living a yoga life

If you want to understand why it is so important for you to start and maintain a Yoga practice and why this is so important for YOU to integrate into your current stage in life then this is the moment! 

the problems you have experienced with yoga classes

• overly physical and intimidating
• does not give you the how to’s for implementing into daily life situations
• caters to the young, flexible and fit
• does not provide enough detail in relaxation and meditation 

how this will change your health:

I am teaching you new habits for daily experiences. Not just postures. I use physical & mental practices that my private and group classes have experienced and raved about that actually work!

It works because we change how we experience daily situations and our reactions to them. 

Yoga is useful. It has everything you need to become centered, healthy, caring, vibrant, energized, passionate, and enjoy being a useful and beneficial human in our amazing world. 

Think of yoga as the most perfect practice for the human being because it deals with ALL the components of the human being!

Yoga means union

• how do you unite/relate to the world around you
• how do you unite/relate to your own higher consciousness
• how do you unite to the physical body you have 

A little history:

No one exactly knows when yoga first started, but scholars and historians give it about 5,000+ years ago somewhere in the Indus Valley of what is now India. There yoga started as an art & science of being human. While most of us think of yoga today as a bunch of contorting postures and hot rooms, yoga in actuality is not solely a physical practice. In fact, only one branch of the vast tree of yoga contains tools for manipulating the body, mind, and breath.  

In the western society, we mostly use the branch Hatha Yoga, which uses the physical body, breathe, mind, relaxation, and spirituality into a practice. 

A consistent Yoga practice has been scientifically proven to lower stress, reduce blood pressure, stabilized sleeping patterns, and improve concentration. 

All of these benefits mean less visits to the doctor and minimizing the use of medications to manage future or existing health problems.

3 secrets for starting a yoga life

1. Pay attention 

What? Yes, Pay attention! How much time during your day are you NOT paying attention? This is a fundamental step that often goes forgotten. Practice paying attention to one thing at a time. 

how to guide: 

how long? 30-60 seconds for each point

morning: When you wake up immediately pay attention single-pointedly to the following in this order:

• light coming through your window
• a sound in your room 
• the sound of your breath

Why? Instead of hurling out of bed, use 30 to 60 seconds of time to pay attention to the quality and feeling of that one moment. This retrains the mind to slowly develop the framework for mindfulness. We have made it a terrible habit of not paying attention to the little things in our daily life. This is necessary practice. You may even get the sense at this very moment you realize there are no feelings of “lack.” In the present moment nothing is lacking.

2. Remember breath

Can you feel your breath right now? 

how to guide: Start by remembering the breath at 

9:00 a.m.

12:00 p.m.

6:00 p.m.

Here’s how:

Do this for 2 minutes at each time frame. 

+Sit up tall. 

+Close your mouth. 

+Inhale in through your nose to a count of 4

+exhale through your nose to a count of 6

Get a little jolt of oxygen? Feeling a little light headed? This is likely because you haven’t had a good shot of oxygen for sometime. 

Why this is important: By noticing the breath, you will soon develop a habit for breathing. Eventually, your time frames will expand until all hours of the day. You will feel more aware of how your breathing and the feeling of breath during the day. This is a perfect way to calm your stress during the busiest times of the day and supply the body with energy. 

3.  Smile

Relieve stress. Lower blood pressure. Boost immune system. Yes. Smiling does all those. Studies also have shown that smiling releases endorphins, natural pain killers, and serotonin. Together these three make us feel good. Smiling is a natural drug.

how to guide: Smile for a minute at a time with love and feeling. Try to smile fully through these three activities. 

• getting the mail
• checking out at the grocery store
• making tea or coffee
• look in a mirror and smile, recognize that you are smiling and acknowledge the happy feelings inside you.

Plato once humbly said...

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." 

Tethered to phones, computers, or lost in mental space with the oodles of emails, worries and constant shuffling around it’s far to easy to think of everyone like a human machine. Everyone appreciates a smile, especially when you keep in mind that EVERYONE is also doing what they can with what information they have to simply be has happy as they can be. The mutual bond of the human spirit connects us everyday and the simple link is through a smile.

 Bonus Practice: 

Think about where you often go to for relaxation. It is common for us to sit in a chair, couch or bed for relaxation or comfort. Let’s experience another way of finding presence within relaxation. 

Try an unfamiliar place...the floor. 

Follow this guide: 

+Lay on the floor 

(become comfortable with blankets rolled under your knees or a pillow behind your head).

+Feel the sensation of the meeting places between the body and floor. 

+ Imagine the breath like a wave. Feel the inhale rise and the exhale fall the belly. Let your mind focus on this breath like it focuses on a T.V. screen. 

• The mind may start to wander to other thoughts or physical sensations, just become aware of the feeling and presence of the breath moving and the connection points between the body and the floor. 

+ Practice for 5-10 minutes