The WHY.
Start Here.
Yoga for First-Timers. Why?
Yoga can be transformational. But first, showing up. Everyone who does yoga took their “first yoga class”... maybe with a feeling of utter dis-coordination... maybe with wobbly balance and fear of crashing through the wall.... maybe walking in with self-doubt and awkwardness... “What do I wear? What do I bring? I’m not flexible. I can’t be still.” .... But, 97% of people who took their first class, took their second class, and goes on to take their 95th class.... WHY? Because there is huge return on investment. Because yoga meets you where you are, asks nothing of you, but pays off 100x over.
There is no doing it wrong.
There is nobody looking at you.
There is no such thing as being bad at yoga.
There is no judgement.
Flexibility is not a pre-requisite.
Classes are based around breathing, so if you can breathe, you’re ahead of the game already.
This is one hour of your life and it will set you up to make yoga an accessible part of your training/weight-loss routine/de-stress/injury prevention.
There are benefits of yoga after just one class.
Yoga is basically the most effective anti-stress, anti-aging, performance-optimizing tool. You have it in you, you just have to access it.
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Yoga for Everybody and Every Body. WHY?
Y O G A for A L L.
Yoga is not about a perfect pose or touching your toes or even “being able to relax”. Yoga is about showing up. Yoga is about strength and flexibility - of your mind. Sometimes this means stepping out of your comfort zone... and THAT is your perfect pose... THAT is your warrior.
At some point, everyone falls in life AND in yoga. Why not stumble in a safe place and grow with a fun community... YOGA for ALL.
YOGA is not always pretty. In fact, usually not. More like wobbly and feeling wrung out. You will sweat. You will stretch your mind as much as your body. You will be asked to do some challenging work to let go of what makes you feel heavy. Showing up is brave. Stepping on your mat is strength. Knowing that there is no “doing it wrong” is smart. Even the most advanced yogis benefit from a beginner’s mind. A distancing from the notion of perfection. YOGA is called practice for a reason- there is never an end point or pinnacle of attainment. We are constantly showing up to drop what’s heavy; to be lighter. I make the practice challenging on purpose.... to walk through an obstacle course of movements, with the idea of staying focused on one breath at a time. One breath. Space to practice. Freedom to fall. Balance of grit and grace. Training resilience. Transforming moments.
This is yoga.
Yoga for All.
We do not rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.
Group Sessions - BOOK HERE. Private Sessions- BOOK HERE.
Stilling the Fluctuations of the Mind. WHY?
We are masters at doing... what about being? ... BEING still and quiet. So that we can get our mind out of the way. Notice- the sheer volume of repetitive thinking going on in our heads...crafting stories, worrying about the future, and obsessing over the past. It may be subtle- just a background hiss...but it interferes with our ability to connect with our actual experience, and leaves us feeling isolated amidst this noise. This apparent doing nothing, BEING, is actually doing the most difficult and courageous work, sitting still. It’s actually easy to run and run on auto-pilot in life, until we drop.
There is an alternative. Achieving stillness and silence. The dropping in, following an intense flow yoga.
“There’s nothing passive about this- this is the hardest work on the planet.” - Jon Kabat-Zinn
All the most powerful things that cannot come from thought, come from space.... Inspiration, innovation, intuition, creativity, insight, love.... Making space. BEING still. DOING the hard work.
Schedule a session HERE
Yoga as Flow State. WHY?
Yoga is not about stretching...unless you are talking about stretching your performance potential, your mind, your capacity to access strength, power, and energy.... Your body molds to everything you do. Provide your body with a new environment for optimal movement. Your mindset activates everything you do. Provide your mind with discipline, focus, and attention.
Yoga- stretch yourself to a flow state- an optimal state of performance. Body. Mind. Breath. Connected. Here.
Flow. State. Not some enlightened woo-woo place for monks. Not some out of body experience you must muscle through to achieve. Flow is being absorbed completely in what you are doing while you are doing it. Flow is mindful attention. Flow is being. Flow follows focus.
And now, more than ever, we are seeking refuge from the anxious, worried state of our mind. So, how do we drop into stillness and quiet? ...Flow is how... We engage in this physical practice of yoga. We move and breathe together so our bodies become energized and connected, and also wrung out and open to a deep dive inward. When we reach the final pose of class, we are primed to sink-in and induce a shift in our state of consciousness; to elicit a relaxation response, with pointed focus. We take away the struggle. We simplify the approach. We feel a tangible benefit. We access flow state.
Here. One inhale. One exhale.
Flow.
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Yoga for Stress Relief. WHY?
There is a physical component to processing our emotional stress, worry, anxiety, and grief.
Just like a surfer needs swell to catch a wave and a cyclist needs momentum to stay balanced, movement is imperative to navigate through our stressful moments.
So, start here- basic movements, deliberately connected to breath.
Inhale.
Move.
Exhale.
Move.
This practice is simple, but it’s not always easy. It takes discipline. It is training. Focus. Attention. The payoff is significant. Emotional health. Mental strength. It starts with focused breath. When you can manage and navigate your breath, you can better navigate any situation that arises in life.
Breath-based yoga. Synchronized. Powerful. Transformational. Flow state.
Opportunities to Practice HERE
Yoga for Presence. Presence for Strength. WHY?
There is a billion-dollar industry teaching people how to become more present. Why? Because we are wired to fear uncertainty. And being present is the remedy to that fear response. We get present through a state of being fully absorbed in doing a skilled, challenging, and highly practiced activity. This state of real-time obliterates our old programmed mental models. Presence allows access to an optimal experience.
Practice now. Breathe. Focus. Tune in. Show up. Train up. Upgrade your training. Cultivate strength, core, balance, focus, flow...
Reduce stress, inflammation, reactivity, aging, anxiety.
Strength in body- Strength in mind.
Yoga and Breath Training. WHY?
Most people haven’t been taught how to breathe.
“There’s nothing more powerful than regulating your breath to change your physical health and mental health.” -Andrew Weil
Learning to manage your breath is empowering. You have control over your entire system- breath training works to reset your autonomic nervous system for parasympathetic calibration, getting you out of “fight or flight” mode, which is releasing cortisol and causing inflammation, chronic fatigue, weight gain, and disease.
Breath management is critical to physical and mental health.
It may be overlooked because it is actually “too simple”.
Breath Training is
-Accessible
-Free
-Very time efficient
-Doesn’t require equipment
The Practice...
- 1- Just simply notice and observe your breath; bringing awareness to conscious breath puts your mind into neutral. (Takes attention away from your monkey mind and destructive patterned thoughts and images in your mind)
- 2- Intentionally make your breathing DEEPER, SLOWER, QUIETER, MORE REGULAR... How?... focus on exhale - squeeze more air out = more air in. (People who are afraid, anxious, upset, breath is always shallow, rapid, noisy, erratic... you can’t be in an agitated state and breathe deeply, slowly, quietly.... so, change your breath to calm your mood.)
- 3- Technique = 4-7-8 breath. Inhale 4 seconds, hold 7 seconds, exhale 8 seconds. Practice this regularly, 2x per day, because you’re putting a signal into your autonomic nervous system to change the tone. (Lowers resting heart rate, blood pressure).
- That’s it... simple. But it requires discipline. It requires showing up. Getting still for a moment. Focusing. Challenge yourself.
Start here. Inhale.
Inspirational Mantra Tanks and Shirts- I’m Love- by Jess - HERE!