October EASY YOGA: Revitalize Energy & Calm the Mind (3/4)

Yet at its core, yoga is a spiritual practice: It soothes, nourishes, and redirects the mind to harness your energies for happier connection to your thoughts, emotions, sensations, as well the world around you.

In these sessions of Easy Yoga, we first start with a few moments one-on-one with your teacher to breathe, center, and connect. You contemplate what in your life you are ready to leave behind, and what you want to cultivate. Known as a “Gating Ceremony,” this personal moment helps release mental & energetic burdens, as you become more focused and better resourced to foster your best self.

Then we come together as a group & shift our energy inward, as Virginia guides a visualization to open our sacred circle. This helps you attune to how you are feeling and connect to innate wisdom. This simple creation of sacred space makes the entire practice more potent and benefits more lasting. (Plus, you can use this technique throughout your life in everyday settings too!)

Now richly supported, this gentle time together then features simple yet profound movements that will enhance your well-being. Physically, it is very accessible. We will center with breathing, then warm up with chair yoga.

All these sessions are slow-paced, with pauses and gentle movements to make this EASY yoga. It is a VERY accessible course physically, for many levels of capacity because it requires less up-and-down from the floor and often uses chairs. Yet you still receive a full-body reset. These sequences also ensure you gain access to the more expansive potentials of yoga that exceed the physical body: Your mind and connection to those around you are sweetened and made more harmonious.

Each session not only decreases stiffness and increases fluid motion of the muscular-skeletal system, but also includes specific conscious breathing and systematic relaxation techniques that help regulate the nervous system. These practices ignite healing capacities and encourage an overall sense of relief and peace. As the body becomes calmer and comfortable, a natural sense of peacefulness arises. Mental concentration improves and there is a lightness to being in one's body that in turn, makes everyday movements easier. (This can be done seated in a chair or lying down.)

EASY YOGA sessions conclude by introducing you to the inward experience of meditation, which allows you to tap into inner reserves of vast inspiration and well-being. It is suggested you meditate in a chair for EASE - you don't have to be on the floor. This is where we often go deeper than the thinking mind expects – even in a short time with simple techniques - to achieve feelings of spaciousness and tender empowerment.

At the end of our 90 minutes together, we will close our sacred circle, in order for you to learn how to take these improved states with you throughout your days. Your teacher, Virginia, will be available after sessions to answer questions, or simply to provide inspiration, encouragement, conversation, and – of course! – immense gratitude.