Striving4Zen

Type of Yoga	Personality
Ashtanga	Type A, competitive with yourself, high energy, can't sit still, strict, rigid, likes order, likes knowing the right and wrong way to do things, needs to move in order to de-stress
Anusara	Scientific, interested in body alignment and how your body moves internally, introspective, creative, likes to use props, in touch with your emotions

Type of Yoga	Personality
Bikram	Type A, extreme, over the top, needs discipline, loves heat, loves to sweat, craves order and strictness
Iyengar	Strict, rigid, interested in body alignment, likes to be told the right and wrong way to do things, likes to use props
Kripalu	Easy-going, slow-moving, meditative, spiritual, introspective
Kundalini	Meditative, slow-moving, spiritual, likes to be physically and mentally challenged, likes to focus on breath and chant, interested in the chakras and awakening the energy (kundalini) that resides in the base of the spine
Jivamukti	Spiritual, meditative, creative, likes to move, needs to de-stress, likes to be physically and mentally challenged, likes to chant
Vinyasa	Creative, spontaneous, up for a challenge, likes to move quickly, likes to sweat

Labels: anusara yoga, benefits of yoga, bikram, jivamukti, yoga

If the scent or the effects of chemical bug sprays worry you, why not go the natural way? Lavender is a wonderful natural bug repellent, and it smells fantastic, too. Try placing potted lavender and other herb plants near your doors to repel bugs from entering your home. When you're having a picnic or hosting an outdoor dinner party, set some bunches of dried lavender on your table to use as table décor and keep the insects away!

When the party is over, bring it up to your bedroom and place it on your nightstand: lavender is also known to improve sleep quality and promote relaxation.

Labels: bugs away, lavender, natural products

So Simple Over-Night Steel-Cut Oats & Berries

4 servings

1 cup Bob's Red Mill Steel-Cut Oats

2 cups of water

1 tsp. pumpkin pie or apple pie seasoning

1/2 cup sliced dried apple rings, like Mariani, cut them into smaller pieces

Optional: 1/4 cup of raisins or chopped up dates, or use other dried fruits. I want to keep the sugar content down, so I stick to the apples.

1/2 a cup of soy, hazelnut, almond, or oat milk

Add the oats, water, and seasoning to a saucepan before you go to bed. Cover it and let it sit out overnight.

In the morning, add about 1/2 cup of the "milk" to the pan, mix, and heat over medium heat until it starts to boil. As soon as it starts to bubble, lower the heat to a simmer, and watch carefully. It's done in 5-10 minutes--as soon as the liquid is absorbed. Add more milk if you like a creamier consistency.

Top with fresh berries & 1 TBS. of flax meal.

Refrigerate leftovers, and enjoy 3 more breakfasts. Just warm them up in the microwave. I like to warm the berries, too, so they are soft.

If you like this sweeter, add a bit of maple syrup or agave--or make try adding raisins or dates as it soaks overnight.

Nutrition Facts Healthy Librarian's Steel cut oat with apples & blueberries
Serving Size: 1 serving
Amount Per Serving
Calories	211
Total Fat	5.2g
Saturated Fat	0.8g
Trans Fat	0g
Cholesterol	0mg
Sodium	17mg
Carbohydrate	37.9g
Dietary Fiber	6.9g
Sugars	6.6g
Protein	7.9g
Vitamin A 1% Vitamin C 2% Calcium 6% Iron 12%

Labels: breakfast, easy recipe, steel cut oats

As one of the country’s top cosmetic chemists and the founder of his own skin-care brand called Priori, Lewis loves his double-blind, peer-reviewed studies. So when he found coffeeberry, an antioxidant from the coffee plant, he began to apply scientific rigor to natural ingredients as well. We asked him for the proof behind coffeeberry’s power and for two other natural ingredients that claim to be heavy-hitters.

Here are the natural ingredients that Lewis likes because they deliver results:

Brightening, sun-damage prevention
1. CoffeeBerry: The antioxidant is dramatically more beneficial than green tea, acai, pomegranate, gogi berry or most other commonly hyped natural ones. CoffeeBerry extract has an ORAC of 15,000. ORAC is a measurement of antioxidant potency. For perspective, a cup of antioxidant blueberries has a score of 13,427. CoffeeBerry is one of the most important natural ingredients fighting the free-radical battle. It can reduce unwanted skin pigmentation and help prevent aging.

