxing or seriously trying to lose weight, keep the daily fruits maximum on two servings.

Eating that much of fresh fruits and vegetables on a daily basis is difficult for many people, including myself. I can reach that amount when juicing or souping. Juicing for me is only a rare treat, due to the fact that I do not digest raw veggies and fruits well. So I make soups as often as I can, and take my vitamins, minerals, enzymes and omega-3 fatty acids daily as supplements.

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Happy Holidays!

Thank You All for this year 2016.

Looking forward to seeing you again in January. In 2017, Let’s Make the Rest of Our Life the Best of Our Life ❤

Get ready for yoga to begin the year, and order your yoga pass already in advance to benefit a special rate. Check here the yoga-fees-2017

 

 

 

 

Changes changes…

The year 2016 is approaching the end, and it is time to reflect the past and think about the future. Turning the page to 2017 may feel like a brand new start. How will your year 2017 be? How would you like it to be? It will be what you make out of it.

Those good resolution will last if we commit to them. For sure, there will be sliding and steps back, who said it is easy? But real commitment means we do not give up after some falling back, but continue forward. Good things do not come easy, they take time and patience and are worth it. Imagine new year and new you and keep that image in your mind.

Adding yoga, health and wellbeing to those resolutions is always beneficial and helps balance the busy or hectic life. Maybe you are looking to make the rest of your life the best of your life, or just adding some yoga and self-time… Instead of buying things as presents, give vouchers for good time, experiences and health. Remember yourself when giving presents.

Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life

If you are looking into making changes in your life, take a look of the Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life. There is still place in the pilot group. A good present idea for yourself or a dear person??

Thursday Morning Yoga at Inspiration Yoga from January 12th

Morning yoga class moves to Inspiration Studio in January 2017. First class there will take place after the holiday break, on January 12th. Time will change slightly, class starts at 10.30hrs and ends 12.00hrs. Looking forward to welcoming you there :).

On-line class payments from January onwards

In order to facilitate the organisation of the classes, there will be on-line reservation system from the January onwards.

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Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life

How are you feeling today? Good, well, average, crap? When you think about it, what are the things that make you feel better? Have you thought about that? Did you have a good night of deep sleep? Was your breakfast tasty, or at least nourishing? Are you happy or at least content of your daily life? Are there things you wish you could change?

Would you like to make the rest of your life the best of your life?

I am looking a group of 5-10 people to participate to the pilot phase of my new programme called Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life.

In brief, this programme is about what can we do together to make it happen for you. I can be your coach or guide, but the actual work is up to you. I have a wide variety of “tools” in my toolbox, including such as yoga, modern nutrition, and ayurveda. In addition I work together with other specialists in so-called alternative health. During the first session we discuss and scan your situation. Based on this I suggest you a plan, and then we decide about the rest.

If you are interested, contact me through the contact form or drop me an email to katariinayogi@gmail.com