Sasha Yoga + Wellness

01/05/2026

Approaching New Years resolutions by way of personalized post-holiday rituals has helped me respond to my life with more awareness; it’s made my yearly intentions feel more aligned and aligned instead of pressuring myself with goals I feel I “should” accomplish.

I also find it meaningful and grounding at the end of the year to reflect through practices like meditation, visualization, journaling, and sharing with friends or trusted guides.

Little mindful ceremonies can be supportive, too. I like writing down 3 things I desire to invite into my life and 3 things I’d like to release from my life, then [safely] burning the paper to release the expectations—without releasing the intentions themselves.

Reflections like my teacher Nikki introduced during a yoga teacher training are also useful at any time of year:
“What worked” (what went well), and “How abouts” (how about I try this next time, since that other thing didn’t go so well or feel so great).

I also recommend exploring your unique forms of reflection—including conscious action based on what you notice—on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. This takes the pressure off the end of the year and reminds us that literally every day is an opportunity to begin again and reboot.

If meditation feels like a feasible means of reflecting on both the past and future as we close out 2025, I share a few guided meditations and prompts in this post—inspired by my personal experience and studies with Jack Kornfield, Tara Brach, and other wonderful teachers and wise leaders.

Which practices or reflections feel most aligned as you wrap up your year?

Wishing you a happy, healthy, and nourishing 2026—may it shine even brighter than you can imagine!

https://sashanelson.substack.com/p/new-years-meditation-practices-and

Cultivate your unique end-of-year rituals (way less stressful than resolutions...)

12/19/2025

Life is unpredictable. All we can do is do our best to trust our body’s natural healing mechanisms and keep cultivating the tools that nourish our physical and mental wellbeing ❤️‍🩹

The more we build supportive habits now, the more our body and mind know what to do later—both automatically and intentionally 💪🏻

Reflect:
—How has your body naturally responded to incidents in ways that helped you regulate?
—What tools do you have or want to build to further equip yourself for mind-body regulation moving forward?

Read “A Broken Bone: Intuitive & Intentional Regulation Responses” on ✌🏻

Work with me 1:1 to cultivate your own personalized mind-body support system for everyday life and as general preventative care ✨

Take good care 🤍

12/19/2025

Have fun with these homemade holiday ideas to nourish yourself and others, and to spark some holiday spirit:

Breakfast
—Cacao granola—satisfying for chocolate lovers.
—Golden chocolate chunk pancakes—healthy and hearty.
—Maple tahini granola—also makes a delicious gift.
—Savory Curry Sweet Potato Pancakes—grounding and satiating.

Treats
—Almond biscotti—like my Neapolitan Nana’s traditional Christmas cookies.
—Carob sun butter cookies—a delicious alternative to chocolate.
—Homemade peanut butter chocolate bar—easy, yummy, and gift-able.
—Pumpkin coconut yogurt cheesecake tart—delightful and freezer-friendly.

Beverages
—Matcha lattes—tasty and delicious.
—Nighttime Ojas milk—a soothing Ayurvedic drink.
—Hot cacao variations—perfect for the winter months.

https://sashayogawellness.com/2025/12/18/sweet-ish-treats-with-seasonal-spirit/

Cozy concoctions & holiday vibes A wise elf named Buddy once shared: “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear” (quoting from The Code...

12/18/2025

Enjoy a few cozy concoctions to help spark some holiday spirit—make them your own by adjusting ingredients to taste or swapping as needed.

Remember to take good care of your body, mindset, and nervous system, too—listen to your favorite seasonal tunes, watch a beloved holiday flick, play a fun board game, get toasty by the fire, get lost in a good book, and spend time with good people.

Try this template for a unique hot cocoa:

(Serves 1—adjust ingredients & portions to taste)

Ingredients
—1-1 ½ cup milk of choice (sub half milk + half boiled water)
—1-2 tsp unsweetened cacao powder (sub carob for caffeine-free)
—½-1 tsp tahini (almond butter works too)
—¼ tsp cinnamon
—¼-½ tsp vanilla
—¼-½ tsp dried rose petals or powder (optional)
—½ tsp honey or maple syrup (to taste)

Instructions
—Gently simmer all ingredients except sweetener if using.
—Add sweetener if desired.
—Blend or whisk until smooth and frothy.

https://sashanelson.substack.com/p/sweet-ish-treats-with-seasonal-spirit

Cozy concoctions & holiday vibes

12/18/2025

Fall to winter in the German countryside and the French Mediterranean 🍁❄️ Grateful for nature and for health and for everything, even the tough stuff.

