SEASONAL RECIPE ROUNDUP | SWEET POTATO

We're into seasonal living, you know this. With spring around the corner, we're excited for the produce to get greener and the recipes to get lighter, but, quick!, what do we do with all these sweet potatoes in our kitchen? This all so versatile root veggie got us through the holidays and we waste not, no matter how much we want to do away with winter (honestly though, we live in SoCal, sooo winter is not winter and our condolences if you're struggling with this seasonal reality). Enjoy this recipe roundup that highlights a late winter favorite of ours: SWEET POTATOES.

No. 1 | LATE WINTER STUFFED SWEET POTATOES

Our Ayurveda, Alignment + Yoga Retreat chef + guide, Claire of Vidya Living, only shares the good stuff (like this recipe by Kristin Dahl). With a little sunny-side up egg action as an indulgent addition, I am eyeing these for brunch  (if daylight savings time still has you struggling, then lunch).

No. 2| SWEET POTATO NOODLE SALAD with CREAMY CHIPOTLE MISO SAUCE

The First Mess does everything right. Honestly, I could eat my screen right now. The end.

No. 3| MISO-MAPLE SWEET POTATO TACOS with COCONUT-CILANTRO SAUCE

 I already have miso, maple syrup and sweet potatoes on hand from making recipe No. 2 on this list... So now tacos? Twist my arm. 

No. 4| SWEET POTATO (VEGAN) ALFREDO

You're right Love & Lemons, this sauce DOES sound like the star... sweet potato, shallots, garlic, olive oil, balsamic, tomato paste, rosemary, and a few pinches of salt and pepper... sweet mother of late winter recipes, I.AM.SOLD.

No. 5| SWEET POTATO FRIES

Lets be real, homemade fries on the side will ALWAYS make you a fan favorite.  Thanks, Pioneer Woman!

YOGA STYLES 101 | WHICH STYLE IS BEST FOR YOU?

One of the most frequently asked questions we get regarding our retreats is, “Do you have to be proficient in yoga to attend?” Our answer is always “NO!" Yoga is so amazing that both beginners and those well versed in it can take the same class (using modifications) and get incredible results. Even though that's the case, when you see someone in a handstand, it usually can go one of two ways... 1) you're inspired to play or 2) you're too discouraged to try. Before you assume it's not for you, start to see yoga beyond the poses. The poses (asanas) make up just one branch of yoga's 8-limb path.  With that in mind, you can approach the physical practice knowing that the headstand isn't the end goal, but rather it's about training the body with intention, focus and pranayama (breath) in order to find more fulfillment and freedom in our day to day. For me, somedays coordinating the intention, focus and pranayama are much harder than any physical pose.

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What if I AM after the physical practice and am intimidated by the meditation aspect? At our retreats, what we think is awesome about getting started with a physical yoga practice is that it gives us the opportunity to experience all the wonderful benefits of movement AND affords us the space to build awareness around our alignment. When you show up to your mat and practice repetitively with informed alignment, your cells get smarter (Seriously! Cells adjust their structure and function based on how you move or don't move <-- Amanda, Doctor of Physical Therapy + Yoga Instructor, will get into it more at the retreat). If you are after improving your physical body through yoga, then our Malibu offering is a great place to start. We dedicate the time to teaching key alignment points that most basic classes just don't have the time to get into. We give you the building blocks to look at your alignment from an objective perspective and help you find solutions that eliminate pain, optimize function,  and take ANY established yoga practice  to a new level.

This conversation usually leads to.... "Then, what style of yoga is best or what style should I start with?" The yoga style you get into is very much a personal choice. We like that there are lots of styles to choose from. If you get into Ayurveda (wait,What is Ayurveda?), the style that brings you most balance or what you become attracted to is often dependent on your dosha (mind-body preferences). To help make that decision easier, we have compiled a list of 10 of the most popular styles and how they differ from our prespective. We start with the 2 styles taught at our retreat, and take it in alphabetical order from there. The best way to figure out which is best for you is to try them all out! 

YOGA STYLES 101

Vinyasa / Power

This active and athletic style of yoga was adapted from the traditional ashtanga system in the late 1980s and appealed to many stimulation needy Americans. This style was created by Beryl Bender Birch and Bryan Kest who had both studied under Phatabi Jois. The words "Vinyasa", "Flow" and "Power" are typically used interchangeably to indicate a class that is more of a yoga dance. Vinyasa (pronounced "vin-yah-sah") is actually the Sanskrit word for "flow". Teachers of this style choreograph their classes with series of poses that transition into one another. Breath (pranayama) is used to signal movement (inhale to stand, exhale to fold) and also to build heat in the body. Classes are typically challenging because you are always moving from one pose to another which requires a combination of strength, balance & flexibility. Because the classes are designed by the instructor, you always get something different. If you've taken enough of these, you'll start to notice that there's a basic skeleton to many of these classes: an integration series, sun A + sun B that lead to a peak pose and a cool down portion that leads to the final relaxation pose (savasana). Vinyasa classes are great for people, who from a physical standpoint, want more movement and flow. In Ayurveda, the morning is a great time to nourish your body with movement. After a little morning meditation, a dynamic, heat building vinyasa sequence is typically how we start our mornings at our retreats.

Yin/Restorative

A quiet, meditative yoga practice, also called taoist yoga. Restorative yoga focuses on restoring mobility and flexibility to the body by using gravity, props and time to do the work. Postures are usually done seated or lying down on your mat with an assortment of bolsters, straps, blocks, and blankets helping to support your body. Each pose is held between 3-10 minutes (or sometimes more) during which the use of pranayama and meditation allows the mind, body, and nervous system to shift into a more relaxed state. Staying in tune with daily rhythms, at our retreats, we do a cooling, restorative, candle lit class in the evenings as a way to mentally digest our day, wind down for sleep and thank our bodies for all the work that it did that day. It is very deliberate, gentle, quiet and slow-paced.

Anusara

Developed by American yogi John Friend in 1997, Anusara yoga is a relative newcomer to the yoga world. Based on the belief that we are all filled with an intrinsic goodness, Anusara seeks to use the physical practice of yoga to help students open their hearts, experience grace, and let their inner goodness shine through. The poses in Anusara yoga are considered to be “heart-oriented,” meaning that they are expressed from the “inside out.” Instead of trying to control the body and mind from the outside, the poses originate from a deep creative and devotional feeling inside, from the essence of Divine goodness within. What teachers of Anusara yoga may do is provide guidelines in the form of Principles of Alignment and other useful tools for students to progress and develop their own methodology. As part of the positive focus of Anusara yoga, teachers and instructors will generally not "fix" student poses, but instead, allow each individual to develop on their own. Since 2012, several allegations have been brought against Friend, many of the allegations center around Friend have improper relations with employees and students. Still,  there are teachers that remain and are devoted to uplifting the Anusara community. "When Friend debuted Anusara in 1997, it was a hybrid of alignment, therapeutics, and Tantric philosophy, but toward the end he stopped incorporating other teachings and evolving the practice" and now those that want to rebuild are "actively trying to create a different, less rigid, more diversified way of teaching and doing business."  Follow you gut.

Ashtanga

Ashtanga is based on teachings in the ancient manuscript, Yoga Korunta, that were passed down to the founder of "Ashtanga" Pattabhi Jois (pronounced "pah-tah-bee joyce"). He was responsible for popularizing the sequences in 1948 and bringing them to the West. Like Bikram, it follows a set sequence of asanas (poses), but Ashtanga sequences link breath to movement in a Vinyasa style (see below). Ashtanga literally means "eight-limbed yoga" and is styled after the eight limbs of yoga as outlined in the Yoga Sutras (historical text by Pantajali on yoga philosophy). There are six established sequences that focus on building internal heat through your breath and movement. Ashtanga has a very dedicated following and many yogis travel every year to the Ashtanga Yoga Research Center in Mysore, India to learn the teachings. In Mysore-style classes you practice one of the sequences in a room with others on your own without being led by an instructor. Some of them will require you to perfect an asana first before moving on to the next one in the sequence. Pattabhi Jois passed away in 2009 but his family still teaches in Mysore and around the world. This style of yoga is of medium to high intensity and focuses on progression and growth in the sequences, the room isn't heated but you'll definitely get a workout.

Bikram

Bikram is a style of yoga that follows a very specific and set sequence of 26 postures developed and created by Bikram Choudhury about 30 years ago. Its origins are from Hatha yoga, but the heat and sequence make it "Bikram". The sequence is practiced in a room heated to about 105 degrees and 40% humidity. Each posture is practiced twice and was specifically chosen and sequenced to focus on different parts of the body  in a very systematic approach.  It's very deliberate, very intentional.... and many would say very intense. You might call it the Type A in yoga style personalities. A Bikram studio must be certified and licensed and must teach the sequence EXACTLY as it is written. For this reason the sequence is consistent and appeals to those that like to keep coming back to familiar poses and see improvements in flexibility and strength. In recent years, Bikram started taking many studios and teachers to court for offering classes with a similar sequence because the name and sequence known as "Bikram" is licensed and trademarked. However, these cases began to mysteriously disappear when allegations began arising against Choudhury and some indecent actions with students and teachers. Understandably so, in efforts to rebuild their community, "More and more Bikram Yoga studio owners have quietly migrated away from Bikram affiliations and are instead offering the same or a similar sequence under a different name."

Hatha

One of the original six branches of yoga. Hatha yoga basically means the physical practice of sequencing asanas together... which is almost every class you will take if you walk into a Yoga studio in the US.   Hatha can be translated  as ha (sun) and tha (moon)  and focuses on balancing the masculine and feminine qualities of our bodies. The physical asanas are created to cleanse, align and tone the nervous, circulatory, and reproductive systems to allow the body to function in its most optimal state. All other styles of yoga listed above or below incorporate some amount of Hatha Yoga. If you see a class advertised as "Hatha" at a studio, they are typically beginner level, gentle classes that focus on teaching a basic set of asanas. A great place to start.

Hot

Pretty much the name describes it. Many times other styles of yoga are integrated into a hot setting (rooms heated between 94 and 104 degrees) and they put the word "hot" in front of it... think Hot Vinyasa or Hot Power. Corepower Yoga is a chain of studios across the U.S that has popularized Hot Power and Vinyasa classes. Adding a heated environment to your yoga practice can increase blood flow to your muscles allowing for a deeper stretch, increase your metabolic rate, aid in cleansing through increased sweat production, and help the mind to focus. It can also make you feel like you are going to pass out :-).  Avoid going into class dehydrated by drinking water (with a sprinkle of sea salt for electrolytes) up to an hour beforehand and make sure to take everything at your own pace. Don't jump into a Level 2 class and do handstands if you haven't gone to a hot class before. Bring extra towels and for those with strong pitta doshas, be careful of these classes in the dead heat of summer. 

Iyengar

Iyengar yoga was developed by B.K.S. Iyengar (pronounced "eye-yen-gar") as he was looking for healing methods from tuberculosis. It's a form of hatha yoga that focuses on proper alignment.  Props like blocks, straps, harnesses, and incline boards are used to support your body in many poses... helpful if you'd be risking injury trying to perform the poses on their own. There is very little flow in these classes, you hold poses for period of time while you work on perfecting your alignment. These classes definitely challenge your strength and commitment to staying still. Iyengar is great for people with injuries or looking to prevent injuries as the teachers are trained to teach proper alignment.