Smooths wrinkles, boosts hydration
2. Lactic Acid: A natural alpha-hydroxy acid (AHA) found in milk and other natural sources is critical to proper skin moisture. It’s an exfoliant that can improve hydration, so it’s the first step in any anti-aging skin regimen. Higher concentrations of lactic acid are often used in spa peels to boost the results of home-care products. Lactic acid has been proven to improve the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, and has a plumping effect because it increases skin’s ability to retain moisture.
Most obvious natural source: Yogurt

Serious anti-aging (deep wrinkles); acne treatment
3. Vitamin A: By far still the most prescribed anti-aging treatment by physicians because of its proven anti-aging results in the skin—correcting wrinkles, improving firmness—dating back to the landmark research in this field in the 1980s. Vitamin A, the precursor to retinoic acid, cannot be made by the human body so it must be ingested or topically applied. Even the over-the-counter version called retinol is an effective cell-communicating ingredient. What does its text message to your skin say? Act like a healthy, younger skin cell. In addition to improving discoloration and wrinkles from sun damage, it’s also been shown to be a heavy-hitter against acne.

Most obvious natural source: Carrot oil —Melisse Gelula

Labels: Alpha-Hydroxy Acids, coffeeberry, lactic acid, retinol, Vitamin A

Argan oil: Nicknamed “liquid gold,” Morrocan women swear by this stuff to treat everything from wrinkles and psoriasis to burns and acne. Science is still catching up but argan is extremely rich in linoleic acid, which applied topically is proven to reduce acne, and vitamin E, an antiager that may reduce scarring as well.
	Aloe vera: Even if your mom wasn’t a hippie you know that aloe vera gel has calming and restorative properties straight from the plant. Science says that it’s antibacterial and has been proven to speed wound healing in rats. In humans who’d undergone dermabrasion treatment, damaged skin healed 72 hours faster when aloe was applied.
	Baking soda: It will wash your sink, but it will also whiten your teeth, banish your bad breath, and deodorize bad smells—including your own.
	Coconut oil: With a molecular structure that allows it to penetrate skin and hair, both preventing water loss and replacing lipids that deplete with aging, it’s a double winner. Science says it also accelerates wound healing, can help treat eczema, and has shown to be therapeutic in the treatment of acne.
	Green tea: We should all be drinking it, but topical application of green tea has lots of science on its side, too. Several studies have shown it to reduce the effects of UV damage, enhance wound healing, and treat acne. Green tea is also anti-inflammatory and can help reduce the redness associated with rosacea.
	Honey: Before we had antibiotics we had honey, which was frequently used in wound dressing to accelerate healing. It’s no surprise then that science says it does, in fact, do just that. Its topical application also demonstrates antibacterial action, and helps prevent scarring. (It's good on toast, too.)
	Olive oil: Just when you thought you’d heard everything there is to know about the powers of olive oil: A 2000 study done on mice indicated that topical application of olive oil after UVB exposure effectively reduced the rodents’ chances of developing skin tumors. Already proven to be a powerful antioxidant in food, olive oil may play an exciting role in reducing DNA damage in skin, too.
	Propolis: Bees use propolis, an antimicrobial resin, to sterilize their hives, and a variety of studies have shown its properties to benefit human health—from reducing the duration of common colds to slowing the proliferation of cancer cells. Topically, propolis functions as an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory proven to protect skin against photodamage, it’s more antibacterial than honey, and is even effective against cold sores.
	Shea butter: West African women (and grandmas) have been using this stuff forever. Not only does its application exhibit powerful anti-inflammatory properties but recent studies are indicating that cinnamic acid (found in shea) reduces the effects of UV damage. Just make sure to choose a brand that’s sourced fairly, like Alaffia.
	Vitamin C: You can’t soak your face in orange juice to get the topical benefits of this powerful antioxidant, but a good natural cream or serum containing L-ascorbic acid (vitamin C), which in its stable form helps the skin fight free-radical damage, reduces redness, stimulates wound healing, and helps minimize fine wrinkles.
	Tea tree oil: When it comes to acne, this is your friendly alternative to that beast benzoyl peroxide, which has been linked to cancer and is banned in Europe. A comparative study found tea tree oil to be just as effective as BP for treating pimples, if a little bit slower on the draw. On the plus side? It exhibited fewer side effects.