YOGA Karma: I'm Back!!!!

Sun Salutation~
"With praying hands I face the sun, feeling love and joy in my heart. I stretch up my hands and let the sun fill me with warmth. I bow before the sun's radiance and place my face to the ground with humble respect. I lift my face to the sun and then remember, to achieve such heights, I must be as the dust of the earth. I stretch up towards its light trying to reach the greatest heights and again surrender. I stand tall as I remember the true sun is within me."(ancient verse, author unknown)

Friday, November 4, 2011

I'm Back!!!!

After moving from Texas to Kentucky and also having my son seven months ago, I am ready to be start teaching again. I have been practicing yoga at home and going to a class here and there, but the opportunity arose for me to teach again and I wasn't even seeking, actually were a couple signs. I love how God talks to me! Next Tuesday I will be teaching my first class in eight months, bit nervous because it is a new place and new students, but I am ready and excited to share yoga!

Yoga is a light, which once lit, will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter the flame.

B.K.S. Iyengar

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Private and additional class offereings:

Why YOGA

Practicing yoga since 1999; I began yoga as a way to increase body awareness, spirituality, and reduce stress in my life. Yoga has opened my life in many wonderful ways. Yoga has not only helped me become centered and provide me with a feeling of calmness, it has also enabled me to deal with the world and everyday situations with more ease. Yoga provides physical benefits for the body, and is healing to the mind. I enjoy helping students of all abilities gain strength and flexibility with yoga poses. I help instruct the use of breath and meditation to relax and bring an inner awareness to connect our body, mind, and spirit.

Completed certification in yoga teacher training in Hatha, Prenatal and Postnatal and Yoginos~Yoga for Youth Inspired Instructor. I am continually learning by attending workshops, reading, and practicing yoga. I enjoy teaching gentle, flow, prenatal, postnatal/mommy & baby, family and children's yoga classes.

YOGA class descriptions and benefits:

Class Descriptions/Benefits:

Hatha Yoga is the most widely known form of yoga in the world. Hatha yoga uses postures (asanas) and conscious breathing (Pranayama) in combination with mental focus to develop awareness, strength, flexibility, and relaxation. Through proper alignment and mindful actions of the body, Hatha yoga brings balance and a sense of well-being for all ages and body types through proper alignment, mindful actions, and movement.

Benefits of Hatha Yoga:
• builds strength and muscle tone
• increases flexibility and balance
• brings inner awareness and focus
• stimulates and massages your internal organs
• improve your health and help to keep disease away
• encourages physical and mental balance
• develops proper body alignment
• reduce stress
• encourages a sense of calm and peace
• increase lung capacity for better breathing

Hatha Flow is a sequence of poses that synchronize with movement in a flowing manner. It uses the process of going from one pose to another with minimal rest. The flowing motions moves the body more quickly, which builds heat for deep stretching.

Benefits of Hatha Flow:
• builds strength and muscle tone
• increase endurance
• energizing
• increase flexibility
• brings inner awareness and focus
• reduce stress
• cardiovascular workout
• increase balance and stability
• stimulates and massages your internal organs
• improve your health and help to keep disease away

Gentle Yoga is a gentler, slower paced practice of Hatha Yoga. It is for people of all sizes, ages, and fitness levels. It is a great place to start for beginners or for those who just want to take it slow. The focus is on warming up while promoting blood flow, connecting with the breath, and gentle work to enhance the body and glands. Creates an atmosphere of safety, peacefulness, and inner awareness.

Restorative Yoga uses props and blankets to modify traditional yoga poses. The supportive postures gently open the body for deep relaxation and healing. This class is ideal for those going through stressful times, suffering from illness, injury or major life changes. Postures are held for extended times with the support of props.

Mamaflow a yoga class for women of all stages of life,
new moms, moms to be, grandmas, and woman who just want a more gentler
yoga class. Class will be taught hatha yoga style safe for women in all
stages of life. We will focus on building strength, increasing
flexibility, reducing stress & tension, by doing yoga poses and breathwork. Classes are also great place to make connections and find inner peace.

Prenatal Yoga uses postures, breathing, and meditation to help ease pregnancy discomforts, while strengthening your body, mind, and soul for labor and the after effects of birth. The classes create flexibility, strength, focus, and awareness through a gentle practice that is designed especially for the pregnant woman's needs. Prenatal Yoga classes provide a safe and supportive environment for expectant mothers and are a wonderful way to connect with other mothers-to-be. There will be pregnancy related discussions and laughter within the class to help you make sense of the many ways pregnancy transforms your body. The classes are appropriate for both new and experienced yoga students.

Benefits of Prenatal Yoga:
• provide gentle, safe practice for pregnant women
• increase flexibility and muscle tone
• develop inner awareness and focus
• builds endurance
• encourage awareness for conscious pregnancy, birth, and parenting
• reduce stress
• soothes the discomforts of pregnancy
• increase lung capacity for better breathing
• strengthens the body's physical, mental and emotional preparation for labor and birth
• offers a supportive environment with other expectant mothers

Postnatal Yoga class is a great way to support the body's recovery after birth. Use postures, breathing techniques, and meditation to offer a practice that helps to regain overall body healing and strength, abdominal/pelvic toning, and relaxation. Mothers may bring their babies for an experience that incorporates yoga and bonding with the baby. These classes are a wonderful way to connect with other new mothers to share information, parenting tips, and offer support.

Postnatal Classes are appropriate for women from about three weeks postpartum and up until about six months, or when baby begins to crawl.

