Our Favorite Granola Recipe from Haramara:

Puffed amaranth 2 cups
Sesame seed with honey ½ cup
Flax seed ½ cup
Pumpkin seed ½ cup
Sunflower seed ½ cup
Sheared coconut ½ cup
Oats or quinoa flakes 2 cups
Agave syrup or bee honey ½ cup
Coconut oil or canola oil 1 cup
Pecans ½ cup
Almonds ½ cup
Raisins ½ cup

Pre-heat the oven at  300°F.
Chop the pecans and the almonds.
Put all the ingredients in a tray or a pyrex mold, except for the raisins, honey and oil.
Pour the oil and mix, then pour the honey and mix.
Put the tray into the oven and check every 10 mins, you will have to stir so the cook will be even.
You’ll see how it starts to get golden brown, at the time you see it has a perfect brown color, take it out from the oven and add the raisins, let it cool and store in a dry place.

We are happy to share Charlotte Noruzi’s post from her blog featuring images that she created on and inspired by our yoga retreat to Mexico. Enjoy!

Mexico: Tierra Fértil

Mexico presented itself to me before I ever stepped foot on its soil. From my plane window, I saw the topography shift from the predictable greys and dark purples of mountain ranges, rivers, and long stretches of fields to something I’d never seen.

An expansive quilt of grass, earth, water, and metal. Silvery bits shone in the blunt sunlight. Black dots speckled the patches of orange, ochre, burgundy, green. Waterways threaded the earth like snakes shedding their skin. You could not mistake this land for America, or any other. To me, it was a veritable extension of the people and their culture. I took photographs of it in my mind’s eye, as a camera could not remotely capture what I was looking at.

And then I started to paint from memory the sensations, myriad hues and shapes, circles upon circles, zigzags, and dots. Mexico, embedded like jewels in the land.

Click here for more of Charlotte’s work and to purchase!

Cielo y Tierra Looking at the land from the sky

Tierra Fértil

Colcha de Colores

Tributaries (Afluentes)

I Was Happy Here (Cocodrilo)

Our Article featured on Mind Body Green

6 Yoga Retreat Myths – Debunked!

Two years ago I wouldn’t have gone on a yoga retreat. I know it’s crazy.  I run a travel company that specializes in yoga retreats. If you are anything like I was, an inexperienced yogi, skeptical of spending my rare time to travel on potentially weird and unauthentic experiences, then this article is for you.

What I thought (and didn’t want):

1. I didn’t want to be stuck with a bunch of serious and weird women talking, eating and breathing yoga and feelings all day long.

2. I didn’t want to miss out on the deep connection I seek with nature and culture and people.

3. I didn’t want to miss out on leaving room for improvising, for making good OR bad decisions, for getting lost, for
meeting someone that inspires me in an unexpected way.

4. I didn’t want my adventure to be all wheatgrass and Namastes and happy crying.

5. I didn’t want to be locked into a schedule at a boring hotel with so many things to do nearby and so much nature to explore.

6. I didn’t want to miss my workouts and time at the gym.

What I discovered:

That a yoga retreat is designed to expand upon all of the things that I thought I would be missing out on.

I wasn’t with a group of super intense yogis that I couldn’t connect with, rather, I found a group of interesting people from around the world who I didn’t just catch for a second at a hostel, but who I really got to connect with during the week.

I didn’t miss out on the chance to get lost, you can always find ways to get lost and I always do.

I definitely didn’t miss out on nature, as it became connected to every part of the day, eating local foods, sleeping in open air cabanas, hiking with experienced guides, swimming in rivers and oceans, secret waterfalls and hot springs.

I discovered that the better I felt traveling the more I was able to soak in my experience. Eating gourmet food? Practicing every morning before the day’s adventures started? Sleeping harder than I’ve slept since I was a kid? Preventing injuries from hiking and surfing and other activities? Adding a yoga and healthy eating routine to a trip is a no brainer. No more feeling bad about missing your workout routine or your healthy food while traveling. No more having to recover from a vacation! In fact, it helped me establish a routine of daily practice and healthy eating for my life at home.

I discovered that amazing things happen when you practice something like yoga 1-2 times a day for a week. A depth of experience that can’t be replaced by years of yoga 1-2 times a week.

I discovered that travel and yoga, among other things, share in the unraveling of the foggy layers of yourself that have cocooned around you, so that you can reveal and embrace who you are at the core. Or at least work towards that.

That inherent in those that seek adventure is the same curiosity in those that seek the depth of a spiritual practice.

