Tommy Rosen is a yoga teacher and addiction recovery expert who has spent the last two decades immersed in yoga, recovery and wellness. He holds advanced certifications in both Hatha and Kundalini Yoga and has 20 years of recovery from acute drug addiction. Tommy is one of the pioneers in the burgeoning field of Yoga and Recovery assisting others to holistically transcend addictions of all kinds.
Elena Brower
Founder/Co-owner
Mama, founder and co-owner of VIRAYOGA, and co-author of Art of Attention, Elena has taught yoga for 16+ years. After graduating from Cornell University in 1992 with a design degree, she worked as a textile and apparel designer for 6 years, and has studied with master yoga teachers for over 10 years. Through her teaching, influenced by several traditions including alignment-based Hatha and Kundalini yoga, Elena offers yoga as a way to approach our world with realistic reverence and gratitude. Her classes are a masterful, candid blend of artful alignment and attention cues for your body, mind and heart.
From the Museum of Modern Art to the Great Lawn at Central Park, from the playa at Burning Man to the Eiffel Tower, Elena is honoured to offer larger-scale experiences of yoga, but her true service is in shifting awareness within the smallest interactions; one family, one household at a time. As a coach with the Handel Group, she coaches individuals and teaches courses, and she’s been featured in the New York Times, Yoga Journal, Element Yoga for Beginners DVDs, ABC News and NBC News. Dozens of yoga practices with Elena can be found on Yogaglo.
As the Executive Producer of On Meditation, she is curating a project about the relevance of meditation and its benefits. The first limited-edition printing of her first book, Art of Attention, co-authored with Erica Jago, was released in December 2012 and sold out within a few weeks; Art of Attention’s second edition was released in March 2013.
Along with her own writings, Elena contributes to Yoga Journal, Yoga International, Huffington Post, CrazySexyLife, Positively Positive, The Chalkboard Mag, TheDailyLove, and Elephant Journal, and is an original board member of YogaEarth. Elena is also a Beauty Ecologist with Pangea Organics, part of the movement to bring organic, all-natural beauty care products to millions of households worldwide.
An international yoga teacher, author and health & wellness expert Tiffany travels the globe inspiring people to live their lives to the fullest. Tiffany is known for her lighthearted attention to detail and passionate dedication to the practice. With her training in Acupuncture & Sports Medicine her yoga classes are guided by a strong anatomic focus intermingled with her characteristic playfulness using movement as medicine.
Xinalani® is a one-of-a-kind Retreat Center bringing together the best yoga facilities, beautiful eco-chic accommodation, delicious healthy food and supporting staff to make your dream retreat come true, all set on a wide pristine beach and a jungle of breathtaking natural beauty. Xinalani means “seeds” in pre-hispanic language.
Xinalani Retreat® is about discovery, admiration, love for yoga, nature, magic, conscious travel, eco-adventure, wellness, serenity and mindful living. We aim to reveal the beauty of an unknown Mexico and share with our guests eye-opening vacations that inspire transformation.
We are an Eco Resort. We attempt to minimize our environmental impact. All guest accommodations have low consumption lights (LEDs) and are equipped with two outlets to reload cell phones and camera batteries. Our construction method was extremely organic: no concrete, no land modification, very little footprint. All guests are provided with high-end eco-friendly soaps and shampoo. Toilets are low-flow, and all water is recycled and used to irrigate our gardens. We use natural and biodegradable cleaning products, we recycle, and compost wherever possible.
Xinalani® “Inspiration Universe” is about:
RIDING the panga (traditional fisherman boat) away from civilization, surrounded by humpback whales, dolphins and sea tur tles.
FLOWING your Surya Namaskaras overlooking the quiet blue green waters of the Pacific Ocean.
SURFING your front yard wave after an energetic breakfast.
RELISHING a freshly cut open coconut on our beach front dining patio.
ENJOYING delighful Savasanas under a palm-thatched roof, with the ocean & jungle natural soundtrack.
BASKING in the sun on our secluded sandy beach.
MEDITATING under the moonlight surrounded by friends, after a delicious candlelight dinner.
SLEEPING in amazing open-air suites, protected by a gorgeous silky-white netting, with the sound of the waves to inspire your dreams.
We invite you to join us for an unforgettable experience: time at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, one of the country’s premier retreat centers. Tucked in the heart of the Montana Rockies and surrounded by miles of forested mountains, it is a vibrant and peaceful oasis to which our guests return eagerly year after year – inevitably leaving the Ranch feeling recharged and relaxed – and counting the days until they can again return.
For 38 years, the Ranch has been home to yoga and meditation retreats and a host of other personal growth programs that help us experience our wholeness and remember our intimate connection to all of life. Many of today’s foremost voices on yoga, meditation, wellness and health have come through our doors at one time or another, with many of them getting their start as a student through our scholarship fund. Joseph Campbell, Dr. Andrew Weil, Lilias Folan, Angela Farmer, Rodney Yee, Patricia Walden, Erich Schiffmann, Judith Hanson Lasater, Seane Corn, and world-renowned Native American flutists, R. Carlos Nakai – to name only a few – are honored alumni of the Feathered Pipe.
