i2P encourages youth to reach beyond their perceived limits by using adventure as a medium to Educate, Inspire and Empower our global community to make positive change in the world. Wow, what a great initiative to support and I am so grateful to share the stage with Ray Zahab of i2P, the gang from Solefit Orthotics, John Zahab and Marshall Ulrich.

My topic is “Yoga and Pure Foods – strategies for short-term results and longevity in your sport.” Discover the how incorporating plant-based diet strategies and simple yoga techniques can result in shortened recovery time, reduced injury and increased energy, benefiting both short-term performance and longevity in your sport.

You can sign up by clicking here.

Hope to see you there, get ready to be inspired!

For anyone who has been around me for even a few hours you know my passion for inspiring and teaching people to be able to live life to the fullest through Yoga, Pure Food Nutrition and through the joy of running.

I want to thank Krista one of our amazing teachers, who lives her passion, for sharing this video. It is everything Elation Centre boldly and bravely believes and teaches our students and I am so unbelievably happy to share this with you.

Take a few minutes to watch this video, and then be Bold, be Brave and Believe in yourself.

Elation Centre Book Club

Date: Friday May 25th 7:30-9:00 PM

Bring a book you love related to yoga, health, spirituality or lifestyle. Share your choice and feelings about the book at Book Club

From our sharing, we will create a list of enlightening summer reading and post it on the Elation Centre Blog

Discussion, sharing and snacks in a supportive community. Please join us on Friday May 25

On  April 20 or 21, you will have the opportunity to attend a fun and informative one hour financial health and wellness seminar with Carlos and his partner Mark McCooeye, both are well-versed in today’s economy and have a knack for taking the ‘dry edge’ out of financial information.

Carlos and Mark are also providing wine, vegan snacks, and draw prizes for Elation Centre gift certificates at whichever seminar you decided to attend. Come for some free info, to share wine, tea, and community and maybe win your next class pass!

At the end of every email Donna sends these days is the saying by Swami Satchidananda “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn how to surf”.

Financial issues and the events that happen in life are the like waves and if you don’t know how to surf they can hit you pretty hard.
Please join Mark McCooeye, and myself,  advisers with Investors Group Financial Services Inc., as we present an informative session to talk about how to:

- Manage your cash flow effectively to increase savings and pay down debt quicker;
- Earn a reasonable rate of return with the least amount of risk; and
- Protect your financial plan and your estate.

Two session times will be offered at Elation Centre,
Friday, April 20th  7:30 p.m. –  8:30 p.m.
or
Saturday, April 21st  12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Whether you are feeling like the waves are hitting you hard these days or you’d just like to check-in to see how you are doing, the seminars will give you a more complete understanding of what financial health is and the options available to you to get on the fast track.

The sessions are free of charge. Wine and vegan snacks will be served and we will raffle off your choice of a one month Elation Centre yoga pass or a $50.00 gift certificate towards any Elation Centre program.

Deadline to register: Please sign up by Monday April 16
contact: Cristina at 613-591-7639 Ext 261 or email CarlosRiosAssistant@investorsgroup.com.

To learn more about the seminar, feel free to contact Carlos at 613-796-9241.

Carlos Rios, MSM, B.Bus.Adm. Consultant and Mark McCooeye, CMA, MBA, CFP, Executive Financial Consultant,  Investors Group Financial Services Inc.

The email was from the No-Meat Athlete and it was all about inspiration for predawn running, some of the points and all of the enthusiasm pertain perfectly to getting up at dawn to practice Yoga.

The article starts out by saying, “If you’ve got the flexibility to run any time of day you want, with no other commitments to worry about, you can safely stop reading. Still here? I thought so.”

Are you still here? Ok let’s carry on.

According to this Forbes online article “Early rising also means a built-in block of exercise time, which pays dividends in the boardroom. Besides fitness, regular exercise boosts mood, focus and energy levels. When asked about her before-dawn gym habits, Avon’s CEO Andrea Jung told The Sunday Times: “I try to be disciplined. If I don’t do it early, it falls off the schedule.”

