Awakening the happiness of the self revealed

5 Ways Yoga Makes Life Better.

thehappinesshuntress:

When someone who doesn’t do yoga thinks of yoga it seems like a daunting chore and tough to start. I’m not a very flexible person and didn’t think I’d enjoy it either. At some point I opened all three of my eyes to how amazing it can be.

Happy people do yoga.

In life we stick ourselves in situations where tensions are high. Traffic, work, bars.. Our daily lives are sometimes strewn with chaos and negativity. In yoga studios it melts away at the door.  People are kind and friendly because that’s the point, as it should be in daily life.

Yoga doesn’t stand up to typical excuses.

When you’re injured or tired personal fitness is one of the first things to take a hit. “Oh I can’t run because of my knees.” “I can’t get my heart rate up too high.” It’s all tough cookies at the yoga studio. Athletes know it’s the best way to nurse an injury while still getting your blood pumping.

Yoga breeds good habits.

Routines help us get a good sleep schedule and get more accomplished. Becoming disciplined in yoga is a great goal for anyone of any size or shape because like all exercise it releases endorphins, putting you in a better mood throughout the day. It also encourages breathing techniques you can use whenever.

You’ll want to spread the happy.

I love bringing friends to classes. I’m lucky to have a close pal that adores it like I do. Now we do fun activities like baking for loved ones or eating healthy food instead of smoking cigarettes and going to the bar. Yoga triggers a magical healthy domino effect and when your friends do it too it makes a positive lifestyle easier to sustain.

You’ll learn how to let go.

Letting go is a liberating sensation. Holding grudges and being stressed is exhausting. Looking beyond the difficult poses you see they all involve being uncomfortable for a brief amount of time, breathing through it, and releasing. It’s a beautiful mantra that you can’t help but take home and apply to everything.

A look back on gluten-free living

It’s been almost a year since I was told that my body hated gluten and had to be gluten-free for… well, ever. As someone who grew up with Italian food and worked in a bakery for years, this wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to do. Not to say my eating habits have been atrocious ( I like to think I’ve been eating healthy ), but cutting out some of my favorite meals was no easy or fun.

But then I started finding alternatives and what to keep an eye for whenever I shop for food or eat out. Something that felt impossible became very possible. Does it suck that I still can’t eat some foods? Yes. Eating out is still a tricky thing, but it’s getting easier. I still feel out of place when I go out with friends and they all order appetizers for the table that I can’t even touch. But no one has judged me because of it. In fact, I went to a Halloween party last year where all my friends made gluten-free yummies so I could eat.

And there are some studies out there that say going gluten-free does a lot more than making your digestive system happy. It apparently helps out with your mood, depression, and even makes your cholesterol awesome ( or so my doctor said. She was freaking happy when she found out about my new diet ). And I know I’ve felt a lot better since I’ve gone gluten-free. I swear there are some days I just want a bagel with cream cheese, like the real damn deal, but having healthy alternatives makes me just as happy.

I think I made a comment sometime last year about how all the yogi people seem to be healthy eaters or have something going on with their bodies that requires them to have a strict diet. Never before have I seen a slew of people who were health conscious and/or allergic to something random. I never figured out what that was: were people like this drawn to yoga or does yoga breed that mentality? I mean, not the allergy part. That would suck if yoga made you allergic to like, eggs or something. But I find it interesting how this all falls into place within a yogic lifestyle. I feel like I do my yoga even when I’m cooking and I feel better for it.

So here’s to almost a full year of healthy eating habits and a WAY less cranky digestive system!