NamasteBetty: Free Yoga on the Lawn

Betty_YogaintheParkPlease join the Knoxville yoga community as we honor the memory of our dear friend and mentor, Betty Kalister, with a free yoga class on the lawn of the World’s Fair Park, Saturday, August 29th at 9:30AM. Arrive a few minutes early to set up and mingle with your fellow yogis. ALL levels of experience are welcome! Bring a mat and your water bottle. #namastebetty

WORKSHOP: Thai Massage with Phoebe Diftler

Sunday, Aug 30 | 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

phoebe diftler thai-1This is a two-hour Guided Thai Massage Experience. Phoebe will guide you thru giving and receiving a Thai Massage Therapy session. 

Starting at the feet and working up to the head, the technique combines Trigger Point Treatments, Deep Pressure, Massage, Yoga Poses, and Energy Work, as well as other techniques. 

The benefits include; increased flexibility, relaxation, stress-release, circulation, and sense of well-being and comfort in the body, as well as release of negative physical and emotional patterns and traumas. 

Wear loose fitting clothes, come with a partner, or meet one at the workshop!

$30 per person.

Connect with Patty, 9 5  1- 6 0 2 4 or pattyyogamail@gmail.com to sign up for this wonderful workshop!

 

Destress with Yoga

by Linda Knittel  |  Originally published here in Yoga Journal

YogaStudents_PrayerhandsOften, people who take up yoga report that they feel more relaxed almost immediately. And science now says there’s a physiological explanation for that: Yoga can reduce levels of cortisol, the so-called stress hormone.

In a recent study conducted by Thomas Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia and the Yoga Research Society, 16 healthy new yogis participated in a 50-minute yoga class every day for seven days. On the day prior to their first class, they were instructed to sit quietly—reading and writing—for 50 minutes.

The subjects’ cortisol levels didn’t change appreciably during the sitting period; they showed just the normal decrease that usually takes place in the late morning. But when the researchers measured the cortisol levels before and after the yoga class—which included postures such as Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand), Salabhasana (Locust Pose), Vrksasana (Tree Pose) and Halasana (Plow Pose)—they discovered a significant decrease after the class.

In the scientific world, results are considered noteworthy only if they can be repeated. This particular study attained a “p value” (a measurement of the probability of attaining the very same outcome in the future) of .001, which means that if the study were performed 100 times, the probability of getting the same result would be 99.9 percent.

The study’s results don’t surprise George Brainard, M.D., a professor of neurology at Thomas Jefferson Medical College. In 1995, he conducted a similar study, which also showed a significant drop in cortisol levels of subjects following asana practice.

“When I did the first study, I was very surprised that a single set of yoga poses could make a significant change in cortisol,” Brainard says. “Now that we have repeated it, we have seen enough promise to consider studying it in challenging situations like chronically ill patients who have abnormally high levels of cortisol, such as those who suffer from depression, type 2 diabetes, Cushing’s disease, and high blood pressure.”

The findings suggest that practicing yoga—even for the very first time—can normalize cortisol levels that are either too high or too low, says Vijayendra Pratap, Ph.D., president of the Yoga Research Society in Philadelphia. “My hypothesis,” he adds, “is that yoga brings the body to balance.”

Exactly how it does this is still not clear. But Jennifer Johnston, yoga director and research clinician at the Mind Body Medical Institute in Boston has a theory. “The deep breathing we do in yoga elicits something called ‘the relaxation response,’ which invokes the restorative functions of the body,” Johnston says. “Yogic practices also help to reduce muscle tension and deactivate the stress response.”

So in addition to renewing your mind and spirit, yoga has now been proven to provide real benefits for your body. No longer do the everyday stressors of deadlines, a hectic schedule, and other pressures have to wear you down. Simply stop at the nearest yoga studio and let your tension decrease along with your cortisol.

Linda Knittel is a nutritional anthropologist and freelance writer in Portland. She is the author of The Soy Sensation.

WORKSHOP: Herbal Medicine Demystified with Rachel Milford

Sunday, March 15th, 1 – 3PM

An introduction to herbal medicines and how to use them

Herbs and spicesJoin Knoxville herbalist Rachel Milford for an introduction to the world of herbal medicine. We’ll talk about when and how to use herbs, the different forms in which you can take them (teas, tinctures, etc), safe and effective dosage, and more.

We’ll also discuss different approaches to working with herbs and focus on 2-3 tonic herbs to start using every day.  Class will include a plant meditation, as well as tea tasting.  Everyone will get to bring home their own nourishing tea blend. Bring your own mug!

Rachel Milford

Wellness Ally | Herbal Medicine & Whole Foods

www.reclaimingyourroots.com  |  reclaimingyourroots@gmail.com

Class cost: $35.

