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Root 2 Rise Yoga with Michelle Chua
  • Home
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Root 2 Rise Yoga with Michelle Chua

A Blog About Living Yoga

Spring Detox: Why + How?

4/1/2021

An Interview with Holistic Health Coach and Living Foods Vegan Chef, Magdalena
​By Michelle Chua

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Why consider “spring cleaning” your body?  
What are some practical ways to start? 
With busy lives, still stressed over this pandemic, what simple nutrition tips can help you lead a healthy lifestyle?
 
These are some highlights of my interview with Magdalena, Certified Holistic Health Coach and Living Foods Chef, streaming live on Instagram from Switzerland on Wednesday, March 24, 2021.  
 
I met Magdalena in Costa Rica in 2017. We were solo travellers from opposite ends of the globe, who crossed paths on a bus ride to Pachamama in Guanacaste.  I had booked a stay in the forest commune retreat center to attend a workshop on movement meditation.  Magdalena convinced me to stay longer and join her in their body cleanse, 5 days of juice fasting.  I met her as she was pivoting careers to holistic health.  
 
I’m delighted to have reconnected with her on this interview, in which she shared her discoveries in wellness and healing through nature.  Here's our Q+A from the interview. Enjoy some treasures for your own journey in optimal health.

1. What is your background and area of specialty in nutrition and wellness?  What inspired you to focus on this?  How have you trained in it? 
I am a Certified Holistic Health Coach (Institute of Integrative Nutrition) and Certified Living Foods Chef. I trained as a Chef with Ben Richards at Seeds of Life in Bali.
 
Since I was a child I have always been very much connected to nature. However later as an adult I felt that my lifestyle and choices were not contributing to my wellbeing, I felt overwhelmed, very confused, lost and quite stressed. I traveled to Costa Rica where I lived in a small cabin in the forest and completely immersed myself in nature. I participated in a detox program, cleansed my body doing a powerful detox, mediated, drank fresh juices made of fruits, vegetables and herbs. The effects of this cure were outstanding, I have never experienced before such expansive feeling of wellness, clarity and vitality. 
 
This experience inspired me to enroll in the Institute of Integrative Nutrition where I was certified as Holistic Health Coach. 
 
As I am passionate about the healing power of nature and living foods I wanted to deepened my knowledge about plants and healing so I did a training as the Living Foods Chef at Seeds of Life in Bali. There I learned how to prepare beautiful and nutrition meals made of raw foods only. I stayed in Bali for 2 months and it was also a powerful healing journey. Most of the time I was eating raw foods, tons of fruit and I was immersed in nature. 
 
I have also traveled a few times to Thailand where I was mentored about the process of detoxification. I did many detoxes myself and followed different protocols. I studied more about detox and living foods reading books of.Jensen, Andreas Moritz, David Wolfe, Arnold Ehret. 
 
         
2. How important is nutrition and the digestive system in overall health, especially during a global pandemic or a stressful busy life? 
 
Nutrition is at a core of health. I believe that WE ARE WHAT WE EAT – we become the food we eat..- the food we take in stays within our body way longer than the few moments we were aware of its taste. It becomes out blood, enters each and every cell of our body, it becomes our thoughts, mood and feelings, our life energy. 
 
An Ayurvedic doctor has made this interesting analogy: Imagine that your digestive system is a river of life. This river needs to flow and move easily trough your body to bring the life force to your body. Once that river is congested, full of rubbish and toxins and it cannot move, no life force is being provided to your body & to your cells. 
 
80% of immune cells are located in our digestive tract, if we our digestive track is compromised so our health and this will manifest in various diseases and discomforts. 
 
Natural, whole, living foods, mostly plants are healing, detoxifying and boosting our immunity. And this is really crucial to remember during this pandemic – our bodies are incredibly powerful and can heal at any moment, but we need provide our bodies with foods and environments in which they thrive. The more contact we have with nature and natural foods the better our immunity. 
 
