Notes From The Students March 28, 2012

 

A strong, peaceful and confident Tree Pose being demonstrated on a chair at YOUYOGA.

 

In keeping with the theme of Ahimsa this week….I thought it appropriate to share some kind words from one of our valued Chair Yoga students at YOUYOGA, as well as share a photo of her practicing Tree Pose/Vrksasana on a chair.  The practice of  Tree Pose helps to strengthen the ankle while creating new space in the hip.  This openness in the hip can help to improve the symptoms of Sciatica, which is a pain or numbness in the leg, hip, and/or lower back caused by irritation of the sciatic nerve located at the lumbar (lower back) spine.

 

It also increases our muscular and skeletal strength in our arches, calves and thighs.  Helping us to create a strong base to improve, or maintain our physical balance.  If we lift our palms above the crown of our head, it can also help to increase our ability to breath, along with improving our circulation.  With greater breath and improved blood flow….our internal organs get the support they need to function properly.

 

By lifting our arms we also engage the muscles of our back-body…..helping to make it stronger, while improving our posture.  However, if your shoulders sense pain from an injury, or weakness then keep those hands at heart, or belly center.  Remember to keep lengthening the neck away from the tops of the shoulders, as you draw your shoulder blades towards one another.   This action alone will help to develop strength whether the hands are above, or below the heart.  

 

Lastly, practicing Tree Pose wether sitting, or standing will help to develop a sense of calm and focus.  I think we can all agree calm is worth seeking on a daily basis……for too often it seems that they day isn’t long enough for the task list that awaits our attention.  So whether you’re at work, or at home between taks, or commercial breaks be inspired to take a moment and try Tree Pose…..sitting or standing…..and see what it can do for YOU!  If nothing else it can become a moment of quality time for yourself.  Helping you to create the quality of Ahimsa………loving, compassion, and a sense of worthiness.  All qualities that can help us be better people knowing that we deserve to feel and be well.

 

Special thanks to Christine for allowing YOUYOGA to share her kind words (found below) and lovely photo with all of  our viewers 😉

 

 

 

“Chair yoga at YOUYOGA is REAL yoga. It’s good challenging exercise and it …makes you feel strong and balanced.You’re doing real yoga and the chair is just there for support. Really, that’s what YOUYOGA classes, and YOUYOGA teachers, are for … a little support when you need it.

You’re never on your own, there’s always an encouraging voice to remind you to be mindful of, and explore, your strength.”

Christine

“PowerHouse”……defined in Pilates Terms March 27, 2012

Darrell Duane-Wray, Pilates Instructor

Hello Everyone,

Wow, what a fun time I had doing some ”mini pilates” sessions in the flow and chair yoga classes, as well as meeting and talking with some of you !

Thank you Danelle and Ericka for opening up your classes to share some Pilates in them 🙂

 

I would like to share a little bit about the ” Powerhouse” what is it? and where is it in the body?

The Pilates exercises start from the abdominals, hips, buttocks and lower back. This band of muscles circles the body just under you belt line.

Think about how you stand and how you sit. Probably, if you are like me, you will sink most of you weight into those areas…… Right?

This can cause stress on the lower back making it sore.

The action of pulling up and in simultaneously will automatically engage your “Powerhouse” or core and help protect you lower back.

When doing Pilates exercises on the mat or on the chair, you will want to constantly be working up and out from the “Powerhouse” area of your body.

I hope this will answer the some questions about the “Powerhouse” and you can start to keep it engaged in all your daily activities.

Don’t forget to breathe as you move!

 

Thanks to you all,

Namaste

Darrell-Duane Wray

Our Goal this week….Practicing Kindness March 26, 2012

 

This week our goal in class will be to practice the Yama known as Ahimsa (non-violence)…so as we go through our practice we’ll try to be aware, we’ll be gentle in our actions, thoughts, and speech.
For example, as we go into a forward fold and our hamstrings (back of our legs) say….HALT!!! We’ll listen and we’ll become gentle in our action by using blocks to lift the earth, or rest our hands above our knees on the thighs.
We’ll view the stretch as a challenge, not an obstacle that can’t be overcome. We’ll be patient with ourselves while having a sense of pride for what is accomplished today.
The practice of Ahimsa translates into compassion, love, understanding, patience, self-love and worthiness.
I invite you in this moment to think of one way you can practice kindness for yourself……not someone else……yourself. Think of it and go do it!
Namaste

 

Pilates Anyone? YOUYOGA has you covered………. on the mat and on the chair March 15, 2012

 

Darrell-Wray sharing the Pilates Roll-Up with YOUYOGA students.

 

 

 

 

Special thanks to Darrell Wray for sharing your Pilates on the mat and on the chair with YOUYOGA’s students last week……everyone enjoyed YOU and your approach to building a strong “powerhouse”.  So….. Darrell will be joining us again next month on Thursday, April 12 @ 9:30-10:45 am for a mat class.   And Saturday, April 21 @ 9:30-10:30 am for a chair class……Can’t wait to work that core again!!

Danelle’s Take on the Teachings of Marsha Wenig, Creator of the YogaKids Curriculum March 14, 2012

 

 

 

Kids' Yoga at YOUYOGA: Half-Moon Pose at the wall

 

Since YOUYOGA’s kid’s program will be influenced by the teaching of Marsha Wenig, creator of the YogaKids video and educational curriculum,  I felt it important to share what she says and believes on the topic of yoga for kids:

“When presented in a child’s language, yoga can help counter the stress experienced by young people living in a hurry-up world. Our children live in a hurry-up world of busy parents, school pressures, incessant lessons, video games, malls, and competitive sports. We usually don’t think of these influences as stressful for our kids, but often they are. The bustling pace of our children’s lives can have a profound effect on their innate joy—and usually not for the better.”

