The answer is fairly simple: You must take some time each day or week to do something just for you.

Yoga is a great way to clear your mind of mental clutter while enjoying some peaceful solitude. You can practice in a private room in your house with headphones on if you are already familiar with the asanas, or you can attend a yoga class. The calm and quiet atmosphere of a yoga class is a welcome change from noisy, rambunctious kids or chattering co-workers.  Yoga practice allows you to gently direct your attention to the present moment, where there is peace and space.  Let your worries, stress and anxiety melt away as you stretch your muscles and focus your mind.

Relish in the beauty and stillness of your own spirit.

Treating your body to a good workout combined with quiet meditation can feel incredibly refreshing and leave you with a renewed sense of energy.  However, it is important to note that yoga is not the only option for taking some “me time.” You can take a long walk to the park, see a movie alone or wander around an art museum.  In fact, the more time you spend doing different things for yourself, the more you will appreciate the time you spend at work and with your family. When you exercise your free-will, the feeling of being “trapped” diminishes and is replaced by love and gratitude.

Yogasync Me!  Need an express practice?  The experts at Yogasync have helped out by preparing these10-30 minute sequences.  All you have to do is pick one that appeals to you today and press play!

Quickie Me Time Here

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Most women decide to start practicing yoga during or after pregnancy because they want to stay fit and yoga offers safe and mild exercises that preserve the strength of the muscles. However, yoga means much more for a pregnant woman – it literally makes her glow with calmness, self-confidence, will, optimism and strength. Under the guidance of a good instructor, the insecurity and anxiety will slowly disappear and the woman will understand all beauty and greatness of this period in life.

Before pregnancy

If a woman wants to conceive, practicing yoga is a very good idea. As an integral system of techniques that maintain the body and mind in shape, yoga improves the function of all organs and glands. The preconditions for conception are directly associated to the secretion of hormones, which are dependent upon the inner peace and harmony. Many women have difficulties to conceive because of stress and anxiety, and properly-balanced yoga practice can provide significant help from that aspect.
Another important benefit of practicing yoga before getting pregnant is maintaining the strength and flexibility of the muscles and spine. Strong abdominal muscles will help the woman carry the baby and go through childbirth more easily.

During pregnancy

Even if you never practiced yoga before and you’re already pregnant, that shouldn’t keep you from starting. Safe yoga practice will help you increase the flexibility of your body and relax the pelvis muscles. The peace and relaxation you will gain through prenatal yoga will make you more energized, calm and rested. Perhaps the greatest benefit you will get is establishing a connection with your baby and understanding the period of pregnancy as a truly special stage of your life.

During childbirth

You will have greater consciousness about your body, mind and breathing. Yoga will help you train your mind to stay clear and focused, so you will be able to understand everything that’s going on during those moments, listen to the instructions of the doctor and collaborate more easily. Practicing prenatal yoga will enhance your stamina, which is extremely important during childbirth.

After pregnancy

Your muscles will go through a lot of stress during the last three months of pregnancy. Physical exercise after giving birth is necessary to tone the muscles and help them go back to their previous shape. Calming breathing techniques, as well as savasana (yoga relaxation) and meditation will help you deal with all changes you will face after having a child. Your baby will require constant care and attention, and you won’t be able to give the best if you don’t give something to yourself.

Bringing Up Baby

Staying calm, patient and relaxed will make you a much better mother, so you should continue practicing yoga as soon as you feel that you body is prepared for it and, of course, as soon as you find the time for the practice. If you can’t find the time for an entire program (and you probably won’t during the first months), then you can at least do breathing and relaxation techniques.

Conclusion: the benefits of yoga for a healthy pregnancy

Yoga will boost your self-confidence, mental and physical strength, positive attitude and spiritual calmness. Needless to say, it is extremely important to practice with competent and experienced instruction. The most important thing for you and your baby is to stay safe.

Yoga can provide your body and mind with immense benefits before, during and after your pregnancy. It will help you experience yourself and the process of giving birth with all beauty and harmony that comes with the creation of life.

