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Welcome to the wonderful world of Bohemia. We are the girls that wear fringe, boots, and headscarves. We walk barefoot, we love wholly and we dream big. Check in daily to see what is happening in our world – the fashions we heart, the people who inspire us, the food we love and the fun giveaways we do. We believe in our manifesto and we love our community.
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We caught up with super inspiring Calgary based yoga instructor and foodie, Kate Mak, to chat about all things inspirational. The Wanderlust instructor and oh-so-lovable lady had some great insights on gratitude and living life with intention.
The Art of Happiness
Life within the present moment is always such a beautiful thing (even through tears and even heartbreak sometimes). I know, that there are days when we wake up and we just feel… off.
On those days, I encourage and invite you to quickly list off 5 things that you are grateful for.
The celebration of life, your mini and large successes, the things that made you smile or laugh that day or even the thoughts that reminded you of great memories you have with special people.
They can be really simple things like this…
There is science behind expressing gratitude and it can very positively change your day in increasing your happiness. Gratitude is one of the biggest contributing factors to happiness! You can change the course of your own day by starting this exercise early in the morning on your way to work, school, errands or off to coffee with friends. And if you want to take it one step further… then you reach out to somebody you are grateful for. Send them a text, an email, call them up or even send some good ‘ol fashioned snail mail (people love snail mail). Not only will you change the course of your own day, you’ll change the course of their day too. Being an instrument of positive change is an astounding and really lovely thing.
I love the Create Mala because it’s a reminder to one that the life that you want is created and shaped by nobody else but you! You are in control of your happiness and your destiny.
Get out there.
Smile. Laugh. Eat. Practice. Love.
xxx <3
Kate
Twitter: @katewmak
Instagram: @katewmak
www.katewmak.com
We caught up with Lauren Robertstad to talk about her life in Brooklyn, New York, and how she gets inspiration in her yoga practice and throughout the day. Here’s what this boho New Yorker had to say!
What do you do to inspire your community?
Create. I photograph myself in various asanas against radical backdrops. Each image is typically accompanied by a poem I vibe with that day. At the beginning of the project it was all about just doing it; Now, I’m all about what I create. Through it all, both my photography and asana practice have grown. And inspiring others to be more aware of their being, both their physical being as well as their creative parts, has been a sprightly experience.
What brought you to the mat for the first time?
I’ve been practicing on and off since 2004. It was an on-and-off practice because I was quite bored by it. It wasn’t until a painful experience a year ago that I collapsed onto my mat for relief and comfort. The entire practice healed me from the inside out- and I’ve had a daily practice ever since.
Who and what inspires you?
Strong women inspire me. I’ve yet to meet a woman in NYC whom I haven’t fallen in awe of. As women, we have so much power to change the entire world- immeasurable courage, grace, compassion- I feel very much that we’re mystical forces, created to bring about effective change. Outside of my gender, nature inspires me. Not typical, nature, but everyday, un-altered, reality. I live in Brooklyn, and constantly get transfixed by how the world has worn down a brick wall, or how loose dirt, and sand can bring textural beauty atop a concrete slab. I catch myself staring at the sides of buildings thinking about how I would frame a shot if I could climb upon it and pose-it is all so visually enticing to me.
The great outdoors is my Muse. When I shoot I go on a “Where’s Waldo” hunt for really prolific backdrop; sometimes that’s atop a dead tree on a beach, or on sidewalk in the City; it’s mute-there is beauty everywhere. As cheese-ball as it sounds, you just have to focus your perspective.
How do you set intentions in your life?
My daily intention is to live right now. My life’s intention is to be more fun; not have more fun- but be more fun. It’s impossible to not have fun in any of life’s situations when you are fun.
What advice do you have for all the boho yogis out there!
Do you- well. We’re constantly inundated with not just advertisement, but the ever-chronic social-media narratives telling us what it should look, sound, and feel like to be accepted by society. Ignore that, and do you; and do it well. Find in this life what makes you happy, what makes you feel like you’re floating around like a carefree feather- and do that. And then, do it well!
You can find more of Lauren on Instagram at @rock3roll
Hi, I’m Kate! I’m a 28-year-old fitness nut living in Charm City (aka Baltimore, MD). I love food and working out (oh, and did I mention food?). Until about a year ago, I thought I was a badass. I’ve played sports starting at a young age, going all the way through college and I always loved how strong that made me feel. But, over the past year, I’ve discovered a new type of strength – a more silent power that I unlocked by finding my way onto a yoga mat.
As I mentioned, I’ve always been an athlete. So you’d think that at some point I would have tried yoga…wrong. I was too busy training doing stairs or plyometrics or lifting at the gym (or being a scaredy cat). It took me a long time to finally admit to myself that of all the things the fitness world had to offer, yoga was one of the most intimidating for me. It’s only now that I realize why – when you’re practicing yoga, it’s you and only you. I’ve almost always been part of a team. The idea of opening up, and maybe failing, on my own was daunting. There’s so many pressures in the world to be perfect, particularly for young women. We say we know ‘perfect isn’t a reality’, but that doesn’t stop us from trying to keep up with the proverbial Joneses…
Long story short, someone finally got me to a yoga class. I’m pretty sure my friend tricked me, but either way I’m glad I got there. I immediately loved it. Where I had feared I’d be judged for my lack of knowledge and practice, I was pleasantly surprised with an overwhelming welcome and support. What was I afraid of all this time? Letting go. I had to let go of my fears. Let go of my closemindedness. Let go of the path I was on and give myself the opportunity to look at all the amazing things going on around me.
So I did. And in that letting go, I found strength and the power of intention I never knew I had. I discovered that you can always begin again, even if you fail. It wasn’t a hard on-switch, but more like a sunrise…slowly creeping light in.
So that’s my tale of finding strength in letting go. Letting go of my fears and trying something new. Allowing myself the opportunity to fail and begin again. I’ll leave you with this parting thought: we are ever-evolving and growing on this journey we call life. Right now, we’re just somewhere along the road so if it gets hard or scary, just know that there might be something amazing around the bend.
I hope to see you on the mat. <3
Follow Kate:
We are bohemian beauties who love to sweat, so you can imagine our excitement when we received our brand new NamaSTAY towel to try at hot yoga.
As we arrived to class and put down our mats it was love at first sight when we discovered the little sleeves that attach to the sides of our mats for extra safety and added resistance, #namastayonmymat! The NamaSTAY towel takes the slip out of yoga, so we had more time to focus on intention setting and less on sliding in crow pose. As yogi’s I am sure you can relate that when our bodies are dripping sweat the last thing we want to worry about is adjusting our mat/towel, etc!
When peace, love and yoga are your thing a smooth practice is so important. That’s why we love these grippy towels!
Check out these om-azing towels here:www.namastaytowel.com
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