Wenig explains that yoga can help counter these pressures. Yoga for kids teaches:

• techniques for self-health,
• relaxation
• inner fulfillment
• self-esteem
• body awareness with a physical activity that’s noncompetitive.
• cooperation and compassion
• flexibility,
• strength,
• coordination
• concentration and sense of calmness 

 

Doing yoga, children exercise, play, connect more deeply with the inner self, and develop an intimate relationship with the natural world that surrounds them. When yogis developed the asanas many thousands of years ago, they still lived close to the natural world and used animals and plants for inspiration—the sting of a scorpion, the grace of a swan, the grounded stature of a tree. When children imitate the movements and sounds of nature, they have a chance to get inside another being and imagine taking on its qualities. When they assume the pose of the lion (Simhasana) for example, they experience not only the power and behavior of the lion, but also their own sense of power: when to be aggressive, when to retreat. The physical movements introduce kids to yoga’s true meaning: union, expression, and honor for oneself and one’s part in the delicate web of life.

Yoga with children offers many possibilities to exchange wisdom, share good times, and lay the foundation for a lifelong practice that will continue to deepen.  Wenig notes that when teaching yoga for children, one needs to honor the children’s innate intelligence and use the yoga asanas as a springboard for exploration of many other areas—animal adaptations and behavior, music and songs, storytelling, drawing—it is a truly interdisciplinary approach to learning, informed by the flow of child’s play.

Wenig’s program, YogaKids,  combines yogic techniques designed especially for children using Dr. Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. Gardner, an author and professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, describes eight intelligences innate in all of us—linguistic, logical, visual, musical, kinesthetic, naturalistic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal—and emphasizes that children should be given the opportunity to develop and embody as many of these as possible.  In keeping with this theory, YogaKids integrates storytelling, games, music, language, and other arts into a complete curriculum that engages the “whole child.” We employ ecology, anatomy, nutrition, and life lessons that echo yogic principles of interdependence, oneness, and fun. Most of all, our program engages the entire mind, body, and spirit in a way that honors all the ways children learn.  When they stretch like a dog, balance like a flamingo, breathe like a bunny, or stand strong and tall like a tree, they are making a connection between the macrocosm of their environment and the microcosm of their bodies. The importance of reverence for all life and the principle of interdependence becomes apparent. Children begin to understand that we are all made of the same “stuff.” We’re just in different forms.

For more information contact Martha Wenig at (800) 968-0694 or e-mail innerwrk@niia.net

Adapted from “Yoga for Kids” by Martha Wenig, Yoga Journal

 

Introducing YOUYOGA Guest Blogger: Rachael Wiedner March 13, 2012

Rachael Wiedner, Health and Wellness Coach with Herbalife International

Hi, Rachael Wiedner here!!! I am a health & wellness coach with Herbalife International. I am passionate about working with people, developing relationships and producing results. Herbalife has amazing products and my journey started April 2010 when I started drinking delicious Herbalife smoothies and lost 10 pounds, 14 inches, no longer needed my Prozac! 

I also lost my coffee addiction, gained incredible energy and now own a nutrition club in Mission, Kansas. I am super excited to open 2 more nutrition clubs in Shawnee within the next year.  And I am super excited to share with all of you my simple, yet helpful tips on how you can become your best healthy YOU!   I work with individuals to help them understand the value of a nutritional lifestyle changes,  and the importance of  exercise. When the body receives both it becomes healthier and stronger!!!

Please contact me at: rach743@gmail.com, or by phone 913.449.2893 for your free smoothie, tea and body analysis.

Save Your Space…..NOW March 11, 2012

Sign-Up starts this week for YOUYOGA’s April Sessions:

1st Sunday of the Month YOU in Stillness on April 1 @ 1:00-2:30 pm

Cost: $20, or $15 for class pass holders

6 week Kids’ Yoga with Danelle Drury on Wednesday beginning April 4 – May 9 @ 4:00-4:45 pm

Cost: $54, or Drop-In $12

Siblings: $36, or Drop-in $8

Sunday Inspiration 30

“It’s not the daily increase, but daily decrease.  Hack away at the unessential.”

Bruce Lee

Just for Fun……..YOGA for Wine-Lovers March 9, 2012

 

This is a must see……..cute mini clip brought to us by the creators of Harold’s Planet.  We’ll keep our eye out for more Yoga/Pilates  inspired clips to  share from this fun resource.

Click Here and Enjoy!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxPuyrfHA3o

 

Reflection on Today’s Yoga Practices at YOUYOGA March 8, 2012

 

the beautiful lotus flower

 

 

Today’s classes were so enjoyable. We practiced “playing our edges” by facing challenges with kindness and grace. We also worked with a mindfulness of “Matrika Shakti”….defined as the power of the word.  Begin seeing obstacles as only challenges…..knowing that in-time with a loving consistency all things will unfold. Thank YOU Lakshmi Voelker for sharing this beautiful concept with us. May all of us carry this mind-set as we move through our day……seeking peace, harmony and bliss.

 

Namaste