Yogasync Me! 40 week Pregnancy Yoga Course by Sarsha, the Yogasync Model and Teacher, Mum of Three:

Yes I Want to Practice Yoga for a Healthy Pregnancy

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Try promising you’ll keep your mouth shut.  I recently caused a mini stir on my personal fb page when I announced that I would not be speaking until midday on any weekday and enjoying a whole day of silence once a week.

This is not a new practice to me, and the benefits I get, which I will share with you later, are stunning and energizing.  I have to admit though, I had let it go from my life.

I’d just like to tell you that if this all gets a bit too much for you at any point: Scroll down to the bottom for my family friendly fun alternative!

A few years back I got into a relationship (a great one!).  He seemed to be okay with my silences, but then I let it go for a few months so we could interact on my silent weekend day (my choice!).  When I announced I was bringing it back, he said “I’ll go find someone else to hang out with on Sundays then”.

Gahhhhh!  Okay, interpret how you wish.  My own personal interpretation was distorted by trust issues (guys cheating in previous relationships), attachment to this fella (oh no, what is he spends it with another woman) and a an obvious underlying low self-esteem.  So you know what I did?  I missed my silences. NB: It’s ME who perceived a threat and decided to modify myself.  Be true to yourself sisters, or there will be suffering!

The relationship ending feet great in many ways.  I was happier, he was happier.   Yes there were painful moments, when my buried insecurities about fellas sneaking around rose up in my head.  When he started moving on within weeks (seems callous to a chick, is this a guy thing?).

I’m very lucky that in my work I teach women just how to deal with stressful and emotional times like this (more on that another day). FRIENDS, Yoga, mindfulness, sleep and supplements are all very helpful.  I had some really great opportunities to put all this into play during my expected ‘crisis’.  That never arrived.

The Silence

In yoga, true silence is called Mouna. It’s part of pratyahara, sense withdrawal.  Turning away from the intensity of daily external stimulants.  And then using that space to watch, acknowledge and quieten your own internal thoughts and sensations.  But I’m adapting it, to suit my lifestyle. True Mouna could involve

• Silence verbally
• Non-interaction (no eye contact)
• Fasting
• Dedicating the time to yoga (meditation, postures, connection to higher self/God/Universe and service
• Definitely no computers, phones, books, TV, DVDs and certainly no internet.

My version of Mouna:

• No talking before midday on weekdays
• One complete day of silence (Sundays seem to be good for this)
• I’m still working, using the computer
• I will talk -  to a client or colleague about work related matters
• Phone on airplane – no personal calls/messages
• No personal emails or fb
• I still gesture, smile when appropriate
• At least one half day with no internet, interaction, books (not even for work).

Obviously if you have small kids, you’re going to need the family, fun, friendly suggestion at the end. Stay with me!

The Benefits I get, you could get them too:

After a few self-set days of silence, and then a few at yoga training’s years back, I knew this was for me.

• I don’t know the science but I’d say 50% energy (mental and physical) goes into talking
• So I have tons more focus and energy for work, study, tasks, service and movement.
• I can notice my urges to talk and question ‘is it really going to be helpful for anyone?”
• I get more perspective on how much talking is inane BS
• Believe it or not, silence seems to increase sexual energy (yes you may get all tingly down there!)
• It gives heaps more creativity, as thinking is not clouded by conversations or thought processes about what you will say.
• It gives space to notice your thoughts and the quality of them (mindfulness).

Your inner Struggle

I am blessed to enjoy this.  Plenty of people struggle with it.  Their jaws just want to keep moving.  If you’ve been speaking speaking speaking for all of your verbal life, then this will be strange.  Many people get very uncomfortable…because they cannot explain their actions.  For instance, you’re in silence and a shop assistant asks you if they can help?  You shake your head, smile and look away but they hover and ask more questions.  The need to explain ‘actually I’m in silence I’ll speak to you later”.  Can you resist?  Do we really need to be explaining ourselves constantly?  Why is this? What difference does it make?  And that’s when it becomes contemplation too.