Jivamukti

A physical, limit-pushing practice that reintegrates yoga’s traditional spiritual elements in an educational way for Western practitioners. Expect a theme for each class, Sanskrit chanting, and references to ancient scripture. Created by Sharon Gannon and David Life in 1984 in New York City, Jivamukti translates as “liberation while living.” Jivamukti centers itself around 5 tenets: ahimsa (non-violence), bhakti (acknowledgment that God/Self-realization is the goal of all yoga practices; can be expressed through chanting, the setting of a high intention for the practice or other ), dhyana (meditation), nada (the development of a sound body and mind through deep listening), shastra (study of the ancient yogic teachings). A Jivamukti class is  physically challenging and includes a focus or intention, supported by chanting, breath awareness, flowing vinyasa sequences, alignment exploration, hands-on assistance, relaxation and meditation. All classes include 14 points—asanas, meditation and spiritual teachings—in a sequence creatively designed by the teacher. These classes offer a great place to start for someone looking for an energetic and challenging class.  

Kundalini

Kundalini  is a style with deep historic roots, it was originally practiced in secret in India and only taught from master to a select disciple for centuries.  Yogi Bhajan first brought Kundalini to the Western masses in the 1960's in efforts of giving humanity a better way to experience God ("better" meaning other than drug-use and substance abuse that we very prevalent in California in the 60's). It is called the "Yoga of Awareness" and harnesses the power of breath, mudras, meditation, and body locks to help you find inner awareness and experience your soul. Poses are typically held for an extended period of time and the use of chanting, pranayama and meditation is encouraged. During a Kundalini class energy should be moving up your spine so some people and instructors will wear turbines to prevent the energy from escaping through the crown of their heads. The color white is also frequently worn to expand your aura and to lift your energy and mood. Many dive into it from a lifestyle perspective and others may find it appealing as a way to start learning more about the subtle energies (chakras) that are often discussed in yoga classes. Kundalini is also known for having a strong community of followers.

IWR GIFT GUIDE 2015

We spend the entire year exploring and experimenting with a variety of holistic health and whole-body wellness products. Every December, we compile a list of 15 of our favorites. So here it is...IWR's 2015 FOOD, MOVEMENT, LIFESTYLE, + SOULFUL TRAVEL GIFT IDEAS. The ultimate guide for what to gift all the yogis, travelers and wellness warriors in your life. If you missed 2014's list, check it out here.

SMALL, BUT SOULFUL ($30 or Less)

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• No 1. Activated Charcoal Tooth Powder ($25) | Many tooth whitening products contain harsh chemicals. My Magic Mud uses certified organic ingredients to create an all natural product that whitens + polishes teeth. The IWR crew experienced smoother and whiter teeth after just a few applications. We're fans, and if you have any wine lovers, coffee drinkers and/or holistic health enthusiasts to shop for, consider getting them this! 
• No. 2 Mini Moon Juice Dust Set ($20) | All of our favorite dusts from Moon Juice together in this amazing mini collection! Moon Dusts work synergistically to heal + enhance your brain, body and spirit. Transformative formulas with potent, organic herbs, plants and minerals. Each jar is filled with approximately 2 servings depending on your preferences. Great for travel or home use. Includes: Spirit dust, Brain dust, Action dust, Beauty dust, Heart dust + Good Night dust.
• No. 3 Breast Health Massage Oil ($30) | Boobs...if you have 'em or love 'em, then you'll appreciate Living Libation's Breast Health Massage Oil. Breasts contain an abundance of lymph vessels that support the circulatory system in maintaining proper fluid balance. Lymphatic flow can be obstructed by tight bras, poor posture, lack of exercise, shallow breathing, and tight neck, shoulder, chest and back muscles. Regular self-massage done with botanical infused oil encourages the body to release excess stored estrogen, move debris filled fluid away from the spaces between cells, and return the fluid to the bloodstream to be eliminated. If you read our 3 part microbiome + skin-care product series, you'll understand why we value high quality products like this. More ideas for safe skin care products here.

FOOD ( + KITCHEN)

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• No. 4 Food Processor ($99) | When you get on the making more home-cooked, whole food meals train, you'll want a food processor by your side. This kitchen appliance is key in the IWR kitchen with Chef Claire. Kitchen Aid's 7-cup food processor is middle of the line price-wise and has great reviews. Awesome to have when chopping nuts and we absolutely have to have it when making some of our fave Vidya Living recipes.
• No 5. Organic Grass-fed Ghee Sampler Pack ($19) | Ghee is a cornerstone in Ayurvedic + Indian cooking. One of the many benefits of using ghee to cook with, beyond its amazing flavor, is that it can remain stable at higher temperatures. Pure Indian Foods Organic, Grass-fed Ghee Sampler Pack contains one jar of each of the following 6 flavors: Digestive Ghee, Garlic Ghee, Herbes de Provence Ghee, Indian Dessert Ghee, Italian Ghee + Niter Kebbeh. This makes a great gift for any culinary enthusiast. The package includes everything they'll need to get cooking right away: description of each spiced ghee, benefits of the herbs + spices used, and recipes.
• No. 6 Ceramic Electric Kettle ($50) | Add some elegance to the kitchen with Bella's Ceramic Electric Kettle. Perfect for warming up water in the AM for your warm lemon water routine or to have at work when you're stoveless, but needing some hot tea.

MOVEMENT (+ MOBILITY)

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• No. 7 Chattra Zafu ($75) |  A zafu cushion provides  a bit of bolstering for better pelvic and spinal alignment while sitting on the floor. It's traditional use is during meditation or pranayama practice, but beyond that, at our retreats, we encourage people to use zafus throughout the day. Engaging in more floor sitting (daily) can help improve hip mobility. What the hips lack, will hurt the back, so we love zafus to help ward off back pain when our hips are too tight to just sit on the floor and it's the perfect prop while doing some computer work in a deep squat.  We dig Chattra's artisans hand-block print zafus in richly-colored, mix-and-match prints that celebrate India's architecture, design, and spiritual heritage.
• No. 8 Apana Stool ($90)/Squatty Potty ($33)| You gotta do it, you gotta gift someone you love a toilet stool. There are mechanics involved with how our bodies are designed to eliminate. Humans are meant to void while in a deep squat and modern toilets don't facilitate that, but one simple adjustment... the addition of a squatty potty, does. With all this modern living, we've totally done away with deep squatting in our day, so let's reintroduce it during the most necessary times! We outfit all the bathrooms at our Malibu retreat house with toilet stools because we address digestive health from all angles using alignment and Ayurveda... plus, who likes to be constipated!? Choose the 7 inch to start, upgrade to the 9 inch if you've been diligently working on your deep squat hip mobility for > 6 months. Want a pretty wood one with a lotus flower design? Us too! Get on over to Apana Stool's online store to find it.
• No. 9 Topo Mat ($120) | There's a movement happenin' right now...towards standing/sitting desks. We're finally starting to embrace the whole "humans aren't meant to sit all day" idea, but standing on flat ground isn't exactly a natural position either. Static standing leads to postural fatigue, which forces people into unhealthy positions. Enter the Topo Mat. Topo is the only anti-fatigue mat designed with standing desk users in mind. The calculated terrain encourages healthy movement while supporting the user with incredibly comfortable environmentally-friendly foam. The peaks and valleys activate blood flow and engage more muscles than simple standing mats are able to. This encourages range of motion, circulation, and variations in your standing position- all which help to alleviate cramping and other discomforts associated with prolonged static standing. 

LIFESTYLE

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• No. 10 Height-Adjustable stand-up desk ($490 - $4,000) | We're all about DYNAMIC workstations. That means you invite more movement into your day by sitting, standing, and squatting in a VARIETY of ways while you work. Doing this, breaks up stiffness and promotes whole-body health ALL day (much better than only relying on your 60 min yoga class, 3 days a week). If you're gonna splurge, check out the STIR Kinetic Desk. The easier it is to move during the work day--adjusting your desk with the push of a touchscreen button--the more likely you are to do it. With this desk you set your standing and sitting height presets and your standing goals on the built-in touchscreen. Double tap the touchscreen to seamlessly switch from one setting to the other. When in "active mode", the desk will occasionally take a "breath", subtly rising and falling, reminding you to change positions. The desk learns when it’s best to remind you, so that being more active is effortless. What could be easier than a desk that learns your goals, integrates them with your habits, and sets up a healthy routine? A more affordable option to consider that Jenn loves having at her home office: Ikea's BEKANT sit/stand desk (You can adjust the height of the table top electrically from 22" to 48" to ensure more variety of work positions throughout your day).
• No. 11 Moon Calendar ($15-44) | Here at IWR we love being attuned to the moon. Its cycle helps us maintain a lifestyle and work schedule that waxes and wanes. This helps us manage our creative projects and assures that our energy ebbs and flows, just like the tides. This kind of balanced workflow helps us get adequate rest in between bursts of productivity. A moon calendar keeps us aware of what's going on in the cosmos so we can adjust our work output accordingly. THE NEW MOON marks the beginning of a cycle; it is a perfect opportunity to savor the gifts of vast space and emptiness, to be meditative and go within. (We do less work around this time and are more reflective). LIGHT then builds for two weeks, up until the moon is FULL to the brim, lighting the night sky and inviting us all to celebrate, count our blessings, and enjoy each other’s company (This is when our creativity builds and there's a lot more meetings, a lot more output).  IN THE FINAL two weeks of the cycle, the moon’s brightness slowly diminishes and we return to the spacious darkness (We wind down our projects and let the cycle begin once more). Amanda used Dream Inspired Design's print calendar in 2015 and we're excited to get their desktop version for 2016!
• No. 12 IWR Malibu 2016 ($1,350) | It's our 3rd annual Ayurveda, Alignment + Yoga Retreat! Gift someone this experience and they'll be stoked! We'll actively engage in the process of living a more empowered, healthy, whole existence by learning how to use seasonal food as a powerful medicine + develop movement practices capable of transforming both body + mind.

