Christel Wellness

Your practice might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of cardiovascular exercise, but yoga still brings an array of benefits for heart health. Physical activity in any capacity can lower your blood pressure, ease stress, and even reduce your risk of experiencing heart disease. Forget “traditional” forms of cardio. […]

Around the world workout. Despite their longevity and global popularity, Yoga and Pilates continue to cause confusion, exacerbated by the growing range of classes available in each discipline. One is a comprehensive practice that dates back to ancient India.The other is a physical system developed in the early twentieth century by a German anatomist.While there […]

As a yoga instructor I found myself teaching more classes on Zoom these days than in studios. Times have changed, the way we live our life has changed and we have to adapt to this new way of life. However I do miss going to a yoga studio whether to teach or as the student. […]

A former longtime student recently told me that she had to stop coming to yoga classes because she just couldn’t make herself sit out poses that were bothering her back.  My class culture is anything but competitive. I encourage people to abstain when a pose doesn’t feel right. I constantly tell my students to listen […]

This week I finally uploaded a new flow yoga practice video onto my YouTube channel! It had been a very long time since I last uploaded a video as such project takes a huge amount of time to produce.  I had the help of my amazing partner Mark to produce it and we are very […]

Affirmations are a daily practice for me, a positive habit that is so powerful it has changed my life in wonderful ways. As a healer and yoga instructor, I practice affirmations with intention. I speak my wants with conviction and faith that it is so. To affirm anything is to state that it is so, […]

Want to sleep better, enjoy more fulfilling relationships, experience more positive emotions, greater life satisfaction and lower levels of depression, anxiety and stress?  Introduce a daily gratitude practice! Gratitude has a powerful effect on our health and well-being, research shows. In fact, at the University of California, an entire team is devoted to research on […]

One of the most common questions I hear from new students of mindfulness practice is, “Sitting meditation is really uncomfortable for me. What should I do?” Like anything else, there are many reasons that people can experience discomfort in sitting meditation. Sometimes the sitting position itself can be a problem. For example, Sukhasana (Easy Pose) is widely […]

When it comes to playing sports, the mental game is as, if not more, important than the physical one. And plenty of research has shown that mindfulness and athletic performance are inextricably linked—in a good way.  In order to perform physically, the mind needs to be in the right state. Only then can it accurately […]

Most of us are creatures of habit, and that’s neither good nor bad.  Healthy habits provide a strong foundation for our daily lives. Unhealthy habits can derail even our best intentions. But sometimes, even healthy habits can cause us to get stuck, or to reinforce patterns that no longer serve us. For example, practicing yoga […]