 
3. Why is spring a good time for inner body cleanse?  (or is it?) 
Traditionally, Chinese medicine and Ayurveda view spring as a time for renewal. In winter, here in Europe we experience less sunlight, days are shorter and it is cold, we eat lots of cooked foods and also eat more foods for comfort. In Spring the body is coming out of that winter hibernation mode and ready to cleanse. Its like we clean our house and do the Spring cleaning, the same refers to our bodies. In nature there is a renewed and fresh energy and intuitively we want to match that and have that sense of renewal and a reset. 
Cleansing is a tune-up for the body, we clean our amazing organs which are the filters:  our liver, kidneys, colon, lymph system (which become congested with metabolic waste).  
I usually recommend a 10 days cleanse. But before we start the cleanse first we prepare for it for at least one week when we eliminates sugar, processed foods, meat, grains, dairy, and caffeine. During the cleanse for first few days we eat plant-based diet with some cooked foods, next few days we eat raw foods, smoothies, salads raw soups, juices. And then finish the cleanse with a few days of juices only. The detox can be supported by herbs supplements.  
Because our bodies are naturally in sync with the seasons, foods that support detox and the liver are plentiful at this time: spinach, lettuce, snap peas, asparagus, celery, and berries; cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower; kale. To enhance the detox its great support it with lemon water, spirulina (very detoxifying) garlic, and green tea.
 
 
4. Please share your 3 favorite/most effective ways (maybe include a simple recipe) to spring cleanyour body using whole foods.  Can you provide any health facts, research or personal stories to vouch for their effectiveness? 
I start my day with lemon water – simply juice one lemon and mix the juice with a glass of clean filtered water (room temperature). Lemon water really boost the digestion and it is alkalizing for the body – which means thriving environment.
 
I eat a lot of fruit in the morning, one or two fruits at a time is best so the body can really digest and absorb all the goodness from fruit. 
 
I make fresh juices, using different combinations of celery, apples, carrots, fresh ginger, beets, oranges, lemons, cucumbers. 
 
Also raw soups are great, they taste great and are very satisfying: 
EXAMPLE: This easy to make gazpacho is a yummy dinner meal 
  • mango and/or papaya
  • lime juice
  • tomatoes
  • spring onions 
  • fresh jalapeño, chile or cayenne pepper
Optional green goodness: Add some fresh herbs like coriander, basil etc or some neutral greens like spinach. This will turn it green. 
Method: Combine all in a blender until smooth. You can top with fresh herbs, spring onion, sprouts, chopped tomato etc
 
5. Moving forward, what basic healthy eating/healthy lifestyle principle might you share to help guide a continued conscious joyful nutritional practice?   
My simple and basic advice for a healthy lifestyle is to tune more into nature, pause from technology, be outside, feel the sunlight on your skin, nature will invite you to slow down. There is so much magnificence and harmony in nature, when we are immerse in nature we invite more peace, expansion, more harmony and joy into our lives. I call it “rewilding”, we come from nature and we need to return to it to heal. 
 
For nutrition: slowly add in & introduce more natural foods to your diet. FEEL what it does for you, and let the good “feeling” foods slowly crowd out foods that don’t feel good to your body. 
  
Some good choices of food to introduce to your diet on a regular basis are:
  • Fruits and vegetables, with specific emphasis on sweet vegetables and dark greens, 
  • Eat MORE fruit – fruit is the most amazing gift from nature, it contains so much of LIFE FORCE; of vitamins, minerals and enzymes. And what more – it contains a lot of water, water from fruit is the most hydrating, it hydrates us at the cellural level and makes our skin really alive and beautiful. 
  • Eat more raw, living foods – raw food is a live & fresh food that has not be heated or processed or modified in any sense. It’s a pure life force. Enzymes help digestion, living foods profoundly nourish the body and are essential for balancing the body metabolism and producing energy. 
 
