Roanoke Yoga

Let's go to the sunflower festival, Go frolicking through the sunflowers and take a beautiful sunset yoga class with me. Oh, and I'll bring your yoga mat if you need one (just mention it when you register). 🙂🌻 www.RoanokeYoga.com/sign-up

When the ring camera volunteers to be your yoga photographer. 😁

Can't stop! Won't stop!

Do you breathe well? Come let me teach you these techniques in class. The more tools you have in your bag on how to regulate your nervous system, the better.

Connecting with our breath is one of the fastest and most effective ways to meet ourselves where we are at, clear the slate and reset so that we can flourish. Breathwork is a tool you can learn how to use and since the breath is always with you It Is Powerful!

When was the last time that you thought about breathing? You probably don’t think too much about it, right? It’s just kind of something that “happens” automatically. While your brain does regulate the rate of your breaths, that doesn’t mean you are breathing correctly. You could be breathing through your mouth and not through your nose. Does it matter? It turns out that, yes, it does.

Research has found that breathing through your mouth means that you miss out on much of the oxygen – up to 90 percent – your body needs to support your organs, tissues, and cells. Without this oxygen, you face the risk of damage to your body and tissue and cell death. Over long periods, living with reduced oxygen levels can leave you at risk of developing a severe illness or even a chronic health condition, such as heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and diabetes.The air you take is filtered by the tiny hairs (cilia) in your nose to remove germs and environmental debris. The cilia also warm the air that you have taken in before it travels to your lungs.

Breathing through your nose allows you to take deeper breaths – which engages the lower lungs. When the lower lungs become active, they pump out more oxygen to the rest of your body. More oxygen means more support your cells and maintains healthy tissue and organ function.

Deeper breaths mean that oxygen is in your lungs longer, and your body can covert more oxygen to carbon dioxide waste. Reduction of carbon dioxide levels in the body helps to maintain your blood pH levels. When there is less carbon dioxide in the blood also means that your cells experience less stress and free radicals are reduced.

Another discovered benefit of nasal breathing is that when the lower lungs are engaged a calming effect happens. This is because the lower lungs contain the parasympathetic (calming) nerve receptors of the body. When these nerves are activated, they tell the brain to send calming hormones to battle stress.Breathing through your nose can be especially beneficial during exercise or sports performance because the exchange of oxygen to carbon dioxide is more significant, making it easier for your body to perform – and recover.

Be Here Now

“There's an ocean inside my head
Waves that don't ever rest
This kind of beauty ain't ordinary
You look, but do you really see?
Won't you take your time on me?
‘Cause we got nowhere else to be.”
–Vance Joy

This morning my daughter crawled in bed with me to snuggle. First things first, let me put my phone down, turn the TV off (which was really just background noise) and get ready to be fully present. As we were snuggling a thought came into my mind, they say "don't blink or you'll miss it." Well, I don't believe that, it really should be "Be here now or you'll miss it."

Be Here Now

Those three commanding words instantaneously gathered me from a thousand different places and wrapped me in peace.

I pair the mantra with a 60 second meditation that provides instant relief from stress and anxiety. Using the sound of my breath and the willingness to let go of my thoughts, I was able to drift into the present moment. I could feel the warmth of her skin against mine, the slight little squeezes she'd give just appreciating our closeness, feel her belly rising and falling against me as I heard her breath and when I focused closely with my eyes closed I could feel her heartbeat. I do the same thing within my own body whenever I need to stop drifting away. I use the word drift because we constantly ride away on the clouds of thoughts, some we turn into dark storms and then we're gone, off on an emotional ride that could've been avoided had we just not attached to them. Not now. Not here! Every breath we too are changing. Everything in nature is impermanent and every time I see her she is not the same. All of us are a part of that perfect harmony that is nature. All connected.