12/16/2025

Life is unpredictable. All we can do is do our best to trust our body’s natural healing mechanisms and keep cultivating the tools that nourish our physical and mental wellbeing.

The more we build supportive habits now, the more our body and mind know what to do later—both automatically and intentionally.

Work with me 1:1 to cultivate your own personalized mind-body support system for everyday life and as general preventative care.

Reflect:
-How has your body naturally responded to incidents in ways that helped you regulate?
-What tools do you have or want to build to further equip yourself for mind-body regulation moving forward?

https://sashayogawellness.com/2025/12/12/a-broken-bone-intuitive-intentional-regulation-responses/

Putting the mind-body wellbeing tools to work (see also: learning how to Fall) I broke my wrist three weeks ago, I’m moving through it (learned how to type and do...

12/15/2025

Unexpected challenges in personal and professional lives are when we put our wellbeing tools into practice, but it may also surprise us when tools that nourish our body and mind naturally arise.

Our bodies and minds are inherently intelligent healing systems, yet there’s always more to learn about how to care for ourselves (and others).

Natural responses:
-Making noise. Responses like humming, moaning, fluttering the lips, or sighing have been shown to support somatic release.
-Shaking. An effective and soothing response when moving through or processing pain, stress, shock, or big emotions.
-Deep feelings. No use in trying to be stoic alongside intense physical or emotional pain or disappointment. When it feels safe to do so, letting go of resistance can be relieving.
-Nourishing breaths. A healthy way to move through pain, fear, adrenaline, and uncertainty. It also helps process emotions in the aftermath.
-Rest. Even though we still have to care for ourselves in various ways, sometimes we physically can't overdo it.
-Sleep. Sleep can be hard to come by during rough times, so if the body needs to stay in bed more than normal, try to surrender to it while healing.
-Mind-body wellbeing. The more we practice taking care of ourselves through food and mindfulness, the easier it will be to implement self-nourishment in difficult times.

Chosen responses:
-Meditation and accessible movement. Fresh air and moving our limbs despite physical or emotional fatigue can brighten our day, mood, and overall health.
-Relinquishing non-essentials. This can be counterintuitive for those who prefer cleanliness and organization, but whatever isn't urgent or necessary can be temporarily set aside.
-Light-hearted content. Mindfulness and wellness includes lightness!
-Feeling feelings, processing and regulating, noticing miracles. This process can validate our emotions and also help us see the sparks of light.
-Best possible outcome. It’s valid to feel grumpy or afraid during hard times, but we can choose thoughts that feel more nourishing whenever possible, too. Similar to yoga’s Pratipaksha Bhavana—“cultivating the opposite thought.”
-Pain is temporary. Not easy to consider when physical and emotional pain is so overwhelming, but still an important reminder to conjure up.
-Forgiveness. Are we angry with ourselves or others, or mad at a circumstance? It’s not wrong to feel this way, but it’s helpful to have tools to work through it for the sake of our overall wellbeing moving forward.
-Spirituality. Various spiritual lessons and tools can help rebalance an imbalanced physical or mental state. It feels settling to trust the process, even if the process is uncomfortable.

https://sashayogawellness.com/2025/12/12/a-broken-bone-intuitive-intentional-regulation-responses/

Putting the mind-body wellbeing tools to work (see also: learning how to Fall) I broke my wrist three weeks ago, I’m moving through it (learned how to type and do...

12/12/2025

The body does “keep the score” in many ways—emotions get stored in the body and can cause physical discomfort or dis-ease. That said, through a recent broken bone, I’ve also just witnessed how the body not only knows how to regulate on its own, but also how to access its arsenal of supportive tools when our regulation responses aren't conducive to longterm healing.

The more we practice anything, the more habitual it becomes. So although the body has incredible primal instincts, we will be even more thoroughly equipped when those instincts are supported by skills we’ve intentionally developed. As a result, the body doesn’t necessarily keep a grip on “the score” forever.

We build this capacity through practices like mindful movement and meditation, as well as how we respond to everyday life—whether mundane tasks, or big and little accidents. We prioritize this type of preventative care so that whenever the physical, mental, or emotional hiccups happen, the tools are on deck and at the ready.

