Last weekend I got to check out the brand new Cygalle Healing Spa at Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic. One of the treatments I tried was the Crystal Chakra Aromatherapy. If you’re not familiar with chakras, we all have seven of these energy centers that reach from the base of your spine to the crown of your head. Each has a color and scent associated with it. They affect you physically, mentally and spiritually and when they’re imbalanced, you could feel it in your health or energy level.

During the meditation-like treatment the practitioner placed crystals along my chakra centers with an aromatherapy scent for each, which is supposed to heighten the experience. After the treatment your prana should be flowing freely and you should feel balanced and restored. Now maybe it was simply because my mind was wandering, but during the placement of the first few crystals I found myself thinking about something that had upset me recently and I think I let go of the anger at that moment. And I felt a few sudden quick pangs and tingling fingers, but I can’t be sure those feelings had anything to do with my chakras (I was lying on a massage table for 50 minutes). All skepticism aside, I’ve always been fascinated by stuff like chakras and the treatment was interesting, relaxing and smelled wonderful.

I took a new class the other day that incorporated the Body Wedge–basically it was sculpt on an angle. The Wedge is like an incline bench except it’s made out of soft foam material which adds a challenging level of instability (and it’s more comfy to lay on!). With it, you can work pretty much every muscle in your body (back, butt, triceps, shoulders, etc.)

During the class we stood and sat on the wedge, lifting weight with dumbbells and body bars. We also laid on it for ab work. If you’ve ever done ab exercises on the incline bench after months of doing crunches on the ground or tried lifting weights while standing on the Bosu, you’ll know what I mean when I say the extra incline and instability really helps you feel the burn!

The Wedge didn’t seem like a dramatically different fitness tool, but it will work your muscles in different ways, so try it the next time you want to mix up your strength routine.

I don’t count every single calorie I eat or burn, but when I really need an extra push of motivation to get back on track, it helps. Recently I tried a bunch of sites that help you do just that and I really fell in love with The Daily Plate.

It’s super easy to use. You search for the foods you eat and you’ll find all of their nutritional information (calories, sugar, carbs, fiber, etc.) ready to load into your personal “plate” for the day. I had no trouble finding everything I needed from the Goya canned chickpeas I put in salads to the slice of Domino’s pizza that accidentally found it’s way into my belly. I also love that the site makes a pie chart of your calorie breakdown between protein, carbs and fat.

In the same way that you can input what you eat, you can input your fitness activities to see how many calories you’ve burned. The list is comprehensive with counts for everything from rearranging furniture to rock climbing. If you like, you can also log the glasses of water you drink, your weight and more. The site will even determine a daily caloric intake goal based on your activity level, current weight, how much you want to lose and how fast you want to lose it. If you’re looking for a way to track everything easily, give The Daily Plate a try.