Can Yoga Transform Your Life? Yes, I Believe It Has Mine!

Yoga Benefits May Include the following:

The Body

1. Builds Muscle Strength
2. Perfects Your Posture
3. Improves Flexibility
4. Prevents Cartilage and Joints Breakdown
5. Betters Your Bone Health
6. Drains Your Lymph
7. Boosts Immunity
8. Increases Blood Flow
9. Decreases Elevated Blood Pressure Levels
10. Builds Your Heart Rate and then Slows It Down
11. Regulates Your Adrenal Glands (Calms the SNS or Sympathetic Nervous System)
12. Lowers Blood Sugar Levels
13. Helps You Become a More Conscious Eater - Move More; Eat Less
14. Increases Focus and Concentration
15. Improves Ability to Balance
16. Induces Relaxation to Improve Sleep
17. Encourages Pratyahara (ability to move inward for relaxation response)
18. Gives Your Lungs More Room to Breathe
19. Helps Balance Auto-Immune Diseases 
20. Prevents Digestive Issues through Twisting and Calming Stress Related IBS
21. Eases Arthritic Pain and Fibromyalgia
22. Benefits Asthma and Improves Respiration
23. Opens the Sinuses and Soothes to Facilitate Drainage
24. Decreases Frequency of Headaches
25. Improves the Quality of Life for Cancer and HIV Patients
26. Supports Your Connective Tissue (Fascia)
27. Increases Back Strength 
28. Gives Energy and Vitality
29. Improves Athletic Performance and Protects Body from
30. Repetitive Stress Injuries
31. Increases Body Awareness (Pro
    ​-​
    prio
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    ception)

The Mind

1. Improves Relationships
2. Cultivates Emotional Support
3. Develops Greater Kindness and Compassion
4. Helps to Find Equanimity
5. Improves Self-Care and Confidence Levels
6. Gives the Focus of Serving Others
7. Encourages Truth Telling
8. Reduces Stress
9. Helps to Release Chronic Anger and Hostility Issues
10. Facilitates Healing through Mantra and Chanting
11. Focuses Mind on Well-Being and Tranquility
12. Increases Mental Stamina
13. Develops Coping Skills
14. Relieves Chronic Stress Patterns
15. Improves Positive Outlook
16. Cultivates a Sense of Ease
17. Shifts Your Awareness to the Sensations, Emotions, and Thoughts of
18. Every Day Life for Discernment
19. Reduces Feelings of Anxiety and May Help Defer a Panic Attack before Occurrence
20. Helps to Alleviate Depression
21. Soothes PTSD through Breath Practice and Para-Sympathetic Nervous System Response
22. Discharges Tension as a Stress Response
23. Helpful for Adolescents Mental Illness and Behavioral Issues
24. Counterattacks the Ravages of Trauma Based Experiences

The Spirit
Connects with God for Peace and the Ability to Pray Without Distraction 

The Magic Art of Tidying Up!

“Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don't.”  

S. Maraboli

• It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is just next week, and winter begins in a little over one month.  December 21 - Winter Solstice
• Many of you will be traveling, cooking, and entertaining throughout the holidays.  We hope you will bring your guests to Tranquility 
• Just $5.00 cash for friends and family next week.  May you be thankful and find joy this season of gratitude.
• Drop in is still $10.00, but if you have friends and family from out of town; please come with them.
• Let go of unreasonable expectations and discover a new way of living life in a contented manner.  This has brought tremendous joy to my life as I learn to "let go of my expectations and embrace what really "is" in the present moment.  Tidying up our cabinets, our closets, our garages, our storage place, our schedules, and our lives brings positive change.
• 

*****

The December calendar will add and move some classes to see how our attendance goes.  We know that you come for yoga to enjoy, to get a good workout, and to find relaxation/relief.  

On December 1st, you will see the following changes for the Winter Schedule:  Thank you for being flexible; for the flexible will not get BENT out of shape.

Beginning on Saturday, December 3, Winter Schedule Changes:

• 6:00 a.m.  Juicy Joints (moves up one hour) Coffee time afterwards at 7:25 a.m.
• 7:30 a.m.  Spin and Zen (Shorter Spin for 30 minutes/Stretch for 25 + 5 minutes relaxation)
• 9:00 a.m.  Power Yoga (no weight lifting included in the instruction, but you are welcome to grab some weights and use them in every standing pose)
• Yes, you will perspire
• Yes, you will still work very hard and get an amazing practice
• Yes, you will do harder poses that heat you up; you may invert, arm balance, and walk lunges
• 10:30 a.m.  Vinyasa Flow Yoga (Movement based with a Moderate Level)  This is a class that all can enjoy.  Modify where needed; similar to Happy Hips and Hamstrings on Tuesday evening.
• The Kids' Yoga is not making (this Saturday will be our last class)
• Jeanne will be attending school 12:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. to further pursue and achieve her Yoga Therapist certification.

How to Be Pro-Active When You Feel Re-Active

The Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) is engaged when we are active.  It is part of our human anatomy and make-up; when used properly, it gives us the ability to get up and get moving. However, we often "over-incorporate" this adrenaline based ability to act.  

