Gentle Yoga International

If you want to elevate your wellness this year, click on the link in our bio to access our free THRIVE ebook with articles from these 9 wellness experts to support you in supercharging your wellness this year!
wellness

"A habit is routine or behaviour that is performed regularly and at some point automatically. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act but a habit.

People form habits and habits form futures. Every success is acquired through the habit. If you don’t deliberately form good habits then unconsciously you will form bad ones. You are the kind of person you are because you have formed that habit of being that kind of person. And the only way you can change is through changing the habit."

Maja Ognjanovich shares 5 steps to focus on when creating new habits in her THRIVE article. Grab your free copy of the ebook with the link in our bio!

"One thing that often gets overlooked when it comes to well-being is having peace of mind. Operating a business is often stressful, so having peace of mind will help you remain calm in the face of distress by easing feelings of anxiety, worry, and overwhelm.

Having peace of mind offers various benefits:
- Relief from stress and anxiety
- Better concentration and ability to make clear judgments
- Efficiency in handling day-to-day responsibilities
- More patience and tolerance
- Inner sense of happiness and bliss
- Relief from insomnia
- Improved confidence and self-esteem"

The Conscious Counsel shares 3 things you can do to bring peace of mind to our business in our free THRIVE ebook, link in bio.

"Feeling anxious and on edge? You’ve probably heard of ‘fight-or-flight,’ a response the sympathetic nervous system generates in the body when faced with perceived threats. Due to chronic stress, more and more people are experiencing a variation of this response in their daily life, not only when there’s a dangerous situation or actual emergency. If you’re often feeling unsettled and exhausted, you may have an overactive sympathetic nervous system.

In our THRIVE ebook, Ann Woodward gives a few suggestions to help regulate your nervous system and bring more balance to your life. Link in bio.

"Life is not meant to be lived mediocrely. A lot of us are walking around in our bodies, stiff, dehydrated, skin irritations, lacking nutrition and sleep, and spinning in the negative thoughts or energy from others around us. And unfortunately, so many of us have been in this space for such a long time that we don't realize just how bad our bodies are screaming for help."

Keisa shares practices that over time become habitual and gives us the basic care our bodies need, to go from feeling "Mediocre to Great!", in her article within the THRIVE ebook. Link in bio for free access.

"What does being well mean to you? It is defined as a sense of health and vitality that arises from your thoughts, emotions, actions, and experiences. The “self” in self-care is important, but
we aren’t separate from the world around us. We are in relationship with our body, breath and mind, as well as the people and the environment around us."

To learn about sustainable self-care and how the eight limbs of yoga can improve your quality of life in the eight dimensions of wellbeing, check out the article by Niya Bajaj in our free THRIVE ebook. Link in bio!

"Each of us has a light within, call it your heart, spirit or essence, this light can bring great healing to both yourself and others. It can nourish and empower your mind, body and soul the more you come back home to this light."

In our free THRIVE ebook find 5 simple daily practices that Jennifer Scoli of Inner Light uses and teaches for both healing and empowerment.

Link to the ebook is in our bio!

Do you have trouble winding down to sleep at night? We need to prepare before going to bed!

There are innumerable ways to turn calm on throughout your day, swipe through for some ideas.

Experiment and find what works for you because if you do turn on calm, a little and often, it is easier for your system to go to sleep at night. You’re not starting at the 80th floor when your head hits the pillow and you may just get more of the most magical elixir of all: deep, deep sleep.

Which one are you going to implement today? Let us know!

For more practices and support to elevate your wellness this year, click the link in our bio for our free THRIVE ebook!

"We weave our sense of self into the stories and conditions of our life, and then we hold on. Why?

Because it is easy to feel safe in the patterns we create.

So how does one shift out of, let go of, interrupt, and transform these entrenched patterns that we ourselves create?"

Jennifer Winther shares how to create new patterns to better serve us with a simple but powerful practice in her article within our free THRIVE ebook. Just click the link in our bio to access it!

Are you looking to support your digestion?

"There are several great tea varieties that can help improve your digestive system or help alleviate a digestive ailment you may be experiencing either chronically or once in a while."

To learn about 8 teas that can help with digestive issues, check out the article from Dr. TJ in our free THRIVE ebook, just click the link in our bio for access!
wellness

Dear Body,

We’ve been through a lot, haven’t we?

You’re still here, and I’m so thankful. Thank you for holding on through the darkness. Thank you for fighting, fighting, fighting. Thank you for breathing and being and allowing me to be in the world. Thank you for working with my soul to help me find the answer. Thank you for not giving up on me, even when I didn’t want you. I’m sorry for the times I wanted you to go away. I’m sorry for punishing you, hating you, disrespecting you, degrading you.

I’m sorry I ever had one bad thought about you. I’m sorry I didn’t see the truth for so long. I know now – you’re amazing and strong and you’re there for me. You’re with me.

We’re in this together and we’ll do this together. I’m so grateful to have the best partner on this journey with so much more goodness ahead of us.

I bow to the power of your wisdom that is beyond comprehension and I will listen to your yellow lights, I promise.