Why you won’t be able to do this:

• You have family and cannot imagine they’d let you have this much peace
• You don’t have the discipline to keep the jaw shut
• When you’re silent (no radio, TV, internet etc.) you cannot sit with yourself and thoughts
• You have a constant need for stimulation outside of yourself

Why you’ll try it anyway:

• You’d like to experiment, even for an hour
• You’d like the extra physical and sexual energy
• Any excuse to get the kids to leave you alone for a WHOLE MORNING!
• You are over the BS conversations at work
• You know you write/think/paint/study much better without the blah blah.

If You want to try this:you don’t have to be silent. Instead secretly choose to be extra mindful before your open your mouth.  Ask yourself if it’s necessary?  Really?  Does it add value to anyone’s life?  Is it helpful or not?  Will it cause any harm? And then you naturally become quieter.

Go on, I dare you to try ‘mouth mindfulness’ for a day! How do you get on?  Please let me know!

family friendly fun alternative!

And if you want something totally different but still fun to do with the family: SINGING MORNING!  No speaking allowed.  Everything you want to say MUST be sung!  Any style you like…country and western, opera, Britney style, rap (but only if you rhyme).

Yogasync Me!  Want to feel more peaceful right now?  This will show you how:

Peace is here

Not a member yet?  No problem:

Short Relaxation

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Before pregnancy, I considered myself a devoted yogini and did my best to regularly take inventory of myself, to consistently consider what I could let go of and embrace more of in my life.

But when I look back now, I see that I let myself get away with so much. I don’t regret or chastise myself for the way I was. I was doing the best I could at that time in my life.

In early pregnancy, I decided that I needed to change a lot about myself if I wanted to get through labor calmly and naturally. I have spent most of my life as the ultimate obsessor, controller, planner, time keeper and worrier. These roles may have served me well in the past, but they likely won’t serve me in labor. And I will not be able to keep up with these roles once I’m a mother. I do not even wish to be that type of person anymore. But how do I shift? How do I let go? As a yoga teacher, I’m ashamed to be asking that question.

I have successfully let go of a lot of things in my life. I’ve even let go of some really hard things. But when it comes to shifting habits I’ve developed over 30 years, patterns so deeply ingrained, do I even know how to surrender?

I only get nine months to figure this one out.

My questions and concerns about the future of my family come up daily. The only way to calm my mind is to get out of my head and into my heart— so back to the yoga mat I go. I can muse for as long as I’d like about what kind of mother I hope to be, but getting on my mat reminds me that I am enough and I will learn as I go, and that’s okay. I’d rather be in the moment over fantasizing about an unknown future. Yoga taught me the value of presence long ago and it’s the one thing I’ve managed to return to through thick and thin.

I don’t know why I held onto this idea that unless I become a completely different person, I can’t handle motherhood. If my mom could do it, I can do it. If millions of women have done it before me, I can totally do it!

Right?

Thankfully, I will continue to change as my sense of what feels authentic to me changes. My yoga practice is my constant and a sacred place to accept myself when I am otherwise tangled up in doubt.

Today, after a great physical practice, I feel more at home in my own skin than ever before. I feel more connected to everything and everyone. I am full of love and hope for the future. Everything is changing and all will be well. This is a state of being that I wish for every mother-to-be to experience.

Yogasync Me!  The 40 week Yoga Plan to support your pregnancy:

Pregnancy Yoga for Beginners

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It’s Christmas Eve, Jackie is at home feeling pretty good about having most of the present and holiday prep under control, she is contentedly busy preparing cookies for the kids, her two boys who are outside playing in the garden..  Unannounced in walks her ex partner who immediately starts his own negotiations to alter the already agreed whereabouts of their sons over the holidays (you can swap this out for trying brother, difficult in laws, or any situation that may get your blood pressure up, like the shop shutting one minute before you get there or leaving work with two days worth of work to come back to).  We will skip the story of this, make up your own story, and lets get to the grunt of it.  Jackie gets wound up, the father of her kids leaves and she is left with seemingly the same task to do but is now feeling upset, agitated, teary and plain work down by the Christmas frenzy, even though half hour before she was feeling content and peaceful.  “Yoga” thinks Jackie.  “No time we need to be at Mark’s house in 30 minutes”!  What’s a yogi to do? Observe the ever changing mind and emotions? Let go of the story? Breathe deep?  YES, YES and YES, these are all very useful and here’s the tip that will help you to feel calm and at ease without resorting to wine.

