HOLNESS YOGA
Yoga, Aqua Yoga and Online Classes for Men and Women
I am a daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, and yoga teacher. I love colour. I try to avoid black. I am very creative but sometimes stagnant. I am a success and a failure. I love deeply and I have been deeply hurt. I am grateful that I am flexible but sometimes I can be painfully rigid. I've lost loved ones and welcomed new love into my life. I have lived through dark days and went on to embrace the light. Like you, I am living the roller coaster of life. Yoga and mindfulness make the ride much more enjoyable.
I hope you can join me.
Gail
Yoga is a practice
My greatest yoga lesson is that what we do inside our head matters. The stories we tell ourselves can lift us or drag us down and stress us out. Stress hurts! It robs us of sleep, plays havoc with our digestive system, attacks our joints, damages our teeth, and breaks down our immune system.
Learning how to effectively deal with stress is a skill. Our yoga practice helps us develop those skills.
Final Relaxation
My first attempt at yoga left me feeling that I was wasting my time. There was nothing that I didn't already know. I was a certified fitness instructor then, and staying physically fit had always been important. Keyword physically. What I found most irritating about my yoga class was the Final Relaxation. It seemed like such a waste of time. Even though at that time I couldn't sleep on my bed, sit on my couch, or get through a day at work because my back would spasm. I was a stressed-out single mom who owned a busy restaurant - there weren't enough hours in my day. I was looking forward to having back surgery. I knew that would fix me - not yoga. Yet there I was, lying on my back, on the floor, twiddling my thumbs.
Eight weeks later something changed. Final relaxation, like an enzyme, triggered that change. I let go of the thoughts and stories that captured my mind and relaxed into the rhythm of my breath. I felt like I was floating - there was no pain. My mind and body needed to learn to relax and let go. We must be able to come into a relaxed state for our bodies to heal. I was healing. Finale relaxation is the most important part of our yoga class.
Off to India I go
The more I practiced yoga the more my life changed. My back improved to the point where I decided not to go ahead with the surgery. I stopped grinding my teeth. My hives disappeared. Bladder and yeast infections cleared up. There was no medication. My body was healing itself. I needed to know how this was happening. I read book after book and took course after course. I married the love of my life, Mike, sold my restaurant, moved to Haliburton, and as a gift to myself traveled to India to study yoga at the Sivananda Ventata Yoga Center.
My thirst for understanding the connection between mind, body, and spirit continues. I pay attention to modern-day scientists, neurologists, and doctors, what they are discovering, and how it compares with the ancient wisdom of yoga. Through continuing education, I have achieved the highest recognition CYA-E-RYTGOLD, with the Canadian Yoga Alliance. I am creating an Aqua Yoga Program in partnership with the CYA that will open the door for more people to find health and well-being through the wisdom of yoga. Fall 2024 is especially exciting because I will launch my Head Space Harmony Research Project.
Life is good!
Coming this Fall Holness Yoga Research Study
Headspace Harmony
Yoga for Eyes, Ears, Nose, and Throat Be Part of Groundbreaking Research to Enhance Sensory and Cognitive Health! It's free! Are you interested in discovering how yoga can transform your sensory experiences and mental clarity? Participate in Headspace Harmony, a pioneering research study exploring the effects of targeted yoga practices on your eyes, ears, nose, and throat. "When you start to have multiple sensory changes, that puts you at almost double the dementia risk compared to a single sensory change. So, if you start to have changes in your vision and hearing at the same time, and particularly if you have a family history of Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia, go and get it checked out by your doctor." — Shannon L. Risacher, Ph.D., Indiana University School of Medicine "Older adults stop driving, they stop going out, they have difficulty reading, and they don’t exercise as much because they’re afraid of falling. Untreated vision problems really reduce social interaction, emotional well-being, and physical activity, which are all risk factors for cognitive decline." — Alison Abraham, Ph.D., M.S., M.H.S., University of Colorado School of Public Health "Decline in sense of smell is connected to faster buildup of Alzheimer’s disease-related pathology seen in brain scans, according to new research focused on older adults who live outside of nursing homes. The findings provide additional evidence that loss of smell (known as anosmia) is a key early sign of Alzheimer’s-related cognitive impairment and the accumulation of associated harmful proteins, such as amyloid-beta and tau. The research, led by NIA scientists, was published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease." “Brain scans show us that hearing loss may contribute to a faster rate of atrophy in the brain,” Lin says. “Hearing loss also contributes to social isolation. You may not want to be with people as much, and when you are you may not engage in conversation as much. These factors may contribute to dementia.” John Hopkins Medicine Dementias, such as Alzheimer's, can impair the areas of the brain that enable the sense of smell and taste and the ability of the individual to process them. When this occurs, eating and drinking can become less pleasurable. This is often the cause of unhealthy weight loss and malnutrition.Jan 31, 2018 Anthem Memory Care Join my study and lets make a difference.
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Moose FM Monday Mornings