Yogatic with Esther Ekhart - Welcome!

Hi Everyone,

Here a few yin yoga poses focussing on the lower back and hip area. In yin yoga you hold the poses from 3-5 minutes. It is of great benefit to the body, it works more on the deep connective tissues and joints, rather than on the more superficial yang tissues like the skin and the muscles. Very restorative!

The poses I demonstrate are:

butterfly pose  / also known as  baddha konasana

shoelace / cow face pose

sleeping swan / sleeping pigeon

reclining twist / jatharaparvatanasana

Enjoy the practice!

Esther

Hi Everyone,

For this video I have Rachel with me, and she makes me a yummy breakfast. If you like eggs than see how Rachel gives us poached eggs on toast, but with a few added ingredients to make it that bit healthier and nicer!

I promised you a list of ingredients:

• eggs
• cider vinegar (healthier than wine vinegar)
• avocado
• tomatoes
• tahini
• yeast extract with added vit B12 (marmite is how most people know it)
• alfalfa
• spelt bread  (healthier and easier digestible grain than wheat

That’s it, if you want to know how to make it, look at the video!

enjoy! (I did)

Esther

Hello Everyone,

If your upper and/or middle back needs a good stretch,..

If you shoulders are tight and you want relief..

If you want to live your life with an open heart, and open mind?

Than this is your pose to practice! Hold it for 3-5 minutes, it is great. Also it is a great warm up if you want to practice deeper back bends.

Esther

Hello everyone,
Here a few yoga poses you can do to help calm the body and get the digestive system going. Bring these poses into your regular practice for a while, or do them by themselves. But also think about the portions you eat, overeating could well be causing the problem!
The poses I demonstrate in this sequence are:

• thunderbolt pose / vajrasana
• seated forward bend / paschimottanasana
• lying simple twist
• one leg twist
• savasana / corpse pose

Happy digesting!
Esther

Hi Everyone,

As a result of some requests I’ve decided to let you have a look in my kitchen  Eating healthy does not always come natural and I know it can be helpful to get some ideas so I hope this gives you some.. It is so important what you eat, also from a yoga perspective. You probably all know the phrase “you are what you eat” That is a bit much for me, you’re much more than just what you eat, but if want to be healthy and energetic physically you want to look at eating healthy. A lot of physical problems start from bad diet and some can be fixed with help of a healthy diet. So have an honest look and start making some changes!

Enjoy..

Hi everyone,

Part 3 of yoga for beginners! The final part of the Yoga for Beginners series focusses more on poses that require a bit more strength, in your arms and core! We are getting into a baby backbend (cobra) and a twist. Hope you’ll enjoy it!

As you know I haven’t been feeling great the past week so I haven’t got a new video for this week so here is an older one which fell through the cracks and wasn’t put up previously here. This completes the Yoga for Beginners series.

In this video the poses I explain are:

• chair pose / utkatasana
• downward facing dog pose / adho mukha svanasana
• plank pose
• variation to chaturanga dandasana
• cobra pose / bhujangasana
• lunge / lunge twist
• child pose / balasana

Enjoy

Esther

Yoga for Beginners – Full Series
Part 1 - Basic Standing Poses
For all of you who want to do yoga, but don’t know how! There’s no time like the present to start practicing , Just start…, begin with this part one. Slowly get used to some of the basic standing poses that I will go through in this part and the next few.

Part 2 – Standing Side Stretches
Here part 2 of the beginners series. Still focussing on standing poses! When you begin with yoga I think they are the core poses you need to learn first.

Part 3 – More Advanced Poses
The final part of the Yoga for Beginners series moves from the basic standing poses to some of the more exerting twists and stretches.

I’ve been having the flu now for a few days already, and I have noticed how badly I react.  My own advice, given back to me by my husband : ) ,  to “accept it and relax into it” seems impossible! The only thing I seem to feel is a lingering feeling of guilt, this keeps me tense and not wanting to feel anything. The next thing I do is that I distract myself by looking at a tv screen, computer screen or sleep. But just “being with it” , impossible! A few yoga moves so my body doesn’t lock up on me completely is all I can manage a day with regards to awareness….