Is your story harassing you?

Jackie notices the emotions she is feeling, she notices that there is a story being told in the mind about the ex and Christmas and all of the frustrations.  As this story plays Jackie gets more and more emotionally unbalanced, like this recent fluctuation is piling up on top of all the older ones.  “Enough story” she thinks!  “Where is this in my body?”.  Jackie takes a deep breath and a scan of her body.  She feels a fiery sensation in her belly and a constriction around her throat like she is being throttled.  She wouldn’t have noticed unless she had learnt to mindfully turn her attention to it and use her body awareness.  Jackie breathes into the throat space, inviting the breath to expand the constriction.  After a few breaths Jackie notices the throttle on her throat easing up, opening and starting to clear.  She continues in this way until the space has become freer and now she notices that she is feeling much calmer again.  So what happened here?  All of our emotional responses are also felt in the body.  This is not mumbo-jumbo, this is likened to a technique used in modern psychotherapy and can be similar to some meditation techniques where you move away from the mental story and instead notice and free up any strain being stored your energetic body.  The energy of it stays with us unless we can choose to let it go.

Now any moment can feel smoother

Like a single grain of sand on the seabed, one small deposit of energy may not be enough for you to notice making waves in your calm waters.  But over time, if the same emotion or reaction is triggered, this can lay down more energy, which will over time, form a big pile of sand that will certainly be quick to make turbulent waters of your life.  By the way, telling the mental story over and over again in your head, also adds to that seabed of stormy waters.    By using the technique to release the associated energy and letting the story go, we can work towards flattening the sand out a bit, so even if waves are triggered, they wont tip the boat.  You steer into it by noticing and breathing into the bodily associated energy of it and handle it differently than ever before.

it’s a shame not to try it when it’s so easy

If you are committed to helping yourself feel open and clear, then start trying this technique today.  If it is completely new for you, then as with everything, practice makes perfect.  We recommend starting with a time when you can sit quietly either cross legged or your feet flat on the floor (or lie), breathe deep and have a go at the body scan.  Most of us can already notice sensations of heat, cold, pain, heaviness, lightness so start with these.  And then begin to look for the subtleties like tingling, pins and needles, vibrations, constrictions and openness, or perhaps a feeling of denseness or even nothingness!  Inside the body, outside the body or on the body, start with whatever you feel.  Every time the story comes back, go to the sensations and breathe into them, noticing if they alter

Is it that simple?  Well yes it is. This one simple technique can play a part in rewiring patterns and letting go of baggage.  To know more then look out for our new years articles to find out more about this life enhancing technique and say hello to more freedom.

Yogasync Me!  For more ways to keep joyful this holidays, check out this article.

And if that isnt eniugh then here’s 16 seconds of joy.  Can you resonate?  Ho ho ho ha ha ha!

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Presumably you’ve got clean underwear on after watching part one?  

Here we will examine and showcase some famous folks who have, at the least, dabbled in yoga, and at the most, preached the virtues of the ancient practice to one and all. Fear not, this isn’t going to be simply a fluff roundup of folks like Britney Spears’ or David Beckham’s experiences with yoga. (But there will be a few nods to some well-known glitterati, I mean; after all, it is sort of interesting to know we share something cool with a media A-Lister).

What do Michelle Williams, Robert Downey Jr, and US Cabinet Ministers have in common?

To start things off, our girl Brit, seems to be quite the devotee. According to the Huffington Post, she proclaimed last year “I’m doing a lot of yoga right now. It’s like my go-to between all anxiety and everything.” But more than just talk about yoga, Spears shared several of her favorite yoga poses, and the body areas those asanas targeted, in the June 2013 issue of Shape magazine.  She looked good, and I must admit, I’m jealous of her bow pose.