SOULFUL TRAVEL

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• No. 13 Texture Subscription- an app for magazines ($35) | During Jenn's honeymoon to Bali, this app was clutch! Texture offers unlimited access to all sorts of magazines on one app, for one price. Their magazine catalogue is pretty impressive (160 options, to be exact). Health + wellness- wise they have all the mags we like to peruse like: Eating Well, ESPN, Men + Women's Health, Surfer,  Yoga Journal, Fast Company, Bon Appetite, Real Simple, Sports Illustrated...the list goes on. You can create your own library, discover new titles, declutter your coffee table, read anywhere (perfect for long flights!), AND they make it really easy to gift a subscription to anyone who has a tablet or smartphone.
• No. 14 Pendleton Beach Towel ($49) | A Pendleton dynamic blanket pattern re-created in a supersized towel for beach, poolside or hot tub? YES. We like the black and white Los Ojos Spa towel, but Amanda owns and loves the Chief Joseph pattern (you won't catch her traveling in her VWbus without it).  
• No. 15 Wifi + NFC enabled camera or lens ($200-$400) | NFC is a form of wireless communication that allows the flow of information between two devices. For all you soulful travelers out there who want to play around with cameras beyond your smartphones, but don't wan't to travel with heavy equipment or lots of cables, this may be for you. When you're in the depths of the jungle without Wi-Fi, the NFC feature  still allows for immediate uploads of your pics onto your smartphone. For us, that means when we're traveling the workflow of capture, upload to phone, edit, and share to IG or facebook is simplified. When we were in Mexico + Fiji this year, we loved that we snapped pics all day and didn't need any cables to transfer photos onto our computer then our phone when we got home. For IWR's Tulum 2015 Ayurveda, Alignment + Yoga Retreat we shot all of these pics with the Sony DSC-QX10 lens attachment on our iphone 5 32GB. "The QX10 is officially called a “lens-sensor module”, and it’s designed to be the perfect partner for your smartphone, rather than a standalone device. It doesn’t have a screen so it relies on being paired to your smartphone via a wi-fi connection to compose and review images." Because of that interface, there's a bit of delay between... "I want to capture that", turning on device, waiting for connection, and then actually capturing "that" - hence the less than ideal reviews (but we suggest you read this one) and in those cases we just whipped out our phones. And, of course, uploading straight to your phone is going to drain your battery faster than usual- the price you pay for convenience. Despite all of that, we LOVE the device AND for the purposes of taking blog-worthy pictures while traveling, we think it's a win. We purchased in January 2015, so our model clips onto our iphone 5 (case on) with ease, but the iphone 6 Plus (no case) is about the max that this clip is going to give. With smartphones getting bigger and bigger the downside is that eventually our phone will outgrow our clip size (we're assuming Sony has taken that into account and updated future models of this device). If you're looking for just a camera with Wifi + NFC features, we've also played around with Sony's a5000... amazing. Can't get over that immediate phone upload of such a high quality picture (and fellow travelers love the quick text that follows). Cheaper option we're eyeing that still offers the easy sharing capability...Sony WX350 Compact Camera with 20x Optical Zoom.

MALIBU 2015 RECAP | Ayurveda, Alignment + Yoga Retreat

Ayurveda, Alignment + Yoga| Malibu, CA | October 2015

Click the VW bus link above to check out the video recap of IWR Malibu 2015! Much love and gratitude goes out to our Soulful Travel Tribe Member Elizabeth Krenke for bringing this footage to life. 

“Interestingly, fall and spring are the two times per year that the seasonal harvest foods have an especially cleansing effect on the body, helping us transition into the extreme weather cycles of winter and summer (both of which have great impact on our body’s inflammatory response, stress levels, and digestive health).

In the early fall months we have a great opportunity for deeper cleansing, signaled by the arrival of apples, beets and green beans. This harvest of lymph-cleansing foods expels heat we’ve accumulated in our bodies all summer, resetting the body’s inflammatory response before the colder, harsher months of winter (when the available foods are naturally heavier, richer, and more difficult to digest). Should we miss this opportunity for fall cleansing, we can likely expect to catch more seasonal illnesses in the winter, experience digestive imbalances, and have difficulty maintaining a healthy weight.”

— Hopi Darnell, Ayurvedic Wellness Educator + Herbalist

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September 23, 2015 marked the Autumnal Equinox here in the Northern Hemisphere, signaling our transition into Fall. Shortly thereafter on September 27, 2015, we welcomed the full moon in which we were able to witness the infrequent occurrence of a supermoon in combination with a lunar eclipse. The full moon that occurs closest to the autumnal equinox is deemed the "Harvest Moon" because it shines bright enough and long enough to allow for the final harvest chores to be completed. According to the old farmer's almanac, "at this time, crops such as corn, pumpkins, squash, and wild rice are ready for gathering." Native American tribes used the full moon to track the seasons. Each full moon was named differently based on what particular activity/event occurred during that time in their location. Some September full moon names include: scarlet plum full moon, moon when corn is taken in, time of much freshness, moon of drying grass, and moon when the wind shakes the leaves. 

According to Ayurveda, Fall ushers in more of the Vata (wind) dosha, the element of air and ether. The qualities of vata are: dry, light, cold, rough and mobile.  It is a time when transition and transformation take place. Scott Blossom, a licensed practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), an Ayurvedic consultant, and Yoga teacher, explains that fall is the perfect time to reset because "when the accumulated heat of (summer's) pitta is fanned by (autumn's) vata, it can lead to mental and physical burnout, stressing our adrenals and nervous system and putting some of the body’s natural detoxification processes on hold." We can help support our body and mind during this transition into fall with a few vata balancing strategies. In fall, we naturally crave and ought to opt for: routine (kids go back to school), warmth (a cup of chai tea + a cozy wool sweater, anyone?), serenity (giving into the art of slowing down), and nourishment (warm, hearty, healthy, whole meals). 

Specifically, during this year's transition into fall some may have felt more tension building at work or more intensity in their lives. With all that went down in the cosmos, there may be some reason for that. According to Mystic Mamma's astral insights, "Lunar Eclipses tend to symbolically super-charge Full Moon energy. It will turn up the volume of emotions and highlight the issue that needs to be felt through and processed." Desai says do all the affirmations, rituals, and ceremonies you please, but they'll only be half received if you're not taking the time to slow down and empty out; "the key to a full moon and lunar eclipse is to feel it all, as intense or potent as it may be."

 Cathy Pagano, lends her wisdom by advising that after the intensity passes, give the energies and emotions a week or so to calm down before trying to integrate the endings, awakenings, and transformations. “Choices begin the process of change. Our brain chemistry changes when we make choices. Making a choice signals our brain that we’re ready to begin a journey. So the choice is the first step in changing our behaviors.”

October 12, 2015 marked the beginning of a new moon cycle and we were excited to bring together a group of like-minded people who made the choice to join in on our annual Malibu, CA Ayurveda, Alignment + Yoga Retreat. Coming off the full moon energy, this new moon retreat experience was the medicine many needed. 

To help people find their feet on the ground, the elements that our offerings emphasize are: food, movement, lifestyle, and soulful travel. In order to bring our attendees into seasonal balance it starts with the food- nourishment with plentiful immune support and loads of spices that aid in digestive balance. Our holsitic chef, Claire Ragozzino of VIDYA Living, crafted an Ayurvedic-inspired menu that highlighted local, organic, and seasonal foods. 

Our guests arrived, and were welcomed with apps- raw goat cheese, Chef Claire's basil macadamia nut and cashew "cheese" log, organic olives, the last of the farmer's market's tomato harvest and THE best gluten-free crackers. We take our food sourcing seriously so we happily explained to our guests that for the next 4 days they would be eating the freshest produce purchased from California farmers and would re-hydrate their post-travel dry skin with Fountain of Truth's fresh spring water harvested from Ojai, CA.

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Our sunset welcome dinner got started with a simple herb + citrus salad dressed in a vinaigrette made with plenty of healthy oils, followed by a Creamy Cauliflower Truffle Pasta with Roasted Romanesco and for dessert, a rustic galette filled with all the seasonal fruit (berries and figs) our hearts could handle.  

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While Claire prepared nourishing foods, Amanda Ramirez, Doctor of Physical Therapy + Yoga Instructor infused the days with nutritious movement- a concept created by biomechanist Katy Bowman. Katy Bowman's work promotes the idea that just like food has both macronutrients (fat, carbs, protein) and micronutrients (vitamis, minerals), so does movement (walking + squatting being examples of macronutrients and calf length + ankle mobility being examples of micronutrients). In the same way that the quality and quantity of what you eat matters, the same applies to the way you move (eating a highly processed snickers bar for dinner won't do your body as much long-term good, as say the herb citrus salad we had for dinner made with fresh and natural ingredients. In the same way, doing a leg-press on a machine at the gym may meet a short-term movement need, it doesn't provide the whole-body stimulating input that comes with a more natural load like walking uphill outside). And when it comes to both food and movement, turns out frequency matters too. Just like it wouldn't be very sustainable to try to eat all your calories for the day in one sitting, it's neither logical to try to get all your movement requirements in one daily, hour-long gym or yoga session.  What we need in conjunction with that stress-busting gym sesh and mind-clearing yoga class is more VARIETY of movement THROUGHOUT the entire day. 

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Amanda helped the attendees realize that in order to move with ease, skill, and grace they needed to first restore many of the movement micronutrients we often neglect- like assuring we restore ankle and foot mobility after wearing shoes all day and increasing hip range of motion after long bouts of sitting in a chair. It's this attention to detail that creates a solid foundation for those bigger, and often more  appealing, yoga moves. Without the foot mobility, hamstring length, and pelvic proprioception (knowing where your pelvis is in space) we risk having a movement practice that feeds into movement dysfunction and starves us of loads in the places where our bodies need them the most. Since movement is KEY to keep lymphatic fluid flowing, Amanda helped us to better understand why consistently bringing blood flow to the ankles, knees, hips, and shoulders (all areas where lymph nodes are concentrated) is an integral part of maintaining a robust immune system- just the knowledge we needed as we head into fall and winter.  

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A cloudy day and crisp breeze reminded us that even in sunny SoCal we get a hit of fall. Which brings to mind that great Nathaniel Hawthorne quote, “I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house. So I have spent almost all the daylight hours in the open air.” In that spirit, a few of us crammed into Amanda's VW bus named Sophie and met our daily need for vitamin fresh air with a good dose of walking over natural terrain. In 5 miles, our senses were stimulated, our minds were cleared, and as we gazed far into the distance searching for the end of the pacific, our eyes released the unnecessary tension we no longer needed to hold onto (muscles in your eyes become chronically shortened from repetitively focusing on small text on screens- that's your cue to take an eye break).

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To be in sync with the seasons of the year, one must develop an awareness of the rhythm within each day. In Ayurveda, it is advised to rise with the sun and wind down as the daylight fades. Honoring that cycle, Amanda led a dynamic, heat building vinyasa sequence in the morning and a cooling restorative, candle lit class in the evenings.

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There are 8 morning rituals that are at the core of how we start all of our days together at an IWR experience:

1. Rise + Shine (wake up with the sun)
2. Celebrate (say a prayer, express gratitude, dance)
3. Hydrate (ideally with fresh spring water with a squeeze of lemon)
4. Tongue Scrape (to kick off your oral health routine)
5. Eliminate (you gotta poop)
6. Meditate (for mental clarity)
7. Circulate (blood, lymph, breath + prana)
8. Oleate (the skin with abhyanga, an Ayurvedic self massage. We also did a nightly oil foot massage prior to our candlelit yoga class using  Banyan Botanicals Daily Massage Oil)

After facilitating and prioritizing all that self-care, our Fall mornings together called for several cups of Claire's housemade Herbal Chai Tea turned into creamy cosmic lattes with a splash of her activated almond milk.  To help us wind down in the evenings we enjoyed Plum Deluxe's hand-blended, all-organic loose leaf teas.