 
6. What kinds of services do you offer?  How can anyone get in touch with you to learn more or to work with you?   
I am just in the process of building my website which I plan to launch in May. 
Currently I offer an online 1:1 guiding for a 10 days detox. I am currently guiding two beautiful women in this process and I am so thrilled about how well they experience this journey. 
 
I will be also organizing onsite detox retreats for bigger groups and I am looking at venues in Spain and in Switzerland. 

Now, spring cleaning is not only about your physical body or home.  Inner spring cleaning involves addressing the mental habits or emotional baggage that need to be released too.  Check out my free guide to get you started with your inner spring cleaning!
Learn about Inner Spring Cleaning!
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Feel to Heal: The Inner Work of Yoga, by Michelle Chua

3/13/2021
“It isn’t about getting somewhere you’re not, but about deeply relaxing into clearly seeing what’s here now,” shared Breathwork Teacher Scott Schwenk about spiritual awakening, which he emphasized is an ongoing process.  
 
Whether or not you call yourself “spiritual,” we humans are more than a physical body or the thinking mind constantly going.  And that “awakening” Scott referenced, as I understand, is partly about awakening to this very idea of who we are and how we bridge our inner and outer worlds, such as in our relationships.
 
A few months ago I started a Zoom yoga class talking about “spiritual bypassing,” a term coined in the 1980s by John Welwood, a Buddhist teacher and psychotherapist.  He defined it as a "tendency to use spiritual ideas and practices to sidestep or avoid facing unresolved emotional issues, psychological wounds, and unfinished developmental tasks".  
 
We have all been wounded in our lives, and it’s part of being human.  But how we tend to our wounds and make sense of them or not spills out into how we relate to the world and affect each other.  My Yoga Psychology teacher, Ashley Turner, shared that we build our personalities through the coping strategies we’ve developed around our core wounds.
 
You may be familiar with a pervading motto in modern western yoga and wellness communities: Good vibes only.  Focusing on positive feelings can be uplifting and offer a fresh perspective when we’re in a funk.  However, when positivity is used to gloss over uncomfortable feelings and hurts, it may become “toxic positivity,” defined by Samara Quintero, LMFT, CHT and Jamie Long, PsyD as “the excessive and ineffective overgeneralization of a happy, optimistic state across all situations, resulting in the denial, minimization, and invalidation of the authentic human emotional experience.” 
 
Mindfulness teacher, Pema Chodron, prompts us to lean into feelings of discomfort, like sadness and anger, and offer ourselves compassion and truthful listening.  She points out that all emotions have a message, and the difficult ones often reflect to us where we're spiritually stuck.  In sitting with all our emotions, we build our capacity to offer empathetic listening and compassion for others.  Sometimes our loved ones just need us to support them with our listening presence when they convey that they’re suffering, without disregarding their emotional processing.
 
Best-selling author and vulnerability researcher, Brene Brown, adds that when we don’t allow ourselves to fully feel the uncomfortable emotions, like those within grief, we also disallow ourselves from fully feeling happiness.  We can’t isolate which emotions to not feel.  Such attempts inhibit wholehearted living. 
 
As my practice evolves, yoga has been a lens-shifter, since my journey began in 2001. As I deepen my exploration of the Eight-Limb path described in The Yoga Sutras, I can see through my past coping habits.  I see when I’ve glossed over my own hurts to uphold an external model of positivity, disallowing self-compassion for my imperfections. I see when I’ve sidestepped another’s pain to urge them toward the good-feeling “solution.”  
 
Yoga’s first two limbs teach truth-seeking, compassion, self-study and dissolution of limiting beliefs from the ego.  I’ve been more drawn to courageously ask my unconscious mind, “What’s beneath the surface that I still haven’t allowed to process?”  And, “How are my un-metabolized wounds and emotions affecting my relationships and life?”

Revolutionary psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Carl Jung, warned, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” I continue to do my own shadow work of excavating repressed parts of myself to integrate and transform into allies.  I understand this is a journey of many spiritual awakenings.  The yogic practices of tapas, or inspired discipline, and isvara pranidhana, or surrender to my highest Self, are tools for this inner revolution.