Other vocal artists like Alanis Morissette, Jon Bon Jovi, Lady Gaga, and  Maroon Five’s Adam Levine all practice yoga for their breath control, AND sanity. In interview, Morissette said (when asked what she loved most about yoga),

It gives me a great microcosmic snapshot, a clear picture of what’s going on in my life. If I push myself on the mat, it’s likely I’m pushing myself off the mat as well—a cue to be gentle. When I don’t practice, there’s a lack of checking in on my part. How I approach my time on the mat gives me a glimpse of my needs. It’s a great invitation to tune in to what’s really going on.

These Celebs Choose Yoga to Cope With Life

While some of us possibly look at celebrities doing yoga as just a PR stunt, or something they might not take seriously, for many, it is vitally important to them. Actor Michelle Williams (Dawson’s Creek, Brokeback Mountain, Oz, the Great and Powerful) is a co-founder of the “Yoga for Single Mom’s” project in Boston, MA. Williams had said that yoga helped her cope after the death of her boyfriend Heath Ledger, and acknowledged that many single moms might not have the abilities to afford childcare if they wanted to take yoga classes. Yoga for Single Moms provides both the classes and the childcare for free.

Other actors have been practitioners for many years like Jennifer Aniston, Robert Downy Jr., and Russell Brand. Like Williams, Brand has taken it further, and has taken Yoga Teacher Training classes, with the goal of opening a studio for those working on addiction and recover issues.

Next in The Scoop on Yoga

Look for the upcoming scoop on athletes and other notables (a former U.S. Cabinet member) who have benefited from the wonderful practice of yoga.

Yogasync Me!  Every celebrity has their own Coach!  Yogasync gives you precise instructions to get your most toned and athletic limbs….your personal yoga coach at home!

Celebrity Butt Yoga

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Connecting with this energy means giving ourselves permission to receive it all the time. It means letting go of the idea that we are undeserving. We’re able to make this happen if we show ourselves compassion. If we show ourselves, true, sincere compassion then we truly open our own hearts.

When our hearts are truly open to ourselves we become truly compassionate beings. True self-love is different than self-preference, because true love is not selective. It is said that if we can’t love ourselves, then we can’t love other people. This is true. It is just as true that if we can’t love other people, we can’t love ourselves.

Take the Good with the Bad

We possess the ability to love. It is an in-born emotion. But we don’t always know how to express it in understandable terms. When we accept that we have the ability to love, love ceases to be compartmentalized in our hearts and minds and it ceases to be selective.

If we truly love ourselves, we accept our own good qualities as easily as we accept our flaws. We forgive ourselves for our mistakes and we accept our whole selves just as we are.

I love you to “pieces”

We become whole persons instead of compartmentalized beings and we stop judging ourselves one piece at a time. Then we start to see others the same way. We see complete people, not pieces.

Imperfect Becomes Perfection

We look at other people in our lives-people who we love-friends, sisters, brothers, parents-none of them are perfect and no one who loves us likely thinks we’re perfect, either. Loved ones are always there, if not physically, then in spirit. They have an unmistakable presence in our lives and are a force of strength, of vulnerability and of goodness in their own ways.

No matter who they are or what they do, our true friends and loved ones offer some sense of being, some sense of valuable consistency that makes a forever meaningful difference. Somewhere in our hearts, we feel a state of being altogether perfect because we accept the whole truth sincerely. We embrace these people and these truths altogether, seeing the “imperfections” only as personal characteristics instead of flaws, and the imperfection suddenly become perfection.

“I accept all in the eternal now”

So surrender to the flow of life, accept that positive energy is always around you and around others whom you know, and let the energy enter you. Dwell with positive energy and you become it.

Yogasync Me: Need a little help with Self-Love?  Try this Meditation for Acceptance

I am Moving Towards Acceptance and Love

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We have come to understand mindfulness meditation as making a point to bring our attention and awareness to the present moment.

