Lifestyle | AsanaVanessa

May Yogi Surprise – Creative Divine Mother

May 27, 2017/0 Comments/in Lifestyle, Reviews, Yoga /by vanessa

So this is my favourite day of the month, when that purple little Yogi Surprise box makes it to my door! It’s also Arlo’s fave time – he is always so curious and he will wake up from any nap to come play with whatever surprise came. This month’s box is full of positive and inspiring vibes to uplift the mood.

I noticed right away the Lilac & Willow Soy Candle and knew that it was going to be a good, relaxing box. You can also catch me at the candle aisle of any home store so I was in love immediately. I haven’t seen anything like this candle, it had floral petals and sage sticking out of the candle amongst other things, like a pretty little candle bouquet. It acts as a pretty scented candle but also helps cleanse the energies of any room as a purifying smudge. With hints of Cedar, it smells so heavenly – just as it looks. Mina had to have a smell too. Warning: today’s post features extra, too much, a lot of cats photobombing – they just wouldn’t leave me alone 😛 (Not Complaining)

Speaking of lovely scents and clingy cats, the Scentered “Be Happy” citrusy, refreshing body balm was so nice to see. I will definitely be keeping this one in my backpack for before classes. I put this on in the morning and I was smelling the pink grapefruit smell all day, how wonderful! I love the packaging too – Arlo wouldn’t let me take a peaceful picture of this one though, you can see he had to make his cameo!

There was also a yummy post yoga snack waiting for me in the box, a Nutrawbar Whole Fig Bar. I will be saving this one for later but am super excited to try it out. There was also a Joco Botanical Yogi Chakra body bar. This one was a sacral chakra bar, which governs your sense of pleasure, vitality, and connection to others.

I also was greeted with some wonderful cards from Tree Free Greetings, which I can’t wait to hand out to my friends.Each card has been printed on environmentally friendly paper made from materials like bamboo, hemp, bagasse, and consumer recycled papers. The designs on them are so pretty too!

My most favourite from this whole box (apart from the candle, just because I love candles) is these Mindful mandala Cards. I know Adult colouring books have had a very viral take off in the last year, and I can’t help but fall in love with these beautiful mandala designs. I get to colour them all in (ok, maybe I will share one or two), and even create my own at the end, how cute.

Moving on to the Yogi Surprise jewelry box, this month was a definite surprise. I have never seen anything like the mala that came in this box. It has a gorgeous silk tassel attached to the bottom and the colours were warm lovely hues of pinks and oranges. The matching bracelet is so pretty too. I love how there are so many details in it, the amount of beads, and types, and how you can wrap it around as a bracelet, or actually where it as a mini necklace too.

Arlo reeeeaaallly loved this one 😉

Want to give Yogi Surprise a try? Use the code YOGILOVE for a sweet discount off your first purchase!

Here’s an Arlo booty. Enjoy.

January Future Self Yogi Surprise box!

February 1, 2017/0 Comments/in Body, Food, Lifestyle, Yoga /by vanessa

I think this January Yogi Surprise box has won my heart! The jewelry box to be specific… why you may ask? Well, this box contained the most yummiest organic Vegan truffles from Missionary Chocolates I have ever had. I would buy this box over and over again just to have these truffles! Seriously that worth it!

One was a salted caramel truffle, and the other dark chocolate. The point is, they were both so tasty I almost forgot there was jewelry in this box too and not just chocolate treats! I received a beautiful rose quartz pendant and matching bracelet. This bracelet was one of the most beautiful and delicate pieces I have got in the box. It was so pretty I put it on immediately and even forgot to take it off before bed, haha! SO pretty!

This months box theme focused on “Future Self” providing the tools to refresh our spirit by detoxifying, purifying, healing, and renewing both the body and mind. What a perfect start to the new year! Especially with BATH STUFFZ! Loved this Pacifica ‘Lotus garden’ soap! It is all natural and look at how gorgeous the bar is! It looks like little sparkle flakes embedded into this clear bar.