Throughout our lives, we can become too dependent on the feelings of rush, hurry, and stress on an every day type of basis.  When we engage the sympathetic nervous system, the following reactions occur:

• Blood Pressure and Heart Rate Upsurge
• Feelings of Hyper-Vigilance and Hyper-Arousal 
• Blood Clotting and Pupil Size Increase
• Increased Availability of Sugar, Fats; Insulin Is Inhibited
• SNS (Sympathetic Nervous System) Domination Characteristics
• Hypertension
• Fast Arrythmias
• Heart Disease
• Anxiety Prone
• Panic Attacks
• High Cholesterol
• Insomnia
• Poor Digestion
• In cases of potential life threatening events, the hypo-thalamus in the brain produces a stress response.  Epinephrine and nor-epinephrine (adrenaline) along with cortisol, the primary stress hormone (raises glucose levels), are secreted into the bloodstream.

Our bodies are on "HIGH ALERT" status. 

"Anger is built on adrenaline," says Rick Warren.  Daily lifestyles of anger, stress, resentment, and worry, adrenaline reliance, may create depression due to the over-use of this type of mobilization.  This is where yoga, meditation, and breath benefit us.  

Prana-yama or breath control, benefit the types of re-active behavior when it slows down our respiration and gives us a calming mantra to think about each day.  Here are the breath practices that assist those of us who over-use the sympathetic nervous system.  When we breathe slower, we engage the para (comes alongside to help)-sympathetic nervous system on the left side of our bodies.

1. Relaxation Response Breath - The exhale is slower than the inhale by a ratio of 2 to 1
2. NO withholding of breath either at the top of the inhale or the bottom of the exhale - this is counterproductive for those of us where panic attacks, rapid heart rate, high blood pressure, or hyper-anxiety is present.
3. Alternate Nostril Breathing - This form of pranayama is breathing in through one nostril at a time in a slow, relaxed manner.  Breathe in on left side first, breathe out on the right side next.  There is a smooth transition between the left and right nostril for a calming inhalation/exhalation.

​In yoga, a Sun Salute can raise the heart rate, but it can also benefit the heart rate if practiced slowly and mindfully.  Have you ever wondered why I hold a Downward Facing Dog pose too long? Perhaps it is for you to calm the erratic pace of your breath.  Holding the pose was not just to benefit the hamstrings.

All forms of yoga practice are beneficial, but if you struggle with anxiety I recommend slow, beginner's yoga or a restorative practice. A calming mantra can be accessed to help with the breath.  

• Breathe in what you need more of, breathe out what you need to let go of
• Peace, worry 
• Joy, anger 
• Serenity, anxiety 
• Or ​breathe in two words that have a similar meaning that promote calming relaxation  
• Peace, calm
• Joy, happiness
• Serenity, tranquility

Thich Nhat Hanh says, "Smile, breathe, and go slowly.  Feelings come and go like clouds on a windy sky.  Conscious breathing is my anchor."

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Calming, Easy Yoga Practices here at Tranquility:

Beginner's Yoga at 12:00 p.m. Monday through Friday

Move to Restore on Monday and Wednesday evenings at 6:45 p.m.

Sunday afternoons at 3:00 p.m.  Rest and Restore

Peace in the Studio; Thank You for Silent Cell Phones in the Reception Room, Shoes Off, and Political Opinions in the Car

 

I remember fondly going to church with my grandparents and my father.  It was an Episcopal church, and one of my favorite parts as a child was the "peace" greeting.  I looked up how it began, and here is what I discovered.

A liturgical exchange of greeting through word and gesture. It is a sign of reconciliation, love, and renewed relationships in the Christian community.



It is initiated by the celebrant, who says, 

"The peace of the Lord be always with you." 

The people respond, "And also with you." 

The ministers and people may greet one another in the name of the Lord. Any appropriate words of greeting may be used in the exchange of peace that follows between individuals. 

The gesture of greeting has been expressed in a variety of ways, including a kiss on the cheek, an embrace, a handclasp, or a bow. The peace is also known as the kiss of peace and the Pax (from the Latin, "peace").

​ ​

http://archive.episcopalchurch.org/109399_14998_ENG_HTM.htm

I don't always "feel" peaceful, and neither do you.  However, one big lesson I have learned from my training in yoga and in meditation is that we embrace it before it shows up. Thus our mantras and meditations always become positive self-affirmations.  Frequently, I end our classes with "May you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be safe, and may you be at peace."  It is called the loving-kindness or metta meditation and has a long history in yoga, similar to the greeting in the Episcopal church and other places of worship.  

We must practice this peace.  It does not come naturally.  Our yoga studio is a place of such peace, harmony, kindness, and compassion.  So, I am asking a BIG favor this week as we come together for just this one blessing...peace to you and peace to me.  Please leave your cell phones on silent, your shoes in the reception room, and your political opinions, gladness or unhappiness with the outcome in your car. 

Let's practice "The peace of God" with one another.  Tranquility Yoga is a place of serenity and rest.  Thank you for your understanding that while we are all different, we embrace the peace and light within each other.  OM shanti, shanti, shanti...peace, peace, peace.