Music Monday : Music for Yoga

My favorite Yoga classes are when they play modern music. There is definitely room and I also enjoy songs without words, but I am energized when doing crazy long planks and hearing bands like Yeasayer playing "Fingers Never Blead" in the background. Don't tell my Yoga instructors but every once in a while when there is an especially rad song playing that is unfamiliar to me, I may pull out of a pose, take a small water break, and 'Shazam'. Totally against the whole point of being in the moment with a solid Yoga practice hehe -- I've really got to stop that.

Here are ten of my favorite Yoga songs to add to your list. Or if you just want to listen to this while chilling in the kitchen and making dinner one night or something else that works too.

Shout out your favorite yoga tunes or energizing jams.




// photo : My sister Becca who teaches Yoga classes on the beach in Hawaii.

Standing together...

Last week Mac and I adventured into the redwood forrest at Muir Woods and came away from the experience with a heightened sense of gratitude and wonder.

What stood out to me most and I am still thinking about is this one battered down burnt tree. It was charred almost to the core but still standing and hanging in there. What marveled me was how a group of younger trees grew a tight-knit circle around this lonely charred out tree. I like to think that they grew up this way to protect and surround 'the one' to give it strength.

This beautiful scene in nature humbled me. The more we stand together and help one another, the stronger we are. My heart goes out to the East Coast, I hope you and your families are all safe.

Top 10 Plant-Based Diet Cookbooks

For the last month or so our family has been focusing upon eating plant-based meals. Yes, we still have some organic chicken, wild fish and shrimp in the freezer to use up, but we are moving more fully towards a plant-based diet. Normal I would infuse 2-3 meals a week that were meatless in the menu plan, but now it is turning more into like 6. We've already nixed most dairy, and we've really seen and felt the difference.

For us this movement has been a gradual process over the last few years. After recently watching Forks over Knives, along with a few other haunting documentaries about meat production, (and bouts of hot dog food poisoning) we have not been in the mood for juicy meaty burgers, well at least right now. Ask me again next year and we'll see. (I promise we aren't turning into California hippies, well maybe a little, ha). Since at home we will be working towards eating pretty clean, we are the pretty easy-going type so we won't be freaking out about things as we dine out, or over at someone's house. We are implementing the 80/20 rule. 

The main thing we've noticed so far overall is more energy, and I noticed that my skin cleared up too. (Although, sadly as I had some major slip-ups on my recent road trip my skin began to meltdown again).

I am already a huge fan of Heidi Swanson's books and she has usually been my go-to for excellent plant-based recipes but, I also wanted to explore more options. Here are the top ten plant-based cookbooks I've checked out over the last few months at our local library, are in my queue or am interested in.

Read more »

Ritual Cleanse

Every year I do my best to do some sort of cleanse. Last year I tried this one and as part of a monthly practice I fast one day each month. It still amazes me how connected our minds, bodies and spirits are and how I always see a triple shift in everything when I focus on one aspect heavily. This past weekend I took on the challenge of drinking only fresh cold-pressed juice for three days, and today I feel fantastic.

Ritual Cleanse sent me their three-day seasonal reset juice cleanse and it has been a long time since I've felt this energized. At times it was a little tricky as I prepared meals for our little ones and it being Halloween weekend and all, but after day two it was all good. Their system of orderly bottled fresh organic juices was super easy, just untwist and drink (about every two to three hours) which I liked and found really convenient. (Check out my fridge!) Although I thought they were all tasty, the cashew drink at the end of the day was my favorite.

What about you? Have you participated in a cleanse or do you ever fast? What about drinking green juice or smoothies? I would love to hear about it!

Want to try Ritual Cleanse maybe pre or post holidays? They are offering Black Eiffel readers a discount of 10% off through November 30th. Just enter BEreader at checkout. 

(I was not compensated for this post, I reviewed and did this cleanse because I was super excited about trying it, and normally do this kind of thing in my real life.)

5 good songs to work out to

Since we are briefly on the subject of workout gear from the last post, what about some workout music? Here are five songs I recently added into my mix of workout jams. What are you listening to? Upbeat power songs sure do wonders in motivating me and getting my heart moving and of course cool down jams are a must too -- (like Islands above). Shout 'em out, what are your favorite power or cool down songs to work out to?

Speaking Digitally : Workout Gear

When it comes to workout gear there are tons of fantastic gadget options out there, it seems like the market is exploding with sweet stuff to enhance your exercise regime.  Let's talk about the cool ones that have recently come out or are coming soon. Here are a few that stand out and are on my upgrade list. Add to the list in the comments if something works well for you too.

1: SportShell Convertible iPhone Case: I have been searching for a better clip system for my iPhone to workout with and this little multi-functional clip system looks like one of the best I've seen around. Clip it on to the strap and bam, off you go!

