MY YOGA CLASSES
“Any reason for practicing yoga is a good reason. Enhancing flexibility and releasing stress are as noble a purpose for performing yoga as is the awakening of spirituality. This is the great gift of yoga – it serves and nourishes us at every level of our being and spontaneously contributes to greater well being in all domains of life. Yoga will help you discover gifts within yourself that have remained unopened since your childhood – gifts of peace, harmony, laughter, and love.”
The Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga by Drs. Deepak Chopra and David Simon
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MEDITATIVE FLOW * THE SEVEN SPIRITUAL LAWS OF YOGA * CHAKRA YOGA CLASSES * SOMATIC YOGA THERAPY * iREST YOGA NIDRA CLASSES * JOURNEY OF SELF-AWARENESS
What is Yoga?
The word “yoga” comes from the Sanskrit root “yuj,” meaning union. More than an exercise routine, yoga is a complete science of harmonious living as well as a path to higher knowledge and joyful abundance. When practiced mindfully, the principles and techniques of yoga can be the keys to unlocking your full creative potential, your capacity for love and compassion, and your ability to find success in all areas of life.
If you have attended a yoga class most likely you have experienced the feelings of tranquility and vitality that flow through you and that continue to stay with you throughout the day from an integrated yoga sequence. These benefits are excellent reasons to practice yoga, yet they only hint at the transformative power of this ancient practice.
My Yoga Journey
I attended my first yoga class in 1998 during a particularly intense family crisis and tumultuous time in my life. My nervous system was overcharged, over-stimulated and on high alert, symptomatic of PTSD. However, during that first class, my mind actually settled; my body relaxed into a state of relative calm. I experienced the felt-sense of my body, mind, and spirit aligned, maybe for the first time ever -- a complete integration of my true self.
As I continued to attend these classes on a weekly basis, and, with the teacher’s encouragement began a personal practice at home, the anxiety I’d experienced for most of my adult years, to my surprise, gradually began to subside. The tremors I had experienced since my early twenties (first pointed out by my fifth grade students as I demonstrated art projects) slowly began to diminish as the regular practice of yoga, breath work, and meditation calmed my sympathetic nervous system. I no longer suffer from high anxiety, depression, and rarely insomnia.
In 2012, I earned my 200-hour yoga certification from The Chopra Center in The Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga. Through this special style of yoga, I experienced first-hand the integration of the yoga philosophy of Deepak Chopra’s Seven Spiritual Laws of Success from my mind into my body.
I have had additional training under several well-known teachers. I studied Restorative Yoga with Judith Lasater, Chakra Yoga with Anodea Judith, PhD., Yoga Anatomy with Leslie Kaminoff, and in April 2016, I received Yoga Nidra Certification Level 1 under Richard Miller, PhD.
I recently completed a Somatic Yoga Therapy 300-hour Teacher Training program with Janice Gates, pioneer in the field of Yoga Therapy, author of Yogini and former president of The International Association of Yoga Therapists. Students and clients explore and develop somatic awareness in my classes and private sessions. With 50o hours of yoga teacher training and the Chopra Center Vedic teachings in Ayurveda and meditation, I am acknowledged by the International Association of Yoga Therapists as a Certified Yoga Therapist.
The Amazing Benefits of a Yoga Practice
Structurally:
Promotes strength, stability, flexibility, skeletal alignment, and mechanical freedom
Creates a toned, flexible, and increasingly stronger body
Strengthens posture and mobility
Physiologically:
Balances neurological and hormonal activity
Strengthens cardiovascular and respiratory functioning
Improves absorption of nutrients and elimination of wastes
Improves energy and vitality
Helps maintain a balanced metabolism
Relieves pain
Strengthens the body’s ability to resist and overcome chronic disease by improving the flow of the lymphatic system
Improves sleep patterns
Increases circulation
Mentally:
Helps relieve stress
Helps achieve body-centered restful awareness
Opens energetic channels to creativity and intuition
Encourages positive thoughts
Emotionally:
Develops self-confidence and self-acceptance
Increases tolerance for those different from us
Increases our compassion for the suffering of ourselves and others
Increases our capacity to withstand change
Develops our appreciation for the gift of life
Spiritually:
Develops a deeper connection to self
Creates awareness of a bigger picture to life
Cultivates present moment awareness and acceptance of what is
I invite you to join me in establishing a practice that works for your lifestyle so that you, too, can benefit from the many healing aspects of a yoga practice.
