February 2018

Welcome to February!  Lots of great things happening with Heart Tree Yoga to share with you.  

You will find news about upcoming events below, as well as a recipe for digestive tea to keep your digestive fire lit during these winter months. (Better digestion means your tissues are getting the nourishment they need for healing and wellbeing - so it is a great thing to pay attention to, especially during cold winter months!)  For newsletter subscribers, this month's newsletter included a Movement and More clip on deepening awareness with Chair Pose--particularly how to improve strength and stability through your legs while improving balance and function.  You can get more out of this pose with better awareness of what's really moving.  

​In addition, I shared some musings from my recent trip to Canada about the interconnectedness of our body and mind its relationship to stress and pain.  If you'd like the opportunity to receive Heart Tree Yoga's free monthly Movement and More video clips on building better movement for your body, just fill out the subscription form--I'd love to have you join the Heart Tree Yoga community.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Heart Tree Yoga has a number of great classes and workshops coming up in the next couple months.  Click on "Read More" for more details for how you can sign up for these!

• Yoga Nidra and the Art of Conscious Relaxation (need stress relief? this is the class for you!)
• Therapeutic Yoga for Hips and Shoulders (that workshop you need for less tension in the back, hips and shoulders!)
• THRIVE - Supporting People with Parkinson's Through Yoga Therapeutics (a unique, customized program)

Also starting up a 5-week preschool kid's yoga class that will integrate brain and sensory foundation work.  
 

FEBRUARY EVENTS

Mark your Calendars! 

SUNDAY February 11
Yoga Nidra and the Art of Conscious Relaxation
4:30 - 5:30 pm at Body Grace studio in Vienna
Fee: $20 pre-registered: $25 drop-in

Yoga Nidra is an ancient practice that takes people into a state of deep relaxation through a guided meditative process and conscious visualization. Also known as yogic sleep, the practice gives rest to the mind, body and senses by drawing the practitioner into a state of conscious awareness—a brain state between full wakefulness and full sleep. This practice has been linked with reducing stress, tension and pain; improving circulation and immune functioning; lowering blood pressure and inflammation; and stabilizing mood. Yoga Nidra is generally practiced while lying down or in a seated position. For your comfort, please bring a pillow and wear comfortable clothing and arrive 15 minutes before class start. Mats and blankets are available at the studio or feel free to bring your own. Please RSVP to reserve a spot with Jan at bodygrace@verizon.net 

SATURDAY February 24th
Therapeutic Yoga for Hips and Shoulders
This is a terrific class for anyone with hip, shoulder, or back concerns
2:30 - 3:45 pm at Body Grace studio in Vienna
Fee: $20

Yoga therapeutics helps practitioners discover their unique breath, movement, and tension-holding patterns so they can nurture patterns that work well, and quiet ones that don’t while improving joint and core stability, as well as overall balance, strength, mobility, ease and calm.  This class helps students experience greater awareness of how they move, how this can contribute to chronic muscle tension, and how small changes can contribute to greater ease and ways of being, whether in yoga practice or daily life.  Appropriate for all fitness levels, the class incorporates small, mindful therapeutic movements and encourages students to move in a range of motion that is pain and tension free—while teaching how to improve functional movement and build supple strength. Class will conclude with a restorative guided meditation practice.
Please RSVP to reserve a spot with Jan at bodygrace@verizon.net 

THRIVE: SUPPORTING PEOPLE WITH PARKINSON'S THROUGH YOGA THERAPEUTICS

I'm really thrilled to share about a program I am pulling together to support people with Parkinson's.  It is a specialized, intimate program to designed to help build a toolbox of techniques to apply to the unique needs of each participant--to help respond to "what shows up" each day--whether the need is to manage energy, uplift mood, reduce anxiety, alleviate body tension, or build greater internal physical balance, stamina and support.  

The program will use a unique combined format of private sessions and supportive small-sized community classes to help participants nurture a personal customized self-care practice.  The community classes will include time to review and reinforce what each student is working on with their customized program so that the practices can become more integrated and supported in daily life.

More details will be coming soon, including the time and location of the community group classes.  If you know someone with Parkinson's who you think could benefit from this unique opportunity, please be in touch or forward this along. I expect registration to take place in February and the series based class to begin in  March and run through April.. 

DIGESTIVE TEA
 
Last month I shared with you some tips for getting through these cold winter months. One thing I mentioned was drinking hot (not cold) liquids and how each morning I start off with a simple cup of hot water or a brew of tea with warming herbs.  This month I thought I'd share the recipe for the tea brew I use--a traditional Ayurvedic digestive remedy.
 
DIGESTIVE CCF TEA
4-5 cups water.
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp fennel seeds

Brew in a pot 5-10 minutes then strain.  Drink a cup first thing in the morning and then throughout the day.


I hope you keep yourself warm and remember to treat yourself with compassionate self-care.  Be sure to check out Heart Tree Yoga's class offerings this month too.  I look forward to connecting again soon.

With light,

Carolyn