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Yoga and Ayurveda are sister sciences for healing, integration and transformation on all levels of our being. Traditional Ayurveda focuses more on the treatment side of this process (Chikitsa) for body and mind, while Traditional Yoga aims more at self-development and self-realization (Sadhana). We were honored to have Kamala offering Traditional Ayurvedic Bodywork to our guests. Kamala explains, "Ayurvedic body treatments help to return your Dosha (Vata/Pitta/Kapha) to balance and are specifically designed for rejuvenation and restoring vitality to the mind, body and spirit. The focus of these therapies are to help replenish the nervous system, feed the muscles and body tissues with nourishing herbs and oils. The massage oil is the medium through which healing herbs are absorbed into the body and through which toxins are expelled." Ayurveda recommends a massage with warm herbal oils as a part of daily life (abhyanga). Her bodywork used massage oils that were specifically tailored to each client's needs using only the highest quality organic oils.

One of our most memorable moments together was our hands-on abhyanga how-to lecture. We prepped bowls of organic, cold-pressed coconut oil. Instead of infusing the oil with herbs, as traditionally done, we added a few drops of high-quality essential oils into our bowls. Potent scents delightfully stimulated our senses and eventually we each decided which scent(s) we were most drawn to. After smelling and mixing, we sat around in awe reading about the therapeutic benefits each scent offered. Amazing how many of us intuitively chose what we most needed- from liver support to anxiety relief. We proceeded to sit beachside on rocks lathering ourselves in our concoctions, laughing, and loving life. A necessary salt-water swim provided a natural rinse and from there we hula hooped and hot tubbed until sunset.

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After hula-hooping our hearts out, we made our way back into the kitchen for Claire's Kitchari Cooking Class. We made a Vata Balancing Kitchari with Cilantro Coconut Chutney. Claire explained that "the Ayurvedic system believes that all healing begins with the digestive tract.  Consuming kitchari alone for a few days at the change of the season can provide rest to our digestive systems from having to break down processed foods, while nourishing our bodies with essential vitamins, minerals and amino acids. It is said to nourish all three body types (doshas).  The combination of beans and rice makes for a complete protein, while the spices stoke the fires of Agni, our innate digestive fire that becomes weakened as a result of poor food combining and constant grazing." Ending our retreat with this easily digestible meal created a deep sense of grounding and nourishment for all and helped us support the restorative routines we promoted all week.

Deep rest awaits us in the dark days of winter and to send us on our way the following morning Amanda prepared our bodies with deep squats and spinal twists and Claire brought a little sunshine to the journey ahead with her Turmeric, Banana, Blood-Orange Muffins. In our closing circle, gratitude flooded our hearts knowing that sometimes the best journeys are the ones that answer the questions you never thought to ask.

Grateful for the divine intervention that brought this incredible crew together. As always, Jenn Marks was on all things logistic and Amanda Ramirez was the VW bus provider and mindful movement guider. Thanks for telling our story from behind the lens Alexa Gray and thanks for supporting IWR's vision in the kitchen and beyond Claire Ragozzino.  And to our soulful travel tribe, we wouldn't be here without you. You remind us that happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, or earned. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living with love, grace and gratitude. To all the people, places, and things that continuously bring us back to that place where our hearts are conscious of our treasures- we are endlessly grateful for you. 

Our Tulum 2015 retreat was a tall order after our Malibu 2014 Ayurveda, Alignment, and Yoga Retreat was named one of the top 10 retreats around the world to check out.  Now a full year of growth later, we brought you yet another Ayurveda, Alignment + Yoga Retreat experience and all we can say is we can't wait to gain new insights and knowledge to integrate into next year's event! Check in with our retreat offering page to join us next time and subscribe to our newsletter to be in the know about our upcoming events.

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Morning Yoga led by Amanda Ramirez at Integrative Wellness Retreat's Malibu 2015 Ayurveda, Alignment, and Yoga Retreat. Video by: Andrea Young

SOAP STORY PART III | BULK SOAP STORES

Jenn here! Amanda and I both love yoga and, over the years, have developed a deep interest in it's sister science, Ayurveda. Needless to say, ayurvedic philosophy heavily influenced this 3-part blog post series that focuses on soap use and the effect it has on the skin's microbiome. When I first started reading through all the research and resources we compiled for part I and II, I was really intrigued and fascinated, but also very overwhelmed.  This is exactly why Amanda and I thought it would be most valuable to integrate our own personal stories into each of these posts. In part III, I am excited to step in and share where I am in my soap journey.

While Amanda is currently into grass-fed beef tallow soaps, I have to admit I am not quite there yet :) BUT I have definitely become more aware of  what I put on and in my body. In the final blog of this 3-part series, I want to share some stories of where I am with different products, lessons I've learned along the way, and tools that helped me become more knowledgeable about the products and ingredients out there. 

One of my favorite new tools is an app that Amanda introduced me to called Think Dirty. We recently went on a grocery store run together to buy toothpaste. We went to a small, local, all-natural health food store, so like most, I just assumed that anything I picked out would be good. I sorted through their options and chose a few. Amanda whipped out her phone and scanned them all with her app. I was surprised to see that 2 of the 3 options I chose were rated between 4-7 (out of 10) on the app's "dirty meter" rating system- meaning, some of the product's ingredients have potential negative long-term health effects.  It was such a quick way to chose the ONLY option in the store that kept me in the 0-3 zone (a product that does not contain any ingredients which have a documented potential negative health impact). Another great website I use is EWGs Skin Deep Database (they have a similar 1-10 rating system on products and ingredient list breakdowns).

Growing up in Florida and playing sports, deodorant was always a part of my every day routine, but as I got older, I started using the prescription strength deodorants. The more I used them, the more I noticed that I HAD to use them or risk bad BO. Finally, years later when I moved to Hermosa Beach, California, I realized how horrible those deodorants are for your skin, glands and lymph nodes. As I became more informed on ingredients, I started making the switch to deodorants with less chemical additives. I have since noticed that I no longer smell like a trucker and I can use them less frequently throughout the day.  As Amanda has shared in the earlier parts of this series, your body has its own amazing systems for cleaning and detoxifying itself. By using products that prohibit these natural functions, your body's systems start to fail and you create a dependency on the products. That's where I am right now... trying to break the dependency.

Soap-wise, on a trip to Morocco two years ago I discovered African Black Soap and am totally obsessed with it. According to Better Shea Butter, "this soap’s distinctive color comes from its main ingredient: the ash of palm bark and plantain leaves. The leaves and bark are first sun dried, then roasted at an even temperature. Palm kernel oil, water, and Shea Butter are added, then the soap is left to cure. It can help to soothe and heal problematic skin, as well as provide gentle exfoliation. Because it is such a gentle product, it can be used on sensitive skin, as well as by people suffering from psoriasis and eczema." A quick google search for "african black soap" pulls up a list in which the first few links are for the brand "Shea Moisture." Now lets say, like me, you have sensitive skin and you take a gander through their products, and based on what I just explained above about this soap, you are drawn to the one product manufactured and marked specifically for "Eczema + Psoriasis Therapy." Upfront, it seems like an easy purchase. After entering it into the Think Dirty, Shop Clean app, I find out that a soap I was under the impression only had about 5 ingredients is now suddenly a product that has 23 ingredients (!). AND unfortunately, comes with a 9/10 rating, putting it in the category of products that have ingredients that have potential SERIOUS negative long term health effects. Isn't that wild? Just goes to show a little research goes a long way.

Thanks to my Pitta (fire) dominant dosha (ayurvedic mind-body type), my skin struggle is with rosacea. From an Ayurvedic perspective, this condition is provoked when pitta (the fire element) is aggravated by excessive work, chronic stress, spicy foods, and alcohol... to name a few. It's definitely on my to-do list to try these all-natural ayurvedic tea and face mask remedies for rosacea. Until then, one thing I know that has definitely helped to restore some balance to my skin's microbiome is opting for skin products with less toxic ingredients. I have to admit, I LOVE my Beauty Counter products. Many of their products use organic ingredients and I support that the company's mission is to help create more transparency around the ingredients used in the cosmetic industry (on their product page, they state each of their product's EWG skin deep rating score). They definitely make me feel better about what I’m putting on my face, and my rosacea has totally calmed down which rocks.

Becoming an ingredient-conscious consumer and educating myself on my skin's microbiome has been an eye opening experience, but before I fully went down this path, I actually approached "cleaning up and greening up" my soap use from the perspective of trying to make it a more eco-friendly experience. This all started when I stumbled upon a bulk soap store down here in San Diego. I told Amanda that I'd love to write a blog post on this earth-friendly, plastic-reducing trend. We went back and forth trying to determine...should we write about soap from an ayurvedic perspective? A microbiome perspective? An eco-friendly perspective? Initially, it seemed that trying to cover all these different perspectives on soap would be conflicting and perhaps confusing, but then we realized they each have their place and relevance depending on how you look at it. Consider this... research shows that hand-washing your dishes by hand reduces allergies. "How?," you ask. Well, apparently, "hand washing dishes cleans less thoroughly than highly efficient machines, which sounds gross, but the exposure to more microbes when you are young may help develop the microbiome and immune system.  While this study is not perfect, it still shows us that exposure to bacteria is potentially a good thing for the new and developing microbiome." BUT other research shows that using a dishwasher is more eco-friendly (and uses less soap) than hand washing dishes. So what is one to do? We think that's the beauty of it, you get to chose. Maybe the microbiome approach to soap appeals to you and you're inspired to make changes, or maybe the idea of reducing your plastic use is what draws you into this conversation. Either way, we see it as creating awareness around several good topics and that's what we at IWR are all about.

To close out on my soap story, I leave you with one of my favorite discoveries- bulk soap stores. The idea of buying in bulk is not new, nor necessarily earth-friendly (think Costco), but these stores are popping up in trendy neighborhoods in California and are helping to revolutionize the way we buy soap... and all other cleaning products for that matter. Although single-use plastic bottles (PET & HDPE) are the most recycled plastic product in the waste stream, less than two thirds are actually recovered and recycled into a new product- EPA 2012 statistic.

The idea with bulk soap stores is that you bring empty bottles from your house and refill them at the store. If you don't have any empties, then they usually have some there that have been left by others as a "pay it forward". Even better than filling up plastic bottles, is that you invest in glass dispensers for your soap. Plastic leaches estrogen-mimicking chemicals, meaning that anything you put in plastic... food, soap, water, etc... becomes infused with hormone disrupting chemicals that you then put in or on your body. If this interests you, I like this great article on 10 life hacks to help you cut plastic out of the picture. Back to the bulk soap store...hand soap, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, laundry detergent, etc... are all available in earth-friendly versions to fill up your bottles with, you get charged by the ounce and return time after time with the same old bottle. Only about 9% of recycled plastic actually makes its way to a facility, the rest ends up in a landfill or the ocean. Having lived near the ocean my whole life, I have a great appreciation for it and the way I am purchasing soap these days makes me feel like I am creating a ripple effect in the right direction. Below you'll find my guide on where you can find these stores from San Diego to San Francisco.