Why? why is it so difficult for me to “be.. with being sick”  . After talking to a dear friend on the phone today I found a bit of clarity. He told me his story, that after a few years of being anxious and not able to do the things he wanted to, he learned that his “being” was not dependent on his “doing”. That struck a chord in me. I realized that that lingering feeling of guilt is there a lot when I stop “doing” , what I subconsciously  believe I need to be doing,  to be able to allow myself to”be”.

“I AM” …Sick or healthy, doing something or not, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t even change!  I am that what is aware of all that I think I should be doing or not, I am that what I observe, which is being miserable, sick ,tense, guilty. But most of all I just am, because I simply cannot not “be”. So I finally seem to be able to “be” with what “is”, knowing that that also will pass (thankfully

Written by a feverish Esther

Hi Everyone,

Here it is, the final episode of yoga for weight loss. All about the thighs and the buttocks. whether you want to lose weight or just bring your body in shape. these are enjoyable exercises to do and you will notice a difference if you do them diligently. I would love some feedback on how stringing the 4 parts together has worked for you!

Yoga for weight loss series:

Part 1 – Visualisation of the series is still in a way the most important exercise, because if your subconscious mind stops believing that you can and will be healthier, stronger and thinner soon, than you can exercise and work out al you want but it won’t happen or stay.

Part 2 – Getting Moving! is also important because it works on getting you to move more, so work on yourself believing it and then go and do the work!

Part 3 Abs and Core This is all about stomach and abs routines which are very effective for strenghtening your core and trimming your tummy…

Part 4 Thighs and Butt This video focuses on burning it off your thighs and butt – and enjoyable yoga routine

Esther

We are all familiar with desires, whether they are desires like having another job or being healthier.  Or more yoga related desires like being more flexible or becoming the new blogger for yoga journal

Buddha teaches us that there are only two movements that motivate us.  The movement away from pain and the other movement towards pleasure. Take a look at the reasons why you do certain things.  You will see  you are either running away from something painful, undesirable, or trying to achieve something you want, desirable.

When you look further into it you see how the two movements are connected, how running away from one thing, means moving towards another thing.  When you move towards flexibility, you move away from being stiff.  It is your fears that are motivating your desires.

So trying to achieve  the desire for “fame”  is trying to run from the fear of being unnoticed, “a nobody” .  Fears and desires are two sides of the same coin.

My inquiry into the desire to become the next “yoga journal blogger”  goes like this.

What would being the next YJ blogger give me?

The answer is : “more exposure”

Question: What would more exposure give me?

Answer: “more security in creating a living”.  Basically I would feel safer in my existence.

Next question: What is now?

Answer: “existence”

The main fear behind all desires is the fear for survival.  Subconscious we believe that fulfilling the desire will secure our survival.  Seeing that in this moment our survival needs are taken care of brings freedom.

Question:  Do I need to become the next YJ blogger?

Answer:  No I don’t, But if so, it would be “just for fun”  :)

Esther

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to Part 3 of the Weight Loss series. This yoga video is all about working the stomach, abdominal muscles. This is often case a problem area if you want to loose weight, besides that strong abs does a lot for feeling more confident and strong in the world. That in turn will have a positive affect on your sense of discipline to stay with this.

Good luck,

Esther

Yoga for weight loss series:

Part 1 – Visualisation of the series is still in a way the most important exercise, because if your subconscious mind stops believing that you can and will be healthier, stronger and thinner soon, than you can exercise and work out al you want but it won’t happen or stay.

Part 2 – Getting Moving! is also important because it works on getting you to move more, so work on yourself believing it and then go and do the work!

Part 3 Abs and Core This is all about stomach and abs routines which are very effective for strenghtening your core and trimming your tummy…

Part 4 Thighs and Butt This video focuses on burning it off your thighs and butt – and enjoyable yoga routine