How’s your posture looking these days? Are you often hunched or slouched over your computer? Although many people may not pay mind to its importance, good posture is more than just about looking prim, proper, and pretty. It’s about keeping the spine in balance, and preventing any potential, future pain or health issues which may arise from not doing so.

I would say the prevailing sentiment for me right now is disillusionment. I’m seeing things as they are, not how I’d like them to be. I read an article the other day about the presence of white supremacists growing faster on twitter than ISIS. The number of accounts has grown by 600 percent since 2012. What’s interesting is instead of feeling scared, I feel relieved.

Wellness Wednesday 51: Half Frog Pose

Benefits:

Stretches knees, hips, and abdomen.

Improves posture.

Can help strengthen back muscles.

Foundation & General Alignment:

Start in Cobra pose, bend one knee in at a time and grab foot with hand. Gently push/pull foot towards back of thigh.

Tops of feet are pressing into ground, toes flat on ground.

Legs are engaged, flexed.

Shoulders are back.

I must confess, I pay very little attention to my feet. Unless they start hurting, I tend to take them for granted. That shouldn't be the case though, considering they get me everywhere I need to go and work perfectly fine. That's why I've decided to spoil them every once and a while. Want to know how? A DIY foot soak, that's how!

I was recently gifted a jun culture from a local raw and vegan eatery. Being a tremendous fan of kombucha not only for the flavor, but for its gut-health boosting properties, I figured I’d give kombucha’s cousin a little love, too.

Whether you’re sipping your coffee on the couch or spilling it as you rush out the door, some sort of morning fuel is a non-negotiable. For those of us on a plant-based diet, however, many breakfast foods are sadly off the table. Scrambled eggs, French toast, yogurt, sausage, bacon… classic staples, but not vegan-friendly.

Who wants to age? While we all know and understand that our time here on Earth is transient, we all fear the ravages of time. For our once-youthful face to show its age and sometimes look prematurely old is a painful pill to swallow.

Highlights:

• Venus in Aries is about using the Aries energy to go after what we love and what we think is beautiful. So, let’s say we meet someone new and we impulsively go with “This is great, I want to jump right into a new relationship!” 
• What's really interesting is that a few weeks back, Venus went into retrograde and so we need to talk about how this Venus retrograde energy is a little different because retrograde puts the brakes on. It signals for us to reconsider jumping right into those activities.

Nestled between the heart and the throat sits an often unrecognized energy center which brings the consciousness and signatures of these two area's chakras together in a beautiful, harmonious, powerful way. Known by many as the “High Heart” or “Chakra 4.5” this chakra is all about living your personal truth and doing so with passion and conviction.

At 40, many of us have a million things on our plate. Our kids are still young and demanding, our parents are still around and need some help, our jobs still take a big chunk out of us – and there are so many niggling issues our body keeps bringing to the table, including difficulty in losing weight.

The 40 Checklist