Class space is limited and prepayment is required to reserve a spot.
To register, please contact Rachel (
reclaimingyourroots@gmail.com)
or Patty (pattyyogamail@gmail.com) to sign up.

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Banishing Burnout Stress

by JENNIFER PIRTLE, originally published here in Yoga Journal

For eight years, Karl LaRowe worked in the emergency room at an inner-city hospital in Portland, Oregon. As a crisis intervention counselor, he helped hundreds of people each month cope with everything from domestic violence and depression to psychosis and suicide attempts. Eventually, the constant adrenaline rushes and biweekly 48-hour shifts took their toll. “I wasn’t sleeping well,” says LaRowe. “Thoughts about the patients would come crashing into my mind, and I became acutely aware of noises.” He began to drink heavily and to use drugs, and spiraled into a deep depression.

stress imageWhen antidepressants and talk therapy didn’t help, LaRowe felt he had no choice but to quit his job. After drifting for a while, he remarried and moved to Singapore, where he met a master of qi gong, a Chinese system of exercise and breathing performed in a meditative state. It was this ancient technique, which he now practices for 15 to 20 minutes every day, that LaRowe says gave him back his life. “I got lots of ideas in therapy,” he says. “But nothing was happening. Qi gong was my first experience of really feeling the frozen energy in my body release.” Eventually, LaRowe returned to the health field; he now works two to four
days a week assessing mental health clients in the court system. “Though my schedule is very busy, the difference is that today when my day is done, it’s done,” he says. “I no longer take my patients home with me.” He also leads regular workshops on body awareness, breathing, and compassion fatigue—things he wishes he’d learned about years earlier—for social workers, psychologists, and other professional caregivers.

As LaRowe learned, making your work less stressful doesn’t have to mean leaving it behind for good. (And how many of us can hope to do that, anyway?) Instead, the key is to transform your relationship to the stress so that it no longer overwhelms you. More and more people are discovering that mind-body practices like yoga, qi gong, and meditation can be hugely helpful in shifting the way they react to stress.

The need for anti-stress practices has become increasingly urgent. Americans work nine full weeks more per year than our peers in Western Europe. And even if we get time off, we don’t always use it: At least 30 percent of employed adults don’t take all their vacation days, according to a 2005 Harris Interactive poll. Each year, Americans hand back 421 million days to their employers. Constant emails and ever-increasing workloads have too many of us working through lunch and staying late, yet still feeling as though we can never catch up. The upshot, say experts, is that we’re overscheduled, overworked, and just plain overwhelmed.

“Burnout is the biggest occupational hazard of the 21st century,” says Christina Maslach, Ph.D., coauthor of Banishing Burnout: Six Strategies for Improving Your Relationship with Work. “Today’s work environment has lost its human dimension. Global economic pressures, along with technological advances such as pagers and email, have altered the landscape irrevocably. Given these new challenges, it’s no wonder that our relationship with our work is under constant strain.”

The always-on approach brings with it enormous moment-by-moment mental and physical costs. Unyielding stress floods your body with a cascade of hormones: Adrenaline pumps up blood pressure and makes your heart beat faster; cortisol raises your blood sugar level, and, if it remains chronically elevated, can erode your immune system. Not only does such chronic stress make you more susceptible to ailments such as migraine headaches and irritable bowel syndrome, but research increasingly shows it can raise your risk for more serious conditions, including heart disease, osteoporosis, and depression.

A team of researchers at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) found that stress may even accelerate aging at the cellular level. The study found that the blood cells of women who had spent many years caring for a child with a health condition appeared to be, genetically, about 10 years older than the cells of women whose caretaking responsibilities were less prolonged.

Although the study focused on caregivers, the findings apply to overworked employees, too. “People with other sources of life stress showed similar relationships between their levels of stress and cell aging,” says Elissa Epel, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at UCSF and the study’s lead author.

Stress itself, Epel emphasizes, is neither inherently good nor bad. Instead, how you perceive and react to it determines how it will affect your health. “In the study,” she explains, “the perception of stress was more important than whether one was under the strain of caregiving or not.”

Read more here on Yoga Journal

WORKSHOP: Yoga for Winter Blues

Yoga for Winter Blues Workshop taught by Dr. Irina Diyankova 

depression

This workshop is for anyone who tends to get down during winter.

Whether you experience just a little bit of sadness or fatigue at times or a full blown clinical depression, you can benefit from the practices taught in this session. We will cover a wide range of yogic pauses, breathing practices, and meditations that specifically target mood improvement/stabilization and energy levels.