I feel that this inner-work aspect of yoga is far too important to gloss over by only practicing one of the eight limbs--the physical poses.  As we explore the depth that yoga offers for self-healing, we can impact healing in our families by ending cycles of problematic coping styles, like addiction or bypassing difficult emotions.  As our families heal, they impact our communities, which impact our nation and so on. I truly believe that world peace begins with genuine peace within.
Interested in Joining Us for Some Inner Spring Cleaning? Click Here.
Read More About the 8 Limbs of Yoga
Apply the 8 Limbs of Yoga: Practice With Us!
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My Saving Grace, by Michelle Chua

3/7/2021
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1993 Bishop Amat High School Cross Country Team
A coping tool since childhood for when I’ve felt overwhelmed and helpless and needed to feel empowered was to run—as far and as fast as I could.  
 
When my dad and I would have yet another raging argument, I’d take my German Shepard/Labrador and bolt out the door.  When I was depressed and devastated by my first breakup, I joined the Cross Country team.  When COVID hit LA, my partner and I took to running 6 miles a day to “strengthen our immunity.”
 
But now I’m on week 4 of not running at all, as I heal from my third sprained ankle in a year.  Maybe you can relate to having a familiar coping tool suddenly unavailable to you?
 
Through these 4-6 weeks of “run-fasting” I’ve realized how many other tools have actually been my silent saving grace and are resilient to sprained ankles.  They are my daily yoga practices, my sadhana (of physical poses, breathwork and meditation).  
 
They are the moments where I don’t feel guilty for sitting still.  When instead of running away, I feel my own power to BE.  I realize I can experience the rollercoaster of life and still be the core of who I am, not an injured body or an angry daughter, but the witness of these temporary states.  
 
Whereas fierce movement was once my top go-to, I’ve also learned to value slowing down and replenishing my energy through Yin and Restorative Yoga (the kind where you deeply stretch your body in still poses, sometimes supported by pillows and blankets to feel the sweetness of letting go).  Maybe some of you LOVE to move as well, but if you’re constantly going all day, whether in your mind or body, when do you give yourself a counterbalance to re-center?

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2017 Soul Movement and Yin Yoga
Here are some opportunities to Join Me for Yin Yoga!
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Benefits of Yoga, by Michelle Chua

3/2/2021
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The benefits of practicing yoga vary with the practitioner, depending on factors such as how consistently they practice, what aspects of yoga they integrate into their daily lives and the integrity of their practice.  But as a yoga student since 2001, a registered yoga teacher since 2010 and someone who has observed the journey of my diverse long-term clients and students, here are some benefits of practicing...

Yoga postures (or asanas) -- Train your ability to be present in your body.  Release stagnancy and enable energy flow throughout your body.  Detoxify from mental stress manifested as physical tension. Increase your physical strength, stamina and flexibility. 

Yoga Breath Work (or pranayama) -- Regulate and rebalance your nervous system.  Skillfully direct the flow of life energy (or prana) throughout your body. Calm your mind from habitual negative thoughts.  Optimize your respiration and digestion. Give your nervous system rest and redirect more energy to boosting your immune system.

Yoga Philosophy -- See life outside the lens of the fear-based ego.  Understand the tendencies of the human mind.  Apply the physical and mental strategies of yoga into your daily life and conflicts.  Identify and let go of self-sabotaging patterns and develop clear perception.  Cultivate an open mind and open heart to deconstruct notions of separation between you and "others."

Meditation (or dhyana and dharana) -- Daily mental hygiene. Become more aware of the role your thoughts and emotions play in your life. Recognize unmetabolized emotions that cause you to react, rather than consciously respond, to daily events.  Liberate yourself from habits that no longer serve your highest well being and true connection to the world.  Have space to listen to your inner guidance with your whole being.

