#kidsyoga
#downwarddog
www.soyoga.com.sg
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Flexible Youth
#kidsyoga
#downwarddog
www.soyoga.com.sg
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
5 Ways to Make Every Yoga Class More Restorative and Therapeutic
A beautiful link between Yoga and Mindfulness!
"Daniel Sernicola shares five practices to
help your students get grounded and cultivate mindfulness.
One of yoga’s primary aims is to bring us
squarely into the present moment, which is especially important and especially
difficult for trauma survivors. Present-moment experiences offer trauma
survivors a chance to live “without feeling or behaving according to irrelevant
demands belonging to the past,” according to Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., author
of The Body Keeps the Score. But it’s also more challenging for traumatized
people than non-traumatized people to be present, says David Emerson, author of
Overcoming Trauma Through Yoga. The good news? We can all get better at it with
practice. Here, a few key strategies for helping trauma survivors—and everyone
else—in your yoga classes get grounded and present.
1.
Anchor the mind.
“All practices that strengthen
concentration or mindfulness use an anchor,” Willard says. He recommends
inviting students to rest their attention on something—the body, the breath,
movement, the senses, an image, numbers, a word or phrase—to anchor them to the
present moment.
2.
Cultivate mindfulness from the ground up.
“Start with simple things that can help
students feel grounded and centered,” says yoga teacher Marcia Miller. She
likes to start class by rolling the feet over massage balls to create
heightened sensations in the feet that make it easier to feel grounded. “Then,
I might ask questions like these throughout the class, ‘Can you feel how your
feet are touching the floor? Can you feel the weight of your hips on the chair?
Can you feel the texture of the fabric on your arms? What are the sensations
you are feeling right now because of the pose we just did? Where exactly are
they? Do you enjoy these sensations?’”
3.
Be sure to include breath practice.
We are seldom taught how to breathe and
yet, a number of studies “cite evidence that yogic breathwork may be
efficacious for the treatment of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress
disorder and for victims of mass disasters,” says Amy Weintraub, author of Yoga
Skills for Therapists: Effective Practices for Mood Management. She suggests
using three-part breath and breath retention among other techniques, adding
that “control of the breath not only enables language but gives us a measure of
control over our mood.” Ancient yogis knew that breath regulation could help
manage and regulate feelings and moods. Studies have shown that breathwork may
be helpful in the treatment of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress
disorder, and for victims of mass disasters. “Finding and experimenting with
new ways of breathing may be a way for folks to feel better in their bodies,”
Emerson says. Breath practice is an effective tool all students can take home
and use to help with anxiety outside of class. Try the 7-11 Breath, as taught
by Christopher Willard, PSYD. He suggests breathing in for a count of 7 and
breathing out for a count of 11, suggesting that this practice can reset the
breath to “regulate, shift, and stabilize energy and mood.”
4.
Give a nurturing Savasana.
For some, Savasana is the most welcomed
pose of a yoga class. For others, it can be a difficult and uncomfortable
experience. Offer choices for resting by providing suggestions on how to set up
for Savasana or encouraging students to do what feels comfortable for them: sit
up, lie down, use a bolster under their legs, a folded blanket under their
head, a folded blanket over their belly, or a blanket to cover up with.
Encourage students to close their eyes or soften their gaze, knowing some may
only feel comfortable keeping their eyes wide open. Remind students that
Savasana will only last a few minutes and that they can come out whenever they
like.
5.
Take it to the next level with Yoga Nidra.
Yoga Nidra is “a sequence of meditation
practices that help you feel connected to yourself, with others, and to the
world around you,” according to Richard Miller, PhD. Miller has adapted this
practice, calling it Integrated Restoration, or iRest. He describes it as a
guided progressive scan of the body incorporating the tools of intention,
body-sensing, breath-sensing, awareness, and more. Miller has had great success
treating populations suffering from trauma and PTSD with his research-based
method. He says these self-care tools help students “experience self-mastery,
resilience, and well-being.” Don’t be surprised if your students fall asleep,
as their mind is able to release and relax in this deeply grounding
practice. "
By: Daniel Sernicola
Source: http://www.yogajournal.com/teach/5-ways-make-every-yoga-class-restorative-therapeutic/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=story7_image&utm_campaign=myyj_12132016
www.soyoga.com.sg
The 5 Biggest Reasons for a Daily Meditation
A short article, highlighting again main benefits of meditation.
"I am a busy single mom. For the past year I
have been waking up before my son (and often before the sun), dragging myself
out of bed and finding my way to my cushion in front of my alter. I light a
candle and meditate for 30-45 minutes. It has made a tremendous difference in
my life and in my entire being. If I can do it, anyone can.
We all know that countless studies have
proven the benefits of meditation but here are some tangible and embodied reasons
that I have found through my own practice:
1.
Deeper connection to your body
This includes better digestion, improved
posture, and palpable awareness of heightened sensations through rooting down
into your sits bones and rising up on the cushion. Couple this with intentional
breath and there is the opportunity to feel a profound sense of embodiment.
2.
Improved coping skills for living
One gains greater opportunity to respond to
what life throws at you from an embodied and integrated place. With a regular
practice you cultivate the ability to come back to your breath and respond from
that place of ground and empowerment when life throws less-than-desirable
situations at you. My experience is that it simply becomes more natural to do
so, with less effort. You are
essentially re-patterning your entire way of being.
3.
Feel more confident and empowered
Stepping out of the space of allowing the mind
to dictate your life is very empowering. You start to see all of the many, many
choices available to you and are able to discern what is truth and ignore the
deception of the mind; or at least shift how you respond to what it is telling
you.
4.
It becomes a sanctuary from the chaos of life
When I first began it did feel like yet
another obligation that I had to endure, but now, I look forward to it and
crave it. The outer quiet and stillness
allows me to drop into myself in a unique way.
There is something very important about doing so first thing in the
morning rather than in the evening. The
sanctity of the time when the sun is just rising, our minds and bodies are
empty after a nights rest is conducive for a profound time of connection to
self. What my ego named as a chore all those months ago, has become my temple
and the stillness and quiet that I crave before jumping into the chaos of
motherhood and the varying tasks ahead.
5.
Calms the entire system
The technique that I use is that of
focusing on a single point. I use a candle and a simple mantra. I fluctuate
between several including: So Hum (I Am), Sat Nam (I Am Truth), I Am Worthy, I
Am Love, I Am (you fill in the blank as to what serves you). The single pointedness gives my busy eyes
something to focus on and the repetition of the mantra gives my overly active
mind something to grasp onto. It is a win-win."
www.soyoga.com.sg
Sunday, December 11, 2016
So Yoga at Standard Chartered Marathon
#scms
#kidsyoga
www.soyoga.com.sg
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Infused Waters recipes
Thursday, December 1, 2016
Yoga by the Beach
Honoured and Happy to teach yoga to friendly students in these beautiful surroundings.. and even more in December, 28 degrees, bright sun and blue sky!
Breathe & Smile
#tgif #enjoytheweekend #yogaeverywhere #yogabythebeach #eastcoast#yogasg
Breathe & Smile
#tgif #enjoytheweekend #yogaeverywhere #yogabythebeach #eastcoast#yogasg
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