You will receive handouts for home practice with different exercises that can be performed no matter how low energy or down you are. No previous experience with yoga is necessary.

When: January 24, Saturday  2:00 – 4:30 pm

Fee: $40; discounts for advanced registration and for therapist’s referrals

Irina
Dr. Irina Diyankova

 

For more info or sign up, visit dr-irina.com and click on the “Yoga for the Winter Blues Workshop”

 

WORKSHOP: From Stress to Balance: A New Year of Self-Care

Start the new year off with an afternoon of delicious nourishment and self-care!

herbal-remediesJoin Knoxville herbalist Rachel Milford to explore stress as a root cause of illness and learn how it effects our immune, nervous, and endocrine systems. We’ll learn what medicinal herbs and foods we can use daily to decrease stress, increase strength and vitality,and bring balance back to our bodies. As part of this nourishing day, everyone will also get to make and take home their own 8 oz medicinal herbal tincture. Class will also include nourishing teas and homemade treats. Come relax and indulge yourself in an afternoon of self-care.

January 25th, 1-3PM

Class cost: $40 (includes 8oz tincture, teas, treats, and handout)

Prepayment is required to reserve a class spot.
To register, please contact Rachel (reclaimingyourroots@gmail.com)
or Patty (pattyyogamail@gmail.com) to sign up.


Presented by Rachel Milford
Wellness Ally | Herbal Medicine & Whole Foods

www.reclaimingyourroots.com  |  reclaimingyourroots@gmail.com

Create a Life You Love!

Reconnect with the source of your happiness.

By Nora Isaacs (originally posted here in Yoga Journal)

yoga_meditation cropThere are times when you know just what to do, and life seems to rise up and support you and your ideas. And then there are times when it is all a little murky, and you might feel a bit lost. Thankfully, you have your yoga practice to come to—a time to tap into a deep connection with yourself and remember who you really are and what is most important to you. Nothing could be better.

When you bring the spacious awareness you experience in your yoga practice to your whole life, you’ll experience the kind of presence that will make you stop in your tracks, engage your senses, and find joy in daily life. But for most of us, accomplishing that is easier said than done. Often it requires a conscious effort to examine the status quo, push in new directions, and find fresh approaches to evoking that same sense of grounding, connection, and happiness we find on the mat.

Here, then, are 10 possibilities to help you get there. Put these ideas into practice one at a time, or try several at once. You might want to welcome one of them into your life as an offering to the New Year. Whatever approach you choose, here’s to feeling more alive, more present, and more aware of what makes you happy.

1. Get Energized About Your Future

Your yoga practice helps you live in the present, but life in the world demands a certain amount of decision making and planning. What’s your vision of where you want to go and how you’ll get there? When you take a proactive approach, your dreams are more likely to become reality. Knowing what you want is, of course, the first step.

If you need help discovering your life’s path, start by talking it out, says Nancy Wagaman, a life coach in San Diego. You can develop a goal list and create affirmations, she says. You can draw a picture of your future—even pray for guidance. “There are so many ways to energize the new vision you want for your life. The more you energize it, the more you draw that energy to that vision. And the universe tends to support you,” she says.

Of course, your vision may change over time, but the important thing is that you’re an active participant in your future.

2. Plug Into Your Spiritual Self

Reconnecting with your innermost self can open the doors to an entirely new and unpredictable path. At 33 years old, Susan Nicolas was a yoga teacher living in San Francisco and dating. But her singular focus on meeting a husband and starting a family was causing her heartache. On the advice of friends, she signed up for a vipassana retreat. During 10 days of silence and insight meditation, she came face-to-face with her attachment to getting married and to the unfinished dynamics of past relationships. “Through a lot of struggle and occasional glimpses of true stillness, it seemed the obstacles in my life dissolved,” she says. “I felt more in touch with my true self than I ever had.”

Getting away from routine relationships and environments makes it easier to drop into stillness and examine the undercurrent of your life. Once you do, you can plug into a connection with your divine nature. On retreat, you can also practice accessing your true self so that you can call on it anytime in your life.

A month after her retreat, Nicolas unexpectedly reconnected with an old sweetheart who is now her husband of eight years. “The experience during those sometimes difficult 10 days was like removing a stopper in the mouth of my life,” she says. “Everything simply flowed forth as it should.”

How to: Check with a favorite teacher or retreat center for upcoming dates. Even a weekend away that includes meditation, yoga, rest, and silence can be enlightening if you set an intention to retreat.

Continue reading here on Yoga Journal


 

Front EntranceThe planters are planted, the draperies are hung, the flowers are blowing lightly in the breezeway. Isn’t our entrance inviting?

 

We’re ready for your visit!