These are only a few of the ways I've read about, personally experienced and witnessed our community members benefit from these practices of yoga that we share in our Zoom yoga classes, 6 days weekly. A beautiful part of the practice is that it's self-paced, You are your teacher (I'm like a tour guide) and you're encouraged to participate in the ways that you're able to in the moment.  If you'd like to join us for a class, visit our schedule here or consider joining our monthly varying community events here.
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Meet Shona Ganguly, by Michelle Chua

2/23/2021
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Among my sources for inspiration to grow and learn as a yoga teacher is the community I serve.  Unique individuals are drawn to our yoga community for different reasons, whether to condition their body, manage stress or dive deeper into the 8 Limbs of Yoga as a path to Self-realization, or union with Higher Consciousness.  And like my personal yoga journey, their reason to stay and continue to consistently show up as a community may evolve as their own yoga practice matures.  
 
Shona Ganguly has been attending our yoga classes for over 8 years.   Shona is a dancer by hobby, natural environment protector by profession and now an expectant first-time mother. She began her yoga practice to find balance in her busy world.  And while this benefit still brings her to the practice weekly, she explains yoga’s wisdom teachings, echoed in her Hindu upbringing and Indian heritage, that instill a deeper sense of balance throughout the many aspects of her life off the yoga mat.  Enjoy this 25-minute interview with Shona, and perhaps her story or “why” may resonate with you.
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Deliciously Immune-Boosting Nutrient-Dense Vegan Curry, adapted by Michelle Chua

2/19/2021
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I’m not a huge fan of following recipes or measuring ingredients to the T, but I do like to peruse them for inspiration.  Here’s a 30-minute Coconut Curry Recipe from Minimalist Baker that inspired some of the ingredients and steps in creating this warming spicy concoction that feels like soul food.
 
Why curry?  It’s a great way to load up on your nutrients and throw in the vegetables that are about to go bad in your fridge, honestly.
 
Instead of the quinoa in the recipe, I decided to add sweet potato to the vegetables in the curry. Here are 6 Surprising Health Benefits of Sweet Potatoes, according to Healthline.  A main attraction is their assist in boosting your immune system with their epic amounts of Vitamin A.  
 
My favorite dark leafy greens to promote gut health, another key to boosting your immune system, are kale and broccoli.  Another immune system-protecting warrior is shitake mushroom, which you can read about here.  They are an excellent source of Vitamin D, which seems to be a key word in helping to prevent or combat COVID.  Turmeric, which includes Curcumin, “demonstrates anti-inflammatory, anticarcinogenic, antiaging, and antioxidant activity, as well as efficacy in wound healing,” according to this article published in the National Library of Medicine in 2018.
 
I could go on about the many other nutritious ingredients I added to this curry, but do the research and see what ingredients you need to tailor for your particular health needs or allergies.  
 
Now last but not least, compelling taste is an important factor in choosing what recipes I post here, as my kitchen experiments do not always please the senses (practicing satya here)! This won not only for my plant-based belly, but a vegetarian’s and a non-vegan/non-vegetarian eater, whom I shared it with.  I made it a few times, and I found that a key to good taste was to do the preliminary sauté mentioned in step 2 of the recipe and add all the spices (I measure to personal taste).  And, I added almost equal parts of regular coconut milk and vegetable broth, again adjusted to personal taste.  I let the senses, especially attuning to the aromas, guide the proportions of it all, sort of like an abstract painting.  If you do decide to give this a try, or have another vegan healthy recipe to share, feel free to comment below.  

More Yummy Vegan Recipes...
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Love is Like Water by Michelle Chua

2/7/2021
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​I can understand the jadedness some people express about the word “love.” Valentine’s Day candies inscribed with messages like “be mine” as if to love someone is to possess them like property. Pink and red fluffy hearts with doilies decorate love with a feeling of daintiness and fragility.  
 
But what about the kind of love that drives a single mother in Bangladesh to work in a sweatshop 14-16 hours everyday to try to feed her toddler who has to live with her grandparents and hardly see her mom?  Or, the love that chooses to liberate a suffering pet of 15 years from their painfully aging ailing body despite the sadness of losing their best companion? 
 