The Ranch is nestled amidst almost a million acres of national forestland and offers an ideal setting for true retreat experience, allowing the space within and without to experience the essence of one’s self and nature. Visitors can wander alone exploring ambling brooks fed by pure mountain springs and discover open vistas to view the world below and the Big Sky above. Ranch retreat visitors can just as easily find community with others, sitting on the open lawn in the shade of cottonwood trees, quaking aspens, and fragrant pine with an exquisite view out over the lake with Lake Tipi and mountain woodlands reflected. Horseback riding is available for those wishing to view the world from a truly Montanan point of view.
From eastern medicine, to herbal remedies, to highly-qualified medical practitioners, we at The Life Site believe in wellness which focuses on preventive care in addition to treatment. The Life Site is proud to present a cross section of providers and resources for consumers to become educated about basic health and healing principles, and to take whatever next steps are appropriate for them.
In a world beset by change, stress, obesity and degenerative disease epidemics, holistic health, and its many tributaries have become a welcome respite for millions around the world. Eastern medicine, diet, exercise, healers, herbal remedies and stress management have changed, enriched and prolonged lives, created entire industries, and given hope for many who had been displaced, neglected or mistreated by traditional medicine. Vibrant, living wholesome and non-GMO nutritional foods rather than refined, processed sugary and chemically-laced fare optimizes health and well being. While traditional, western medicine is vitally important, and provides invaluable diagnostic and critical care protocols, its reliance on pharmaceuticals and invasive procedures treating symptoms rather than causes of diseases has seen its day.
Whole Universe is proud to present a cross-section of resources for consumers to become educated about basic health and healing principles, and to take whatever next steps are appropriate for them.
The Ten – Lifestyle Choices to Shift the Aging Process
Author: Dr. Jeanette Ryan
In our complex and sometimes sly modern world, ordinary experiences can put us at greater risk for unhealthy aging and disease. Simple lifestyle choices can significantly tilt the odds in your favor for a vibrantly healthy, active journey into the Golden Years. Here’s some of my faves:
1. Forego the convenience of plastic. From take out food to gourmet hot drinks to prepared food in packages, we are constantly exposed to plastic. My favorite? Those K-cups! Pressing boiling water through a plastic cup, and then drinking it in a disposable hot cup is a direct double infusion of BPA or Bis-Phenyl A, a potent endocrine disruptor that contributes to obesity, prostate cancer and feminization in men, estrogen toxicity and estrogen based cancers in women. That goes for Styrofoam too.
2. Go for the small inconvenience of constantly using your own ceramic hot cup (if you hand it over when you order your drink, you usually get a 10 cent discount along with the benefit of lowering your BPA load), glass water bottles (I love these by Life Factory http://www.lifefactory.com), and always take prepared food out of the packaging to heat in in your own non-reactive cookware.
3. Forego the unnecessary radiation of CT scans…for just about every test, there is an MRI version of a similar test. And while a mammogram is not a CT scan, it is still quite a dose of radiation. Other safer breast scans: thermography and SonoCine, an ultrasound scan. There is one low dose radiation CT Scan worth doing: the Virtual Colonoscopy has numerous benefits over the Optical Colonoscopy. And for ambient radiation, optimize your iodine levels to protect the thyroid, the gland most vulnerable to radiation. First confirm you do not have hidden auto-immunity against your thyroid with a simple blood test: ATGA, ATPO.
4. Harness the powerful efficiency of Burst Exercise….
5. Forego the late night munchies. Staying up past your point of tired usually kicks in the craving for sweets and quick energy like chocolate and starches. This in turn fires up your stress hormones and makes it far less likely you’ll sleep restoratively thereby accelerating aging, and contributes to stubborn weight gain.
6. Go for lights out by 10pm…the benefits
7. Forego caffeine abuse and use it smartly instead. So many of us are overstressed and under rested and have coffee the first thing on empty. After fasting all night, this necessarily puts the body into a blood sugar rollercoaster, contributing to weight gain, pre-diabetes, mood swings, and high carb binges at the afternoon slump, also caused in part by AM coffee on empty. Instead, go for smart use of tea or coffee: have it with a meal, preferably lunch. Better yet, use caffeine only when needed, not as a daily habit.
8. Forgo technology damage…MRI studies have shown that holding a cell phone to your head for a 10 minute conversation increases inflammation of the brain. If Alzheimer’s or Dementia are diseases you’d like to forego, make sure you always use an earbud, car Bluetooth (not the ear piece) or speakerphone. Or better yet, talk on your corded landline (cordless also emit EMFs). When reading or gaming on a wifi enabled device, put it on Airplane Mode. Plug your computer into cabled Ethernet.
9. Go for adequate protein at breakfast and lunch. By adequate, I mean 25g at each meal for women and 35g at each meal for men as a rough guideline. (Yes, that’s 50 and 70 total, respectively). The protein must be lean and clean and for those over 35, one of the meals should probably be an organic vegan protein powder in a smoothie, such as rice, pea, hemp or pumpkin seed. Eating protein this way is excellent for stabilizing blood sugar, adding stamina and ditching the afternoon slump (another dangerous time for carb loading), and keeping you lean and energized.
10. Go for body and skincare products labeled with the word “Organic.” Could it be that one of the reasons women have 4x the incidence of cancer over men is linked to the fact that on average, a woman puts 76 chemicals from 7 different beauty products on her skin before she leaves the house each day?
Go for something that nurtures your spirit on a daily basis…meditation, prayer, journaling, dance, exercise, making….art. Live all of your life as if it is Sacred…because it IS.
Peace and Blessings, Dr. Ryan