Starting the week of February 15th, I'll be teaching the following classes at Amana Yoga Boulder:

Tuesdays:  12pm all levels vinyasa
                      5:30pm intermediate vinyasa

Thursdays: 5:30pm intermediate vinyasa

If you are newer to the practice, feel free to come to any of those classes as I have extensive experience in teaching to all levels despite the focus.  =)  Hope to see you on your mat!

Some have called me a yoga midwife...and I find that most fitting.  I feel pure joy in the opportunity to guide someone in their first breaths of yoga, to demystify their preconceived ideas and realign any misperceptions they have about the practice.  I can see their being illuminate as they begin to grasp what yoga is all about, and take their first conscious steps on the path of awakening.  For these reasons, I'm truly grateful to be offering this very special Beginner's workshop at the top of the New Year in Boulder, CO at Amana Yoga. Registration at www.amanayogaboulder.com

In Ayurvedic cooking, kitchari is a tri-doshic, balancing, easy to digest and delicious comfort dish made from basmati rice, mung beans, spices & optional veggies. It can used to cleanse the internal body of ama, especially during the winter months when juice/raw cleanses aren't ideal in colder temperatures.  Quick lesson - Ama is toxic, undigested food residue that accumulates in the organs and channels of the body.  It impairs the systems of the body from working well.  This is why good digestion is step one in Ayurveda.  If digestion is sluggish, ama is created.   And excess ama leads to major health disorders, mental sluggishness, skin issues, lethargy…the list goes on and on.    The way I prepared it here is far from the way it would be made for a cleanse, yet it is still quite balancing. 

Now if you're anything like me when it comes to deciding between having Indian or Thai, you know that can be a difficult choice.  I've come up with a kitchari recipe that's a fusion of the two cuisines…and absolutely delicious! 

• 1 cup rinsed white basmati rice
  
• 1 cup rinsed and soaked split yellow mung beans (or soaked whole green mung beans)
  
• 1T ghee (clarified butter) or coconut oil
  
• 1/4 tsp each: coriander seed, cumin seed, fennel seed
  
• 1T Vata Churna (http://www.mapi.com/products/food-spices/vata-churna.html)
  
• Or 1/4 tsp of each: ginger powder, cinnamon, black pepper, salt
  
• 1/2 - 1 tsp turmeric
  
• about a thumb of fresh ginger, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
  
• Handful cilantro
  
• Lots of veggies such as yams, squash, carrot, celery, parsnips, daikon, leafy greens, bok choy, onion, even a beet if you want it to take on a very cool color
  
• 1/2 cup full fat coconut milk
  
• 1/2 a lime

Melt the ghee in a large pot and simmer (don't burn!) the seeds until you can smell their aroma.  Add the rice and beans and coat them in the spice mixture.   Then add enough water to cover one inch above the rice and beans, about 4.5-5 cups.  Bring to a boil, then cover.  Cook on medium-low for about 20 minutes.  When about half the water has been absorbed, add the veggies and stir.  Re-cover and cook until the rice and beans are fully cooked.  Add the coconut milk, stir and serve with a wedge of lime…Om Anapoorna Swaha! 

Though it was ever so bittersweet to move away from my friends, students, clients and all the beautiful beings I had grown so close with over the years in Philadelphia and NYC, I'm super stoked about where I've landed.  I accepted a position with VPK in Boulder, managing the new flagship store, in addition to my yoga teaching and Access Bars practice.

Ayurveda is translated as the knowledge of life.  Life is defined as the “combination of the body, sense organs, mind and soul; the factor responsible for preventing decay and death, which sustains the body over time, and guides the processes of rebirth."  It's a pretty awesome new concept - an Ayurveda shop offering powerful, high-quality formulations of herbs, oils, teas, and skin care in conjunction with a yoga studio offering Vinyasa, Yin, Nidra, Restorative and Forrest classes aligned with the daily dosha cycle.  This place is a haven for anyone seeking to be in harmony and balance within themselves and with nature, and I'm really excited to be a part of it.