Blue Dot Refill
4799 Voltaire St., San Diego, CA 92107
http://www.bluedotrefill.com

Blue Dot Refill’s Mission is simple:  To reduce the amount of single-use plastic bottles in circulation. 

Refill stations reduce the pollution being generated to produce new or recycled bottles, in addition to reducing the enormous amount of plastic pollution currently choking our landfills, beaches, lakes, rivers, and oceans.

The Refill Shoppe 
363 E Main St, Ventura, CA 93001
http://www.therefillshoppe.com/

Founded by Michelle Stevens in 2010, this Ventura County shop places an emphasis on refilling your used containers with environmentally conscious products. The Refill Shoppe has personal-care products, cleaning supplies, and a wide variety of essential oils and fragrances.  

Common Good 
105 Avenida Del Mar, San Clemente, CA 92672
http://www.commongoodandco.com/

A nationally distributed brand of natural household cleaners, Common Good products can be purchased, literally, all over the world. In addition to purchasing product, you can refill product at many of their retailers including at Reclamation Ink in San Clemente.

S.O.A.P
104 Argall Way, Nevada City, California 95959
http://www.saveourailingplanet.com/

Opened in 2010 with the intent to reduce plastic waste in the environment, S.O.A.P has helped to refill over 19,000 bottles in Nevada County. Providing a wide variety of products including household cleaners, personal care products, and even salts S.O.A.P’s mission is to help customers become part of the ‘refill revolution’.

EO Exchange - San Francisco
1355 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
https://www.eoproducts.com

In 2015, EO opened a second location in San Francisco. EO Products and their brick-and-mortar store EO Exchange offer customers an opportunity to refill all containers with their favorite personal-care products. At their proprietary Refill Bar, customers can fill empty containers with soap, lotion, shampoo, and conditioner all on tap.   

Green 11  
3980 24th Street San Francisco, CA 94114
http://www.shopgreen11.com/

Opened in 2009, Green 11 provides shoppers an environmentally friendly opportunity to refill used containers with both personal-care and cleaning products. Now with three store locations in San Francisco and San Mateo you can refill anything from toothpaste to dish soap.

SOAP STORY PART II | HYGIENE PRODCUT UPGRADE

Amanda here following up on my most recent endeavor to better attend to my skin's microbiome. I shared with you last month that where I saw room for improvement in my holistic health game was in cleaning up and greening up my soap and deodorant use. In the last 10 years I've made my own toothpaste out of baking soda, mouthwash out of coconut oil, hairspray out of lemon juice, and face scrub out of coffee. I share this because dropping commercial soap and deodorant use may seem drastic and sudden to most, but the reality is that if you were to truly step into my world, you would know that it has taken a lifetime of learning to make these transitions. AND the transitions I make actually occur at a MUCH slower rate than what they appear to be from the outside looking in. 

Not many of us have the budget (or the heart) to toss out every single hygiene and beauty product we have come to know and depend on in exchange for maybe bettering our health. And when you don't fully understand the connection between action and outcome, why bother? So lemmebreakitdownforya. One, the ingredients in most commercial hygiene and beauty products sold in stores are super whack and HAVE been shown to negatively impact our health in more ways than one. Two, get outside and realize what's basic (and I don't mean taking a selfie with a pumpkin spice latte kinda basic). For me, the more time I spend in nature, the more I want to be authentic, real, and raw. The layers of civilization and society's expectations naturally peel themselves away. So, for a moment take yourself out of the context of the modern world and consider where you may have gotten your belief system on living such a sterile life. 

Nature often influences the way I think, move and feel and thus informs how I view healing and health. Any lifestyle choice I make usually considers, "how would I naturally interact with the world without the conveniences of modern living?" I'm so happy that this concept has turned into a movement known as "rewilding." Rewilding means: "restoring ancestral ways of living that create greater health and well-being for humans and the ecosystems that we belong to. Many things inspire people to rewild: ecological collapse, economic uncertainties, health problems, a sense of something missing from life, or a desire to “save the world.” Rewilding takes inspiration from the most modern interpretations of prehistory provided by anthropology, archaeology, and ethnobiology. It means returning to our senses, returning to ourselves, and coming home to the world we belong to."

On that note, let's talk about why mainstream hygiene products were introduced to us in the first place... to prevent sweat and disguise our odor. One of my favorite rewilders, Daniel Vitalis, points us to numerous studies with evidence that shows that sweat is a good thing. Our body odor is a proven aphrodisiac and has been found to help regulate women's menstrual cycles (when smelling the body odor of a male). In an article he wrote called "A whiff of wildness" (in Dispatch 5 of Rewild Yourself Magazine) he shares sentiments that I could not agree with more...

“Evidence is emerging (as if we needed it) that the smell of our bodies is very much involved with our natural, animal sexuality, and for this reason it attracts the harsh and unforgiving gaze of the evil eye of Intrinsic Taboo. We — that taboo tells us — can use smells to attract a mate, just NOT our own smells. Smells purchased, smells made in a laboratory, smells constructed by human hands...all okay...but never our own smell. To do so is simply disgusting (cue the soap and deodorant commercials).”

A lot of people assume I just went cold turkey on soap and deodorant, but let's talk part one of this journey... evaluating all the ingredients that I allow to penetrate my skin. Hormone-disrupting, documented cancer-causing ingredients? I'M GOOD.  If you want to  become an ingredient-conscious consumer, do yourself a SOLID favor and download the Think Dirty App. Then, go into your bathroom, go on a barcode scanning frenzy and decide for yourself what potentially toxic products you're willing to let go of. Educating yourself is empowering, so while you're at it read over this Top 10 list of ingredients your skin can live without. 

Daily exposure to less than ideal ingredients from our skin care products disrupts the skin's microbiome, which impact the 3 layers that make up our skin: 

1. Stratum corneum
2. Acid mantle 
3. Lipid layer 

Nadine Artemis is a botanical genius and suggests these 3 steps to help heal the skin after years of disrupting it with a modern skin care regime: ... stop, seal, and seed.

1. Stop: using products with harsh chemicals (Using face products potent enough to bleach your towels? Take a moment to reconsider)
2. Seal: the skin's surface by opting for microbiome friendly products. Also, realize there's a powerful gut-skin connection. Heal and seal the gut by improving the quality of what you eat and drink. Plenty of greens, lots of healthy fats (internal oilation), and fresh spring water are all go-to's for me.
3. Seed: re-seed the colon with probiotics and pre-biotics. Better colon health = better skin health. When you're not eliminating on a regular basis your skin becomes congested trying to eliminate what the colon can't. Also, liver congestion and a sluggish lymphatic system can be reflected in different skin ailments.

PURE PRODUCTS THAT UPGRADE YOUR SKIN + OPTIMIZE YOUR HEALTH

• Soap: According to Nadine, washing the with pure pressed plant oils is an ancient way to cleanse and gently exfoliate the skin. On a typical day for me, before I shower, I do my Ayurvedic self-massage (abhyanga) with plain ol' organic coconut oil, and if I'm feeling fancy, I'll use one of banyan herbal infused oils or living libation's the best skin ever. Afterwards, when I step into the shower, I do a quick rinse, as advised by Dr.Jay. Once a week or so, I'll indulge in an exfoliating scrub... sometimes it's as simple as organic coffee grounds,  DIY ayurvedic bath powders, and other days it's as luxurious as this.  When needed, I like these ayurvedic soap bars that utilize organic and high quality ingredients. I'm not entirely against soap, it's just that, over time, I've reconsidered my relationship with how much I need it, re-evaluated why I use it, and am better at recognizing certain ingredients that I'd rather not have bioaccumulate in my body or environment (<--yes, fish are eating plastic micro-beads found in personal care products. YIKES). I've also realized that by consistently nourishing my skin with pure oils, there's little to no need for daily, whole-body soap lathering sessions. Even the CDC (Center for Disease Control) recognizes that,

“Soaps and detergents have been described as the most damaging of all substances routinely applied to skin....More washing and scrubbing are unlikely to be better and may, in fact, be worse. The goal should be to identify skin hygiene practices that provide adequate protection from transmission of infecting agents while minimizing the risk for changing the ecology and health of the skin and increasing resistance in the skin flora...Frequent bathing has aesthetic and stress-relieving benefits but serves little microbiologic purpose.”

Have I minimized daily, whole-body soap use in the shower? YES. Have I completely eliminated soap from my life? No. I am a healthcare professional, and hand-washing plays a critical role in preventing the spread of infectious disease (ALTHOUGH I FIND THIS INTERESTING...they are currently working on making hospitals LESS sterile because they realize the lack of bacteria in hospital settings is actually making people sicker). I also still use soap to wash my hands when handling food (ALTHOUGH I FIND THIS INTERESTING too...An article describing how when Hadza hunter-gathers (who still live a non-modernized life) eat a (freshly killed) animal, they wash their hands with the animal's gut stuff to introduce the animals bacteria to their body before they consume the animal! Note: After a few years of living in the super sterile modern world, our microbiomes are likely no longer equipped with the diverse bacteria required to handle such a feat)...and I still use soap after I go to the bathroom (MORE INTERESTING RESEARCH...fecal transplants, yep that's a thing, have been used to cure gut infections with 90-100% success). 

• Deodorant : None (doing it on non workdays is where I started experimenting and then continued adding deodorant-free days from there ) | Living Libations poetic pits  (Pure ingredients. Worth every penny and it lasts much longer than you'd imagine) | Schmidt's  (I've only tried the jars and loved it. Their sticks may be good for anyone who's working towards using cleaner ingredients, but, mentally, can't get over not swiping their pits with a stick.)
• Alignment tips for BO: Anywhere you have a concentrated area of lymph nodes you have a built in detoxification system for that area of your body. To activate the lymphatic system you need to MOVE. You have several body purifying lymph nodes in your axilla (armpit). Strong odor coming from your pits can be a sign of an overwhelmed lymph system in this region. Masking that scent with deodorant with microbiome disrupting ingredients isn't doing you any favors besides masking the larger issue at hand: you need to improve lymph flow through this area. Take inventory of your alignment and movement habits in this body region by considering these things: if you work at a computer or desk, how many times in your email-answering, phone-filled day do you lift your arms overhead? How many times a day do you hang from your hands? How much walking a day are you doing  and are you aware of what your arm swing is doing? Walking is the best lymphatic boosting movement you can do. Biologically it's thought that at a MINIMUM our bodies need the input of walking (on varied terrain! Yes, those steps around your office are good, but your body needs better that just flat and stiff concrete input) at least 3 miles/day. At our upcoming retreat we'll assess if your arm swing during gait is as lymph boosting, muscle building, shoulder and spine mobilizing as it ought to be. PS in my experience, most people's arm swing is being done in such a way that's more dysfunctional than beneficial to the shoulder girdle. 
• Shaving cream: organic coconut oil (mindful of my water consumption and of clogging my pipes with oil, I shave outside the shower. I slather what needs to be shaved with coconut oil and get those areas the slightest bit wet. I run my razor under water, shave, tap razor over trash can, wipe with towel, repeat.) | Zen Shave (adds essential oils into the mix and is great for both men + women)
• Face wash powders: turmeric + chickpea powder mask (DIY. Simple. Effective) | Clay mask (I first experimented with clay masks in my teens and haven't looked back) | Rose Lavender oatmeal scrub + face mask | Evan Healy Ayurvedic face powder
• Face mist: rose water
• Face + body lotion: Shea butter, jojoba oil
• Perfume: essential oils + rose water 
• Skin exfoliant + lymph booster: dry brushing | organic coffee grinds
• General shower tips: reduce the water temp to be colder...it's better for your skin than daily showers taken with pipping hot water. The eco-friendly bonus that naturally emerges is that you start shortening your shower times. I love to follow Feather, Eagle, Sky for her stance on reclaiming pureness with your health and beauty products and from her it was reinforced that after time spent in a hot spring or sauna (I apply this wisdom to heated yoga classes as well), take a plunge in cold water to help close up your pores and reinforce your natural defenses.  Also consider a shower filter to help filter chlorine and fluoride out which are disruptive to the microbiome. 