I also found some Pacifica Detox wipes, in such a lovely scent. Kale, cucumber & mangosteen infused! Now that is a scent I have never heard of before, but it is so refreshing! these will come in handy for yoga classes and traveling! I also got a wrist compression sleeve which is great for when you do handstand or arm balances a lot. If you find you have weak wrist and have to warm them up a lot before doing arm balances then this sleeve is probably a good idea. It keeps your wrist in place and almost ‘together’ while you practice!

Next up is from one of my favourite skin care brands DERMA-E <3 I discovered this brand through Yogi Surprise actually when I received an amazing eye cream. These products are incredible and 100% vegan! All natural stuff goes into this face cream and it smells so yummy too, like cucumbers. FRESH! I have been using this every night and it has a unique tightening feeling. It is very thin which I like but VERY hydrating. I know it says night time cream but I have actually been using this DAY & NIGHT because it is just that thin and hydrating. It really does pull your skin and make it tighter too! My dry, fine wrinkles are already disappearing, it’s like magic, really! SUPER RECOMMEND THIS CREAM TO EVERYONE!!!

I have been building up my yogi books collection and so far Yogi Surprise has given me two wonderful books! My first from them was “The Little Red Book Of Yoga Wisdom” which was such a cute and fast read. The Book I received in Januarys box is more informative – “The Good Living Guide to Medicinal Tea”. I’m not much of a tea drinker but this book actually focuses on more than just the benefits of herbs for tea. You really get to know more about each plant and the benefits it has to the body, a lot of these herbs are things you can cook with too so it is always good to know just what you are putting in your body and how amazing it is for you!

Always love my Yogi Surprise box! I heard February is going to be exceptional too! 😉

Use the code YOGILOVE to get 15% off a purple Yogi Surprise box at yogisurprise.com !!! You won’t regret it!

My Inner Fire around Toronto!

January 27, 2017/0 Comments/in Body, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Reviews, Yoga /by vanessa

As January comes to an end I realize I didn’t do much of a recap to the last year, so here is a mini one featuring one of my fave Canadian brands My Inner Fire! I am so proud to be an Inner Fire luminary and have the chance to rock the coolest prints around Toronto! We usually head out for a full day long boarding, walking , picnicking and of course some yoga snap and these leggings withstand the entire day or working out. Here are some of my favourite moments:

This was when I first got my Nocturne Inner Fire leggings! I LOVED all the new collection prints but had to have these Nocturne leggings first because they are totally my style. We took it to one of the most beautiful places in Toronto, High Park.

Not only was I wearing comfy leggings but this day was also a breakthrough day for me! I love to backbend and contort my body and I have been trying to reach my hands up further to my knees in this standing backbend shown above. This day was miraculous, not only did I reach my legs but I walked my hands all the way up to my knees and held it comfortably. I realized after that I was even doing this on a downward slope! Truly a cool moment for me! For all of you wondering how to get into this pose, it requires a lot of warming up. I usually warm up with a ton of pigeon variations and also I have to stretch my shoulders for a good 10 minutes.

I get so many compliments on these Bella leggings, they remind me of a warm Greek day with white buildings and this print on the tiled grounds. This was also a breakthrough day for me as it was the furthest I had ever gotten my splits in a dancer pose! It felt like a moment you understand a pose and what was holding you back at first. For me, I wasn’t able to reach my hands far down enough my shin to really lift my leg. I also focused more on backbends and less on my hamstring stretches. Now that I have incorporated splits into my practice, this pose feels much more natural to me and I’m proud to say I can do a full split now!!

On a sunny day like below we couldn’t resist long boarding around the city. I brought my travel Yogo mat (just incase yoga pics happened hehe) and of course they did when we arrived to this point on the lakeshore. It looks like you can see for miles, but it’s only a lake and it is pretty smoggy too!

