Yoga for Headache Relief

 

Legs up the Wall

We know that yoga relaxes and calms the body and mind.  So it makes sense to use your yoga practice to release a muscle tension headache, right?

In fact, that is exactly true.  Headaches that are caused by muscle tension and stress can be relieved with yoga poses.  Using a gentle yoga sequence can give you relief. 

Try this yoga practice the next time you begin to feel achy and stressed, hoping to catch the tension before it builds in the upper back and neck area, preventing the aches and pains.

Begin in a seated pose
     *alternating nostril breath (5 complete rounds), slow inhales and complete exhales
     *gentle neck stretches
     *shoulder roll, forward and back

Next, child's pose
     sit on your heels and bring your chest and head towards the floor, rest you head on a pillow, the floor, or you hands.  Hold for 5 breaths

Cat/Cow

Down Dog with knee bent to release stress, tension and prevent strain and tightness

Cobra  stay low in your cobra, resting one full breath between each complete pose

Seated twist / Seated Forward Fold

End with this relaxing savasana pose: 
     Legs up the wall
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Janine is a Yoga Instructor and Life Coach practicing from her home studio. She invites students to her studio for personal sessions, as well as traveling to your home. She is teaching in a couple studios right now in the Wells/Ogunquit area, as well as at The Cancer Care Center of York County and York Hospital's Wellness Center.
If you are looking for gentle yoga to increase flexibility, strength and energy plus decrease stress and tension, this is the style of yoga that you want for your practice. As a life coach, she leads educational coaching series along with personal one on one life coaching using the Co-Active Coaching techniques and Ayurveda Science. You can reach her at 207-251-9577


    

In a Relationship

North Conway's mini vacation

Practice Yoga...Improve your relationship

Everyone is in a relationship.  You have relationships with people, businesses, family members and most importantly yourself.

I recently went to Kripalu to add to my study; yoga for recovery.  I made the time to rest, relax and listen to others this time around. (First time was all about exploring and checking out the place).

 It is amazing what happens to you as you honor yourself.  Yoga helps me to deepen the way I care about myself and thus making room to care for others. 

"The more we give love, the greater our capacity to do so."  David R. Hawkins

My relationships with my family, friends and students improved by my increase in self trust, living in the moment and reducing tension.


At Kripalu, Joel and Kate Feldman teach a workshop called Yoga of Relationships.  These are the suggestions that they give to nourish and create.
 Joel and Kate Feldman were founding members of Kripalu and lived and served in the Kripalu community for 25 years. Now living in Durango, Colorado, they are therapists and workshop presenters specializing in intimate relationships.

Nourishing Your Relationship

Couples who regularly nourish and feed their relationship as if it were a living being, create more aliveness and energy between them and find themselves more satisfied in their life together over the long term. Here are some specific suggestions for how to nourish your relationships, romantic or otherwise:

Quality time. Create regular, scheduled time for connection, dialogue, fun, intimacy, or even working through conflicts.
Intentional fun and pleasure. Studies show that couples that have five times more pleasure than pain (or comfort versus discomfort) in their everyday interactions feel deeply fulfilled in their relationship.
Appreciation, gratitude, and acknowledgment. Find ways to express these sentiments daily to your partner. Look for the good stuff. It’s always there.
Rituals of attunement, giving, and receiving. Find out what says "I love you" to your partner. Create acts of loving for at least one separation or reunion time during the day.
Shared sexual/sensual/romantic expression. Your relationship needs and wants physical and emotional intimacy. Discover mutually pleasurable ways of nourishing your senses, bodies, and hearts. If this is difficult, find ways to ease into it, beginning with dialogue. Get some help if you need it.
Celebration of life passages. Birthdays, anniversaries, and life-cycle changes are wonderful times to create "out of the box" celebrations. Your relationship deserves to be acknowledged. Make up your own form of celebration or use tried-and-true formats from your cultural and family traditions.
Values clarification, visioning, and goal setting. Set aside time every year to step back and look at your life and relationship. Think about what you want, where you want to go, and what’s important to you. Review where you are and how you got there. Set some future goals based on your shared vision. Write them down and post them for inspiration and guidance
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Janine is a Yoga Instructor and Life Coach practicing from her home studio. She invites students to her studio for personal sessions, as well as traveling to your home. She is teaching in a couple studios right now in the Wells/Ogunquit area, as well as at The Cancer Care Center of York County and York Hospital's Wellness Center.
If you are looking for gentle yoga to increase flexibility, strength and energy plus decrease stress and tension, this is the style of yoga that you want for your practice. As a life coach, she leads educational coaching series along with personal one on one life coaching using the Co-Active Coaching techniques and Ayurveda Science. You can reach her at 207-251-9577

Let it Go!

The Art of Letting Go and Finding Your Own Way.

letting go and finding my own way

There is only one way-and that is your own way.  Live that life. 

Yoga helps you to find ways of letting go by accepting that we are all different (poses, breath and movements between), we are all the same, and we are are all connected. 

I came across this quote recently from Pema Chodron. 
WE ALREADY HAVE everything we need. There is no need for self-improvement. All these trips that we lay on ourselves—the heavy-duty fearing that we’re bad and hoping that we’re good, the identities that we so dearly cling to, the rage, the jealousy and the addictions of all kinds—never touch our basic wealth. They are like clouds that temporarily block the sun. But all the time our warmth and brilliance are right here. This is who we really are. We are one blink of an eye away from being fully awake.”
― Pema Chödrön, Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living

As you practice yoga you begin to find a path to self-realization.  This awareness helps to focus your mind. It helps by bringing calmness and an inner perspective to your Self.  With a more focused mind you begin to separate fact from fiction.  Also, leading  to a  belief:   You can be 'fully awake'.
 
One way that I practice this letting go is through meditation and breath awareness.  A favorite meditation is the Loving Kindness meditation. 
Practice the Loving Kindness Meditation as a way to bring calmness, compassion and positive thoughts to yourself and others.

To begin, settle into a relaxed state of mind seated or lying down.  Focus on your breath and repeat this mantra to yourself .



May I be well, healthy and strong
May I be happy
May I abide in peace
May I feel safe and secure
May I feel loved and cared for.

After you have practiced this meditation for a while you can begin to send this loving kindness to others, to strangers, to someone who has gotten you irritated/angry, and finally the community and universe. 

I find this a very caring, healing and soothing meditation.  If (when) your thoughts wander..bring it (your mind!) back to the breath, then to the words of the meditation. 

By practicing this act of kindness you will accept life for all it's beauty and chaos.  Let go of what you think you need and accept what is waiting for you. 

True joy comes from that letting go. 
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Janine is a Yoga Instructor and Life Coach practicing from her home studio. She invites students to her studio for personal sessions, as well as traveling to your home. She is teaching in a couple studios right now in the Wells/Ogunquit area, as well as at The Cancer Care Center of York County and York Hospital's Wellness Center.
If you are looking for gentle yoga to increase flexibility, strength and energy plus decrease stress and tension, this is the style of yoga that you want for your practice. As a life coach, she leads educational coaching series along with personal one on one life coaching using the Co-Active Coaching techniques and Ayurveda Science. You can reach her at 207-251-9577