The article continues to say “Perhaps ironically, getting up earlier also creates healthier sleep patterns. According to psychiatrist Tracey Marks, author of Master Your Sleep, going to sleep early and waking early—while getting the suggested seven to nine hours—syncs the body clock with the earth’s natural circadian rhythms, which is more restorative than trying to sleep while the sun’s up. And if you’re getting out of bed to exercise, that’s even better for sleep. Marks says physical activity helps create “efficient sleep” that is deeper and uninterrupted.”

 Inner Peace

There is an amazing inner peace and calm, getting up when all is quiet. You’ll find less to disrupt your flow and rhythm early in the day, according to yogic tradition the perfect time to practice is when the sun is rising, you are connecting to your bodies inherent rhythms creating a balanced energy for the day ahead

5:45am, 7:00am – REALLY!?

Ok here are some tips to get you up and ready – I’ve been doing it for over 6 years, 3-5 times per week, these work!

Lay out all your workout clothes the night before.

Have it ready to go so you don’t need to hunt through a dark room in a semi-awake state.

Prepare the night before.

Get lunches packed, kids’ stuff ready for school, your clothes ready for work. Doing these things the night before means you won’t be thinking about them during yoga, and rushing when you get home.

Get to Bed!

It’s only reasonable that staying up until midnight does not encourage you to get up at 5am. Set new habits getting to bed 15-30 minutes earlier each night until you hit 10pm. Shut off the TV, shut off the email, turn off the lights and go to sleep.

Food and Drink

Limit how much you eat and drink 2 hours before going to bed so you are not energized by your digestive system; and yes avoid alcohol before bed, it may help you fall asleep but it mixes up your sleep rhythms, you’ll be awake at 3am worrying about having to get up in 2 hours, defiantly not worth that glass of vino!

Keep your bedroom clock set 10 minutes fast. (this is from the No-Meat Athlete)

Yes, you’ll know it’s a trick. But early in the morning, you just might convince yourself that you slept longer than you did. Plus you get a little buffer on that super-precise estimate you just made on how long your morning routine will take – you’ll appreciate this occasionally.

Don’t let the snooze button become a tool of your resistance. (This is from the No-Meat Athlete too)

There are several ways to beat the snooze button.

You can put the alarm out of reach so you have to get out of bed to turn it off. You can set the alarm loud so as to jar yourself awake (and, if you have a sleeping partner, no doubt they won’t want to hear that alarm a second time). Or, you can just be so motivated that the snooze button is never a temptation.

Excuses are taken care of you know you need to do it, join us and feel amazing! Here is the link to register

Last week we took Joe from Boom 99.7 on a shopping trip to our local Superstore to get ready. Check out our video with fun shopping tips for what to add to your shopping cart and what to leave out.

Invest in You for a Change

With a constant bombardment of new fitness, health and weight loss information constantly coming on the market, what do you choose and where do you start?

The good news is you’re come to the right place. I’m Donna Davis, owner and CEO (Chief Empowerment Officer) of Elation Centre, and, one of my passions in life is to dig through all the information and find out what is relevant – what really works!

This program delivers results

I desire to live a life full of energy, to stay fit, trim and lean, to fuel my body and mind to prevent disease and live life to it’s fullest – all in the most efficient and effective way possible!

Sunrise Yoga Boot Camp combines all the elements that work for me; drawing on the extremely popular and successful Powerful Woman Boot Camp I created over 6 years ago,  I am so happy to offer you this new and cutting edge program, open to both men and women.

With over a decade of experience as a fitness, health and wellness coach, and the benefit of having trained with some of the top Yoga, Fitness and Nutrition experts in the industry – my creation of Sunrise Yoga Boot Camp offers you the beauty and perfection of the ancient practice of Yoga with cutting edge physiology exercises resulting in outstanding results and in a brand New You!

Sunrise Yoga Boot Camp is our signature Elation Vinyasa Yoga flow class, which builds endurance and burns fat, combined with postures proven to both build lean and toned muscles, and move deep in to muscle tissue to release tension and prevent injury. You receive the benefits of strength training without the gym setting and the mind body calming benefits of yoga, all in one program.