2: Polar WearLink Transmitter + Nike+:  If you want to see what is going down with your heart and how hard you are working out, I've heard this one works really well (you can wash the band too - not plastic) and it also syncs with the Nike watch and iPod & iPhone gear.

3: Nike+ SportWatch GPS: My brother-in-law has this watch and I've played around with it a bit, it is cool looking and rocks. It tracks your runs with ease giving you lots of information about your distance, pace, elevation, calories, heart rate etc... I hope they come out with a little more feminine sized watch in the future because it is a tad bulky for my wrist, but still super cool.

4: Go Smart: These pedometers are great. You will often find my husband Mac and I wearing a pedometer striving to hit 10,000 steps a day - some days it is a fail, but it is motivating to see the number each evening. We've had many models over the years but have continually liked the Omron brand. I'm sure if you are in a big city getting 10,000 isn't a problem.

5: BodyMedia Armband BW: BodyMedia recently came out with a new armband that syncs directly to your phone and computer. It tracks your calories for the day, your sleep duration and efficiency and more. I have tried their previous model and it was enlightening to see the stats of my day.

6: Jawbone UP : I am curious and anxiously awaiting to learn more about UP which is due to come out later this year. It is a revolutionary new system that tracks your movement and looks pretty slick.

7: Jay Bird Wireless Earbuds : These wireless headphones are remarkable, I tried them on and was surprised at the sound quality and how I would never have to worry about twisted cords or having them fall out of my ears.

Raw Foods

The way that Angela captured her recent healthy raw meal options is top notch and very inspiring. See her post here. What healthy choices are you making in 2011? I am working on eating less sugar, although last night I had some yummy European chocolate -- yikes.

(photos by Angela Hardison)

Word of Wisdom Living : A 52 Week Plan

My intention is to not go all cheesy on you, but I am a firm believer that when you make a goal or put good energy towards something, it will boomerang back to you in many ways. Don't get me started on how I like to put energy into finding close parking spots which works pretty much everytime-- it cracks my husband up. Let's just say I'm an optimist.

Case in point, as I am studying and observing 'healthy living' this month (and the rest of my life) I received an email from the lovely Brooke about her father's new blog Word of Wisdom Living which is a study of all things healthy and I am an instant fan. I've been searching for something out there exactly like this and voilà ! Not only is it laid out beautifully, but the topics so far are very interesting and informative. I am especially drawn to the post about a healthy breakfast compote, which I look forward to trying. Also as my husband's main health resolution for the year is to not eat french fries or deep fat fried foods I can't wait to show him the history behind hydrogenated trans fat which is Healthy Change #2. Have a peek.

The blog "will offer 52 Healthy Changes—one for each week of 2011—that can transform your diet, as well as your health!" How exciting.

Have you found a healthy or nutritional blog or website that you enjoy? Please share!

(all images from Word of Wisdom Living)

Martha Stewart Gift Guide

I am excited to share with you my holiday gift guide for Martha Stewart. See all of my selections here. I also have a few more gift guides headed your way that I have had so much fun creating, can't wait to share them with you!

Crocheted Clothing by Teeny Tini

These creative hand crocheted clothing and toys for kids by JK Lange for Teeny Tini really made me smile this morning. Aren't the colors and originality awesome? Inspiring...

Tennis Inspired + Wimbledon

Have you heard of the recent match this week between Isner and Mahut that was the longest tennis match in Wimbledon history? Wow, could you imagine playing 182 games lasting 11 hours and five minutes? Yikes. (read more about it here.)

All this tennis frenzy, got me thinking about the playful tennis fashion show and line that Jean Paul Gaultier put on for Hermes in the Spring 2010 -- what a fun show that was. How many of you play tennis?



Top photo by Maria Valentino-For The Washington Post
Fashion images by Monica Feudi from Style.com

BodyMedia GoWear fit

If you have ever watched 'Biggest Loser' or gone to your local gym, you may have seen people sport a band around their arm that isn't a ipod holder... ever wonder what it is? I did, and was very curious to find out more.

In my research along with reestablishing my new year fitness goals, I learned about the Body Media "GoWear Fit" system and it has been one of the best fitness products I've ever tried. You wear the trusty armband around your arm and it collects data that you can view on an optional accompanying watch and their online activity manager. It scientifically tracks how many calories you are burning each day, your activity levels, how many steps you are taking and even your sleep efficiency. I am amazed by its accuracy! It is an excellent technological tool to help you see and statistically manage what your body is really doing each day. Couple your activity with filling in your calories on their online manager and you are set to see results. It has shared with me that I really need to boost my metabolism. Amazon carries the GoWear Fit and you can also find it here. It is a great tool to jump start and help assist keeping those health and fitness resolutions.