I tried this variation of a backbend called Alien Backbend, where you drop your butt a bit lower, almost creating a chair like shape. I really wanted to jazz it up by doing it in a forearm wheel, but also hugging both my hands to my elbows once I was in a good position. It looks and felt great!

Classic Upward Bow pose below! I will admit I did tip over just after this, you can kind of tell I am leaning a bit too far back but I swear I held it straight for a a few breaths before!

We were headed home from a morning at the beach and we walked by this abandoned old train track. I had always wanted to try this pose where you extend your whole body over the track and do somewhat of a plank from one side to the other. I added a backbend of course and plopped my foot onto my head.

But then the funniest thing happened… these guys drove by and were so impressed they paid me to be in their music video! I seriously asked them a million times – “Are you sure? I do yoga… it’s a hip hop video right? And you want yoga?” 😛 – and they kept saying yes! So I did a mini flow on the hood of their car. HAHAHHA

This was possibly the best part of my yoga journey so far. getting to backbend on the hood of a rappers car for their video. Now I don’t know if the video ever made it out, and I honestly can’t remember their names. And who knows if they even liked the yoga hood girl in the end anyway, but I still LOVED this moment and will remember it for ever. It’s amazing how yoga has opened up so many doors of opportunity! Can’t wait for more!!

Check out @myinnerfire on Instagram – and you can use the code VanessaB for a discount at myinnerfire.com or on Amazon

Phair : BROGA at PeterPan Bistro

January 23, 2017/1 Comment/in Body, Events, Food, Lifestyle, Mind, Personal, Yoga /by vanessa

Of course when my friends Jonathan and Queenie Phair said they were teaching a YOGA + BRUNCH at a restaurant I had been dying to go to, I said YES immediately. Mostly because… food – but also mostly because I had done an hour of the Phair’s yoga sesh before and it was intense and a new experience for me! Anyone who has taken this class will know what I’m talking about. This one was the same, from the first ten minutes, they had us warming up our wrists in the hardest ways possible! We fully just jumped right into it doing high planks on the flip side of our hands, a warm up I will be using from now on because even though in the moment it hurt, they feel so much stronger the day after already and feel like they can handle a lot more impact!

We flowed to some amazing music, a more chill electronic style. It was amazing because there were a lot of familiar faces there including lovely Su and Mike, and also THE Brian bchanwarrior and lovely Arin who I had the chance to meet at the BYOGA community collective event! I brought my B-Mat which was perfect for this practice because it was a sweaty one. So many warrior flows, I sure felt the burn.

We did a little partner work too, supporting the others ankles while they are in a plank, teaching them to lift up into a handstand. My wrist were beat by this point to be honest but we all pushed through it because there was too much to learn and absorb in such little time! Also I just need to mention that Queenie and Jonathan are beasts and can do crow pushups – they just effortlessly float into handstand – GOALS for real!

We took a little savasana at the end and Su explained a little about her KEY Education project which is incredible and I will have to write more about it in another post but for now you can learn about it here

Then the smell of food started to waft in as the doors opened. I smelled potatoes. There were potatoes. And also the most amazing assortment of unique dishes like Shakshuka, Lebneh, Frittata, Latkes, French Toast – it just goes on – scones, quinoa salad – SO GOOD! I also had to have a Mimosa with Brunch because it was well deserved! We all sat down and ate, chatted, learned more about each other until it was time to go home!

: Photo By @bchanwarrior

: Photo By @Aetak

: Photo By @Aetak

Most people went home but I stayed behind with a few to take some photos in the beautiful PeterPan space. To say I wish this was my apartment couldn’t be more true. I would live there in a heart beat. My bf martin stopped by to say hi to everyone and snap a few pics of some extra stuffed yoga bellies before we all walked home together.

What a lovely event, I love when I get to connect with so many amazing people and we can all flow and eat in the same room! Can’t wait for the next!!!