Lifespan Yoga goes to Georgia

I presented information from my Chair Yoga book at Cochran's Chair Yoga Day on Tuesday, May 10 at 2:30 p.m. in the Community House. This wonderful event was sponsored by Cochran Woman's Club. Participants learned low impact exercises that can easily be done in a chair. Everyone who attended this free workshop learned about the Women's Club and later enjoyed refreshments. Click for more information about setting up a presentation in your area.  

Check out the link to the YouTube video about Cochran's Chair Yoga Day

Chair Yoga: Lifespan Yoga for Health and Wellness is now on Amazon

My latest book Chair Yoga: Lifespan Yoga for Health and Wellness is now on Amazon! I am so excited and very grateful to my family for all their help. You will not see this book listed on my author page at Amazon for a few days but soon it will populate there too. Here are all the links for different countries, click and the full book description pops up.

Amazon (yes, free shipping with Amazon Prime)

UK

Italy

Germany

France

Spain

CreateSpace

Huntington’s Disease and Yoga

June 21 and 22, 2013 I traveled to the Huntington’s DiseaseSociety of America’s28^th Annual Convention to introduce Chair Yoga to individuals from all over the country living with Huntington’s Disease. We had lively yoga sessions including Gentle Yoga, Chair Yoga and Wheelchair Yoga. On day 2 I even pulled out some props. These yoga classes included adaptation for a range of mobility concerns, so I can not even begin to describe my awe at what these students new to yoga accomplished. I am grateful for the invitation by the convention organizers to bring yoga to those with HD and the assistance provided by the convention staff during classes. Special thanks go to yogi and New York Times bestselling author Lisa Genova for her interest and kind words about the classes. Although it can be helpful to label classes Chair Yoga or Adapted Yoga, for me it is all yoga and I am happy to share it. 

Lifespan Yoga Kids (and their Art)

(also posted at www.lifespanyoga.com) I have been adding little art projects on to the end of Kids Yoga classes for a few years.  They now have taken on a life of their own and I can not stop taking pictures of the art the kids dream up. They are working on art journals and up-cycling old frames and canvas art.

 And I few things the adults made as examples. Best part about up-cycling the old frames is kids can take home and hang on their wall.

We do it all gain next Tuesday at 12:30pm! I am buying more paint.

Yoga Research is Positive

(now posted at www.LifespanYoga.com)

I love to read research about the positive impact of a good yoga practice. A blog posting on the Yoga Journal site outlined the following:

In an interview on the CBS show This Morning, P. Murali Doraiswamy, M.D., professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Duke University said that studies have shown yoga practice to produce a relaxation response that mimics the best anti-anxiety drugs on the market today, and that it can also help people with mild depression, insomnia, and ADHD. 

We need to know exactly what they mean by "practice".  Did the study participants do a special style of yoga? What about breathing? Were they taught to meditate?   

Dr. Doraiswamy says, “Studies have shown that yoga affects perhaps more than 200 different processes in our body and in our brain. It affects virtually every tissue and every system in our body.”

Soon studies will compare styles of yoga, yoga teachers, length of classes, length of savasana and compare long term yogis to newbies. That is all possible and cheaper than drug trials. It is fascinating. You can read the whole post here.

Chair Yoga at Work

Yoga International said:

"Frazzled workers take heed -- a short, intention-filled break can offer significant health benefits.  Alarmed by the up to 50 percent higher risk for heart attack associated with chronic work stress, researchers in Australia assessed the impact of just 15 minutes of in-office yoga or meditation.  While participants did either chair yoga, guided meditation, or went about work as usual, the researchers measured such health variables as perceived stress, blood pressure, respiration rate, and heart rate variability (HRV -- a predictor of cardiac and overall health).  Compared with those who took no break, the yoga and meditation groups showed significant improvements in each of these variables.  Chair yoga and meditation produced similar improvements in HRV, respiration, and perceived stress, while meditation had a greater impact on blood pressure."

The abstract for the study is at:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22291847

Interview with Jessica Natale on Meditation

Interview with Jessica Natale, RYT, CPF, Meditation Instructor

Meditation is the tongue of the soul and the language of our spirit. - Jeremy Taylor

Why don’t people meditate?

