Hello everyone, 

I hope you are well and enjoying the long, hot days of summer. It’s been very hot, but also pretty wet at times here in Western Canada. We’ve had some epic storms with crazy hail and even a tornado north of Calgary!Summer is a mixed bag here, but mostly it’s pretty hot and even with work, teenagers home, and some big changes coming up in my family, I’m still trying to keep up with my summer reading. So today, I thought it would be fun to share five of my recent reads with you, and to take a deeper dive into reading as a wellness tool. 

Hello Everyone, 

I hope you are all well and enjoying the vibrant, and colourful month of July. Summer is finally here! School is out and we’ve had weeks of high temperatures and long warm evenings. I’ve been enjoying one of my favourite outdoor summer pastimes: lake swimming. The water is the perfect antidote to the intense heat of the sun, and is one of the most calming self care tools in my wellness toolbox. I love it! If you want to experience some of this calming energy for yourself, try my Guided Meditation to Calm and Centre, written from my experience of wild lake swimming.

Hello Everyone, 

I hope you are all well, and feeling the energy of Spring. As I write, it is the Spring Equinox and the temperature is just about zero here. I’m feeling the shift of the season in an energetic way, which I love. However, the huge mounds of snow on my backyard don’t really fit with the vibe! So I have some delightful pink tulips on my counter, as a more fitting visual. 

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are all well, and enjoying the new month we find ourselves in. It’s hard to believe that the first month of 2023 flew by so quickly! Here in the Northern Hemisphere, the noticeable increase in light that February brings, is signalling the first flicker of spring, even if we still have lots of snow on the ground where I live!

Hello Everyone, 

I hope this post finds you well and feeling positive about the new year ahead. If you joined me for the 2023 practice of “Set Your Intentions with Me”, I’m sure you are motivated to start the new year with clarity and anticipation for what lies ahead. If you haven’t done a practice like this yet, don’t worry. There’s lots of time. We are still at the beginning of this new year.

Hello Everyone, 

Happy New Year to you all! Wherever you are in the world, I hope your holiday season was relaxing and spent with those you love. So here we are, it is January and 2022 is now in the past. We have a brand new year ahead of us full of possibilities and opportunities, and it’s time to consider the path we would like our shiny new year to take. As someone who thrives on setting intentions and working towards goals in my life, l love this time of year. It feels like a powerful reset for mind, body and spirit. I find that this month, more than any other, moves into a flow state of abundance and creativity for the new year ahead, when I sit down and do this practice of releasing the past year and setting intentions and goals for the coming year. I would love to invite you take a little time with me here today, in this window of the first days (or weeks) of the new year, to honour all that 2022 brought your way, and then with clear vision, imagine the exciting possibilities that lie ahead. 

Hello Everyone, 

Happy New Year! I hope you are all well and taking care of yourselves at this busy time of year. 

Today I want to bring our focus to self care, and in particular, winter self care. Whether you live in an extremely cold, harsh winter climate as I do, or experience a milder winter season, I want to take a deep dive in this blog post into the demands of the season. We will shine a light on how our bodies require a little extra care at this time of year, and how a very small amount of consciously created time can reap huge rewards for our overall health and well-being in the winter months. Make a cup of something warm and inviting, and spend a little time with me here today. Your winter self care starts here! 

Hello Everyone, 

Welcome back to The Be Well Blog. I’m so glad you are here! 

Today we are taking a look at restorative yoga, and in particular, four poses that will change your life for the better. These poses are easy to master; they don’t require any specialist props and they will reward you time and time again with amazing benefits to body, mind and spirit. It’s a busy time of year, as the festive season is almost upon us! So there is no better time to allow restorative yoga to calm the mind, ease stress and tension in the body and bring a sense of balance to your entire being. Let’s get started! 

Hello Everyone, 

I hope you are all well. Welcome back to The Be Well Blog - I’m so glad you are here! By popular demand, I am taking a plunge into the subject of cold showers today. It’s a hot topic! And it’s one I love to talk about, as it has been part of my well-being routine for a while now. So without further ado, let’s get into the power of a cold shower! 

Hello Everyone, 

I hope you are all well and settling into yet another seasonal change! Here in Western Canada we have been plunged into the depths of winter almost overnight, and as I write there is a snowstorm raging outside. So what better time to discover the magic of a little Danish concept called Hygge? Grab a cup of something warm and join me for my take on “How to Hygge”. I think you will love how this way of being can really improve your health and well-being this winter. 

Hello everyone,

I hope this article finds you well and feeling at ease in mind and body.