Stay tuned, Jenn's up next sharing her soap story in part III of this series!

SOAP STORY PART I | THE MICROBIOME

Amanda here. That's me in Fiji earlier this year. I love Fiji's intense humidity and deep belly "BULA!" greetings. Upon leaving this tropical paradise, I decided Fiji could keep it's kava, but I was takin' my tan. A few things my soulful travel partner in crime, Ciav, and I were not expecting to take home...a fungal ear infection for me and cellulitis (a bacterial skin infection) for him. 

Once we got back home, it took him a trip to urgent care to get his reef cut gone wrong handled, but for me it took 5 different physicians to sort out what was happening. The inability to sleep never feels good, but while running all over Los Angeles desperately trying to find someone (ANYONE!) to help me figure out my situation, I also started experiencing sound sensitivity so great that the sound of cars driving by my house brought me to tears...Vitamix at my local juicery? AHH.Turn.That.sh*tOFF! My saving grace was an ENT who started managing my infection (microscopically delivering antibiotics as needed) on a weekly basis. Step one, "No water in your ear." I had to wear cotton balls in my ear while showering and mid-day dips into the ocean to keep me sane were certainly out of the question. Hot, sweaty, mind-clearing yoga sessions were also out due to the sauna-like environment and sweat combo creating the possibility of more moisture building in my ear. So what does an utterly sleep-deprived, defeated ocean-lovin' yogi do? Well, you become obsessed with researching the microbiome (the collection of organisms that live throughout our body in our skin, gut, vagina, urinary tract, nose, etc). Fun fact: your body contains more bacteria, fungi, and micro-organisms than it does human cells.

To give you some background on the microbiome, the NIH explains, "Microbes inhabit just about every part of the human body, living on the skin, in the gut, and up the nose. Sometimes they cause sickness, but most of the time, microorganisms live in harmony with their human hosts, providing vital functions essential for human survival. A consortium of researchers organized by the National Institutes of Health have mapped the normal microbial makeup of healthy humans, producing numerous insights and even a few surprises.

Researchers found, for example, that nearly everyone routinely carries pathogens, microorganisms known to cause illnesses. In healthy individuals, however, pathogens cause no disease; they simply coexist with their host and the rest of the human microbiome, the collection of all microorganisms living in the human body. Researchers must now figure out why some pathogens turn deadly and under what conditions they cause disease."

I often explore ancient medicine because I love immersing myself in the wisdom of our ancestors (often dismissed or forgotten) and comparing it against modern medicine's "latests discoveries." While searching for the connection between Ayurvedic knowledge and the microbiome, I stumbled upon Anna of Liberated Yoga's take on it and couldn't agree more. "The universe within, science now calls the 'microbiome.' As science struggles to make sense of these new findings, allow me to go on a limb here and say that this information has been available to humanity for the past several thousand years- Ayurveda has been telling us that our gut is influenced by "humours" or "doshas" inside (and outside) our bodies and these can be the sources of imbalance and disease.  I believe that Ayurveda is talking about the same thing, only using a different language.  Think of it this way: you have an environment inside you, populated by bacteria of different species, in different numbers and therefore different proportions of one bacteria to another.  Various types of microbes accumulate everywhere in and on the human body.  Some perform specific useful functions, such as development and regulation of the immune system and others produce beneficial compounds that the body cannot produce on its own.  Others produce toxins that poison us.  Some are even capable of creating a certain mood or mental state in us!  It all depends on the kind of environment you create for them....Ayurveda helps to explain that the environment inside us is fostered through the foods we eat and lifestyle choices we make. You create the conditions in your body, and based on those conditions you will have the types of residents that prefer them." Amen, sista.

In 2009, Ayurveda inspired me to start consciously connecting to the state of my digestive tract. If you love holistic health and you start drinkin' enough of the organic, vegan, gluten-free kool-aid, it won't take long before you stumble upon blog post after blog post discussing how the digestive tract benefits from probiotics (beneficial live bacteria and yeast).  Experimenting with probiotics myself, I started taking  this good-gut-loving bacteria in supplementation form, which eventually led me to start incorporating a variety of fermented foods into my diet- both good steps to take when trying to re-establish the beneficial bacteria in your gut.

I now bring you into the spring of 2015...I'm 4 physicians deep into my ear infection dilemma and the last ENT I saw prescribed daily antibiotics for one month. This doesn't sit well with me. Have you seen VICE's Life in a Post-Antibiotic World on HBO? It's an episode worth watching, you can catch the debreifing here...

Now, I am onto meditating on who it is I needed to reach out to to help with my ear. I'm drawn to yelp the ENTs in my area and intuitively choose someone. I go with an ENT named Amanda simply because she has the same name as me. One week later I arrive at her office and I'm relieved that my intuition was spot on because she's been the most attentive and helpful person regarding my ear that I've met in weeks (did I mention I'm now onto the 5th MD for this situation?). As we talked, she assured me that she would only give me antibiotics on a weekly, as needed basis- and this would likely only take 2-3 applications versus 30. I ask her what she thinks about the Ayurvedic penetrative medicine for ears known as Karna Purana (the administration of medicated oil in the ears). She hasn't heard of it, but given that I have an active infection she advises against it. Later that night, although I trust I am in better hands, I can't help but notice that it's 2 am, I can't sleep and my ear is pulsating.  Further disrupting my senses with the glow of my phone, I am desperately searching for other ways I can support my body while on an antibiotic. "Google..is that you?...Outside of eating fermented foods, in what other ways can I safely introduce more bacteria into my life?" Sounds strange, but after Fiji, it became very clear to me that a lot of what we do in our very sterile world kills off a lot of the diverse bacteria on our skin and bodies that actually help us stay healthy. It's late, so I decide to make peace with the fact I have an ear infection and due to the fact that I am a month in (and it hasn't resolved) I also make peace with the need to take antibiotics. As I drift to sleep I decide that beyond the microcosm of my ear I am determined to make the microbiome of my body better.

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Ayurveda has taught me to have a deep reverence for the function of my skin, and thus I take care of it daily through an Abhyanga practice. I place so much importance on the state of the skin, that in my physical therapy practice, one of the first things I take inventory on is the subjective and objective qualities of my patient's skin. To me, it is no surprise that scientific discoveries are moving beyond the gut and giving some love to the microbiome of the skin (as well as other linings within the body).

In my search, some of the most discussed products thought to kill off the skin's healthy bacteria are: soap, deodorant, detergent, and chemical-filled hygiene and cosmetic products. Over the years, I have become aware of all of these things, but as I said, since Fiji, I've been a little more than determined to immerse myself in a personal project of becoming even more in tune with ways I can support the innate wisdom of the bacteria that lives on and beneath my skin. Where I saw a lot of room for improvement in cleaning up my self-care regime was in my soap and shampoo use. I was really motivated after reading this excerpt from an article entitled, "Shampoo and Soap Wreak Havoc on the Skin’s Microbiome"... "(The skin) needs replenishing because, just as oral antibiotics indiscriminately kill both good and bad bacteria inside the body, soap and shampoo carpet bomb bacteria outside the body."

I connected with IWR's other half, Jenn, and relayed all this information to her and we discussed at length where we both are in our "soap story." After several exchanges about how we would present this information, we finally decided to keep it real with our readers and candidly share exactly where we are on this journey. I'm certainly not the first to take on a No-Soap, No-Shampoo, Bacteria-Rich Hygiene Experiment, but I'm about 6 months in and definitely excited to share my insights on the upcoming blog post "Soap Story Part II." We realize not everyone is ready to ditch their soap tomorrow, so Jenn shares her story too. In Part III she reflects on the shifts she's made to reduce body odor and calm down her rosacea and the manageable steps she's taken in the last 6 months to make her current soap use a more eco-friendly experience. Stay tuned! And if Ayurvedic wisdom fascinates you as much as us, know it's not too late to join us on our upcoming Ayurveda, Alignment and Yoga Retreat this October! 

WHAT IS AYURVEDA?

What is Ayurveda? We get asked this question a lot and to get to the root of it in an interactive way, we recently hosted an Intro to Ayurveda Lecture at Amanda's physical therapy clinic and invited Los Angeles-based Ayurvedic Physician, Dr. Jay to lead the discussion. Dr. Jay is an incredible man. He makes what can seem like an overwhelming topic feel very accessible and really relatable, so we are forever grateful to be able to learn from him!  If you didn't make the event, we're happy to pass on the wisdom that was shared and provide the seasonal summer recipes that were sampled! 

Ayurveda is loosely translated as the "knowledge of life." In Sanskrit, Ayur=life, and veda=science or knowledge. This holistic system originated in India 5,000 years ago and is known for recognizing that our environment, body, mind and spirit all interact in dynamic ways. One of the basic premises of Ayurveda is that everything that exists in the universe (macrocosm) also exists in the internal cosmos of the human body (microcosm). According to Ayurveda, when we observe the world around us and tune into how things operate on a large scale, we are better able to understand how certain experiences influence our bodies (which can be considered a map of the world on a much smaller scale).

If you pay attention to nature, you notice that throughout the year it cycles through seasons. Each season varies in weather, ecology, and hours of daylight. Through this observation you understand that nature does not behave the same way all the time and using Ayurvedic principles you can conclude that neither do our bodies. A meal or health routine that brought you wellness in the winter may not feel so appropriate in the summer. A great analogy that Dr. Jay shared was, "As we cycle through the seasons, our clothing changes...lighter and airier in the summer...warmer and heavier in the winter. Just as our clothes change, so must our food." Ayurvedic wisdom encourages us to eat with the seasons because as nature continuously provides a variety of foods throughout the year, we naturally consume a wide range of nutrients to fuel our body. The simple act of eating seasonal foods has made a big impact on our lives.

At the most finite level our bodies are made of cells...that are made up of molecules...that are made up of atoms. Food is important because it is the very substance that provides nourishment to every cell in our bodies...literally since we were in the womb! Your own embryonic development relied heavily on the food that your mom ate and even after you were born, you continuously rely on food for your growth and survival. If you are deprived of proper nourishment, your body will have difficulty healing, repairing, and regenerating. This intimate connection with food is why Ayurveda places such a big emphasis on digestion (agni).

