Find your yoga.

One of the things I love most about yoga is that for 90 minutes (give or take a few on any given day) I'm focused on nothing but myself, my breathing, my body, my sensations, my intuition, my voice.  I get to give myself over to myself which seems to be somewhat of a luxury these days.

For many of us, if not all of us, today's world is one of constant contact.  Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Billboards, radio commercials, political ads, street sign twirlers, the guy yelling about deals at the swap meet, pop up ads, spam email, etc. (the list could go on an on) are constantly in our personal space.  Some of these things we let in voluntarily and some force their way in.  With so much "noise" vying for our attention, how and when do we take time to hear ourselves?  What happens to that voice inside?  Can you even hear it anymore?  Are you even listening?  Would you know that voice if you heard it?  And would you take heed, or just ignore it and file it away somewhere with all the other noise you need to sort through?

Yoga is the best tool I've come across to help me sort through what's real and what is not, what is my voice and what is not, what is best for me and what is not and ultimately root down to the bottom myself and help me find something authentic to share.  I'm still sorting and I'm still rooting and every day the picture gets clearer.  

Yoga allows me to take a moment for myself; to connect back in with myself and to just be.  In the moment of breath, body and mind together as one, lost in myself yet wide awake.  Beautiful.  Everyday my yoga comes more off the mat and more into every moment of my life.

I teach yoga to share this gift that I have found; to help others find their yoga and the blessed voice that guides them.

DONATION YOGA to support Wings of Kilimanjaro

Every Thursday at 5:30PM, beginning July 5th, we will meet at Core et' Barre (yoga and barre studio) in Newport Beach for a donation based yoga practice.  This practice will be an all levels Vinyasa flow class and donations collected will go to benefit Wings of Kilimanjaro and the charities they support.

Wings of Kilimanjaro is a group of paragliders that have teamed up to raise funds to support two Tanzanian charities, Plant With A Purpose and One (learn more about them here: http://wingsofkilimanjaro.com/index.php/charities/), in exchange for the opportunity to paraglide off of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

This is your chance to do something good for yourself and for the world - your $5-$15 donation will help plant trees, bring clean water and sanitation to adults, children and families in need and address critical health issues for those in need - it's a win win situation - you get an inexpensive yoga class and they get clean water!

You can keep up to date on the details of these donation meetups by joining following us on Facebook.

I hope to see you some Thursday soon at the beautiful Core Et' Barre ocean view studio for our donation yoga classes!

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What you put on your body is just as important as what you put in it - our skin is living and breathing and absorbing what it comes in contact with! Check out this website to find out what's in your beauty products (it will also tell you if the company that produces them does animal testing)!


http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/

BPA and our health.

I came across this on the Huffington Post today and thought it was worth sharing - it discusses the now strongly proven links between BPAs and our health, specifically hormone disruption, obesity and diabetes...while I believe that this is not the sole cause of these problems it is part of it, all the little things we are exposed to add up!

Give it a read.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/14/bpa-chemical-hormone-obesity-diabetes_n_1276996.html?ref=mostpopular

yoga, health, obesity, diabetes, overweight, hormones, stress, office yoga, orange county, irvine, newport beach, wellness, holisitc

Stress in the workplace...

Do you suffer from any of these?

• Headache
• Sleep disturbances
• Difficulty concentrating
• Short temper
• Upset stomach
• Job dissatisfaction
• Low morale

...well these are all signs of stress, JOB STRESS in particular for the last two, and continued stress not only leaves us psychologically exhausted but also vulnerable to illness and disease.

Use the following link to the CDC (Center for Disease Control) and read up on how job stress is and it can affect you (STRESS...at work) -  then consider that a regular yoga practice can help regulate sleep, improve concentration, elevate mood and boost confidence.

For more information on Living Balance Yoga Corporate Yoga Programs and Stress Management Workshops in Orange County, CA please call us at 657.464.7746.

Three 5 minute practices you can do when you just "don't feel like it"

I love yoga, but even I struggle sometimes to keep my practice regular, life, demands on time and my physical and emotional health can sometimes get in the way...so I try and remind myself that when my motivation is lacking or I feel like I just "don't have time" that is the time when I likely need MY yoga the most.  

Here are some simple things you can do each day when you may not feel like a full blown yoga practice but know that some yoga would do you good - it's likely that after you do one or two of these exercises you may have some new found energy and a desire to do more!

1.  Deep breathing (2-3 minutes)

• Find a quiet space
• Sit or stand upright but in a relaxed position (if you feel like you are straining to sit upright, sit on a blanket and allow your pelvis to tilt forward off the edge of the blanket, or stand)
• Roll your shoulders up, back and down
• Relax your face, jaw and neck
• Close your eyes
• Inhale - take a long deep breath in through your nose, using your diaphragm to move the breath, feel your belly rise, let the breath flow up into your ribcage opening it on all sides including the back and follow it into the chest allowing it to rise opening your heart center and spreading your collarbones wide
• Exhale - still breathing through your nose, use the diaphragm to expel the air, draw your belly toward your spine and allow your chest to fall
• Repeat for 10 full breath cycles
• Gently open your eyes

2.  Sun Salutations (modified) (3-5 minutes)

• Find a quite space
• Begin in a comfortable standing position, feet hip distance apart
• Roll your shoulders up, back and down
• Inhale (through the nose) bringing your arms overhead
• Exhale, fold forward, hinging at the hips and leading with your heart, bending at the knees if necessary to protect your hamstrings and brining the hands to the ground
• Inhale, come up half way - flattening and lengthening the back (trying to get it parallel with the floor), reaching the heart and crown of the head forward and the shoulders back (hands may rest on the floor or your shins)
• Exhale, relax back into the forward fold, hands to the ground
• Inhale, sweep the arms out to the side then overhead, coming all the way up onto your tip toes, stretching and lengthening the entire body
• Exhale, bring your hands together in prayer position in front of your heart
• Repeat 5 times

3.  Active Relaxation (5-10 min)

• Find a quite space where you have enough room to comfortably lie down
• Support your head, the back of your knees, etc. with a blanket or pillow if it's more comfortable
• Close your eyes
• Allow your breathing to be calm and quiet
• Beginning with your eyes and continuing down to your toes, visualize each body part as you actively relax it (e.g., relax your eyes by allowing them to roll back toward your temples, relax your jaw and let your tongue fall away from the roof of your mouth, relax your shoulders allowing your chest and heart to open, soften the belly and let the lower back relax down to the ground, etc.) - let your body melt into and be supported by the ground below you

   Stay here as long as you'd like, when you are ready to "awaken"

• place your hands over your eyes, then open your eyes with your hands still over them
• slowly draw your hands away from your eyes allowing the light to seep in
• roll to your right side and push yourself up to a seated position (simple cross-legged position)
• take a deep breath

Enjoy the energy you just cultivated in your body and take comfort in knowing that you are caring for yourself.