October Yogi Surprise – the perfect birthday treat!

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October is the best month ever, not only is it Halloween and the leaves start to change colour, but also IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!! What better way to celebrate than with a Yogi Surprise box – one of the best joys to receive in the mail. Every time you open one of these little purple boxes, you are immediately met with a beautiful lavender scent. I swear they spray their boxes or something, because they smell amazing when they arrive 😛

I immediately see one of my favourtie things from the Yogi Surprise box, the flow card! LOVE these little cards of yogi knowledge! Flows are hard for me to come up with outside of the classroom, so I have been collecting these and take a look every now and then for some inspiration.

Next came a clear bottle from Buddha Teas called Matcha Now. This looked like regular water until I noticed there was a mechanism to release the matcha into the bottle. SO COOL!! I’m not crazy on matcha, but this looks so intriguing I am going to have to try it.

I am a big fan of skincare products and always like trying new things. The Yogi Surprise box always seems to have an assortment of creams or balms to use, so I can always expect some exciting goodies to try! For super dry skin there is the Good Medicine Lab balm – which I love applying to knees and elbows. The Revive lip balm from Eco Lips also looks like a clear essential product for the upcoming cold weather. It is 100% organic and it will be living in my bag this winter.

The manduka logo stood out to me next, and I absolutely love this brand and know they have amazing quality products, I was sure to love anything this was going to be! It was a yoga mat strap, which coincidentally I don’t have for my Manduka Pro yoga mat! HOW PERFECT WAS THAT?!?! It is a grey strap, and it looks so comfortable to wear, especially since my mat is super thick and I couldn’t figure out which strap would work best with it.

The Namaste Ninja by Happy Spritz is extraordinary – this product will clear your mind + clean your mat. It uses an aromatherapy blend of organic tea tree essential oil as one of the main ingredients which is known for its antimicrobial + anti-fungal properties, perfect for post workout. The design is really lovely too.

Best for last of course, the Pure Botanica bath Infusion Rose Retreat bath salts. The second I saw these in the box I knew it was going to be an amazing birthday. RosĂ© Retreat Botanic Bath Infusion combines organic bath salts with calming rose and geranium essential oils. I think this might have been what made this Yogi Surprise box especially smelly this month. But I’m not complaining!

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I always love receiving one of these boxes. If you don’t have any gift ideas for a great friend or you just want to treat yourself, these little purple boxes will be a gift no one can forget. Especially for the insane amount of valued products in an affordable little subscription box. Give it a try and use the code YOGILOVE for 15% off at Yogisurprise.com

Magical Beaches Adventure with Nat Caine

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I absolutely love when Instagram opens up new worlds of opportunities for me! The other day I had the pleasure of shooting with the talented Nat Caine! Her feed is full of bright and contrasted lifestyle photos from Toronto, and I was lucky enough to be included in those photos.

@natcaine natcaine.com

We really wanted to wake up early and catch the sunrise, something I still haven’t managed to do yet. And of course, it wouldn’t happen this time, but somehow she made a Toronto beach look like paradise early in the morning.

IMG_1024@natcaine natcaine.com

If you were actually here you would understand. The sand felt like glass and there was pigeon scum floating in the lake. But we found the perfect spots to practice and shoot, the water looks like it goes on for miles and miles.

@natcaine natcaine.com

I had to wake up and journey here so early in the morning, then head to work right after. Nat had come with very little sleep from a set she left at 3am that same morning. In the end, we both were troopers and produced one of my favourite shoots to date. I can’t stop looking at these photos for real! It’s like a dream that didn’t happen.

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Check out the rest of Nats work, and her Instagram feed!

The journey to handstand!

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Most who follow me on Instagram know I’m super flexible, but the one thing I wish I could do is the ultimate yoga asana, a handstand or Adho Mukha Vrksasana.

(ah-doh moo-kah vriks-SHAHS-anna)

adho mukha = face
downward (adho = downward, mukha = face)
vrksa = tree

There are so many prep poses for this body strengthening asana that I am trying to master first, like headstand and forearm stand. I have my hand stand down, but I just can’t hold past 10 seconds in a forearm stand now, so I know my journey to handstand is still months away (if I’m lucky). I still practise handstands every morning by holding it against a wall, or in my case a huge window 😛 It helps to practise every morning because I can feel the progress I am making. I hold it longer and longer every day and sometime I don’t touch the wall/window behind me.

My very first headstand!

My very first headstand!

When I try hand stands away from the wall at the yoga studio, I feel more courageous and my fear of falling is gone, just from a simple 3 minute hand stand practice every morning.

I always have to stretch my shoulders and wrists before attempting hand stands, and you should ALWAYS remember to stretch, at least for 20 minutes before doing inversions and arm balancing.

In the above video is my main shoulder stretch, it really open up the shoulders and prepares them for the pressure and weight ahead.

The handstand is still something that seems so far away, but in the 4 months I have been practising, the improvement is there, and I can only hope for more in the next months to come! Below I show you how I have been improving my hold and core strength. Usually I kick up using my strongest leg which is my right leg. I tried to kick up using my left and it was SO weak that now I practise this neat prep stretch in the video below. I can safely kick up strongly from both legs and can really feel the muscles in my ab area pushing through.

My goal is to hold a free standing handstand for over 15 seconds comfortably by the end of the year.
Think I can make it?

Behind your favourite song is 66 Audio

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Was that headline too cheesy? Oh well! I love my new 66 Audio BTS Sport WIRELESS headphones. I took them for a spin around the city and my absolute favourite thing was not having to worry about anything flying off your head, or earbud cords being caught on something.

I tried to photograph the box but my cat was alllll over it! I pulled them out of the package and was so happy to see how well they travel! They fold up so nice and small and come with a little travel pouch, the packaging for these headphones is incredible. The first thing I did was take them out for a longboard ride. Listening to my favourite music while I longboard was surreal, I usually don’t wear anything because the feeling of cords is annoying. These completley withstood the longboard test! My boyfriend gave them a try on the way back because he really wanted to listen to some music for once too!

We made it to our destination, a really cool skatepark in Toronto that you can find under the main highway that runs through. The best part about this skatepark is the insane graffiti all over the place from the coolest artists. This was the perfect setting to do some yoga and see if these headphones would fall off my head or not.

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This is harder than it looks.

After spending over an hour at this park, I actually forgot the headphones were on my head! I was just walking around listening freely to music and enjoying every minute. The sound quality is great too, I had to turn them down so I can hear around me!

I never thought I would enjoy the way these headphones are built too. The band goes around the back of your head which is amazing because it doesn’t even touch you and create sweaty, uncomfortable marks… or ruin your hair, ladies, right?!

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After a long hour balancing on everything at the skatepark, we decided to longboard home! We were pooped, but the headphones made it through the trip! These are amazing headphones for an active lifestyle, you don’t have to worry about cords, anything flying off, or uncomfortable sizing. These headphones fit every head size! Not to mention the sound is poppin!

Don’t forget to check out 66 Audio BTS Sport WIRELESS headphones! They make a great plane travel companion too! 🙂