Author Sharon Salzberg likens love to water in its soft and strong qualities—so flexible it takes on the shape of whatever vessel it flows into, “yet over time, water will carve its own pathway even through rock.” And it’s a testament to our interconnection, “an incarnation of the water in the juicy fruit you ate yesterday may have fallen as rain halfway around the world last year, nourished a flower offered to a beloved in India…” and so on.  
 
As we’re surrounded by holiday decorations of “love,” I’m compelled to look into the ways it deeply connects, inspires, enlivens and heals us as a pure expression of our inner nature.  
 
Compassion is a highly regarded practice by mindfulness authors, like Pema Chodron, who teaches that it expands our capacity to love without condition and necessitates our ability to fully feel our difficult emotions.  In metta meditation, one practices sending sincere loving kindness to themselves and others in a series of stages.  

This is a valuable tool for feeling and rippling love from within, and I’m inviting you to join in.  Sat, 2/13 @5:30-6:30pm PT on Zoom, I’m facilitating a mind-body-spirit practice of Gentle Yin Yoga, breath work and Metta Meditation, by donation of whatever energy exchange you can afford.   

To access the live event, 'Metta Date' Night, RSVP at Root2RiseYoga.org/Community-Events 
 
May we feel the love that is at the core of our being and all beings, as Mother Nature exemplifies.
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The Space Between, by Michelle Chua

2/6/2021
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“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”― Viktor E. Frankl

This sums up one of my reasons for meditating daily. In case you don't know me that personally, I tend to be very passionate. While this passion joyfully fuels my work and play, it has also lent itself to impulsive reactivity. In a fit of rage, I once punched glass repeatedly with my bare fist until it shattered because I felt betrayed and disregarded by a partner I loved and trusted. That "rock-bottom" moment of being hijacked by my anger was over a decade ago, and I have the scar to remind me that I'm committed to self-healing, which includes letting go of my shame about it in order to transform "my karma (or, effects of my actions) into my dharma (or, spiritual path or duty)," as author Kathleen Hanagan says.

I felt nervous to post this, but it's a part of my shadow that spurred self-study and tools for self-healing. I eventually started a daily sitting meditation practice in 2013 and it continues to serve as a tool for learning to observe my thoughts and emotions without getting caught up in them that I lose myself. Meditation is my teacher of equanimity, the ability to feel wholeheartedly (not sweeping uncomfortable things under the rug) but allowing the space for discernment to choose my response.

I share this story because in our common humanity, I understand we all feel difficult emotions, especially when life challenges arise. And during physical distancing and quarantining, we might forget that we have support and are not alone. Thankfully, we're in an era of technology that lets you read this or live-stream together from different time zones. So, I'm taking the opportunity to share what I can and what's been of great service to my healing and continues to be: my meditation practice (the 7th limb of yoga).
You can find a link to a free YouTube playlist of various lengths and kinds of guided meditations, from beginning to sit for it to dealing with anger and negative self-talk here:

https://youtube.com/playlist...
​

If you'd like to share the practice live, here are some Zoom events you're welcome to join:
1. Fridays 4:30pm Yoga postures, breathwork and 10 minutes meditation (weekly)
2. Sat, 2/13 at 5:30pm Metta Date Night: Yin Yoga, breathwork and a guided meditation for sending loving kindness to yourself and others
3. Thur, 2/18 at 6pm Integrative Yoga Night focusing on Nurturing Resilience
4. Sat, 2/27 at 1pm Peace through Forgiveness: Qi Gong + Integrative Yoga, co-facilitated by Sigal Mehuyas

Details + Sign Up at Root2RiseYoga.org/Community-Events
​

You're welcome to invite a friend. Come to practice with a community that supports each other.
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Don't Just Do Something, Stand There! by Michelle Chua