Benefits of Postnatal Yoga:
• strengthens the back, abdominal and pelvic floor muscles
• releases tension in shoulders and neck
• helps to improve posture
• decrease overall stress and promote relaxation
• rejuvenates the mind and increases energy
• provide an opportunity to connect with others mothers
• create a safe environment to bond with baby

YOGA FAQ

What does Yoga mean?
The word Yoga, from the Sanskrit word yuj means to yoke or bind and is often interpreted as "union" or a method of discipline. The union is between the individual soul and the universal soul. A male who practices yoga is called a yogi, a female is yogini. Today most people practicing yoga are engaged in the third limb, asana, which is a program of physical postures designed to purify the body, provide flexibility, physical strength and stamina.

The Indian sage Patanjali is believed to have collated the practice of yoga into the Yoga Sutra, estimated 5000 B.C.. The Sutra is a collection of 195 statements that serves as philosophical guidebook for most of the yoga that is practiced today. It also outlines the eight limbs of yoga: the yamas (restraints), niyamas (observances), asanas (postures), pranayama (breathing), pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), dharana (concentration), dhyani (meditation), and samadhi (absorption). As we explore these eight limbs, we begin by refining our behavior in the outer world, and then we focus inwardly until we reach samadhi (liberations, enlightenment).

Asana:
Asana is defined as "posture" its literal meaning is "seat". Originally, the asanas served as stable postures for prolonged meditation. Asanas purify, increase flexibility, strengthen the body, and bring inner awareness and focus to the mind. Asana is one of the eight limbs of classical Yoga, which states that asana should be steady and comfortable, firm yet relaxed. When holding an asana, make sure you can breath slowly and deeply. Go to your edge in the posture, holding where you feel a good stretch and your body is working in the asana, but never bring pain to the body.

Meditation:
Meditation is a focusing of the mind on a single object, mantra (word or phrase), mudra (hand gesture), or the rhythm of your breath. As thoughts appear we let them flow the mind without thinking about them. As you mediate continue to bring your focus back to the object, mantra, mudra, or breath. The techniques of meditation are simple and easy to learn, but the ability to keep the mind focused takes time, patience, and practice. The benefits of regular meditation include reduced stress, tension, anxiety and frustration, as well as improved memory, concentration, inner peace, and ability to be calm in stressful situations. One of the greatest benefits is the connection that you create between your conscious mind and your inner wisdom.

Pranayama:
Pranayama are breathing exercises developed by ancient yogis for purification. Prana translates into "life force energy" and Yama translates into "control or mastery of". Therefore, Pranayama is used to control, cultivate, and modify the Prana in the body. Prana is taken in through the air we breathe.

Chakras:
Traditionally, Indians saw the body as containing seven main chakras, arranged vertically from the base of the spine to the top of the head. Chakra is the Sanskrit word for wheel, and these "wheels" were thought of as spinning vortexes of energy.Each chakra is associated with particular functions within the body and with specific life issues and the way we handle them, both inside ourselves and in our interactions with the world. As centers of force, chakras can be thought of as sites where we receive, absorb, and distribute life energies.

Bandhas:
Are known as locks or seals. There are three Mula-bandha (root lock, pelvic floor), Uddiyana-bandha (upward lock, abdomen), Jalandhara-bandha (throat lock)

Mudras:
Mudras are positions of the body that have some kind of influence on the energies of the body, or your mood. Mostly the hands and fingers are held in some position, but the whole body may be part of the mudra as well.

Mantras:
Mantras are words or phrases that are chanted out loud or internally as objects of meditation.

Yamas:
1. Ahimsa (non-violence)
2. Satya (truthfulness)
3. Aestya (non-stealing)
4. Aparigraha (non-grasping)
5. Bramacharya (energy exchange)

Niymaas:
1. Saucha (purity)
2. Santosha (contentment)
3. Tapas (discipline)
4. Svadhyaya (self-study)
5. Ishvarapranidhana (faith)

What does OM mean?
Om is a mantra or vibration, that is traditionally chanted at the beginning and end of yoga sessions. It is the sound of the universe, which means, the ancient yogis knew what scientists today are telling us, that the entire universe is moving. Everything that exists pulsates, creating rhythmic vibrations that the ancient yogis acknowledge with the sound of OM. We many not always be aware of this sound in our daily lives, but we can hear it in the rustling of the leaves, the waves on the shore, inside a seashell. Chanting OM allows us to recognize our experience as a reflection of how the whole universe moves, setting sun, rising moon, tides, beating of our hearts. As we chant OM, it takes us for a ride on this universal movement, through our breath, our awareness and our physical energy, we begin to sense a bigger connection that is both uplifting and soothing.

Is Yoga a religion?
Yoga is not a religion. It is a philosophy that began in India an estimated 5,000 years agao. Yoga sometimes interweaves other philosophies such as Hinduism or Buddhism, but it is not necessary to study those paths in order to practice or study yoga. You can practice your own religious beliefs to study or practice yoga.

What is the meaning of Namaste?
Namaste represents the belief that there is a Divine spark within each of us that is located in the heart chakra. The gesture is an acknowledgment of the soul in one by the soul in another. "Nama" means bow, "as"means I, and "te" means you. Therefore, Namaste literally means "I bow to you, as the Divine Spirit in me recognizes and honors the Divine Spirit in you. We bring our hands together at heart center with the mudra hand-anjali (prayer hands), to increase the flow of Divine love. The teacher initiates Namaste as a symbol of gratitude and respect toward the students and her own teachers and in return invites the students to connect, thereby allowing the truth to flow-the truth that we are all one when we live from the heart.