Because Ayurveda deals with both the body AND mind, digestion goes beyond food. This intricate science also asks you to consider how you are "digesting" all aspects of your life. How are you processing your relationships?  experiences? memories?  It's fascinating how deep this system goes! 

We were originally introduced to this amazing holistic medical system during our 200-hour yoga teacher training program. Ayurveda is often referred to as the "sister science of yoga." Which may lead you to ask, how is Yoga tied into all of this? According to Dr.Jay, who obtained his Ayurvedic training in India, "Yoga is a philosophy that was established before Ayurveda."

Here in the west, when we think of yoga, we may automatically envision a bunch of people doing their bodies good by lying on mats and getting in an hour's worth of stretching, but believe it or not, these physical poses (asanas), although amazing for the physical body, were originally done to develop the mind. Doing physical yoga poses is just ONE of eight "branches" that make up the yogic philosophy.

Yoga can help you mentally manage excess vibrations (thoughts), therefore it is known to heal the MIND. Ayurveda came about via observation and meditation and has the potential to balance the BODY.

Dr. Jay explains that the ancient Sages of India saw plagues and diseases wipe out their people and they became interested in how they could alleviate human suffering. A deep state of meditation revealed the body of information that is now known as Ayurveda.

 There is an 8 limbed path in yoga, and similarly, there came to be 8 branches of therapeutics in Ayurveda. When we start pondering questions like, Who are we? Yoga and Ayurveda, together, explain that we are conscious beings. When we ask, "Why are we here?" These ancient philosophies say that it is to evolve to a higher consciousness. Through this lens, the Mind and Body are our instruments to access higher consciousness and the two tools we have available to prepare the Mind and Body are Yoga and Ayurveda. 

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Ayurveda looks at the world and sees that it is made up of 3 primary elements: wind (vata), fire (pitta), and water (kapha). These elements (known as doshas) are the building blocks for how the world and body are understood. Vata/Wind energy is responsible for movement...in the body, think nerve impulses and breath. Pitta/Fire energy is responsible for transformation...think digestion and hormone regulation. Kapha/Water energy is responsible for nourishment...think lubrication for your joints and the maintenance of a healthy gut lining. When you start assigning the qualities of wind, fire, and water to different situations, overtime, it starts to become intuitive how you can balance out disease in the body or shift mental states in the mind. 

To better understand how we can integrate these concepts in our day-to-day, at our lecture we focused on serving foods that complement the current season: Summer. Summer exhibits Pitta/Fire qualities, which are: oily, sharp, hot, light, moving, liquid, and acidic. Too much heat/fire in the summer (in the form of excessive exercise, too much time in the sun without relief from the shade, spicy foods, and over-scheduled days)  can physically cause inflammation and mentally leave you feeling burnt out. To help balance ourselves, we turn to foods that have cooling and hydrating qualities. Think about this... a heavy, hot stew that may have hit the spot in the dead of winter isn't what you crave during the warm, possibly humid days of summer. Rather, in the summertime, your body has an affinity towards light and refreshing foods that have a high water content to keep you hydrated. Nature, being a step ahead, provides you with the likes of: cooling cucumbers, hydrating watermelons, juicy berries and peaches, and ripe tomatoes.

As the seasons keep cycling through, keep your eye out for what foods are in season and start to cultivate a deeper understanding of how these foods affect your body and mind...this is how you can implement "Ayurveda 101" into your life! Below we pass on the summer recipes and Ayurvedic resources that were shared at our event...Enjoy! 

RECIPES

WATERMELON, CUCUMBER, MINT JUICE

• 1 organic watermelon, sliced, rind removed
• 1-2 organic cucumbers, cut in spears
• fresh sprigs mint

Pass watermelon slices and cucumber spears through a juicer and serve with a few springs of mint. If Ayurveda is making you feel especially inspired in the kitchen, play around with this watermelon drink recipe, which uses Ayurvedic spices such as cardamom and coriander. 

RAW VEGAN AVOCADO KEY LIME TART

Since this pie is raw it required no baking, and thus kept our kitchens cool. In the United States, key limes are at their peak of freshness in the summer (June-August), which is why key lime pie has gained a reputation as being a refreshing summer treat.

The IWR Soulful Travel Tribe was introduced to an upgraded variation on the traditional key lime pie in Mexico at our 2015 Tulum Retreat ! Our chef, Claire Ragozzino of Vidya, made this gluten-free, dairy-free delicacy and silenced the crowd. Ever since, we've been playing with different variations. This is our favorite take on it so far....

MACADAMIA NUT CRUST (adapted from detoxinstas key lime tartlets)   

• 3/4 C macadamia nuts +  1/4 C walnuts
• 2 T coconut oil, melted
• 1 T pure maple syrup (organic, grade B)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of sea salt

DIRECTIONS FOR CRUST:

• Pulse nuts in a food processor until a fine powder is formed. (Don't overdo this step as you don’t want it to become a nut butter.) 
• Add coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract and salt, and pulse again.
• We loved making the easy to serve tartlets. To do drop a heaping spoonful of dough into the bottom of 6-8 baking cup liners. Use your fingers to press the crusts down firmly, and place the pan in the freezer to set. 
• We also made a pie too. To make the pie crust we doubled this recipe. We used one batch to cover the bottom of a 9 inch pan and used the second batch to press up against the edges. After, place in the freezer to set.
• To make similar raw crust using almonds- check out Claire's Coconut Macaroon Crust recipe here.

VIDYA'S AVOCADO KEY LIME FILLING

• 2 avocados 
• 1 cup coconut butter (You can purchase a jar of this at most health foods stores. The key lime tart we served had coconut butter made from scratch. If you have patience (20 extra minutes worth of patience to be exact), it's pretty simple to make. Check out this recipe for an exact how-to).
• ¼ cup coconut oil 
• ½ cup key lime juice (if you can't find key limes, regular limes will also do the trick)
• ¾ cup raw honey
• 4 tsp vanilla paste

DIRECTIONS FOR FILLING: 

• Blend all the ingredients until creamy. HELPFUL SIDE NOTE: An 8 C Vitamix blender was used to make this recipe. You probably need at least a 6 C blender to make this successfully all at once. If working with a smaller blender, work in smaller batches. We started by making our coconut butter in the blender and once that was creamy, we added the remaining ingredients.
• Pour filling into prepared pie crust (or baking cups if making tartlets). Shake and swirl pan around to spread filling evenly. Use the back of a spoon to smooth it over. 
• Store in freezer 4-6 hours, or until the filling is firm. 

RESOURCES

If this knowledge fascinates you, check out IWR's event page to get in the know about our signature Ayurveda, Alignment + Yoga Retreat offerings! Early Bird pricing on our Fall Malibu 2015 retreat ends on July 4, 2015! 

Other links + resources that were mentioned at our Intro to Ayurveda Lecture...

• Seasonal, Ayurvedic-inspired recipes by Claire Ragozzino of Vidya, IWR's Malibu Fall 2015 Chef
• Let's all be healthy- link to buy Ayurvedic spices
• Determine your dosha quiz
• Book: 3 Season Diet by John Doulliard 
• Books by David Dr. Frawley
• Book + Website: Eat, Taste, Heal
• Ayurvedic daily routine 
• Video: Short 14 min documentary on how surgical methods that are still relevant and used in practice today were first documented in ancient Ayurvedic texts (note: viewer beware, this video has surgical scenes)

ANDREA YOUNG| AN IWR INTERVIEW

MAKE SHIFT HAPPEN. Yep, that's what the IWR team set out to do in 2015 when we started masterminding our TULUM 2015 and MALIBU 2015 Ayurveda, Alignment, and Yoga Retreat offerings. Proof in this excerpt from our December 2014 newsletter titled "Looking to make a DEEP SHIFT in 2015?"...

“Do you ever feel like you’re capable of making a bigger impact? Us too! A year ago, in December 2013, we were more committed than ever to making a deep shift in our lives. We wanted to be a part of something bigger. A part of us was unfulfilled, but making changes to fill that void didn’t seem easy. And it wasn’t, but we did it anyway. We trusted that authentic pull, that urge to grow, the draw to take action. We started with what we already believed to be true...that living an empowered, healthy, whole existence made us come alive. From there, we began exploring ways that this passion, that ran deep within us, could connect us with other like minded individuals. This journey led to the birth of Integrative Wellness Retreat. A journey that began simply because we knew our tribe was out there...the people who actively participate in their well being, the people who want to elevate their wellness, the people who live their life on purpose.”

At the time, little did we know that up the coast in Santa Cruz, there was a physician with a California soul and Oklahoma roots who subtly heard our call to action when she picked up one of our Tulum 2015 flyers. Andrea Young, DO, didn't know it then, but there was a purpose in her heart begging to be nurtured, and THIS was the opportunity for focused action and deep work. What has always been obvious to her from the start, well before the age of 8, was that she was destined to be doctoring "some day" and grew up always striving to do just that, hardly realizing how to treasure moments in the present.

Heading into 2015 she found herself in the state of mind of "always being busy." A lover of yoga AND relaxing beach vacations, she decided just 3 weeks prior to the IWR TULUM 2015 retreat that she was long overdue for a break from the hectic and often stress-laden life she was leading as a physician. In true Soulful Traveler fashion, she recruited a college friend to share a beachside bungalow, booked a flight to Mexico and signed up! 

Andrea + Brandi's enjoying the view from their beachside bungalow in Tulum.

While in Mexico, we supported Dr. Young's much needed desire to slow down, by creating an experience where her days were filled with healing self-care rituals like: yoga, meditation, ayurvedic self-care and alignment lectures, nourishing food, bike rides, beachside lounging, and much needed unwinding. She had the IWR team guiding her, but was also surrounded by the community support of like-minded individuals yearning for the same things. The HUGE emphasis on self-care at our retreat may seem like a no-brainer, but when was the last time you ACTUALLY spent 4 full days focusing on NOTHING ELSE but YOUR needs? Andrea is a physician, and serves as a trusted source to many, but at the end of the day she's human like the rest of us and easily gets caught up in the same fast-paced life that ails us all. You know, the life where the stress to be more, do more ends up ruling the rhythm of your day to the extent that your adrenals are on overdrive, your mind can't slow down, and you slowly end up losing sight of how important your own health is as you start prioritizing the needs of others before your own? We've all been there and it was so refreshing to see a physician be real and step up to join us on EXPERIENCING and LIVING the life she preaches to her patients on the daily. Self-care is seriously how we, as the IWR team, manage to get a handle on our own lives, make meaningful changes, and create a business that has an authentic purpose. We create offerings that revolve around self-care because self-care is truly the foundation off of which true transformation can takes place.

Dr. Andrea Young (in the middle, in white) at the IWR self-care lecture using organic, cold-pressed coconut oil to perform a stress relieving self-massage known in Ayurveda as "Abhyanga."

