Energize Your Health and Control Stress through Yoga
Why Yoga Matters More than You Think
Yoga ~ To Yoke, To Join, To Connect Prana ~ Vitality, Life Force
Namaste ~ The divine light in me recognizes the divine light in you T T
he Director of The Yoga Center in Greenwich, CT, Lauren Berger, has been practicing yoga for 27 years. She started practicing as a form of exercise to stretch her tight muscles
which were built over years of training as an extreme skier. What she learned over time, is that yoga does have its physical benefits, developing long, lean muscles, but the overall health and stress management tools that yoga practice teaches makes it a whole- body experience.
Through yoga practice, one realizes that the only way to affect our future and take control of our lives is by managing the present mo- ment. To control ourselves, our actions, our words, what we eat, what we think, and above all, our attitude. Our goal in yoga is to be objective and non-judgmental, so we can see through a clear lens. Every person on this earth has their own struggles to deal with. We never fully know what someone else is going through.
As all change requires hard work and overcoming obstacles, the practice of yoga requires effort. Committing to something builds our ability to focus. Yoga teaches us to minimize distractions and build mental focus while strengthening the body and the brain to bring us to balance. One becomes increasingly more demand- ing of oneself, learning, becoming stronger and improving ability to handle any struggle presented to us in life. As focus is honed, learning to manage and control our breath helps to control our entire nervous system.
Things are as they are, how we perceive them is under our control. We all have the power to choose our view. When you spill some- thing on your shirt or start your day knocking over and breaking your favorite vase, or you are late to work because your child had a meltdown or overslept, how we respond to these everyday issues and situations present us with choices. All day we are making choices. We want to learn to be responsive from a place of calm and clarity, versus being reactionary. This is what yoga teaches us.
The Yoga Center of Greenwich focuses on practicing yoga in a heated room. Our practice is a slower moving meditation which is focused on proper alignment first. Meditation does more than help calm our emotions and reduce cortisol levels to help manage our stress responses, meditation also improves our immune function and reduces inflammation.
The Yoga Center Greenwich is a unique environment focusing on the details of yoga practice with a warm and empowering com- munity, igniting a powerful energy from within. For more details and class schedule please visit
www.yogacentergreenwich.com. Or email
yogacentergreenwich@gmail.com 125 Greenwich Avenue, Greenwich. See ad on page 14.
1414 Tues., Wed., Fri. 10-6, Turs. 10-7, and Sat. 10-5
ranslating these 3 words alone offers us insight as to why the practices of yoga are so powerful. Many of us are consumed and regurgitated day after day within the busy “business” of
life. Many of our spirits are overworked and underpaid in regards to the self-care we offer ourselves. Audre Lorde quotes, “I have come to believe that caring for myself is not self-indulgent. Caring for myself is an act of survival.” In a world where technology has sped things up, we can struggle to slow things down and find it challenging to access our most important “devices”. There are yoga studios, yoga shows and yoga apps all within reach and yet so many of us struggle creating time to put our oxygen mask on first. The truth is you don’t need fancy clothes or a flexible body to do yoga. All you need is a willingness to go inside of you.
We take over 21,000 breaths a day - let’s notice a few. Close your eyes and say silently, “I am here now.” Take 10 breaths noticing coolness of inhale thru the nostrils and the weight of breath out as you exhale thru mouth. Unhinge the jaw. Sigh. Let go. Pause. Ask yourself:
“How am I feeling?” “How am I not feeling?” “What do I need in this moment?” - Observe what arises.
As we practice LISTENING for insight and information, we realize wherever ‘I go, there I am’ and what we do or don’t do generates energy that either brightens our light or dims it. The power of the pause allows sediment to settle so we can more clearly see what’s beneath the surface of our mind. By observing what it feels like to be inside of ourselves we often intuitively start seeking what helps us to be more balanced.
Yoga is more important than you think because it is not just exer- cise. The practices of yoga reconnect us to ourselves. To one an- other. To our unique light, to the universal source of all beings. To what’s important and what’s not important. Yoga helps us find more balance, steadiness and ease in our thoughts and our actions. Yoga matters most because the whole world benefits when we are more connected to ourselves and one another. Just for a week commit to 60 seconds of breath and observation.
Kristin Cork is a life-long student and has been a teacher of yoga for 2 decades. At her studio
Be.Yoga in Avon, you can find her guiding people to breathe, pause, ponder and connect. Her classes are mov- ing meditations whether gentle or strong. Join her starting in January for the next journey of 100 hr “
Be.ing Within” Immersion & 200 hr “Be.Teaching from Within” Yoga Training. See ad on page 9.
www.NaturalNutmeg.com 15
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