In Part I of the Anxiety writings, I talked about the kind of anxiety that won’t go away. You’re in the middle of something intense, a crisis, and anxiety is omnipresent. In Part II, I talked about mundane anxiety, the kind that visits us regularly due to mental habits. In Part III, I want toContinue reading “What to do with this Anxiety – Part III”
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What to do with this Anxiety – Part II
In Part I, I talked about anxiety being a big hairy beast that sits on your chest. Here in Part II, I want to talk about all those other times when the beast is not quite so big. It is more like a nagging pest. So here you have more room to work with it.Continue reading “What to do with this Anxiety – Part II”
The Benefits of a Regular Practice
So it’s great that you’ve been going to class once or twice a week and you love how you feel afterward. You like the changes that have been happening, but now you’d like to have that after-yoga feeling more often. So how do you establish a regular home practice? Here are some tips: Decide howContinue reading “The Benefits of a Regular Practice”
Pratipaksha Bhavana
This week we’ve been talking about Pratipaksha Bhavana. It is the practice of replacing a negative thought with a positive one – and you don’t have to be able to pronounce it to do it! As I’ve mentioned often in class, your thoughts affect your body. Negative thoughts trigger stress hormones, which then take energy away from the optimal functioning of systems such asContinue reading “Pratipaksha Bhavana”
Chill Out – Deep Relaxation
All yoga classes end in a pose that is designed to take you into a state of deep relaxation. The pose is called savasana and, in my class, I also weave in elements of Yoga Nidra. During this deep relaxation, the body enters a hypometabolic state. Here it restores and regenerates tissue and this is what happens everyContinue reading “Chill Out – Deep Relaxation”
Why Keep Moving?
Movement keeps you alive. Movement stimulates the circulation of blood which carries oxygen and nutrients to every cell in your body. Without that delivery system, your cells and tissues become stagnant and they begin to operate less efficiently. Your lymphatic system, which removes cellular waste, dead blood cells and pathogens, relies completely on movement. It’s yourContinue reading “Why Keep Moving?”
Meditation and the Relaxation Response
Meditation is garnering impressive scientific backing as well as much media attention in recent years. I enjoy teaching meditation in my yoga classes and feel that it’s equally important to understand what is happening in the body when one meditates – the changes are so beneficial! Below is a synopsis of what I teach. MeditationContinue reading “Meditation and the Relaxation Response”
Cellular Breathing
Understanding the importance of our breath is a key part of any successful yoga practice. In my class on the breath, I share lots of information about the physiology of breathing and how yoga’s breathing techniques actually change the body’s inner chemistry. One key area to understand is cellular respiration, and particularly how oxygen and glucose areContinue reading “Cellular Breathing”
Michelle Stortz 