We couldn't be more grateful that this driven physician joined us on this journey. We recently caught up with Dr. Young and are B-L-O-W-N A-W-A-Y by what she's been up to (just 3 MONTHS!) after our retreat! It's so inspiring to hear how the IWR Ayurveda, Alignment, and Yoga experience awakened her entrepreneurial spirit and transformed the way she's now practicing medicine. We all want to make shift happen, and we wait for the answers and are on the look out for all the right"signs" that now is in fact time to make a change, but from experience , we know that it's not about having ALL the answers right NOW, but more about the desire to know yourself on a new level and the want to intentionally step into a space where other's encourage you to do the work and support your mission to shine BRIGHTER. 

Dr. Andrea Young taking a moment to pause and enjoy paradise.

We have to say THANK YOU, Andrea for investing in this experience and being living proof that profound shifts can be made when you're living in sync with nature, optimizing your movement patterns, nourishing yourself with real food, getting restful sleep, connecting with like-minded people, and above all taking care of yourself!

Andrea is currently MAKING SHIFT HAPPEN while practicing as a physician in Santa Cruz, CA. She creates space for herself daily by spending time outside with the sun on her skin, cherishing each moment she has FaceTiming with her 4 month old niece, and eating good food. We hope you're as uplifted by her interview as we were!! 

• No.1| What made you pursue a career in medicine?

AY: I told family members I was going to be a doctor as early as 2nd grade. My dad owns a physical therapy company, built it from the ground up, and I think I just always knew I wanted to help patients be healthy, like my Dad.

• No. 2| When did yoga + meditation come into the picture for you?

AY: So there's not a lot of "yogis" in Oklahoma, but I managed to find one my sophomore year of college. Hannah looked like a weathered tan Santa Cruz beach hippie and was so zen. I tried to take her class 2 times per week. I specifically remember I went to her to "decompress" after organic chemistry lab. Yoga has been a part of my life since...from Newport Beach power yoga to sweaty west LA Vinnie Marino vinyasa flows. Yoga got me through med school, but mediation is a recent phenomenon for me...I'm a newbie. Only in the last 7-8 months have I realized the need for a mindful practice on the mat and a mindful moment some other time during the day. I'm still working on keeping it in my "must do daily" list.

Timelapse video of Dr. Andrea Young doing a sunrise yoga flow led by Amanda Ramirez at IWR's Tulum 2015 Ayurveda, Alignment + Yoga Retreat.

• No. 3|  Many healthcare practitioners who gravitate towards a holistic approach often have some sort of life experience or a-ha moment that ends up really influencing the way they practice medicine. Have any of those moments?

AY: Moving back to California from Philadelphia was when I decided I was no longer going to channel only "westernized" medicine. After around 9 months in the ER/Urgent care setting in Philly, I wanted to do relationship medicine - help people help themselves, not just throw them a quick Zpak. I've always coined phrases like "raw and real" and "devotion to motion" when guiding my patients on lifestyle. My journey in medicine is still evolving... If you would have told me I'd be into Ayurvedic medicine when I was in the OR as a surgical resident, I would have called you nuts. It turns out Family medicine gives me patients of all ages, time for a relationship with them, variety in my day, and an environment where my personality can shine. To me, helping others BE WELL, means helping them find wellness naturally and in a nurturing manner, and does not always involve pharmaceuticals.

Good Morning! This was Andrea's sunrise view from her room in Tulum.

• No. 4|You kicked off 2015 with us in Mexico as an attendee of IWRs Tulum Ayurveda, Alignment, + Yoga Retreat. Tell us about your experience and how it may have influenced what you're up to now?

AY: IWR Tulum allowed me to finally shake off some funk and wake up!! I had probably never heard about Ayurveda except maybe on a poster at a yoga studio. And when I learned about my dosha and some important Ayurvedic self-care principles, it all just clicked with me. I felt truly super healthy eating the clean nearly vegan cuisine Claire made for us. I let the Tulum magic recharge my battery. I treasured time on the mat with Amanda in that ocean sunrise facing hut. By the last day of the retreat I was ready for a wifi signal to research how physicians could incorporate Ayurveda into their practice and was ready for an Ayurvedic cookbook in my kitchen. I also finally knew I had to quit talking about being physician entrepreneur, and do it, keeping an open eye for opportunities that would allow me to be dedicated to self-care and healthcare. I am starting my Ayurvedic training in June and have a thriving safe skincare business with Beautycounter. I now see patients only three days a week and intend to transition to a hybrid Family medicine/Ayurvedic medicine practice in 2016 and will continue to educate the community about the need for legislation reform in the skincare industry. I've also finally made a priority of caring for myself. And that just feels so very refreshing.

To relax and unwind while in Mexico, Andrea took a beach cruiser bike ride and dipped into the refreshing waters at Gran Cenote in Tulum.

• No. 5| Love that you're feeling so empowered right now! IWR is all about empowering people to take ownership of their health-especially in a time when our current health care model doesn't emphasize prevention. Oh, insurance and our fractured healthcare system...it's easy to become overwhelmed by it all...even to the point that sometimes providers feel helpless. IWR believes small changes on everyone's part can create a big impact. We'd love to hear your insights on this one and any ways you're transforming medicine and/or empowering your patients.

AY: Insurance and the current healthcare reimbursement model is a crippling "fact of life" for now, but I am hopeful that outcome based healthcare reform is in the pipeline. I truly believe in relationship-based + preventative medicine. I think more patients need to understand that many of the modern day diseases can be turned around with healthful diet and exercise alone and working with us outside the office to 'do good' to your body will get you to your health goals much quicker. I'll be honest, I'm usually 10-15 minutes behind on my patient visits. That's not because my staff overbooks my schedule; it's because listening ears + extensive patient education is the equation for patient empowerment and that just takes time.

The beautiful Dr, Andrea Young (picture on right) 3 months after IWR Tulum 2015 nurturing her entrepreneurial spirit by getting involved in the safe skincare business.

PHOTO CREDIT: Andrea Young | Amanda Ramirez

TULUM 2015 RECAP | Ayurveda, Alignment + Yoga Retreat

Ayurveda, Alignment + Yoga| Tulum, Mexico| February 2015

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In 2015, a full moon in Leo illuminated our journey as we brought IWR's signature Ayurveda, Alignment, and Yoga Retreat offering to an international level! Tulum, Mexico was the perfect place to slow it all down to the pulse of the jungle and the rhythm of the ocean in order to be able to share our passion for food, movement, lifestyle, and soulful travel! 

On the food front we had Claire Ragozzino infuse her ayurvedic wisdom into the IWR menu. We used local, seasonal ingredients and let the deeply nourishing Mexican flavors take center stage. Most of our soulful travelers came from states that were at one point knee deep in snow, so needless to say they were oh so welcoming of the hot and humid climates Tulum had to offer. As exciting as it is to get away, we knew that we had to keep their digestive systems balanced with the switch in climates and cuisine (as well as ward off any travel induced constipation- In Ayurveda, that's known as the Vata/Air Energy taking over!). Our welcome meal was a Macrobiotic Taco Feast. The rice served on the side had grounding/kapha qualities, which helped our guests (who we're likely eating pretty hearty winter meals before arriving) stay grounded.  We wouldn't do Mexico justice if guac wasn't present at the table at all times. Claire's go-to guacamole recipe used local avocados, rich in healthy fats. Healthy fats provide the medicinal benefit of keeping our insides lubricated, especially when we engage in the super dehydrating act of travel. Fat is the macronutrient that assists the gut with the lubrication necessary to stay regular and provides the nourishment for the skin barrier that takes a beating and gets dried out during those bitterly cold, windy winter days. Along the way we eventually lightened up the meals and made it a point to serve raw and super hydrating foods like Jicama, Avocado, Citrus + Mint Salad. It would not be vacation if deserts were not had- Claire's vegan, raw Chocolate Chili Torte drizzled with cinnamon, cayane chocolate sauce definitely stole the show!  

On the movement front, Amanda Ramirez guided the group in daily morning walks through the jungle to arrive at the eastward facing, oceanfront yoga palapa. A guided meditation took place as the sunbeams brilliantly broke through the horizon casting light on our days- which made being up before dawn well worth it. In Ayurveda dawn is considered a juncture in the day in which our bodies are most receptive to meditation. At this time our minds and bodies are better able to acknowledge that it's all about newness, fresh starts, and the shining of light in places where there was once darkness. In shamanism, the East direction, where the sun rises, brings energy that allows us to gain a distant perspective on our lives, to see far into the future and understand what the best direction we are to take.

An invigorating yoga flow energized the group to start their day. With Amanda's background in physical therapy she understands that traveling involves long bouts of sitting which shortens the calves and the hamstrings, so she made sure the yoga sessions initially emphasized a lot of back body lengthening to prepare the yogis for the deep hip openers and spinal twists that were to come. In her hour-long yoga flows she weaved in alignment cues that foreshadowed the interactive alignment and anatomy lectures that took place later that day. For example, one class was themed in the ruby red root chakra and included lots of grounding poses and opportunities to explore the feet as the foundation through balancing poses. Later that day in the lecture, Amanda explained how hip strength helps to support foot alignment down the chain and showed everyone how foot positioning can influence whether or not their yoga practice was capitalizing on the use of those deep hip stabilizers that help prevent the hip, back, and SIJ dysfunctions that secretly plague so many yogis.

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The lifestyle we aimed to create for our Soulful Travelers in Tulum was one that we knew could renew spirits and revive souls. The people who we envisioned joining us were people who looking to make SHIFT happen. We asked our Soulful Travel Tribe "Where in your life do you need clarity and guidance to help you thrive in 2015? Is it with your diet, movement habits, stress levels, sleep patterns, relationships?" and we reminded them that we didn't set up our retreats to be an escape from their reality, but rather, as an incredible opportunity for them to slow down and be taught the self-care tools to transform their life! Proof:  Check out how our retreat experience transformed the way this physician is now practicing medicine and approaching patient care with Ayurvedic principles!

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We ended our retreat with a POWERFUL temazcal (sweat lodge-esque) ceremony led by a local shaman. We all had no idea what to expect, but we sang, sweat, laughed, cried and all felt so moved to share those pieces of our stories we hardly share with anyone. One of our attendees, a massage therapist named Michelle, we think summed it up best, "Thank you for all the absolutely ridiculous circumstances in my life that somehow brought me to this moment where I find myself sharing my deep soul story with a bunch of strangers." 

They say that we all arrive at certain places in our lives for different reasons, and all we can say is THANK YOU to all the amazing people who said, "YES!" to this experience. Sometimes the way we end up in certain places seems "random," but when we are aware and connected we start to see that there are lessons woven into every moment and realize that our lives are divinely built with so much meaning. We put so much intention into this retreat and it absolutely brought us to life to be able to watch everyone interact, laugh, learn, cry, and come back home to themselves. Have you ever given yourself permission to be in a space where your to-do list doesn't exist and you' re able to connect to the things that matter most? If you're ready to make shift happen, check out our most current Ayurveda, Alignment + Yoga Retreat offerings here. To see more about where this all started, check out pictures from our Malibu 2014 Retreat!

Timelapse video of Amanda + Claire saluting the sun in Tulum. Woke up before dawn to experience a sunrise meditation, pranayama (breathing), and yoga practice.

#IWRTulum2015

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