I’m sharing my personal processing in this post linked below should it help you remember your own tools, or in case you could potentially use a few of the tools I had to access on my own when my mind occasionally slipped down into a spiral of negativity.

Let these tools inspire you to take care of and support yourself in your personal and professional lives—whatever challenges may arise.

https://sashanelson.substack.com/p/a-wrist-break-intuitive-and-intentional

Putting the mind-body wellbeing tools to work (see also: learning how to fall)

12/10/2025

How to not take life too seriously without taking it for granted 💁🏼‍♀️

Stay silly and witchy 🧚🏻‍♀️
More hugs and snacks/pasta 🍝
Trust and stay curious 🌀
Live “beyond the need for this or that” but also create a dream life “rigged in your favor” ✨

Take care of yourselves and each other, “giving until the giving feels like receiving” 🤍

12/05/2025

I started this eco-conscious holiday gift guide in 2020 and update it every year. It brings me a lot of joy to know that there are companies going to great lengths to ensure they take care of not only the earth, their customers, and their employees, but also our collective mental, physical, and environmental health 🌎

I studied fashion business in grad school and my final thesis focused on sustainable fashion brands, so I know how much effort and commitment it takes to go the extra mile and infuse sustainability into all aspects and stages of producing a product 🌀

Let’s show the Corporate World what we value as consumers by supporting the companies that value the planet and its people—it shows that we care about the mind-body wellbeing of one another, too 🙏🏻

Get the guide on and sashayogawellness.com ✌🏻

Take care 🤍

Cc: .nyc and more ✨

12/05/2025

Enjoy these attainable and sustainable eco-conscious holiday hacks:

DIY
Exercise your creativity—cards, gifts, decorations—using what you already have handy at home.

Donate
Support or volunteer with organizations working on causes you care about. I always appreciate the efforts of World Central Kitchen.

Gift experiences
Meals, classes, wellness services, spas, small trips, tastings—gift memories vs stuff.

Shop lightly used
Score or sell lightly used yet functional items on sites or apps like Poshmark, eBay, Leboncoin (France), and Vinted (Europe).

Shop small and as local as possible
Support entrepreneurs and your local community. Etsy Shop is a hotspot for unique artisans.

Support BIPOC-owned
I love Celsius Social and Golde; BLK + GRN also has a wonderful artisan list.

Get creative with packaging
Reuse bags and boxes. Wrap gifts in reusable scarves or old newspapers; collage scraps from last year’s paper. Skip the packs of tissue paper and plastic bows or ribbons and use what you have. All of this is more personal and creates less waste.

Favor eco wrapping
If you’re buying festive paper, choose recycled, recyclable, or biodegradable options when possible. T.R.U. Cellulo makes biodegradable cellophane tape, and ECOAND offers recyclable paper tape.

What eco-conscious practice or product might you consider weaving into this year’s holiday season in ways that work for you?

https://sashayogawellness.com/2025/12/04/earth-conscious-gift-guide-for-wellbeing-of-mind-body-planet/

Gifts that give back & do good I’ll say it till the reindeer come home: Investing in earth-conscious, sustainable products is really, really important for the wellbeing of our bodies,...

12/04/2025

Investing in earth-conscious, sustainable products is imperative for the wellbeing of our bodies, our minds, and our planet.

The world is already plenty full of general stuff—not unlike our minds and our attention, unfortunately—but it doesn’t mean we have to opt out of the season of giving.

(On that note: Can we decide to make every season The Season of Giving?)

I started this earth-conscious holiday gift guide in 2020 and update it every year. It brings me a lot of joy to know that there are companies going to great lengths to ensure they take care of not only the earth, their customers, and their employees, but also our collective mental, physical, and environmental health.

My graduate school thesis focused on sustainable fashion brands, so I know how much effort and commitment it takes to go the extra mile and infuse sustainability into all aspects and stages of producing a product.

Let’s show the Corporate World what we value as consumers by supporting the companies that value the planet and its people—it shows that we care about the mind-body wellbeing of one another, too.

Enjoy my updated 2025 Earth-Conscious Gift Guide:

https://sashanelson.substack.com/p/earth-conscious-gift-guide-for-wellbeing

Gifts that give back & do good