After practicing a formal mindfulness meditation every morning for a week, I began to notice something strange and wonderful. I was becoming mindful without even trying. During my regular mindfulness sessions, I enjoy drawing my attention to the beauty of nature.  This aspect of my meditation has allowed me to automatically focus my attention when I see anything beautiful during my everyday routine.  It’s as if my mind takes me right back to the place that I go during the meditation, just for a few moments. I find myself gently paying attention every time I catch a tree swaying in the wind, or a renegade flower growing in a rocky parking lot.

I have learned to live in the present moment when it counts the most.  Every time my 2-year-old son gives me a hug, I carefully tune in to the sensations; the warmth, the touch…I breathe him in.  When I fall asleep next to my husband I listen to him breathe, I feel his loving energy.

These short, precious moments fill me with a gratitude that I have never experienced before.  A gratitude for simple beauty and unconditional love.  I realize that I don’t need a fancy house or car, or loads of money to be happy.  All I need is to feast my eyes on a breathtaking sunrise, or to take a deep breath while I hold my son close.

I also find myself become more accepting of my own thoughts and emotions.  The key to mindfulness is allowing what is, and not striving to become anything else.  Even when negative or judgmental thoughts pass through my mind, I allow them and do not push them away.  When I allow myself to be as I am, I find those thoughts intruding less often.

The journey of mindfulness does not end when we are done meditating.  When practiced regularly, mindfulness seeps into our consciousness and becomes a part of our daily lives.  It helps us to accept ourselves freely, and savor each precious moment.

For Part One of this series click here, Part Two click here

Yogasync Me!  prepare yourself for sitting meditation with this sweet sequence that will make you more comfy.

Happy Sitting Postures

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Susan Smith is a tiny energetic Yoga Master and Teacher. She has numerous certifications in various kinds of Yoga therapy, and hundreds of hours of training. Because yoga has been become increasingly more mainstream both as an athletic pursuit, and as part of a holistic healing therapy, it’s not at all surprising to see people of different abilities enter her Yoga Center. From young people looking to supplement their gym workouts to middle-aged students seeking more energy, to senior citizens in walkers, Susan is used to assisting and modifying poses, either in a class, or in a private therapy session. Sometimes however, she finds herself in unknown territory.

Her new client Annie is 19 and she has cerebral palsy.
A young woman with a slight build, Annie has long brown hair, bright eyes, and a pretty smile. Diagnosed around the age of four months, she’s been assisted not only by her parents, but by daily caregivers, and a one-on-one teacher. Annie’s mom is also a student of Susan’s and knew of her experience with Thai Yoga Bodywork.
When Susan described Annie’s first entrance into the Center, she noted that she was extremely stiff. She displayed the beginnings of postural kyphosis (rounded upper back), had both fists in her mouth, and was walking on her toes. Susan initially feared that she might not be able to treat Annie. Pauline, Annie’s mother, was looking to add more flexibility to Annie’s spine and she assured Susan that Annie’s comprehension was fine, so she would be able to understand directions.

The first thing Susan did was to show Annie how to move her chin inwards, to allow her head to line up over her spine. This allowed her to sit and stand straighter, which naturally helps with spine curving. Just as importantly, the slight change in posture allowed Annie’s chest to open.

The next step was to have Annie sit in a chair. “I thought that Thai Bodywork would be best to work with her, rather than to have her perform poses herself…it might be easier for me to maneuver her through various postures, in the Thai Bodywork I do that, I put pressure on the client with my hands, elbow, knees, and feet.”
Susan described how after Annie was safely seated on a low chair, she removed her shoes and socks, and rubbed in a few drops of an essential oil blend into both of Annie’s feet. This blend contains oils of Blue Tansy, Frankincense, Ho Wood, and Spruce. (Susan also had the same blend in a going in a diffuser in the center) Next, Susan began to manipulate Annie’s feet, stretching and pulling, and gradually the feet began to relax, and so did Annie, just a little.
Then it was time to try lying down on the mat. “But she couldn’t just lay back, so I was trying to help her to relax back, and I was sitting behind her, and trying to help her lower her shoulders down, and she ended up just relaxing back onto my lap.” Susan smiled widely remembering this part, as she began to work on Annie’s arms, she relaxed further, “she obviously trusted me, it was really, really beautiful.”

