New to Yoga?

Typical Questions/Concerns

1. “What is yoga?” Yoga originated thousands of years ago to allow stillness in the mind, experience being more present…by aligning to our breathe experience.  Postures were added to challenge our ability to remain connected to our breathe  through ‘external’ challenges, such as the yoga postures/asanas.  The stretching is beyond benefiting muscles, it also translates into the a healthier body state; strengthens your immune/lymphatic system, massage organs, stimulates blood flow, by allowing movement, feeling connected as we stimulate flow within our body form.

2. “I’m not flexible…” Yoga allows you to align to whatever flexibility you currently have and then assists you to evolve towards enhancing your ability to gain a greater range of motion/flexibility allowing more freedom in the body.  A healthy yoga practice aligns you to body sensations, by remaining aligned to breathe, we know where to move the body, never forcing or straining, just encouraging…so through-out the day we become more conscious of unnecessary tensions or practices/movements that may be negatively affecting our natural balanced state.

3. “Will Yoga hurt?” All our classes remind you to challenge but not create ’pain’ in the body – instead we strive to enhance your body awareness within each class and challenge your limitations without exceeding or compromising your health. If the body experiences tension(s) or restrictions… yoga will actually assist you to become more relaxed, by connecting to the mind/body relationship. Typically… the more challenging the stretch, the more your body needs that particular stretch – the bodies restrictions reflect your underlying tensions.  We do challenge you; without compromising your body/health.  We will remind you that movements may feel uncomfortable – yet it shouldn’t cause pain or hurt.

4. “I’m dealing with an injury, can I still do yoga or other classes?” I’ve designed a Chair Yoga Therapy class for those people with limited mobility whether it’s due to pregnancy, or an accident, surgery, illness or even the natural aging process.  The chair offers you more support and without putting excess pressures on your bodies sensitivities.

5. “I’m pregnant…”depending what stage of the pregnancy you’re moving through, we offer specific modifications, and also specialized classes such as Chair Therapy Yoga – if your in your 2nd or 3rd tri-mester.  Please let us know so we can sit down and go through safe execution of exercises and asanas/yoga postures to ensure you benefit without compromising yourself/baby.

6. “Is yoga a ‘religious‘ experience?”No – even though some may feel a deeper connection within…ie a spiritual (emotional) experience.  We do complete each class with savasana;  which surrenders the body to breathe and inner calm/stillness…we may call that experience meditation.  We’ve had a wide variety of religious denominations attend class and not feel conflicted or offended during class.