From my experience people often have a laundry list of why they can’t and don’t meditate. I frequently hear: I can’t/don’t want to sit still, I don’t have time, I already go to such and such church, or do such and such practice.

How do you respond to this?

As soon as I hear “I can’t sit still” I know this is the person that NEEDS meditation the most. There is nothing anybody can’t do. There are ways to make meditation bearable for all. There are many different positions to sit, stand and recline in. Sitting in a lotus pose with your thumbs to fingers on your legs isn’t the only way to be meditative. Small increments of practice are useful as well. If one meditated and held still for only 49 seconds, that’s still meditation!

What about those people who fear failure?

Part of being a well adjusted adult is the willingness to try new things. If you can not introduce a new activity even for one day, even for 10 minutes, how can you expect to deal with major life changes? Small wiggle’s in our comfort space allows us to handle life when the floor drops beneath us completely, with much more grace and sanity. Science has begun to tell as that change in routines (like trying something new) can help increase a person’s happiness and ultimately their health.

What do you tell people who say they do not have time to meditate?

If you don’t have time to meditate then you’re telling me you never wait at the doctor’s office, do laundry, or struggle to fall asleep. These are all moments when your mind does not need to be working on something else. You know that show you watch just because it’s between the shows you like? Well, that’s your meditation time. From the last 5 minutes of the spin cycle you are waiting around for. The 45 minutes it takes your daughter to blow dry her hair. These are all increments of time that can be used to relax and center your self.

What about those that say they have another practice?

Meditation can mean a great variety of things. It can be incorporated in many practices: yoga, a spiritual and/or philosophical routine, a tool for stimulating healing and creativity, a way to deal with difficult emotions, and part of a holy religious ceremony with others or in your own personal shrine of yourself. Meditation can’t do anything but enhance the activities we already partake in.

Learn more about Meditation at Jessica's next workshop at Lifespan Yoga in Mandarin:

Yoga as Meditation, Meditation as Yoga ™

Sunday, Jan 20

2:00-4:00pm

$30  

Description: This workshop involves basic meditation instruction for those with little to no experience.  In this modern life full of obligations and electronic communication people find themselves stressed and unable to concentrate. Learn how to find time for simple yoga and meditation techniques that can help ease stress.  Whether you have an interest in yoga or not, meditation can be practiced easily. No matter what your physical,mental, and emotional abilities meditative relaxation is attainable. A basic history will be given along with options for sitting, standing, and reclined positions to practice meditation from. You will be guided through poses, breath work, chanting, and silent meditation in short intervals, working up to a longer period of silent meditation. Guided relaxation will be offered at the end of the workshop as well as time to ask questions and take breaks through out.

Sign up at www.LifespanYoga.com

Tai Chi at Lifespan Yoga

David Paul, our new Monday night Tai Chi Gung teacher at Lifespan Yoga wrote this for us. I hope you can make his class at 7pm, all the links to his bio, pictures and his classes are at www.lifespanyoga.com.

"I am sometimes asked about the relationship between Tai' Chi Gung and energy work in general.  Chi is another word for energy.  Tai' means "grand" or " original source".  Gung means "temple" or "physical body".  Tai' Chi Gung is a system of moment and breathing that teaches an individual how their body truly works. It is sometimes called the "owner's manual" to the physical body. 

We have a tendency to only think in one direction when we talk about health or healing. I am going to "get" healed, or "give" energy.   The science and art of Tai' Chi Gung addresses this aspect of healing, but it also shows people how to achieve  something called the "circle of completion",  the "figure eight".  

Energy goes out and it returns.  Energy is designed to flow between the right and left side of the body continuously.  Energy is intended to be in a continuous exchange between the physical body and the energy in nature.  Quite frankly, most of the ailments we suffer from are caused by the lack of conscious connection to nature. 

It is when there is continuous communion, a sharing between us and nature, a giving and receiving in balance, that the energy can truly crescendo, the vibration can increase 10 fold or 100 fold.  The byproduct of this normal balance is that the symptoms we call dis-ease can no longer remain. The vibration is simply too high, too full of life.  Health is restored, and vitality goes up, it regenerates.