Susan recounted that after a while into this first session, her four year old granddaughter, Rose, began to run around in the center. Typically Rose is used to being there during the day; she plays unobtrusively in her own area. But now she wanted to run around. Susan explained how Annie seemed excited and wanted to run around with Rose.

“I thought this would be good for her to relax, to help her to let go, have some fun, even bring her some joy in this moment, that’s good for her.”

The session ended with trying Annie on a Yoga ball. It was difficult at first, until Susan tried placing the ball on an upside down aerobic stepper to cradle it. Annie was able to sit, and then lay back fully over the ball, “she was getting a really nice opening for her back which was countering the kyphosis.”
As the session was ending, Annie was sitting up in a chair waiting while her mother was writing out a check, sitting, “reasonably straight, and her mother and her caregiver started saying, ‘look how straight she’s sitting, look at her!’ and of course, I had nothing to compare it with, not having seen her before…but they were quite impressed with how straight she was sitting.”

When Annie, her mom, and the caregiver left, Susan could hear her out in the hallway, “I thought that she was crying. So when her caregiver came in the next day [she came in for some Thai Bodywork] I asked her,

‘was she crying? NO, she was so happy; she was just squealing with delight and running up and down the hall’.”

Amazing!
So far Annie has been to see Susan for about four or five visits. Pauline said that the she’s noticed Annie acting a little more calm and relaxed at home. And her sleeping posture is not as curved either, Pauline seems some spine straightening. While she said that it’s too early to tell what lasting changes may come of these treatments, she’s pleased.
And judging by the smiles and visible moments of release between Annie and Susan, Annie seems quite pleased too.

Yogasync Me!  Always see an experiences Yoga Therapist if there are special needs.  If however you’d like to try assisted postures at home,, then here’s a great sequence to get you started:

Soft and Expanded

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One of the key ways we can change the global perspective & impact of Yoga, is to incorporate it into the lives of our young people, as well as our elders; the two groups that I think would benefit most from its teachings.
The malleable minded fountains of creativity that our young people are, deserve the chance to learn to reduce their stress, increase their conscious perspective, and become healthier. For our elders, that effect should be two fold, the people that brought us into this world, and shaped the world we now live in, deserve the exact same opportunity.

For the Kids

For these situations to materialise it would mean the Yoga community taking the ideals of Yoga, be it as individuals or studios; to local governments, youth groups, or any NGO that holds young peoples’ priorities paramount. Once there; show them that the interest is genuinely there for expansion into our school systems from a large number of our selves, as well as scientifically proved benefits. As a non-religious practice, it could even be incorporated into faith schools as a supplement to their religious education. Not to mention the fact that Health & Wellbeing is one of the fastest growing global industries so from an economic standpoint; investing in the health of our youth is a wise investment – should it (unfortunately) need justifying.

For the Elders

Coincidentally, I believe that we must also support the health of our elders. According to various modern studies, the average profile of a Yoga participant is a middle-aged female. In the not so distant future, the middle aged will become the old aged (although no less beautiful, I’m sure!) which will require more facilities and focus than we currently offer to the situation, not to mention giving great incentive for any member of said demographic to start addressing the problem now. On a side-note, if you’re inclined towards a belief or knowledge or reincarnation, this would also pay dividends in a karmic sense; preparing our elderly for their next life cycle by giving them knowledge of self in the later stages of life, they are thus more likely to incarnate as more spiritually aware & conscious beings, which subsequently strengthens the power of the youth in a roundabout way (Once again, if you’re that way inclined, take it as food for thought if not).

In conclusion, by ensuring our children have access to the benefits of Yoga, we guarantee its continued tradition, as well as driving innovation for posterity. By giving our elders the respect they deserve for putting us on this earth in the first place, we can further spread joy to their lives, while providing cosmic & karmic catharsis for their service in our earlier years.

Yogasync Me!  Check Out some Yoga for older people:

Yoga that is Scientifically Proven to Prevent Falls

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