Three Ingredients Only!!! 
 

I'm so amazed with this discovery that I need to share it with you! Chickpea water that turns into foam as if it was whipped eggs white? No way! Yes, it's real! I've done it and shared this my students on my past retreat! They tasted this goodness and so you can! 

INGREDIENTS

1can of chickpeas (you will need only the water which is about 1cup)

200gr of good quality vegan chocolate

4tbsp caster sugar

MAKE

Melt your chocolate in a bowl placed over a pan of simmering water.

While the chocolate is melting, prepare the next step.

Mix the liquid of your chickpeas with an electric whisk. Make sure the bowl and the whisk are very well cleaned and oil free. 

When the water starts becoming like foam, starting adding the sugar progressively.

Whisk until the point where you flip the bowl and the mixture wouldn’t fall out.

Gently fold in the chocolate with a spatula,...

"The Practice of Yin is a Practice of Stillness. When the body is still, magical perspectives can arise from a physical, emotional and belief system paradigm."

Most people nowadays are constantly on the go, on "alert" mode, living a busy life where it's challenging to slow down. That might reflect in difficulties to calm the mind at the end of the day, to switch off and to fall asleep. If that's you, here are 3 Yin Yoga postures and a magic Acupressure point that can help you calm down the nervous system and prepare you for a good night of rest.

01. Caterpillar

Sit with the legs extended in front of you and allow your upper body to round, folding forward, keeping the head and arms heavy, shoulders and neck relaxed. I like to bring the thumbs underneath the calf muscles to hold the legs so they don't externally rotate. This way I can have them relaxed and feel the target ar...

All The Bad Things Free
(Cruelty Free - Guilty Free - Gluten Free)

I've been doing my own gluten free granola and enjoying it for breakfast along with dairy-free yogurt and fruits but when I moved back to Portugal,  finding vegan yogurts that are not soya based was not that easy. I decided to try a fruit pure to replace the yogurt so I don't put more processed stuff in my body. Guess what, it's delicious! I don't like to eat fruit after the main meals, it just doesn't go with my digestion as I feel super bloated if I do it. So this is a perfect way for me to consume fruit :)

Adding a little bit of Camu Camu powder for special flavour and extra vitamin C. 

INGREDIENTS

1frozen banana

1orange

1pear

1 tea spoon of camu camu powder

peanut butter (chunky, organic and no palm oil!) 

home made granola

chocolate bits (optional)

sliced fruit of choice.

MAKE

Blend the fruit...

When you have nature around, the sound of the ocean, the wind, the trees and listening to the birds is just enough. When practicing indoors, in my opinion, a good playlist is a great complement to the practice.

A lot of students come to me asking for the songs I played in class and you can actually find some of the playlists I did put together on Spotify. Sometimes I play the yoga mixes from my teacher Marcus Veda who is an inspiration for me.

This post is about the songs I usually play in Savasana, the last relaxation pose.

Some of the songs are actually relaxing, some have a little bit more rhythm. 

01. Improvisation in Berlim - Ólafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm

Listen on Youtube

02. Waterways - Ludovico Einaudi

Listen on Spotify

03. Winter Aid - The Wisp Sings

Listen on Spotify

04. Abandon Window - Jon Hopkins

Listen on Spotify

05. Eefje de Visser - Ongeveer

A song in Dutch with a...

When I first started practicing yoga, didn't really know what "style" of yoga I was practicing so I don't blame the new students that come to me saying that have done yoga, but not really sure what kind of yoga. There are so many and even myself haven't experience all of them so I'm just going to write about what I've experienced and usually teach. 

Vinyasa Flow

The word “vinyasa” can be translated as “arranging something in a special way,” like yoga poses for example. In vinyasa yoga classes, students coordinate movement with breath to flow from one pose to the next. Ashtanga, Baptiste Yoga, Jivamukti, Power Yoga, Rocket Yoga and Prana Flow could all be considered vinyasa yoga.

Ashtanga Vinyasa

The Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga is a style of yoga brought by K. Pattabhi Jois during the 20th century which is often promoted as a modern-day form of classical Indian yoga. Asht...

Yoga retreats are getting more and more popular but what is really there for you?

If you not sure what the benefits are on joining a yoga retreat or if you question the investment it requires, here’s 20 reasons why you should make it happen.

Read the full article at Backstage Journal.

Every raw vegan cake recipe I've come across looks beautiful, but they all use cashews nuts in the filling and dates in the base, which are both high in FODMAP's. I've created this recipe using macadamia nuts for the filling, banana to bind the base instead of dates, and a gorgeous caramel layer using peanut butter and maple syrup instead of dates. 

INGREDIENTS

Layer 01 - Base

1/2 cup brasil nuts

1/2 cup buckwheat

1 tbsp coconut oil

1/2 banana

1 tbsp maple syrup

Layer 02 - Caramel

60g peanut butter

40ml maple syrup

1/4 sea salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

Layer 03 - Banana

1 cup soaked macadamia nuts

2 bananas

1/2 vanilla pod seeds scraped

2 tbsp maple syrup

3tbs coconut oil

Layer 04 - Chocolate and Berries

3 tbsp raw cacao powder

100g cacao butter

1/4 cup vegetable unsweet drink (almond milk, oat milk, soya milk)

1 tbsp maple syrup

MAKE

To make the base, add the brasil nuts and buckwheat to a food pr...

Nothing like start the day with a green smoothie. It’s a way to give yourself a lot of nutrition in the morning with minerals, vitamins, enzymes, antioxidants and fibre to sustain your energy. Vegetables, especially greens have the highest alkalinity and are crucial in our diets as they are really important on helping to bring your energy at the highest levels. A green juice or smoothie should be mainly vegetables and have maximum one or two pieces of fruit. This is my special recipe. I hope you like it :) 

You will need a juicer and an high speed blender.

NOTE: There is another option if you only have a high speed blender.

Ingredients:

1 apple

1 pear

1 stick of celery 

2 handfull of spinach

1 handfull of lettuce 

1 handfull of coriander or parsley

1/2 of an Avocado

1/4 cucumber

!/2 a lemon

Optional (to optimize your green smoothie)

1 tsp of powder greens (moringa, spir...

You might have heard about Mandala Vinyasa classes in the yoga world, but still not sure what it is?

Mandala - a geometric figure representing the universe.

Vinyasa- breath and movement linked and maintained in a conscious way.

Based on the 4 basic elements - Fire, Water, Earth and Air - Mandala Vinyasa connects each element with a specific area of the body, integrating the spiral patterns that nature uses and exploring circular movements with our bodies, moving 360º around the mat.

On a physical level, we flow and move with the breath, working on that particular target area:

Air - backbends, opening up the shoulders and quads. Energetically we will be activating Anahata Chakra, related with our social identity and self love, finding space in our hearts.

Fire - spinal twists, glutes and IT band. Energetically we will be activating Manipura Chakra, our...

No refined sugar, dairy, gluten free and super healthy ❤️
 

Ingredients:

100 gr Cacao Butter

4 tbsp Agave Syrup

4 tbsp Raw Cacao Powder

Handful of Roasted Hazelnuts

Cacao nibs toasted with coconut sugar (Exotica, from Iswari www.iswari.com)

Roast the Hazelnuts in a non-stick pan.

Melt the cacao butter, add the Agave syrup and the cacao powder and mix very well. Mix the hazelnuts and pour the mixture into silicone chocolate moulds. Spread the cacao nibs on top and let it cool down in the fridge for an hour.