Creating Health Holistically

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Structural Yoga

Folks come to this work for relief of muscle and joint pain and to find a safe way to exercise. Many participants are in the middle ages and into the more advanced years. Some are recovering from surgery, some from trauma.

It’s more than yoga. We combine functional movement education and yoga (mantra, meditation, asana, pranayama breathing) in a playful and explorative way that restores lost function to the systems of the body. Muscles gain tone as they lose excess tension. Emotional and mental states settle into feelings of harmony and happiness as the repetitive quality of thinking slows and the neurological stress response shifts from discomfort about the past and/or anxiety for the future to an ease of being in this present moment.

All attendees are encouraged to work within a way that deals best with their own unique challenges and strengths. Props are used in these classes. Walls, floors, chairs, balls, blocks, belts. Straws! (yes, straws, lol). We move our bodies sitting, kneeling, standing, lying down.

You can work within a group or privately. Custom assessment and program design are available as well for those who can work on their own.

What Structural Yoga is Not:

This is a before and after shot shared with kind permission of the client.  First session.  Her ability to stand straighter and with more ease after one hour of breathing and very slow and gentle movement….

iRest® Yoga Nidra Sleeping Yoga

This is a truly wonderful form of yogic education from ancient times that has been combined with understandings of neurology and psychology to create a trauma sensitive protocol. A means of “sleeping”, at the same time maintaining an inner state of peaceful awareness. This is a very restorative practice and a therapeutic modality that can assist with stress syndromes, anxiety, PTSD, depression and insomnia.

Each session uses “body sensing” guided meditations as the means for calming chronic and repetitive thoughts and emotions of the past and/or future. As stress responses in the brain settle (we cannot think and feel at the same time), we begin to personally experience deep ease and rest In the present moment where there is nothing missing and nothing wrong. Participants find their abilities to cope with challenging situations improves and enjoyment in living increases.

Bring a pillow and a blanket to class because, yes, you will be sleeping! Go to the iRest website to find free practices and research on it’s effects with various populations including active duty military, youth, etc. Group workshops and private sessions available. See the Schedule page for more details.

The following populations and conditions have found benefit with iRest®

Craniosacral Therapy

Considered a “light touch” therapy, this work taps into the deep craniosacral rhythm within the body that gives information about where restrictions and blockages are lying within the fascial system. A very gentle pressure encourages the issues in the tissues to release. CST is increasingly used as a preventive health measure for its ability to bolster resistance to disease, and it’s effective for a wide range of medical problems associated with pain and dysfunction.

Neuromuscular Massage Therapy

This process always begins with a medical history, postural, gait and palpation assessments. The goal is not relaxation and is not full body as is relaxation massage. Muscles that are in a chronically constricted state are manually released-those muscles that are in a weakened, over lengthened state are engaged with isolated contract and relax movements that begin to establish clear sensory and motor nerve pathways. Pranayama breathing exercises may be used in the session as well as voice and energy work to bring flow into the channels of the body. Clients find muscular tension progressively dissolving throughout the session and leave standing more upright, walking with more ease, having more energy, feeling lighter and brighter. This work greatly enhances and supports the effects of structural yoga.

Myofascial Release

This therapeutic intervention stimulates the body’s natural ability to heal itself. Hands on steady pressure in a given area warms the fascia and encourages a natural relaxation response to arise then spread out to surrounding tissues. Useful for easing old patterns of stress, strain and pain.

What My Clients Say About iRest® Yoga Nidra...