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Displaying items by tag: Manduka

Wednesday, 06 December 2017 12:55

Lighten Your Load & Travel SuperLite this Summer

Essentials for a fabulous summer holiday - Manduka's eKO SuperLite Travel Yoga Mat, the great outdoors, hat, swimsuit, water bottle, sunblock & towel! 

Gift for your beautiful self, or family & friends.

Exceptional for traveling – folds to fit in any travel bag.

Surface texture offers superior grip, even with light perspiration.

Tightly woven scrim resists tearing or stretching.

Closed cell design will not absorb bacteria.

Made from non-Amazon harvested, natural tree rubber.

No PVC, toxic plasticizers or harmful dyes.

99% latex free, weight 1kg.

Two colours - Midnight Blue & Thunder Grey NZ$85

Go to Shop / Yoga Mats 

https://www.yogalign.co.nz/shop/yoga-mats

 

Friday, 15 September 2017 11:09

Are You Eating Ethical Chocolate?

Sweet tooth causes mass deforestation in Africa

A farmer holds an open cocoa pod at his farm in Anyama, Ivory Coast. 

West Africa's Ivory Coast has lost 80% of its rainforest as a result of a worldwide demand for chocolate. 

 

The ever-growing chocolate industry is having disastrous effects on Ivory Coast’s protected rainforest. Throughout the West African country, national parks are rapidly being deforested to make way for cocoa plants. These illegal beans are then mixed with legal ones and sold to big chocolate brands including Nestlé, Herschel and Mars, reports The Guardian.

With 40% of the world’s cocoa originating from Ivory Coast, it’s no surprise that since 1960 the country’s rainforest has reduced by over 80%. Where rainforest initially covered a quarter of Ivory Coast, it now covers less than 4%. This has severe repercussions on wildlife and plant species, presenting a gloomy outlook for the future; environmental group Mighty Earth estimate that by 2030 Ivory Coast will have no rainforest left at all.

Ethical issues also surround the illegal deforestation, wherein local farmers and residents lose their precious forest for chocolate bars they cannot afford to buy.

In light of the recent revelations, Nestlé issued a statement declaring they regard deforestation as “one of the most serious environmental challenges facing the world.” Chief Sustainability officer at Mars, Barry Parkin, agreed with his competitor: “Sustainable cocoa is too big a challenge for any one company to address,” he said. “That is why we are partnering with others in the industry to try and drive change at a global scale.”

Along with Herschel, the two chocolate businesses said they intend to sustainably source 100% of their cocoa by 2020.

 

Thursday, 31 August 2017 16:19

Blossom this Spring starting with a Detox!

Normally I'm not one for detoxing as the body does an amazing job constantly! But after a fabulous holiday which included much over indulging I feel like I'm going to give my liver and other organs a helping hand to start the Spring Season with a little more vitality and energy.

I like the following guideline from MBG by Tiffany Cruikshank and decided that I would be more likely to follow through if I had a plan :) 

After an inspiring evening from Dr Libby Weaver last night, I purchased her Bio Blends www.bioblends.co.nz Liver Love, and I shall use Welleco's www.welleco.com.au Alkalising Greens and Protein Powder and the Detoxify Tea Blend from www.wellingtonapothecary.co.nz. So modify the following plan from Tiffany Cruikshank www.yogaglo.com as you need to and join me! Take it away Tiffany ...


Below is my 7 day detox, I recommend reading it through and tweaking it a little to fit your lifestyle if you need to. Remember anything you do will be helpful but try to make a plan that you can stick to. The most important items I recommend are doing the smoothies, not eating after 7pm, trying to keep dinner smaller than breakfast & lunch and the Gymnema is key for the sugar cravings and balancing the blood sugar so you feel better in the process.   

7 Day Detox

Yes: Veggies, fruit, nuts, water and plenty of fresh, organic, local produce

No: Sugar, alcohol, caffeine, gluten, dairy, soy, eggs, peanuts, artificial sweeteners

Water: Half your body weight in ounces daily 

Day 1-2 & 6-7:

  • 7-8am: smoothie
  • 10-11am: snack
  • 12-1pm: steamed veggies & nuts for lunch with olive oil, lemon and sea salt
  • 3-4pm: snack
  • 6-7pm: smoothie

Day 3-5:

  • 7-8am: smoothie
  • 10-11am: snack
  • 12-1pm: smoothie
  • 3-4pm: snack
  • 6-7pm: smoothie

Snacks: a piece of fruit & nuts, celery & almond butter, snap peas & nuts, rice crackers & hummus, plain rice cake with almond butter, steamed veggies & nuts, avocado with sea salt, even just a few nuts will do if you don’t have time to plan ahead 

Simple Smoothie:

  • Fresh or frozen fruit (½ a banana or ¼ avocado make a good creamy base)
  • Veggies (pick 2-4:spinach, cucumber, kale, chard, collard, fennel, celery, carrot, parsley, mint, avocado, etc- careful with some of those if you don’t have a heavy duty blender like a Vitamix)
  • Handful of hemp seeds, almonds or walnuts
  • 2 scoops Mediclear Plus protein powder by Thorne
  • Water to desired consistency (maybe half coconut water)
  • Greens powder supplement (Earth’s Promise, Vitamineral Greens, Greens First or Paleogreens)

With Meals (optional): Liver-GI Detox by Pure Encapsulations 1 pill 3xs a day with meals/smoothies, Gymnema Sylvestre 400-1000mg 3xs a day with meals/smoothies (to help balance the blood sugar and eliminate sugar cravings), B complex 100 by NOW with lunch (for an energy boost) 

Yoga: 3-6 times/week & meditate at least 10 minutes a day 

The supplements, greens & protein powder above are available for purchase online, just Google them.   

I love this detox because it is really simple (not easy) and if you’re busy and don’t have a lot of time to cook and prepare food this detox is for you. If you drink a lot of coffee take a week to ween off prior to the detox don’t just go cold turkey. The gymnema will help a lot with the food cravings & appetite and will help regulate the blood sugar so you feel better during the detox.   

Since you won’t be spending as much time cooking or eating out, try to keep it simple and enjoy your down time even if it’s brief. Feel free to modify this detox as you need to (make it longer/shorter, easier/harder, etc), doing part of it is better than nothing at all. 

When you’re finished you can continue on the day 1& 2 regimen as long as you like if you’re feeling good. I find that I get hooked on it and like to continue it this way for a while and maybe take a day off here and there to have a glass of wine from time to time.   

Happy Detoxing!  

Thursday, 24 August 2017 15:42

Breath Your Way to a Pain-Free Life with YogAlign

Most of the ‘breakdowns’ and chronic pain patterns in the human body occur in the joints. When you change alignment patterns, joints are no longer compressed and misaligned, so the real healing by the body itself can happen on a deep level. 

As you gain the tools that will connect all parts of your body with better oxygenation, nutrition and proper alignment, the bio-intelligence can then heal the joint tissues that have become thin, damaged or arthritic. The best way to do YogAlign is to walk, run, dance or move with a focus on maintaining upright posture. Eventually naturally aligned posture becomes innate and just the way you are naturally…. without effort. 

With YogAlign you can get back into good posture without painful positions, compressive twists or toe touching poses. You can literally breathe your way to a pain-free life.

www.yogalign.com

 

Thursday, 24 August 2017 13:04

Gypset Life

Published in breath + calm + mind
Sunday, 25 June 2017 20:58

Gratitude

Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more.

It turns denial into acceptance, 

chaos into order,

confusion into clarity ...

it makes sense of our past,

brings peace for today,

and creates a vision for tomorrow.

 

Melody Beattie

Published in breath + calm + mind