Love, Angie

What would your love note to your body say? Share in the comments!

Don’t wait until you feel better, are lighter, are more flexible, or somehow “better” or “different” to do yoga.

Do it right now, whatever phase of life you’re in; because movement matters.

Drop a heart in the comments 💛

The body talks to us and the doorway into body acceptance is listening to its messages. When you do, everything is easier, your entire life improves. You and your body have harmony together when you listen.

Save this post from when you need some affirming, loving reminders to listen to your body and its wisdom.

It’s about the body. We offer accessible yoga, which really means we support you to meet your body where it’s at, understand it, and open doorways to safe movement for YOUR body.

It’s about choice. So we won’t force your body to do things it can’t do. We will encourage you to go in gently, try things out, and listen and respond to what works for you.

It’s about your mind, learning how it works and how working with it feeds clarity and opens pathways to peace in your life.

And Gentle Yoga is also about your spirit, nourishing yourself from the inside out so you can live a life that feels great to you.

YOU are entirely welcome in this wellness space.

What I have found to be true is that the more I love myself, the more love and I give to other people AND the more love I can accept from other people.

Have you thought about loving yourself lately?

We're halfway through the year, a good time to check in with the intentions you set at the beginning of 2023 and reaffirm or maybe readjust what you'd like to focus on the rest of the year.

Swipe for 5 steps to set your own intentions.

Intentions for your wellness might be something like:

-I intend to stretch daily.
-I intend to celebrate small moments of joy.
-I intend to practice meditation.
-I intend to lower my stress.
-I intend to connect with my people more.

Share your mid-year intentions with us in the comments!

Whether you are a first-time yoga student or an expert instructor, it is essential to listen to what your body tells you.

Be aware of your boundaries and how far you can push your body to avoid injury or an unpleasant practice.

Also, be mindful of the pleasant sensations you feel, and make the effort to integrate more of those poses into your flow!

Save this post for when you need a reminder to listen to the wisdom of your body ❤️

Don’t give up – Practicing yoga at home can be a daunting experience for many, so we encourage you to approach it with an open, adaptable mind. The beauty of an at-home practice is the flexibility it provides you! You can choose to practice at any time and any pace. You also have the power to follow a video, blog, or online class, or you can develop your own practice by yourself.

The possibilities are endless!

What's your favourite thing about practicing at home? Let us know in the comments.

What do you desire?

Once you have found a practice that you feel suits your body and needs, take the time to turn it into a habit. ⁠
⁠
Maybe you will choose to practice everyday when you wake up, or maybe you will practice on days you are off work early – whatever you choose, find what works for you and stick to it. ⁠
⁠
When you form a habit, you are creating neurological cravings that give you the desire to want to repeat that specific behaviour again. ⁠
⁠
This will help you feel more motivated to do yoga, and you are much more likely to experience the positive effects of yoga!⁠
⁠
What's helped you make a habit out of your yoga practice?

Do you know those big skyscrapers in the city? The ones when you’re standing on the street looking up, you can’t even see the top?⁠
⁠
Imagine your day and stressors like this.⁠
⁠
If we crawl into bed at night and ask our minds and bodies to go from the 80th floor to the ground floor immediately, it struggles so we have trouble falling asleep. We need to nourish our physiology with calm first!⁠
⁠
What are your favourite ways to wind down after a long day before bed? Comment below.

Gentle Yoga can be the doorway into self-love. ⁠
⁠
Through compassion and curiosity, choice and kindness, we bring the body with us. We ask how it’s doing right now, what does and doesn’t feel good and we respond to the messages we get. ⁠
⁠
We don’t expect our yoga to look like anyone else’s yoga and we explore the path of finding yoga that makes sense for us individually. ⁠
⁠
And as a result, we build pathways of kindness toward our bodies.⁠
⁠
How can you show yourself some extra love and kindness today? Drop a heart below!

Gentle Yoga is for regular humans who want to move.⁠
⁠
Regular humans with stiff and flexible bodies; injured and healthy bodies, larger and smaller bodies, ill and recovering bodies; old and young bodies.⁠
⁠
We believe all bodies are yoga bodies and everyone can do yoga.⁠
⁠
Have you tried yoga before? If not, what's stopped you?

Feeling like your mind is on overdrive? Does the art of skilled attention seem farther out of reach from the demands of constantly taking in new information and adapting accordingly?⁠
⁠
Enter: meditation.⁠
⁠
A recent research study published in Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging by a team led by Harvard-affiliated researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital found through a controlled study of Magnetic Resonance imaging that meditation has specific and beneficial effects on the brain.⁠
⁠
Do you meditate? Let us know in the comments!⁠

In trauma-informed yoga one of the types of language we prioritize is called interoception. This refers to the feeling on the inside which is often impacted or taken away as a result of traumatic experiences.

We really focus on coming back to the body and inviting the mind-body connection to turn back on, to strengthen and to develop into a tool that a person can use to live a healthy, balanced life.

For trauma-informed yoga, there’s no experience necessary. There’s not even any equipment necessary. We keep it very simple on purpose so that the trauma survivor can focus on their body.