So in Tai' Chi Gung, if our goal is to be healthy, or restore health, we must discover what it feels like to have a conscious connection to nature through the four elements that make up our physical body:  earth, water, fire and air.  For example, it is not an accident that the human body is about 70% water, and the earth itself is about 70% water.  It is not an accident that we have an energy center called the Solar Plexus, and that this is connected intimately with the electrical system, the fire in the nervous system in the body.

Tai' Chi Gung is a science and an art from Tibet that has been passed down in an unbroken lineage from teacher to student for more than 3000 years.  It is a series of exercises with breathing and movement that first restores the magnetic field surrounding the body to the balanced state that it has when it is in harmony with nature.  Then this balance gives rise to a third, or regenerative energy inside the body (Kundalini) and then, the Chi or Vital energy in the field, in a crescendo with nature, begins to penetrate the physical body through the 7 chakras to the endocrine glands, to the blood stream and gradually onward from the least dense to the most dense systems in the body until it has restored balance even in the marrow of the bones.

   

Studying Tai' Chi Gung will give a student a conscious experience with their energy field so that they can understand how the energy flows to them from nature, and from them to nature.  In a sentence:  It is a 3000 year old science that shows a human being how to increase their personal vibration, restore health and speed up all aspects of  synchronicity in their lives, as mentioned in James Redfield's books beginning with "The Celestine Prophecy".

This information is treated in greater detail in Rasaji's book "The Circle of Chi", available at www.rasaji.com .  David Paul leads the Monday night  7 p.m. Tai' Chi Gung class at Lifespan Yoga. He is a Tai' Chi Gung adept and  has been studying Tai' Chi Gung with Rasaji for 27 years."

Tanya graduates from Lifespan Yoga YTT200

Tanya Norenberg graduated from Lifespan Yoga YTT200 today. It was a family affair with her 3 beautiful children, mom, dad, cousin and nieces and nephews. She is a wonderful addition to the community of Yoga Teachers and will be teaching at Lifespan Yoga.

The Contraindication Index for Yoga Asanas Review

Victoria E. McColm is about to formally launch the book The Contraindication Index for Yoga Asanas. In the book she has cataloged and organized special conditions and poses that are contraindicated for each condition. She has received good peer reviews from the yoga community, including my review summerized here. I do recommend this book for RYT200 and above. I have sick, injured and disabled students in classes so any information cataloged in an easy to use way about the contraindications of yoga poses is quite helpful. Some of my students arrive feeling like they can't do anything and are shocked to see there are many things they can do, especially in Chair Yoga or Gentle Yoga with props. Victoria has some really good studies referenced (longitudinal, huge sample size). I do recommend in edition 2 links to the studies, medical journals or websites of the researchers. This book is a good way to get more university and medical research on yoga into the hands of RYT200s and I love that. I think this book is very timely. Here is Victoria's information if you would like to get this book:

 

Victoria E. McColm

Founder - Prevent Yoga Injury

Author - "The Contraindication Index

for Yoga Asanas"

****************************************

victoria@preventyogainjury.com

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | LINKEDIN

Lifespan Yoga has children's yoga books

Nikita's Sun, written and illustrated by Beth Daugherty is a children's story and coloring book about a five year old girl who attends kids yoga at Lifespan Yoga. She is learning to do the Sun Salutation and it can be hard to remember the poses. The pictures of the poses are outlined so children can color them in or you can get it fully colored to read out loud. I have found the combination of story, pictures, art activity and doing the yoga poses helps children remember the sequence. You can purchase the book online at www.lifespanyoga.com.

Christina Phipps Foundation Training

Christina Phipps Foundation held training at Memorial Hospital yesterday with 17 new CPF trainees. We are deeply grateful to our presenters for volunteering their time on a Saturday morning to be with us and share their knowledge about cancer treatment and recovery. The video below (posted on my YouTube channel) is beautiful and features the song I used when I presented my case study a few years ago in CPF Training Class number 1. Christina-- "Wish You Were Here"

https://www.youtube.com/user/LifespanYoga?feature=plcp

Brigid Murphy Completes Lifespan Yoga® Gentle Certification

I am happy to announce Brigid Murphy completed Lifespan Yoga® Gentle Certification last night. She specialized in Yoga for Arthritis and presented her topic in a workshop format. She also had the opportunity to teach chair and gentle yoga during the course of her certification. She is currently teaching All Levels Yoga Wednesday evenings at 6:30. Join this talented teacher for a wonderful class next week.

