11.23.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:29 pm by Jennifer
I have been practicing yoga since 1997. As a long distance runner, yoga offered flexibility, strength and stress relief. That got me started, and since then the journey has been so much more, physically, mentally and spiritually. Yoga has become such an important part of my life. I have learned so much about myself and how to take what I learn on the mat and practice it in my life. If there was anything I would love to share about yoga it would be that yoga is for everyone. You do not have to have any athletic abilities, be any certain age, or any certain person. Yoga meets you where you are and nurtures and strengthens your growth.
Throughout my journey in healthcare and medicine I experienced many different modalities of alternative medicine and healing. In the journey toward health I witnessed how the body can heal, by finding your imbalances and supporting your body nutritionally, you can actually change your DNA and drastically change your health. Your body knows how to heal itself, so to restore balance by supporting the body to do what it inherently knows is a powerful way to heal.
Healing is more than over coming disease. Disease is the physical manifestation of dis-ease of the body, mind and spirit. Detoxification, nutrition and supportive supplements brings the body into alignment with healthy function. Yoga, meditation and exercise allows the mind, body and spirit to clear out the old, that no longer serves us and to attract and practice new and healthy ways of approaching life and balance. I learned these tools and other that can be beneficial to healing and offer my guidance in your journey towards optimal health.
I studied biology with a concentration on biomedical sciences at Colorado State University. I am certified to teach Yoga from the Shambhava School of Yoga with 200 hrs. Trained in Applied Kinesiology (AK or Muscle Testing), Reiki Master, as well as certified in functional/alternative medicine coaching.
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Posted in Yoga at 7:29 pm by Jennifer
My Journey to a Yoga Practice
I was drawn to yoga as a college student 13 years ago. I was in a transitional time in my life and yoga offered some sort of refuge from the stress of the unknown. On the floor of my dorm I perched a yoga book against the bed and began exploring yoga poses and what was exactly happening to me as I held each pose. Sometimes in the simplicity of a pose I would find my mind wondering or bored. Harder poses where I lacked strength or flexibility I would give up on or hold back on challenging my body. But somewhere in between the limitations of my body and the chaos of my mind I found myself coming back to the practice especially when I felt “stressed”. In the beginning just the act of shutting off the TV, turning on relaxing music, lighting a candle and maybe doing a handful of poses until I got bored or tired began to restore my mind and in turn relaxed my body. Of course I judged this effort in not being enough. I thought I “should” be doing an hour practice, I should go to more yoga classes, I should be more flexible, stronger, and whatever other “should” I come up with.
But today I realize that what I did do was nurture the seed that I planted to begin a journey towards a yoga practice that would take me deeper physically, mentally and spiritually. You have to start somewhere, and where I started didn’t have to look perfect, it didn’t have to be all or nothing. If I could continue to commit to showing up even in the simplest way everyday, I would invest in myself and I would grow.
Yoga continues to teach me to surrender my mind and body to be in the moment, to allow myself, with all of my limitations to be present, to hold the space for growth at my own pace. And just maybe today I will push past those limitations, maybe in micro movements or maybe in leaps, but all in the safety of acceptance of myself, of others and with the inner eye of awareness. Today, that is the intention of my practice and as a teacher I honor and nurture that for my students.
As we enter into the holiday season, closing out the year spending time with family and friends and begin to prepare for a new beginning in January, it becomes ever so important to make the effort and the time for a yoga practice. To quiet my mind and connect with awareness, peace, acceptance, compassion, balance, strength, and all of the themes that a yoga practice connects me to on the mat, so that I continue to carry that out to my life off of the mat.
You cannot do yoga. Yoga is your natural state. What you can do are yoga exercises, which may reveal to you where you are resisting your natural state. ~Sharon Gannon
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