Exercise is just part of the plan

Research has shown the up to 80% of the results you are looking for from your fitness routine – weight loss, toning, fat burning, disease prevention, are a result of what you eat! A diet high in fibre, one that eliminates unhealthy cholesterol, one that is high in anti-oxidants and micro nutrients and of course one that fits a busy lifestyle, is one that works.

Our Sunrise Yoga Boot Camp program combines our cutting edge mind-body fitness program with the most up-to-date information on diet and nutrition to fuel you, promote lean muscle and fat-burning and create long-term health and prevention.

A comprehensive program

We give you the tools, tips, motivation and guidance to guarantee you succeed. You don’t have to go anywhere else.

This is a new movement in health, fitness, and well-being.

Our members constantly tell us that Elation Centre is more than just Yoga, we are a community where you can feel at home, supported and inspired. Join us on the leading edge of health and wellness, and become a leader in your own health movement, one that you can spread to your peers and family, educating, empowering and enriching lives, and living with energy and passion!

For more details on the Sunrise Yoga Boot Camp, click here.

Thanks Holstee you have inspired us to write our own Manifesto!

For all the amazing women  in our lives, here is a recipe designed to prevent disease, and build optimal health.

It’s packed with calcium, omega 3 fatty acids and powerful woman sulphur-containing amino acids (the building blocks of protein).

Dr Joanna Budwig, who pioneered studies on fats and oils in the early 1950′s, found that the combination of flaxseed with sulphur-containing protein, prevented or helped to heal cancer. When sulphur-containing protein and Omega 3 oils are taken together there is increased oxygen uptake in tissues. In order to prevent or reverse cancer we need to increase tissue oxygenation.

Cancer prevention in a smoothie, I’m in!

In this power-packed smoothie the Omega 3 comes from flax, and almonds, tahini, fortified rice or almond milk and kale are all high in calcium and sulphur-containing amino acids.

Tie on your Powerful Woman cape and drink up!

Powerful Woman, Calcium-Filled Smoothie

• 2 tbsp raw almond butter
• 1 Tbsp. each of ground flax seeds and tahini
• 1 large organic banana, (frozen makes the smoothie creamier)
• 1/2 cup, or more to taste, diced mango (frozen is great)
• 1 handful of chopped Kale
• Fortified rice milk or almond milk, (add enough to be able to blend all ingredients)
• 1 pure maple syrup (optional)

Blend everything together until smooth.

On Sunday I  whipped up a delicious batch of banana pancakes, I had done a long run the day before and still was feeling the need to refuel, so my usual green smoothie was out and pancakes were in.

I also realized that we were approaching shrove Tuesday, and according to Wikipedia, pancakes are associated with the day preceding Lent because they were a way to use up rich foodstuffs such as eggs, milk, and sugar, before the fasting season of the 40 days of Lent. The liturgical fasting emphasized eating plainer foods. In many cultures, this means no meat, dairy, or eggs

Our pancakes were a good kick start to Lent, because of course they already had a healthy twist, made with whole wheat flour, almond milk, flax, and of course bananas.We topped them with lots of diced berries and a drizzle of pure maple syrup – Divine.

If you observe Lent you have a wonderful opportunity to fuel your blessed body with Pure Food for the next 40 days, check out all our rockin’ vegan recipes and experience the amazing connection between clean food and a clear mind, get started with our recipe below!

Blissful Banana Pancakes – makes 6-8 pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat or spelt flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp sea salt
• 1 cup non-dairy milk, such as almond milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp ground flax mixed with 3 tbsp water
• 1 medium sized ripe banana, sliced thin

Directions

In a large bowl combine the flour and baking powder, add the cinnamon and salt and stir to combine. In a small bowl, combine the non-dairy milk, vanilla and flax-water mixture and stir through. Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir through until just well combined, if it seems a bit thick add a tbsp more non-dairy milk. Stir in the banana slices

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat for a few minutes and then reduce to low. Scoop the batter into the skillet to form pancakes and let cook for a few minutes until small bubbles start to form on the outer edge of the pancakes and then the center. Flip and cook on the other side for a few minutes.

Top with fresh sliced fruit and pure maple syrup.