What is your PURPOSE?

“Dharma means purpose. We all have our own purposes in life, lessons we are to learn, areas of interest that we are naturally gifted and the specific areas of humanity that need our help. Each individual has their own special blend of purpose. No one person can help everyone. No one person can be or do everything. Each person has their own special talents and their own area of expertise. It is my belief that if everyone is doing exactly what their joy was in life it would solve most of the world's issues.” This quote is from http://dharmaplace.com/What'sYourDharma.htm. Check it out for some fun activities.

Liz Gregovits Completes Chair Certification

I am happy to announce Liz Gregovits completed Lifespan Yoga Chair Certification last night. She will be teaching Gentle Bowls Tuesday nights at 6:30. This is a very Gentle Yoga class with crystal bowl meditation. Liz has been playing the bowls for a few years and she has a wonderful background in sound meditation (naad yoga). We have been experimenting with the classes in the month of October and found some people like to use the chair, some use the mat and some people combine the chair and the mat for these gentle classes. Meditation can be done in the chair or on the floor, that is up to you. Liz has agreed to begin Tuesday Nov. 6, 2012. Please join me in welcoming the Crystal Bowl Yogi to the roster of Lifespan Yoga teachers.

Curvy Yoga™ class series at Lifespan Yoga®

I completed my certification in Curvy Yoga August, 2012. I really was not looking for another certification; I have plenty to keep me busy. I pursued the Curvy certification because I wanted to be very clear that my studio not just welcomed curvy bodied students, but was serious about their yoga education. I want my classes to feel safe and accessible for all people, and if someone has a round body I am committed to teaching yoga that will work for that person. Many curvy students have always wanted to do yoga but never felt welcome in a yoga class and this must change. Yoga has always been for every body.

It is important to break the myth that yoga is only for skinny, flexible, young people. You will probably never see an image in the media of a curvy yogi. The last advertiser I was working with could find no stock photo of a yogi over a size 4 to use for my ads. I asked them if they had a stock photo of someone with grey hair doing a yoga pose. They did not.

The main goal in Curvy Yoga is providing a comfortable and supportive space for Curvy students to explore yoga postures with other people like them, learning the same thing, and going through similar challenges. I found beginning Curvy students could completely relax with others in a no-judgment zone. We are now winding down the Curvy Yoga series this Tuesday (6:45-7:45 pm). All of the students finishing up the Curvy series are feeling confident about moving into Gentle Yoga. 

When I developed our Gentle Yoga classes, I did so for my students with chronic disease, chronic pain and/or severe stress. They wanted to slow down and relax, their health depended on it. They did not need to increase their stress with a fast paced or too hard yoga class! So the Gentle Yoga classes became a place to do yoga very slowly, with time in the pose and between poses. All poses are taught at a few levels of difficulty so any student can experiment, challenge or back off at any time. With their Curvy Yoga introduction, these students will blend right in. They can grab chairs or props at any time and now they know exactly when to use them.

We will resume our Gentle Yoga class at 6:30pm Tuesdays in October. If you want to learn about my next Curvy Yoga program at Lifespan Yoga in Jacksonville, FL go to www.lifespanyoga.com and sign up for our newsletter to receive announcements.

Chair Yoga Certification Program

Lifespan Yoga® Chair Certification in Jacksonville, Florida

September 23

When I began teaching yoga to cancer patients that were being treated with chemotherapy and radiation treatments, everyone was doing well in yoga class and many of the students were fit. But I had a nagging feeling that someone would come in that could not get up and down from the floor. This prompted me to learn Chair Yoga. I did my research, took classes, read up on it and finally put it on the calendar as a stand alone class. In the first class I had a woman who had suffered 7 strokes, a woman with dementia, two women who walked with canes and a few people with leg problems from diabetes. I realized this was going to be as challenging as the cancer classes and I loved it. I never looked back. I added another class the next year and now am offering a class to certify other yoga teachers to teach this very special yoga.  