If you're in the area, do stop in and say hi!  We're located at 2035 Broadway (@ Broadway and Pearl).  I'll be teaching one of the classes at Amana Yoga soon...so stay tuned!  

In great health & radiance, Om Shanti! =)

I've been asked this question quite frequently.  Most people are really asking, how many classes should I go to each week?  But instead they ask how often they should practice yoga.  My answer?  All the time!  The practice of yoga is not just about moving into postures and breathing and stretching.  It's about increasing awareness, and creating the environment within us to experience a unification of inner and outer worlds; a merging of the observer and the observed.

Speaking about this practically, we pay more attention to each inhale and each exhale.  We pay attention to our posture, how we are aligning our skeleton and where we are holding tension.  We notice what our inner attitude is at any given moment and the tone of our thoughts.  What kind of conversation is going on inside the mind…is there a drunken monkey up there?  Or naysayer Nancy?  Is how we're expressing ourselves in resonance with our authentic self?  

We can practice continuously, whether on a yoga mat or walking down the street, whether dancing at an EDM festival or out on a hot date.  

So keep practicing! <3

You know how cravings go…I wanted something chocolatey that would help me feel a bit more grounded, yet energetic…Voilà!  I whipped this up and couldn't help but share.  I rarely measure anything, so these are approximations. You can't go wrong with these ingredients…so just keep adding a little of this and that until you like the flavor and consistency.  Enjoy!

1C Almond Butter (I used the fresh ground kind from Whole Foods)
3T Raw Maca Powder (I use a lot since I love the flavor it adds)
3T Raw Cacao Powder (or carob powder is super yum too)
3T Coconut Oil (add as needed to stir everything up with ease)
1T Raw Honey (or maple syrup or any sweetener you like)
1/4 tsp Sea Salt (pink Himalayan is my favorite)

In order for life to start showing up the way we'd like it to, we need to RELAX and BE RECEPTIVE. 

This is what running the bars does; effortlessly and easily releases anything that doesn't allow you to receive. It begins to dissipate the electrical charge of polarity as it is stored in your brain. It's like activating a computer virus of consciousness that begins to unravel where you're functioning on auto-pilot instead of awareness; refusal instead of receiving. You have to be willing to receive if you are going to have the life you truly desire. This is an incredibly nurturing and relaxing process, undoing limitation in all aspects of your life with out much effort. And from a yogic point of view, it helps dissolve negative samskaras (mental and emotional patterns through which we cycle over and over again during our lives which create our reality to be a certain way).

Join Liana on Wednesday, July 30th and/or Friday, August 22nd for the Access Consciousness Bars class in Tulsa.  Click here for details and to register: Access Bars  

Since the One Mind -- pure from the beginningless beginning
and with no need to grasp things other than itself --
has nothing to do with an intermediary or with a fixed plan,
the individual mind might as well be happy.

Since awareness has no objective relationship of any kind,
no specific direction or focus,
the individual might as well love everyone.

Since vision and commitment to vision
have nothing to do with complacency or fear,
the individual might as well be joyous.

Since action and goals have nothing to do with success or failure,
hope and anxiety,
and it doesn't matter whether they are won or lost ,
the individual might as well feel content.

Since everything is an illusion --
with some more perfect than others --
with no relationship to good or bad ,
being or not-being ,
one might as well
laugh from beginning to end .

— Longchenpa, 1308-1363, Tibetan scholar, master of the Nyingma tradition

April 18, 2014
9:30am-5:30pm

Private Studio - Restoration-You Inc.
594 Stratford Dr
Moorestown, New Jersey, USA

More details & register here: Access Bars

Last month, Renee Robertson Thorsland & I co-facilitated a super fun & rejuvenating Access Bars class…so we decided to team up once again! This Friday, 3/14, in Moorestown, Jersey. 

Here's the link to register if you'd like to learn this powerful tool to open more doors of possibility in your mind & create more change, more space, more ease, and more joy in your life and others: Access Bars