This morning I watched Vata blow in, signaling the continuing change of seasons, and I was reminded by my dear friend Christina from SimpleVeda, that when we grab the fall hoodie it’s also time to check the summer routine at the door.

*Here are some helpful hints to keep Vata from sneaking out of the house!

The before and after photo collection is everywhere these days: here I am, fit and fabulous; here I was, overweight and unhappy. I have them too. I have a lot of them. For my late 20s and early 30s, I was overweight - anywhere from 40 to 70 pounds overweight, depending on when you knew me. Five years ago, when I switched from a vegetarian to a vegan lifestyle and (temporarily) gave up drinking, I lost a ton of weight. And since I started practicing yoga more consistently, I've gotten stronger every day.

I grew up in a tiny mountain town in Idaho, population 724. To this day it is the kind of town where most children of the community stick close to home, close to their roots. But, I had always dreamed of a bigger world, more to explore. So the minute high school graduation culminated, I found myself on a plane to Florence, Italy to study cooking. I was the first of my family to fly commercial, the first to have a passport.

I think yoga should be the prescription for everything in life. Addicted to food? Try a little yoga. Get caught speeding? Instead of a fine, go to 5 yoga classes. Going through a divorce or life change? Find a killer counselor, and practice yoga. Related to Donald Trump? Try yoga. Busted with marijuana? Why do we even care anymore? Why did we ever care? Oh, and sure, go take some yoga.

Millet is truly an underappreciated grain. It’s a small seeded grass, cultivated over 10,000 years ago and grown in developing countries. That's Old School food...

Millet is perfect for the Kapha in your family - light, clean and easy to digest - check it out.

Here are the top 10 reasons to love Millet:
1. Millet is gluten-free and non-allergenic. A great grain for gluten sensitive individuals.
2. Millet’s high protein content (15 percent), making a valuable addition to a vegetarian diet.

The science of Ayurveda comes from ancient texts of India called The Vedas. Regarded as humanity’s oldest literature, they were written over 5,000 years ago and give insight into the purpose of life, how to be healthy and how to live in harmony in our surroundings. It’s not a religion, but rather the oldest philosophy on how we got here, where we’re going and why.  It provides the ‘Handbook for the Human Condition’ and is the original holistic medicine.

Here are some basics:

I almost titled this article "Why are the airlines trying to kill us?”… but then I remembered, they just don't know better…

I'm not sure why this holiday season's travel hit me as hard as it did, I've been all over the globe by myself without a hitch.  Maybe it’s possible that my perspective has changed in the recent past...now that I've experienced what a healthy doshic balance feels like, travel induced Vata derrangement is like a bucket of ice water to the face!

The word Orthorexia is derived from anorexia and “ortho” meaning straight or right. But unlike anorexia which focuses on restricting food intake in order to become thin, orthorexia restricts foods that are insufficiently clean, healthy or wholesome.

As summer’s nearing end, I find myself and the world around me entering a season of change – back to school, vacation’s over, and the lush vibrant greens of midsummer are now showing browns and yellows at the edges.  Just today I saw a hint of red coming forth!

No matter where you live geographically, your internal “nature” experiences the change of the seasons.
Summer is the season of heat.  The sun is close, and the element of fire is predominant in nature.

I am fascinated with Ayurveda.  Often referred to as the sister science of yoga.  The science of life, longevity and vitality.  An Ayurvedic lifestyle is all about living in alignment with nature.  The nature that surrounds us and the nature within us.