To enroll in this certification you must have completed a Yoga Alliance Approved 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training and have a calling to learn how to teach yoga to people who cannot get up and down from the floor. This includes people of all ages. Younger people attend chair yoga classes if they have serious headaches or medications that make them dizzy. People with every type of disability, especially MS attend. People of all ages with knee and hip problems avoid floor yoga and move to chair yoga. Diabetics with neuropathy may feel safer doing yoga in a chair. Some people begin in chair yoga and after a few months transition to gentle yoga on the floor. This happens more than I expected. Of course anyone who sits at a desk can do yoga at work in their chair. Many yoga postures can be modified so everyone can experience the spirit of the yoga poses from a chair or with the chair as a prop. If you are interested in providing a transformational experience for these students, this certification is for you. Sign up at www.lifespanyoga.com.

YTT 200 Graduation

 

Today we graduated our first class of Lifespan Yoga® Teachers. These special gals worked hard all summer and with great joy we welcomed them into the circle of yoga teachers this afternoon. We are grateful for their dedication and to their loved ones who supported them all summer. Although Jessica’s mom is far away and could not be with us she posted this on Facebook:

Today I am one proud mom, my daughter Jessica graduates, she will be a yoga instructor...as many of my dear friends know she was diagnosed with brain cancer March 2011, and just finished her chemo May 2012. I am so proud of her, all that she has been thru...I can remember it like it was yesterday me pushing her in a wheelchair. Taking her around the rehab place and her yelling at me that I was going too fast...and then the rehab she went thru to regain use of her leg and arm, playing with coins to force her to use her hand and her being mad at me. I loved when she got angry at me…showed me she had the fight in her...She was a trooper. I want to Thank all of my friends who stood by me with private messages...and phone calls...Barb and Sandi, I cannot even begin to thank you. Barb...the gentle way you hit me in the head and helped me get myself together. My older daughter Jennifer who flew back and forth from California...my brother and his wife...putting up with my trials and tribulations...my sweet husband helping me thru it all. So many to thank...my husband's company who with compassion allowed him to take time off and get me back and forth to the hospital  and rehab places in Boston… Thank you so much, Jr…Of course a big thank you also to Jessica's dad...my ex husband who came up from Florida and got a hotel room so he can take Jess back and forth everyday for her chemo treatments. Jessica has come a long way...and everyday she faces challenges...I am so proud of her. Yoga has helped her so much thru this all...and now she will share her knowledge of yoga to others...

Lifespan Yoga® Yoga Teacher Training Testimonials

I recieved feedback from my current YTT trainees today and had to post their testimonials. They will graduate in two weeks and it is hard to believe the first YTT class is coming to a close!

Yoga Teacher Training at Lifespan Yoga® is a special type of teaching program. There is no other YTT program like it in or around Jacksonville. With small classes and individualized attention, the training is targeted to each student’s needs. It is gentle and flexible enough for those with health issues, like me. The teacher, and owner of the studio, Beth Daugherty, has many years of experience teaching and living yoga. It has taught me how to work with others like myself who have special needs. I highly recommend Lifespan Yoga® YTT if you are looking for a different way of learning to teach yoga.----Sandy S., YTT trainee

Yoga Teacher Training at Lifespan Yoga® has had a huge positive impact on my life. The individualized attention and small class structure made the training so enjoyable and informative. I not only learned how to be an instructor, but I improved my own health and practice greatly.----Jessica N., YTT trainee

Yoga for Cancer Survivors: Save the Date 10.13.12

Yoga in the Park

in memory of Christina Phipps

Date: Saturday, October 13, 2012

Time: 8am - 4pm
Place: Sea Walk Pavilion
Jacksonville Beach

http://www.yogainthepark4cancer.com

Come meet me and other volunteer Christina Phipps Foundation certified yoga teachers out at the beach in October. The proceeds from this event go to Jacksonville’s own In the Pink, a non-profit, one stop store that provides a variety of related products and merchandise specifically for cancer survivors. http://www.jaxinthepink.com