Stella McCartney for Adidas

I am drooling over Stella McCartney's impeccably styled line for Adidas, the look of it even makes me want to go outside and exercise. In fact ... off I go.

My Net Diary vs. Calorie King

When my husband and I had treo and blackberry phones we loved using Calorie King as a means of effectively tracking our health progress.

In a nutshell our plan entailed,
1 - finding out what our weight, bmi, and health desires were.
2 - choosing how many calories and nutrients our body needs.
3- using Calorie King's food database to electronically track our progress and consumption.

After we both got new phones, we were bummed to find out that although you can use their online software, Calorie King doesn't jive with the iPhone. We inquired after their intentions, and they wrote back stating that they did not have any current plans to write software for the iPhone platform. Boo.

After that sad news, my husband kept searching for viable solutions and most often would come up with nada. That was until a few days ago -- we are now happy to say hello to My Net Diary. I believe it has only been out a few days for the iPhone, but I used it yesterday and it is quite a remarkable little program. It has a large food database as well as the ability to input exercise, water intake, custom foods as well as nifty little tracking charts. Yay!

With the gazillion dollar health and fitness industry, there are lots of excellent ways to track your health progress, we have just found that this way works for us. Basically this method is all about knowing and tracking what you consume -- calories in and calories out.

In summary, if you use a palm based phone CalorieKing is a great solution. For the iPhone, MyNetDiary is the only comparable solution we have found. If you don't have either of those types of phones or a phone at all, both of these companies also have online memberships.

What makes you feel healthy and fit? Is there a goal and tracking solution that works best for you? I would really love to hear about it.

(image from Real Simple)

Wimbledon

Did you watch any of the Wimbledon matches? Unfortunately, we missed the incredible final where Nadal beat Federer. Someone told us it was an insane -- a tennis match that will go down in Wimbledon history.



It cracked me up when Kudryavtseva spoke of Sharapova’s fashion sensibility, “It’s very pleasant to beat Maria. I don’t like her outfit. Can I put it this way? It was one of my motivations to beat her.” Ouch.

(image 1 photographer unknown. image 2)

Wii Fit

For my hubby's early birthday present he wanted a Wii + Wii fit. After searching high and low we found one, and have been having a blast ever since. The amazingly engineered balance board you stand on measures and records your weight loss progress, your BMI, and has been helpful in sharpening certain aspects of my yoga form. We know it is not a one stop place for exercise, but it is fun, and if you let it, your balance, strength, and flexibility can improve. I hope we don't look too cheesy doing it. Are we tech geeks or what?

Workout gadgets + powersongs

Since I talked about my recent Nike+ purchase a few weeks back, I've discovered some more gadgetry options and info. that will help further empower + enhance those workouts.

1. Word up: talks about Apple getting Nike+ to work with your iphone, yay!
   
2. RunAway ($9) is a clip-on gadget allowing you to use Nike+ with any kicks.
   
3. Nike+ Sportsband ($59) comes out today, for those who prefer no music.
4. Nike Amp+ Remote ($79) use wrist for feedback, & song switching.
   

What do you use to track your movin' bod? On a side note -- I've got some emails requesting good workout jams, and since my music situation is a little chaotic, please help me by sharing some of your favorite workout and cool down songs. Thanks.

Songs I recently jammed to:

Workout:
*Breathe - Telepopmusik
*Heartbeat - Annie
*Just Be - Tiesto & Kirsty Hawkshaw
*Light A Rainbow (Whippenberg Mix) - Tukan
*Move Along - the All-American Rejects
*Fighter - Christina Aguilera
*Beautiful Things (Gabriel & Dresden Radio Mix) - Andain

Cooldown:
*Breathe - Alexi Murdoch
*A Good Start - Maria Taylor
*Falling Slowly - Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova
*You Had Time - Ani DiFranco
*Colors - Amos Lee
*Breathe Me - Sia

{Still inspired by these clips}

UPDATE: Enter "RUNSHIP" at Nike.com for free shipping on all running gear.

Downward Dog

I guess I know I've started my kiddo young when anyone nearby says the phrase, "downward dog" and she immediately assumes position. See more about the book Born Yogis.

My thoughts on running....

I've never worn New Balance running shoes, yet I saw this ad and was impressed. The motion graphics on their site, and their whole current ad campaign is awesome. It really sums up my relationship with running. (Love/Hate) Off to hit the treadmill, while my little one naps....
(image and t-shirt from here via swissmiss.)

Nike+

I know it came out a while ago, perhaps I am one of the last few to try it. But today as I used it for the first time this cool little Nike+ gizmo, rocked my world. I used to run quite a bit, but unfortunately have gotten out of the habit. This is exactly what I needed to get back into the groove. If you don't know how it works or want to see some motivating ads watch this, this, or this. I cannot believe I waited this long to try it, can't beat 29 bucks for a personal trainer + motivator in your ears.