Lighten Up!

There’s this English comedian called Ken Dodd who put it like this:

“We’re all born with a chuckle muscle, and if you exercise it every day, it’ll keep you young and frisky all your life. But if you don’t, it dries up and drops off.”

Laughter it's a key to opening up the child inside of each and every one of us. How many times do you read something, or witness an act that just cracks you up? Do you suppress your desire to laugh or do you just let it out?

I have, within, the need and want to laugh out loud whenever and wherever I am! In one of my yoga classes there is a man that just loves to make people laugh, I so appreciate him in my class! Yoga is not meant to be serious and stoic, it's meant to free you from the stress that binds you! It's meant to be light and airy or to beat you into submission LOL! (As some of my students profess that I do! Mainly the men!)

Depression and worry are both expressions of fear, and they lock you up even more into a sense of limited options and choice… limited possibility.

Our ‘human energy fields’ (our ‘bodies’, which exist on multiple ‘subtle levels’ as well) constantly reflect our mental and emotional states in their vibrational state.

You, my dear readers, have the ability to break that cycle! All you have to do is

LAUGH!

I know this may sound ridiculous at first, but think about it:

Try to be serious (tight and heavy) when you’re laughing or someone else is…

You can’t.

I’ll tell you what:

You can look at the ‘struggle of life’… and you can laugh, or you can cry. It’s just a matter of choice. It has even been shown in medical trials that laughing has a wonderful healing effect on your body

The great thing about this is laughter is infectious! And when one person laughs, it’s like permission has been granted to others to laugh as well. And I mean even the ones who are afraid to loosen up and let themselves go.

So let’s lighten up, what do you say?

After all, we’re infinite consciousness… all possibility having an experience in this ‘reality’. We can make it a ‘fun’ experience if we want, if only we celebrate who we are and express the joy of that.

So laugh, my friend! Take the time to read or watch stuff you think is funny. Try to participant and observe. Do whatever it takes. LAUGH!

What's Your Secret?

William H. Gross, the Chief Investment Officer of Pimco, is one of the richest and most successful investment bankers in the world. What's his secret? In an interview in 2006, Gross said, "the most important part of my day isn't on the trading floor" but rather in the health club where he does yoga and works out for an hour-and-a-half every day. Sighting what many yoga teachers will affirm - that doing headstands makes blood flow to your brain - Gross claims that some of his best financial ideas have actually come to him while practicing this inversion.

This is a perfect example of one the virtues of doing Yoga. All you have to do is breathe and focus on yourself! I tell you that each practice that we do! For those of you who have so much to do during your work day, the pressures of decision making, meetings, goals of the day to get done, the list goes on, your Yoga practice is your "haven" your spa time if you will, to get away and change your thought process. In this way, you will come to conclusion, decisions AND get your butt off your chair and in exchange your back becomes less sore, your hamstrings stretch a little more each time. Yoga is not just for those who have physical problems but it's also for those who need to come to some decision; answers to questions AND to clear your mind of all it's clutter!

If William Gross the CIO of Pimco can find solace and solutions with Yoga, just imagine what you can accomplish! Ahhhh yes I feel clear headed and filled with an inner bliss about all the decisions I have made today! What about you?

Do You Still do Yoga Even When You're Sick?

I get this question asked every once in awhile. My answer is another question: Sick in the head or sick in the body?

Let's break this down.

 If you have a headache then Yoga, the gentle style and the deep breathing, will work wonders for you! The deep breathing bringing oxygen to your brain and to the whole body eases the pain by allowing blood to flow more easily throughout your body and especially into your brain. The slow gentle Yoga stretches our muscles and joints to alleviate tension that may be blocking blood flow.

However, if you are sick in your body i.e. the flu or even a cold then I suggest you stay in bed and stretch only when you feel the urge to. Our immune system needs to work and not get compromised by the work of our Yoga Practice. And on top of that you really don't want to spread your virus or bacteria around to others.