Yoga retreats aren’t just for our traditional concept of a yogi anymore. They are for anyone who has unbridled curiosity. They are for anyone who wants a deeper practice to include what they do off the mat. Yoga retreats are for younger people and older people, newcomers and experienced, couples and friends, foodies and thrill seekers. It turns out they’re are all about finding that sweet spot, that hidden cave, pristine crater lake, the magic healer of the community and turning that search inward to find the sweet spot within yourself that you can tap into whenever you want.

I discovered that the travelers you’ll meet on a yoga retreat are the kind of people that you can only dream of one day meeting.

So next time you decide it’s time to pack the bags and head out on an adventure, give a retreat a chance. I’ll fully support your decision to hit the road solo without a plan just to see where it takes you, who you’ll meet, what you feel and all that goodness that comes from that kind of travel and that I love too. And when you’re ready for a little more juiciness, to find that sweet spot of travel, you’ll know where to look!

The city is demanding.

Choose the fastest it says. Choose the cheapest. Choose the best. Fit it all in. Make it in time. Don’t cancel.Keep up. Don’t get stuck in traffic. Be on time to class. Go to bed early. Wake up early. Don’t be sad. Pay the bills. Answer your phone.

Invitations are few and far between in the city. A quiet presentation of a simple experience… an invitation.

We even have to fight and wait in line for the rarity of a quiet place or simple pleasure. My favorite cafe in brooklyn was too charming to stay an invitation. When I first discovered it I peered in, not knowing what was inside. It invited me in, where I found lavender shortbread and thick cafe lattes and shared them with a sweet girl and the bullfrog that swam in the little pond.

The inviting bakery quickly became demanding. Packed full of people, waiting in line, standing for a chance at a table. Thick with pollution and choices and fighting.

Here, perched in the trees, I remember what an invitation is. I remember what it feels like to be softly presented with opportunities. Quietly shown a way in which to be.

For the moment the fighting stops. The surrender begins and the invitations flow in like they’ve been waiting there all along for me to notice.

I walk down the path and the ocean rocks back and forth in the distance. Inviting me to shift my pulse in harmony.

The insects start chirping around me, not at me, but just enough that I can choose to listen, if I want.

The food. The food asks nothing of me but to enjoy it. There is no rush. No judgment toward me.

The smells illuminate my lungs when I breathe deeply. Their subtle presence just waiting to be enjoyed. Inviting me to share in their dance.

The sun catches my eyes just enough to remind me that it will be setting soon if I want to share in the closing of the day.

Here, surrounded by invitations.

I become inviting.

SolYoga Trips Spotlight: Christie Marshall

By Jackie Leavitt

I first heard about Christie Marshall through my previous roommate, Hilary, who takes her yoga classes at Planet Granite in San Francisco. “Everyone who takes her class loves her,” she said. And after my first 75-minute long, slightly heated vinyasa flow class at Aha Yoga, I could see why Marshall attracts a dedicated following. Her simple, smoothly rolling routines were easy to follow (Marshall broke down the motions every step of the way), and they were also challenging, but not so difficult to make you go home crying. They pushed without shoving you over the edge.

Marshall, 36, has been teaching flow power yoga for the past five years, and began to practice yoga back in 1997 – a time when D.C. only had about two yoga studios, and Marshall (only 5’4”) could touch the studio’s ceiling during her first class (it was in a church basement).

After stopping dancing, an activity she pursued since three-years-old, she still continued to be active with running and stretching. It was only after beginning yoga that she realized the stretches she did were all similar to yoga poses. “I was doing this all my life,” Marshall said. “My body craved doing certain things.”

And while Marshall now focuses her Power Flow Vinyasa classes around symmetricity and very powerful and strong movements, it’s also echoes a dance-like flow. “My [teaching] is like a dance,” Marshall explains. “I like to find interesting transitions, and it’s all about expansion.” But in addition, Marshall – a self-described yoga traditionalist – teaches a very grounding practice and challenges her students through basic poses.

Other teaching influences come from Baron Baptiste (which can be seen in her frequent revisitation to sun salutations), friends, yoga teachers, and – most importantly – her students. Never planning her class in advance, Marshall instead talks with her students to see if anyone has any injuries or emotional issues that could benefit from certain yoga poses. For example, after asking me about any injuries (my lower back has occasional pain from long hours on my feet), she included poses in the class’s routine that would help that area. And with her small classes of about 20, she could personally make trips around the room to tweak stances or offer adaptive poses.

In addition, one of her future goals is to create more focused workshops so students with injuries have the opportunity to talk about safe ways to practice yoga. In fact, I might attend one of her upcoming workshops (“Healthy Back Workshop on Sunday April 15, from 2 – 4 p.m., $40). And according to Marshall, having these extra cares can help your practice overall. “Injuries can be your best teacher.”