I fell in love with headstand pretty quickly into our relationship. I had never experienced anything like it, (remember – I have no background in dance or gymnastics) and every time I was in headstand, all was still; all was quiet. I never imagined that being upside could feel so amazing.

It's a classic rite of passage in school - the fitness test in gym class. You may have passed running 2 mi around the track and folding forward to touch your toes, but right after the rope climb comes the king - the pull-up bar. This fiend takes no prisoners. Only the fittest of the fit, not even the cool kids, were able to conquer that beast. Well, now that you're grown, it's time to face that demon and get to be friends.

Let's be honest, no one is 100% motivated and into their workouts everyday. In today's society with social media at the forefront and the hashtag #fitfam trending at 9.7M on instagram it is so easy to look at these people and think how to they do it?  How do they stay motivated, crush workouts everyday and have 6 pack abs after eating a cupcake? Well in reality, most people posting on instagram and creating blogs such as this one take about 50 pictures of themselves to find the PERFECT one to post.  They try different angles, filters, times of day, etc all to get that one great shot to be able to tag as #fitspo. It becomes so easy to begin to compare yourself to this perfection. I guarantee if you flexed in the mirror for 5 minutes straight after doing 5 push ups you will be able to find the "swole" in your muscles, but this still doesn't stop us from comparing ourselves to the the facade of perfection.  The evil inside our heads is continuing to be our biggest critic.

Plenty of our winter rituals connect us with fire as our bodies seek to find balance between extremes. Hot drinks (cocoa, mulled wine), fireplaces, and festive lights, just to name a few. Fire doesn’t have to be a winter-only therapy; it’s something that can heal year-round.

If you’re feeling groggy, low-energy, and unmotivated, we have a few fire therapies to rev you up.

Downward facing dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana) is a staple in most yoga classes, and watching people use it as a resting pose can be intimidating for new students who still find it challenging. With a consistent practice, downward dog will become a staple in your yoga flow and a comfortable place to rest. However, it will only benefit you more if you know how to properly find your downward facing dog. Below are step-by-step instructions on how to enter the pose and find proper alignment.

It’s hot. And sweaty. People scoot from air conditioned bubble to bubble, or fan to fan. It’s around this time in the summer when the only thing you can do is rest and relax.
If the heat’s set you to boil instead of simmer, we’ve got a few ideas on how natural Water Therapy might cool your jets.

You may have heard about spa-grade water therapy: high pressure water jets get positioned to blast at tight muscles in the arms, legs, or torso, or you go from a hot, dry sauna into a pool of near freezing water, or simply soak in a pool of warm mineral water. It runs the range from intense to soothing, but is all created with healing in mind. It can be tough or expensive to get to a professional grade water spa, but there are easy ways to recreate the best parts of the spa right at home.

For most of us, just hearing the sound of water is enough to send us into a therapeutic nap. iTunes Radio, Spotify, and even YouTube have plenty of options to choose from: gentle river, tropical rainstorm, or best of all - the ocean. You’ll be amazed at how much easier it is to work and relax at the same time when you’ve got the best part of the beach flowing our of your speakers.

Drinking tea or fruit-infused water is also a form of water therapy. Taking time to appreciate the color of the drink, the temperature, how it feels in your mouth as you drink, and how it tastes are all part of the experience. Similar to recognizing all the great qualities of a good wine, tea drinking offers many of the same benefits with less of a headache the next morning.

The most immersive and all-around best and most accessible water therapy is one many people do every year - visiting a big body of water. Taking time to soak in the water, take in the fresh air, and enjoy just enough sun on your skin has amazing benefits for the body that nearly nothing else can emulate. Even Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, was on board with his version - thalassotherapy, or sea-therapy. At home, this can be a simple sea-salt or essential oil infused bath (for your body or even just your feet).

Although, if it’s a day like today outside, the quickest way to heal yourself with water is to put on your swimsuit and go dance in the rain. Seriously.

We all know the quickest way to beat the heat isn’t always the most practical. There are plenty of ways to cool down without cracking open that fire hydrant, paying to see that summer blockbuster just to get in the a/c, or loitering in the frozen foods section.

If you've gotta be active in winter to get warm, you've got to be passive in summer to keep cool.

If you’re an outside-in kinda person, you’ve got options. Ayurveda, the Indian science of the body, has plenty of recommendations.  Sugary-sweet foods are best for summer. Melons, sweet fruits, cucumber, and mint are all very cooling. Not only are they great for eating, they can also be dropped in a pitcher of water to “infuse” their vitamins and nutrients. It’s a perfect thing to come home to after a hot commute from work. You could also do as the ancients did and get subterranean. It’s always cooler below the surface than it is on top. Coating yourself in earth — a mud bath, burying yourself in the sand — will cool you off, for sure. At home, that can mean a mud bath for your face or sand play therapy (it’s a Jung thing, check it out).

For you inside-outers, you’re got just one bet- yoga cooling breath. Called sitali (with your tongue curled like an enchilada) or sitikari (lips pursed like duck-face selfies), you breathe in through your mouth and out through your nose. It’s the same action as trying to cool off that premature bite of pizza while it burns off your taste buds. Do that for 2-5 minutes, and I bet you'll find your hot head has mellowed out.

While on my journey abstaining from processed sugar, my favorite summer treat has been frozen grapes. It’s almost like a popsicle, but after not having super-sugar filled things, fruit tastes even sweeter than it used to.

What’s your favorite way to beat the heat?

Growing up in a high-rise luxury building meant that I couldn’t have a dog. Being that my parents were not cat lovers and happened to also be turned off to rodents, my choices for a pet were quite limited.

Yoga photos are not just fun for social media purposes; they are actually a great way to track progress and find alignment without relying on a mirror. When practicing yoga, it is important to feel the pose and engage through all necessary muscle groups. However, sometimes this can be tough if you can’t see yourself and notice subtle alignment changes.