Did you ever realize that everything going on in your mind -- every thought, feeling, sensation, everything you are aware of -- is in fact happening only in your private internal world? Your thoughts appear only to you, and are not being heard by anyone else whatsoever. There is one physical world here on earth, but billions of different internal worlds. We are all in our own separate theaters, witnessing entirely different shows, and yet we behave as if we are in the same audience, watching the very same event we call life.
Why is it important to contemplate this truth? To meditate on this is liberating, because it implies that what we are personally living inside our heads is not real. We are aware of our thoughts, so in that sense they are real. And yet, our thoughts do not exist outside of our awareness. There is nowhere else where the thought that is appearing to you at this moment is actually occurring. Unlike the way we imagine it, our thoughts are not solid, like trees or rocks that exist outside of us in some tangible way. Certainly I have never seen a thought walk by me on the street. Where, how and if thoughts even exist within the body is not clear. That thoughts appear to our awareness, on a giant projection screen (to which we are the audience), is all we know.
Let's say that at this moment you are having a thought about someone and something specific that she/he did, and what you want to say to them in response. That person who you are thinking about is not experiencing your thought (about them) at this moment. If you don't engage with, or entertain that thought, it will literally not exist. The thought appears only within you. That person knows nothing of it. And making it even stranger, you did not even have the thought that you are calling "yours." Rather, it appeared to and within your awareness, without your ever choosing it or asking it to show up! If that thought is not fueled with your attention or interest, it will already have disappeared.
What makes a thought feel real is the attention we bring to it. We make a thought into a solid object by focusing on it and relating to it as if it is an event happening in the world somewhere. Usually in the world of the person or thing that we are thinking about. We link the two -- the thought and the object that the thought is about -- when in fact, the two are not actually connected. Our thought does not affect the object of that thought unless we believe it does. How freeing it is to know that if we do not attend to a thought, answer it, change it, identify with it and all the rest, it literally ceases to exist. If we let a thought be nothing, then that's what it will be... nothing.

It can be a bit frightening to realize that we are the only ones living the experience that we are living, that what we are calling our experience doesn't exist in any real sense, except for an instant inside our minds. So, too, it can be unsettling to consider that there really is no shared experience going on whatsoever. Reality is only our own perception. Furthermore, we do not choose the thoughts and feelings that appear before us -- they simply appear to our awareness and then disappear, like fireflies in the night.
And so the next time that a thought appears before you, within your awareness, remember that it is not real in the sense that it has some solid form or exists somewhere outside of you. The contents of what you are thinking about are in no way affected by the fact that this thought is appearing within you, nor is he/she/it aware that such an event is happening in your internal world. The thought appears in front of and within only you. Without the juice of your attention, it simply disappears without a trace.

I was met with a feeling of peace.

Be here now quickly became one of my mantras when I heard it years ago; especially when I'm around the ones I love, one-minute meditations have become my lifelines. This practice slows me down … fills me up … chills me out … and gives me hope. Talk about soaking up the good & loving vibes whenever I'm around them. It fills me with such gratitude and appreciation that I learned early on to listen to that advice every experienced parent tries to give when they tell you not to blink.

More often than not, my short meditations lead to cathartic tears. At last, I was allowing myself to feel all that was going on inside of me.
I felt sadness for things I’d pushed away.
I felt vulnerable for damaging beliefs I needed to release.
I felt exhaustion for forging through feelings that needed acknowledged.
I felt tenderness for scars that had not healed.
Suddenly, a powerful revelation occurred to me: this is why I’ve been scared to stop … to rest … to be still. I was afraid to feel. But look! I am feeling it, and I am ok.
In fact, I was more than ok.
I soon found that stillness, accompanied by the sound of my breath, was greatly enlightening. The sound of my breathing opened the speakers of my heart.

My heart shows me red flags that I'd been missing or ignoring. It detects where I was being used and mislead. It knows which opportunities and relationships are not in my best interest. My heart reveals a more fulfilling path than the insatiable and shallow path the world often leads me toward.

Be Here Now

Those three words inspire a peaceful shift that had been impossible for so long, and now I knew why.
I’d been running from the stillness to avoid the feelings it would bring; but in actuality, the feelings that surface in the stillness are protective and helpful, guiding me to my truest and healthiest path.

