I feel like an old book, rife with dust, that hasn’t been cracked open in years. Stiff, stale and unused. I haven’t written for two weeks or been active on social media because my phone broke on my way up to Wemindji to visit my sister. It feels natural and freeing to get back to writing–one of my favourite forms of expression. The Cree Nation of Wemindji is on the east coast of James Bay, in northern Quebec. The major city nearest to the native reserve is Montreal. It took m

Try shifting your perspective up 🙂 Perspective gives us a road map of how to behave in and learn from certain situations. It urges us to look past immediate concerns and into future implications. Without perspective, life appears somewhat meaningless and harsh. With this larger view, however, life appears to make sense, have a flow and rhythm to it–meaning. There was a time I didn’t let perspective into my world view, or maybe I didn’t know how. Sometimes it seems we can’t s

Prep healthy foods in the morning to stick to eating clean throughout your day. Fresh, local veggies and thai-coconut hummus by my amazing friend and chef Mike Murdoch. Check out his blog: http://www.mikesfoodbites.com Our world is overflowing with shiny, but toxic things we can indulge in. We have processed, high-fat foods everywhere, less reasons to walk places, and a tighter bond with technology than ever before. If you want to create an unhealthy habit, there a plenty of

Photography: Claire Cole clairecolephotography.wordpress.com Algonquin has the ability to completely dissolve time, stress and worry. As my best friend Claire put it, ‘the only time is when it’s dark or light out.’ We were packing up camp and heading out for the day when there was light out and setting up camp as the sun set. We were portaging with our belongings or canoeing along the beautiful lakes and rivers in between. For those 5 days there was no time, only freedom and

It’s tempting to want to stay indoors, all cozy with the comforts of home, but the outdoors are calling and they have something good to offer: a major health and happiness boost. Researchers are now studying what’s being called “green therapy” or ecotherapy, which involves immersing people with depression outdoors to alleviating their symptoms. It’s been proven that being outside reduces depression. A study from the University of Essex found walking in nature reduced depressi

Sometimes I take a leisurely stroll down to the lake to watch the boats and ducks, when I want to relax a little. When your to-do list keeps growing and you’re juggling more responsibility than ever, taking a rest may feel like the last thing you should do. However, pausing to rest and restore when you’re busy is actually the first thing you need to do. Besides, if you want your body to take you all the way to the top, you better treat it with care and compassion. I’ve always

When stress sets in breath is often the first thing to go. Racing thoughts keep your brain in anxiety mode, which tells your body to follow suit. When you trigger the fight or flight physiological response by reacting, instead of responding to stress, your body automatically becomes primed to either attack or run from a situation. As a result, you get a surge of hormones like cortisol and adrenaline and your respiratory rate increases, causing shallow breath. Breathing at a r

Happiness is a precious gift that we all strive to obtain, but it still eludes many of us. In the same way that I once muscled through school, work and tough situations, I used to work hard to find happiness. I used to think it was another challenge to overcome, another difficult life lesson. However, I’ve learned that happiness isn’t something to be found or laboured over, it’s actually something we already naturally contain inside ourselves. I just started Deepak Chopra and

The winds of chaos can overthrow you Pushing you towards a place to renew You can choose to find peace here or stay in the drama One leads to stillness, the other to more trauma —– When the winds get rough and the ship starts to rock All you need to do is find the nearest dock Anchor your vessel, sit quiet and still It’s here you’ll find the answers and your free will —— When your mind creates the waves that push you off course You can come back to stillness, without any forc

So, I totalled my car yesterday. I smashed into the gold Camry in front of me on the highway, just minutes from home. I was driving back from teaching a group of kids yoga at a hockey camp in Mississauga. I was on what the yoga world refers to as a “yoga high.”  As soon as the high faded though, my to-do list surfaced in my mind and I was back to obsessing about what items I needed to check off next. I was like a dog with a squirrel, chasing my thoughts one after the other so

Not this, not that… What is failure? I’m well versed on society’s definition of failure, which generally falls in line with what the dictionary says. The Free Dictionary defines failure as “the condition or fact of not achieving the desired end or ends.” Failure is also often viewed as the opposite of success. What I am proposing is that there is a whole grey area in the black and white failure-success model that’s not often acknowledged or celebrated. In my mind, failure is

Wheel Pose or Urdhva Dhanurasana opens my heart, and as it does I tell myself to let love in and sprinkle it everywhere I go. Our thoughts affect our bodies, whether we’d like to believe it or not. On a very basic level, our emotions and thoughts trigger physical reactions. We might just think about an upcoming evaluation at work or exam at school and notice that our stomach starts churning immediately. We pick up the rotten trash scattered across the lawn, thanks to a menaci

Start fresh with a quick morning meditation. I know what it’s like to get stuck in a rut–in fact, we all know what it’s like. An event takes place in our lives that we choose to view in a negative light–we lose a job, go through a breakup, become overwhelmed by debt, or obsessed with worrying about the future. During these testing times it can be easy to allow one rough day to roll into the next. We can go to bed worrying about a fight we had with a family member and wake up 

After puberty, when I was around 13 years old, I saw a big change in my body. It literally felt as though, overnight I had grown hips, wider thighs, breasts and a butt. All of a sudden my body felt foreign to me. I started to get attention from men for having curves, and felt really uncomfortable in my own skin. I became self-conscious of wearing bathing suites and started comparing myself to all of my friends. They were skinnier, prettier, funnier than me– I thought. I devel

A quick snap of my two inspiring roommates and I, pre-yoga in Picton. I’m back! The 2 Week Intensive Power Yoga Canada Teacher Training Program was definitely one of the most challenging experiences of my life, but boy was it amazing. It’s hard to put into words what all went down there in beautiful Picton, Ontario so I’ll write a semi-brief synopsis–besides, I wouldn’t want to ruin it for anyone who’s considering taking the certification program through PYC one day. What I w

“Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.” – Thích Nhất Hạnh We live in an age where busyness is praised, multitasking is commended and working overtime is the standard. We’re handling more personal technological devices than ever before, which promote constant check-ins, updates and peer feedback. Here in the Western world, we have an individualistic culture. We’re trained to work towards personal achievement–at whatever cost–right from the get-go. Throughout sch

I’ve been having some wildly beautiful dreams lately, and I’ve noticed they share a common theme: human connection. I spent some time in a magical place a few nights ago.  In my dream I was purely an observer, floating around this serene, wide-open yellow field.  My breath was taken away by this majestic and wise looking oak tree in the centre of it all. It seemed completely still and completely alone. I was moved to calmness just by virtue of being near this tree. Before I t