I set out to create a representations of the top spiritual sites for yoga, spirituality, meditation, holistic health and wellness. Over these subjects overlap and so many of the yoga sites I reviewed had all kinds of great content about health and wellness. Many of the sites were promoting teachers, products or places that I had a personal connection or experience with. I included many yoga teachers, studios or retreat centers that I had been to.
Top Spiritual Websites
Some of them of them were aspirational. I have never been to Rancho La Puerta in Mexico right near San Diego but since I used to work at SpaFinder and my parents have been there a few times, I feel pretty well acquainted with what they have to offer and the value they provide. When I used to work at SpaFinder, almost every single day I would come across a destination spa somewhere in the world that I just absolutely “had to go to”. I looked at so many pics and videos of the most luxurious properties and was just drooling all the time over these incredible sanctuaries of luxury and beauty.
Of course, I had to include places like Kripalu in Western MA in the Berkshires since that is where me and my hunky, Hellenic hubby saw our friendship blossom into romance and we met at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY in the Hudson Valley just outside of New York City almost 4 years ago. Even if these places didn’t play such a pivotal role in my own personal life history, I think they would have been included anyway since they both offer so many outstanding spiritual and personal growth seminars and workshops in idyllic locations.
Spiritual Sites for Mind-Body-Spirit, Yoga and Holistic Health
This top 100 spiritual sites listto be a great gateway into the holistic world of wellness and well-being, with lots of juicy yoga-centric links since I’m a yoga teacher. We, Yogis need special clothes, training, props, mats, music and equipment so I included some of my favorite sites to buy all things yogic-ally.
If you have been involved with the yoga community for a while you will recognize some of the sites on here and likely find a myriad of awesome resources. I encourage suggestions for other top spiritual websites that can be included in next year’s list. Some of the sites are just loaded with all kinds of free tips, articles, downloads and videos. Like yogadownload.com where you can get your down-dog on at home (or out and about on your mobile phone). I had to include Yogajournal.com but recommended the little know community section which is like YogaJournal’s own little Facebook where you can post pics, videos, blogs and comment on other members content.
While we all value directness and constructive criticism, please be professional and refrain from disparaging comments… no trashing anyone on this list or that will disqualify you from being considered for next year.
Ideally, you would nominate another company but I do accept self-nominations. I reached out to the webmasters
of most of the sites and if something is in quotes, then it is in their words and not mine. So this is my list of the top Spirit Mind Body Websites. I also include resources for yoga DVDs, books, clothing, retreats.
Best Yoga Videos – Jill Miller Yoga Tune-Up Reviews
Jill Miller Yoga Tune-Up Videos have made such a big difference for me lately. I think I found I found her while reading the latest issue of Yoga Journal magazine. Since I have been having bad knee pain for awhile and it seems like it was getting worse and worse. I teach about 5 -10 yoga classes a week. Most of them are gentle classes and I also teach a lot of couples yoga and partner yoga classes in Manayunk. I don’t teach a lot of vigorous yoga these days even though I was trained in that. I didn’t even do that many standing poses since I tend to teach a lot of poses where you are seated, laying down or even in a chair.
I did not get a lot of strong anatomy training in my yoga teacher training even though I kept asking for it all the time. I wanted to make sure first and foremost that I did no harm to my students and really didn’t know how to work with students that had a lot of injuries, pain, prior surgeries etc. I have been teaching more and more classes these last few years and my knees seemed to get progressively more painful. I saw a myriad of health practitioners from traditional allopathic doctors that gave me some quad strengthening exercises ( helped a bit) to the omre alternative healers who would invoke angels to heal me, wave crystals on me.. whatever it took. I didn’t care what method it was…. just wanted to feel better.
I would often wake up in the morning with my knees on fire… actually it was worse than that… my knee pain was so intense in the morning that the pain actually woke me up. Not a pleasant way to wake up. I don’t know why but it was always the worst in the morning.. ( can anyone explain that) I would often ice my knees… or they just throbbed so bad that my hottie, hunky hellenic hubbie would fetch me some ice so I could cool my knees down first thing in the morning.
I found her videos a few months ago and they have been a a gift from some higher power… I literally would pray to god to help me with the throbbing.
Best Yoga Videos – Jill Miller Yoga Tune-Up Reviews
I started to do the exercises in her videos every day….it took a while to do all the movements she recommended. Most of them involved massaging certain parts from your hip all the way to the bottom of your toes. These muscles can get dry and tight and when the muscles that affect how your knee tracks are dry, tight and out of whack, then that can affect how your knees track. So I went ahead and bought her special yoga therapy balls. At first I was just using tennis balls but wanted to really do the massaging and exercises properly so I broke down and just ordered her special Jill Miller Yoga Tune Up therapy balls. They’re kind of fun to play with, just don’t let your dog near them… they make for a nice chew toy.
