Ancient wisdom for the modern body, mind and spirit.
Why Yoga?
Most of the time, however, we find ourselves striving toward that which always seems to lie just beyond our reach. We are caught up in doing rather than being, in action rather than awareness. It is hard for us to picture a state of complete calmness and repose in which thoughts and feelings cease to dance in perpetual motion. Yet it is through such a state of quietude that we can touch a level of joy and understanding impossible to achieve otherwise.
As Jungian analyst Marion Woodman points out, the soul comes to us through the body. New research has shown that a gas known as nitric oxide is produced by the lining of every blood vessel in your body during exercise, sex, meditation and thinking joyful and hopeful thoughts. Nitric oxide, not only instantaneously increases the circulation of blood throughout the body but also has the ability to balance all other mood enhancing neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine. Some think that nitric oxide is the physical equivalent of the life force, chi, or prana.
Through coming into communion with the multiple layers of our experience, the body, the mind, the soul and the emotions, we are able to create an honest space in which they can inform and listen to one another, bringing the whole self into a more balanced state of being.
Yoga can be the perfect platform for this exploration and discovery. The benefits are far reaching and exponential across our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies. Yoga inspires us to reeducate the our bodies to breath more fully and deeply, the effects of which wash over the entire body promoting healthy cells, circulation, healing and detoxification. Yoga improves strength and flexibility in a balanced way, protecting and lubricating the joints while gently aligning the body.
A yoga practice can create an introspective and self-reflective space in which to listen to the mind and the emotions and their obvious and more subtle connections to our bodies, as well as offering an invitation to address and move through any hinderances to our happiness and health. Yoga addresses posture issues and resets the bodies ways of moving - Dr. Christiane Northrup says in her book Women's Bodies Women's Wisdom, "Slumped shoulders transmit the biochemistry of "sadness" instantaeously throughout the entire body." Thus, yoga is able to wholistically address each individual from the inside out, as well as the from the outside in.
My intention as a yoga teacher is really to elicit the inner guide and inherent wisdom in you. I aim to help you set aside the time and make the space to give yourself the gift of presence, and breath and movement.
Most of us are accustomed to looking outside of ourselves for fulfillment. We are living in a world that conditions us to believe that outer attainments can give us what we want. Yet again and again our experiences show us that nothing external can completely fulfill the deep longing within for "something more."