Today, I want to explore the nervous system again, in part two of a series of posts aimed at creating awareness of how stress impacts our nervous system. My hope is that these posts will offer you practical ideas and strategies to self regulate, both in moments of high stress (and in this post in particular), to provide longer term solutions to weave into your daily life to maintain regulation. This post will focus on creating the building blocks to nourish, rejuvenate and soothe an over active nervous system in the long term. So, let’s build on part one of this series by taking a deeper dive into some practical ways to regulate the nervous system; to balance, nourish and support it for long term health benefits and a feeling of peace in mind and body.

Hello Everyone, 

Today I want to dive into the topic of yoga for beginners and how a home yoga practice, however basic, can be life changing. It is a subject very dear to my heart, and one that I am passionate about sharing with others. Whether you are brand new to yoga, or thinking of taking your yoga out of the studio and weaving it into your daily life at home, this practice will create a new dimension to your every day routine. It is a powerful way to support your physical, emotional and spiritual well being, carving a path to a happier and healthier life. So let’s talk about how to take the first steps towards starting a yoga practice, and how to introduce yoga to your daily life at home. Read on and you will find it is surprisingly easy and the benefits are plentiful. I have some great tips to get you started:

Hello Everyone,

I hope this post finds you well and feeling cosy as we transition into the darker, cooler evenings of autumn. The true essence of the season is working its magic, with crisp cool mornings, earlier sunsets and the need for a warm, snuggly sweater on those walks through the crunchy golden leaves. It’s my favourite time of year!

Hello Everyone,

It’s October! How did that happen? As always, the wheel keeps on turning at an alarming rate. So here we find ourselves in the most beautiful month of the autumn season and of course, we are now in full swing with the new school year. If you have children or teenagers, they are now settled and hopefully enjoying the new year of studying and socialising ahead. With this in mind, my thoughts today turned to my experience of teaching yoga to children and teens, and how wonderfully beneficial it has been for my students and my own children, to learn even a few basics of yoga asana, philosophy and mindfulness. So how can a yoga practice help teens to overcome every day issues that may result in anxiety, and connect the foundations of yoga to more effective social and emotional skills? Here are my thoughts and experiences to share with you today.

Hello Everyone,

I hope this post find you all well and able to take a little time to enjoy the autumn sunshine. Here in Western Canada the trees are bursting into their grande finale of breathtaking colour. The provincial park near my house is a sea of glorious yellows, golds, ochres and reds. Fall really is the seasonal jewel in the crown in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains…

Hello Everyone, 

I hope this post finds you well and enjoying the shift to the sign of Libra today.  Libra energy is light, peaceful, balanced and harmonious, and I always find it to be a welcome change from the highly productive, organizational drive of Virgo. The slightly more relaxed, playful feel to this time of year, is also reflected in warm days of Autumn sunshine and the cosy, comforting feels of cooler evenings. The creation of a perfect balance between the polarities of summer and winter. It’s such a beautiful season. Today on The Be Well Blog I want to share an updated and slightly revised article that I wrote for the Iyengar Association of Canada. It is a short account of how I healed a chronic back injury through he practice of yoga, and the accompanying perspective shift of how a challenge can be transformed into a gift. If you have struggled with back pain, or have faced physical challenges of any nature, my hope is that you find this article uplifting and inspiring. 

Hello Everyone,

I hope this blog post finds you well and thriving in this season of new routines. The back to school and work schedules are becoming established, as the long easy days of summer begin to fade into the background for this year, at least. It has become time to embrace those early mornings once again! My alarm clock is ringing almost before the first light of day now, and in one of those quiet moments last week, before the house began to stir, I started thinking about my mornings. How I begin the day, how I want my day to proceed and if morning routines are indeed as life changing as is sometimes portrayed?

Hello everyone,

I hope you are well and enjoying this transitional time, as we approach the beautiful season of Autumn. It is a time when those great summer reads, which we lost ourselves in on glorious hot beach days, are still fresh in our minds. But we are also thinking of something new to snuggle up with as the nights draw in and autumnal reading is upon us. With this in mind, I though I would share five of my recent reads with you. Reading is known to be one of the ultimate feel good occupations and studies have shown that it is the number one choice, when we are asked how we love to spend our free time. Doing things we love boosts our feelings of contentment and fulfilment, and is essential to our health and wellbeing.

Hello everyone,

Today I’m bringing you a follow up to my last post on getting organized for the new season ahead. Organization is so crucial to feeling on top of our game, especially in busier seasons. However, with productivity comes the potential for feeling too busy and becoming overwhelmed by it all. So, taking the energy of early fall and the new routines this season presents for many of us, I began to think about some super easy, short practices that can be slotted into the day, which are guaranteed to slow the pace and recharge mind and body, even during the busiest of days.

Hello,

I’m Jill - Iyengar yoga teacher, blogger, wellness expert and most importantly mama to my two kids. This is my blog, a quiet space where I write about life, health, wellness, parenting and yoga.