Happy World Yoga Day
Today is the day for an ode to life…
Here is an ode to a practice that has given so many new life…
Here is an ode to a practice that literally breaths life into all our bodily parts
Here is an ode to a practice that has built both resilient minds…
And benevolent hearts.
Happy World YOGA Day.
Wherever you are today get down into down face dog, strike a warrior pose, surrender into child’s pose, or just take one deep breath.
It is World Yoga Day.
Perhaps for you, yoga is having a silent moment with a warm cup of tea, completely present to the moment.
Yoga is also about cherishing those who are dear to you, enjoying the simplicity of a kind and gentle exchange.
So raise you tea cups, uplift your arms and your strong hearts….it is World Yoga Day.
So we celebrate.
Todays SPRITUAL RETREAT honours WORLD YOGA DAY.
With Senior Yoga Teachers Leanne Davis and Celia Roberts.
Come along if you have the day free. $108
Please bring a small plate of food to share.
(The picture above is to honour Krishnamarcharya, who really gave birth to the many hatha yoga traditions that we now know as ‘Yoga in the West’)
Next Retreat
BUSH WISDOM
Ayurveda meets the Australian Bush.
July 26th Retreat 2015
9:30am – 4:30pm
$108 for the day
THIS WEEK is the LAST WEEK OF TERM
Tuesday and Thursday 9.30am-11am.
$20 casual. Do come.
TWO week break before a
NEW TERM begins…
Monday 13 July to Friday 18 September 10 weeks
Weekly classes help us to develop heightened vitality and sensitivity.
Together we explore together the science of yoga and compassion, the biology of empathy, integrative medicine, embodied cognition and neuroscience.
Yoga Classes will improve:
- Mindfulness
- Strength
- Flexibility
- Performance
- Cognition
- Confidence
- Compassion
- Attentional Intelligence
Classes are suitable for all people from beginners to advanced. Celia teaches to all levels and is experienced with all personal requirements. Pregnant and post-natal women also welcome.
If you have an injury or medical conditions please advise prior to the class. If you feel you would be best served by a private Yoga Therapy consultation, please call to request.
All equipment is provided. You may come to class without a prior booking. There is nothing you need to bring except yourself, a smile, and a warm heart.
YOGA TEACHER TRAINING
We have a new course starting next week. It is the best thing you will EVER do for yourself.
www.yimi.com.au for more details
MY FAVOURITE THING is COMING SOON
MEDITATION TEACHER TRAINING
For yourself or to assist others.
We now see very clearly in both epigenetics and neuroscience that our minds affect not only our health, but many others. Develop a brilliant, intuitive, sharp, discerning mind.
We use neuroplasticity from cradle to grave to enhance our altruistic genetic coding, and to service others for the common good.
At the risk of making this a very long email….here are the benefits of meditation….which I feel are always worth mentioning.
Here are seven gripping scientific reasons on how mindfulness is revolutionizing the wellness industry and why it is now considered the single most important factor in our health.
- Mindfulness is proven to reduce the aging process. It offers us protection against age-related DNA damage. Mindful meditation increases an enzyme in the body called telomerase, which functions to protect DNA from age and stress-related damage. According to a study by Elizabeth Blackburn, PHD, meditation may in fact protect cells from age related damage.
- Mindfulness enhances our immunity. A study by Richie Davidson in 2003 suggests established that those engaged in mindfulness training developed a stronger immune response when challenged with a flu injection! When our immune response is strong, our health is at optimal function.
- Mindful Eating. Mindfulness helps incredibly with problematic eating behaviour ranging from obesity to body image issues to eating disorders to food cravings to emotional eating. Nutritional choices are all around better when we are mindful of what we are consuming.
- Mindful Exercise. Are you on your yoga mat, or walking, or running or swimming? Mindful exercise may even enhance your athletic performance! You may even find yourself immersed so deeply in that in activity itself that you enter into a state of ‘flow’. Flow is a psychological state whereby you may find genuine satisfaction when you are completely absorbed in an activity. During this “optimal experience” athletes often feel “strong, alert, in effortless control, unselfconscious, and at the peak of their abilities.” (Csikszentmihalyi) This is mindful exercise, or flow. Flow is considered as “the secret to contentment”.
- Positive emotions are heightened in the brain. Left brain hemispheric activity was enhanced in meditators. Right brain hemispheric activity is often linked to darker and more depressive mood states. A left brain frontal region shift through meditation is correlated with a more positive outlook on life – a resilient, happier mind. (Hanson, 2009) People who practice also report heightened positive emotions such as love, joy, gratitude, contentment, hope, pride, interest and amusement. Optimism reigns. Meditation is a positive psychology.
- The brain grows. The pre frontal cortex of our brain actually grows with Mindfulness. This part of the brain is often associated with focussing our attention and regulating our emotional response to situations. It was also suggested in this particular study by Dr Sara Lazar that meditation may reduce age related decline in brain structure. Your brain is plastic from cradle to grave – remember?
- Mental health is improved and chances of relapse into depressive episodes are reduced.Mindfulness Meditation is comparable, almost equal to staying on a maintenance does of antidepressants to prevent relapse into chronic depression (Zindel V. Segal, 2012). That is truly amazing. It begs the question as to why depression is so very prevalent at this time. Mindful attention to life is perhaps lacking? Furthermore, Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy was developed to help depressed people by teaching the skills to recognise and respond constructively to thoughts and feelings associated with relapse, aiming to prevent a downward spiral into depression.
Mindfulness is truly the single most important factor in our mental health.
Do join us for the 8 day course.
With Senior Teachers Celia Roberts and Leanne Davis.
Leanne Davis, Vice President of Yoga Australia and Founder of Viniyoga Australia
MEDITATION TEACHER TRAINING BOOKINGS: http://www.yimi.com.au/courses/meditation-as-a-therapy/
ATMA, AAYT accredited.
FURTHER LISTENING on Mindfulness is the single most important factor in our health
ABC RADIO interview with Celia Roberts.
Happy world yoga day.
Thanks for reading.
May our days be filled with yoga brilliance. May our days be filled with light.
Best wishes,
Celia Roberts BSc
Yoga Australia, AAYT, ATMA