Over the last few months I have also been studying how to do some of the classic standing poses so I can stop injuring myself. So slowly, I have been learning to keep my knees smiling and now there is less repair I have to do on them.
The poses, sequences and routines of Jill Miller Yoga Tune Up Program are designed to strengthen your weak muscles, stretch your tight and dry muscles and heal from head-to- pinkie toe. She has a focus on finding your body’s blind spots – areas that have become weakened due to overuse, underuse or misuse, and are now prone to stiffness, inflexiblity, pain and injury – these specialized routines will help balance out your entire physical being.
What kind of modalities have helped you find relief from tightness, chronic pain and stiffness?
Yoga was originally a system that was just designed to help you achieve self-actualization that was developed in India thousands of years ago. It was really just a seated meditation practice and the poses were designed later to help people feel more comfortable to be in the seated meditation poses longer. It was originally just men that taught and did yoga.
When yoga started to become popular in the west it ended up evolving into a hip, popular exercise system that made you feel so tranquil and compassionate and oh, by the way, your abs now look like Taylor Lautner. There are so many different kinds of yoga and it ranges from restorative poses where you can fall asleep in them because they are so passive and you are using a bunch of props like blocks, bolsters and blankets to have your body release tightness and tension to the uber-intense Bikram where you feel like you are being punished for killing people in your past life by being locked in a 104 degree room with a bunch of stinky people while you all contort your bodies into unfathomable shapes.
Depending on what kind of yoga you do, you can lose weight with your yoga loss weight practice. You will probably end up doing a bunch of sun salutations which consist of classic poses designed to heat your core up, make you limber and get your heart pumped up. Some of the poses in English are called, up-dog, down dog, warrior with variations such as Warrior 1, 2, and 3. Also there is chaturanga, which is a like a push-up and then you lower your chaturanga, which is basically a lowered push up and then later you will probably end up doing poses like side angle, lunge and it’s cousin high lunge and triangle. Most vinyasa and even hatha yoga classes consist of a a series of sun salutations where you just do these poses for about 30 minutes and then the last part of your class you might venture into some poses that are new for you. If my knees were not so cranky these days I would probably be going to other teacher’s classes or just doing more of these at home. Unfortunately, knees don’t like lunges and squats and there tend to be a lot of these in most yoga loss weight classes.
If you want to do yoga weight loss system at home, I recommend buying a few power yoga DVDs and also buying Charry Morris’ Yoga for Weight Loss book. She actually has a free guide that explains how yoga helps you lose weight by altering your metabolism and changing your perspective on food ( and your life in general) This is not a quick fix or take a few pills and just magically lose weight. It will require commitment, dedication, accountability and your attention and perserverance for you to really lose weight with yoga.
What weight loss programs have worked or didn’t work well for you?
Here is my list….my completely subjective list of the top 100 Mind-Body-Spirit Sites. How did I come up with this list? Many of the teachers, products or retreat centers I have personal experience with. They have shaped my yoga journey and other parts of my non-yoga life. I have taken many of their classes or workshops or bought their DVDs and have practiced to it dozens of times. A few are sites that I regularly read their posts. Some are because the website or author has written an influential book in this realm. Admittedly, some of the sites might be weak on content, functionality or navigation but the site is just an intro to a great holistic resource. A few are places that I write guest blogs for.
Some of them happened to be special because of the key role they played in certain parts of my life. I met my husband at Omega, our romance blossomed at Kripalu and we had our wedding ceremony in a Mexican Cenote (limestone water cavern) with a Mayan Shaman.
I can’t imagine not having music during my yoga practice so there are a few yoga music sites on here as well and I bought many of the musician’s CDs or have been to their concerts. Authenticity and having personal experience with the practitioner, product or institution was part of the criteria for making this list. In a way, it is an “Appreciation” list
I wanted to include a few government sites since those often have all kinds of great research and clinical trials on there. My vision is for this list to be a great gateway into the holistic world, with a strong emphasis on yoga since I’m a yoga teacher. Yogis need special clothes, props, mats, spaces, music and equipment so I wanted to include some of my favorite places to buy all things yogic. If you have been involved with the holistic community for a while you will recognize some of the sites on here and likely find dozens of great resources here
I welcome suggestions for other sites that can be included in next year’s list. While we all value directness and constructive criticism, please be professional and refrain from disparaging comments… no trashing anyone on this list or that will disqualify you from being considered for next year. Ideally, you would nominate another company but I do accept self-nominations. I reached out to the webmasters of most of the sites and if something is in quotes, then it is in their words and not mine.
If you live in Philly or San Diego, then invite me over for a class or workshop so I can maybe include you in next year’s list or blog about it in an upcoming blog. If you have products that you want me to review let me know and I will send you a mailing address in a separate email (press at synergybyjasmine.com) with “Product Review Request” in the subject.
Visit Top 100 Mind-Body-Spirit Websites for the list
