| Clear Mind |
Strong Body |
Balanced Spirit |
Yoga is a vehicle.
Yoga is a path
to follow and not the destination.
Yoga is the journey - teaching joy in the present while
enabling the yogi to prepare for a glorious future.
When we practice yoga we
discover the amazing ability of the body to move, balance, lift, and support; we increase the
ability of the mind to focus and release preconceived notions; we transcend the body and
the mind to the place of being.
Yoga is unification. In a fundamental sense yoga is a path you follow to bring together the mind,
body, spirit, and heart. There are many yogas and many paths to enlightenment. Each person who practices yoga is a yogi
whether an advanced student or a beginner. We are all students, even when we are teachers.
When someone says "yoga" she may be speaking of many different things including physical movement, mental focus, and/or
spiritual beliefs. It is important to know that one can practice yoga postures without adopting Eastern
philosophies or religions. Yoga exercise can be a door to these beliefs but one can also be any religion or no
religion and still be comfortable practicing yoga.
When someone hears "yoga"
she may have a preconceived notion that yoga is glorified stretching and has little to offer someone who is "serious" about
getting in shape. The easiest way to dispel this myth is to take a yoga class. Even a beginner class can be challenging
for an experienced exerciser if the attitude toward the postures is one of openness and commitment. A more advanced
class can be extremely challenging and humbling. Yoga points out (often in a gentle manner) that we are not as strong nor
as flexible as we had previously imagined. Then yoga graciously shows the path toward increasing our strength and discovering
our flexibility.
There are many different styles of yoga exercise. Iyengar, Bikram, Ashtanga or Power Yoga, Sivananda, White Lotus, Vinyasa,
YogaFit™.
These are all terms you may here connected with a type of yoga. The styles have similarities and differences with
some styles being more appropriate for some temperments than others. (See Styles & Yoga Links
for more details on the differnt styles).
I teach yoga as influenced by several different
teachers and different styles. In my classes you will see poses familiar from Ashtanga and Sivananda and even
some influenced by White Lotus and Iyengar. Some of the poses will focus on strength, some on flexibility, some
on relaxation, and some on all three. My classes are perfect for someone who is used to working out at a gym and wants to
try some yoga but feels overwhelmed by the difficulty of the poses and the foreign sounding
terms used to describe them. I won't overwhelm you with terms or push you to painfully contort your body.
But I WILL challenge you!
When I speak to you about yoga and offer to help you integrate yoga into your life, I am offering
to work with you on movement of the body in ways that help increase strength, flexibility, endurance,
self-confidence, balance, mental focus, and awareness. Yoga helps lubricate the joints and
reverse the signs of aging. We will work through simple poses and breath work and proceed
, at a pace that your body sets, to more advanced poses. The simple poses
invoke one or only a few joints and muscles while the more advanced poses require strength
and flexibility through many joints and may involve the entire body.
Each person's yoga practice if very personal. The goal of yoga is not to be able to put your
foot behind your head or to balance your entire body on one hand. Yoga is about releasing goals and releasing
preconceived ideas of what your body can and cannot do. We breath, we move, we listen to our bodies,
we work to be more calm, more centered, more energized. Every person does not have the same
abilities, but every person does have the same fundamental
needs to move, breath, and increase (or maintain) mobility.
Yoga is not just for the young. In fact many older adults find that yoga is perfect for them
as it requires no impact or jumping around and can be adapted to any starting level of mobility.
Whether you are chronologically older or just feel old from improper or stagnate use of your
joints and muscles, yoga can help you look and feel younger and more alive than you have for
many years.
Yoga is not just for the elderly. Athletes find that yoga helps them stay at them maintain
focus and energy during the game while helping to keep them injury free. Those that are injured
find that yoga helps them recover mobility and strength in the injured area allowing them to
resume normal activities more quickly. "Normal people" who just want to try a new workout
find that yoga is not as easy nor as difficult as they had expected and that they feel more
relaxed, happy, and energized after completing a session.
With all this going for it, isn't it time you gave yoga a try?
This page is under construction. Some links may lead to my old website, www.kgfitness.com. Please check back frequently as updates occur. Email me with any questions.