1/24/2021
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Ever feel anxiety that you’re not doing enough? In my first few months adapting to volunteer life teaching in Costa Rica, my host family’s most common word to me was, “tranquila,” or relax. In their eyes, I seemed to constantly be seeking something, so often doing and trying to get somewhere and get things done. I mentally kicked and screamed, resisting their slower pace of life that seemed to trust ambiguity and even embrace the unknown through the Costa Rican philosophy of pura vida, or “pure life,” meaning “it’s all good.”
Through plenty of alone time with my inner critic and daily yoga and journaling, I gradually realized that at the root of my relentless pulse to keep busy sat a deep feeling of unworthiness and constant need to feel more useful. Also, I longed for a sense of control to appease my fear and lack of trust in life and myself. Becoming aware of these root causes, I starting giving myself permission to play more, be okay with uncertainty and find a balance between work, rest, play, creating, solitude and socializing. I spoke to myself more kindly and cultivated self-trust. I learned about quality of presence over quantity of achievements.

Slowly I was un-gripping life and letting it flow. Oh, is that what pura vida meant?!

So much changed in the months after, as if layers of tension had melted and I could see and enjoy simple things more intimately. Ultimately, this led to wanting to share the practices that awakened me to inner joy by training to become a yoga teacher.

With gratitude I’ll be sharing these introspective yoga tools that gifted me such grace this Thursday at Integrative Yoga Night focusing on Living in Balance. We’ll calm the nervous system and open the body through gentle Yin Yoga, breathe more deeply using yogic techniques, cultivate nonjudgmental self-awareness through guided meditation, trust our inner guidance through self-inquiry journaling and share insight and support through conversation. This nurturing space is for you to redefine what a balanced life means for you. You might think of it as a mini-retreat at home.
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​Join us for this donation-based Zoom gathering on 1/28 6-7pm PT. Click the image below to RSVP:
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Meet Nina Arhipov, from Our Root 2 Rise Yoga Community

1/24/2021
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Nina Arhipov began practicing yoga around 2015, almost dismissing it after her first try until she discovered Vinyasa Flow.  Her love for movement contributes to her youthful energy and adventurous spirit.  Learn more about the spirit behind this vibrant smile, by watching our interview below.  
Connect with Nina in our weekly Zoom yoga classes or community events.  Or, you just may spot her enjoying the views on her hike along Los Angeles' local trails.
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Nina practices yoga overlooking Costa Rica's countryside during our retreat in 2019.
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What Our Clients Are Saying

Michelle truly lives out what she teaches. She is so much more than a yoga teacher - I learned this when I went on her exquisitely curated trip that she organized to Costa Rica this past June 2018...Hopefully like me, you'll be delighted by her effervescent love of movement, nature, and all people!
-Rebekah B. (Los Angeles, CA) *See more YELP Reviews
Michelle clearly stands out with her beautiful and bright energy. I love how her practice and teaching encompass body, mind and spirit. She not only teaches yoga but lives and exudes it.
-Marianne Manes (Los Angeles, CA)
Michelle not only teaches 'yoga', she embodies it fully with her heart and soul...
​-Christin M. (Los Angeles, CA) *See more YELP Reviews
Michelle is by far one of the best instructors I've ever had, period. Patient, clear in her explanations and demos, and so encouraging...
-Jessica L. (North Hollywood, CA) *See more YELP Reviews
My first yoga class was with Michelle years ago.  ​You can have the best (yoga pose) sequence and not teach from your heart.  With Michelle, I also feel her passion when I'm in her class.  I can see she loves what she does, and she inspired me to want to teach yoga, too.
-Janette Guzman (Northridge, CA)

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I’ve had dozens of instructors over the years, but Michelle is far and away the best yoga mentor I’ve ever practiced with. She epitomizes grace during these difficult times. Michelle has saved my sanity and my back while working from home, keeping me grounded with her sharing of yogic teachings and meditation techniques. Her repertoire of physical asanas is encyclopedic, and I’ve loved learning new poses and stretching my boundaries. Jump in, all. You’ve got this!

- Cathleen Fager (Attends Zoom Yoga Classes)
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