It's important to stay hydrated and if you have a sore throat, drink some tea! I use Celestial Seasonings Honey Vanilla Chamomile, it does wonders to soothe a sore and dry throat!

Stay mindful of respecting your body and your body will respect you!

The virtues of becoming a Yogi

Well my oh my, I'm getting a lot of messages pertaining to Yoga and I really appreciate them all, thank you so much!
It's so enlightening once you start with my Yoga class, I challenge you to become a true yogi and find how beautiful inside and out you become. Stronger, more flexible, powerful, confident, respectful of yourself, oh the list goes on.

When I first started Yoga I found that the leaves on the trees were more green, the air smelled so sweet! Yes all these things and more! You become alive with your environment no kidding

You are less stressed, and more settled and balanced! I promise you that if you join my class of Yoga the Fitter aspect of it, yes I said it! I'm not into the spiritual side of if I feel that everyone has their own spirituality and I don't need to bombard you with mine. I just want you to be the best you can be and become more fittier than you've ever thought possible!

Yoga is translated as the sun and the moon, the ha and tha, the yen and yang. When you align yourself and protect yourself with yoga you become so balanced and confident in your ability no matter what you are doing!

So I invite to join me KimberleyG with my Fit and Strong Yoga (modifications for those of you who are concerned with an injury or an inablity to flex). No worry Yoga, that's my motto for now!

I can't wait to see you and watch you grow and become the butterfly you were mean't to be!

Becoming the Butterfly You Are Meant to be!

It's hard to imagine that you'll feel good going into some of Yoga poses! But I tell and I promise you that as the blogs grow with info on Hot Yoga and Hatha Yoga in particular, you will begin to hunger to find out for yourself what it's all about!

Do you feel tired and in need of energy sometime throughout the day? Try deep breathing to bring your vitality back. This can be accomplished anywhere and anytime throughout your day!

With the heat up in Hot Yoga and the deep breathing exercise beginning your energy increases two fold; three fold! It's amazing to feel this! Drinking in the warmth, the oxygen moving to all the corners of your body; increasing the capacity and elasticity of your lungs!

Don't be concerned with the heat, our body temperature is at 98.6 so in order to feel the relaxing of the muscles you need to increase the heat above the body temperature. In this way, your muscles will automatically feel relaxed, your tendons and ligaments will not over extend before they are ready. The heat is our friend not our enemy. However, for those of you who feel uncomfortable with their atmosphere heated, it's not the end all! Proper warm up is always important to keep you from over extending, or pulling a  muscle! Without heat we just do our Sun Salutations over and over to warm us up as much as the heat would. So rev your metabolism up via heat or warming those muscle without, the end all is the same!

Standing and using your arms to help with this deep breathing begins a task with which you'd be surprised how difficult this maneuver is! But when you finally understand what is meant by "breathing with the throat", Things will quiet down once your throat muscles grow supple.

Stay with me and learn! My next blog will be all about "Breathing with the Throat"! 

Watch and learn and be the butterfly you are meant to be!

Wow I'm sore!

Oh WOW another class done this morning and my oh my my legs, back and butt are sore, it is very, very good and boy did we sweat! All those nasty toxins oozing out with the sweat! We grunted and groaned and even had one guy in class! I'm so excited, look for an article about this class in the Springboro Times or newspaper in lifestyle or health style, not sure I'll find out more. Just got notified this morning to submit a little article myself to put in the paper...got to think so gotta go!

Talk to you all later as I think of more to say! Namaste' and addios amigos!
(mmmm...sweat dripping, working muscle, tendons and ligaments and stability and focus...POWER BABY!)

G's Hot Yoga The Beginning

I'm so excited to finally begin Hot Yoga! It was so warm and cozy and my muscles, tendons and legiments felt so flexible! I can't wait to do it again. The nice thing about this is it allows you to go deeper into your practice. As with any yoga practice you must practice to become proficient within your practice. I always like to think of a class practice as our practice! That is what it is! We begin together and end together everytime, it's totally amazing!
Namaste'