This is a photo containing all the different body types that thrive in the Olympics.

All of these Bodies belong to the best athletes in the world. Different bodies that thrive at different tasks. No one body or body type is superior to the other, fat bodies, thin bodies, muscular bodies, all have specific tasks that they are better suited for.

All bodies are beautiful and all bodies are capable of great things.

📷: Howard Schatz

Yes

This pose, commonly called ”Goddess Squat," is a standing, wide-legged squat that will challenge your muscles and your mind.
The Sanskrit name for this pose, Utkata Konasana. This literally translates to "Fierce Angle Pose," and it can definitely feel fierce sometimes. The "angle" refers to the body's wide-legged stance; there are various arm positions you can take in the pose.

Benefits of Goddess Squat

This pose strengthens the entire lower body, including the glutes, hips, thighs, calves, and ankles. It opens the hips and chest, stretches the thighs, and elongates the spine. Goddess Pose helps to warm and energize the whole body. It improves balance, focus, and concentration. This pose also stimulates the respiratory and cardiovascular systems while helping to relax the muscles of the pelvic floor. Goddess Pose is also highly beneficial for women who are pregnant, as squatting can create more room in the pelvis, making pregnancy, labor, and childbirth more comfortable.

Cautions

Do not practice this pose if you have a recent or chronic injury to the legs, hips, back, or shoulders. Always work within your own range of limits and abilities. If you have any medical concerns, talk with your doctor before practicing yoga.

What are you waiting for? Can't I talk you into, like, once a week???

Note to self!

Be on the lookout for Leos ♌️ 🦁 being Leo's during Leo season. ✨️Don't forget to be your authentic selves today. 🙃

Today's sweaty hot yoga practice was brought to me by the heat of the sun. The benefits of hot yoga are good (for some people, not all), but don't forget your hydration. Up to 24 hours before you take a hot yoga class, load up on your fluids, especially ones with electrolytes. And if you eat before yoga, leave a two-hour window between the meal and the class for proper digestion. You also want to wear clothes that you’re comfortable sweating in, such as a sweat-wicking or breathable fabric, because you’re going to be sweating a lot.
Lastly, listen to your body. If you feel dizzy, stop and load up on water and electrolytes.
✨️Who should avoid hot exercise?
-people who have had previous heat injury, heat intolerance, or problems with dehydration
-People with diabetes or low blood sugar should check with their health care provider before trying hot yoga
-Pregnant women
-people with any sort of cardiovascular problem, including high or low blood pressure, should avoid hot yoga

"The water is sacred. The air is sacred. Our DNA is made of the same DNA as the tree. The tree breathes what we exhale. When the tree exhales we need what the tree exhales, so we have a common destiny with the tree… We are all from the Earth.." ~Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman

"You carry Mother Earth within you. She is not outside of you. Mother Earth is not just your environment... So breathe in and be aware of your body. Look deeply into it and realise you are the Earth and your consciousness is also the consciousness of the earth." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

"If every 8 year old in the world is taught meditation, we would eliminate violence from the world in one generation." - The Dalai Lama

It’s easy to get caught up in seeing difficult things as impossible. But when you stop and think about it, every impossible thing begins with a seed of possibility that requires you to stretch your boundaries to achieve. It's so important to look at your situation from a whole new perspective because when "you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."

Ain't no party like a Glowga party, cause a Glowga party don't stop!

Flexibility, mobility, tomato, potato 🍠
Sometimes the words can all be a little confusing.

There's nothing inherently bad about flexibility. It's the foundation we build our mobility on.

But, we really do need a little bit of everything, including accompanying strength, to be healthy. And, I'm not sure if yoga culture shows that.

Mobility work is actually not sexy, it's not pretty, and it's not always fun 😅 but it's a great tool to make yoga a little more functional.

This is part of my yoga series, yoga for flexibility&mobility on Sundays.

What do you think? I'd love to hear your experience.